{valentine treat bags}

20
February 10, 2012 By | 20 Comments

I know Friday is usually my {floral friday} post. But, since Valentine’s Day is so close and I still wanted to share one more little craft with you before V-Day, I decided to postpone the floral post until next week.

These little treat bags are the perfect Valentine’s Day gift for anyone with a sweet tooth (and of course eye candy lovers)! :)

What you’ll need:

  • brown packing paper
  • a printer
  • crazy scissors
  • sewing machine
  • fabric tape for the bunting
  • string for the bunting and to close the heart
  • candy
  • a hole punch

How to:

  1. Cut two pieces of packing paper to 8 1/2 x 8 1/2 inches.
  2. Place one of the pieces in the printer and print the design on it.
  3. Place the two pieces of paper on top of each other and cut along the outer heart-shaped line with crazy scissors.
  4. Sew along the inner heart-shaped line, leaving the gap on top open.
  5. Decorate the heart with the fabric tape bunting. Just cut little triangles and run them along a piece of string on top of the heart.
  6. Use the hole punch to create two little holes in the top center of the heart.
  7. Fill the heart with candy.
  8. Use a piece of string to tie up the heart through the holes.
  9. Happy Valentine’s Day! ;)

Download the printable here!

If you want to customize your own bags or just like the font, you can download it for free here: home sweet home

 
 
I’m partying here! ♥

Filed Under: Crafts, DIY, Gifts, Holiday, Nifty, Printable, Thrifty, Valentine's Day | 20 Comments
Pin It


{crayon valentine’s hearts}

20
February 7, 2012 By | 20 Comments

A little while ago I saw these cute “stained glass” crayon hearts over at Little Birdie Secrets. They’re easy and quick to make (which is a must for my projects!) and of course nifty and thrifty. ;)

While they still turned out quite cute, I had one little problem. I couldn’t find any wax paper here in Germany and resorted to normal parchment paper.. Well, I learned that you actually need the wax in wax paper to make the hearts stick together better. So, make sure to get the waxed version and you’ll get better results that I did. ;)


What you’ll need:

  • Wax paper
  • Crayons in pinks, purples and reds
  • A pencil sharpener
  • An iron
  • Newspaper or paper towels to protect your ironing board
  • Cookie cutters and a pencil for tracing the hearts
  • String or thread for hanging

How to:

  • Fold a piece of wax paper in half.
  • Shave the crayons with a pencil sharpener and deposit evenly on one half of the wax paper.
  • Fold the other half of the paper over the shaving.
  • Seal the edges by folding them over.
  • Cover your ironing surface with old newspaper or paper towels, so the crayons don’t seep through onto your ironing board or iron.
  • Iron over the paper with low to medium heat and stop when all the crayon shavings have melted.
  • Let cool for a couple minutes.
  • Trace and cut out hearts (or any design that’s not too intricate).
  • String the hearts with thread or string.
  • Hang in front of your window, so the sun can shine through the hearts into your room.

Even though mine didn’t turn out that great, I still wanted to show them to you. Because for one, projects sometimes fail don’t go as planned. Secondly, I am confident that it will turn out better for you if you have access to wax paper. :)

 
 
I’m partying here! ♥

Filed Under: Crafts, DIY, Holiday, Nifty, Thrifty, Valentine's Day | 20 Comments
Pin It


{valentine’s pie hearts}

40
January 24, 2012 By | 40 Comments

Valentine’s Day is just around the corner and for that occasion, my mom and I made our first pie! :)

Not an ordinary pie though — a heart shaped pie. On a stick! Is there anything better than food on a stick?! This treat is guaranteed to put a smile on anyone’s face receiving these little pie hearts as a Valentine’s gift!

We also created a dessert version of it, using heart shaped metal molds, allowing for a little more filling than the version on a stick. Yum!

{martha stewart pie crust}

pie_hearts_feat

  • Prep: 10 mins
  • Chill Time: at least 1 hour

Ingredients

  • 2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
  • 1 teaspoon salt
  • 1 teaspoon sugar
  • 1 cup (2 sticks) chilled unsalted butter, cut into small pieces
  • Ice water

Instructions

  1. Mix flour with salt and sugar in a food processor. Add butter.
  2. 2. Pulse until mixture resembles coarse meal, with a few pea-size pieces remaining.
  3. Add 1/4 cup ice water; pulse until dough is crumbly but holds together when squeezed. (If needed, add up to 4 tablespoons more ice water, 1 tablespoon at a time.) Do not overmix.
  4. Turn out onto a work surface; knead once or twice, until dough comes together.
    Divide dough in half, and flatten into disks. Wrap separately in plastic; refrigerate one disk at least one hour or up to three days.

Copyright© www.niftythriftythings.com

{cherry pie filling}

pie_hearts_feat

found here
  • Prep: ca. 10 mins

Ingredients

  • 1 pound bag frozen pitted cherries3/4 cup sugar
  • 1/3 cup cornstarch
  • 2 tbsp lemon juice

Instructions

  1. Place frozen cherries, sugar, cornstarch and lemon juice in a heavy-bottomed medium-sized pan.
  2. Heat on medium until cherries begin to release their liquid.
  3. Bring to a boil, stirring constantly.
  4. Reduce to a simmer and heat until cherry mixture has thickened.
  5. Allow to cool before filling the little pies.

Copyright© www.niftythriftythings.com

How To

  1. Roll out the dough on a floured surface to about 1/8 inch thick.
  2. Use a heart-shaped cookie cutter to cut out the hearts.
  3. Lay half of the hearts out on a baking sheet, lined with baking paper.
  4. Place a wooden stick (thanks Starbuck’s! *cough*) in the center.
  5. Fill with the cherry mixture.
  6. Wet your finger in a little bowl of water and run it along the open edge of the heart.
  7. Gently, place the non-filled hearts on top of the filled ones and press down with your finger on the edge.
  8. Take a fork and crimp around the edges.
  9. Bake until golden brown at about 350°F in preheated oven. (Ours baked for about 45 minutes)

 

Filed Under: Baking, DIY, Handmade, Holiday, Recipes, Valentine's Day | 40 Comments
Pin It


{valentines cookies}

10
February 10, 2011 By | 10 Comments

A while back I found an awesome recipe at Blonde Designs and had wanted to try it. When my husband told me he wanted to bake cookies for his class (he is attending German language classes), I finally had my excuse! Yay!

So, we bought the few things we needed and got to “work”. We decided on making Cream Cheese Sugar Cookies and Heidesand (I think it’s similar to shortbread) Sea Salt Cookies.
Both of them turned out to be super yummy!

Cream Cheese Sugar Cookies:

{valentines cookies}

INGREDIENTS

1 cup butter, softened
3 oz. cream cheese, softened
1/2 cup sugar
1 egg
pinch of salt
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1/4 teaspoon almond extract (optional)
3 cups flour

PREPARATION

Cream butter and cream cheese until fluffy; add sugar and mix.
Add egg, salt, vanilla, and almond extract; mix well.
Add flour. Wrap dough in plastic and chill several hours or overnight.
Roll out on floured surface and cut out cookies (keep on the thicker side). Bake on ungreased sheet at 375°F, until edges begin to barely brown.
recipe source: http://blonde-designs.squarespace.com

Heidesand Sea Salt Cookies:

{valentines cookies}
source of picture: nifty thrifty’s mom :)

Okay, this is translated (by me ;) ) from a German recipe. I hope it all makes sense and that you excuse any weird sounding expressions..

INGREDIENTS (about 80 cookies)

1 1/3 cups (300g) butter
3 1/2 cups (400g) flour
3/4 cup (175g) sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 teaspoon sea salt
2 tablespoons sugar (to roll the dough in)
1/2 teaspoon orange zest

PREPARATION

Let the butter melt at medium temperature and brown a little. That gives the cookies a fine, caramel aroma. Let the butter cool down and harden again.
Cream the butter until fluffy. Add flour, sugar, vanilla, orange zest and salt. Finish up mixing by hand.
Form the dough into rectangular pieces (1 x 1 x 10in) and roll in sugar. Wrap them up in saran wrap and place in the fridge for 30 minutes.
Preheat the oven to 350°F (180°C).
With a sharp knife, cut the dough into about 1/3 in (8mm) thick slices. Place the slices on baking sheets lined with baking paper. Don’t put them too close to each other.
Bake the cookies for about 12–15 minutes, until slightly brown, and let cool on a cooling rack.
(recipe source: brigitte.de)

Filed Under: Baking, DIY, Good Eats, Handmade, Holiday, Recipes, Valentine's Day | 10 Comments
Pin It