Chica and I were browsing through IKEA again last month and saw another one of the silicone ice trays we used to make our recycled crayons. This tray made cubes in heart shapes.  I went ahead and bought it, knowing that I needed to come up with something to do with it for Valentine’s Day.  I brought it home and promptly forgot about it until this past weekend.

Then I remembered Chica talking about pressed sugar in the past.  (Yes, we have weird, random conversations that involve pressed sugar, when we aren’t talking about The Bachelor, of course!)  Apparently, you can make decorations for cakes, etc.  by using pressed sugar.  I wondered if I could press the sugar into the mold to make little sugar hearts.  Sounds promising, right?

The supplies are very simple: sugar, water, meringue powder (optional), silicone ice cube tray, edible markers, a bowl, and measuring spoons.

Little Jo enjoyed doing this project for me.  She loves to measure ingredients and put them in the bowl.  And this is such a forgiving project that I let her do it all on her own.

Put 1 cup of sugar and 2 teaspoons of water in a bowl, and optionally add a pinch of meringue powder.  The meringue powder just makes the final pressed sugar heart a little stronger for handling, and I advise it if you are going to let 4-year-olds decorate the finished hearts.

Once you’ve mixed it thoroughly, it is just like playing with wet sand.  Press the sugar mixture into your silicone ice cube tray.  Be sure they are full and pack the sugar in firmly. Once you fill all the cavities and smooth out the tops, place the mold in the freezer.  I can’t tell you exactly how long you should wait to take them out.  I forgot about them so we didn’t pop them out of the mold until the next day.  I am certain it doesn’t take 24 hours for them to harden.  Just try pressing them out.  If they don’t easily pop out, stick them back in the freezer!

Now for the fun part!  We used our edible markers to draw and color on the hearts.  Little Jo had a great time designing them for Daddy, who was away on a business trip.

While she colored the hearts, I made up a batch of brownies to highlight them.  I chose brownies because I love brownies.  Brownie batter is one of my all time favorite things to make.  I could eat the entire bowl of batter and be sublimely happy while just a little bit ill!  Anyway, we decorated my husband’s welcome home brownies with M&M’s, crushed up candy canes and the sugar hearts.  What a beautiful plate of treats for a Valentine’s Day party.

They would also make a wonderful gift for the coffee or tea lover in your life. Just put a dozen or so into a clear bag, tie it up with a ribbon, and you have the perfect gift of lovely little sugar bombs, ready to drop right into a mug!

This Valentine’s Day, why not celebrate your love with yummy, frosted cupcakes that look like flowers, hearts, and candy? You may think that’s a tall order, but with our Cupcake Collars, it’s a cinch. We’ve created five new hearts-and-flowers designs, just in time for Valentine’s Day.

First, we’ve got roses in red, yellow, and pink. With a simple swirl of frosting (use a large star tip), they look like lovely edible blooms. Then, for the traditional Valentine look, we have a red heart with a lace edge. Just use a standard 1/4″ handheld hole punch to create the holes, making it look like a doily edge. Or for the kid in all of us, reproduce the classic conversation hearts candy by using our pastel hearts and piping your own custom messages in the middle.

A dozen red roses is a very traditional Valentine’s Day gift, but what if they were roses in cupcake form? What a great solution to give men who don’t want flowers on Valentine’s Day. They all love cupcakes!

And I know my niece would go crazy over the customizable conversation hearts. This would be a really easy way to dress up store-bought cupcakes that you want to take to school for the kids to enjoy. Just buy white icing in a squeeze tube and write messages (or even the kids’ names!) on each cupcake. So cute!

As usual, we’re offering one design from this new collection free for you, our loyal readers. We want you to be our Valentine, so here’s the lace heart template for you to download. Enjoy!

Download our Lace Heart template

To get the rest of these fun designs (and many more!) please visit CupcakeCollars.com

I recently discovered a new blog called Bird Crafts, and while there is SO much neat stuff for me to peruse there, I instantly spotted something yesterday that I just had to share with you guys. In the midst of the author’s post about her kitchen makeover (which is gorgeous), she revealed the most clever re-use of an old ashtray.

She used an ashtray as a paint cup! The notches make perfect holders for the brush, and it’s easy to clean and so practical. I just love it!

I remember as a kid when ashtrays were the default “make it yourself” craft for kids to give to their parents for holiday gifts. Oh, how times have changed. I bet my niece wouldn’t even know what one was if she saw it. While ashtrays are harder and harder to find these days, if you parents are anything like mine, it’ll only take five minutes searching through the boxes in their garage to turn up one or two ancient ashtrays. And now I know exactly what to do with them!

I like to make special treats for Little Jo to take to her preschool class for Valentine’s Day. This year, I thought I would make some of Chica’s kettle corn and send it in in bags for each kid. Well, once I got started, I couldn’t stop. I kept adding to the prototype until I came up with cute little tags and kettle corn with a twist. Let me show you what I did!

For the record, you can do this with regular popcorn, you don’t have to make kettle corn.  However, I can tell you that the kettle corn is spectacular when you get to the end of this.  I couldn’t help but try it!  If you make the kettle corn you will need: Chica’s instructions, salt, sugar, a Whirley-Pop, and oil.  For the rest of the project you will need parchment paper (my favorite kitchen tool), Wilton candy melts, Ziploc bags, a printer, white paper, scissors or a paper cutter, brown lunch bags and a stapler.

First, make your kettle corn or your regular popcorn and spread it out on the parchment paper.  Try to resist eating too much of it at this point; you will need it to fill those bags later!  Trust me, I had to make two batches to have enough to show you.

Next, dump your candy melts into a Ziploc bag.  I used red melts and pink melts.  I started with the red ones.  Microwave the melts and knead the bag until all the lumps are gone.  Twist your bag and snip a small hole in the corner.  Then, proceed to make a beautiful red candy mess by squeezing the melted candy out all over the top of the popcorn.  Doesn’t this look yummy already?  You could stop here but why would you?  It needs more!

Wait for the melted candy to harden and then toss the popcorn to break it up again.  Spread it back out onto your parchment paper to get it ready for the next layer!

I melted my pink candy melts the same way as before and squeezed the pink candy all over the popcorn again.  Look at how pretty it is!

I felt the popcorn needed one last little punch so I got out some red decor sugar and sprinkled it onto the still-melted pink chocolate.  Now THAT looks done!  Allow it all to dry and then break it up one final time.  Then, eat some.  Eat a little more and finally, tell yourself that you will have just one more bite.  To prevent all of the popcorn from disappearing, remove yourself from the kitchen and head to the craft room for this next part.

Get your printer ready and download our free template.

Download our free Popcorn Valentine treat bag template

Each template has two “My Heart Pops for You!” tags on it.  Use a paper cutter or scissors to cut the tags apart.

Next, fill out the to and from that is on the back of the tag.  This is a little bit easier before you put the tag on the bag.  Now, you have to go back up to the yummy popcorn.  Fill your bags about half full.

Fold the tag in half and place it in front of your lunch sack lining it up with the top so you can see where you will need to fold your sack down.

As you can see, I folded just enough of the sack over so that the tag will cover the open top in back.  Now, staple the tag to the bag in each corner.

Now you have a delicious Valentine treat.  My husband says he would like a batch with melted dark chocolate over it instead of the pink and red.  I might just have to do that for him for his special Valentine’s Day treat.

It’s February, and love is in the air. And thanks to ABC’s The Bachelor, it’s on my television, too. I know this has nothing to do with crafts, but I just had to tell you guys that I totally love this television show. Okay, I guess some of the women on that show can get quite “crafty” in their pursuits of the bachelor, but that’s different. I know it’s just a dumb reality TV show, but I’ve been watching from the first season and I can’t help it. I just love it!

If you haven’t seen the show, you can catch up on ABC.com, or with streaming episodes on Amazon. And I just discovered a DVD of The Best of the Bachelor – Season One that I might have to check out some time.

I finally got Jo to watch it this season and she was hooked immediately. (Her husband is still fussing at me for it, too!) Do you guys watch it? Does this season seem a little “off” to you, too, or is it just me? Or is it just Jake? Who do you think will be the final two women at the end? I’m rooting for Tenley myself. Let me know what you think!

Valentine’s Day is almost here. Are you looking for some gift ideas? Take a look at some of our favorite Valentine’s projects from the past.

• Make colorful swirled cupcakes for the sweet tooth in your life.
• Try out Bakerella’s recipe for custom chocolate kisses.
• Thrill the younger Valentines with heart-shaped peanut butter and jelly gem sandwiches.

• Fill these simple-to-sew heart sachets with candy, lavender or a love note.l
• Kids will love handing our homemade heart cards filled with candy.
• Learn to make a heart pop-up card with FlipFlops&AppleSauce.

• Give the man in your life a unique Valentine’s Day gift by collecting his favorite treats together in a fun basket.
• Use etching cream to decorate an apothecary jar to give as a special gift.
• Learn how to make a custom cover for the Kindle lover to protect it, while allowing it to be hand-held or propped up on a table. Use any patterned fabric you like to make the recipient feel truly special.