Jennuine

This sweet little bird is sending tidings of love your way. As part of the 14 Days of Crafting Love party hosted by Jojo & Eloise , I'm pleased to be sharing my tutorial for Par Avion Messenger Bird Valentine Cards .  I hope you'll forgive the pun, but with the elegant look and feel of the watercolor paper, the romantic blend of vintage ephemera , soft pink, and just a bit of sparkle, these beautiful little cards are truly First Class. How to Make Par Avion Messenger Bird Valentine Cards Tools & Materials Book pages (Cut down to 5" x 7.5") Scissors Watercolor Paper (Cut down to 6.5" x 9") Bone folder (optional, but makes folding the paper easier and crisper) Extra Strength Glue Stick Vellum or paper of your choice for mini envelope P aper of your choice for the note  Pencil Small glue dots  Ultrafine glitter Templates/Printables: Bird Printable (MS Word ) French Postcard Printable (PDF) (image courtesy of The Grap

It's been a busy week. No time to prep or plan, but we're having friends over to watch  the Super Bowl tomorrow. Wha t's a gal to do? Thank go odness I have a have an easy-peasy, no-fail, crow d-pleasing recipe that is sure to score a touchdown:  10-minute Chili Sauce. ( We call it a "s auce" , but it's actually a very smooth chili ) The beauty of 10-minute Chili S auce is that it tastes like it's been simmering all day.  Whip up a batch and provide some sides.  Your guests do the rest. You provide the hot dogs -- Your guests build their own chili dogs. You provide the fries or tater tots and cheese -- Your guests build their own chili cheese fries. You provide the snack bags of Fritos and cheese -- Your guests make their own Frito Pies (a.k.a. Chili Willies)             10-Minute Chili Sauce 2 slices bacon, chopped, or 2 Tablespoons oil ½ medium onion chopped 1 pound 96% lean ground beef (you can also use g

On Valentine’s Day everyone deserves to be treated like royalty. So what better token  to present to your King or Queen of Hearts than their very own crown?  These diminutive diadems are easy to make, fun to decorate, and cost almost nothing to make.  Made from upcycled cardboard tubes and embellished with scrap paper, cupcake liners, and a bit of sparkle, you can make enough crowns to cover a few dozen royal heads in an afternoon. I decorated my crowns in a Valentine’s Day motif, but the possibilities are endless. In glittering pink, with pompoms on each point or trimmed out in marabou, the crowns would be adorable placecards for a princess party. Wrapped in vintage sheet music and embellished with Dresden trims and German Glass Glitter, they’d make an elegant napkin ring for a shabby chic tea party.   Queen/King of Hearts Valentine’s Day Crowns Cardboard tubes: toilet paper, paper towel, wrapping paper You can get two crowns o

Anyone lucky enough to be struck by one of these sweet arrows is sure to fall in love!  Today, as part of the 14 Days of Crafting Love event, I'm delighted to be sharing an easy tutorial for making delicious chocolate-dipped marshmallow arrows for Valentine's Day.   Fourteen Days of Crafting Love is hosted by Angelina from  Jo Jo and Eloise and will feature Valentine projects from 10 of your favorite creative lifestyle bloggers.  Be sure to visit Jo Jo and Eloise today for a tutorial on how to make this adorable ruffled apron.   Sewing not your thing? That's okay, Angelina is giving one away at the end of the party!  Be sure to stop by and enter her giveaway! For more Valentine Inspiration, visit : Kristin from  My Uncommon Slice of Suburbia Lisa and Sarah from  A Spoonful of Sugar Designs Kelly from Live Life Rowe Carol from  The Polkadot Closet Lucy from Craftberry Bush    Malia from Yesterday on Tuesday    Jessica from M

I have to confess:  G rowing up, I was always a little more excited about the fun party foods at Super Bowl parties than I was about the game itself.  Since I no longer have the metabolism of a teenager, but have the capacity to still scarf down basket of buffalo wings before half-time, I decided to develop a buffalo chicken inspired appetizer that is low in fat and carbohydrates, but still big on taste. I experimented with ground chicken, lean ground turkey, and 99% fat free turkey breast.  To add moisture and a nutritional boost, I played around with cauliflower, zucchini and carrots.  Both the ground chicken and regular turkey were too heavy.  The turkey flavor was too intense.  The cauliflower added moisture, but left a vegetable after taste.  Ultimately, I came up with a formula using 99% fat free turkey breast, grated zucchini and grated carrot that is moist, delicious, low in fat, high in protein, and gluten free.  The celery stic k, aside from being a traditional bu

With its rich, seductive scarlet color, raspberry dust is the perfect natural garnish for Valentine's day desserts.  After discovering the secret to making raspberry dust back in November, my first confection to top with this gorgeous little powder was the Dark Chocolate & Raspberry Truffles that I included in my holiday candy boxes.  But I knew right away that for Valentines' Day it would be all about the cream puffs! BE MY VALENTINE? Who could possibly say no when presented with a box of these? You see, I've had a lifelong love of cream puffs -- the buttery, rich, yet airy pastry filled with ethereally light vanilla cream.  Add to that the classic marriage of dark chocolate a raspberry and.... be still my beating heart. A cream puff is all at once comforting and elegant.  They look deceptively complex to make, giving that " Honey, I slaved for hours in the kitchen to make this for you " impression.  On the contrary, the Pâte à Choux (t