Valentine's Day Decor

Hello, friends! I haven't posted in awhile. I feel like we are still recovering from the holidays! We just started back to school on Monday, and this week has been rough! I feel like I might finally be getting back in the groove, but I'd be lying if I said I wasn't super excited that Monday is a holiday! I thought I'd show you what I've been up to for Valentine's Day. 

I pulled this together from things I already had, or made myself. The only thing I bought were the puffy crocheted hearts on sticks. I ordered my own color choices from this shop on Etsy. I made the garland myself. I was cleaning my Christmas mess off of my craft table and found unused stretched burlap. I sketched out a heart on it with pencil, then filled in with glue and super fine Martha Stewart glitter. I love that it shimmers so bright every time I walk past it. The frames, blocks, and big metal heart were in different spots in the house.

I made a crocheted heart wreath on an old grapevine wreath. I sell the hearts in my Etsy shop (in any colors you want) and you just buy a wreath and hot glue the hearts where you want. SO EASY!

I recently learned how to do the granny triangle! I made a mini bunting of pinks, red, and a cute white scalloped border.

 Below are just a few other color combinations in the shop that I love...

I love any holiday that allows me to put hearts EVERYWHERE!

Valentine's Day Shelf

Today I got around to putting together my Valentine's Day shelf. I don't have a fireplace/mantel so I use my big rustic shelf and old window frame as my backdrop for seasonal decor. 

 I used the pink rose ball that I made last year, and my old blocks from Target. My cream owl candle gets to be included in almost every holiday because I love it so much.

I used my black and natural chevron burlap that I found on a roll at Hobby Lobby. (It was near the wedding ribbon-wait till it's half off or use a coupon because it's not cheap!) I quickly cut out a stencil with my Silhouette and stenciled a board, and wrapped the top with red yarn. Voila! I kind of love it!

Crocheted Hearts Projects

It has been FOREVER since I blogged! I have been really consumed with homeschooling and just keeping up with normal life. Now it's Christmas break and I'm ready to get creative again! Hopefully it won't come to a screeching halt when school starts up again. ;) 

I learned something new and just had to blog about it. I watched a tutorial on YouTube on how to crochet a heart, and after watching, pausing, failing trying A LOT, I finally got it! I've added them to my Etsy shop and can't wait to make more! Find the hearts to make your own DIY wreath here.

I hot glued some hearts to a grapevine wreath for a cute addition to the front door.

I love these non-traditional colors together: cream, red, and gray. Find this garland here.

 I also made the traditional colors: light pink, pink, and red. Find it here. I'm curious to see which one sells more!

 I added the gray one to my pallet gallery in the dining room, and the photo on the bottom was just for listing purposes on Etsy. That one's all packaged up and ready to go to a new home. ;)

 This is now on a crate on my dining room table... I filled a blue ball jar with some epsom salt, added a few branches from the yard, and some hearts on strings for a cute little "tree".

 I have a lot of turquoise, teal, red, and mint in my house, so I thought I'd add a few turquoise hearts on my wreath to tie it in.

I'm totally obsessed. I've always seen people crocheting while waiting places and wanted to learn. My Grandma Doris taught me how when I was little, but I completely forgot how. She was the absolute best. I loved getting her zig zag blankets. She was ahead of her time with the chevron thing. ;) If you don't know how or don't have time to learn, all of these hearts and garlands are for sale in my Etsy shop, Distressed Beautiful. 

Lobster Killa

The title of this post comes from Julie and Julia. Julie has dreams that her sleep machine says "lobster killer, lobster killer, lobster killer". When Julie has to make lobster, she puts a whole live lobster in the boiling pot and the lid pops off, she screams and runs out of the kitchen. Her husband runs in and replaces the lid and as he walkes out he whispers "lobster killa, lobster killa...".

Since it's Valentine's Day we decided to splurge and buy lobster tails for dinner instead of going out. Three tails were $27 bucks at Costco...you can keep your "market price" restaurants! As long as you know how to make them, they are great at home!

Do yourself a favor, if they put a bag of ice in with them, take it out as soon as you get home. I forgot and had lobster water leaked (through two bags) all over the shelf in the fridge. Yuck. I put it in two freezer ziplocs after that so that it would contain the juices and smells.

They could not be easier! You split the shells down the back, it helps to plunge the tip of the knife where you see in this picture, where the tail meets the shell, and then push the rest of the knife down. Tap your other fist on the knife if you need to.

After they are like this, you open the shell, pull out the meat while keeping it attached at the very end of the shell. It will sit on top of it's shell. Have a wide pan ready with less than an inch of boiling water in it. Simply put them in the water and put the lid on, leaving it cracked for steam to escape.

I forgot to cut the meat down the back before I put them in the water, so I took another picture. Just gently slice along the back of the meat and it will split open as it cooks.

Sprinkle the tops with paprika. Depending on the size, they take less than 10 minutes to cook. Seriously, as with all seafood don't overcook them or you will ruin them. Start checking them after 5 minutes, look for all white.

While I was curling my hair my hubby put them in a oven safe pan and put them under a hot boiler for 1-2 minutes just to lightly broil the tops. Look how much they shrink up when they cook! it's a good thing they were big to start with!

Serve with drawn butter {melt your butter, separate the solids off, leaving only the clear yellow butter}, and a lemon wedge if you like. I have to say this: be careful about getting carried away seasoning lobster, you can ruin it quickly because you will mask the taste of it. Save all the fancy stuff for something else, don't mess with perfection. I once went to a fancy restaurant and they served their lobster with some sort of dijon mustard sauce on top of it and it was terrible. Keep that in mind before you go reaching in the spice cabinet! ;)

Family Fondue!

Tonight I had the pleasure of hosting our Family Valentine Party, and this year we did fondue! We've done it many times but not recently. It's quite a bit of work, but worth it.

It requires a lot of prep work...start off by prepping the meat, cover it and put it back in the fridge until it's time. I cut the fat off of two New York Strip steaks and cut it into bite size pieces.
Do the same for chicken breasts, and raw shrimp. Don't cut your shrimp, just take off the shell and make sure they're de-veined, if they're not, you'll need to do it unless you want to eat sandy shrimp poop, which I doubt you do. =)

Our pricey supermarket carries the Swiss Knight Fondue. For 6 adults, I used two boxes. The other stuff you see in the picture is the prep set up for the meat course: butter, lemon for the shrimp, garlic granules, salt, pepper.

I won this really cool Trudeau lazy susan fondue pot last year at MOPS and I love it! You put your sauces for the meat course in the little cups and then you can spin it as you eat, instead of having to stand and reach for the one you want.

I set the table with everyone's gifts on their plates. They weren't big gifts, mostly just homemade things and treats, although I did buy my husband a massage gift certificate. He deserves it. =)

I made my mother in law a ruffle sunglasses case like mine, a wristlet keychain, and cookie bark.I also wrote notes on everyone's place on a printable titled "What I love most about you".I'm kind of the mushy type. I love to do things for people anyway so Valentine's Day is just another reason for me show and tell my loved ones how much I love them.

I put the sauces that I needed to heat up for about 30 seconds in the microwave before serving the meat by the stove. I labeled them all with a cute tag so I didn't have to keep answering which sauce is which.

For the shrimp you need to clarify the butter. Simply means, melt it and strain the solids out. I put in this broth separater. You put broth in and the fat goes to the top but the spout pours from the bottom. I melt the butter in it with a garlic clove in it, and pour it out, stopping before the solids come out, as they also float to the top.

Once everything's prepped you can begin with the cheese course. Melt it in a regular saucepan, stirring constantly until boiling hot. It really does stay hot if you put the candle underneath it.

Serve the cheese with cubes of french baguette, steamed broccoli, and red potatoes.

As the host, you just sneak away when people are about to finish up the first course, to cook the meat. I had my three pans ready and was able to cook them all quickly at the same time since they were all cut up into small pieces.

Heat up the sauces that need to be warm. There were six cups: Yoshida's Teriyaki, Veri Veri Teriyaki, Phil's BBQ, Drawn Butter, Lemon wedges, Sriracha.

You can get everything ready for the chocolate course before the meal, except you obviously won't want to cut the bananas until you're ready to serve. We use pound cake {SO much better than angel food cake with this chocolate, trust me!}, strawberries and bananas. Warm up heavy whipping cream in a saucepan {about 1 cup to 1 1/2 cups}, and a bag of Guittard semi-sweet chips until well melted and combined.

Light sabers ready!

Yum! It's a lot of work, but it is worth it for a special occasion!

Wrapping up Valentine's Day Projects

I've been putting some finishing touches on my Valentine's Day goodies and parties and I wanted to share a couple of things. I am absolutely in love with this wine bottle hanger! I stumbled on these by accident in Hobby Lobby and it was less than 60 cents! I tied on some jute twine and dug through my kids bead bucket and picked out some red ones. I knotted the twine on each side of the bead so that it would stay put. You can't see it, but there are three beads...one behind the neck of the bottle.

When choosing a bottle, how much more perfect could this one be for the holiday? It's called monogamy, it has a heart shape for an "o" , and it says "truly, madly, deeply" on the label.

I saw these in either Family Fun Magazine or Parents Magazine last year. I love them! You use three hearts {easily cut with my cricut to save my hands} and one leaf, hold punch them all and secure underneath with a piece of tape so it doesn't slide down and the pieces don't wiggle.

The kids can sign the leaves or write who it's for.

I printed these for free over at KindOverMatter. Head on over if you'd like some. Super simple for my friend party on Saturday!

Last but not least, I made cookie bark, which I do for every holiday. You can find more holidays and the recipe if you look for "cookie bark" on the label list at the bottom side of my blog. The tags I also printed for free. If you haven't checked out scribd.com for free holiday printables, you're missing out! I also made some red chocolate covered Oreos on a stick, with micro heart sprinkles, and wrapped each cookie pop in a cello bags, then made a cookie bouquet and delivered it today, but I forgot to take a picture! Oops!

I hope you like the ideas.... my fav is the heart hanger for the wine bottle!