Valentine Rice Bags

We received a wheat heating bag from a friend for Christmas and my kids have LOVED it!  They fight over who gets to take it to bed with them.  I decided it would be fun to make little rice bags for each of the kids in my daughter's class for their valentines this year.  She has been SO EXCITED and has loved helping.  Her job has been to sew one side of the bag and then fill them with rice.  I'm sewing them shut so we don't end up with rice everywhere.  I just used some fabric I've had stored forever but never found anything to use it for.  PERFECT!  I thought about making them heart shaped but decided for the quick method since I was making 22 of these things.

I found a cute poem and modified it to fit better and tied it on with a little curling ribbon.  Blue for boys and pink for girls.  We're not quite finished with the girls yet but you get the idea.
 

Instead of giving something sweet,

I made a pillow for your Valentine treat.

This little pillow filled with rice,

is such a comforting device.

Microwave 1 or 2 minutes on high

and kiss those aches and pains goodbye.

Apply it to a troubled spot

and the heat will help ease the pain a lot.

Or, warm those little toes so cold.

You'll find this nice to have and hold.

Or, freeze it for a little while,

and fix that boo-boo up in style.

Instead of a bag filled with ice,

use this pillow filled with rice. 

I was surprised how quick and easy these came together.  I didn't try anything fancy to cover up the stitches.  I'm sure the kids won't mind and it will be fun to get something other than just candy and cards.

Valentine Chocolates

What says "I LOVE YOU!" better than homemade Valentine chocolates?  These are DELICIOUS!!!

My husband LOVES Take 5 candy bars so I decided that's what I would make this year.  They are pretty simple and they even end up looking somewhat like a heart.  I'm sure they would look more like one if you really work at it but I didn't have the patience.

Unwrap caramels and place in a double boiler with a couple tablespoons of evaporated milk (I used regular milk because I didn't have any evaporated).  I also don't have a double boiler so I just put a canning ring at the bottom of my pan and then a glass bowl on top of it.  You could also use the microwave, just make sure you don't overheat it.

Place pretzel knots on a wax paper lined cookie sheet and spoon about a teaspoon of melted caramel into each of the pretzels.  Place in in the freezer to cool.  If you want to make them into suckers, place a sucker stick in the caramel before it cools.

Mix up your favorite peanut butter ball recipe but don't add quite as much powdered sugar.  You want the dough to be a little sticky and not crumbly.  (Let me know if you want my recipe and I'll share.  I just don't have it on me right now.)

Place about a tablespoon of peanut butter mixture on the caramel pretzels and form into a heart shape.  Put back in the freezer.

Melt chocolate in your double boiler and dip cooled pretzels and place back on the waxed paper to set.  You can use milk or dark chocolate.  I did some of both.  If the caramel is sticking to the wax paper, place back in the freezer for a few minutes and it should come right off.

I've also made some without the caramel and they were still YUMMY!!!  If you have any leftover chocolate, just dip plain pretzels in it.   You can make them pretty by drizzing white chocolate over the top.

Make your own Valentines

Okay, I can't stand it.  I must post something.  Since I don't have pictures of all my Christmas gift projects anymore (but hope to have them back soon) I figured I would make a post of some fun Valentine ideas. Yes, I know it's still weeks away but I LOVE VALENTINE'S DAY!!!  I don't expect lots of money to be spent for Valentine's Day and I hate the people make WAY too big a deal of it.  You should show people you love them all year and not just on one day.  I love Valentine's day for the fun things you can create and the reminder it is to me of how lucky I am to have so many people to love.  I'm all about doing something homemade instead of the generic store-bought cards.  I just love finding a fun idea to create!  I'm already thinking of a fun project for my daughter to take to school.

I figured I would share the fun Valentine's we made last year.  We made little purses for my daughter's class using THIS template.  We cut them out of a cute paper, attached a ribbon for the handle and then folded a little bag of sweetheart candy inside and closed it with a foam sticker.  She LOVED them!

My son was not about to give away purses but he was okay with handing out mice to his friends.  It did take some convincing to have him use pink paper though.  The would be cute any color I would guess.  They are just made out of  different sizes of hearts, a little pipe cleaner and a googly eye.  I didn't use cardstalk but will if I ever make these again.  Construction paper was WAY too flimsy!

I got some cookie flowers from a friend a few years ago and had to make some of my own.  SO EASY and SO CUTE!  All you  need is a few kabob sticks, any cookies you can stick them through and some gummy candies.  You could really use your imagination on these and make a really cute cookie bouquet.  This was a last minute one I made to go to a friend's house a couple years ago.

Sugar cookies are ALWAYS a must.  I made one for my husband our first Valentine's Day and it's become a tradition.  My kids even look forward to their own cookie.  You can't go wrong with heart shaped pancakes and chokecherry syrup.  And...there are times of COMPLETE shock when my husband comes home with flowers.

I'm excited that we'll be with my family for Valentine's Day this year. I'm excited to help my daughter get her Valentine's ready for her class to leave with her teacher because she'll miss the class party...she's NOT happy with me!

Chocolate dipped cookie and cake suckers are on my list of fun Valentine treats.  YAY!!!