Red & White Valentine Lace Heart Cookies

Ever since I saw a tutorial on the Sweet Adventures of Sugarbelle, I knew I wanted to try making lace cookies.

 

 

I can't believe how easy it is!  I did an image search for "lace cookies" and found plenty of inspiration.  So I tried a bunch of different patterns.

 

I tried to make each cookie a little bit different, but I repeated a couple of my favorite designs.  It was so much fun to doodle with frosting!  I will definitely use this technique again.

 

Valentines for Teachers

This year the boys made "Have a Ball" Valentines for their classmates.  I didn't think their teachers would want a bouncy ball, so I came up with a different idea for them.

 

 

I modified the topper I made for the boys' valentines to say "You're o-fish-ally the best!".  Then I made some fish-shaped chocolates using Wilton chocolate candy melts and a fish mold.  I also had a wedding-themed mold that had the heart shape and I used the red candy melts for that.

 

Once the candies hardened, I put them in the cellophane bags and stapled on the topper.

Boys' "Have A Ball" Homemade Valentines

With a son who deals with diabetes and celiac disease, we avoid Valentine treats involving candy or any other type of food.  I asked the boys this year if they wanted to make Valentine cards featuring glow sticks or bouncy balls.  They unanimously chose bouncy balls.

So I ordered them each a bag of bouncy balls from Oriental Trading, along with some small, clear plastic bags.

 And I made some Valentine cards using Photoshop Elements featuring the requisite Valentine cheesy saying.

All they had to do is fill out the names of their classmates, stick a card and a ball in each bag, fold over and staple.  All done!

 

 

(I apologize in advance to their teachers who will probably have to deal with seeing these fly all over the classroom during the Valentine party.)

To see last year's homemade Pokemon Valentines, click here.

Decorating Red & Black Valentine Heart Cookies

Red and pink is too girly for my all-boy household.  Red and white is nice but a little too sweet sometimes.  But red + black = perfect!

 

These cookies look fancy, but are really quite easy to make.

 

Outline heart shapes with black royal icing. (It's sometimes difficult to achieve a truly black icing.   I use Americolor gel paste in Super Black for great color results without the funky taste.)

 

While the outline is drying a bit, prepare thinned red and black royal icing to flood the hearts.  You'll want to have both colors loaded in squeeze bottles before you start.  (Again, a true red is hard to achieve and I recommend Americolor gel paste in Super Red.) 

 

Working three or four cookies at a time, flood the hearts completely with the red icing.  While the red is still wet, place some black dots around the perimeter of the heart.

 

While the red and the black dots are still wet, gently drag a toothpick through the black dots around the edge of the cookie.  This dragging motion is what creates that pretty design.

 

Of course, these would look great with other color combinations, too.  I liked the red and black so much I did the whole Valentine's table to match.  With young boys in the house, I opted for the plastic table cloth and the paper plates.  That made the evening "special" without worrying about breaking anything - or having to do dishes!

 

 

You might also like my post about trying Martha Stewart's recipe for shortbread cookies with white chocolate icing.  Those cookies look like conversation hearts.  Sweet!

Puppy Love Valentine's Day

I love this boy.

And I adore these boys.

But this past summer, a new boy joined our family and stole a piece of my heart.

Seriously, how could you not fall in love with this face?

Meet Good Dog Carl.

The best part of it is, he decided he loves me too!  

(He loves the whole family, of course, but I'm his favorite.)

So I decided to have a puppy-themed Valentine's Day dinner this year in honor of our newest addition.

Puppy Love Pot Pies:
I found the recipe on the blog Kitchen Fun With My 3 Sons.  Hers turned out much cuter, but hey, I'm new at this.  (Definitely click on the link to see her cute version.)  But these tasted really good even though they resembled lions more than puppies.

Carl-Colored Dessert:
I'd seen desserts like this with brownies, ice cream and caramel sauce.  Since one of my sons is diabetic, I decided to lighten it up a little bit.  The Double-Chocolate Brownie recipe came from Martha Stewart and is SO delicious.  Instead of ice cream, I used whipped cream which is significantly lower in carbs. The caramel sauce is difficult to see in this photo, but it matches Carl's brown fur almost exactly.

Our Valentine table:

Check out the little stuffed puppy in the basket!  He looks just like Carl and I scored him on clearance at Michael's for a couple bucks.  My tables are usually much more elaborate than this, but I was short on time because I ended up volunteering at my kids' school longer than anticipated.  But that's life and, obviously, my kids are more important than a fancy place setting!

I hope you are inspired to make some every-day fun with your family!

Happy Valentine's Day!

Homemade Pokemon Valentines for the Class

I decided we should make our own Valentine cards this year for my boys to bring to school for their classmates.  They each have 28 kids in their class and, inevitably, they pick the Valentines that come with 18-24 in a box.  I end up buying 2 boxes for each kid and the majority of the second box doesn't get used.  Seems a bit wasteful!

They've been into Pokemon for a while, so used that as my inspiration.  The Pokemon trainer in the cartoons, Ash Ketchum, always says, "I choose you!" when he sends his Pikachu out to battle.  I switched the "choose" into "chews" so we could add gum to the cards.

The best part about this project is that I didn't have to do very much!  The boys could handle most of it themselves.  I had already designed the Pokemon ball in Photoshop, so I just had to add the words and print out enough copies.

The boys cut out the circles, filled in their classmates' names, and taped on the gum.

And tomorrow they get to deliver unique Valentine cards that they made themselves!

Valentine Shortbread Cookies

About 10 years ago, this recipe for shortbread cookies with white chocolate frosting appeared in Martha Stewart Living magazine.  I have been making it ever since.  They are SO YUMMY!

It makes a nice sturdy dough that is easy to cut into shapes once it is chilled.

Martha says to dip the cooled cookies into the melted white chocolate to frost them.  I prefer to slather it on with a knife.  I like the resulting texture.

But the best part is coming up with the fun sayings to pipe on the cookies.

I also tried making cake pops for the second time.  Cake Pops were made famous by Bakerella, and her website will tell you all you need to know about making your own.  In a nutshell, you bake a cake, crumble it in a bowl, mix in a can of frosting, form into balls, add the stick, dip in chocolate, embellish.  Let me just tell you that devil's food cake + chocolate frosting + melted chocolate coating = fabulous. 

The first time I tried to make these, though, was a complete fiasco.  The pops would just crumble and fall off the sticks.  This time I added almost the whole can of frosting to the crumbled cake (the recipe says to use 3/4 of a can).  Plus I dipped the stick in chocolate before inserting it into the pop to help it stay better.  And I thinned the dipping chocolate with shortening. 

These were for the Super Bowl so I made them in the shape of footballs.  I tried to melt white chocolate to make the laces, but it wasn't cooperating, so I used that writing icing that comes in tubes at the grocery store.

They turned out kind of lumpy, but at least they stayed on the sticks and you could tell they were supposed to be footballs.  I'll keep trying! 

Monster Valentine Box

Aaron has to bring a decorated box to school this year to hold his Valentine cards from his classmates.  I'd seen the idea in Family Fun a few years ago to make a monster face on a Kleenex box.  How perfect for a 9-year-old boy!

Here is our version:

1. Gather supplies: empty Kleenex box, wrapping paper, cardstock, tape, scissors, glue, stapler.

2.  Start wrapping the Kleenex box with the wrapping paper.  Have the paper come together at the opening of the box.  Cut a slit in the paper so you can fold it into the inside of the box through the hole.  Tape to secure inside the box.  Repeat on the other side.

3.  Wrap the sides of the box like you'd wrap a gift.

4.  Cut "teeth" out of white cardstock and tape them to the inside of the box.  I made my teeth a little irregular which I think adds to the charm.

5.  I made the eyes out of cardstock.  Before gluing on the black heart "pupils" I stapled the eyes in position on the box, then glued the heart over the staple.  The staple holds the eyes on the box much more securely than glue or tape.

6.  Embellish however you want!

Valentine Cards for my Friends

I have a group of girlfriends from college with whom I keep in touch.  None of us lives near each other, so I thought I'd send them each a Valentine card just for fun.

These came together fairly quickly.  The front says "Loads of Love!" and the inside sentiment is "friends for the long haul" - which certainly describes our friendship.  

Although we usually keep in touch via facebook, I think it's fun to get "real" mail in your "real" mailbox these days, don't you?

Paper Silhouette Valentine Decoration

Here's a fairly easy project for homemade Valentine's Day decor: paper silhouettes.  These are my two boys, but you could also make one of your spouse or even your dog.

My youngest boy

 The square frames are 7x7 and I purchased them at Michael's a few years back during the after-Christmas clearance. (Since I have red in my living room and kitchen, I buy a lot of things on clearance after Christmas and Valentine's Day!)  The frames came with the red and white mats with a 4x4 opening for a photo.  You could use whatever frame you have and just use cardstock to surround your silhouette.

My oldest boy

Silhouette steps:

• Take a photo of your subject in profile.  Having a mostly blank background makes future steps easier, but it's not required.  Also, the quality of the photo doesn't really matter because you'll just be using the shape - not the actual photo.  
• Print the photo. (Again, quality doesn't matter so you can just print it on regular paper if you want.)  
• Temporarily tape the photo onto some black cardstock.  
• Cut out your silhouette, through the photo paper and the black paper at the same time, using the photo as your guide.  
• Carefully un-stick the photo, flip over the cardstock, and you are left with a lovely black silhouette.

Valentine Mantel

 I taped the silhouette onto white paper using scrapbook tape.  Then I used a paper punch to get the heart shape and I layered it on using foam tape so it sticks up a little.  Insert your project into your frame and you're done!

Side note: The little black frames were purchased in the dollar bin at Michael's.  The "love" letters were cut out using my Cricut, glued onto gray cardstock, and inserted into the frames.