You're Smokin' hot

I found this message website a while ago. It is so much fun. If you haven't yet done anything for Valentine's Day (or even if you have) this is a great last minute Valentine. You can send smoke signals or crop circles (or a few other things) that say anything you want, via email, to anyone you want. You can go to a google map and the smoke signals will come from your own chimney or the crop circles can be in your own back yard or anyplace else you want them to come from. It's free and immediate. If you want to see mine it is here. Sorry, I couldn't figure out how to get it to show on my blog. To send your own message go to MapMSG.com - Smoke signals

A Token of My Love

I put four of these in my husband's coin purse with his change, over a week ago. It took him until yesterday to discover them. I think he will keep them there, with his change. I like that. Then he can be reminded of me every time he uses coins (which apparently isn't all that often).

I bought washers at Home Depot. I used 1 1/4 inch with a 3/8 inch hole. Then I used 1/8 inch metal letter stamps to write on them. I got the stamps at Harbor Freight (if there isn't one near you, you can order them online). It took a little "Good 4 All My Love". One says, "Hug Token" and "Good 4 a Hug". One says "Kiss Token" and "Good 4 A Kiss". The last one says "I Love You" and has our names on the back.

(Sorry the picture is so blurry

Scratch and Win Valentines

These Valentines are like the lottery tickets that you scratch off the silver spot to see if you are a winner. But with these, every heart is a winner. It's just that some might be better than others. We printed the cards, including the prizes, on the computer. Then we covered the row of prizes with clear packing tape (you could use clear contact paper). Then paint over the prize answers with a mixture of 1 part liquid dish detergent (I used Dawn) and 2 part silver paint. It may take more than one coat. I think I was in too big of a hurry so mine turned out a little bumpy (the dish detergent makes the paint bubbly). It would probably be smoother if you could do several thin coats of paint. Make sure you print "Scratch One" under the hearts. I made some coupons and some plain cards. You can say what ever you want on them, but, mine said:

Good for 1 Movie (Your choice), (My choice), (Forget the movie, lets do something else).

Good for 1 (Kiss), (Chocolate Kiss), (Evening Full Of Kisses).

Good for 1 Massage (Shoulders), (Feet), (Full Body).

Good for Dinner at Choose 3 different restaurants.

Do You (Love Me, Too), (Want a Kiss), (Wanna Dance).

I Dream About (Only You), (Growing Old With You), (You, Even When I'm Awake).

You + Me = (Bliss), (A Perfect Pair), (Happily Ever After).

You Make Me (Happy), (Smile), (Complete).

This year I started Valentines a little early because I had a great idea. My husband Loves KrispyKreme doughnuts, and they have heart shaped doughnuts so I thought I would do something with them for valentines, but the closest KrispyKreme is in Orem. I was going to drive down to Orem to get them for a surpise, but Craig took me down to Provo yesterday for my birthday, so I really had a hard time justifying driving down when I was just down there yesterday, so I started early.

I gave them to him and I used the doughnuts to spell love, I just printed off the "L" and the "E" on my printer and cut them out. I told him, "I Do-nut know what I would do without your love."

You're my Sweetie Pie

This is my contribution to our annual neighborhood Valentine exchange. I bought Hostess Pies and put notes with it that say, "You're the apple of my eye. I'm so glad you're my Sweetie Pie" or "I love you berry much. I'm so glad you're my sweetie pie". I think when I give it to my husband I will give him a real pie. It's a lot of fun to see all the ideas that other people come up with. Thank you, thank you for all your ideas.

Chocolate Puzzle Heart

Baker's Cash & Carry has a cute chocolate mold for a Heart Puzzle. You can put a note with it that says, "You hold a piece of my heart", or, "You complete me", or, "I fall to pieces without you" or "I love you to pieces". If you would rather just buy it ready made, it is available here complete with a gift tag. She has other cute Valentine candy, as well.

Kiss Me, I'm Irish

Did you know that you can use the Tupperware funnel as a mold for large candy kisses? I made mine out of Rice Krispie treats. But you can use molding chocolate and make real chocolate kisses, too. Just make sure if you mold something that is runny (like melted chocolate) that you put plastic wrap over the small opening of the funnel before you fill it.

I printed, "KISS ME, I'M IRISH", in green on the computer and cut it in a 3/4 inch strip and wrapped the Rice Krispie treat along with the paper strip in gold aluminum foil (available at kitchen supply stores).

Rice Krispie Treats

1/4 cup margarine
1 10.5 oz. pkg marshmallows (about 40 regular size)*
5 cups Rice Krispies

1. Melt margarine in large saucepan over low heat. Add marshmallows and stir until completely melted. Cook over low heat 3 minutes longer, stirring constantly. Remove from heat.
2. Add Rice Krispies. Stir until well coated.
3. Press into buttered 9x13 pan, using wet fingers. Cut into squares. Or, press into mold sprayed with PAM.
*can substitute 2 cups marshmallow cream, but heat 5 minutes longer.

St. Patrick's Day Pillows

OK. I know Valentine's Day was last month. But I figure any excuse to say, "I love you", is a good one. Besides, St. Patrick's Day is kind of like Valentine's Day. They are both named after Saints. It's pretty close to Valentine's Day and Shamrocks have heart shaped leaves. So maybe Valentines celebrations should just last until St. Patrick's Day.

I now have these pillows on my bed. My daughter thinks that "Feelin' Lucky?" pillow is a little too suggestive for a family friendly blog. If you agree, let me know. I might take that pillow off. But, in my defense, it is in my bedroom, not the living room.

I chose the font I liked and printed the the words on paper, then traced them onto white fabric using disappearing ink. Then I embroided the words on the cloth and sewed the St. Patrick's fabric around the edges and made the pillows. I used premade pillow forms for the stuffing. My pillows are 14 inches by 14 inches and 12 inches by 16 inches.

Divinity Hearts

My mother always made divinity at Christmas when I was little. My mother in law made it, too. It was one of my favorite things when I was little. But whenever I tried to make it, I failed. However, I finally found a recipe that works for me. Last night I made some and used a pastry bag with a very large star tip (B6) to make Heart shaped divinity. It took a little practice, but I think they turned out to be pretty cute.

Don't bring the first hump of the heart clear down to the bottom of the point (make it smaller) Then overlap with the second hump, bringing it down to the point of the heart. Squeeze the bag a little at the top of the hump and release the pressure as you pull the divinity to the point.

Divinity sets up rather quickly so you have to work fast. I was only able to get about half the batch to work as hearts. The rest I just formed into normal divinity.

Here is the recipe I used:

Divinity

4 cups sugar

1 cup white corn syrup

3/4 cup cold water

3 egg whites

1 teaspoon vanilla

3-4 drops food coloring

In a heavy saucepan over medium heat, stir together the sugar, corn syrup, and water. Stir only until sugar has dissolved. Do not stir after this point. Cook syrup mixture until it reaches hard ball stage (260 degrees at sea level).

While the syrup is cooking, beat the egg whites until stiff peaks form. Once the sugar mixture reaches hard ball stage, carefully pour a slow steady stream of syrup into the stiffly beaten egg whites, beating constantly at high speed. Add the vanilla and food coloring and continue to beat until mixture holds its shape. (this will take 5 minutes or more).

Using 2 spoons, drop the divinity onto waxed paper or parchment paper, using 1 spoon to push the candy off the other. Or put mixture in a pastry bag and pipe into heart shapes.

Always remember to calibrate your candy thermometer so it measure correctly for your altitude (hard ball is actually 253 degrees at my altitude)

Denim Quilt

I know Valentine's Day is still several months away. But if you decide you want to do this for Valentine's Day it could take several months to prepare. So I am posting this early. You can collect old jeans from friends or neighbors or buy them at second hand stores. My daughters and I have made several quilts using old blue jeans. We cut 5" squares from old jeans and sewed them together to make the top. Then we tied them to a coordinating back fabric. You can use a thin batt if you would like, but denim is very heavy so make sure the batt is thin. Bandana fabric works really well for the back. Or for Valentine's Day a heart print works well. We included a lot of the details of the pants, like pockets, belt hoops, side seams, buttons and zippers. When you use things like front pockets or zippers, make sure they are sewn closed so that nothing gets lost in the quilt (Just sew across the bottom of the pocket, so the top remains openable).You could even use parts of the pants that have small holes. Just be sure to line the square with a contrasting piece of cloth. Then you can put love notes in the different pockets. Have a picnic on the blanket (on the livingroom floor if it is too cold outside). You're honey could be finding love notes for a very long time. My daughter did this for her husband and he found one of the notes a year later.

Children's sized jeans work well because the pockets are smaller than the pockets on adult sized jeans.

Happy Valentines Day!!

I remember when I was about 10 years old, my dad wrote a poem for me and each of my sisters for Valentine's Day. He just wrote it on a heart cut from red construction paper. Nothing fancy. I don't remember exactly what it said. I was too little then to appreciate it enough to save it. But I do remember how I felt when he gave it to me.
I treasure copies of letters that my Great grandfather wrote to my grandma when she was a young girl away from home at a boarding school. In the letters he expresses his great love for her and how much he misses her and how he trusts that God is watching over her.
There is really nothing I want more, than for my children and grandchildren for generations to come to know how much I love their dad and them and the Savior. How will they know that, if I don't write it down? They won't.
I guess that is the point of this blog entry. If you do nothing else this Valentine's Day, write the people you love a love letter. Not something hot and passionate (although you could do that, too), write your true feelings, something that you want your grandchildren to know. It doesn't have to be fancy. It just needs to be sincere.
If you want to make it cute, Martha Stewart has some cute ideas for love notes on here website here, here, here, and here.

The Queen of Hearts, Made Some Tarts

I made Heart Shaped Tarts to take to my husband at work today. But this morning, I remembered he has the day off. I guess I'll put them in the freezer and give them to him next week. Valentine's Day will just be extended for a few days and I get to spend the day with him.

I got this recipe with a little Martha Stewart heart tart press. But you can use a cookie cutter and crimp the edges with a fork. They are really good served with a dish of vanilla ice cream.

I may put a note with them that says "To My King Of Hearts".
This is the recipe:

Raspberry Heart Tarts

5 cups flour
1 ½ tsp. Salt
4 tsp sugar
2 cups (1 lb.) butter, chilled and cut into small pieces
10 Tbsp. Ice water
1 jar of jam (about 1 cup)
2 egg yolks
2 Tablespoon cream
Sanding sugar (optional)

In a bowl combine flour, salt, and sugar. Add butter and cut in with a pastry blender until the mixture resembles coarse meal. (Or process in a food processor for about 8 - 10 seconds)

Add ice water slowly while mixing just until dough holds together.

Turn dough onto work surface. Form into a disk.

Warm raspberry jam in microwave for 1 minute (so it spreads easier).

Heat oven to 400 F. On a lightly floured surface, roll out the dough about 1/8 inch thick. Using heart press or cookie cutter, cut out heart shapes and put them on a clean surface. Brush edge with water. With back of spoon, spread 1 ½ tsp. Jam evenly to within ¼ inch of the edge of each tart. Carefully place another heart on top. To seal, place the heart press on top of the filled pastry and press down, crimping the edges together or use the tines of a fork to crimp the edges together all the way around. Repeat with remaining hearts. Using kitchen shears or a sharp knife, trim off any excess dough. Transfer to cookie sheet, placing about 1” apart.

In a small bowl. Combine the egg yolks and the cream. Brush evenly over each heart. And transfer to the freezer for 20 minutes. Remove from the freezer and sprinkle with sanding sugar, if desired. Bake until crust is golden, 25-30 minutes. Transfer to a wire rack to cool.

A Kid'll Eat the Middle of an Oreo First

Yesterday, while my daughter was at the grocery store, she found a really good deal on Winter Oreos (the ones with the red middles). They were on a close out after Christmas sale. She bought several packages because she thought they would be great for Valentines. She dipped them in chocolate and put some little Valentine sprinkles on them. I think they turned out pretty cute. They might be even cuter if you dipped them in white chocolate. But we didn't have any. We may give them to some of our neighbors for Valentine's.

No Bones About It.

Everybody makes heart sugar cookies for Valentines. They are cute and in lots of families, they are a tradition. They have been in mine, too. However, as much as I love Valentines and hearts, I think it's kind of fun to surprise people with something a little unexpected. That's why I made Bone Valentine Cookies for my husband to take to work today. I put little hearts on them so they look a little more Valentiney. Use your favorite sugar cookie recipe. Put parchment paper on the cookie sheet before you put the cookies on. It makes the cookies easy to take off the pans and it makes the them hold their shape better, they don't spread. This is my favorite sugar cookie recipe:

Lion House Sugar Cookies

1⅓ cup margarine 6½-7 cups flour
3 cups sugar 1 tsp. salt
4 eggs 5 tsp. baking powder
2 tsp. Vanilla
¼ cup milk

Preheat oven to 400º. Cream margarine and sugar. Mix in eggs, vanilla and milk. Add flour, salt and baking powder. Mix well. Roll 1/4 inch thick on a floured surface. Cut in desired shapes. Bake 7-8 minutes on cookie sheets covered with parchment paper. Remove from pans. Let cool and decorate with frosting and sprinkles, etc.
I put a card with them that says:


"No Bones About It, I Want You For My Valentine.

The first Valentines I ever gave to my husband were like these. We were in high school. My older sister had found the patterns when she was in college and gave them to me. I made several more for him while we were in college. I'm not sure that it made him fall in love with me, but at least they kept his attention until he did. I made them from colored card stock. But you could just download them and color them if you want. However, the patterns are really just sketches so you might still have to improve them.

The first is a fireman. His heart says "You Set My Heart On Fire".

The next one is a cat or a tiger, depending on what color you make his stripes. His snout lifts up and it says either, "You're My Purrr-fect Valentine", or "You're Grrrreat".

When you lift the tag on the Dog it says "Without You".

The lion's snout lift up and it says either "I Love You" or I Think You're Grrrreat!"
The heart on the Owl says, "Guess Whooo", When you lift his arm it says, "Loves You". Lift his glasses and it says, "Eye Do".

The bear has a sign on the outside that says, "I Love You". When he opens his arms it says, "This Much".

The Hippo Says "Happy Valentine's Day". Under her fan it says, "From Your Biggest Fan".

On the front of the Skunk card it says "It Stinks". When you lift up the arm it says, "When You're Not Around".

Charis's Valentines

Hi I am the daughter. I loved growing up and watching my mother show her love for my daddio. Consequently I have decided to do it for my husband. Here are some of the ideas I have done this year for my husband.

I first of all got stuff that he needed, and tried to make it cute.

He needed new pants So I told him "You are my smartie pants" (gave him some canadian smarties too!)
He needed a new shirt and tie so he gets that on Sunday with a note that says we are the perfect fit.
He needs a drill and a level. . he is always wishing he had one so that is what he gets, with a note that says, "you know the drill, be my valentine" and one that says, "You are my life saver" you keep me "level" headed." oh yeah and he gets gummie life savers... his favorite.
I got him some of his favorite candy from England and a note that ties them together.
Some really stupid novelty things
I got him a childrens music CD so we can sing to our baby at night and a Signing DVD to help him learn how to sign songs to our baby. (everyone in our immediate family signs. . . so we are trying to expand our knowledge of the language).
He loves to play games with the family so I got him a game.
He loves to read to my baby, so I got him a book that is really cool
He loves to go hit golf balls, but it costs lots of money so I got him some foam golf balls and a driving mat so that he can go practice hitting them in the yard.
He ties balloon animals, so I got him a new book that shows how to make animals with lots of balloons, very cool.
I got him some treats that he likes to sit and share with the kids. They say things like "I am your fairly tale princess" and "you are my super hero" and "I know this is cheesy, but I love you lots and lots and lots and lots" Etc.
Really, you can make anything into a valentine, big or small, if you don't have a lot of money just use stuff you need anyhow and make it special. They will just love the fact that you thought of a special way of giving it to them.

Fruit Basket

I took this Valentine to my husband at work. He enjoyed sharing the fruit with his co workers.


This is what the card says:

I love you ”berry” much.
You’re one “peach” of a guy.
You are absolutely “grape”.
You’re the “apple” of my eye.

You’re one in a “melon”.
In the “lime”light you should be.
I am “nuts” about you.
Oh “Honeydew” you love me?

You and I are quite a “pear”.
I’ve gone “bananas” over you.
You’re “plum” perfect in every way.
“Orange” you glad our love is true?
Copyright by Christine Strong -February 2001

Pirate Hat

Next to Christmas, Thanksgiving and Valentines Day my family's favorite holiday is International Talk Like a Pirate Day (Sept. 19). Every year my hubby and I, and any kids we cah coerce into coming along, dress like pirates and go to several neighbors homes and tell pirate jokes (clean ones) and give them a package of Chips Ahoy cookies (Pirate's favorite cookies) and a bottle of Ginger Ale. We do all this while talking in our best pirate voices, of course. I know you are wondering what this has to do with Valentine's Day. But today I found the best Valentine for my husband. It is a really beautiful pirate hat (it was at a going out of business sale at a costume shop by me). I know, it's probably not the greatest idea to share because most men really wouldn't want one and it really has nothing to do with the day at hand. But my poor husband has had to settle for a crummy bandana for the past several years. He will be absolutely thrilled!!

My point is, anything can be made in to a valentine. Whatever means something to you or your husband can make a great valentine. Just use your imagination. Be creative. Have fun.




By the way, I'm making a card that says, "Arrgh, You've stolen me heart, Matey".

Oh, and what ever you do, don't tell my husband. I don't want to ruin the surprise!!!!

Stud Muffin

Some of my husband's favorite Valentines are the ones that he can share at work.

My friend, Barbara made a valentine for our Valentine exchange using a muffin sitting on a 2x4.


She included a poem that says:

Any which way you cut it
Measure it however you can
You have certainly nailed it
As my lovin' STUD MUFFIN man!

Another friend adapted it by making a box out of 2x4's and filling it with lots of minature muffins. We then delivered them to the office for everyone to enjoy.