Valentine Fun!

Happy Friday!!

WOW is it a beautiful day out there today!!!  +8 degrees!!  That's unHEARD of in Edmonton, Canada in mid January!!!  It makes for SUCH a nice change from the nasty cold we've had this winter.  Oh sure, I almost break my neck walking the dog, but I suppose it's better than getting frostbite!!!  Craig made the Best-Dad-Ever list with the girls today as we pulled them from school at 11:30 so he could take them skiing!!!  Oh ya - Daddy Rules!!!

I'm home cleaning and catching up on some work before "Craft Night" tonight.  My craft room is 90% tidied/organized (notice I didn't mention purged?!  Having trouble actually PARTING with anything ... but managing to stack it really nicely *lol*)

Thought I'd throw out a few Valentine ideas as the next big crafting *event* is fast approaching!  I had a lot of fun playing around with some of my new toys ... and some of the *stuff* I found kicking around my craft room shelves!

 Fun!  They're so stinkin' cute!!  My girls went nuts for these little jars ... the teeny little corks made them laugh!  I got 6 of them at the Dollarama (for $1).  I originally wanted to make some sort of *love potion* treat and tag but *meh* ... seemed like too much work ... so I grabbed my stash of cinnamon hearts ('cause they never go bad!), filled the jars, and added a bit of Early Espresso Bakers Twine, simply tying it in a not at the neck of the jar.  Then I needed a tag.  I WANTED to use the new little banner punch ... but it was a bit too small for what I wanted ... so I grabbed this framelit:

... which is from I DON" KNOW WHAT??!!  No - it's not from Bitty Banners - that one was too small ... Ack!  If you know what it's from please let me know ... now it's going to drive me crazy!

I punched out the banner, folded it in half and taped it together, over the twine.  I stamped the "sweet" from Fabulous Phrases (page 70) in Early Espresso and added a Real Red Heart made with the small heart punch.  Ta da!  Quick, easy and adorable!!

 The size is very deceiving in these pictures ... so here it is to scale next to my phone!  The jar is only the size of my pinky finger, 2" high!

Next up are some great little fabours ... they are chocolate/sprinkle covered pretzels! 

You can buy these large, fat pretzels at the *M* store ... and they also sell the pretzel bags to put them in (who knew??!!)  The pretzels are 8" long and almost 3/4" fat.  I think they are Snyder's brand.  I looked elsewhere for them but Michaels is the only place I found them $2.99 a bag ... but I got a discount because a lot of them were broken!)  AAAAAAAANYway ... I bought some Candy Melts (also at Michaels) ... melted them in the microwave, slathered the chocolate on the pretzels then sprinkled sprinkles on them.  The girls and I actually made these on Christmas Eve ... they were SO quick and easy to make (they HAD to be for me to be *baking* on Christmas Eve!!  (No ... I'm not giving these to anyone 2 months later ... I just used them for the picture *lol*)

Once the pretzels are ready (put them in the fridge so the chocolate hardens again) then you make the tag.  I used my Hearts framelits for the hearts (Real Red and Strawberry Slush) for the large hearts then made a banner with a 2 3/4" x 3/4" strip of whisper white cs.  I stampes the "thanks" in Staz-on with one of the stamps from the photopolymer set Another Thank You.  (LOVE that set!!!)  a little small heart finished it off.

Again, quick, easy and cute ... and don't forget FLIPPIN' DELICIOUS!!!  I resisted trying one of these for about 3 days ... just didn't interest me.  One day I was strolling through the fridge looking for something to satisfy my sweet tooth and thought I'd try one of these (my Dad and MIL had them at Christmas and said they were good).  Oh.  My. God!  DELICOUS!!!  Have you ever tried the Rold Gold Chocolate covered pretzels?  I have.  I'm not allowed to buy them anymore.  It's insane.  I open the bag and then all hell breaks loose.  Seriously!  Children are instructed to keep their hands well away for fear of losing one in the feeding frenzy that is Mommy with her chocolate covered pretzels!!!  These taste just as good!!!  The only thing keeping me from eating these samples is that they were made a month ago and the pretzels have gone soft ... how do I know?  Oh ... I dunno ... maaaaaayyyyybeeee there used to be 3 of them .... maaaaayyyybeeee ...

OK - now I'm hungry and have to go eat an orange pepper.  Yep - still on Jenny Craig and working out.  I'm down 20 pounds since I started 5 months ago.  OK.  I can't lie.  I WAS down 20 pounds ... the day before Christmas.  Then Christmas happened.  Now I'm only down 16.  But I'm going string and will be down the 20 again next week, I'm SURE ... if I can stay away from the stale, soggy pretzels *lol*

OK - gotta run - have an awesome, stampy weekend!


Tam