Fun Homemade Valentine Ideas

Today I've got some really fun ideas to share with you for children's Valentine cards and favors.  And they all feature puns!  Don't you just love puns?  

Well, even if you don't normally like puns, I think you'll agree that these Valentines are super cute and (dare I say it) just LOVEly!

I'm Bananas For You! tutorial from Fiskars. I think this one is my favorite, either because I love monkeys, or because I love those little banana Runts!
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Free Valentine Printables & Scrapbook Freebies

At the beginning of each month, I'm planning to bring you new freebies. For February I, of course, had to share some free Valentine printables!
Today we've got subway art, Valentine cards, a great party pack, and some scrapbook kits! Visit the links below to download.
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Cookies & Cream Lollipops

Over the holidays my Oreo Balls were very popular. (Both on the blog and at home!) Last week I made another batch for my husband, and I bought an extra package of Oreos so that I could experiment with some other recipes.

Over the weekend I made these Valentine lollipops. Aren't they cute!  And you won't believe just how easy they were!  I have to admit, they aren't quite as good as the Oreo Balls. (But then again, what is?) However, I expect you'll like them just the same!

Make these in minutes with the kids for an after-school Valentine's treat, serve for your kid's Valentine parties, or even hand out to coworkers and friends. (Candy-Gram anyone?)

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White Chocolate Chip Red Velvet Cookies

In honor of Valentine's Day coming up in a few weeks, I've got a truly sweet and decadent treat to share with you!  This one combines the official colors of Valentine's Day with its official flavor: Chocolate! And I know you and your true love will adore them!

And to make things even better, this one is another cake mix cookie recipe! I got it from Heather at Whipper Berry. (I just used chocolate chips instead of chunks!) Hope you enjoy!

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Red Vignette and Valentine Garland

Today I'm sharing this cute display from my kitchen.  I'm in the process of doing a quasi-makeover in my kitchen.  For a while I've felt like my kitchen was having an identity crisis, and I decided that I'm going to make the predominate color in the room be red.

After Christmas I was taking down my decor, and trying to decide what to do with the top of this cabinet.  It's very tall, and you can't really see what's on top of it very well, so it doesn't need anything too showy, if you know what I mean. But it needed something.  Anyway, as I was putting my Christmas decorations away, I decided to place these red & white candles on top of this cabinet, and the vignette grew from there!

The above picture is how I had planned for it to look for most of the year. The candles are actually Christmas candles, but from the ground you can't really tell.  Then I made the arrangement in the middle using some berry garland that I had.  And the cups were already on top of the cabinet.  I just filled them with red paper shreds so they would match.  And then I added the shiny red garland.  It's actually Valentine garland, but again, from the ground you can't really tell. 

And now for the finishing touch to make this vignette perfect for Valentine's Day!  This adorable Valentine Heart garland was actually made by the super talented Liz of Hoosier Homemade.  Last year around this time, she had an assortment of giveaways. This garland was one of the prizes, and I was the lucky winner! 

Isn't it the cutest! And you know how I said that you can't see the top of the cabinet very well anyway, so it doesn't really need too much stuff.  Well, now with all the red, it's actually quite eye catching! Who knew!

So what do you think?

I'm linking up at these parties.

Strawberry Cookie Cups

I love taking recipes that we love and making them just a little different by adding or changing an ingredient, or even just changing the cooking method or overall presentation.  Last week I shared my strawberry cake mix cookies that I made for Valentine's Day, and this week I've got some other sweet creations that I made using the same recipe: Strawberry Cookie Cups!

Recipe for Strawberry Cookie Cups:

Ingredients:

1 Strawberry Cake Mix (18.5 oz)

1 egg

1/3 cup water

1/3 cup oil

Directions: Mix ingredients together with spoon or electric mixer. Line a muffin tin with paper muffin cups. Use a cookie scoop to place a dough ball in each cup. (For mine, I used one scoop for each cup, but if you want them to rise to the top like cupcakes, use 2 scoops.  If using a mini tin, one scoop should do fine.  If you don't have a cookie scoop, use a spoon or your hands to create a 2 inch balls for the large cupcakes.)

Bake for about 15 minutes. Then decorate as desired. For my cups, I left some plain, while others are topped with either sprinkles, coconut flakes, or a Hershey Kiss.  You could also frost these like cupcakes, even though they're not exactly cake like.  Just wait for them to cool before frosting.

I'm linking up at these parties.

Super Cute and FREE Valentine Printables

Photo Credit

Happy first day of February! This week instead of a giveaway, I've got some freebies that everyone will be able to enjoy!  I searched around today and found some super cute Valentine's Day Printables for you!

Below each photo, you'll find a description of what it is and a link where you can go download it.  The first download is especially cool.  I only included a picture of the invitation, but there's actually a whole host of free printables that match this invitation.  It's essentially everything you'll need for a fun and festive Valentine's Day party!  And if that's not enough, you can check out the rest of these adorable finds!

I found ths adorable set of party printables at Catch My Party.  Not only can you download the party invitation above, but you can also download some matching cupcake toppers, cupcake wrappers, tags, candy wrappers, food tents, food flags, and even a Valentine's Day banner!

I love these Treat Bag Toppers! You can download these over at Glorious Treats.

They have some really cute Valentine Card printables featuring animals and character such as Blue and Sponge Bob at DLTK-Holidays.  They also have some printables for crafts and Valentine mailboxes.

I found these cute Valentine cupcake toppers at Family Fun. If you haven't ever visited this site, you really should. They've always got lots of  great ideas for food, crafts, and activities.

These sweet Love Dove and Butterfly toppers are at PrintablePartykits.com.

And last, but certainly not least, I found these really cute cupcake toppers and wrappers at Food Art Party.

Strawberry Cake Cookies

Have I mentioned to you that I love cake mix cookies?  Yeah! I think I have!  And I think before it's all over with, I'm probably going to make every flavor of cake mix cookie available to me.  It's know it sounds like a tough task, but I think I'm up to the challenge! LOL.

With Valentine's Day just around the corner, it seemed like the perfect time to try out some Strawberry Cookies.  I thought the pink would be fantastically festive for the holiday.  And once they were baked, I thought what could I add to really make them scream, "Happy Valentine's Day!"  My answer: Chocolate! Of course!  Hope you enjoy!

Recipe for Strawberry Cake Cookies:

Ingredients:
1 Strawberry Cake Mix (18.5 oz)
1 egg
1/3 cup water
1/3 cup oil

Directions:  Mix ingredients together with spoon or electric mixer.  Refrigerate for 20 minutes or so to keep dough from sticking to your hands. (If dough is still sticky, refrigerate a few minutes more.)  Roll into one inch balls and place on a non stick cookie sheet, lined with parchment paper or sprayed with cooking spray.   Bake at 350 for about 15 minutes.  Edges should be lightly browned.

Decorating/Toppings: 

Ingredients:

Candy/Sugar Sprinkles

Almond Bark, Chocolate Chips, or a Chocolate Bar

To decorate the cookies, I immediately poured just a small amount of red candy sprinkles on them right after I took them out of the oven.  And usually I mix a spoon full sprinkles in with the actually dough before making, but I didn't do that this time. 

For the topping, I just took a couple of squares of almond bark and heated in the microwave for about a minute and half.  Don't forget to take the chocolate out every 15 seconds to stir, in order to prevent scorching.  Then just drizzle the chocolate on.  I was in a hurry so I just used a spoon and shook it back and forth to create a drizzled effect.  For a more professional look, you can use a piping bag. And if you don't have this you can put the chocolate in a ziplok bag with a tiny whole cut in the corner.

And here's a picture of some of the cookies that I kept plain. And I have to tell you, if you really want just a simple tasting, sweet treat, without all the frills, these plain strawberry cookies are just delightful!

I'm linking up at these parties..

Love Jar Gift Idea and Tutorial

For this week's project, I'm sharing this Love Jar that I made for my husband last year for Valentine's Day.  It's is really fun project to make for the one you love.  Essentially you just decorate a jar or other container and then you write things on slips of paper and place them in the jar.

For this Love Jar, I typed out a whole bunch of reasons that I love my husband and placed them in the jar.  You could also make these for your kids and tell them the reasons you love them or reasons why they are special.  And of course, this would be a great project to do with your kids.  You could help them to make these for their dad or grandparent.  It could even be a good teacher gift.

Another idea that I've thought of for you to consider is making a Quote Jar or a Bible Verse Jar.  I think these would make really cute gifts.  I also think a Poetry Jar would be cute.  My husband loves poetry, and I think he would love a jar that he could pull poems out of.  And another idea I've seen on other blogs is the Conversation Jar. This is where you fill the jar with conversation topics, for when your family gathers around the table.

What You Need:

A container

Scrapbook Paper

Scrapbook tags/embellishments (optional)

Mod Podge

Brush

Scissors

Step 1:  Remove any labels from your container.

Step 2: Wrap paper around your container to check for sizing.  Cut out paper.  Take your paintbrush and apply a light coat of Mod Podge to your container.  Then wrap your paper around the container.  After you have the paper stuck to the container, take your paint brush and put another light coat of Mod Podge over the paper to seal it.  Let dry.

Step 3: Use Mod Podge to add any tags or embellishments, including a tag for the top if you like.  You can also paint your top.  I chose not to paint mine because the color orange was in my paper.  I didn't have any scrapbook elements that I liked that would fit the top, so for my top, I made up the following phrase, printed it out, and mod podged it to the top: "Whenever You're Down or Feeling Blue, Just Look at All the Reasons I Love You."

Step 4:  Write or type out different words, phrases, or sentences.  Cut them out and place them in the jar.  For this jar, the theme was all the reasons that I love my husband.  Some of the strips had as little as two words, while others were 2 or 3 sentences.  Some of the reasons I put in were very serious and heartfelt while others were more lighthearted and funny.  The possibilities are endless.

 

I'm linking up to these linky parties.

Friday Favorites - Week 47

 

Hi everyone! Happy Friday to you all!  First off, I have to tell you something really cool that happened today.  My blog finally reached 1000 followers!  Woohoo! I can't even begin to tell you how exciting that is for me!  I try my best not to dwell on numbers and stats, but ever since I passed the 800 mark, I've really been crossing my fingers that I could get to 1000, so now I'm just really thrilled to be there.  So if you are one of my lovely followers, THANK YOU!  You are very much appreciated!

And for those of you who may be wondering, I am planning to have follower appeciation giveaway very soon in honor of reaching the 1000 mark.  So be on the look out for that!  In the meantime, please check out my Kritter Kondo Deluxe Giveaway. It's ending in a few days, and there's just 52 entries right now!

Now onto this week's party. I especially loved all the Valentine's projects that were linked up last week. Keep em coming!

Valentine's Day Yarn Wreath from My Happily Ever After

Valentine Wreath from Allie Makes

Quilted Valentine Cards from Homework

Sweetheart Wreath from Simply Crafty

Love Frame from Auntie Lolo Crafts

 
I'm very excited to see what you've been working on this week.  Link up below!

Valentine Cupcake Decor

Being on a budget, when it comes time to decorate for a holiday or change up our everyday home decor, I often find myself using things that I already have in new ways.

This year for Valentine's Day I created this cute display for the kitchen counter.

The display includes 2 Valentine's Day mugs and 2 wine glass, both filled with pink and green Christmas balls.  And in the center I have my Valentine cupcake plate that my husband got me at Hobby Lobby a couple of years ago.  In front of that I have three cupcake ornaments that I got this Christmas.  And in the very front, I just used some Valentine's Day napkins to add a border and some extra color to the display.

Got any cheap decor ideas for Valentine's Day? 

Do you like to use old things in new ways for your decor? 

I'm linking this post up to these linky parties.

Spotlight on Nicole's Homemade Treats

My newest sponsor will definitely leave you licking your lips! So "Go Ahead and Indulge!"

Nicole's Homemade Treats is a fabulous etsy shop offering yummy, delectable, sweet treats! 

Nicole is a stay at home mom of two boys and a military spouse. She uses candy-making as a stress reliever and creative outlet! She also enjoys baking, cooking, golf, playing with her kids, reading, socializing & working out. "Candy making, it is a great stress reliever and creative outlet for me! Selling my products locally and online is a fun and rewarding endeavor! I have spent many hours trying to get my treats 'just right!' It is safe to say that some of my first attempts were very interesting!"

Nicole's Homemade Treats is an LLC operating out of New York State. All the products are prepared in a fully licensed kitchen. NYS Dept. of Agriculture #31AAAA

The treats are prepared in small batches, to preserve the taste and quality of the product, and to ensure that there is no waste. It takes about 5-7 days to produce your order. But Nicole PROMISES - they will be worth the wait!

And if you're interested in only the highest quality sweets (and who isn't?), you'll be very impressed with Nicole's menu of products: "I make only all natural, preservative free products, and use as many organic ingredients as possible. My products may not have the shelf life of store bought products, no worries! They won't last very long!"

Nicole's Homemade Treats is also a very environmentally conscious company:  "The packaging products I use are considered 'green' because they are made using recycled products, or come from ecologically conscious companies. I am really conscious about who I purchase my products from - the majority come from local companies, farms, and shops, however if that is not possible I buy from companies that are known to be eco-friendly/green themselves."

"I hope you enjoy eating my treats as much as I like making them!"

Be sure to check out Nicole's Homemade Treats for all your Valentine's Day (and everyday) goodies!  You can also connect with Nicole at her blog and on twitter @Nikid70.

Go ahead and indulge!

Disclosure:  Nicole's Homemade Treats is a paid sponsor.  If you'd like to advertise on Simply Sweet Home, please see my PR Page. Rates start as low as $5.