DIY: Valentines that are {Star}Bursting!

Knowing that Valentine's Day was around the corner, Benjamin asked me to start thinking about something little he could do for the girls at the office.  A token of appreciation for jobs well done!  When thinking about doing something for the ladies, we had a few things to keep in mind: we needed gifts for 18 and we didn't want it to be too mushy.  

I set out to the best source for ideas: Pinterest.  I found a list of over 100 things to do for Valentine's day and started rattling off my favorites to Benjamin, tweaking them here or there to make them office appropriate.  The winner for this year's Valentine was.... Bursting with joy that you're part of the team!  

 

To make this Valentine (for 18 people!), we purchased the following:
6 bags of Starbursts
1 pack of large cello bags
4 spools Valentines Day ribbon
We used cardstock that we already had at home.

Benjamin divided the Starbursts up into the bags

Then using the starburst form in PhotoShop and our our Silhouette, the tags were created!  I then tied the bows and voila!  A cute token of appreciation bursting with flavor!

These would also make adorable Teacher Appreciation gifts or Just Because gifts for neighbors, students, family, friends, co-workers... the list goes on and one!

Summer Watermelon Craft

Winston is growing like a weed!  I just love how tiny his little hands and fingers are.  With a good number of our family living out of town, we enjoy sending personalized cards with photos of Winston over the previous months.  

Since it's summer time, we decided to go with a watermelon theme!  Using our Silhouette, we cut out the shapes that we would need to make the perfect slice of watermelon.  Next, we got the ink all ready for Winston's little fingers.  At the beginning he was not as thrilled as I thought he would be...however after the first five or six, he got into the groove and routine!

The watermelon needed a little pizazz to make it pop, so w headed to Hobby Lobby and found a background.  It was a toss up between the wood or the grass.  We were pleased with the turn out!

After gluing the watermelon pieces onto the background onto the card, I then took puff paint and wrote phrases like "Hooray for Summer!" and "Hip Hooray for Summer!"

The cards were a big hit with family members and besides the fingerprinting, can be made in the amount of a nap time!  We used 5x7 cards and they fit nicely into a picture frame proving to be multi-purpose!

Note: Make sure that the ink you use is truly washable ink... We had to scrub little baby's fingers with Goop for a good five minutes to remove all signs of black ink!

Fortune Cookie Recipe

For our New Year's celebration, I thought it would be fun to have a festive dessert.  After a few minutes, I got an ambitious hair and decided to make fortune cookies!  It became a family event with Lulu being on watch for any crumbs to help taste test, Winston cheering us on with coos and Benjamin doing the folding because I have a habit of burning myself!  Our New Year's Eve was special because we were all in the kitchen and the receipe turned out to be easier than I expected!  

Fortune Cookies

adapted from Martha Stewart

Ingredients:

5 tbs of unsalted butter

4 egg whites

1 cup of white sugar

1 cup of flour

pinch of salt

3 tbs of heavy whipping cream

1 tsp almond extract

Parchment paper

Makes about 15 cookies

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees.

Melt butter in a small bowl and set aside.  In a separate bowl, beat together egg whites and sugar on a medium speed for about 30 seconds.  Scrape the bowl down to ensure all of the sugar has been mixed in.  Next add the flour and salt.  Beat together until combined.  Scrap the down the bowl.  Lastly, add in the melted butter, cream and almond extract.  Beat together for another 30 seconds.

Go ahead and try a taste - it is delicious!

As a guideline, draw two 5" circles onto the parchment paper and place on the cookie sheet.  Spoon about a tablespoon of the batter onto the parchment paper and spread with the back of the spoon into a thin circle.

Put in the oven and bake between 6-8 minutes or until the edges turn golden brown.  When you take the pan out of the oven, you will need to act fast.  Take a spatula and lift the first circle off of the pan and place on a clean surface.  Quickly place the fortune in the middle of the circle.

Then take two sides and fold them until they meet together.  Then press the middle of the semi circle over a coffee mug or a straight surface to create the middle crease of the cookie.

Place the folded cookie into a muffin tin to help maintain the fortune cookie shape!

Don't worry if the middle of your cookie cracks a little - it happens.  If it splits the whole way, it just means you can eat it without feeling badly!  Quickly do the second circle and repeat until all batter is used.  

After the first 8 or so, I was able to spoon out an appropriate amount and no longer needed the circle outline.  It may take one or two at the beginning to get into a groove, so if you need to make an exact 15, I would recommend doubling the batter to be on the safe side.

Since we had created two fortunes for each guest, we then created a cute little box using the Silhoutte and bright card stock.  After gluing the sides together, using puff paint I wrote the names of our guests and 2013 on the sides of the boxes.

This allowed for a great presentation of the cookies and the boxes were also useful for taking home one should they want to save it for later!

Overall I was very pleased with the turnout of the fortune cookies!  They tasted fantastic, the fortunes we crafted for the family were well received and provided some good laughs and they were fun to make!  

Just a note:

You could also use vanilla extract instead of almond, if you prefer.

After the cookies cool, try dipping one side into chocolate and covering with sprinkles for another option!

Hand {and Foot!} Made Turkey

Little baby hands and feet are just too cute for words!  Since this was Winston's first Thanksgiving, I got a creative|crafty hair and decided to make cards for the family.  I knew I had made turkeys out of my hands when I was little and thought it would be a good thing to do with Winston's small hands.  So together with Benjamin and our magical Silhouette, Winston "made" his first craft!

What you'll need:

colored construction paper

googly eyes

glue

scissors

red puff paint

orange puff paint

5 x 7 note cards

envelopes

To start, we traced Winston's hand and a socked foot onto a blank sheet of paper.  Benjamin then scanned them into the computer and imported them into the Silhouette software.  We then let the Silhouette do all of the cutting of the little feet and fingers.  This was much easier than me cutting them out by hand with scissors!

Then I took the body and added two googly eyes so that our little turkey could see!  A beak was created by cutting a small triangle from orange paper and glued under the eyes.  Then with the red puff paint, I drew the gobbler.

To make Turkey Lurkey pop, I put a bright piece of construction paper beneath the hands on the blank card.  Using four different colored hands, I glued them to the green paper creating the feathers.  Then I glued the body on top of the hands and voila! a little turkey is formed!

There was something missing as I looked at the little guy and after staring at it for a few minutes it hit me... LEGS!  With the orange puff paint, I gave Turkey Lurkey some legs and wrote a greeting above his head.

The inside of the card read this:

This little turkey made with Winston's hands and feet

wishes you a Happy Thanksgiving full of love and lots to eat!

And because this was made on a 5x7, it also fit nicely into a frame for a great keepsake to put out year after year!