Valentine's Day...make it special for the kids!

Valentine's Day is just around the corner, and my brain is buzzing with Valentine's Day ideas. I love all holidays with a passion, but I actually ENJOY Valentine's Day. During most holidays, such as Christmas, Easter, and Thanksgiving, the joy of the holiday is overshadowed with the craziness that comes with meal planning, cleaning your house for company, cooking like a crazy person, running to the grocery store, making sure the presents are wrapped....in all the bustle, it's easy to lose track of the real joy in the holidays...spending time with your loved ones. Valentine's Day is the exception, because it's a very underwhelming holiday...most people don't host extravagant Valentine's dinners, so there is plenty of time to put a little thought into the little things...which are what really make memories for your loved ones.

When it comes to the kids, we parents will jump at any chance to make them feel special. Valentine's Day is the perfect excuse to make them each feel loved, by planning little surprises throughout the day. They need not be expensive gifts, just little gestures to make them feel they are someone's valentine, and they are special to you. I love to start off the day with a Valentine's breakfast...we usually make heart shaped pancakes using a pancake mold, but this can also be done with a large heart shaped cookie cutter. Here are a few breakfast ideas to help get your creative juices flowing:



My daughter loves it if I stick a little love note into her lunch....I'm pretty sure my son does too, but he would never admit it...The sky is the limit for lunch ideas at Valentines. Here are a few great ideas, all served up in my favorite BPA free lunch gear, from Easylunchboxes.com. These things are so handy, I can't even tell you. I pack two in my kids lunch everyday, one with a lunch, one with a snack. The best part??? No waste!

(photos from lisastorms.typepad.com)

My husband and I usually celebrate our own Valentine's Day the weekend before...it just seems easier for us...easier for whoever is watching the kids, no lunches to pack the next day, more lax bedtimes...which frees us up on Valentine's Day, to have a special dinner at home with the kids. I try and have a small gift for each kid when they get home, and a little Valentine's snack, maybe cupcakes or cookies. I love the idea of this charming little Valentine fort, to sit in and eat our goodies while we look through each of their valentine's card they received that day. How cute is that? Then, just dinner at home, with a few little decorations around the table...and you have a memorable, cheap, Valentine's day for the family.




As for the Valentine's themselves? This year, we made these awesome little monster bookmarks. See the tutorial here. They were super easy, and something you can reuse!

Happy Valentine's Day!

Salted caramel sauce...heaven in a jar!

With the economy the way it is, there has never been a better time to stretch your crafty wings, and DIY your holiday gifts. I was talking to my mom this morning, reminiscing about Christmas a couple of years ago...the house cleaners would show up and scrub my house from top to bottom, and the teachers gift baskets were filled with Starbucks cards and gourmet goodies. These days, I'm the one scrubbing the house, and everything in the teacher baskets was crafted by me or the kids. These are just the times...everyone is scrimping by, spending a little less, shopping locally to save on shipping, and coming up with their own gift ideas. But really, is that such a bad thing? (yes on the house cleaners.....I miss you...come back to me...:(....) but as I looked at the kids teacher gifts, they were wrapped by the kids, with little handmade ornaments tucked in, peppermint bark from our own kitchen, stacks of coasters made by the kids, $1 mugs from Walmart, (that's right...I went to Walmart...times they are a changin',) and my newest treasure...homemade salted caramel sauce...and I actually had a thought...which is rare because who has time to think these days...but isn't that exactly what is at the heart of Christmas? Giving that takes effort, and love, and thought...not just some random thing bought off the internet? There is no better time to whip something up with love in your kitchen, and salted caramel is all the rage. I have to say, I see why. I love this stuff in every form. Salted caramel cupcakes, salted caramel frappucinos, salted caramel cake...I opted to make just salted caramel sauce, as you can really use it for anything. Dip some apples into it, pour it over ice cream, add it to your coffee, or just eat it with a spoon. Salty and sweet is my favorite combination, and this sauce gets it just right! I made up my own recipe, based on a couple of others I had found, then I doubled it , and poured it into mini canning jars, and the kids helped make labels. So festive!



Salted Caramel Sauce

1 cup water
2 cups sugar
1 cup brown sugar
2 cups heavy whipping cream
1/4 cup butter
1/2 to 1 tsp course sea salt or fleur de sel

Pour water into a sauce pan, then pour sugar into the middle of the pan, DO NOT STIR. Let it simmer and cook for around 20 minutes or so, until sugar is completely dissolved, and the mixture starts to turn a little yellow. Add the cream, but watch out, it wants to bubble over quickly, so watch the heat. In another small sauce pan, melt butter and brown sugar. Stir into mixture and continue to cook for a few minutes until it gets a little thicker. Remove from heat. (mixture will thicken up as it cools.) Add sea salt to taste. I pour sauce into a big measuring cup so it's easier to pour into jars, which you should do while it's still pretty warm. Keep in the fridge for up to 2 weeks. Heat in microwave or stove top before serving. As I said earlier, I doubled this recipe, and it made enough for about 5 plus small jelly jars. Enjoy, and Merry Merry Christmas!

Christmas stockings...so easy to make!

My dining room is a far different room than any of the other rooms in my house. Where I stayed light and airy in most of my living spaces, the dining room is a mix of dark wood, black, and animal print. It has dark reddish walls, and an orange ceiling. That's right. I said orange. Don't freak out. It's not all Snooky...I promise. It has a large stone fireplace, and I have been hanging the same old burgundy velvet stockings on there since the dawn of time. Every year, I say, "those don't match, we need new stockings...something funky..." and my husband says, "they're red, the walls are red, they match." Ummmm, we all know that all reds are not created equally. Burgundy, and red....they do not match. It's a common fact in this world. I have been on the look out for replacement stockings for years, never to find exactly what I was looking for. Then it dawned on me. I can make them. It can't be that hard. Right? Well, it wasn't! They took me an hour to make all three. I switched out the old ones, and I loooove the new ones! Exactly, what I was looking for, and $10 for all three!

You will need: 1/3 yard of fabric per stocking
Matching thread
Fur trim, (or any kind of trim for that matter) sold in fabric stores
decorative tassles or fringe (I hate that word)
an old stocking to trace (you would think it wouldn't be that hard to draw a stocking, but mine turned out super freaky
Knowledge of how to thread a sewing machine, and skills to sew a straight line.

First, flip fabric over the backside. Trace your stocking. Trace your stocking the opposite way for the front. Put sides together and sew, keeping it inside out. Do not sew the top together (obviously.) When you are finished, turn the stocking inside out. You can either hand sew the tassles to the fur trim, then hand sew them on to the stocking...or you can do this:

I added a strip of fringe under the fur, and over the stocking, then sewed a line across in matching thread with the machine. Then I turned it to the backside (no one sees that side anyway,) and hand sewed it across, and then down the side. Anyone who has taken a lesson on me about sewing beware....I am known for my 5 minute pillows, free hand crazy, not always in a straight line kind of sewing. I figure, if you have a little common sense, and good guessing skills, no one will study it THAT carefully, right? Quick and crazy is better. For some things. For most things. Anyway, go to the fabric store and find some fabric that inspires you! You still have almost 3 weeks! Happy sewing, and happy holidays!

Holiday signs...get your craft on this Christmas!

Coming up with craft ideas for the kids for the annual Christmas bazaar at the kids school proves difficult, year after year. Now, two out of my three kids want to have their own table to sell their own goods, so guess who gets to think of the ideas...shop for all the ideas...explain how to make the crafts...then finish the crafts as the kids burn out...then, with a little help...clean up the crafts. And crafting with the kids is fun, why? Exactly? Well, it actually does become worth it seeing their cute little handmade items they are so proud to sell, and then they take the money they make, and shop around the bazaar. They pick out cute little things for their siblings, and usually for me...and I love what they come up with. This year, I decided to help them make some cute wooden Christmas signs to add to all of their ornaments, hand sewn napkins, coasters (see here), and dog treats. But then something happened. I kind of took over the signs and I just kept going. Then, as the signs got cuter and cuter, I started looking for places around my house to hang them. Grace was like "um...mom, aren't we supposed to be selling those? Think of the money we could make..." I prefer to think of all the money we could save, if I just went ahead and kept them, you know...adding to my Christmas decorations for free! Actually, these signs cost around $30 to make all three, but are super sturdy, can be made to match your own decor, or can be given as gifts! They took me around two hours to make, and I am loving them! So, come on! Get crafty, just in time for the holidays!

You will need:

1 1"x6" board from Home Depot (about $5)
wooden letters (found mine at Walmart $1.98 each)
modge podge
Hot glue gun or strong wood glue
paint
picture hangers
primer or white spray paint
glittery or decorative craft paper







Start by laying out the words (I used peace, joy, and noel) on the board and draw lines with a pencil where you need to cut the board into three. Sweet talk your husband, unless you are crafty with the power tools, to make the cuts for you. If neither one of you are comfy with a handsaw or table saw, take it back to home depot, they will cut it for free. Spray primer on all the letters, and the boards, front and sides, (you don't have to spray the back.) After they are dry, paint the board any color you choose. Trace the wooden letters on the backs of decorative paper, and cut out. Play around with setting the paper on top of the letters to get a color combo you like. Paint the sides of the letter to correlate with what paper you are using...thin paper can be modge podged to the letter, and then a thin coat applied over the top. You can also paint the letters and decorate with sparkly glue, polka dots, etc. Heavy paper (I used mostly heavy paper) needs to get glued to the letter with a hot glue gun or wood glue. Then, hot glue your letters onto the board, then add a picture hanger to the back (Home depot $2.50 for three of them), and they are ready to hang! Go girl! Look what you just did!

Handmade Coasters...so easy, so awesome!

I have seen many tutorials for making coasters lately, and finally decided to give it a try myself. Every year I try to make something to give away as Christmas gifts, and this year...spoiler alert to my friends and family...it's coasters. There are so many ways to make coasters, and I settled on ceramic tile coasters. You can paint them, add a paper cutout, use a sharpie and a stencil...I decided to use the craft paper technique. Now those who know me, know I have a tendency to throw myself into my projects...no one gets fed, no other housework gets done, and it's almost impossible to have a conversation with me while I am in the midst of crafting. It's an all or nothing deal. This is the same reason I won't read Twilight, or any other book for that matter. Sad, I know, there was a time I loved to read, but I have learned my limits as a parent. I have a family who have needs, and I will literally sit there until the book is done. No eating, no sleeping, like some kind of freak. So, usually when I start a project my husband has this nervous thing that happens...like"uh, okay, um, how long will that take?" What he really means is when should I expect to see you emerge from your craft like trance and and be a real person again? Surprisingly, this coaster thing was different. I enlisted the help of Grace and my niece Trenna, and of course I had two other little sets of boy hands trying to help...which brought up this well known conversation..."Honey? How much longer does the game have? Can you take the boys outside? Honey? Anyone? Bueller?" Nothing. But we rocked it out, and they turned out awesome. Here is my tutorial, which is kind of a blend of many tutorials I read:



4 (or more depending on how many sets you are making) ceramic 4 1/2 x 4 1/2 white tiles (home depot-16 cents each)
1 bottle modge podge
decorative craft paper
foam brushes
clear spray lacquer
super strong glue
any color felt (fabric store, about $3 for a yard)
Turn the craft paper over and trace a tile on the back. Cut four of these. Apply a VERY THIN layer of modge podge to completely cover the top of the tile. Let dry for approximately half an hour. Turn tile upside down and trim along edges so there is no over hang. You can also sand the edges for a more distressed look, or cut the square of paper a quarter of an inch smaller than the tile so you have a border. Apply another very thin layer over the top, let dry for about 15 minutes, and repeat 3 or 4 times. The last coat I apply is a little thicker, and I modge podge the edges as well. After they are all dry, lay the coasters out and spray top and edges with lacquer. Wait a few hours and spray again. When completely dry, cut a 3 1/2" X 3 1/2" square of felt and glue to the back. Stack in sets of 4,5, or 6 and tie with ribbon! Gorgeous, professional looking coasters! We made about a hundred coasters, (the girls are going to sell some at the bazaar at school), and it cost about $25 for the total project. I already had paper and modge podge, and it cost about $15 for the tiles, and $10 for two cans of lacquer spray. We made many different color schemes to match different people, and even colored the edges on some with a black sharpie and did some animal print ones to match my dining room. Seriously, so easy and kind of fun!

Glitter pumpkins...so sparkly!

Everyone knows there are all types of pumpkins...short, fat, round, white, bumpy, sugar, you name it, someone grows it. They are perfection for a thanksgiving centerpiece, mixed with leaves, candles, and pine cones. I have seen some really ornate centerpieces, and I have to say, for me, the more simple the better. But simple + sparkly? Does glitter not make everything better? I say yes, and when I first discovered the Martha Stewart glitter pumpkins, I was in love. Simple...sparkly...autumn-like...add some candles and glow in the season. Here are some images of what other people have done with glitter pumpkins:




I kind of changed up the way Martha does it....the first time I did these I was short on time, and supplies. I do love her glitter, and you can find it on Martha Stewart.com or Amazon for around $7-$9. It's expensive but will last for years. Here is my list of what you will need...(don't tell Martha, don't think I would want her mad at me! That would not be....a good thing.)

1 can spray adhesive
multiple colors of Martha Stewart glitter (I use Fire Opal, Brownstone, and Bronze)
Small pie pumpkins
brown craft paint

Hold the pumpkin by the stem over some newspaper. Spray the entire pumpkin, except the stem.
Sprinkle on the glitter over a separate area of newspaper, don't be sparse! After you sprinkle, grab the sides of the paper and form a line with the fallen glitter.You can pour it right back into the container.
Let dry for approx. 1/2 hour. Paint the stems with brown craft paint.
Done! How easy was that?