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 .

I wanted heart-shaped placemats for my Valentine’s Day tablescape.  I went to a few stores and didn’t see any.  I decided that this would be a good oppurtunity to use my yarn idea in a little different way.  The first step, make a template.

Step two, cover the template with wax paper.

Step three, mix glue and water in a bowl.  I get the best results from Elmer’s glue watered down to a ketchup consistency.

Step four, place your bowl of watered down glue next to your template.  Unwind one end of the yarn and drag it through the glue.  Use one hand to guide the yarn where you want it to go over the template and press the other against the side of the bowl to squeeze the excess glue out of the yarn (it should be wet but not drippy).   You can do any pattern you can think of.  I wanted a random, lacy look so I just swirled the yarn this way and that.

Step five, let dry.  I let these dry about eight hours before I did the final step.

Step six, spray with heavy starch.  I saturated one side with starch and let dry about six hours.  Peel the placemat off the wax paper and then flip the placemat over and saturate the other side and let that dry another six hours.

So, this is an easy project just not a quick one.  It does take a little planning.  Here are couple of things you might want to consider when planning your project.  The yarn holds it’s shape but does not become really stiff.  If you want something pretty stiff use twine.  I think it absorbs the glue better or something.   You can spray paint the twine when it’s dry if you don’t like it’s color.  I have tried a lot of different ways to stiffen the yarn but find that this method works best, if you have an easier way though I’d love to hear about it, especially if it could cut down on the drying time.

This was a really fun table to do.

     I made a few things, I bought a few things, but I mostly I used things from around the house.

     I bought these cute little flower plates at Home Goods last week.  I also picked up some pink napkins there.

 I made these placements.  I will do a tutorial soon if anyone is interested.

I also made this teacup  candle.  It was super easy.  All I did was buy some wax and wicks at Hobby Lobby.  I put a wick in the bottom of the teacup and then filled it with melted wax and voila!

The table is even prettier at night, but doesn’t candlelight make everything more magical?

I will be joining Susan at Between Naps on the Porch for her weekly Tablescape Thursday linky party.  Please stop by and join the party.  These ladies (and gentlemen) are the nicest and friendliest I’ve found in Blogland.