Easy Valentine's Garland, 2 Ways

Want a quick & pretty decoration for Valentine's Day? Here is a tutorial for the easy Valentine's Day garland I made last year, along with a new variation. All you need is construction paper, scissors, and a stapler.

Chained Heart Garland ~

1) Grab a few sheets of construction paper in any color. I'm using pink and red. Stack them up and cut out long strips about 1-1.5" wide. (This does not have to be too precise, so feel free to eyeball it)



2) Fold one strip in half and staple above the fold.



3) Bend the ends down and line them up to create a heart shape. Staple the ends together.



4) Grab a new strip. Fold and staple the end like step #2.



5) Bend the ends down like before, but link one end through the previous heart before stapling.



6) Repeat to create a long chain of hearts.




Linked Heart Garland ~

1) Cut strips like above. Fold one strip in half and staple above the fold. Fold a 2nd strip (don't staple).



2) Bend the ends of the first strip down and line up the ends. Tuck the ends into the fold of the 2nd strip and staple.



3) Repeat to create a long chain.





These were fun to create and would be a great craft for kids old enough to wield a stapler. Before you know it your house will be covered in hearts!

Bento #1: Simple Snowmen, #2: Smile

Once my dividers arrived I could finally start arranging some lunches in my bento box!

Bento #1: Simple Snowmen

We had some snowman and snowflake shaped chicken nuggets (instead of our normal dinosaurs), and I figured that I should make a bento with them before we ate them all!



Top: I used 1/2 cup rice, which I've found to be the perfect amount to fill up about 1/3 of the box. I pushed the rice down a little more and topped it with one of the snowflake nuggets.

Middle: This section actually has a layer of corn at the bottom, then another snowflake nugget, and two snowmen on top. Bentos should be packed tight to keep things from shifting around, and you can fit more in there than you'd think! I decorated the snowmen with a 'carrot' nose and scarf cut from cheese slices and the eyes and buttons are punched from nori.

Bottom: Orange wedges.

I was pretty pleased with my first bento, though it could use more colors. I also learned not to fill this box all the way to the top, but to leave about 1/4" empty space for the lid. That will vary by box, so make sure to check before you pack it to the brim.


Supplies Used:




Bento #2: Smile

We had some really yummy Chicken Cordon Bleu bites for snack night that were stuffed with cheese and ham (Tyson's "Anytizers" brand). There were a few left over and I thought they would be a great size for bento.



This box was a bit of a failure! I cooked the chicken bites, half a pack of instant chowmein noodles, and some shredded savoy cabbage sauteed with a little sauce. When I arranged it in the box I realized everything was brown ~ whoops! I did not have a lot on hand to add color but I was able to help a little.

Top: Shredded savoy cooked with a little hoisin and soy sauce. (It did not turn out very well so I'll use a recipe next time!) I topped this with flowers cut from slices of carrot, summer sausage, and cheese.

Bottom left: 3 chicken bites decorated with faces cut from a cheese slice. The faces were way too small to sit well on top of the balls & it would have worked much better to cut the face out of a circle like my sandwich boy.

Bottom right: Noodles topped with letters cut from slices of carrot that spell "Smile".


Supplies Used:

Purple with Copper Leaves Manicure

Time for a little stamping!

It's funny that when I first started stamping I wanted the same design on all 10 nails, but now I think the nail blogs have influenced me to prefer a mix. And bonus: it's quicker when you are not stamping every nail!

 

The base color is Color Club "Wild at Heart", a dark purple with a subtle holo. Since I'm usually indoors I don't usually get to enjoy the rainbow holo much, but it likes to shine in the sun! Then I stamped the middle and ring fingers with Essie "Penny Talk" and plate CH33 from Cheeky's 2012 Summer Collection. You may remember me testing this color combo on my recent top coat comparison post!

On the rest of the nails I used a large nail dotter to add a copper dot at the top of each nail (two on the thumb). Normally I give dot like these lots of time to dry because it's really hard not to smear them with top coat. My new KBShimmer "Clearly On Top" met the challenge again and I was able to put it on right away with no worries of streaking. I am impressed!

First Bento Tests

When I first got my bento supplies, I stuck some hat picks in my 3-year-old's dino shaped nuggets. He was pretty grumpy, but they were so cute and easy I had to try again!

A week or so later I got more adventurous. Orson loves spelling & reading his name, so I used my alphabet cutters to spell out his name with some cheese too.



It didn't go so well...

O ~ (Immediately pulling off the hats) "No! I don't want any hats on my dinosaurs! I don't like it so don't put them on my dinosaurs!"
Me ~ "But what about your name? I made it out of cheese. Do you like the name?"
O ~ "No! I don't like my name out of cheese. I just want to throw it in the trash. Don't put hats on my dinosaurs and don't make my name out of cheese. I don't like it!."


Yet a week or so later, Orson saw the bag of alphabet cutters and said we should cut out some letters. He ran to get an apple, but I suggested cheese instead (haha). He had a good time spelling names with me and snacking.




The next day Justin was making a sandwich for himself and one for Orson. I asked Justin if I could decorate *his* sandwich, thinking it would be good for Orson to see someone else eating some silly food and he might even get a bit jealous.

I used my face & shape cutters with Kraft singles and Swiss cheese slices to quickly add a smiling boy & stars on top of the sandwich. I tried to cut the face out of the orange cheese first and lay it on top of the face, but the eyes and mouth were too tiny to stay put, so cutting it out of the face worked much better. I was going to place the arms under the head, but they looked a little odd without a body so I stuck them out of the sides of the sandwich (which creeped out Justin, haha).



The plan worked! Orson immediately asked for his sandwich to be decorated just like daddy's and gobbled everything up happily.

Once my dividers arrived I made myself a few lunches in my bento box (I'll share soon!), and he was very interested in checking out all of the details. He even ate one of the lunches! He still gets upset about decorative picks, but we are definitely making progress.

Supplies Used:    

Ham Bone Soup

We made a ham for the new year, and after several dinners and lunches we were left with a large, meaty bone. My mom raved about how good they are for making soup stock, so I decided to adapt this yummy Bean & Bacon Soup we've made before.



First I found a pot large enough to fit the bone, covered it with water, and left it simmering for most of the day. I sauteed the carrot, celery, onion, and garlic from the recipe in a little of the broth, the strained all of the broth into the pot. I cut up all of the meat that had fallen off the bone with some kitchen scissors, careful to remove any bones or fat, and tossed in all of the meat (sorry, no measurements!). Other than that I just followed the recipe like normal.

It was a beautiful soup with the touches of pink, orange, and green. And it tasted amazing! It will probably be another year or two before we make ham again, but I'm definitely going to remember this soup for when we do.