Festive Valentine Snack & A Fun Idea for Your Sweetheart

'Tis the season of love.  My boys were up extra early this morning both sporting an extra pep in their step.  Valentine parties are today and they couldn't have been more excited.  We didn't have to do anything extra special..they both picked out their Valentine's a few weeks ago and that was that.  A box of fruit roll-ups for the youngest while my oldest went for the Fun Dip.  Their Valentine parties are for kids only so I don't get to see any of the fun, but I'm sure I'll get an earful when I pick them up this afternoon.  I was grateful we didn't have to do anything other than sign cards this year. While I love those darling Valentine boxes, I'm sure grateful they haven't had to make any since Pre-K!  #lazymom  

He wanted a Minion box SO badly!!!  Thank goodness for Pinterest :)  And bless his heart..two years later and he still has the darn thing!  

I stayed up late last night making some sweet treats to deliver to our teacher's lounge today.  #operationcupidslounge.  I also made an extra batch of goodies for Mr. Spouse's student trainers.  They always love stuff like that.  Here's what we ended up with when it was all said and done...

Love Potion #9 (a carton or raspberry sherbet, a can of frozen pink lemonade, and a liter of Sprite...SO good!!!)

Cupcake kisses - store bought Cookies & Cream cupcakes with heart embellishments

Sweetheart Bars  (rice krispie treats tinted pink & sprinkled)

Be Mine Marshmallows - jumbo marshmallows dipped in pink candy melts & topped with sprinkles

Hugs & Kisses Cookies - Regular & golden oreos dipped in pink candy melts & sprinkled

Valentine Pretzels - pretzels dipped in pink candy melts & topped with sprinkles

Cupid's Crunch (recipe below)

I had intentions of making a few more things, but I was up pretty late and just couldn't stay up a minute longer!  I absolutely LOVE doing stuff like this for our teachers.  I think it's so important to let them know how much they're appreciated.  Teachers love this kind of stuff, too :)  

Here's a little something I did for Mr. Spouse a few years ago.  I set it all out the night before Valentine's Day so he'd have something to wake up to the next morning before heading off to work.  We don't get each other big gifts for Valentine's, but it sure was fun to surprise him with this!!!

If you want to surprise your sweetheart with a little buffet of yumminess, you can download the tags below.

I found this little recipe yesterday and was so excited!  Sounded right up my alley and too easy to pass up.  This is a great little spin on the tried and true puppy chow.  Completely irresistible and easy to make!  Whip up a batch to munch on this weekend and I promise you won't have a bite left!!!  THe perfect little treat for your sweetheart(s) :)  

I made a HUGE batch since I was taking it up to school for the teachers, so that's what the measurements reflect below.  Check out Mom Fabulous for the measurements of the smaller batch.

  SO GOOD!!!!

CUPID'S CRUNCH

via Mom Fabulous

13 cups of Rice Chex Cereal (divided in half)

12 oz. vanilla almond bark (this is equal to 6 squares)

3/4 C. peanut butter

3/4 C. powdered sugar

1 bag of red/white/pink M & M's

Divide the cereal in half...6 1/2 cups in a large bowl and 6 1/2 cups in a large ziplock baggie.

Melt the almond bark in the microwave.  I melted mine in  90 second intervals in a large glass bowl.  It took about 180 seconds to melt through.  

Stir melted almond bark until smooth and add in 3/4 cups of creamy peanut butter.

Stir until combined.  The peanut butter will melt as you stir.

Pour the peanut butter/almond bark mixture over the cereal in the large bowl and mix until the cereal is pretty evenly coated.  Pour out evenly onto a few pieces of wax paper and set aside for 15-20 minutes. 

Add 3/4 cups of powdered sugar to the baggie of cereal, zip it up, and give it a good shake to coat.  Keep inside baggie until the other half of the cereal is ready.

After the 15-20 minute mark ,return the cereal on the wax paper back into the large bowl and toss in the powdered sugar cereal, too.  Mix well to combine and add the bag of M&M's.  Toss to mix it all up.

Voila! 

The perfect, festive snack!!!  With the exception of the 15-20 minute wait time, this took about 10 minutes to prep and make.  My kind of snacking!!!

Homemade Valentines

I was reading through this fabulous little blog the other day {which, by the way, has some AWESOME ideas}, and I came across an idea that I knew would make the PERFECT Valentine treats for my little man's little buddies.  These guys are at the perfect age for play-doh.  Little Man could sit and entertain himself with it for hours...er, minutes :)  I wish I would've found this idea when I was teaching Kindergarten because I definitely would've given these to my class as their treat!!! 
Here is the recipe:

2 cups flour
1/2 cup salt
1 Tbsp cream of tartar
1 3/4 cups boiling water
2 Tbsp vegetable oil
red food coloring

Combine flour, salt, and cream of tartar; mix well. Stir in boiling water, oil and food coloring. Cool 10 minutes. Knead until smooth. Store in airtight container.

 
I was able to make 24 hearts with these, and I still had some dough leftover.  Even if you don't hand these out for Vday treats, this is a GREAT play-doh recipe to use for yourself!  There are 12 littles in our sweet playgroup, so I added two hearts to a ziplock baggie, folded the baggie so the hearts would be sitting back-to-back, cut off the top, and sealed it with cute scrapbook paper & ribbon!  Just cut the scrapbook paper to the size of the opening & make a couple of hole punches to string through your ribbon.  SO easy!

I couldn't leave out my littlest man when it came to Valentine treats, so I whipped up something fun & cute for his very first Valentine celebration, too!  I got this idea from this blog.  CUTE ideas!!!!  Anywho, these little treats couldn't have been easier! 

I used cotton candy & ribbon from the Dollar Tree, waffle cones, & cellophane bags from Hobby Lobby {$1.99 for 24...gift wrapping section}.  Just fill the cones with shreds of cotton candy & then make a big ball of cotton candy for the scoop.  Place the cone inside the bag and then tie it up with cute ribbon!!!  I did these really last minute so I didn't have time to make a cute tag.  I just took a blank gift tag and wrote To:/From:.  BO-ring.  BUT, oh-so cute!!!!

The Look Of Love

It's beginning to look a lot like Valentine's Day around the house :)  Since February is the month of love, I'm not in any rush to take any of it down!  And if the decoration tear-down process works anything like it did after Christmas, we might be lookin' at this stuff until April!  HA!!

Remember these little balls I made that I got from this chick?! I had these hanging from my chandelier but decided I'd rather use them as a centerpiece for the dining room table.  I like this MUCH better!!

I LOVE my apothecary jars, but had NO idea what to do with them.  I took my favorite and filled it with conversation hearts.  Gotta love the Dollar Tree!

My fun little Valentine project...

These frames were a fun little project.  I used sheet music scrapbook paper for the backing & used my Cricut to cut out a heart & the #14.  Then I used my distress ink pad {LOVE that thing} to dirty up the edges...

I left up the red shutters from Christmas...PERFECT!!

Another little 14 frame…

I made this LOVE banner with my Cricut & distress ink pad, too!  The fun little sparkly hearts were a random find at Wal Mart.  I had NO idea what I was gonna do with 'em when I found 'em, but for $2 a pack, I couldn't pass 'em up!

 

 

And a little something in the kitchen :)  I made these for my sweet friends last year for our little Valentine playgroup!

I really do love this time of year!!!

I HEART This Thing!!!

Like I've said before, I LOVE Valentine's Day.  I've never really decorated for it...except for maybe the dining room table and that's usually just for the big day...but I'm trying to be better about decorating for the holidays/seasons.  The stinky thing about this time of year is that the house looks sad because all the Christmas decorations have been taken down, but it's still way too early to decorate for Spring {especially wind the wind chill is 16 and snow is in the forecast...BOO!!!!}  Thanks to the slew of decorating/crafting blogs out there, I've been inspired to make my own Valentine's decorations and let me tell ya, I'm in LOVE!!!!  I get SO excited when I check my Google Reader and see new ideas!!!  Here's a twist on an idea I saw on this blog.

I took a heart-shaped foam piece and wrapped it up in fluffy red yarn I had around the house.  This step was a little time consuming, but The Biggest Loser kept me company so it seemed like it went by a lot quicker!! 

I found an old picture frame that I haven't put up since we lived in the old house.  I took it apart and used the cardboard backing for this project.  I decoupaged the backing with 2 pieces of 12x12 black and white scrapbook paper.  I love the idea of using sheet music for different projects, but I have none.  I did, however, have some sheet music scrapbook paper, so I decoupaged that on top of the black & white.I used my distress ink stamp pad to distress the edges of the sheet music and then I added the heart to the top of that!  {I got the heart to stick to using Ticky Tack}. 

            
I loved the way it turned out so much that I put it on an easel in our entry way so it's the first thing you see when you walk in the door! 

I also dressed up a couple of candles to match my project.  Using the same scrapbook paper, I cut a strip & wrapped it around the candle.  Then I tied a strand of jute around it and ticky tacked a heart to that. 

 

Y'all…. 

I LOVES. 

Get Your {Valentine Day} Craft On!

Oh my word.  I LOVE {with capital letters} Valentine’s Day!!!!!  Love, love, LOVE it!!!!  I don’t know what it is…the colors, the hearts, the candy!?!  Probably all the grade school memories of the class parties & valentine card exchanges.  I’m just a big kid who loves it all!!  SO, it would only stand to reason that I LOVE any and every kinda Valentine Day craft I can get my hands on.  When I saw this craft, I knew I HAD to make some of my own {Y’all…I can’t, for the life of me, remember what blog this was originally on.  If I find it, I’ll post a link back!!  Her stuff was TOO cute!}

First, you’ll need supplies.  I used styrofoam balls, red & pink felt, straight pins, & scissors.

I used the lid of a puffs container as my template.  I traced a gazillion circles and cut them out.  I love this project because the circles don’t have to be perfect!!!!  There’s lots of leeway for error :)

  

Now, take one of your felt circles & fold it in half.

Then bring the two corners together &  fold it in half  again.

Your felt should look like this from the top.

Take a straight pin and poke it through the bottom corner of the felt and stick it into the styrofoam ball.

   

Now, keep repeating the process all the way around the ball until you can’t see anymore styrofoam.  Your end product will look a little something like this…

LOVE IT!!!!

I tried to stick these in one of my apothecary jars and WHAT.A JOKE!!!  HA!!  They were too fluffy and it looked ridiculous!  I think I could probably get away with it using MUCH smaller balls. SO, I decided to add some ribbon & tulle & hang them from my chandelier instead…

I LOVE the way they turned out, but I need a few more to make it complete!!  I ran out of supplies!!   Using this ridiculously easy technique, you could do this with ANYTHING.  I originally saw this technique used on a heart-shaped styrofoam  and she turned it into a wreath!  PRECIOUS!!!!  I’m about to get started on a few more for the chandelier and maybe a wreath or two!!  I just LOVE how fun & festive it looks…not to mention how EASY they were to make!