birdsandtrees

A Valentine's Kiss

We had our 4th Annual Valentine's Poetry Party today at school.  The younger class recited some Robert Louis Stevenon, while the older class recited a couple from Emily Dickinson.  It's one of my favorite days of the school year, and I usually make heart-shaped brownies, but this year I made some homemade chocolate kisses! I saw the recipe on Bakerella - it looked easy and quick.  And it ended up being both of those things.   The inside is simply a mixture of crushed oreos and a block of cream cheese.  Here's what it looks like on the inside:

Then you shape them and dip them into chocolate (I use this kind, which you just melt in the microwave).  I also bought some red and silver foil (already cut into the perferct size for the kisses) from Michael's, but you could easily just use aluminum foil.  I will definitely be making these again.  

Happy Valentine's Day!

Some Tripp and A Dip

This weekend James's sister Emily, her husband Nelson, and son Tripp (above) came to visit.  We love having them here in Birmingham and wish they were here more often! 

We had our own small Super Bowl party here at home, and I thought I'd make some Texas Caviar for an appetizer (Nelson is from Texas, so I thought he'd appreciate a little shout-out to his home state).  I thought everyone knew about this dip, but they had never heard of it!  So I thought I'd post the recipe in case you ever need a quick, easy, and delicious dip for a party or get-together. 

Texas Caviar

Mix together:

 1 small red onion, diced

1 can Rotel

1 can shoepeg corn

1 can black eyed peas, drained

1 can black beans, drained

1 small can chopped green chilies (I find these in the Mexican food section)

1 8oz. bottle Italian Dressing

The longer it sits, the better.  Fritos Scoops are our chip of choice for the dip.  

I hope you like it! 

For your Valentine...

(image found via)

I've been bookmarking lots of Valentine projects and ideas since last year.  I thought I'd share some of my favorites!  After all, we did buy a house whose former owner did Valentine's Day like no one else!  And in the move, I somehow lost my wax paper hearts.  So I knew I needed to step up my game.  

Let's start with some downloadable ones (the first is an oldie but a goodie, and one of my personal faves) :

    "Je t'aime" cards from Black Apple

A collection of valentines from jones design company

Adorable fruit stickers from twig & thistle

Another great download from twig & thistle

(I'm doing this one for the kids at school this year - they also have this option for a white bag)

And here are some other sweet links for ideas:

- you know Martha has you covered.  Check out these ideas: paper heart wrappings (pic above), doily envelopes, and lots of other crafts to get you inspired

- a handmade fabric card and envelope project

- a simple and quick valentine card idea for kids...here's another example of the same idea

- felt headbands and bracelets

- my friend Marla sent me this link for a heart garland...so cute!

- it doesn't get much easier than this!

- and last...if only I really had my act together, I could recreate something like this for our Valentine's party!