Valentine Tree

I saw some cute trees with heart leaves and I thought they were so fun and easy. Then I thought it would be fun to put a heart owl in the tree. This is what I came up with:

Here are the steps:

Cut out a tree shape

Cut out some hearts for leaves

One heart for the wings, a slightly smaller one for the body, two small hearts for the feet, and a tiny heart for the beak

Assemble the owl. You can use googly eyes or whatever for the eyes

Assemble the tree, leaves, and owl. This is a small card for Eden (she told me it was for her)

Personalized Job Chart

I've decided it is time to have a job chart. Eden can't read yet so I wanted to use images. After spending a few minutes looking for cute, free clip art for each of her jobs, I decided I was done with that. Then it occurred to me, I have a camera! Duh! So, I had Eden pose for each of her jobs (which reinforced what her jobs are) and then printed them on photo paper, laminated them, cut them out, put magnets on them, and voila!

There are three rows: Morning jobs, Night-time jobs, and eXtra jobs. She has to do the morning and night-time jobs just because but she gets an allowance for the eXtra jobs. The eXtra jobs include things like setting the table, washing windows, dusting, emptying the dishwasher, straightening her books and toys.

Here is a picture of the job chart today:

More V'day Decor

These are just letters from Hobby Lobby and I covered them in craft paper (using spay-on glue). They are actually now on the inside of my front door in vertical fashion (I used painters tape to adhere them).

I found this frame at the HobLob and thought it was so appropriate. I happened to have a black and white print of one of our engagement pictures so I threw that in. I really like this decoration.

Heart Bouquet

As I took down the Christmas stuff, I wanted something to put in its place. The stores have moved on to Valentine's Day, why shouldn't I? I didn't want to spend a bunch of money though so I'm making most of my v'day decor.

I have this cool white vase/pot and decided it would look so cute with a bouquet of hearts coming out of it. So, I bought some florist wire (pre-wrapped) and foam and used some of my cute craft paper and went to work.

Here is a picture of it in progress. It was so simple. Just throw the wires into the florist foam, curl them down to the size I wanted them, cut two paper hearts the same size, glue them together around the wire, and boom, there it is.

PBWC

I have discovered the magic that is peanut butter + white chocolate. The funny thing is that I don't really like either on their own, but put them together and it really is magical!

Here are a couple of my PBWC creations:

PB Popcorn

1. Pop (preferably air pop) some corn (enough to fill a large bowl - approx. 1/2 C kernals).
2. Shake some salt on the popcorn.
3. Melt 1/2 bag of white chocolate with 1/4-1/3 C PB (just toss them together in the microwave for 30 second increments, stir, repeat, until fully melted - don't over-cook).
4. Pour PBWC over the popcorn and toss until all the corn is well covered.
5. Dump it onto a sprayed tray/cookie sheet.
6. Put in a cool place (my garage works great).
7. When the PBWC has set, put into bowls or bags or directly into your mouth.

PB Brownies

1. Make your favorite brownies. (Phil's Brownies work great!)
2. Melt 1/2 bag of white chocolate with 1/4-1/3 C PB (just toss them together in the microwave for 30 second increments, stir, repeat, until fully melted - don't over-cook).
3. Pour the PBWC on top of the brownies.
4. Put in a cool place (my garage works great).
5. When everything is cool, cut, serve, eat.