Valentine's Day

Valentine Cut Out Sugar Cookies

sugar cookies, rolled cookie dough, heart cookies

Add a little sweetness to this Valentine’s Day, or any celebration, with some simple heart-shaped cutout sugar cookies. This rolled sugar cookie recipe is super easy to make!

Use prepared frosting from a can to decorate them or make your own homemade frosting just like Mom used to make! Add some pretty pink, red or white sprinkles and you are done! ❤️

This blog contains Amazon affiliate links. ❤️

Valentine’s Day Sugar Cookies

Ingredients

1 1/2 cups butter, softened

2 cups granulated sugar

4 eggs

1 tsp vanilla

5 cups all-purpose flour

2 tsp. baking powder

1 tsp. salt

Preparing the Dough

Cream softened butter and sugar in a large mixing bowl.
Add eggs and vanilla, mixing on medium speed.
Add baking powder, salt and flour (add flour one cup at a time) and blend.
Separate into two sections of dough.
Wrap in plastic wrap.
Refrigerate 1 hour up to 24 hours.

Baking Directions

Preheat oven to 400° F
Lightly flour a clean counter.
Roll one section of dough, using a rolling pin, to about 1/2 inch thick.
Cut out with cookie cutters
Place on ungreased cookie sheet.*
Bake 6-8 minutes till very lightly brown.
Cool completely.
Frost and decorate.

*You may want tocover it with parchment paperfor protection from burning plus easy clean up.

Rolled sugar cookies shaped like Valentines #cookies

Tip: use a tub of prepared vanilla cake frosting. If you want pink, add a few drops of red food coloring and mix it through. I covered a few of the big cookies with white frosting, and then added the food coloring to do the little ones with pink. After I frosted each one, I just decorated it with pretty Valentine sprinkles!

Easiest prettiest heart-shaped cookies #recipe #ValentinesDay #kids Share on X

Farberware Classic Wood Rolling Pin

The day that I baked these Valentine cookies, I also made some Snowman Cookies. Directions for making the snowman cookies plus a party idea and some baking tips here…

Snowman Cookie Recipe

sugar cookies, dessert, holiday cookies, dessert recipes, cookie cutter cookies

Enjoy!

If you bake like we do, you are undoubtedly have a bit of cleanup (even on the floor!) Yes, flour and sugar are escape-artists. Somehow they hop off the counter and your hands and get around the place.

If your vacuum cleaner is not your most favorite tool in your kitchen then maybe you don’t have a Shark??

I needed a better one for pet hair cleanup. My old not-a-Shark one did not even know it was supposed to pick up pet hair (LOL.) It wasn’t a Shark.

In fact, I hadn’t even heard of Shark vacuums back then.

My journey in search for the vacuum cleaner of my dreams was a long arduous one but when I finally got my SHARK it was my “cleaning dream come true!” You should get one. You will be glad.

Shark navigator vacuum with LED headlights

Happiness is Homemade Valentines Day Party!

Valentine Sweets on Happiness Is Homemade

Valentine’s Day is Wednesday. Whether you go out for dinner or make a special dinner at home, I don’t think it is complete without something sweet. So today I give you some luscious desserts that might inspire you to make. Have a wonderful Valentine’s Day

(Last weeks)

This blog contains Amazon affiliate links! ♥

Features from Last Week’s Party

Valentine pops

Marshmallow Valentine Pops

2 Ingredient Valentine’s Day Fudge

Valentine’s Day Oreos

Jovakit heart-shaped polarized sunglasses! ad

Strawberries and Cream Shake

Valentine Rice Krispies

Do you have a Paw Patrol enthusiast in your life? I can tell you as a grandma and preschool teacher, Paw Patrol figurines are HIGHLY popular with little ones and show up OFTEN for show & tell at school.

In fact, I have known children to bring the same ones for show & tell weeks in a row. They are so proud of them and NEVER get tired of them …. ever, ever, ever! LOL On week #3 their teacher did get a bit weary (LOL, me) but I kept a smile on my face and listened intently to their delight as they talked endlessly about their little pals.

Popular: Heart Shaped Sun Catcher Craft on Ducks ‘n a Row

This Valentine craft is great for adults and children alike. Easy and fun! Looks so pretty in the window.

14 Inspiring Heart Crochet Patterns

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Do you love to crochet? Maybe you just love having crocheted decorations and accessories but would rather have someone else make it. As I was browsing through Pinterest today, I found so many praise worthy heart shaped crochet projects that I just had to share them with you. So, enjoy the view and save the ones you love for future reference!

This blog contains Amazon affiliate links. ♥

Look at these colorful stitch-marker charms for your knitting or crocheting projects!

14 Inspiring Heart Crochet Patterns

Warm up with a Heart Cup Cozy – 1DogWoof

Best Seller on Amazon => Crochet Techniques & Tips

Free Envelop Heart Crochet Pattern – Crochet Spot

Free Envelop Heart Crochet Pattern – Crochet Spot

Conversation Heart Crochet Garland – Twinkie Chan

Crochet Heart Storage Baskets – My Poppet

Handmade Boho Style Throw Blanket

Granny Heart Crocheted Coasters by Fab Art DIY

Amigurumi Heart Crochet Pattern – The Knitting Network

BEST for ARTHRITIC HANDS >> Ergonomic Crochet and Needlework Set

Crocheted Heart Patterns – The Spruce Crafts

Crochet Heart Bouquet – Simply Tale

Granny Heart Crochet Pattern – Daisy Cottage Designs

Crochet Wall Art Hanging / Amigurumi – Anutha Crochet World

Crochet Red & White Danish Heart by Ravelry

Tiny Hearts Cozy for your drinks – Heather Corinne Crochets

Mini Hearts Crochet Wall Hanging – Love & Stitch Design

Which ones do you like best?

Enjoy!

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The Woobles Beginners Crochet Kit with Easy Peasy Yarn as seen on Shark Tank – with Step-by-Step Video Tutorials – Fred The Dinosaur

Love Bug Toilet Roll Paper Craft for Valentine’s Day

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These Valentine Love Bugs are so easy and fun to make.

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Fun craft set with magic color scratch hearts #ad

Valentine’s Day “Love Bugs” Preschool Craft

Supplies

Empty Toilet Paper Rolls

Colored Copy Paper

Glue Stick

White School Glue

Scissors

Heart Shaped Pattern

How to Make Valentine Love Bugs

Cover toilet paper rolls in colored paper, glued on with white school glue.
Cut two hearts out of different colored paper, one smaller than the other.
Glue the smaller heart inside the larger, creating a border – then glue it on the toilet paper roll as “wings”
Make the face: googly eyes, a heart for a nose and pen-drawn mouth make the sweet little face.
Punch two holes punched at the top of the back of the rolls make it simple to add pipe cleaners for antennas. Just run ’em through, bend and twist so they stay put.
Stickers are a fun decoration for little ones to add.

Perfect compliment for V is for Valentine preschool lesson.

Adorable toilet paper roll craft made into Valentine Love Bugs. #kidscrafts Share on X

Another really cute Valentine craft is perfect as a treat for a kids’ Valentine’s Day party: Valentine Robots

Enjoy!

Valentine Party Ideas for Kids

Valentine Party Snacks

Valentine Cutout Sugar Cookies

Easy Heart Shaped Rice Krispie Treat Pops

Valentine Robot Party Favor [snacks]

Valentine's Day party ideas for kids parties #tips #ValentinesDay #preschool Share on X

Valentine Crafts

Conversation Heart Photo Frame

Popsicle Stick Valentine Truck Craft

Glitter Rock Valentines Craft

Heart Shaped Suncatcher Craft

Valentine’s Day Cards

DIY Melting Heart Paint Valentines

Cootie Catcher Valentine Packs for Kids

Valentine’s Day Games

Valentine’s Day Scavenger Hunt

Valentine Numbers and Letters Sticker Activity

Do you have some kids party ideas that you love?

Tell us about them!

Enjoy!

Stunning Heart Shaped Sun Catcher Valentine’s Day Craft

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This stunning heart-shaped suncatcher is perfect for a Valentine’s Day craft. I first saw the project on Fireflies and Mudpies and was struck by its beauty. The process looked easy so I knew that my preschoolers could make their own sun-catchers with just a little bit of adult help.

My kiddos (ages 3 and 4) would definitely need an adult to cut out the final heart shape. Besides that, the rest of the craft would be easy to do as long as one of us was available to coach them through the steps.

This blog contains Amazon affiliate links.❤️

Set of 3 Heart-shaped goodie boxes

How To Make Heart Shaped Sun Catchers

Cut various colors of tissue paper into small pieces
Paint a clear plastic sheet protector with Modge Podge
Lightly place the tissue paper pieces onto the gluey surface
Paint another layer of Modge Podge on top
Lay it out to dry
When dry, cut a heart shape out of the top layer of plastic and discard the bottom layer.

*Tip #1: Sheet protectors are sleeves in which you can slip a sheet of paper to protect it. There is, therefore, a top and bottom layer of plastic to each one. On Fireflies and Mudpies, Melissa peels the tissue paper layer off of the sheet protector and discards all of the plastic. I chose to keep the tissue layer attached to the top layer of plastic for stability. My little kiddos do not have the delicate touch needed to transport it or hang it without a plastic backing.

Note: it takes at least 90 minutes for the craft to dry before you can cut it into a heart shape. My 12 kiddos each made one this week in preschool. I wanted the hearts to be in the window when the children returned to our classroom following their gym class so I taped smaller hearts with their first names on them onto the window, first. Then I cut out the heart shapes while they were out of the room. When everything was completed, I completed the display and hung their artwork above their names.

Tip #2: the sides of the heart will curl a bit, if only taped in the middle. When you are ready to hang them up for a while, do use more than one rolled up piece of clear tape or clear double-sided tape.

52 inch Teddy Bear Toys

Steps For Making Tissue Paper Heart-Shaped Suncatchers

Supplies

Clear plastic sheet protectors

Modge Podge

Decoupage paint brushes

Colored Tissue Paper*

Two sided removable clear tape

*My students loved that I had some gold tissue paper in with the pretty colors.

Modge Podge

Directions

Cut a variety of colors of tissue paper into pieces.

Using a decoupage brush, paint one side of the sheet protector with Modge Podge glue.
Apply the tissue paper pieces till the whole page is covered.
Paint more Modge Podge on top of the tissue paper.
Allow to dry (it will take 90 minutes or more.)
Using a heart shaped pattern, trace the heart onto the page and cut out the heart shape.
Tape your lovely, colorful heart-shaped sun-catcher to the window.
So pretty!

Make lovely tissue paper sun-catchers shaped like hearts! #kidscrafts #crafts #DIY Share on X

Enjoy!

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How To Keep From Taking That Christmas Tree Down

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So you have an artificial Christmas tree displayed in your house and you aren’t quite ready to put it away? Make it into a Valentine Tree! Deck that tree out with Valentine’s Day ornaments, lights and garlands and you won’t have to put it away quite yet.

I had never thought of redecorating my tree but I am notorious for keeping my tree up way beyond the commonly accepted date in early January. One year it was still up for the Super Bowl! So, I was visiting a doctor’s office this week and discovered that they had redecorated their Christmas tree. It is now a Valentine tree! What a fun idea. I liked it so much, I took these pictures to show you.

Redecorating your holiday tree to reflect a Valentine theme is easy. You just need new ornaments. Whether or not you go all out and change the lights to pink is all up to you. This blog contains affiliate links. ♥

How To Make A Valentine Tree

In looking around online for Valentine ornaments, lights and garlands, there is much to choose from. Of course, making heart shaped DIY ornaments is a wonderful option, too. Your kids will love it!

Supplies For A Valentine Tree

Pink string of lights

Heart shaped ornaments

Valentine garlands

Valentine skirt for the bottom of the tree*

*If you don’t like the tree skirts made for Valentine’s Day, get some fabric or a table cloth that strikes your fancy and just drape it around the base of the tree.

While I was browsing around in search of decorations for an artificial fir tree, I discovered that there are some very classy ornament-hanging trees that you can get to place on a table for display, such as the one above made by Lenox.

There is even a tree that comes with its own Valentine ornaments. Doesn’t get any easier than that!

Don't want to take down your Christmas tree yet? Here is a fun way to get around it! #ValentinesDay #familyfun #homedecor Share on X

Do you decorate for Valentines’ Day? We’d love to know what you do!

Enjoy!

DIY Bridal Shower Invitations

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Yes, we had a shower. A bridal shower, to be exact. My dear granddaughter, Sara, was getting married. What fun it was to celebrate with her!

*This post may contain affiliate links.

This was the first really big event we held in our home since we renovated. The new dining-room and widened kitchen easily accommodates more guests and, since I was currently not employed, I had lots of time to put into hosting a nice party. The wedding was scheduled for March so we picked a February date for the shower and made it a Valentine’s Day theme.

First on the agenda: invite guests. Sara and her mother gave me a list and I took it from there. Though plenty of bridal shower invitations are available in stores or online, I decided that I would rather make them myself. That way I could apply the money I saved by making the invitations on other parts of the event.

Front of the Invitation

The backside of the invitation included date, time, location, etc.

It would have been nice to have super-software like Photoshop to design it, but that was not the case. So, I designed the invitation using Microsoft Word and adjusted, adjusted, adjusted.

The greatest challenge I ran into was getting everything centered so that we could get four, two-sided invitations on a sheet of card stock Plus, I was using text blocks to hold the heart-shaped images. Getting them to stay in place was interesting …a battle that I won, I am happy to report.

Bridal Shower Invitation DIY To-Do List

Design the invites

Create address labels

Purchase: Clear address labels

Invitation Envelopes

Postage Stamps (red heart stamps!)

Colored Index Cards

Heart Shaped Stickers

We asked the guests to bring their favorite recipe for Sara. I inserted blank cards in with the invitation for them to use. I bought pink and orange index cards for them to write on and decorated them with a glittery red heart sticker to make them look festive. Now, this is something you can purchase to make them even nicer. Amazon has a number of awesome recipe cards you will love.

Putting on a bridal shower with a small budget? Make your own DIY invitations and #save #money #wedding Share on X

Front of invitation with recipe card inserts.

Printing the invitations with a really crisp print was very important to me. Inkjet printers just don’t do that. So, I took the design on my flash-drive to Staples and had them print and cut them for me. They looked great!

Have you ever hosted a bridal shower?
Love to get your wisdom on it.
What worked? What not-so-much?
Tell us in the comments!

Wondering what food to serve at your party? Our guests loved the Pretty Party Punch, Italian Tossed Salad wth field greens, two kinds of quiche and cake for dessert.

Enjoy!