Happy Valentine's Day

I'm afraid I didn't take a single picture of the Valentine's flowers - it was just too crazy!  But this ombre cake is really fun!  I wouldn't mind a large slice (the other cakes featured looked just as good so you should head over and take a look!!).

Featured on Style Me Pretty and made by the Sweet and Saucy Shop

Trust you all had a wonderful Valentine's Day!!

Valentine's Flowers!

Pre-order your Valentine's Flowers!

Long-stemmed Premium Roses (available in red or assorted colors)

Dozen- $45.00
Half Dozen- $24.50
Single- $4.50


Add a vase - $2.00-$5.00
Moscow Delivery - $5.00

Custom Orders must be placed by Feb. 8Happy Valentine's Day!


kathryn@kathrynchurch.com


(image from here)

Valentine's Printables

I'm a sucker for Valentine's Day. All that pink and red is so cheerful when it's still pretty dreary outside. Love vs. Design has this free Valentine's Printable.  They also have a free "Be My Bridesmaid" printable.  That'd be a fun Valentine to pass out!

Happy Valentine's Day!

Happy Valentine's Day! Hope you all have fun plans!!
 I get to arrange flowers and my little guy gets to watch Toy Story- pretty perfect Valentines for the both of us!

I featured burlap wraps and antique flowers this year.

DIY: Valentines Paper Heart Garland

I needed some quick Valentines decor so I did a paper garland out of hearts.  It's basically the same as the round paper garland I did for Christine's baby shower - just with hearts! (It took a little longer than the round garland since I don't have a heart hole punch - but still, all in all, less than 30min.)  And I got to test out the sewing machine my husband got me for Christmas! (Works like a charm!  More on the sewing machine when I've learned more about it.)

Sorry the pictures are so dark - the lighting was bad and I was snapping them really fast before dinner.

Valentines Day Toothbrush Notes

Twig and Thistle has some fantastic ideas for Valentines Day (did you see the fruit stickers!?) - and the free pdfs to go with it! Just an easy way to say, "I love you!" Here's the link. Of course - this is so easy you could make it yourself without the pdf too.

Valentine's Projects

I'm busy with a fundraiser event today, so here's some projects from last year's Valentine's!

Stamped Card Labels

Painted and Stamped Cookies

Hanging Hearts

Easy Valentine's Day Touches

 These fruit stickers are a free pdf download over at Twig and Thistle!  Fun lunchbox surprise!

Heart Shaped Thumbprint Cookies

Continuing on through Valentine's Day ideas: 

I saw some peanut butter and jam filled heart cookies in the latest Martha Stewart and since I hate pb cookies just decided to try out the idea in a basic thumbprint cookie.  And they turned out pretty well!!

I used Emeril Lagasse's recipe and made some alterations - alterations in italics. 

Ingredients

• 1/2 cup raspberry jam or jelly
• 1 tablespoon Chambord or kirsch (I just use any berry liqueur I have on hand)
• 2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 2 sticks (1 cup) butter, at room temperature
• 2/3 cup sugar
• 2 large egg yolks
• 1 tablespoon finely grated lemon zest (I didn't have lemon and substituted grapefruit - worked great!)
• 1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice
• 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

Directions

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Lightly butter 2 large baking sheets.

In a small bowl, combine the jam and Chambord. Stir to combine.

In a medium bowl, combine the flour, baking powder, and salt andwhisk to blend.

In a large bowl using an electric mixer, beat the butter and sugar until light and creamy. Beat in the egg yolks, lemon zest, lemonjuice and vanilla. Add the flour mixture in 2 additions and beat just until moist clumps form. Gather the dough together into a ball.

Pinch off the dough to form 1-inch balls. Place on the prepared baking sheets, spacing 1-inch apart. Use your floured index finger or 1/2 teaspoon measuring spoon to create depressions in the center of each ball. (Instead of just doing one impression, push slightly to the side and then to the other side.  Clean fingers make a neater impression.  Make sure to avoid a low side or your jam will run out. I would add a 20min chill in the fridge here to help maintain the shape.  I didn't do it and some of them got a little flat and less heart shaped.)   

Fill each indentation with nearly 1/2 teaspoon of the jam mixture. Bake until golden brown, about 20 minutes. (took less time)

Transfer the cookies to wire racks to cool completely.

Enjoy!  They'd be really cute in a window box, clear bag with ribbon, wedding day favors, etc...

Heart-Shaped Pancakes

So this morning we tested out the new silicone pancake molds I got! And after a couple tries and flops (like the picture below) we figured out the technique and they work great!! Way way better than the metal mold which I gave up on last year and just used a cookie cutter on the round ones after they were done. The silicone even handled these nut and oatmeal filled pancakes no problem!

flop - The trick is to cook one side, slide your spatula under and then rotate the arm (it moves 360 degrees) and flip it over while keeping it still in the silicone mold. Only remove the mold once the second side has cooked pretty well. (We also sprayed the silicone with cooking spray as an added protection)

Success!

Of course for Valentine's Day - you could sprinkle pwd sugar over them, add a flag that says "love" or anything else! Enjoy!

Valentine's Ideas

I love Valentine's Day! Not only because I get to arrange a lot of flowers - but the red and pink are just soo cheerful when everything is still cold and wet and bleak out! I've got all sorts of valentine's projects that I want to try out - but we'll see if time and my 2 year old permits! I ordered these silicone pancake molds to try and make a perfect heart stack (see bottom for order link). I've been unhappy with the cheap stainless steel one I got last year. I'll let you know how these turn out!

Coffee stencils (howaboutorange)

I'm a sucker for the candy hearts anyway - so I'm reallly tempted to purchase these plates!