Valentine's Treats

Happy Valentine's Day! I didn't get as much done as I'd have liked this week, but did manage to get some baking and giving crossed off my list in the last few days. Thought I'd share the fun with you.

Now before I get started, I just want to say that I'm a big tool girl. I think it's a trait I've acquired after ten years of scrapbooking/papercrafting. Tools just equal professional and topnotch results. So, I've invested in good ones not only with the papercrafting, but with baking and cooking as well. Adding something here and there over the years. Very, very worth it. Gives me a lot of satisfaction and now I completely understand why my dad's got a small fortune in woodworking tools in the basement.


First up, cupcakes for friends. The best way to give them is to go to the bakery department in your local grocery store and ask them to sell you some of the plastic cupcake containers. I get them for 50 cents a piece. Lots of decorating possibilities with these and easy to obtain.



I bought the button candy mold from Bake It Pretty and used pink, red, and white Wilton Candy Melts for the season. Two good tools used here to decorate. First, I bought a chocolate melter. $20ish. No more messing around with tempering chocolate, using a Dutch Oven, or scorching anything in the microwave. Another favorite tool is the Dessert Decorator Pro from Wilton. I think I got it for $23 with a coupon from Michael's. Use it all the time. I'm not ready for the big girl piping bags, so this works well for me. Kinda a pain to fill, but that's the trade off for ease of use.



In the end, lots of cupcakes tied up with ribbon, Silhouette heart shape (nice to cut while I was doing something else...need that multitasking sometimes), and PTI stamps. YUM!

For the parental units, pear pie heart tarts. My mom learned the greatest tip from this couple who had a pear tree--pears make a better apple pie than apples do, but taste the same. Absolutely true. They just stay firmer once they've been baked. Appropriate for Valentine's Day--the perfect pair/pear. I made the filling on these and used store bought pie crusts to cut down on my prep time. Pie crust just seems like a huge pain to make from scratch. Never even attempted it. I'm opting for the shortcut here.

Tool-wise, I'm becoming as much a Williams-Sonoma addict as I am a PTI addict. Bought their heart shaped tart mold. Makes short work of things. Plan on making calzones and sandwiches for future Valentine's using it.





Ribbon and PTI again. Lots of different stamp sets used. Threw this together in like ten minutes once I got the inspiration.

I've had lots of comment questions and hints over the last week. I'm hoping to get a post done address and talking about all that this week. And a demo on how to make the basket from my Egg Hunt card. Using a broken C Plate on my Cuttlebug no less! It's been a busy week and I've been limping along with one of those:). But I still think I can get my point across on that. Very easy too btw!

Supplies for Cupcakes: Silhouette Machine for hearts, Stamps: Sweet Love, Cupcake Collection, and It's a Celebration by PTI, Perfect Match Ribbon in Pure Poppy, Perfect Match Hybrid Ink in Dark Chocolate and Hibiscus by PTI

Supplies for Tarts: Punches: Marvy Uchina; Stamps: My Punny Valentine, Fancy Flourishes, Mixed Messages by PTI, Perfect Match Ribbon in Pure Poppy, Perfect Match Hybrid Ink in Hibiscus, Pure Poppy, Smoking Shadow, Close to My Heart ink in Paperbag