Banana Valentines

In the past, I've embraced Valentine's Day a bit more, I've decorated, baked cookies, made crafts with Fender, but this year I decided to make a tasty frozen treat.  Thus banana valentines were born!

I sliced bananas into thin discs and using a 1 inch heart shaped cookie cutter I cut the slices into hearts and tossed them into the freezer for five minutes. 

Then I tempered some semi-sweet chocolate in the microwave and dipped the frozen bananas into it using a fork to knock off the excess chocolate.  Then set them on parchment paper to dry.

Since the banas are cold, they should set up right away but if you can wait to eat them and have any patience left you can always put them back into the freezer until they are hard.  Enjoy!!!

Valentine's Cookies

I saw these cookies in the background of a photo shoot in my Parents magazine this month and thought it might be fun for Fender and I to try and make them!  And what a better way to celebrate Valentine's Day with some tasty cookies!  The cookies just slip onto your glass of milk of cup of coffee and just look so darned cute being there!

Before we baked the cookies, I just cut out a small triangle from the base of the heart making sure that while hanging from the cup it would still have a point.  You may have to adjust this slice based on the type of cup or glass you are going to use.

But then Fender insisted on frosting and sprinkles and I could resist!  PS ~ I tried out a new sugar cookie recipe and learned a lesson.  If it ain't broke, don't try to fix it!  Grandma Miller's cut-out cookie recipe continues to reign supreme in our house.

New Crayons

mC and I did this project when she was little, so I thought Fender and I could have some fun making new crayons out of old.  You just take old broken crayons and put them in an "oven safe" silicone mold.  Notice how I used the words "oven safe" it may be from experience and let me tell you, there is nothing fun about cleaning crayon off the bottom of your stove!


Make sure to put a lot of crayons in each mold.  Too few crayons will yield in thinner shapes that tend to break when you pull them out of the mold.

Silver turns out really well and was Fender's favorite!

Then melt them at 300 degrees in the oven until they are smooth, take them out and let them cool.  Then as you color, the swirls change and make rainbows on the page!

A Splash of Love

We've been rocking the "Winter White" color all over the house since Christmas.  I felt it was time to add a splash of Valentine's Day love up in here!  And since our tree in the front of our house is covered in pussy willows, I decided to bring in some branches and create a tree of love!

I propped them inside a vase and then filled the inside of an old suitcase with lights, red books and my favorite find a quirky mason jar I found for 20 cents!  It's circular at the top and then graduates down to a smaller oval at the bottom and has a rusty heart twined around the mouth. 

Then Fender and I did a scavenger hunt for anything red to fit the occasion.  We found a felted bird that I had made years ago with little red feather wings...

A paper heart that Fender and I made last Valentine's day out of paper towels, food coloring and glue...

A coat hanger heart covered in yarn, glittered pears and other remnants of Valentine's past...

I think it turned out pretty cute and might become a tradition to "decorate the tree" each year!