Rustic Clover Plaque...

I'm moving on to St.Patrick's Day crafties!!! I need to get enough to fill up my hutch for the month of March, and I need to make a few to send to my cute daughter in Florida to decorate her cute apartment. I found an old piece of wood in my wood pile and here is what I came up with:

I'm loving the combination of the light and dark greens!  Now I just need to figure out what to make next :)

Easy Strawberry Spinach Salad Recipe

 I love Strawberry Spinach Salad, I eat it all year long, we did it as a side dish for our Valentines dinner this year.
I dont' pre mix any of the ingredients.  I put everything in separate bowls so that if someone doesn't like one of the ingredients, they don't have to put it on.  This also helps with ensure that any leftovers will taste great because it doesn't go all soggy like when it's mixed together for too long.  Here is my quick and easy recipe for it:
                              Ingredients:                      
****Spinach.  I like Natural Directions organic, not only because it's organic, but also because it comes in this little tub and stays fresh for much longer than the bagged kind:

****1 qt of fresh strawberries, washed, hulled and sliced, again I prefer organic:

**** One bag of butter toffee sliced almonds.  I like this brand:

**** Feta Cheese Crumbles.  I love the Atheno's brand:

**** Brianna's Strawberry Vinaigrette, this stuff is freaking delish!:

And there you have it, so quick and easy! 

Enjoy!

Valentines Dinner...

We do a family "candlelight dinner" for Valentines every year and invite my parents to join us.  This year was no exception other than it's always a bummer with Valentines falls of a week night.  I work full time outside my home so on years like this one, I tend to simplify and don't go as overboard as I do when it falls on the weekend.

The Menu.

The beverage "Cupids Love Potion"  it was so cute and festive and tastes delish.  I found it here.

The dinner.  I made Olive Gardens Fettuccine Alfredo, heart fruit kaboobs, spinach strawberry salad and  Olive Garden Breadsticks.  This is my plate, Hubs also made breaded chicken strips for the meat eaters in the fam, which is basically everyone except for me :)  

For dessert, I made the brownie trifle that I featured on my "Very Pinteresting" post.  It was so delish!!!

After dinner, we exchanged gifts and everyone got a goodie bag filled with lots of chocolates and cinnamon hot lips. I found the cute bag toppers here.

It was such a fun night!

Button Art Heart Tile #2....

Happy Valentines Day!!!  I hope you will each be surrounded with loved ones who will make you feel very special all day long!

I made some button art heart tiles for some friends.  It's very similar to the other, with just a few differences:

Instead of the top giving the definition of heart, it says "Be Mine".  I  also added some really cute Heart shaped and also sparkly buttons to this one and they just give it the cutest bling!!!

I think this one shows the sparkle buttons a little bit better.

The paper is actually called "Heartstrings" and is made by Carolee's Creations.  I think it's just darling and really ties it all together.

My sweet daughter is spending her very first holiday alone.  Well, not completely alone, she is living and working in the "Happiest Place on Earth", but I still wanted her to know that we love and miss her, so we sent her a card and goodie bag.

She is our zebra stripe loving gal, so this is her card.

I embossed the "Sweet Love" tag with pink glitter and filled the bag with her favorite chocolates and included a Utah Truffle just so she would think of home.

We do a fun Valentines dinner tonight and I'm super excited about it, although we will miss sweet Kadee.  I hope that you all have a wonderful, fun filled Valentines as well.  Make sure you tell the people you love how much they mean to you. XOXO

Candle Holder Redo...

I've been crafting for a long time, as in decades.  I've gotten rid of most of my early projects, but some I've hung on to.  I have these heart candlestick holders that I made clear back in the early 90's:

They really were cute.... 20 years ago anyways!

So, this year I pulled them out of my Valentines tote and decided they needed to be updated.  Here's what they look like now:

Repainted, mod podged some paper on to them, sanded, inked and added some 3D heart stickers.

They found a home on top of my fridge.

I can now look at them and no longer say to myself, "Joni, the 90's called and they want their candlestick holders back!"  I guess I'll hang onto them for another 2 decades ;)

Bucket O' Love (Coffee Can Craft)....

A few years ago, I made on of those cute candy bar bouquets for the family.  I decorated an old coffee can with Valentines paper and embellishments.  After that Valentines was over, I thought it was too cute to throw away, so I kept it but haven't used it.  This year, I added a few pink flocked heart picks and one sparkly red and turned it into my "Bucket O' Love!

The Front

The back

This is another super easy, inexpensive but still cute craft that anyone can make.  It looks darling as a center piece on a table :)

Linking to:friday-frolic

LOVE Letters...

I made these 2 years ago and originally did them without any embellishments other than the mod podged paper.  Last year, I added the tulle bow, this year I added sparkly hearts.  Apparently, I just can't leave anything "simple" LOL!

The full set sits in a base.

The L.

Heart "O".

The "V".

The "E".

This works for this year, maybe I'll add more next Valentine's Day :)

Linking to:
sassysites-ffa-friday
& frugal-friday
& flaunt-it-friday
& functional-friday
& friday-fun-party
& woodyouliketocraft-love-linky-party