Valentine M&M Bars

Ok, I know Valentine's Day has come and gone....but...

It's still February, and these are really good!

All during the month of February, I collected bags of pink M&Ms because, well, they're pink  :)  But what was I supposed to do with them?  I had such a random assortment of things in my pantry, and wasn't quite sure what to do.

Enter the White Chocolate Chip M&M Cookie Bars!

Cast of Characters
♥ 1/2 cup butter, softened
♥ 3/4 cup sugar
♥ 3/4 cup brown sugar
♥ 2 eggs
♥ 2 tsp vanilla
♥ 1+1/2 cup flour
♥ 1 tsp baking powder
♥ 1/2 tsp salt
♥ 1 cup white
♥ 1+ 3/4 cup M&Ms, divided

In a large bowl, cream butter and sugars until they're light and fluffy.  Beat in eggs and vanilla.  Add flour, baking powder, and salt.  Stir in 1 cup of the M&Ms and the white chocolate chips.

Spoon into a greased 9x13, and sprinkle the remaining M&Ms over the top.

Bake at 350* for 25-30 minutes.

Cool on a wire rack, and then cut into yummy bars.

These are super sweet, but they make a nice Valentine treat!



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Valentine's Day

We had a quiet Valentine's Day, but it was full of lots of sweet things.

Kayleigh's first!  We brought her with us on our "date."  It's so much fun to celebrate little things like this with her.  

We just love our little Valentine!

 

And Kayleigh loves the Valentine Bear [Great] Gramma sent to her in the mail.

After our munchkin went to bed, Jesse brought out the dessert that he had made as a surprise for me:  pavlova!

I was so impressed that he made it all by himself.  It was amazing.  I told him that this is my new birthday cake request.

Forever.

(kiwis on half because Handsome Man is allergic!)

It was a wonderful Valentine's Day!

Joy on Valentine's Day

I'm thinking back to last year with a smile today.

Valentine's Day 2011 was the day we told our family that we were having a baby.

We bought a pack of onesies and personalized them for our family members, and then sent them off in the mail.

Across the nation,Valentine's Day is a day full of roses, chocolate, and romance, but I think from now on, Jesse and I will always think of the joy we felt on the day that we got phone call after phone call as our family received their Valentine packages and discovered our exciting news.

Isn't it amazing how time flies?  Last year, all we had were these little tissue-wrapped onesies {and a lot of morning-sickness} to show for our newest little family member...

And now we have this beautiful, pink, curly girl with smiles brighter than the sunshine and enough chubby little rolls to kiss over and over and over.

She brings us so much joy!  This is the happiest Valentine's Day ever.

Heart Garland and Subway Art

Since we're living in a small space, I have very little room to decorate, and even less room to store decorations. Today, I did Valentine decorations on the cheap.  What's better than free? :) 

 I had some pretty, plain red cardstock in two different shades, and wanted to make a heart garland.  It was so easy, and I love how cute it is!

Want to make one with me?

 Cut a pile of hearts out of the two papers

Gently guide it under the foot of your sewing machine (about 1/8 inch from the top of each heart)

Allow the machine to keep sewing while you send another heart through.  

This will give it a garland between the hearts.

Now, just wander around your home and decide where you're going to spread some Valentine love!

Talk about cheap--I bought the LOVE blocks at the Dollar Tree a few years ago, and I downloaded some adorable subway art from Pixels and Paperie.

Don't you love it when you can decorate a room for less than $2?

(I didn't have the right frame to use for Veronica's beautiful subway art, so I had to cut it down to size.  Sorry, Veronica!  You should all check out the original, which I absolutely love)

Happy crafting!

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Valentine Jam Cookies

Only a few days left until our Pinterest Party! I've finally chosen one and can't wait to get started this afternoon! Any idea what you're doing yet? I'm so excited to see! Don't forget to link up your project this Sunday!


Today is the third day of my Valentine Series, and I'm going to share with you my favorite Valentine cookie.
It's sweet, and simple, and the perfect way to say, "Will you be mine?"

Cast of Characters:

♥ 1 cup butter
♥ 2 cups sugar
♥ 2 large eggs
♥ 4+ 2/3 cups flour (plus more for dusting)
♥ 1 teaspoon baking soda
♥ 1/4 teaspoon salt
♥ 1/4 cup buttermilk
♥ 2/3 cup  strawberry jam

Using your electric mixer, cream butter and sugar for about 4 minutes, or until fluffy (anybody else out there who just just count this part as dessert?  I always have a hard time resisting eating just the sugar/butter mixture!). Add eggs, one at a time.  Sift flour, baking soda, and salt into a bowl.  Slowly add dry ingredients to the mixing bowl, alternating with buttermilk, until combined.  Knead dough into a ball and press flat, then wrap with plastic wrap and stick it in the fridge for an hour, or until firm.

Preheat oven to 350*.  On a lightly floured surface, roll chilled dough to 1/8 inch thick.  Use 1 inch to 3inch  cookie cutters to cut out your cookies.  I cut out circles and then used my small heart-shaped cookie cutter to cut out little "jam windows" in the centers of half of my circles (don't cut windows in all of your cookies, or they'll be hollow!)  Save the little cut out hearts to make more little heart sandwich cookies :)

Chill your cut out cookies for 30 minutes before putting them in the oven.  Bake until just golden, about 10 minutes.  Once you take them out of the oven, allow them to cool on a wire rack.  Keep repeating this process until you have used up all of the dough (or wrap it back up and stick it in the freezer--it freezes wonderfully for a few weeks)

Once your cookies are all nicely cooled, spread jam on the bottom cookie (for me, the plain circle) and then gently press a cut-out cookie on top (my circle with a heart).  Take a bit more jam and fill in the "window" of your cookie.

Set them out on a pretty plate, and enjoy!


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"Love Bears All Things" Serving Tray

Welcome to the second day of my Valentine Craft Series!
If you missed the Valentine Tutu from yesterday, click here :)

Today, we'll be painting and decoupaging a serving tray with a portion of a verse from 1st Corinthians.

{credit}

Cast of Characters

♥Wooden serving tray (I got a two-pack for $3.99 at Michaels)

♥Sponge brushes

♥Fine-tip paint brushes

♥Stencils

♥Sandpaper

♥Decorative paper

♥Decoupage glue

♥Paint

Sand your tray to make sure there are no rough spots.

Give it a generous coat or two of paint

I used Sweetheart Red by Delta (because I already had it in my stash)

Take your pretty decorative paper and cut it to size.

I love this paper because of the pretty filigree edges.

Stencil in your letters 

(I traced mine onto wax paper to make sure that I did the spacing correctly.  Here's a clever way to do it without stencils--print it out!  Gee, I love Pinterest!)

Next, use the brush to apply the decoupage glue to the surface of the tray.  Allow it to sit for a bit so that it's tacky, not wet, before you set the paper down on it.  (This helps prevent wrinkles)

While the glue is setting, paint in your letters

Set the paper down carefully on the decoupaged surface of the tray, being sure to align it just how you want it.  Spread an even coat of glue across the top.

(See how I accented the letters with gold paint and a fine-tip brush?)

To add a bit of gloss to the entire tray, you can spread the decoupage glue across all of the painted areas--paper or not.

Next, I used a sponge to gently apply dabs of gold paint around the rim of the tray

This adds another dimension to the tray, and brings out the gold accents in the lettering.

And you're finished!

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Valentine Tutu-torial

Welcome to the first day of my Valentine Craft Series!
I've got lots of fun projects lined up for this week.  I hope you'll join us every day for a new tutorial.
Don't forget about the Pinterest Party on Sunday!  Have you decided what you'll be making? :)

Today, I'm going to show you how to make this sweet little Valentine tutu

Cast of Characters:

♥A few yards of tulle (this is cheapest off the bolt, but you can also buy rolls of it which make your job easier)
♥3/4in elastic
♥rotary cutter/mat--if you have one, otherwise, just a good ol' pair of scissors
♥pretty ribbon to add as decoration (optional)

To begin, measure your sweet munchkin's waist with the elastic

Subtract 2-3 inches from the band length (Kayleigh's waist measured 17 chubby inches, so I cut the elastic to 14 inches)  Sew the elastic into a loop.  You can either use a sewing machine (use a zig-zag stitch to make sure it's secure) or hand-sew it together.

Before you sit down and get serious with the tulle, take a moment to play peek-a-boo with your sweet girl

Note to friends: tulle is a pain in the tush.  It's not easy to cut, not super easy to work with.  And it will get caught in your wedding rings.  All. The. Time.  (so take those pretty things off and set them in a safe place!)

The nice thing about tulle is that it's super forgiving.  So don't stress that your cuts aren't perfectly straight.  

I bought my tulle for 33 cents a yard after Christmas.  Score!  By the bolt is probably your cheapest bet (at most, it'll be $2 a yard) but like I said, the roll would be really handy.  Your call.

I cut my tulle into strips 6in wide by 18in long.

I wanted it to be mostly white with bits of pink and red showing through, so I used a ratio of 3:1:1

To tie the tulle to the elastic band, fold two strips of  tulle in half and place the loop under the elastic as shown.  Pull the ends through the loop, and tighten the knot.

Two white, a pink and a white, two white, a red and a white, etc.

It's kind of hard to keep the elastic from twisting as you add new knots, so find a way to keep the elastic taught.  If the waistband is big enough, you can stretch it over the back of a chair or use the lingerie hooks on a hanger.  Since Kayleigh's waist isn't big enough for that, I just stretched it over my leg.

But you definitely don't need a picture of that.

Keep adding the tulle, two strips at a time, until you reach the desired fluffiness.

Don't you love it?!?

Next, I made a matching headband using leftover scraps and some elastic lace.

(I didn't take any pictures because it was sheer trial and error, but I love the way it turned out!)

Take a strip of pink tulle (3x10in) and sew a line right up the middle, lengthwise (so there should be 1.5in on each side of your needle.)  Once you get to the end, pull the thread tightly to make a little pompom.  Tie a knot and cut off.

Next, take a strip of white tulle (4x10) and fold it in half so that it is two inches wide.  Sew along the two edges all the way.  Pull the thread tight, tie a knot, and cut off.

I sewed a pearl button to the center of the pink pompom, and then sewed the pompom to the white pouf.  Then, I sewed the whole thing onto the elastic lace.  So simple and pretty!

Then, take your cute little sweet heart, and do a photoshoot :)

(Remember how I said I love Shutterfly?  I received coupons for 10 free cards, so I whipped this cute little valentine up.  And guess what?  When I ordered the cards, there was a note saying that if I shared my project on my blog, I'd get $10 toward my next purchase!  So...this has nothing to do with the tutorial, but I thought that was pretty great!)

5x7 Folded Card

View the entire collection of cards.

Join me tomorrow to decorate a beautiful serving tray!

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