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Tuesday, January 17, 2012

That's not what I was going for...


Yeah, those are supposed to be hearts...
The inaugural run of my new cookie press left a little to be desired (to say the least), I followed the recipe and instructions to a T, but the whole process was very different than I remembered as a kid. I think next time I will plan to add a little more flour and refrigerated the dough for a while before actually using the cookie press.
BUT, the cookies tasted AMAZING, and I have a plan for all of those funky looking pink cookies: Valentine Cookie Ice Cream - YUM!
Thank goodness I have fun kitchen gadgets to save the messes that I make with my other fun kitchen gadgets!

Monday, January 16, 2012

Super easy wreath

I've never been one of those people who decorates for every single holiday, I go all out for Christmas, but the rest of the year my house looks pretty much the same, with the exception of some small seasonal changes, and the occasional switcharoo when I get bored with a vase or candle. I just don't see the point in having all those cutesy holiday decorations when my place already looks so great (plus I'm all about matching color schemes, so throwing in some pink for Valentine's day would totally clash with everything else that I own).
That said, I have also been feeling as though I've neglected my front porch, which is, you know, a pretty average front porch, except for the fact that no one ever uses it. The sidewalk from our driveway leads to our backdoor, and there is no sidewalk to the front door, so basically it's a wast of space. BUT it is the part of the house that you see when you drive by, and I promise I'm going somewhere with this incredibly long rant... where was I?
Oh yeah... anyways, I decided that the solution to my neglected front porch was a cute wreath, since I'm obsessed with the super-versatile Styrofoam wreath trend that is blowing up on Pinterest. And since nothing else that I own is seasonal, this seemed the perfect place to celebrate all of those random holidays.
Here is the super cute wreath that I made this afternoon
the base is made from 2" strips of burlap wrapped around a Styrofoam wreath form. The heart designs are hearts that I cut out of random pieces of cotton fabric that I had in my stash. After I cut them out I sewed them to cream colored fleece scraps to stiffen them a bit and add texture. And of course I used my hot glue gun to attache them to the wreath. Add a few bows and there you have it!

Sunday, January 15, 2012

Valentine's day...already?

I don't know about you, but I have fully embraced the craziness that is Valentine's day (and yes, I do realize that it is a month away, but you know me... obsessively organized...). Anyway, I spent the evening contemplating what I would create for Valentine's day this year. It all started with my hankering to bust out the cookie press that I received as a Christmas gift.
My parents had one of these, and as a kid I loved that thing, but I've always been just a bit to cheap to purchase one for myself, because I know that it would only get used a few times a year (a la all the other random kitchen gadgets that I own). I was more than overjoyed to get one as a gift, however, and Valentine's day seems like the perfect excuse to bust that baby out.
Therefore the first holiday treat on my V-day list is pink and chocolate heart spritz cookies, just like these:
From there my mind wandered to marshmallows... I know, random, but ever since my first attempt at making them, right before Christmas (and my surprise at how easy the whole process was) I have been looking forward to doing it again - this time I want to cut them with a heart shaped cookie cutter, because duh, Valentines day, just like these:
However I am leaning towards pink, and possibly on a stick, oh, and drizzled with chocolate - so much for that whole eating healthy thing...
Finally, sensing a theme here (heart shaped and gadgets that I don't use nearly often enough) I'm feeling the urge to dust off the awesome Message-in-a-cookie Cutters that I purchased from Williams Sonoma and used to create last years V-day cookies (not to mention all of our wedding favors - see picture!)