Better late than never...because I love you.

A day late, a dollar short, but I still wanted to take a minute to say Happy Valentine's Day y'all!

I Love You garland by Lovely Indeed


Sign by Coulson Macleod, as spotted on Le Love

And for you, B:

Via Le Love

Wishing you a great one, wherever you are and whomever you're with. xoxo, r.

I love you so.

The sweetest Where The Wild Things Are quote has been made into a print by Dear Colleen on Etsy. I've talked about her work before [check it out here - it was a good post if I do say so myself! :) ] but I truly adore this new print - wouldn't it be sweet for a Valentine's Day gift or hung on the wall on the way out of an entry? Oh and did I mention that it's only 29 buckaroos? Sold.

Print available here.

Spotted on roblahblog.

A note to B

To my dear old man:

We haven't been able to hang out for real in days. (Silly scooter theft, kickball play-offs, baseball game, charity event, Stanley Cup and so on have kept us apart). I miss you.

Love,
your sea

Card originally spotted on Hello Lucky! Buy it for $4 at The Great Lakes Goods.

Have a great weekend!

Amazing cake found on frangipane

Aahh, Friday. I'm looking forward to a relatively mellow weekend after last weekend's awesome-but-debaucherous activities. We still have tons of dessert left over - an incredible ice cream cake from my birthday party, an untimely delivery of Girl Scout cookies, cupcakes (from my baking experiment) and some other sweets that just need to get out of this house stat! Perhaps we'll invite a few friends over for an impromptu dessert party and see if we can polish it all off. Sunday I'm going to a friend's baby shower so that too will no doubt be filled with sweets galore. I'm really going to have to get my butt in gear after this week is over...

What about you? Any big plans this weekend? Are you still in a sugar coma from Valentine's Day? Hope you have a mellow or fun weekend (depending on which you're craving) and see you back here Monday!

One more V-Day post...

This is the last V-Day post for 2010, I swear!

Just thought I'd share the (semi)final product of what I ended up making for B for his V-Day sweet treat. I combined his favorite - carrot cake - and my desire to bake cupcakes and it turned out pretty well. The mini carrot cupcakes with cream cheese icing were delicious, though my first-ever attempt at icing them using a pastry bag (it was a zip-lock baggie with the tip cut off, mind you, and not a real pastry bag) didn't go over as well. Here are the semi-sloppy preliminary results:



And the cover-up attempt with pearl decor and V-Day colored gumballs:


I only iced half of the cupcakes - evidently going the pastry bag route means using up much more icing than with the good ol' knife-icing method - so I am going to give this another shot once I have more icing in-hand (later today). Hopefully batch #2 will be a bit more pretty.

Being the boy that he is, though, B didn't care about the aesthetic appeal and was excited just to dig into them. We each enjoyed one for brunch yesterday, so overall the experiment was a success. Thanks for the suggestions and happy (now over) V-Day!

A week of holidays and belated love

Good morning! (Okay, afternoon - I'm running a bit late today - but it's a holiday sandwiched after a holiday!) Did you have a good Valentine's Day? I know it's come and gone, but I just wanted to send out one more V-Day wish to everyone and especially to my valentine, B.

Isn't this pretty and sweet for a valentine?

From pretty pretty paper

Though sometimes I wonder if B has to chant this to himself (especially when I'm having an ever-so-fun meltdown):

From Reform School Rules, as seen on Greedy Girl.

Happy belated Valentine's Day, all, and hope your Presidents Day is great so far! I promise to be back later with some more fun stuff, but I am running a bit late due to the holiday (and B being home, AKA lots of vegging), so it probably won't be until later today. Sorry for the wait!

Have a great (Valentine's Day) weekend!

Photo from Lovely Happenings

TGIF! I know you're all probably excited for this weekend, since it's the start of many fun things: a few days' break from work, the Olympics (go, team USA!), V-Day (whether you're celebrating or not, go out and get yourself something sweet!), Presidents Day (hopefully you're off on Monday for this), my birthday (hint hint), Mardi Gras, and so on. And here in Maryland, we might even be getting...dare I say it?...more snow on Monday. So what's not to love about this weekend?

Do you have anything fun planned for the upcoming holiday weekend? Looking forward to hearing from you, and hopefully seeing you back here Monday!

xoxo for a V-Day weekend, r.

Valentine's Roundup: DIY treats

"Happy Valentine's Day" banner by Kristin Rees of Blonde Designs

Good morning, happy Friday, and happy almost Valentine's Day! Since today is the second-to-last day to pull together any V-day surprises you might be planning, I thought I'd share some of the cuter Valentines I've seen around the interwebs in case you're inspired to do some last-minute crafting.

I already posted about what I'm planning to bake B for this holiday, so I thought I'd focus on actual Valentine's notes here - not baked goods, not prezzies, but the actual cards - though some have a little sussy attached. And I realize that a lot of these will be best suited for kids (to give to friends, to family or to bring to school), but I thought all of them were cute enough that they'd appeal to anyone. And, hey, they've got to be better than the sappy store-bought offerings you've resorted to buying in 11th hour desperation (or the cheesy/silly 'N Sync cards I gave out several years ago). ;)

First up is a brilliant and easy idea. Snap a pick of your kid (or yourself) making a fist, print out the photo, cut a slit in it, insert a lollipop, et voila!:



Top photo from Design Mom; second photo from Five Under Five; third photo from 24-7-365, the project originator

Here's another twist on the lollipop idea, and it fits right in with the moustache trend that seems to be everywhere right now:


I shouldn't be surprised that these moustache and lips Valentines are so awesome; they were made by Angie Gubler of Blonde Designs, a Martha Stewart Omnimedia alum (jealous!).

I think this next project would appeal to slightly older kids - but I still like them too! The ever-creative Design Mom made these "wild" Valentines two ways: on the card, attached with string, and sewed up in a little cellophane bag. Overachiever! :)



Also, why do all of these creative people's children look like models? Isn't this little girl (different from the other blondie above) adorable? I love the handmade felt heart headband too:



Her mom Katiedid made both the headband shown in the first two photos of the group above, as well as little bracelets (directly above) and packaged them on hand-addressed cards (shown directly above) to give to family and friends.

Last, I do have a grown-up offering to show you. Benign Objects created these DIY matchbooks of coupons; you can download the templates from her Etsy store and then put them together yourself - they'd be perfect to give to your love:



I will take one coupon for the foot massage, please.

Aren't these adorable Valentine's Day projects? It might be a bit late to do them this year, being that V-day is approaching quickly, but I'm filing these ideas away for future years for sure. If you decide to make any of these (or just something cool of your own), please send pics - I'd love to see! Happy crafting!

Edible love notes

Photos from Giver's Log, as seen on Party Perfect

Remember how I wanted to make B some sweet treats for Valentine's Day but wasn't sure if he'd be into it? Well, a very smart reader suggested that I take B's favorite dessert - carrot cake - and make it in cupcake form to make myself happy too. A whole new level would be adding a custom love note to the top of the actual cupcake. What a sweet idea!

Amber of Giver's Log figured out how to custom-decorate cupcake tops by painting wafer rice paper with food coloring and adding the sheet to the top of cupcakes, where it then disintegrates. This is a great idea for adults and kids alike (the second photo above shows the cupcakes that Amber's kids decorated, flanking her own calligraphied love note cupcake). If you're interested, you can see her step-by-step process here.

I adore Amber's idea for custom decorating, but if you're feeling a bit intimidated by doing it yourself, you could always just buy a decoration from Ticings and slap it on a store-bought cupcake (I wouldn't tell anybody).

Ticings are thin sheets of edible icing printed with food-grade inks; they're also gluten-free, kosher and made here in the US. They're simply peel and press, so they'd be a super easy way to decorate your cakes, brownies or cupcakes.

With so many options, I can't wait to try and bake something sweet for B for V-day this weekend....now I just have to figure out how to make my way through this blizzard to get to the grocery store!

Hearts and lights

Photos from Lena, as seen on Full House.

Isn't this lighted doily garland pretty? It would be so easy to do - stick heart-shaped doilies onto a string of pretty white lights and you're in business - quick Valentine's Day decorations perfect for a party or just a little glow during this snowy month.

Just a spoonful of sugar

Brown sugar hearts from Cox and Cox, as seen on Greedy Girl

These sugar cubes are insanely adorable. They're made of brown sugar (obviously) and have a small cut-out section so that they fit perfectly on the rim of a cup. I'd love to perch one of these on a hot mug of chai latte, swirled with a foam heart, and bring it to B with breakfast in bed on Valentine's Day. Too bad that'll never happen, because A) I can never seem to wake up early enough to surprise him and B) I don't know how to make fancy swirly foam hearts like this:

Photo by Ryan Ho on flickr

Did you know there are entire sites dedicate to latte foam art? Huh.

Anyway, swirly foam art or no, I think these brown sugar hearts would be perfect for V-day, or for any occasion where you want to fancy up a cup. After-dinner drinks at a dinner party? Adorable. Adorning mugs of tea at a baby shower? Perfect. And if you're the really ambitious type, you could build some sort of intricate dessert made from chocolate and place this sugar heart on it as the crowning glory. But that's probably as likely as me waking up early to make breakfast in bed...

Sweet treats (or not?) for my sweet on Valentine's Day

I was thinking of making B something special for Valentine's Day. And B is very much a dude in that the way to his heart is through his stomach. So what to make him, I thought?

I came across these adorable cucpake wrappers and thought they'd be perfect:

Cupcake wrappers from Bake It Pretty, as seen on Party Perfect - wouldn't these be awesome for a kids birthday party or baby shower?

I was even going to make them with red or pink icing, and maybe some love-y sprinkles. Then I remembered B doesn't really like cupcakes.

Fine. Perhaps these beauties?:

Whoopie pie pan and mix set from Williams-Sonoma

Even though these would be handmade and smooshed with creamy icing (yum, and I could even tint that pink if I wanted to be ambitious!), I don't think he's into whoopie pies that much either. I guess B really isn't a sweets kind of guy. Maybe I'll just buy him some chips...

Any suggestions for a non-pastry or non-baked goods food idea for my lovah on Vday?

Update: Sweet! It just occurred to me that B loves his mom's carrot cake. I'll have to hit her up for the recipe (slash go out and buy a box of mix). Too bad carrot cake is neither Valentine's Day-ish or romantic. At least it'll be good for our eyes! (You know, because of the beta carotene...)

Pretty in pink boudoir

I'm not a frilly, girly-girl type, but I fell in love with this bedroom the instant I saw it, despite the copious amounts of pink and glitz. The boudoir of "Mlle. Frou-Frou," a lingerie boutique owner, is absolutely gorgeous and filled with all kinds of feminine but classic pieces - and felt just right with the upcoming Valentine's Day holiday.


I can count about five things I love in this picture before even blinking. The LOVE poster is from Made by Girl, the awesome chair is from Calypso Home and covered in Rubie Green upholstery (you know I'm all about a good chevron stripe), and the crystal lamp and silver clock are from Restoration Hardware.

Even the desk area in the boudoir is pretty:

Of course I'm obsessed with the ghost chair, but I also love the mercury glass vase with the pink and peonies, all set on the crisp white desk.

Check out Mlle. Frou-frou's blog here for more pictures of this girly but gorgeous room.

Groundhog Day gets wintry

I completely forgot that today - February 2nd - is Groundhog Day. Happy Groundhog Day to you!

Don't you kind of miss elementary school, where we celebrated every holiday and got to do a special project for each one? I remember February always seemed jam-packed with special activities, since it held Groundhog Day, Valentine's Day, and Presidents Day (and my birthday!). I miss being instructed to do crafts on a weekly basis!

Anyway - lucky us - this morning at sunrise, Punxsatawney Phil prognosticated that winter will be for six more weeks. Ugh. But that was really no big surprise anyway, right?

Hope your February is going well so far. Bundle up and enjoy our (at least) six more weeks of hibernation! (And tonight's premiere of Lost!!!)

Cute as a button: shortbread button cookies

No, that is not a photo of my mending waiting to be done. Let's be honest here, people; I can't even remember the last time I sewed a button on anything. No, these are much, much better in that they're edible, delicious (so I've heard) and adorable. They're shortbread cookies!

The lovely blog forty-sixth at grace featured these cookies, including a step-by-step photo tutorial on how to make your own cute button cookies.

I don't know what it is about them, but I feel like they'd be great for a baby shower or maybe even better for a little girls' tea party/birthday party. Heck, I'd like to sit down with some piping hot tea and a few of these "buttons" myself right now.

Even the recipe was adorably annotated:

Click here for the full recipe (as seen above).

So do you think you'd make these? Surprisingly they don't require fancy cookie cutters or anything you don't already have. I don't bake that often, but I'm tempted to try these out for Valentine's Day or just some cold Sunday afternoon. Actually, now that I think about it, these would be perfect for my grown-up girls' sleepover party!

Non-shmushy Valentine's Day cards

I love a good card (y'all know this by now), but I try to avoid the uber-mush cards come Valentine's Day. So when I saw these cards, I knew they were perfect for me to give B. These ones are particularly appropriate:


This happens on a nightly basis.


So true! B does look handsome with a beard in the winter, but man oh man is that thing a beast.


Ha. I once bought natural PB. It separated within a week; I freaked out and tossed it. Oh well.


Too funny. I think I'm going to send this to my friend S to give to her boyfriend (or vice versa), just because it's so apropos for them.




Sweet.

Do you have your cards picked out yet? If not, all of these (and more) are available on upup's Etsy site.

(Cards originally seen on the adorable 6th Street Design School blog)

More, more, macarons

I thought everyone in the world knew about the adorable deliciousness that is a macaron. However, in talking to my friend Sara the other day, I realized most people know macaroons (two "o"s), the coconut things, and not macarons (one "o"), the tiny, perfect, French confections made from eggs, almonds and sugar.

Ladurée in Paris is widely considered the gold standard for macarons. Bien sur, when their shop looks like this:

(Photo by Sweet Arrogance via Flickr)

And they're no one-trick ponies - check out their vast flavor offerings:


There is of course a stateside offering as well - Paulette's in California has lovely macarons as well, and they ship!



With all the being said, I was super excited when I recently saw these at Williams-Sonoma:


How cute! And just in time for Valentine's Day! I wonder if they taste as delicious as their French counterparts...

Robert Ryan screenprints

Aren't these prints, all from the brilliant artist Rob Ryan, drop-dead beautiful? Especially when you consider that he cuts them painstakingly and precisely from paper before making the screenprints?

The things in his Etsy shop are just gorgeous, although too pricey for me. If they were a bit more affordable, I'd snatch up one of each to dole out as the most gorgeous wedding gifts or to use as Valentine's sentiments.

Just reading the quotes (which I assume he wrote as well) makes me feel all mushy and romantic. So sweet. (Crap! I can't believe I'm getting sucked into the Valentine's Day spirit already! I blame you, Tar-jay! Lovely though.)

Is it sad that my next thought was of conversation hearts? Yum...

As originally found on SabbeSpot.