Valentine's Day Love

Valentine's Day is one of my favorite holidays! I'm still looking for that perfect gift for my hubby...
This is a small Valentine montage from Poppytalk blog. Enjoy!

 
Poppytalk - The beautiful, the decayed and the handmade: Today at Poppytalk Handmade:
Contributor post by Erin of  Dear Edna
1. Renee Anne  2. Golly Bard  3.  Yellow Button Studio
4. Lucy Snowe Photography 5.  Datter Industries

How To Knit A Giganto Blanket!

Christmas Eve Creamy Crockpot Hot Chocolate

Christmas Eve Creamy Crockpot Hot Chocolate - 1.5 cups heavy cream, 1 can of sweetened condensed milk (14oz), 2 cups milk chocolate chips, 6 cups of milk, 1 tsp vanilla extract. Yum!---have to remember this at christmas this year!!








And from Real Mom Kitchen:

Peppermint Whipped Cream. Perfect for hot chocolate..

My favorite way to top my hot cocoa or hot chocolate with whipped cream. This is an easy peppermint whipped cream recipe.  I love this on top of  hot chocolate.  If served right away,   the crunchy bits of candy cane add texture to the cream.  If served after a while, the candy canes completely dissolve for a delicious creamy topping.  Peppermint Cream also works well served on top of chocolate pie, brownies, cupcakes, etc.  

Peppermint Whipped Cream

Ingredients:

  6 red and white peppermint candy canes or 24 red and white mini peppermint candy canes

  2 cups of whipping cream

1. Unwrap your candy canes and place them in a blender or food processor. I like to break them into pieces as I add them to the blender.
2. Process until the candy canes util they are a fairly fine powder.
3. In another bowl, whip cream until firm. No need to add sugar. The sweetness will come from the candy canes.
4. Fold in the candy cane powder in the cream. Use immediately to top you cocoa if you like little pieces of crunchy candy cane in it (This is the way I like it). Or place in the refrigerator for 2 hours and allow the candy canes to completely dissolve.

Meet the Dubiens: make your own rainbow watercolors

Meet the Dubiens: make your own rainbow watercolors:I found the idea of making your own homemade watercolor paints on Martha Stewart and I absolutely loved it. Now that we've made our own watercolors, I'll never use anything else. These watercolors are absolutely amazing. I think they are far superior to any other watercolor paints I had previously purchased for my kiddos. It also makes quite a bit, so I bought some awesome individual containers and just close the lid after we use them and have lots leftover for the next time. I also love that you can control how bright/vibrant the colors will be by adding either a little or a lot of food coloring. I like vibrant, so that's exactly what mine are. I'm including this craft in our St. Patrick's day activities because we used our watercolors to make beautiful rainbows. Cam really wasn't interested in making rainbows, but Kirsten was really excited and did an amazing job. She painted four of them! I framed one of them and it looks amazing. Here are the instructions to make your own watercolors:

What you'll need (for each color):

2 tbsp baking soda
1 tbsp white vinegar
1/4 tsp light corn syrup
1 tbsp cornstarch

We made 6 colors - so you will need 6x the above ingredients

gel food coloring
6 bowls
spoons
airtight containers

watercolor paper
paintbrushes

* This recipe made a large batch and I was able to make a set for both Kirsten and Camden to have their own *

Directions:

1. in each bowl add the above ingredients - 2 tbsp baking soda, 1 tbsp white vinegar, 1/4 tsp light corn syrup, 1 tbsp cornstarch. Mix until everything is well dissolved. If the mixture is too thick, add a little bit more vinegar. You basically want it to be like an oobleck or gak consistency (can be formed but then melts away if you let it go).

2. add your food coloring to each bowl and mix well - we did a rainbow of colors - red, orange, yellow, green, blue, purple.

3. pour your paint mixture into individual containers, leave the lids off and allow to dry completely - at least overnight.

4. give the paints to your kiddos (I made a set for each kid) with a paint brush, watercolor paper and a cup of water and let them paint away!

How to Make a Fall Wreath with Corn Tassels!

This is a wonderful tutorial from Brooke from All Things Thrifty Blog. At almost no cost, this wreath
 is fun and easy to make!

"My name is Brooke  and I normally blog over at All Things Thrifty where I post about my thrifty decorating addiction! Let me tell you a little about myself before we get going! In a nutshell, I grew up on a farm in Central Utah. I’m a mom of four little kiddos, and I love to decorate. My sisters, my mom, and I love to craft together, and the project I’m sharing with you today happens to be a wreath that my Sister Natalie made. I’m a super thrifty gal and I love to teach my tips and tricks. I’m telling ya peeps, sometimes the cheapest projects turn out the very best around my house. My favorite way to decorate my home is with ultra unique items that can’t be bought in any store. Come check out some of my furniture transformations, and you will see what I mean! I am thrilled to be part of Amy’s Fall Festival today, and I was super excited that she asked me to participate! Let’s get started!

This project most likely won’t cost you a dime to make.

You can’t beat FREE right!?!?

You will need:

A corn field {HA! yep, I said a corn field}

Scissors

A plastic bag

A pool noodle {Summer is over so just use an old one you have laying around or go buy

one for $1 or less}

Some duct tape.

*Before you to stalking through the corn field off in the boonies, please ask permission. :)

Step 1: Gather 4 bags full of corn tassels.   Scissors work great for this. The tassel is the very top of the corn stalk in case you didn’t know.

Try your darndest to get tassels that are straight instead of tassels that spray all over the place..

Step 2: After you have a bag full of tassels, you need to make a pool noodle wreath by cutting it and duct taping it together. You can spray paint it if you want, but really no one will see the pool noodle once you are done.

Step 3: Divide your tassels into separate piles depending

      on their lengths. You can cut down your tassels if you need to.

Step 4: Make a small hole in the noodle with the end of your scissors and slide in your tassel one at a time. Start at the back with your longest {and straightest} corn tassels.

Step 5: Continue layering your tassels into your pool noodle until it is full.

The only thing that would make this wreath better is if it were MINE instead of my Sister’s. Don’t you think she should make me one? I think so!

I think a trio of corn tassel wreaths would be darling on my front door to celebrate FALL. I hope that you have enjoyed this fun {and more importantly basically FREE} idea, come visit me over at my blog! I would love to have you!

Brooke from All Things Thrifty

The Creative Vault: Antique Week: Delicate Flowers

The Creative Vault: Antique Week: Delicate Flowers: here is a delightful assortment of pics of Alicia's Mother's collection of tins. Love it all!

Love the green leaf tea cup and saucer

The tin on the left is my favorite

love the doilies and oil lamps

beautiful china

calico china is so collectable

Cherry Pie Fluff or Pink Fluff

This recipe was shared by The Better Baker Blog. We have cherry pie fluff every Thanksgiving! We call it Aunt Sherry's Pink Fluff.

CHERRY PIE FLUFF

1 (20 oz) can no sugar added cherry pie filling

1 (4 serv. size) box sugar free cheesecake pudding mix

8 ozs. fat free cool whip

Combine cherry pie filling with pudding mix.  
Fold in cool whip.

Chill and enjoy.

Points (Prior to Points Plus):

heaping 3/4 c. = 3 points

                                                    2/3 c. = 2 points