No Sew Valentine Heart Garland

Create this simple No Sew Valentine Heart Garland with some tissue paper, glue and string. No sewing required.

For some other fun Valentine craft ideas check out these DIY Valentine Sharpie Mugs, Valentine Peeps Bouquet and Yardstick Heart DIY Tutorial

After the Christmas decor comes down the house always looks so empty and bare.  I enjoy it for a few days and then I am ready for Valentine’s Day.

I love spreading little touches of love throughout my house.  This year I put together a super quick and easy no sew heart garland to jazz up the dresser in my front entry way.  I know a lot of people don’t decorate for Valentine’s Day but if you want to add a little holiday color to your home this No Sew Valentine Heart Garland is the perfect thing.  With just a few supplies and a few minutes you’ve got some darling Valentine decor!

How to Make a Heart Garland

All you need is  some tissue paper, a glue gun, a heart punch and some Baker’s Twine.

I recommend using a low melt glue gun since you get pretty up close with the hot glue!

Step 1:

Use your heart shaped punch and punch out your tissue paper.  I did several layers at one time.  Don’t stress if you get a few ragged edges on your hearts.  I did too.

I used three different colors of tissue paper and pink Baker’s Twine.

Step 2:

Determine the length of Baker’s Twine you would like and cut it.  I placed my hearts about 2 inches apart and I didn’t use a pattern to the color placement and I didn’t measure for distance.  I just randomly placed them.  Remember I said EASY!

Place a small line of hot glue onto the twine where you want the heart to go and then press the top edge of the heart onto the twine. (Watch your fingers if you are using regular hot glue and not low temp!)

That’s it – so easy!
The final step is to hang it up!  Love how it looks on my hallway dresser.

A quick and easy way to add a little holiday decor!

For all of my other favorite kitchen products and tools visit my Amazon Store.

Did you know I wrote a cookbook?  Check out the Holiday Slow Cooker Cookbook for 100 delicious recipes.

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No Bake Peanut Butter Cookies

We’ve just enjoyed a couple of beautiful, warm,  blue skies, sunny days here in the Pacific NW.  A little unusual for us this time of year but we’ll take it.  One of our favorite outdoor activities is hiking.  We are lucky to have so many beautiful hiking spots with in an hour of our house.  Even in the winter we like to get out and hike.  As long as it’s not pouring down rain I’m game.  It can get a little muddy in the winter though!

But it is totally worth it when you get views like this.  One of our favorite places to hike is the Oregon Coast.

Hiking is a great way to keep active in the winter when other outdoor activities can be limited.

When the weather is just to bad to get outside I like to take a class at the gym or put a DVD on at home and get moving.

And when all else fails – there is always a nice little walk around the mall for some exercise.  I always said if it makes  you tired it qualifies as exercise and shopping makes me tired!!

When we head out for a hike I like to pack a long a little energy booster.  Today’s recipe for No Bake Peanut Butter Cookies are the perfect thing.  They are full of protein and they are so easy!  They require no baking and can be put together in a matter of minutes.

The process is easy.  Stir together and then heat the sugar, vanilla, butter and milk.  Then add in the peanut butter and oats.  Then if you want add in some dried cranberries and chocolate chips.  The chocolate chips will melt a bit.  Form into balls and then slightly flatten them.

Allow them to cool and set up and then you are ready to hit the trails!

AuthorLeigh Anne Wilkes

Ingredients

• 1 C turbinado sugar
• 1 1/4 C white sugar I just used 2 1/4 C white sugar
• 1/4 C butter
• 1/4 C milk
• pinch of salt
• 3/4 C Adam’s 100% Natural creamy peanut butter
• 1 tsp vanilla
• 1 3/4 C old fashioned rolled oats
• 1/2 C dried cranberries
• 1/2 C chocolate chips

Instructions

• Line a baking sheet with wax paper or parchment paper.
• Heat sugar, butter, milk and vanilla in a pan until butter is melted
• Bring to a boil, stir occasionally for 1 minute.
• Remove from heat and stir in peanut butter.
• Add in oats, chocolate chips and cranberries. If you don’t want the chocolate chips to melt, stir in oats and cranberries and then allow it to cool a bit before adding in chocolate chips.
• Scoop into balls and then flatten.
• Let cool completely.

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Dark Chocolate Cherry Shortbread

I was in the mood for shortbread the other day.  I love shortbread, especially with a nice cup of herbal tea.  It is the perfect dunking cookie.  Since the season of love is upon us I figured heart shaped shortbread was in order.  And I just think things taste better when they are in a cute shape like a heart.  And much more fun to eat.

I had picked up a bag of dried cherries at Trader Joes recently so decided to add them into my basic shortbread recipe.  Shortbread is so flexible.  I’ve added in toffee before as well as lemon and poppyseed.

Shortbread is basically a combination of flour, sugar and butter and whatever else you want to add in.  I make it in the food processor.  At first it will seem very dry and powdery but keep pulsing it until the dough forms

I think dark chocolate is the perfect companion to cherries so I added in some dark chocolate chips too. Pulse just a few more times until they combine.  Don’t over pulse.

Roll your dough out evenly on the counter – I like it about 1/4 inch thick.

I used a heart shaped cookie cutter but you could use any shape you like.  Cutting through the cherries can be a bit tricky and you may end up with some cherries sticking out the sides of your heart.  I just used a knife to cut them off so I still had a pretty heart shape.

After they cooled I melted some dark chocolate chips and put them into a cake decorating bag along with a small round tip and added some dark chocolate drizzle to the cookies.

Then all you need to do is brew yourself a nice cup of tea and enjoy.

They would also be a great little gift of love wrapped up in some cellophane with a cute bow for someone you love.

Servings1 1/2 dozen small cookiesAuthorLeigh Anne Wilkes

Ingredients

• 1/2 C butter cut into pieces
• 1 C flour
• 1/2 C powdered sugar
• 1/2 C dried cherries
• 1/2 C dark chocolate chips
• 1/2 C dark chocolate chips melted

Instructions

• Heat oven to 350 degrees
• grease a cookie sheet.
• In a food processor fitted with metal blade, process the flour, sugar and butter until moist clumps form.
• Add in dried cherries and chocolate chips, pulse once or twice to combine
• Roll the mixture to 1/4 inch thick. Cut with cookie cutters and place on cookiei sheet
• Bake until light golden brown around the edges, approx. 15 minutes
• Cool and then drizzle with melted chocolate.

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DIY Valentine’s Sharpie Mugs

It’s the 10th of January and I am so excited to have our group of talented bloggers back for another blog hop! This month the theme is HEARTS and I just know you are going to love (no pun intended!) these projects that are sure to get your creativity flowing for Valentine’s Day… which is just around the corner! I’d love for you to pin our collage below, check out my DIY Sharpie Mug Project  and then go see all the other fabulous projects by some of my friends!

1. Landeelu sharing an Easy Valentine’s Day Wire Heart Garland
2. Little Miss Momma sharing an Easy Heart Envelope Pillow
3. Lolly Jane sharing Glitter Heart Valentine Decor
4. Or So She Says shares Origami Heart Love Notes
5. Simply Kierste sharing Heart Bunting Countdown
6. Six Sisters Stuff sharing Peanut Butter Chocolate Hearts
7. Thirty Handmade Days sharing Printable Valentine’s Day Bookmarks
8. Your Homebased Mom sharing DIY Valentine’s Sharpie Mugs
9. Capturing Joy sharing a Heart Carved Tree Stump
10. eighteen25 sharing Heart Gift Tags

Over Thanksgiving I did a fun little craft project with a few of  my nieces & nephews.  We decorated mugs with gold and silver sharpies.  An idea I saw on Pinterest of course!  They loved it.  Then for Christmas a cute friend gave me a mug decorated with gold polka dots done with a Sharpie. The mug was filled with hot chocolate mix and a candy cane.  So cute.

It got my brain thinking and I decided that it would be fun to make some Valentine mugs. Mugs that could be filled with candy or other fun treats. It would make a great gift for a teacher, a friend, neighbor etc.

I did a little research on the best way to make the mugs using a Sharpie and found some good info here.  I also did a bit of experimenting on my own too.

I purchased my mugs at Goodwill for .99 a piece.  I know IKEA sells a white mug also but they are about $3.00 I think. I also read that sometimes the cheaper mugs are better.  I tried a more expensive mug from Cost Plus and it didn’t work as well.  The ones I got at Goodwill were Corelle.  So you may need to experiment a bit.

The pens:

I tried three different types of pens in my experiment.

A red Sharpie

A red oil based Sharpie

A red permanent Bic Pen

Here’s what I found:

A red Sharpie – it works but it will fade some during the baking process, the red gets lighter. From what I read it is the red/pink colors that fade.  The black I used on one mug did not fade.

A red oil based Sharpie – do not use if you plan on putting the item in the dishwasher.  I put my cute mug in the dishwasher and the mug came out totally white again – the design disappeared.

A red permanent Bic Pen – it did not fade but the color did change somewhat to a little more burgundy color.

I decided that the red Sharpie was the best choice if I wanted a more true red color, even if it did fade a bit. If you want a more burgundy red go with the Bic pen.  They both held up well in the dishwasher too.

The decorating process:

If you have cute handwriting you can write directly on the mug.  I don’t so I printed out the words I wanted in a cute font.

On the back of the words use a graphite pencil and color over the area to be traced.

Tape the words onto the mug where you want them.

Using a pen trace the words onto the mug.  The design will transfer, it will be very light but still readable.

Use your Sharpie to trace over words.

Allow the mug to dry 12-24 hours.

I cleaned off the mug with some rubbing alcohol, inside and around the areas where the writing is to remove any residual dirt and marker that may have gotten on it.

The baking process:

Place mugs into a cold oven.  Turn oven onto 425 degrees and bake for 30 minutes.  Most of the directions I found on line had you bake your mug only 30 minutes but this blog found that 425, starting in a cold oven worked the best.  So that’s what I did.

Remove from oven and allow to cool.  If there are some dark marks on the mug, after it has cooled you should be able to remove them with a cloth or a mildly abrasive sponge.  For best results hand wash the mugs instead of putting them in the dishwasher.  The design will last longer.

The next step is to fill them with goodies!

Some hot chocolate mix or a Starbucks gift card would be fun to put inside too.

Now go check out all the fun projects my friends have put together!

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Nutty Popcorn Snack Mix

My favorite though is this Nutty Popcorn Snack Mix which is easy to pop into a bag and put in your backpack or pocket.

This snack mix comes together quickly. It uses pretzels, nuts and microwave popcorn which is covered with a mixture of brown sugar, butter and honey . After cooking together the sugar, butter and honey, just add in the nuts, peanut butter  and some vanilla.   Then pour it over the popcorn and pretzels and spread it on a cookie sheet to cool.

After it cools it is ready to package up and then head out the door!

My favorite though is this Nutty Popcorn Snack Mix which is easy to pop into a bag and put in your backpack or pocket.

This snack mix comes together quickly. It uses pretzels, nuts and microwave popcorn which is covered with a mixture of brown sugar, butter and honey . After cooking together the sugar, butter and honey, just add in the nuts, peanut butter  and some vanilla.   Then pour it over the popcorn and pretzels and spread it on a cookie sheet to cool.

After it cools it is ready to package up and then head out the door!

AuthorLeigh Anne Wilkes

Ingredients

• 1 3 to 3.25 oz. bag microwave popcorn, popped
• 2 C mini pretzel twists
• 1 C firmly packed brown sugar
• 1/2 C butter
• 1/4 C honey
• 2 C peanuts or mixed nuts
• 1/3 C Natural Creamy Peanut Butter Smuckers, Adams or Laura Scudders
• 1 tsp vanilla extract

Instructions

• Line two cookie sheets with foil.
• Place popped popcorn and pretzels in large bowl.
• In a sauce pan bring brown sugar, honey and butter to a boil.
• Boil for 4 minutes over minute heat without stirring.
• Remove from heat.
• Stir in nuts, peanut butter and vanilla until smooth
• Pour over popcorn mixture.
• Stir to coat.
• Place on cookies and allow to cool.

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2014 Word of the Year

For the last six years I have chosen a Word of the Year.  Rather than setting a long list of goals (although I have set a few of those too) I like to choose a word to focus on each year.  The process in determining my word each year is always interesting and I look forward to discovering how my word finds me each year.  Because it does just that – it finds me.

This year my word has tried to make itself known to me three different times.  I finally listened the third time.  I am a pretty strong willed, driven, focused person. I am pretty much a control freak.  I like to drive fast but only when I am driving.  When I am in control.  I like to think that I am in control of my life – of  MY goals, MY plan, My to do list, etc.  I am always focused on what I need to get done, what I want to accomplish.  But then I had 3 separate experiences lately where I realized the following:

I had to stop and ask myself.  Do I truly KNOW what my Heavenly Father’s will is for me?  I like to think I have a good idea and that many of the things I have chosen to do with my life are a direct result of His will for me being made known to me.  But what about on a daily basis?  Am I living my life on a daily basis as He would have me live it?  I am sure I do better some days than other.

So, my word for this  year,  my 2014 Word of the Year is:

I guess technically it is two words but one in meaning.

I hope that I can begin each day this year inquiring what His will is for me that day and that more importantly I will listen.  That when he asks I will have the faith and confidence that he will also open the door, provide the means and resources that I will be able to accomplish His will.

I want to live my life, on a daily basis, striving to better know and follow my Heavenly Father’s will for me.  I know that my plan may not always be His plan but I hope that His plan can become my plan.

Do you have a 2014 Word of the Year?  I’d love to hear what it is!

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