Rabbit Wall Appliques.  Apply with removable wallpaper paste or liquid starch.  Simply peel off when you are ready to redeorate.  Any residue is easily washed away with soap an water!

Latest Presentation Box-I am loving crepe paper fringe!  I can’t stop making…but I must put it aside and dust today.  And vaccuum, finish the laundry and maybe even feed my children breakfast.  They won’t stop asking for food. Every morning it’s the same thing.  “We’re hungry.  We want breakfast.  Feed us.”

Don’t they know I am crafting?  Jeesh!

I had a custom request for some french frou frou trees to go with a Paris 1st Birthday Theme. What a cute idea. Pink, Black, Poodles and frills. She is using these adorable Paris Poodle Plates from www.birthdayexpress.com.  I tried to match the plates and invitations with pink and white polka-dots, stripes and the black  scrolling  line. Tulle and pom poms and a hint of aqua set it off and give it the made to match look.

Little Girls are just wonderful and PINK!

My husband doesn’t eat sweets.  I know.  Ridiculous.  But, on occasion, he will eat a brownie.  So for Valentine’s Day, I made him an “I love you” brownie.  The leftovers were packaged up and sent off to friends.

I added some pink frosting trim to make them look more “Valentine’s-ish”.

I laid each one on a small square of cardstock, trimmed with pinking shears.  A little dot of frosting holds it in place.

Slide the brownie into a clear, cellophane treat bag.  I like to roll down the top and close with a staple or piece of tape.

I added a topper made of some elementary school writing paper folded over the top of the bag.  I printed out an I heart Brownies label on my computer and they were finished!  Not including baking time, the whole project only took a little over an  hour and I was in a hurry. (You can see the sleeve of my coat in this last picture-I was heading out the door as I finished up!)  If I could do it over again, I would let the frosting set up a little more before packaging.  You can see how smooshed the pink dots are in my final photo.  They still looked cute and tasted devine, but I prefer non-smooshed treats when it comes to gifts from the kitchen!  Sorry if you got a smooshed one-I hope you liked it anyway!

Valentine’s cards are nice, but Valentine’s Brownies are nicer!

The marshmallow pops are finished!  We based ours on the cute design found at Hostess with the Mostess.  They are very easy and I was a little disappointed that the children didn’t need my help!  I melted the pink chocolate wafers in the microwave and they did the rest!  They were so proud and honestly, they looked great!  I couldn’t have done better myself!

They stuck them into a recycled piece of Styrofoam to dry.   It took about 10 minutes for them to set up completely, and then we wrapped them in small, clear treat bags and tied with polkadot ribbons.

Just about finished here and very proud of ourselves!  I had a pink, metal bucket ready to display them.  I thought it would be cute to carry in to school and easy to pass around to classmates.  However,  Elle insisted on making a special carrier.  I don’t know where she gets it.  I had things to do so I left her on her own and she came up with the cutest idea.  She drew a bakery complete with an awning mustache.  She called  it “Papa’s Bakery” because the mustache reminded her of her dear Papa, my wonderful father.

The little cupcake/marshmallow pops went into paper cups glued to the bottom that looked like little cupcake bushes.  I was very impressed with her work!  This was the first project she has ever done completely on her own!

It’s FREEZING outside!  I even saw a few snow flurries fluttering by! Homeschool work is finished for the day, bible study completed and the only thing left to do is 1) clean the house 2) curl up with a book (my fireplace mantel makes me want to read thick, English Lit type of books, or at least the cliff notes so I can sound like I read them. Do old, antique volumes, mixed in with deer and tiny teapots do that to you too?) and 3) help Ellery craft Valentine’s for the big exchange tomorrow.  I choose #2, but I am afraid that #3 will win and by then, it will be so late in the day that I will have no choice but to do #1 and then #2 will have to wait.  Again.

Anyway,  we have decide to make the ubiquitious MARSHMALLOW POPS!  And it is probably about time!  They have been on my to do list for awhile and it will be a true accomplishment to actually be able to cross something off of it.  I am going to sit in my big, comfy chair and drink the last cup of coffee in the pot while I contemplate our design choices.

Holiday Marshmallow Pops from Chickens in the Road

These marshamallow pops are chocolate dipped in crushed peppermint from Suzanne at Chickens in the Road.  A possibility-we have oodles of candy canes left over from Christmas, but I may save this idea for next Christmas when I am back in Peppermint Mode.

Grace Violet

These are Adorable with a capital A!  Definitely what my tween had in mind for a Valentine’s Day give away.  Grace Violet has a tutorial on her blog on how to make these.  But, look what’s coming up next:

The Decorated Cookie I heart you

I love, love, love these!  But…I don’t like fondant.  Ok, I have never tried fondant, but I am almost positive that I can’t stand it.  I don’t like anything that wants to compete with butter-cream frosting.  I am very loyal.  Butter-cream, I will never leave you for another.  I promise.

And then, there are these fabulous wonders:

Yes, please.  I think these will do.  They are from Hostess with the Mostess, which is one of my very favorite party sites.    These cupcake pops are based on Bakerella’s cupcake pops.  How clever!  WHAT?? You don’t know Bakerella?  You must leave here and go quickly to her site and discover her.  Just come back when your done.  Ok?

We are getting ready for Valentine’s Day-but it’s always so busy this time of year.  These quick cookies were a great fix.  They are very easy, very yummy and the pink and red M & M’s and sprinkles leave no question about what holiday we are celebrating!

You can use your regular chocolate chip cookie for this recipe and just substitute the chocolate chips with Holiday M & M’s in pink, white and red.  Before the cookie bakes, sprinkle the pink and red sprinkles across the top and lightly press down onto the top of the cookie dough.  I wanted to use a more “cake-like” cookie for this recipe and tried out Martha Stewart’s Cakey Chocolate  Chip Cookies recipe for the first time.  With a few adaptions for my m & m’s and sprinkles, I declare that  it was delicious!

I took them to a sporting event at the school, and they disappeared in minutes!  I think the adults enjoyed them as much, if not more than the children.  Must have been the sprinkles.

RECIPE

• 2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 14 tablespoons (1 3/4 sticks) unsalted butter, room temperature
• 3/4 cup granulated sugar
• 1/4 cup packed light-brown sugar
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
• 2 large eggs
• 1 large bag of Holiday M & M’s (for Valentine’s Day use pink/white/red)
• 1 bottle of holiday sprinkles or nonpareils in appropriate colors

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. In a small bowl, whisk together the flour and baking soda; set aside. In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, combine the butter with both sugars; beat on medium speed until light and fluffy. Reduce speed to low; add the salt, vanilla, and eggs. Beat until well mixed, about 1 minute. Add flour mixture; mix until just combined. Stir in the M & M’s.
2. Drop heaping tablespoon-size balls of dough about 2 inches apart on baking sheets lined with parchment paper.
3. Sprinkle the sprinkles or nonpareils across the top of each cookie and gently press into the top to make sure they adhere.  Don’t press them below the dough, or they will dissolve and disappear into the cookie.
4. Bake until cookies are golden around the edges and set in the center, 10 to 12 minutes. Remove from oven, and let cool on baking sheet 1 to 2 minutes. Transfer to a wire rack, and let cool completely. Store cookies in an airtight container at room temperature up to 1 week.

This poster of Valentine’s Golfers falling in love was made for Brookstone Golf and Country Club.  I did a series of Holiday Posters and this one was based on an antique Valentine by Raphael Tuck.   I used acrylics on a Mat board 32×40.

An ice skating birthday party deserves an ice skating gift!  Off Ellery went today to join a friend in celebrating her 10th birthday.  We recreated the often used clothespin doll into a Winter Princess on top of a box.  This holds a small present inside, but the box itself is a great gift and would look adorable sitting on a shelf or a nightstand.

She wears a gown of white felt decorated with glittered polka dots and fur trim on her collar and hem.  She carries her ice skates, complete with blades and pink laces, as she travels through the snowflake forest.

The lid comes off  and the box holds a small present…

Earrings from Justice!  After all, this was a gift for a “tween” girl.  You know, you have to carefully cross back and forth between cute and cool at this age and even my daughter approved of this gift-which is saying a lot!  I am finding that as my children have gotten out of the lower elementary years, it is harder and harder to find or make hand made gifts that are relevant.  Any ideas you’d like to share?

I thought I would take some photographs of my dining room, while it is still dressed for winter.  It is cold today and snowing not too far from here, but I am already thinking of spring.  Sailboats, ticking stripes, lemon and gray.  I am getting down all of my spring magazines from years past and pondering the changes I want to make this March.  I love this Iron Table, my mom purchased for me from my favorite little French store, Cote Soleil.  She is the most generous mother a girl, who really likes pretty things, could have.  And yes, I try not to like “things”, but I do anyway.  Working on that one…

The wooden spoons are from Pottery Barn and were a Christmas gift to me, from my lovely mother, last year.  They are in a temporary spot along this wall.  I have other plans, including open shelving for this wall.  Maybe I will get to it this year??

This is my chandelier.  Really it’s the  awful, builder installed lighting fixture in the dining room.  But I dressed it up with a sculpture I made from grapevine, twigs and vines.  The bird’s nests and red birds reside here in the winter.   I can’t remember what I did last spring, but I am thinking of butterflies this year.

Hot Pink and Lime Green Frou Frou Feather Topiary.

This is my latest order from Etsy!  Custom orders available in almost any color scheme!

Wouldn’t this be cute in red and pink and given in leu of flowers on Valentine’s Day!

It would look adorable as a special surprise on a teachers desk…or your sweetie’s or left on your BFF’s doorstep!