Valentine Lollipops Made From Candy Canes

That's right I made Valentine lollipops with Christmas candy canes. I tried making the lollipops with two different types of mini candy canes.

The mini candy canes on the right are not the right size - they do not make a cute lollipop. They make a long and pointy lollipop.

So make sure next Christmas when you buy your mini candy canes for this project that they are the shorter mini candy canes. You can also buy mini candy canes after Christmas on sale.

First preheat your oven to 300 degrees and lay some parchment paper over your cookie sheet and lay your candy canes out in a heart shape so that when they come out of the oven you can place the sticks in and that they will overlap in any way.

I baked my candy canes for 3 minutes. Your oven may be different you might need a minute more or a minute less. I guess it could also depend on the brand of miniature candy canes.

Once my candy canes came out of the oven after three minutes I put a lollipop stick in the bottom point and pinched the softened candy cane around the lollipop stick. Be careful the the candy cane is very warm and sticky. Then let the lollipop harden for about four to five minutes. Then you can peel it off the parchment paper and package in a small plastic treat bag and tie with a ribbon.

I think this would look cute without the lollipop stick  - you could just use the candy cane hearts to decorate cupcakes or cakes.

These would make a cute classroom, neighborhood or sports team treat.  I made over seventy-five of these lollipops. They are super simple to make just really time consuming. 

HAPPY VALENTINE'S DAY!!!!

Basketball Hershey Bars

I wrapped some Hershey bars in a basketball theme.

First I wrapped the Hershey bars in black wrapping paper.

Then I tied them with orange ribbon and glued a basketball eraser in the middle of the bow.

I bought two bags of sports erasers at Target. I saved the other erasers to use for other sports projects.

These sports erasers were in the Valentine section. But you also could glue on a sports themed button or bead.

You could do this for any sports team just wrap the candy bar in your teams colors. You can also make these as a party favor. A Super Bowl party favor you ask? Yes - that would be fantastic!

It took me about fifteen minutes to wrap and decorate twelve candy bars.

This would be a great snack to bring when it is your turn to bring snacks for the team. And you can make them really far in advance.

Milk and Cookies

My son Christian likes to have milk and cookies every day when he gets home from school. It is his favorite snack. Unless it is really hot - then he wants a root beer float.

So today I was out of cookies and I was looking around the cupboard and fridge when I found the Pillsbury Valentine cookies, chocolate frosting and hot pink sprinkles.

I always like to buy the holiday cookies in advance because they sell out quickly. So I baked up a batch.

After they baked I added the chocolate frosting to make an Oero type cookie.

Then I rolled the frosting filled cookie in hot pink sprinkles.

He loved them! And so did Noelle!

If you want to bring cookies to the sports team or classroom - these are super simple to make and always a big hit with the kids because they are so full of sugar!

Valentine Trail Mix

I made Valentine Trail Mix for the ladies on the tennis team and my kids lunch boxes.

I found Valentine candy corn - could candy corn be any cuter? The actual name is Cupid Candy Corn!!!!

These are red cinnamon hearts and you can't just each one - you have to another and another etc. Because they are so delish.

White chocolate pretzels for that salty and sweet crunch.

These are petite sour hearts and they are so sour that your lips will pucker.

These are red raspberry hearts. Oh did you think this was a healthy trail mix?

So I mixed all five ingredients in a big bowl.

Then I put them in cellophane bags and tied them with a red ribbon.

I bought all of the candy at Henry's. I am pretty sure that the bags and ribbon are from Michael's

If you wanted to add a little something to the above mix I think some peanuts would be yummy. This would be a cute classroom treat or a great treat for friends and neighbors - basically anyone who has a sweet tooth would love this!

Super Bowl Bracelets

I was thinking what could I do for a football/Super Bowl craft? So I looked in my craft area and decided to make bracelets.

First I found some football beads then I found the alphabet beads and bingo - I had an idea. However, I think I used the wrong kind of stretchy string - I only had black and clear would have worked a lot better.

When you string the alphabet beads to make words - you need to add the spacers in between - like I did with the small silver beads.

I think these would be fun for the kids to make while your favorite team plays. You can get everything you need at Michael's or your local bead shop.

When I was growing up I used to bead for hours under the shade of the big tree in my front yard. Neighbors would buy necklaces and bracelets from me for $1 and I used to ride my bike alone or with a friend my age to the bead store.

How times have changed.

I Need to Stop Buying Christmas Items

I need to stop buying Christmas items! The minute I see the 50% off or 75% off holiday signs - I have to look.

But as of today I am going to stop looking - plus it is just a bunch of junk that is left - right? But I did find some really great stuff at Sur La Table. They had barrels full of Christmas sale items. These are some of the cool things that I bought and I can use next Christmas.

I bought these adorable snowman canape knives. They were originally $5.99 and I bought them for $1.69 each.  I think they would look super cute tied onto a Christmas present.

I got these jumbo snowflake sprinkles for .99 and they will look adorable on cupcakes.

Then I bought these sweet little ice cream cup containers. They also came with cute wooden spoons.

This set of ice cream cups was $14.95 originally. And I bought them for $3.69.

The Target Dollar Section

Today I was out and about running errands and I went to Target. Of course I had to look in the dollar section and they had the basketball, soccer, baseball and football frames in the dollar section. If you need some sports frames - go this week - these sell out super quick.

I bought eleven of the basketball frames for our season ending party. Now I just need to take a photo of the boys.

I was in a rush - and I am kicking myself that I didn't get the baseball frames. Now I have to go back.

I always buy little treat for the ladies on my tennis team on game day. These notepads were in the dollar section and covered with little hearts. So cute!

I also bought everyone on the tennis team some Valentine sox. These actually match our uniforms which are red, white and blue. They are so cute and just a dollar!

I bought these basketball lollipops in the Valentine section - they were .99 each.  They also had baseball and soccer lollipops.

I had so much fun in the Valentine and dollar aisles at Target yesterday!

Food For the Sorority Alumni Meeting

January is a month when a lot of people are watching their calories. So I made some figure friendly food for the meeting that I hosted at my house. This appetizer was a big hit!

Grape tomatoes, mini cucumbers, marinated cheese.

I used these Persian cucumbers, I sliced them and tossed them in olive oil with salt and pepper. Then threaded them on to the bamboo skewer.

Veggie sticks in mini shot glasses with low calorie ranch dressing.

I made mini fruit salads. Blueberries, watermelon, pineapple, mango, kiwi, grapes and cantaloupe.

Fruit salad is so sweet it is almost like dessert.

Then I made some small desserts........like cake balls.

Then I dipped some Milanos in chocolate and added sprinkles.

And a chocolate covered Oero for the take home treat.

Basketball Cupcakes

MaryAnne got me the Martha Stewart Cupcake book for my birthday.

So I made the basketball cupcakes on page 188.

Martha used thin black licorice to make the lines. I went to three stores to find thin black licorice and of course I couldn't find it anywhere. In a month from now I will see it at some random store. But I ended up using black sparkle icing.

Martha also used round sprinkles - but I had some orange sparkle sprinkles left over from Halloween.

The team loved the cupcakes! Todd always says that my snack is over the top but I just can't bring chips and a drink - not that there is anything wrong with that!

Martha also had directions on how to make baseball and tennis cupcakes. I will be baking a lot of cupcakes out of this book and I recommend this book to anyone who loves to make cupcakes.

Thank you MaryAnne - I love this book!