Valentines's Heart Pops

Everyone loves Valentines Day, I mean, really, how could you not? A full day set aside to celebrate LOVE! Hearts and flowers, chocolate and other goodies, and super sweet notes to those we care about..... what a terrific reminder to focus on the positive things in life.

I'm almost overwhelmed by all of the great Valentines ideas circulating on the internet. I hope to share lots of them with you all over the coming weeks.... recipes and crafts and parties, too. I happened across this adorable idea for a Valentine's treat from Pleasant Home, Valentine's Heart Pops made from candy canes and white chocolate candy melts. This is brilliant! Easy and quick and a great favor for neighbors and friends.

Adorable for a classroom treat, too!

With the directions from Pleasant Home, they are simple to make with a few ingredients..... small candy canes, white chocolate candy melts and some Valentines sprinkles.

And while you're visiting Jodi over at Pleasant Home,

take a look at these yummy jello pop corn balls.

And these super easy favors using tic-tacs and a little scrapbook paper.

Thanks, Jodi, for all of your inspiring ideas!

EASY Homemade Hot Chocolate Gifts

Homemade Peppermint Hot Chocolate

I've got a quick and easy gift idea for classrooms, teachers, friends and more today. Homemade hot chocolate with some mini marshmallows and peppermint -- yum!

A quick list of ingredients and supplies:

25.6 oz Nonfat instant dry milk
16 can of Nesquick
16 oz Coffee creamer (Whoops! Forgot this one in the photo so make sure you add it)
1 pound of powdered sugar
1 bag of mini marshmallows
candy canes
small plastic bags
curling ribbon
christmas tag

Now for the directions:

Put the first 4 ingredients in a very large bowl and stir and then stir some more. Now take all of your candy canes (without the wrappers!) and put them in a ziploc and crush them up. Make sure to leave a few chunks so that they look pretty for presentation. Now take your small plastic bag and add about 5 tablespoons of hot chocolate mix. Next add a few marshmallows and then some crushed candy cane.

Use your curling ribbon to tie the bag off and add your gift tag... the one I've shown is from the Shindig Parties TO GO Let it Snow Collection.

That's all folks - it's super easy! (I found the original recipe here -- don't you just love the internet?)

I'm making 90 of these today for my kids' classes and it's going pretty quick -- what a fun and EASY idea.

And by the way my new friend, Kirsti, is hosting a giveaway of the Let it Snow Collection of printables on her Blog -- the giveaway will run until December 20th so hurry on over there and sign up! It's a great collection -- you can see more photos from it here.

Hope you have a wonderful day today!

Great Holiday Door Wreaths

I hope that you all enjoyed your Thanksgiving holiday with your families and friends. I entertained quite a few myself and had a wonderful time visiting and sharing a fabulous Thanksgiving dinner. But now that the turkeys are in the attic and the leftovers are completely gone it's time to focus on the magic of Christmas and decorating the house a bit...... OK, a LOT.

Over the weekend I found lots of great holiday door wreath ideas I thought I'd share on the blog today. Most are simple craft projects and shouldn't break the bank, unless, of course, you have two front doors like me! It seemed like such a good idea when I was designing the house.... Now though, two wreaths for every holiday -- not such a good idea!




This stunning Ornament Wreath from Good Housekeeping is always a favorite. Start with a straw wreath form, cover it with pieces of white felt and then hot glue the ornaments on -- simple and it can be customized to coordinate with your own Christmas colors.


Being a bit biased toward polka dots and ribbon myself, I'm loving this wreath from Stacy at She's Kinda Crafty. Stacy takes an 18" straw wreath form and lots of ribbon and performs a special kind of loopy magic to create this festive door wreath.


Another version of the ribbon wreath from Shelterness is a little smaller and possibly a little easier to make, too. Monica uses a 12" metal ring bought at the craft store and just ties 36 ribbons onto it. No-sew simple!


Kim from Incredibly Cute Personalized Art has a great tutorial on this Berry Grapevine wreath using an oval shaped grapevine wreath as a base and then covering it with multiple pieces of holiday berry picks found at Hobby Lobby or Michaels.


For all of you burlap lovers out there, here's one that sure to make you sing Fa La La La Lahh! The Holly Berry Burlap Wreath from Linda at Craftaholic's Anonymous is simply made with cut pieces of burlap folded and pierced onto a wire circular frame.



Better Homes and Gardens Moss Wreath is simply beautiful with it's light green reindeer moss and petite red ornaments. I love how they use simple materials and the square design to create a show stopper that will last for many years.

Johnny in a Dress has a cute ribbon and glitter ball ornament wreath with a monogram initial, too.

I found this unique wreath at DIY Home Decorating Ideas. If you're looking for something a little different this year, this holiday wreath is very easy to make and it uses super inexpensive materials -- white tulle and cardboard! I think it would super sweet for a little girl's birthday or possibly a baby shower, too -- just switch the colors to some pink or blue.

A few ornaments, a little ribbon and a whole lot of candy canes makes for an adorable holiday wreath idea. This Candy Cane Wreath from BHG is easy enough for the whole family to get involved in crafting.

Looks like we've got some decisions to make and some crafting to do!! Best wishes getting the house decorated this week for all of you tackling that big project -- just think of how happy you'll be when it's all up and holiday fabulous!!