It’s called Cupid’s Arrow and here’s what you need:

Q-tips and straws.  I went to my local dollar store and found q-tips in different colors.  Score!  We used two boxes, or 800 q-tips for our class.  You also need straws, but I found that all the straws for sale at local stores, including the adorable paper straws we all love, were too narrow to fit q-tips inside them.  I ended up going to a local fast food chain and buying some milkshake straws for a quarter.

You also need a large bowl and a large blanket or tablecloth that you don’t mind having kids walk on,  because they will.  Oh, and I recommend a trash bag as well.  I’ve learned that taking an extra trash bag to any class party is always helpful, just like bringing your own dish towels to any church kitchen.

To play the game, simply lay the blanket out on the floor and place the bowl on one end of it.  Line the children up on the other end and give them all a straw and a fistful of q-tips.

When you say “go” they start putting q-tips into one end of the straw and blowing through the straw to “shoot” their arrow.  The goal is to get q-tips into the bowl.  We had two teams, represented by the two q-tip colors.  Stand back and let them shoot.  Seriously, you will end up with q-tips all over the place but they will have fun learning how to aim and get them in.  I found that the girls enjoyed this activity as much as the boys did.

The blanket on the floor is intended to help the kids stay back an equal distance from the bowl, but I found that their excitement caused them to get closer and closer.  I let them.  The point is to have fun, after all.  We didn’t end up counting which team won at the end anyway, because they just wanted to shoot the whole time.  At the end of each rotation we collected the q-tips from around the floor and dumped them in the bowl, which I dumped in the trash.

Before they went to the next station, we also did a quick Jello Slurping contest.  They kept their straws, sat on my blanket (to protect the classroom carpet), got a cup of jello and waited for “go.”  It was fun to watch them.

My daughter and her friend (and my two year old in the background who climbed on top of the desks while we were playing… I can’t keep that child on the floor!  Every time I turn around she’s on top of a counter, desk or table):

Cupid’s Arrow was a really fun game, so much fun that I wanted to play it later as a family but the night was just too crazy.  Instead, we’re going to have a q-tip war sometime soon.  I can just picture it:  ten people blowing hundreds of q-tips around my family room.  It’s going to be great!

Hopeful Homemaker

When it comes to planning many things, I have Han Solo’s problem.  I can imagine a lot.

What actually happens NEVER COMES CLOSE to what I can imagine.  This has always been frustrating to me, but I’ve learned over the years to handle it better, reminding myself that I’m usually the only one who is disappointed.  After all, no one else lives inside my head and sees the things I can dream up.  I remind myself that whatever actually gets done is usually just fine.  And then I move on and start imagining something else.

With that thought in mind, here’s what I managed to pull off on Valentine’s Day.   It was a crazy day, with a few hours spent at the school and a few hours of after school driving to do, but it worked.  It turned out to be a fun day, and my family seemed happy, which is really all I wanted.

cookie dough…

valentines for the kids…

Valentine dinner table complete with Pop Shoppe bottles and red striped straws…

vintage trophy shaped sugar bowls with little candy…

huge heart-shaped English toffee with pistachios for my husband…

Valentine table with balloons…

these sugar bowls make my heart happy…

experimenting with ombre in arranging balloons…

My favorite Marghab pattern, the Jacaranda tree, in pink on a napkin from Vera Marghab’s collection…

I always love the Valentine’s day m&m’s colors…

vintage pink basket with large glitter hearts…

And then the day was over.  I cooked ribs for dinner, one of our favorites.  It was a wonderful, busy, messy, sugar-filled day.  My list is tucked away for next year so I can review my ideas and go from there.  In all, it turned out great.  What I did was far enough out of our daily routine that my children felt like it was a special night.

Life is good, isn’t it?

HH

Wishing you a Valentine’s Day of simple joys, heart-felt hugs and love notes.  I hope it’s great!

Hopeful Homemaker

“It is by studying little things, that we attain the great art of having as little misery, and as much happiness as possible.” -Samuel Johnson

I feel like I’ve been studying a lot of big things lately, big things that leave me exhausted and trembling.  It’s time to take a step back and study some little things.

It’s Valentine’s Day tomorrow.

I have a lovely list of things I wanted to accomplish before this holiday hit.  Some really fun ideas, some really thoughtful ones too.  But as happens all too often, life got in the way.  I remind myself that this really isn’t as big a holiday as the stores would have us think.  I didn’t want to do it to impress anybody,  only to bring to life ideas I have flitting around in my head, and to express my love for my family in fun ways.

As I sat with my hot chocolate and heart shaped marshmallows, I said good-bye to the big plans I’d made, and decided that tomorrow will be a day of little things.  Little things done with love.

Jennifer

So I made a batch and managed to steal a few minutes here and there to decorate them.

Sometimes I let things sound so time intensive in my mind that I  never get around to doing it.  Sugar cookies usually fall in this category.  This time I tried flavoring the royal icing with some pina colada flavoring oil.  It added a fun scent and subtle taste to the cookies which I like because royal icing isn’t the yummiest frosting on earth.

I’ve decided to make small batches more often so I’ll get it through my head that it’s really quite simple.

The technique above was my #1 goal.  I wanted to try it.  I’d seen a picture in a catalog and wanted to learn how.  Mine aren’t exactly like the picture, but they were so much fun to make.  After filling in the centers with royal icing, I put a little circle of contrasting icing in the center, then quickly pulled a knife down through the center of the dot to form the heart  (a lot like I did with this baking project).

I really like how this tiny cookie turned out as well.  It reminds me of my baby.

I have hosted many baking parties for my girls, and every time I think about how much fun it looks while I supervise the organized chaos.  I had so much fun decorating this batch on my own (ok, my oldest daughter helped too).  It was a great creative experience and I learned something new.

Now they’re waiting patiently to be devoured for our FHE treat tonight.  Except for one, which we used on Friday for a mini-celebration….

See that little nibble on the edge?  I’ll share the reason soon.

Meanwhile, Happy Valentines Day!  I hope you’re having a fun one.

Sincerely,
Jennifer

Using this technique (again!) I made a rolled paper heart.  You can see the other things I’ve made with these flowers here, here and here.

Unlike the wreath, this project took just a little while to complete.  I still really like the look and feel of this technique.

Once it was done, I taped the back of the heart to a piece of pink cardstock paper that I’d cut to 8×10 inches.  I removed the glass from a large silver frame and put the heart in.

Right now it’s functioning as a simple piece of art above our bed.

It’s a nice twist on Valentine decor.  Neutral in color, understated, not too feminine, but still fun.  I like the three dimensional quality it has while not being too obvious.  And unique.  I’m big on unique.

I love projects like this.
Hope you’re having a great day!

HH

Last fall I bought some sugar roses to use for my daughter’s baptism.  BUT we forgot about them, so now they’re finding new purpose as Valentine’s Day decor.

I cut a large heart out of foam board and hot glued the sugar roses to it.

Every year I think about how fun it would be to make something like this with real flowers, but for some reason I’ve never done it.  This is a fun substitute.  Made from materials I had on hand, it cost me nothing.

I glued ribbon around the outside edges of the heart to hide the foam base.

I love that it’s unexpected but very simple.   And white.  I still love white.

It also looks pretty against red.  A bit more traditional.

The weekend is underway at our house, with several things to celebrate.  Should be fun!

Jennifer

We made a second batch of our favorite brownies, but this time we divided the batter into six inch cake pans.

I traced six inch circles onto parchment paper, cut them out, and lined the bottoms of the pans for easy release.  I also lightly sprayed the sides with non-stick baking spray.

Divide the batter between the three pans, then mix up these ingredients:

4 oz. cream cheese, softened
1 large egg yolk
2 Tb. sugar
2 Tb. flour

Mix until smooth.

We used this recipe to make this version in the fall.  I love how such a simple thing can be adapted to many occasions.  My girls decided they wanted to add pink food coloring this time.

Scoop the filling into a disposable decorating bag, cut off the tip, twist the ends, and set your daughters loose (or have some creative fun yourself).

They came up with these designs:

Bake them at 350 for about 20-25 minutes.  I’ve found that they sometimes need a little extra time because they’re so thick and the cream cheese on top makes the centers take longer to cook.  Watch the center carefully so you don’t end up with gooey, under-cooked brownies.

They’re so cute when they’re done, and we liked how the pink worked.

Once they’ve cooled, remove from the pan and peel the parchment paper off the bottom.  Place on a paper doily, then add a cardboard cake round to support the bottom.

We wrapped them in cellophane to share with friends.  This would also be a fun dessert to have at a romantic dinner for two.

I bought a little bunch of these roses at the dollar store recently.  I thought their slightly vintage feel would look fun on packages.  I wrapped the stem around the cellophane and added a simple tag.  Ready to go!

Next time I think I would order a set of these pans to bake brownies in.  So cute!

Hopeful Homemaker

Whip up a batch of brownies (try this best ever brownie recipe for great results) and simply cut them using a heart shaped cookie cutter.

Simply place them on a pretty paper napkin and serve.  Your family or guests will love them.

Want to make them even more fun?  Package them.

I bought some super cute pink and white striped cookie bags and simply punched my favorite scalloped circle to make a tag.  A bit of hand lettering and a simple heart stamp finish it off.

I bought the bags here, and was impressed with how quickly they shipped them.  If I had a small fortune to spend on packaging, I think I’d buy some in every color.  They are just too cute.

Next I cut a piece of parchment paper to wrap around the brownie to prevent oil marks from forming on the striped bag.  Simply insert the brownie into the bag…

fold the top and punch holes in both the tag and bag.  Add a ribbon and you’re done!

It’s so much fun to wrap up a little treat as an unexpected gift.

If I had planned ahead and ordered different bags, I would be all over these two downloadable designs for Valentine treats.  This one is especially for brownies, and this you could use for any kind of treat.  It never occurred to me that I could run these little bags through an ink jet printer.   She has a shop where she sells the bags in sets of 25 for $5.  I hope she updates the brownie bag next year, because I’d love to use it.   Check them out!

Up next, Valentine Brownies Part II.

Hope you’re having a great day!
Jennifer

I wanted a quick Valentine treat the other day, so we whipped up some basic Rice Krispy Treats.  Instead of pressing them into a pan to cool, we scooped them out with an ice cream scoop for fun.

Once they cooled we dipped the tops in pink tinted chocolate and added my favorite new sprinkles.

They were a big hit with the girls, who of course wanted to help.

They turned out so cute that I kept taking pictures.  All these little balls with pink tops…

And then, when the chocolate had set, we put them on sticks.

As Bakerella has repeatedly demonstrated, the cute factor of any treat jumps way up if you put it on a stick.  These were no exception.

But since cake pops are WAY too sweet for my stomach, Rice Krispy Treats made a great substitution.  The children loved them as well.  We will definitely be making these again.

They didn’t last long enough at my house to try it, but I think they would also be super cute in little treat bags tied with a ribbon for sharing.

If you try it, I’d love to hear.

Jennifer