Friday Five: Valentine's Day Stuff

I was trying out the idea of posting five of something every Friday, but didn't commit to it before. Here's my second attempt. If I fall flat this time, I'll graciously accept defeat and stop trying to force myself into a mold I'm unable to fit. 

Here are my five fun "projects" I completed this year for Valentine's Day

Red Velvet Cupcakes

These are my nurse's absolute favorite cupcakes in the whole wide world. Last year after I made them for Valentine's Day she paid me to make them for her daughter's birthday and hasn't stopped talking about them. I adapted the recipe for the cupcakes from Brown Eyed Baker's blog (follow her recipe, except decrease the red food coloring to 1 tbsp and replace the other 2 tbsp with water). I think cream cheese frosting is too overpowering for these yummy cakes, so I top it with my favorite marshmallow buttercream from Baked Bree's blog.

Hello Kitty Pops

These aren't Valentine's Day specific, but I made them as treats for my older daughter's preschool class to match the Hello Kitty valentines she picked out. They came out really well in the end, but I STRUGGLED with these. As a rule, I do not use cake mixes or canned frosting because they are so highly processed and icky, but I was just too swamped to make the cake and frosting from scratch and then put the pops together. As payment for cheating I had to deal with the pops falling apart on me from being too soft. I usually make a ganache as the frosting to bind the cake better - without it they were so much less stable! I started out with 20 balls of cake, 6 balls completey fell off the sticks during the dipping process, and another 4 were a bit crooked (but held together well enough that I deemed them passable for 4 year-old kiddos). Here's Bakerella's tutorial.

Homemade Crayon Valentines

I saw the idea for these all over Pinterest in the past month, but somehow failed to ever re-pin one of them. When I came around and decided I wanted to make them, I came up with my own directions. I used ice cube trays I purchased in the Target dollar bins, a few dozen chopped up crayons (including some metallic and glitter ones to give our crayons sparkle!), the Cricut to cut out the hearts, and penned the saying "Color me excited to have a friend like you!" on each one. 

Teacher Valentines

Awhile ago I pinned an "end of the year" teacher gift that was a small fabric basket with an apple print that was filled with Hershey's Hugs with the saying, "Teachers can't get by on APPLES alone, they need HUGS too!" I thought this would make a cute Valentine, so I saved a half dozen of the red velvet cupcakes to make my "apples." Instead of piping a swirl of frosting on top, I used a spatula to spread it flat and then dipped the tops into red sanding sugar. I used half of a pretzel stick to make the "stem" and a green jelly bean to make a "leaf." I added a layer of Hugs to the clear plastic cup, placed the cupcake on top, then wrapped it up in a clear bag and attached the tag (made with the Cricut) with ribbon.

Curly Ribbon Bows

I found a tutorial (I can't remember the tutorial I used, but I'll put my own up soon) on curling grosgrain ribbon in the oven and have been obsessed ever since. Using a package of hair clips and heart shaped buttons from Hobby Lobby, a roll of Valentine ribbon from the Target dollar bin, and my hot glue gun I made a pair of these for my bug to wear for Valentine's Day. 

That's it! I hope someone is inspired to do some baking/crafting/creating of their own!