Valentine's Hugs and Kisses - Kids Craft

For Valentine's Day this year we are sending hugs and kisses to some special people who live far away.

 Start with a big paper heart.

 Put lipstick on the child.

 Smooch that heart all over.
TIP - I sprayed hairspray over the lipstick prints to keep them from smearing.

 Trace the child's hands on paper.

 Cut out the hands.

 Have the child hold ribbon in both hands.  

Cut a piece the length of the child's arm span then glue a cut out hand to each end of the ribbon.

 Glue the middle of the ribbon to the back of the smooch filled heart.

 TA DA! Hugs and kisses to send to Nana.

Please follow me on Facebook, Pinterest, and Bloglovin.

Endorse me on Sverve.

Shared with:
DIY Sunday Showcase;  Craft, Create and Inspire Link Party; Snookerdoodle Sunday; Spread the Love Linky Party; Bewitch Me and Titi Link Party; Happiness Is Homemade Link party; Link it or Lump it; Nifty Thrifty; Think Pink Sunday; Spotlight Saturday; Inspiration Monday; Amaze Me Monday; Marvelous Mondays; Clever Chicks Blog Hop; Made by You Monday; Inspire Me Monday; Monday Funday; Motivation Monday; Pin It Monday; More the Merrier Monday; COM Monday; Block Party; MMM Link Up Party; Making Monday; Homestead Barn Hop; Pin Party; GMTG Link Party; Three Mango Seeds; Inspire Me Tuesday; Bloggers Brag; The Scoop; Turn It Up Tuesdays; Tuesday Confessional; Talking Tuesday Over the Fence; Pincentive Blog Hop; Tuesday To Do; Take a Loot Tuesday; Do Tell Tuesday; Too Cute Tuesday; Share It Link Party; Brag About It Link Party; Tuesdays with a Twist; From Dream to Reality; Twirl and Bow; Wined Down Wednesday; Whimsy Wednesday; Creative Muster Linky Party; Wonderful Wednesday Blog Hop; Hit Me With Your Best Shot Link Party; Whatever Goes Wednesday; Inspire Me Wednesday; A Little Bird Told Me Link Party; Wow Us Wednesday; Thriving on Thursday; Wildcrafting Wednesday; Work It Wednesday; Homemaking Link Up; Home and Garden Thursday; Wildly Original Link Party; Create It Thursday; This-N-That Thursday; Pin It Thursday; Four Seasons Blog Hop; HomeAcre Hop; Grace at Home; Made You Look Linky Party; Sweet and Simple Friday; Put a Bird on It; Foodies & Crafties Soiree; Craft Frenzy Friday; The Pin Junkie; Friday With Friends; Saturday Show=licious; Shine a Spotlight Saturday; Party On the Porch

Artichoke Dip - Game Day Food - 3 Ingredients

We are big football fans at my house.  Even our little princess is (she didn't really have a choice).  But I am usually not good about planning to have game time snacks on hand.  I wish I was better about it. If I did it right, I'll bet I could plan it so that I didn't have to cook lunch or dinner on game day.  Hmmmm I might have to take on that challenge.

While I was mulling over game time snacks (snackage as my daughter would say), I remembered an old favorite of mine, artichoke dip.  And, as a bonus, I had everything I needed in the pantry.  Which means, yes I stock cans of artichoke hearts as a staple pantry item for my home (don't judge).

As you might imagine, this is NOT a healthy recipe.  But it is quick and yummy.  Two out of three isn't bad.

For this recipe you need:
1 cup mayonnaise
1 cup grated Parmesan cheese
1 14oz can artichoke hearts

Drain the artichoke hearts then chop them up.  In a mixing bowl add the mayonnaise, Parmesan cheese, and chopped artichokes.  Mix well.

Optionally you can add diced sweet or hot fire roasted peppers, chilies, jalapenos, or even a little minced garlic.  Technically you could eat this dip cold.  I prefer it heated.  Something about melting the cheese into the mayo makes it taste a lot better to me.  You can put the dip into baking dish and pop it into a preheated 350 degree oven for 20 minutes or so.  Or, as I did, you can put the dip into a microwave safe dish and heat it for 4 - 5 minutes (yes oven baked would have made a better photo but we wanted it now, not 20 minutes from now).

If I was bringing this to a party I would bake it until the top was nicely browned.  When it is for just me and my hubby, the microwave makes the prep time of this dip less than 10 minutes tops.  We eat this with corn chips but it goes really well with pita chips or french bread.

Enjoy and Go Pats!

Please follow me on Facebook, Pinterest, and Bloglovin.

Paper Heart Garland

Make this super cute heart garland for Valentine's Day.

Cut out some hearts.  I used my Silhouette but heart punches would work too.

Make a small cut through the shape

Link the hearts together.

Add a jewel or sticker over the cut. 

Hang and enjoy!

I was featured on:

 Please follow me on Facebook, Pinterest, and Bloglovin and endorse me on Sverve.

Shared with:

Amaze Me Monday; Inspiration Monday Party; Marvelous Mondays; Spread the Love Linky Party; Craft-O-Maniac Monday Link Party; Motivation Monday; Monday Funday Link Party; Clever Chicks Blog Hop; More the Merrier Monday; Inspire Me Monday; Snickerdoodle Sunday; Block Party; Happiness is Homemade; Bewitch Me & Titi; Homestead Barn Hop; Sunday Showcase Party; Mommy Monday; Pin It Monday; To Do Tuesday; Link it or Lump It Party; Inspire Me Tuesday; The Scoop; Turn it up Tuesdays; Tuesday Confessional Link Party; Take a Look Tuesday; Pincentive Blog Hop; Do Tell Tuesday; Share it Link Party; Twirl and Take a Bow; Countdown in Style; Tuesday with a Twist; Too Cute Tuesday; From Dream to Reality; Pin It Party; Whimsy Wednesday; Hit Me with Your Best Shot; Sweet Wednesday Link Party; Winter Blues Wednesday; {wow me} Wednesday; Your Whims Wednesday; Wine'd Down Wednesday; Inspire Me Wednesday; Homemaking Link Up; Wow Us Wednesday; Little Bird Told Me Link Party; Centerpiece Wednesday; Whatever Goes Wednesday; The Wednesday Round Up; Work It Wednesday; Home and Garden Thursday;Treasure Hunt Thursday; Thriving on Thursday; Wildly Original; Create It Thursday; Made You Look Linky Party; Sweet and Simple Friday; The Homeacre Hop; Put a Bird on It; Craft Frenzy Friday; Friday Link Party; Tickled Pink Times Two; Fridays with Friends; What to do Weekends; Friday Frenzy Link Up; Party Bunch Link Party; From the Farm Blog Hop; Thursday Style; Farm Girl Friday; Crafting Along ; Saturday Show=licious; Show=licious; Shine a Spotlight Saturday; Party On the Porch

The Importance of Thank You Cards

When I was growing up we never sent thank you cards.  We were of course grateful for gifts given to us from family and friends.  But that was as far as it went. Sometimes we would make a call to say thank you or give the thank you in person the next time we saw the giver.  But taking the time to send an actual card? That was a foreign idea.

It wasn't until I was a young adult that the quaint notion of sending thank you cards struck me as an option.  I tried to remember to send thank you cards but it was sporadic at best. And sadly it wasn't until much later when I realized the real value of a thank you card.

I am changing the culture in my own family so that my daughter expects to send thank you cards.  In fact she gets agitated if we wait too long to write them.

Writing and sending a note of thanks takes effort.  Much more effort than a phone call, text message, or email.  To me, the call or electronic message is simply acknowledgment that the gift reached its intended recipient.  While the thanks expressed at such a moment maybe heart felt, it takes little to no effort and quickly becomes a forgotten moment in time.

The time and thought involved in putting pen to paper to send a written note is a much greater indication of gratitude.  And for those of us who keep such sentiments, the written thank you note becomes a treasure that can be revisited again and again.

Sadly the habit of not sending a note of thanks is holding on strong to the other members of my extended family. And frankly, it makes me less inclined to spend much time, thought or money on a gift the next time around. Perhaps our household's  diligence in sending thank you cards will someday light a spark of inspiration to others.

Here is a simple little thank you card I made on my Silhouette.  This is a print and cut card and will fit in a standard thank you card envelop.

You can download the Silhouette Studio file from my Google Drive by clicking here. There is also a pdf file of the card at the same link.  You will need to resize the pdf so the card prints 5" x 6 3/4" which is a standard thank you card size.

Here I dressed up the card a bit by cutting out paper circles and mounting them over the printed circles.

Please follow me on Facebook, Pinterest, and Bloglovin.

Featured on:

Shared with:

Amaze Me Monday; Inspiration Monday Party; Marvelous Mondays; Spread the Love Linky Party; Craft-O-Maniac Monday Link Party; Motivation Monday; Monday Funday Link Party; Clever Chicks Blog Hop; More the Merrier Monday; Inspire Me Monday; Snickerdoodle Sunday; Block Party; Happiness is Homemade; Bewitch Me & Titi; Homestead Barn Hop; Sunday Showcase Party; Mommy Monday; Pin It Monday; To Do Tuesday;  Link it or Lump It Party; Inspire Me Tuesday; The Scoop; Turn it up Tuesdays; Tuesday Confessional Link Party; Take a Look Tuesday; Pincentive Blog Hop; Do Tell Tuesday; Share it Link Party; Twirl and Take a Bow; Countdown in Style;  Tuesday with a Twist; Too Cute Tuesday; From Dream to Reality;  Pin It Party; Whimsy Wednesday; Hit Me with Your Best Shot; Sweet Wednesday Link Party; Winter Blues Wednesday; {wow me} Wednesday; Your Whims Wednesday; Inspire Me Wednesday; Homemaking Link Up; Wow Us Wednesday; Little Bird Told Me Link Party; Centerpiece Wednesday; Whatever Goes Wednesday; The Wednesday Round Up; Work It Wednesday; Home and Garden Thursday; Treasure Hunt Thursday; Thriving on Thursday; Wildly Original; Create It Thursday; Made You Look Linky Party; Sweet and Simple Friday; The Homeacre Hop; Put a Bird on It; Craft Frenzy Friday; Friday Link Party; Tickled Pink Times Two; Farm Girl Friday

More Valentine's Day Tags - Free Printable and Silhouette File

I am so done with thinking about staying warm!  So I am going to focus on Valentine's Day and plan for Spring.  Not that there is anything wrong with winter but serious -30 with a -60 wind chill forecast for next week. This is getting ridiculous.

Here are some super cute Valentine's Day tags for you.

Click Here to go to my google drive to download the pdf and Silhouette Studio cut file

Please follow me on Facebook, Pinterest, and Bloglovin. Endorse me on Sverve.

Shared with:
DIY Sunday Showcase;  Craft, Create and Inspire Link Party; Snookerdoodle Sunday; Bewitch Me and Titi Link Party; Happiness Is Homemade Link party; Link it or Lump it; Nifty Thrifty; Think Pink Sunday; Spotlight Saturday; Inspiration Monday; Amaze Me Monday; Marvelous Mondays; Clever Chicks Blog Hop; Made by You Monday; Inspire Me Monday; Monday Funday; Pin It Monday; More the Merrier Monday; COM Monday; Block Party; Making Monday; Homestead Barn Hop; Pin Party; GMTG Link Party; Three Mango Seeds; Bloggers Brag; The Scoop; Tuesday Confessional; Talking Tuesday Over the Fence; Pincentive Blog Hop; Tuesday To Do; Take a Loot Tuesday; Do Tell Tuesday; Too Cute Tuesday; Share It Link Party; Brag About It Link Party; Tuesdays with a Twist; From Dream to Reality; Twirl and Bow; Wined Down Wednesday; Whimsy Wednesday; Creative Muster Linky Party; Wonderful Wednesday Blog Hop; Hit Me With Your Best Shot Link Party; Winter Blues Wednesday; {wow me} Wednesday; Whatever Goes Wednesday; Inspire Me Wednesday; A Little Bird Told Me Link Party; Wow Us Wednesday; Thriving on Thursday; Work It Wednesday; Homemaking Link Up; Home and Garden Thursday; Wildly Original Link Party; Create It Thursday; This-N-That Thursday; Pin It Thursday; Grace at Home; Made You Look Linky Party; Sweet and Simple Friday; Put a Bird on It; Craft Frenzy Friday; The Pin Junkie

Valentine's Day Tags - Free Printable and Silhouette file

Click here to go to my google drive to download the pdf and Silhouette Studio cut file


Please follow me on Facebook, Pinterest, and Bloglovin.

Shared with:
Amaze Me Monday; Inspiration Monday Party; Marvelous Mondays; Spread the Love Linky Party; Craft-O-Maniac Monday Link Party; Motivation Monday; Monday Funday Link Party; Clever Chicks Blog Hop; More the Merrier Monday; Inspire Me Monday; Snickerdoodle Sunday; Block Party; Happiness is Homemade; Bewitch Me & Titi; Homestead Barn Hop; Sunday Showcase Party; Mommy Monday; Pin It Monday; To Do Tuesday;  Link it or Lump It Party; inspire Me Tuesday; The Scoop; Turn it up Tuesdays; Tuesday Confessional Link Party; Take a Look Tuesday; Pincentive Blog Hop; Do Tell Tuesday; Share it Link Party; Twirl and Take a Bow; Wordless Wednesday; Countdown in Style;  Tuesday with a Twist; Too Cute Tuesday; From Dream to Reality;  Pin It Party; Whimsy Wednesday; Hit Me with Your Best Shot; Sweet Wednesday Link Party; Winter Blues Wednesday; {wow me} Wednesday; Your Whims Wednesday; Inspire Me Wednesday; Homemaking Link Up; Wow Us Wednesday; Little Bird Told Me Link Party; Centerpiece Wednesday; Whatever Goes Wednesday; The Wednesday Round Up; Work It Wednesday; Home and Garden Thursday; Treasure Hunt Thursday; Thriving on Thursday; Wildly Original; Create It Thursday; Made You Look Linky Party; Sweet and Simple Friday; The Homeacre Hop; Put a Bird on It; Craft Frenzy Friday; Friday Link Party; Tickled Pink Times Two; What to do Weekends; Farm Girl Friday

Hanging Paper Flowers

You may remember the paper flowers I made last week. Well my daughter decided that they needed to belong to her.  Funny, many of my projects end up that way.

I punched a little hole into a petal of each flower and strung them up with mono-filament to the canopy frame over her bed.

 We are looking forward to spring here in a big way.  These cute little flowers help.

Please follow me on Facebook, Pinterest, and Bloglovin.

Dinner Rolls

Today I got home early enough from work to whip up some dinner rolls.  I often have to resort to biscuits because of lack of planning on my part.  We are going to indulge ourselves with some of my yummy ham and bean soup but we really need some bread to go with it.  These dinner rolls fill the bill.


This recipe takes less than two hours from start to ready to eat which includes  rising time and baking time.

You will need:
3 cups flour (I use 1/2  all purpose and 1/2 cups whole grain flour)
2 teaspoons yeast
1 cup warm water
1 teaspoon salt
1 Tablespoon sugar
2 Tablespoons olive oil or melted butter
a greased 9 inch round cake pan (a 9x9 inch square pan works too just divide dough into 9 rather than 8 balls)

Add dry ingredients to your mixing bowl and mix. Next add water and oil.  Now it is time to knead.  I prefer to use my stand mixer for this but you can use a bread maker or even knead by hand.  In my stand mixer I knead the dough about 8 minutes.  Remember, if you are using whole grain flour, this type of flour takes longer to adsorb water.  Do not decide you need to add water until after at least four minutes of kneading.

If your dough seems dry and does not come together into a ball, add water a teaspoon at a time.  If your dough seems super sticky, add flour a Tablespoon at a time.  You want a firm ball of dough that is somewhat sticky.

After kneading put your dough onto a heavily floured surface and generously flour your hands.

Divide the dough in half, then divide each half in half.  Then one more time divide each quarter into half until you have eight fairly equal sized pieces.  Roll each piece into a ball and place into a greased round cake pan, seven around the edge and one in the center.  If you are using a square pan make 9 balls and line them up in 3 rows of 3.

Spritz the top of your dough with olive oil and over the pan with plastic wrap. The oil keeps the plastic wrap from sticking.  Leave the pan on your counter for 40 minutes to an hour or so to rise.

Once you have lovely risen dough, remove the plastic wrap and bake for 25 minutes in a 375 degree oven. Remove from pan immediately to a drying rack and serve warm. Yummy!

Please follow me on Facebook, Pinterest, and Bloglovin.

Most Viewed on:

Wonderful Wednesday Blog Hop 

 on

Ducks 'n a Row

Featured on:

Shared with:
Inspiration Monday; Marvelous Mondays; Motivation Monday; Craft-o-Maniac Monday; Monday Funday; More the Merrier Monday; Clever Chicks Blog Hop; Motivate Me Monday; Homestead Barn Hop; Meal Plan Monday; Inspire Me Tuesday; The Scoop; Pincentive Blog Hop; Take a Look Tuesday; Tuesday To Do ; Do Tell Tuesday; Tasty Tuesday; Share It Link Party; Tuesdays with a Twist; From Dream to Reality; Whimsy Wednesday; Wonderful Wednesday; Hit Me With Your Best Shot Link Party; Wow Me Wednesday; Winter Blues Wednesday; Your Whims Wednesday; A Little Bird Told Me; Inspire Me Wednesday; Whatever Goes Wednesday; Homemaking Link Up; Home and Garden Thursday; Wildly Original Link Party; Pin it Thursday; Thursday Favorite Things; Made You Look Link Party; Sweet and Simple Fridays; Grace at Home; Frugal Days, Sustainable Ways; Party Bunch; From the Farm Blog Hop; Farmgirl Friday Blog Hop; Friday Pinterest Blog Hop; Serenity Saturday; In and Out of the Kitchen Link Party

Organizing Your (Important) Papers

It is the season for making resolutions and planning for the year ahead.  Make one of this month's tasks organizing your important papers.  And no I do not mean that "compost pile" at the end of your desk that you hope someday will become irrelevant so you can just toss them out.  Well those probably need some attention too.

This photo was taken of my desk.

What I really mean is getting a handle on your important papers.  When having this conversation with my estate planning clients, I usually define important papers as those papers which are impossible or very difficult to replace if destroyed, lost, or stolen.  These are things like birth certificates, passports, divorce decrees, social security cards, death certificates, military discharge papers, car titles, real estate abstracts, life insurance policies, stock certificates, wills, powers of attorney, trusts, health care directives, and so forth.

I am still shocked at how many of my clients carry their social security card with them.  This is a big NO-NO. Memorize your number and lock that card up.  Do not let it sit around in your wallet along with your name, address, and birth date.  That is just an open invitation for identity theft.

Instead take all these important and hard or impossible to replace papers and put them in a fire safe.  Fire safes are readily available at nearly every hardware store and office supply.  You want something that is actually fire rated for a specified period of time. And you also want something you can bolt to the wall or floor in such a manner that getting it detached without access to the interior of the safe is nearly impossible. I am not an expert on fire safes so I will not give an opinion about what type, brand, or fire rating it should have.  But you want something that will protect your papers should there be a fire in your home.

My clients also often ask me about bank safe deposit boxes.  Personally I am not a big fan. Banks seem to be closed when we have an emergency making it impossible to get into the box until the next business day.

Also people rarely tell their children that they have a safe deposit box much less the physical address of the box.  So if something traumatic happens, the children are left with a key to an undefined box.  In my experience, safe deposit box keys do not list the name of the bank, the bank address, or often even the box number making it very difficult at times to know where to look for the box.

The bank vault is a great place for your jewels and gold bars.  In many cases, a fire safe at home is the best place for your important papers.

Please follow me on Facebook, Pinterest, and Bloglovin.

(And for anyone who might ask, NO this is NOT legal advice... even though I am a lawyer.  This is common sense advice.)

Shared with:
Inspiration Monday; Amaze Me Monday; Marvelous Mondays; Motivation Monday; Craft-o-Maniac Monday; Monday Funday; More the Merrier Monday; Clever Chicks Blog Hop; Motivate Me Monday; Homestead Barn Hop; Inspire Me Tuesday; The Scoop; Pincentive Blog Hop; Take a Look Tuesday; Tuesday To Do ; Do Tell Tuesday; Share It Link Party; Tuesdays with a Twist; Turn it Up Tuesday; From Dream to Reality; Whimsy Wednesday; Wonderful Wednesday; Hit Me With Your Best Shot Link Party; Wow Me Wednesday; Winter Blues Wednesday; Your Whims Wednesday; A Little Bird Told Me; Inspire me Wednesday; Organizing Ideas Link Up; Whatever Goes Wednesday; Homemaking Link Up; Home and Garden Thursday;Wildly Original Link Party; Pin it Thursday; Thursday Favorite Things; Made You Look Link Party; Sweet and Simple Fridays; Grace at Home; Party Bunch; From the Farm Blog Hop; Farmgirl Friday Blog Hop; Friday Pinterest Blog Hop; Serenity Saturday