Last Minute Valentine's Stuff

Thought I'd pop in on a Tuesday (usually unheard of) and give you a few last minute Valentine's Ideas.
Make these for you or someone special in your life.

Skinny Sweetheart Shake

This protein shake with chocolate covered strawberry magic will get you ready for whatever kind of Valentine's day you are gonna have.  Or you could make it for your dude/lady or your kids.  It's a crowd pleaser, for sure.

Skinny Cookies

These little chocolate cookies come together in a snap with help from a cake mix.  Take them to work and pass them out.  Or just make them for the family.

Stamped Cards

Homemade cards are the best cards.  Make a quick eraser stamp and you can make alot of cards in a short amount of time.  Score!

Last Minute V-Day Painted Shirt

You need to be properly dressed for such an occasion.  So, you could bust out the fabric paint

Or the sewing machine:

Reverse Applique Heart Shirt

See you guys tomorrow for What I Ate Wednesday!!

Last Minute Valentine's Day Shirt

Whew!  Is anyone kind of not ready for V-day to be here?

I'm not.  I just have so many heart related crafts swimming around in my head and not enough time to do them all!

Well, I had to squeeze one more shirt in before heart day gets here.

If you are at a loss for what to wear to be festive tomorrow, make this shirt real quick.  You'll look adorable!

What you'll need:

Blue & red fabric paint

Painters' tape (or masking tape)

X-acto knife & cutting board (unless you have skinny tape)

Small piece of freezer paper

Iron

Paint brushes

Cardboard (or something to put in the middle of your tee)

Here's the paint I used:

Sparkles!

So, if you have fat tape, like mine, you can cut it in half on your cutting board with an X-acto knife.

This is before I cut it.  I followed the lines (you can barely see them through the tape)

Then lay 3 pieces of your tape where you want to start on the shirt & take off the middle piece.  This will give you more accurate spacing.  Repeat until you have enough stripes.

Paint in between the tape lines.  I had just enough paint from this little bottle.  So if you are making more than one shirt, buy more than one bottle.

The bottle says you should wait 4 hours for it to dry.  Um, that is not happening.  I am like the world's most impatient crafter.  That tape came off in 30 minutes!

Then cut a heart in your piece of freezer paper (free hand it or use a template). 

Freezer paper looks like this (in case you've never bought it) & can be found on the Ziploc aisle at the grocery store.

source

Iron it down & paint your red heart.

Note: If you don't want the stripes to show through, lay a heart down before you paint your stripes.

Yay!  All done :)

Happy Valentine's Day, Everyone!

A Healthy Meal for You & Your Sweetheart

I do not like to go out on Valentine's Day.  It is way crowded everywhere and it's just not worth it.  Usually we'll go out the weekend before, and I'll make some sort of special dinner at home on the actual day.

Looking for a healthier option for V-day?

This meal is light and healthy, yet oh so delicious.  Make it for someone you love. 

Creamy Quinoa with Smoked Salmon and Roasted Asparagus

To make this you need:

Prepared quinoa (I made a big batch ahead of time)

1 Laughing Cow Swiss cheese wedge per serving

Shredded parmesan

Smoked salmon

Asparagus

Oil

Seasoning

Wash your asparagus, trim the ends, then drizzle olive oil and seasoning on it.  Roast in a 400 degree oven for about 20 minutes.

To prepare the quinoa, toss in cheese and torn bits of salmon in it.  Heat it up in the microwave and season to taste.

Simple, yet awesome.

And for dessert:

 Luscious & Light Lemon Cupcakes with Raspberry Glaze

1/3 cup and 1 tablespoon flour

1/4 tsp baking powder

1/4 tsp baking soda

1/8 teaspoon salt

2 tablespoons and 1/2 teaspoon Greek yogurt

1/4 cup and 1 teaspoon white sugar

1 egg white

1/8 teaspoon vanilla extract

3/4 teaspoon lemon zest

2 tablespoons and 1/2 teaspoon milk (I used almond milk)

1 teaspoon fresh lemon juice

Mix all this stuff up in a bowl.  Bake at 375 for about 17 minutes and allow to cool in the pan for 10 minutes.  After they cool, frost them with the glaze.

To make the glaze, you need:

a couple frozen raspberries

tbsp Greek yogurt

3/4-1 cup powdered sugar

Defrost your berries, smash them with the back of a spoon and toss all this stuff in a bowl.  Stir it up.  Add more powdered sugar if it needs thickening and almond milk if it needs to be thinner.

Makes 4 cupcakes

cupcake recipe adapted from All Recipes

Skinny Sweetheart Shake

I've been thinking about this recipe all week long.

Remember those Sonic sweetheart shakes?  Me neither.  I mean, I never had one.  But, Google told me that it was a chocolate covered cherry shake.  Which sounds good.

But, I had strawberries.

So this is a chocolate covered strawberry shake.

And it is healthy.

What are you waiting for?

Skinny Chocolate Covered Strawberry Shake
(a.k.a. Skinny Sweetheart Shake)

Heaping cup of almond milk (I used 9 oz of Silk almond milk)
1 scoop vanilla protein powder (see what I use below)
8 frozen strawberries
3 slices frozen peaches (or frozen half banana)--this is for texture: you can't taste it.
2 tsp sugar free chocolate syrup (I used Hershey's)

Blend it up.  I used the mason jar technique rather than dirtying up my whole blender.
Squirt an additional little bit of chocolate syrup all around your glass, then add your shake.
Top with (optional) fat free Reddi-Whip and sprinkles.

Here's the protein powder I use.  It is my first and only protein powder, and I really like the taste.  Leave a comment below if you recommend any other kind of protein powder.

You can certainly make this for your sweetheart for Valentine's Day, or you can hog it all to yourself.  Because, you know you are a sweetheart ;)

My husband got me some giant chocolate covered strawberries last year.  They were the size of my head.  In case you are wondering, I have an average sized head.  I think this year, I'll stick with shakes.  It seems safer than head sized fruit covered in chocolate.

Anatomical Heart Reverse Applique T-Shirt

You know those Valentine's day shirts that are like 5 bucks at Walmart and Target.  Um, I hate to break it to you, but everyone will be wearing those in the next few weeks.  You seriously don't want to run into someone else with a sparkly heart shirt.  It will be embarrassing for both of you.

Instead, make a super unique shirt that will be the envy of all.  This shirt is so cool, you can wear it year round.

It is super easy to make, too.  Let's make one!

First choose your shape.  I obviously chose an anatomical heart.  You could choose a standard heart if you wanted or some other shape.  Here's another reverse applique heart that I made for my cousin recently:

So, you get the idea about reverse applique.  It is like a patch under a cut out.

For this you will need,

• Image of your choice (I printed off two sizes & ended up choosing the bigger one)
• 2 Shirts
• Scissors
• Pins
• Sewing machine
• Marker (maybe)

Here's an image of the heart silhouette if you would like to use it.  Just right click, save the image & print it whatever size you want.  I printed mine as a 5x7, then enlarged it by 129% on the copier.

I wanted my heart to face the right way, so I turned the image around and traced the lines.  This makes sense if you are doing a shape where the direction matters, like a letter.  This step doesn't apply if you just make a regular heart.

First, turn your shirt inside out.  I got my long sleeve black tee at Target for $3.60 on clearance.  Then cut out a patch of the shirt that will go underneath and pin the image and the patch to the inside out front of the shirt.  Be careful not to accidentally pin the back of the shirt at any point.  I put a cutting mat in the shirt to be extra safe.

This might sound crazy, but sew right through the paper, that way you can follow the line of the shape.  Since my "patch" was red, I decided to sew with red thread.

It's a little tedious because you have to turn the paper with each curve of the shape, but once you get the hang of it, it's easy.

When you are done, carefully tear off the outer edges around the stitching.  Then tearing out the middle should be a breeze (because of the perforation).

Now turn your shirt right side out and carefully cut through the top shirt, following the guideline of stitching.  Leave about 1/8 of an inch in between cutting and the stitching, so you don't accidentally pull out stitches.

Here is how it looks on the hanger.

Here's how it looks on a human.  Enjoy your unique creation  :)

D.I.Y. Stamped Cards

Some greeting cards suck.  Whenever I'm looking at cards I get frustrated because they are all so cheesy and so not what I have in mind.

That's why I make my own cards, for the most part.  And you can, too! :)

I like to pick up blank cards and envelopes at Michael's, Hobby Lobby and sometimes Walmart.  They look like this:

So you get 25 blank cards & envelopes for what you would pay for one giant, glittery Hallmark card.  Pretty cool.

Well, I figure since V-day is just around the corner, I'd show you how to make some super quick and easy stamped cards for your sweetie (or your friends or kids, whoever).  You could do these for any holiday or event, really.

I started with a super cheap school eraser and drew an cute little birdie on it with a Sharpie.  Then I carved out around the design with my X-acto knife.

I love that little bird.  He's really easy to draw, too.  Just a sort of tear drop turned sideways with a triangle beak, a dot for an eye and two stick legs.  Darling!

For another fun stamp, I carved a heart in the top of a pencil.

Yep, after 5 minutes of carving, I am now a bona-fide stamp maker.  Self proclaimed, of course.

So you can use paint or stamping ink to do these cards.  I used red stamping ink that I found in the supply cabinet at work.  But I also did a couple (not pictured) with a light coating of acrylic paint, painted on the stamp with a brush.

Oh, this would be a fun Valentine's craft to do with your kids, too.  Just let them draw a simple design on the eraser, then you carve it out & let them stamp to their hearts content.