Sunday, February 5, 2012

Preparing for Valentine's Day

Even though I love to decorate, I am not usually one to re-decorate the house for every holiday. Because we were gone most of January in Brazil, I just got my Christmas tree taken down last week.

But Friday night, my BFF/neighbor Ashlee wanted to make V-day wreaths. She had found an easy to follow tutorial online here.


Hobby Lobby had a wonderful selection of burlap - we chose red for our wreaths. We then cut the burlap into 2.5 inch strips.


We formed our wire into the shape of hearts. After folding the burlap strips in an accordion style, the wire was easily threaded onto the fabric.



The wreath looked adorable on the floor, laying flat.


But the second we lifted our creation, we realized our wire was too thin to hold the form.


So we moved on quickly to plan B - wire coat hangers.


They worked marvelously. And my wreath is proudly displayed on my front door. Although it's far from perfect, it still makes me smile.


I love the red against the teal painted door. (See about my painting the front door here.)

The wreath was just the thing to get me in the Valentine mood -Saturday morning, I whipped up a batch of chocolate chip cookies. I added some red M&M's.

Chocolate Chip Cookies
3/4 cup of shortening
1/4 cup butter

Mix until smooth.

Add 2 eggs, 2 tsp. vanilla, 3/4 cup brown sugar, 3/4 cup sugar. Beat until smooth.

Mix 1 tsp. salt and 2 cups of flour. Add another1/2 cup flour sparingly, as needed. Add 1/2 bag of chocolate chips.

Bake 325 degrees for 10 minutes.  I usually take the cookies out after 9 minutes and let them cook a little more on the cookie sheet. This helps to keep them a little gooey.


I also altered my Peppermint Patty recipe for Valentine's Day. It is a simple recipe that I saw Giada make -


Peppermint Patties
3 1/2 cup powdered sugar
1 egg white
1 tsp water
1 tsp peppermint extract
Food coloring (optional)

I simply substituted Raspberry extract for the peppermint. After adding a dash of red food coloring, my patties were looking quire festive.

Dip patties in melted chocolate. I melt chocolate chips in the microwave with 1 tsp of oil. The oil helps the chocolate to remain shiny. After letting them harden on wax paper, my raspberry patties were ready to share.

How are you preparing for Valentine's Day?

1 comment:

  1. Love the way the blue door makes this cute wreath pop! You should enter your photos from this project into Craftbaby's Hearts Craft Challenge :-) http://www.craftbaby.com/contests/43/those-tiny-toes-hearts-craft

    xo,
    Candie

    ReplyDelete