Valentine's Day Is Coming

Can you believe it?  Yes, we are talking Valentine's Day.  This year my goal is to make a lot of handmade gifts and greetings and I plan to do just that for Valentine's Day.

 I cut out heart shapes from cardstock and covered them with pink paper.

I went through my stash of stuff (I still have sooooo much crap!) and pulled out Valentine's themed bags I'd bought at Dollar Tree a few years ago from my gift wrap bin.  I also went through my scraps of paper and made these super cute gift tags.  You know how to make them now because of yesterday's post!

Tag bases cut from cardstock & embellished heart shapes.

Hearts added to tag bases and bakers twine ties added.

I plan to make some sugar cookies from scratch and ice them with some simple powdered sugar icing.  I'll decorate the frosted cookies with a little red sugar I made from combining granulated sugar with a couple drops of red food coloring.

Traditional Sugar Cookies

1/2 c butter                              1 tsp. vanilla

1/3 c shortening                     1 tsp. baking powder

1 c sugar                                   1 tsp. salt

2 eggs                                       2 1/2 c flour

Cream butter, shortening and sugar.  Add eggs and vanilla.  Mix in baking powder and salt.  Gradually add flour and combine to form a ball.  Cover bowl and chill for one hour.  Remove dough, roll out on floured surface and cut with cookie cutters.  Place cookies on a lightly oiled baking sheet.  Sprinkle tops with sugar ant bake at 400° for 5 to 8 minutes, until edges just begin to brown.  Do not over bake.

Candy is a big part of Valentine's Day so I will also make a batch of English Butter Toffee.  That will thrill my girls to no end.

English Toffee

1 c butter                                            1/2 c chocolate chips

1 c sugar                                             1/4 c chopped pecans

1/4 c water

In a large saucepan over medium heat melt butter, add sugar and water, stir well.  Bring to a boil and continue stirring until temperature reaches 285°.  Pour hot toffee into a lightly oiled 9" X 13" baking pan.  In a small bowl melt chocolate in the microwave, spread over toffee.  Sprinkle with nuts.  Cool and break into pieces.  Store in an airtight container.

I'll put all of my goodies into the treat bags and tie them off with red or pink ribbon from my sewing stash and the gift tags I made.  Everything I need to make all of this is stuff I already have on hand so no additional cost or $$ spent from our household budget.

Yay, yay, yay!