You ROCK My SOCKS Off Valentine

There are just some ideas that are too fun. This is one of those ideas.  How fun is this?!?!  We made these for my kid's teachers for Valentine's Day but they could be for any occasion.  (I'm thinking Teacher Appreciation Week.)  The idea came from here but we added a gift card to it.

So simple to make.  We bought some fuzzy socks and an iTunes gift card.

I made a tag on the computer and punched out some hearts out of card stock.  Tie with a ribbon and voila!  Awesome Valentine idea.

What do you think?  I can't wait for my kids to give these to their teachers.

 

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I Heart You Pound Cake

I've been wanting to try this trick ever since I saw it on Pinterest.  I wasn't sure if a heart would work or not but with Valentine's Day quickly approaching, I wanted to give it a shot.  What do you think?  I have to admit, it was kind of difficult.  This my second attempt.  The first one?  Total fail.  But it still tasted delicious.  It just looked like a giant, pink brain inside of a loaf of pound cake.  Not very Valentine's Day-ish.  I'm so glad I tried it again.

I made two loaves of Red Velvet Pound Cake (one recipe).  (Recipe will be coming soon.)

Slice into 1 1/2 inch slices and cut shape out of each slice.

You can make them as big as you would like.  We just made little ones using our Wilton Nesting Heart Cutter Set
(since our first attempt with the bigger hearts was a totally fail.)
 

We made an easy pound cake recipe found on our blog here.  You can make any recipe you want but I thought a lighter batter might not make the hearts flop over. 

We do most of our baking in the morning.  Can you tell?

Pour a little of the "white" batter into the loaf pans.  One recipe makes 2 loaves.  Arrange heart slices so they fit snugly together.

Pour batter over the top of hearts.

Bake in a 325 degree oven for about 60 minutes.  (Until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean.)

Let cool in the pan for about 30 minutes and then transfer to a wire rack to cool completely before cutting.

The hearts fell over but I think it turned out okay.  And it was delicious!

Happy Valentine's Day!

 

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Valentine's Day Food and Fun

I had a bunch of fun Valentine's Day ideas to do this year.  But then life happened and here I sit.  Valentine's Day is a little less than 3 weeks away and I have nothing.  Except the flu and two sick kids.  It's been a party around my house this past week (I say very sarcastically!)  On the bright side, I guess I have a couple of weeks to get better and kick it into gear.  Until then, I'll leave you with some fun (and delicious) Valentine's Day ideas we have done in the past.

You Da Bomb Valentine Candy Craft

Candy Robot Valentine's

Tell your Valentine they ROCK with these fun Candy iPods

This is a fun Valentine idea - a Chocolate Emergency kit.

Stained Glass Cookies

Valentine Heart Lollipops

Brasilian Fudge (done up Valentine style)

Puppy Love dinner

What are you doing this year with your kids?  I'd love to hear about them!

 

Valentine's Day Peanut Butter Cookies

I love peanut butter cookies!   I don't know what it is about them, but I do.  And add chocolate to them?  Oh man!  Normally I'll add a Resses Peanut Butter Cups to the tops or chocolate chips to the batter.  But when I saw this cute idea on Pinterest, I decided to make these.  Perfect for Valentine's Day!

I love Valentine chocolate.  There's just something about heart shaped goodness!

Aren't they so cute?!?!

I went to Six Sister's Stuff to make their Peanut Butter Cookies recipe.  They said this was their favorite cookie of all time.  =o)  How could I not try it?!

Peanut Butter Cookies

Source: Six Sister's Stuff

* 1 3/4 cup flour

* 1/2 tsp. salt

* 1 tsp. baking soda

* 1/2 cup butter, softened

* 1/2 cup sugar

* 1/2 cup peanut butter

* 1/2 cup brown sugar, packed

* 1 egg

* 1 tsp. vanilla

* 2 Tbsp. milk

* chocolates for the top

In a mixer, beat butter, sugar, peanut butter and brown sugar until fluffy.  Beat in egg and vanilla.  Add milk.  Add flour, baking soda and salt and mix well.

Shape into 40 1 inch balls.  Bake for 7-8 minutes in a 375 degree oven.

As soon as you remove them from the oven, place a chocolate on top.

Remove cookies to a wire cooling rack and cool.

Store in an airtight container (if they last that long).  They are delicious!!!

 

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{Kiss} Friendship Rings

How much fun are these?  I'm thinking these are going to be little party favors at my daughter's birthday party in March.  She loved them that much!  And who could blame her.  I'm sporting one on right now =o)

I first saw them on the Family Fun website.  (Have I mentioned how much I love that site?!?!)  Then I saw them again when I got my February issue of Family Fun Magazine.  Then this morning I was reminded how cute they were when I saw them on Mom on a Time Out.  I took that as a sign that we had to make them.  So... here they are.  Cute, right?

You will need:
*Pipe Cleaners
* Hershey Kisses

That's it!  My kind of craft =o)

Start by twisting two pipe cleaners together (forming as "X")

Place a Kiss in the center, point side up.

Wrap the 4 pipe cleaner ends around the top of the Kiss, then twist them together.  (We pulled off the little paper wrapper.)

Bend both pairs of cleaners into a ring shape.  I wrapped it around my finger to do this.  (Thanks Trish for the tip!)

Twist the ends together at the top of the ring.  Trim the ends.

There you have it.  Easiest craft ever and my daughter is wearing hers all over the house with pride.

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Giant Rice Krispy Kisses

We kind of have a thing for rice crispy treats. And cereal. We love cereal. It's kind of ridiculous. But did you ever watch Seinfeld? Remember Jerry's kitchen and the huge array of cereal boxes he always had? That's our house =o) I love choices and you never know what kind of cereal you may want at 6am.

Anywho... my kids saw this Cupcake Pebbles cereal and wanted to try it. They liked it. Didn't love it but liked it. But add it to marshmallows and oh yeah. Good turned into delicious!

My kids weren't quite sure what I was making. They knew "rice crispy" treats but when I took out the funnel, they were confused.

Make up a batch of rice crispy treats (with marshmallows and butter).

Pack into a funnel for the shape.

Now wrap with aluminum foil.  Don't forget to add a tag.  It can say whatever you want.  We went with the very original "Happy Valentine's Day".

Your kids will love them!

Thank you Do It Yourself Divas for the idea!

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Sweet Candy Bottles {Free Printable}

Sweet Anne Design made these absolutely adorable labels for frappuccino bottles.  I just love them!  How can I pass them up?  We made Halloween frappuccino bottles that I just loved.  A co-worker has been giving me her bottles so I have a ton of them.  So this was a no brainer for me.  Of course we're making some!

We made our "You Da Bomb" valentines for my kid's teachers.  But we forgot about the secretaries so we made these for them.

Supplies:
* Frappuccino bottles
* paint
* sandpaper
* Printables from here
* Candy conversation hearts or M&Ms

Remove the labels from the jars and wash.  Make sure they are completely dry!  Lightly sand the lids and paint any color you want.  We chose pink (of course.)

Print out the labels and glue them on.

Fill with candy and voila!  Adorable!

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