Welcome to That’s Crafty Thursday.  Today I am sharing a Valentine I made using our new scroll saw (new to us anyway, we picked it up for a good deal from a classified ad).  Actually, we have had the saw for a couple of months.  I just haven’t felt up to learning how to use it, let alone make anything crafty until now. 

My sweet Handy Hubby helped me pick out some wood ( a thin length of pine) from the hardware store.   I traced the letters from some stencils I have on hand. I free-handed the hearts onto the wood. He then set up the saw for me,  gave me a lesson and some pointers on how to use it.  Then he stepped back and turned the show over to me.  I love, love doing anything artistic so I couldn’t wait to pick up a new skill, but I was also a little afraid of getting hurt or messing up. 

Of course I did mess up, but after the first couple of tries everything seemed easier.  Then it seemed like fun, a lot of fun.  I could have stayed in the shop playing with the scroll saw all day (and probably would have if I didn’t need to eat ). 

I painted, glazed and distressed the big heart.  I used scrapbook paper to decoupage the letters and little hearts.  I added little felt and burlap rosettes.  I also added burlap and ribbon bows.  I just used hot glue to attach everything to the big heart. 

Thanks for stopping by!  Have a great weekend!!

It’s a Valentine’s Day tradition at our house, every year for dessert we have chocolate fondue.  It started out as me trying to make chocolate covered strawberries.  They didn’t turn out and the whole time I was making them I kept thinking how good other things would be dipped in chocolate.  The next year (seven years ago) I found a recipe that is quick, easy and delicious.

1 bag milk chocolate chips (I prefer semi-sweet but the kids don’t like it)

1/2 cup half and half (I used skim milk this year to cut down on the fat and it worked okay)

If you have a fondue pot you can just throw the chocolate chips in and let them melt.  When the chips are melted, stir in the half and half.   If you don’t have a fondue pot, you can melt the chocolate chips in the microwave for one minute and then stir in the half and half.  You could also melt the chocolate in a double boiler and add the cream, or you could bring the half and half  just to a simmer on the stove top, remove from heat and add the chips, stir until well mixed.   You can also add a dash of liquor, a pinch of sea salt,  a spoonful of peanut butter, or whatever other flavoring sounds good to you.

Now for the fun part, dipping.  Here’s a list of things we like to dip,

bananas

strawberries

dried apricots

Oreos

Nutter Butters

marshmallows

Nilla Wafers

maraschino cherries

pretzels

Yeah, it is very messy and not extremely nutritious but we only have it once a year and this is one tradition each of us treasures.  I also hope that we will be giving our kids many happy memories.

Sometimes I just relax and play around on Olioboard.  It’s my way to unwind after all the kids are in bed.  This is my “Love , It’s Just a Kiss Away” board.  I hope everyone has a very Happy Valentine’s Day!  XOXOXO

I was inspired to create this feathered wreath by one I fell in love with at Hobby Lobby. It looked a lot like this one I made but it was more three-dimensional.  This one is bigger than the one in the store but it only cost me $2, instead of the $12 Hobby Lobby wanted.  Usually I don’t worry about spending $12 for something I really love but I thought it would be fun and easy to do it myself (and it was on both points).

The first thing I did was draw a heart on some foam I had lying around.  My husband cut the wreath out for me with one of his straight-edge razors.  The second thing I did was to spray paint it red with some extra paint I had.  The last thing was to hot glue the feathers I purchased at Hobby Lobby onto the wreath (that is where I spent the $2).  To hang, I hot glued a loop of red yarn to the back of my wreath and hung it on the door with a Command Strip.

The whole wreath took me about 30 minutes start to finish.  Easy, peasy, quick and easy.  The only draw back was the little bits of feathers that were hot glued all over my fingers.  I felt like a mad Big Bird .