Shaggy Farbic Heart Wreath

I wanted to make something for the upcoming Valentine's Day holiday for our front door so Jillian and I headed to Hobby Lobby yesterday.  I didn't want to spend too much money so I wanted something either cheap or something I could use supplies I already had at home.  Walking through the wreath isle we came across this neat heart shaped wreath form, it was only $1.99 so we couldn't pass it up!  I knew I had PLENTY of fabric at home so this was a very affordable project.

I started by cutting my fabric into strips, I chose to use my pinking shears (cuts with a zig-zag cut) but regular scissors would work just fine.  I cut each strip about an inch wide by five inches long. 

Now it's time to start tying! The whole wreath is made by tying knots in the fabric around the wreath!

The wreath I bought had three rows of wire that I could tie the fabric onto but I decide to just use the top and bottom rows.

Homemade Pizza Rolls

Supplies for the rolls:

Start by separating the pizza dough into small sections (around 20 of them)

Take one section of dough and flatten it out

on the dough place several mini pepperoni and some cheese

next fold the dough over to make a pocket, pinch the edges together

Do this for all of the dough and then place the rolls into a pie dish seam side down. Next you will put the topping on the rolls.

brush the rolls with olive oil then sprinkle with Italian herbs and Parmesan cheese.

Bake at 400 for 20 minutes, serve with pizza sauce for dipping!

 

Yarn Covered Wood Letters

 

Supplies:

Start by putting a small dab of hot glue in the bottom section of the wooden letter.  Start wrapping the yarn around going in sections.  I started with the "tips" of the H and then worked around the center.  Make sure you wrap in both directions because you want the ENTIRE letter to be covered!  



Heart Crayons

This year I have decided to make Jillian's Valentine's for her class.  I'm planning to make a two part Valentine, part to eat and part to play with.  Today we made the part to play with.

This was a great project for Jillian and I to work on together and she really enjoyed it!

First thing you will need is some type of mold.  I found my mini-heart shaped molds in the dollar section at target but I've seen many different shapes molds at different places (dollar tree has some sea animal shaped molds). 

Next you either need to go through your stash of broken crayons or you can just use new ones, whatever you prefer! 

I took the new crayons and scored the wrapper with a knife to make the paper come of easier.  Jillian's job was to peal the paper off each crayon. 

Once all the crayons are pealed you then break them into small pieces and fill the wells of the molds with the pieces.  You could do all the same color in the well or like us, mix different color combinations.

Preheat your oven to 250 and place the molds on a cookie sheet.  You then melt the crayons in the oven for around 10 minutes. 

Once the crayons are all melted take them out and let them cool and harden back up.  I left ours in the molds for about an hour before I popped them out!

I hope Jillian's friends love the crayons as much as she does, she has already taken over several of them!



Neon Whoopie Pies

Do you need an idea for something to bring to your kids valentines day party at school?  Are you wanting something "different" instead of regular cupcakes for a birthday party?  Why not try these cute (and tasty) Neon Whoopie Pies!

This recipe is SO easy.  All you will need is your favorite boxed vanilla cake (and whatever ingredients you need to make it), food coloring and your favorite icing.

First step is to prepare the boxed cake mix according to the directions and divide the batter into four bowls.

Now pick your favorite 4 colors from the food coloring and color each bowl of batter a different color.



Now spray your mini-muffin tin (regular could be used too) with a non-stick cooking spray and fill each well 3/4 full with one color of batter. 



Bake at whatever temperature your boxed cake recommends.  I cooked my cupcakes for about 15 minutes (just make sure when you insert a toothpick it comes out clean).


Once cooled remove the cupcakes from the pan and cut them in half. 

After you cut open all the cupcake put a layer of vanilla icing on the bottom part of the cupcake and then replace the top of the cupcake.  Now you have dozens of mini-neon whoopie pies!



Poptart Cookies

I found this recipe on Making Memories With Your Kids and thought it sounded yummy.  I had almost everything I needed at home already so when I went to the grocery store I decided to pick up a box of poptarts. I was really looking forward to making the cookies with raspberry poptarts but publix was out of them so I had to settle on strawberry.

Poptart Cookies

* 1 box of poptarts (whatever flavor you desire)
* white chocolate chips (I used 3/4 the bag)
* 2 1/4 cups flour
* 1 teaspoon baking soda
* 1 teaspoon salt
* 1 cup butter, softened
* 3/4 cup brown sugar
* 3/4 cup sugar
* 1 teaspoon vanilla
* 2 large eggs


Preheat the oven to 375.

In a bowl mix the flour, baking soda and salt. 

In another bowl or mixer bowl beat butter, sugar, brown sugar and vanilla until creamy. Add the eggs and beat well.  To the mixture gradually beat in the flour mixture.

Stir in chocolate chips and crumbled up poptarts.

Form mixture into balls & slightly flatten them on a cookie sheet.  Bake for around 12 minutes

Enjoy!

They turned out REALLY good. I tend to make my cookies a little big and the recipe probably made 40-50 cookies.

Mini-Lasagna

While browsing recipes online I found this neat recipe for Mini-Lasagna on Can You Stay For Dinner .  When I made the lasagna I made a few changes to the recipe and I thought someone would like me version. 

Mini-Lasagna

Makes 12 servings

1 pound raw ground beef
¼ tsp salt, divided
¼ tsp pepper
5 oz (half a bag) of frozen chopped onions
20 oz can crushed tomatoes
2 tbsp minced garlic
3 tsp dried oregano, divided
½ tsp dried basil
1 ½ cups part skim ricotta cheese
24 small square wonton wrappers (the kind near the tofu in the refrigerated section of the produce dept)
1 1/2 cups shredded mozzarella cheese

Preheat oven to 375ºF.

In a large skillet brown the ground beef along with the onions, salt & pepper.  Once cooked drain off any fat.  Add the garlic, crushed tomatoes and 2 tsp of oregano.  Bring the pan to a simmer and cook for 10 minutes. Remove from heat and set aside.

In a bowl, combine the ricotta cheese, a pinch or salt and pepper, the remaining teaspoon of oregano and the basil.  Mix well.

Coat a 12 cup muffin tin with nonstick cooking spray.  Place 1 wonton wrapper into each of the cups, pressing firmly into the bottom and sides. 

Using half of the ricotta mixture, divide it among the 12 muffin cups. Next, using half of the beef tomato sauce, spoon it evenly over each of the ricotta filled cups. Sprinkle with 2 tsp of mozzarella.

Gently press another wonton wrapper on top of the mozzarella layer. My wonton wrappers were pretty large so for this step I cut one wrapper into fourths so that each square fit right into the cup. 

Repeat the process by distributing the remaining ricotta, then the remaining tomato sauce, and finally the rest of the shredded mozzarella.

Bake for 10 minutes, or until the cheese has melted.

Let the cups cool, remove them from the pan, and serve!