Sweet Treats: Happy Valentine's Day - 2014

This is kind of a weird time for Valentine's Day in my life. But I had to go ahead and make a yummy treat for the kiddo's sake. Pink lemonade cake with pink lemonade and butter cream frosting. And of course semi-sweet chocolate chips and sprinkles! I hope all of you are having a wonderful Valentine's Day, Single Awareness Day... or for me, a soon to be divorced mom... this is my last official Valentine's as a legally married woman day :/

I know, I always choose the most proper timing for news.... but a separation leading to divorce around the same time as a cross country move will take a person away from blog-land for a while. But you know, all good things eventually come to an end of some sort, which is exactly how this cake will end up, dirty dishes in the sink :)

February Madness

It's been since Valentine's Day that I have blogged! Don't get me wrong, I have TRIED. But blogger keeps blocking my access and freezing up during my posts, then deleting them!! Grrrrrr. So, what have I been up too aside from cursing this computer? Millions of things, life has been a whirlwind! But here is the lowdown, because it is so important, of course.

I have been so dang busy, that I bought Valentines from the store (instead of hand making them) and my little guy and I worked on them together. Funny thing is, when I asked my boys what they wanted me to get, they told me I knew best. *yesss!* Wonder how long that will last? So, Star Wars for the boys and Cinderella for the girls it was.

Note, all of the laundry piles, and mega kitchen clean up going on back there. Neglecting duties due to being crazy busy. At one point, we even slept on the couches because of the piles of nearly folded laundry on the bed.

Been busy mugging on this little bit for a while. She is *this close* to walking, just turned 10 months. She absolutely loves hanging upside down, growing out of her clothes and eating. Her one, bottom tooth, blonde fauxhawk and rosy cheeks are adorable.

Been busy doing face painting and working (and playing) at the salon and other events. It's usually the prepwork (like that gingerbread house there) that destroys the house and my sleep cycle!

 

We finally pulled out this alien head kit. The boys had fun making it and painting it. The hubs and I painted the details in at the end. 

 Caleb being a most excellent model.

I have been failing at the homework department, so Isaac had to help me remember to sign it :) So... what all have you been up to?

 

Homefront: Simple Valentine's Day Craft Decorating



This is a Christmas hurricane glass candle holder that came with faux pine needle/cone wreath to display around the base. My husband won it from his work White Elephant Christmas Party, (and yet he brought something "funny" a Schticky Lint remover, but his the year before, a fancy toilet scrubber was a hit... I digress).

I wanted to hussy it up for Valentine's Day... so I got out my glue gun and silvery craft jewels (that you can order from me here) for this craft. If you want less permanent jewels, than you can use glue dots instead of hot glue.

 

Then, I tied a ribbon around it, added some romantical doodads like craft pearls, ginormous diamond rings, plastic crystals, a paper doily and a wood letter... and there you go. Remember the bedazzled red room I posted earlier? Well this would fit in there for sure! But I like to keep the bling to a minimum.

  

 

 I love keeping white taper candles in an assortment of jars and vessels.

 





Even for a person who doesn't go all out on holiday decorating, like how I went *teensy weensy* overboard with my "mantel"... doing a fun and simple staging area like this for holiday related items can bring just a bit of that fun and sparkle into your home. My kids always love it! 

Homefront: Valentine's Mantel Decorating

I shopped a 90% off Christmas sale recently and got tons of berry garlands and goodies for next year. So, I thought I would try and use some for my Valentine's mantel. I usually keep them fairly tame, like those from 2011, 2010 and 2009... but I really wanted to throw some pink fluff in this year. 

 

All I bought for this craft was the pink felt heart for $2. Everything else I had around the house, and it became this:

See? All it takes is a little bit of ingenuity, hot glue and random supplies to make something cute. That center heart is just a simple pipe cleaner. You can buy the jewels at craft stores, or order them from me here in silver or an assortment of colors!

This heart I made a few years back was cute, but I wanted to glam it up and pinkify it to match my other heart. I used red nail polish on the black outer edge and pink glitter.

 She's all new and pretty in pink.

 

Yes, my IKEA Expedit bookcase makes a perfect "mantel" for decorating, since I no longer have a fireplace. Hmmm... do you think I should have added more pink or red? (My husband firmly declares, "No.", though men can still like pink.) What is your color of choice for Valentine's Day?

 Here, I used simple flower vases with Valentine's socks pulled over them.

My shabby green candelabra I painted a few years is still going strong, and getting more shabby chic by the year. She has lost some prisms, so I have to do some replacing.

This is a vintage letter/napkin holder I got for .50 cents at a garage sale. I gussied her up with some ivory paint, than dry brushed her with a pinky red, (my tutorial here). Actually, I may have made the paint a little milky by adding water, but basically the same technique.

 Love this print, by The Black Apple.

U Rock: DIY Pet Rock Valentine Cards

I have been seeing a ton of adorable diy Valentine's this year in the blogosphere, that I will likely show you soon. But my kindergartner's party is Friday, so I had to go ahead and make something for his class now.
 

So we headed to Micheal's to check out their V-Day offerings. They have tons of cute stamps on sale for 49 cents. We originally got a cute robot holding hearts, and a hedgehog that said "I'm stuck on you".. but the "U Rock" stamp caught my eye. So after going down aisle by aisle, I wasn't really seeing anything that was a) affordable and b) not too girly or c) had enough for each child... and I *almost* resorted to forgetting the diy thing and getting a store bought boxed set, (no offense to those who do, I still love the Strawberry Shortcake and My Little Pony ones I got as a kid), I was just determined to do something crafty. When I saw these bags of rocks, the "U Rock" stamp entered my mind and I thought, Pet Rock Valentines! Don't kids love rocks? My son was sold on the idea.

So, you need a few pieces of scrapbook paper, ink pad and a stamp (or just write the message out), hot glue and glue gun, rocks, paintbrushes and paint. I had most all of these supplies, so it was pretty easy and inexpensive to do. I tested my permanent markers on a rock, and they didn't show up well enough, so I settled for paint.

Stamp on the two outer/parallel edges of paper, then cut the paper in half. You can get about 12 cards from one large square piece of scrapbook paper. Once they are all cut out, fold in half and hot glue your rock above the stamp, and write your message inside. Perfect, original and cute for non-candy Valentines.

But...  on the rest of the Valentines, I accidentally folded the paper wrong and had already written on the backs, so I had to get creative with that extra flap.. I hot glued the Starburst on both sides and stuffed it in there for a little pocket. Just enough glue to keep it in place, so the kids will be able to still get to the candy quite easily. The rocks can be peeled off pretty easily too.

Not as cute in my opinion, but hey, they are for little kids who are going to be on the hunt for candy anyways, right?

My girl rocks have little hearts on the cheek, and my boy rocks have eyebrows. If you know the kids well though, it would be cute to make them more original with eye and hair color, glasses, freckles, or even go silly with mustaches, pirate patches, eyelashes and that sort of craziness... The two below are the ones I made for my kiddos.

If you make a Pet Rock Valentine, I'd love to see it! Happy crafting :)