” For this is the message which you have heard from the beginning, that we should love one another.”

(1 John 3:11)

I love Valentines Day. I blame my Nana of course, she had me believing for many years she was born on the 14^th but it was actually the 13^th. Which might as well be Valentines Day, it’s close enough. We celebrated like crazy that month of love. I would make paper hearts to decorate the whole house and there were always bags of chocolates. We also each got our own little box of those little pastel hearts with cute words and a really pretty cake with red and white frosting. We had a lot of fun in February.

I remember making paper valentines to pass out to friends and family. We actually had two members in our family that had birthdays close to Valentine’s Day. All the more reason to celebrate a day about love. Photo below is of my Nana and my aunt, both born on or around Valentine’s Day.

I think it is one of the reasons I love hearts so much. I have many happy memories of that special heart day. Thought it would be fun to share with you all some ways to celebrate this special day with the ones you love. Easy DIY’s, recipes and gifts to share with all those special people in your life. Best of all is that you don’t have to spend a lot of money to let someone know you love them.

1. Make Mini cakes- This is so easy. This is a kid’s project but adults will love eating these miniature treats. I used a cupcake pan for the cake molds. It takes me back to my Easy Bake oven days as a child.

31/2 cups of flour

3 cups of sugar

½ tsp. Baking powder

1 cup butter-softened

5 eggs

½ cup shortening

1 tsp. Vanilla extract

½ tsp. Salt

1 cup milk

Just pour your cake mix into a muffin tin. Make sure to spray the pan then lightly sprinkle flour over it so your little cakes won’t stick to pan. Once done cooking, let cool and then cut cupcakes in half, these will be your mini cakes to decorate.

Get all your decorations out and have some fun decorating your mini cakes.

To keep it simple I bought store brand frosting but again, you can make your own frosting with powdered sugar and a teaspoon of milk plus Vanilla extract for flavor.

Glaze/frosting

2 cups of confectioner’s sugar

2 tsp. Vanilla extract

3-4 tablespoons of milk

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2. Make chocolate hearts- who doesn’t love getting chocolate for Valentine’s Day. These Little chocolate hearts are so easy to make.

I had a nailed it moment with this one. I love laughing at failed craft projects because I have failed at so many things. Practice makes perfect they say, so if something I make looks good in one of my photographs, imagine all the mistakes that came before because they are there. Some of my posts are long enough. Who wants to see those mistakes. So here is one, my attempt at melting chocolate.

I have melted chocolate before, have even taken a class in melting chocolates the correct way, but I guess I forgot all that when I melted this chocolate. This is how my chocolate turned out…like cottage cheese, YUCK! I wonder if chickens eat chocolate, better not, might make them sick. Turns out all it took was a few drops of water in my glass measuring cup to create this mess. I thought the cup was dry…Oh well better luck next time.

Use food coloring for different colors with your white chocolate.

3.Instead of paper Valentines make fabric ones-This was my favorite Valentine DIY project, a basket of hearts-

Supplies needed:

Rope

Glue gun and sticks

Fabric-assorted colors

Tacky glue

Needle and thread

Plastic pellets (optional)

Cotton stuffing.

I was inspired to do a little craft like this when I came across a craft project in one of my books I purchased when visiting Prescott Arizona. There are so many cute projects in this book. I loved reading about the author’s story on how she made friends when she moved by having craft parties and meet ups.

One of the projects in this book was little paper hearts to stuff with treats.

I switched things up a bit and thought it would be nice to do bean bag hearts with a pocket on the back to put treats in.

I stitched the hearts but used tacky glue to add little pockets to the back of the hearts.

Then I filled the pockets with little treats, a note, and old-fashioned Valentine stickers.

The red and white baskets are made from rope which you can buy anywhere from your local hardware store to craft store.

Just glue the center into a circle and start gluing little sections at a time to form the base of the basket. When you get the width you want start gluing the rope at an angle till you get the shape you want then glue off end.

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4. Bake something together- This will fill your home with the smell of sweet things too. Everyone loves to walk into a home that has something yummy baking in it.

In our home we love chocolate chip cookies or peanut butter brownies   

5. Buy something vintage- Don’t you just love those sentimental items that take you back to happy memories from the past? I still smile when I see a little Golden book. I read those books when I was a kid and bought them for my own children when they were little too. What a nice surprise  when we get a gift that is no longer available, makes it that much more special.

6. Make tiny teddies with the kids in your life- This is such an easy one too. You don’t need to know how to sew with the little teddy in the photo below. Just get a bag of fiber fill stuffing and shape it into whatever animal you want. Use tacky glue to glue molded fiberfill pieces together then glue on embellishments to add more character.

7. Fill your loved ones room with live plants- I prefer little pots of flowers that you plant.  I do love fresh cut flowers but I hate the disappointment when they wither and dry up. My husband also loves plants so I started investing in live plants to fill our bedroom. I want to wake up someday like I live in a jungle.

8.Talk walks together- My favorite walks always end up somewhere near water, either a creek or lake, doesn’t matter to me, I just love being around water.

9. Give them a gift from your heart- remember this is anything you make with your hands. I made tiny felt heart magnets one year and mailed them in place of cards to my relatives over in Oklahoma and Arkansas.

10. Gift them with something that makes them smile- Anything super cute and adorable always puts a smile on my face.

End your special day watching a sunset together, and don’t forget to say I Love You.

Hope you all liked this repost from the past. I have been so busy working on home projects and shelves this month. I went back to find this old post of mine to share once again with everyone. Starting on Valentine’s day a little early . I have a special gift for all too, a copy of one of my miniature teddy bear patterns, just click onto link below.

The little red teddy bear is from one of my patterns. It is a little more complicated so I always suggest practicing on old linen first before you get the hang of sewing a stuffed toy and please remember nothing is ever perfect. Just have fun. It has been awhile since I have made one of my miniature teddies or soft toys. Maybe I can design a new pattern and show you all the process of what it is like making a tiny teddy. I love sewing, it is so therapeutic to me. There were many times I would put together a basket of teddy bear kits and sewing supplies then head down to the creek, sit under a big  beautiful tree listening to the water trickle down while sewing. Then I would gift my little bear to someone as a surprise.

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