Love Me Tender

Dear Alisha,


Do you have any easy and hopefully cheap Valentines ideas?
Sincerely,
Love Me Tender


Dear Love me Tender,
What can I offer you that Pinterest hasn't already given you in spades?  My edited version, I suppose. Thank you ahead of time for letting me give my Valentine report before the holiday gets here.  [Don't you hate it when people give you all their ideas after the holiday has passed? Like "here's what I did, what did you suckers come up with?" Because that's what I normally do but only because I get busy beforehand.]

I have looked over and over Valentines ideas and recipes on Pinterest, (I am tempted to go on a rant about original content, but I'll save that for another day), than sat there in a stupor, not knowing what to do, and in the end I made my usual recipes anyways.  My trusties.  
I can't turn down a sugar cookie at Valentines.  They are soft and fluffly and rich and look like a Valentine. I have started to prefer them plainer and plainer. Don't over think it. I have already posted the recipe here.

I give the scrap dough to the kid to do what they will with it.  Just call me Mrs. Nurturing.

If you have a hankering for another type of cookie, I have also posted these window pane hearts previously (here) from Martha Stewart.  It's a good recipe, chewy and sweet.

Tips: Chilling the dough is really important, don't skip it, but I did skip re-chilling the cookies in the fridge after they were cut out.  (Not enough room!) Try to make your cookies that will be the windows a little larger than the base cookie.  It looks more attractive, unlike the 3rd cookie on the 2nd row.  The dough will be sticky and the cookies might not come out perfect looking, but if you give them a light dusting of powdered sugar in the end, it smooths everything out.  Just don't give a really heavy coat or it will muck up your jam windows.  This recipe makes a lot of cookies.

  

Can you guess what these pretty flowers are made out of?

Cupcake liners.  I know, I love them too.  Here are your instructions.  Cheap but a little time consuming for my taste.  I could watch two romantic comedies while making a 7 stem bouquet but I work a little slow as I am not a crafter.

I have blogged about Valentines several times in the past, complaining about ugly kid Valentines, remember this?  Here are my children's school Valentines this year.  I printed them from this fun, free sight.

I am curious how this will go over with 10 year old boys..


What?  You haven't jumped on the doily trend? What could be cheaper than doilies from the dollar store? Go ahead!  Get your doily on!



A simple handmade Valentine could be all you need.

When in doubt, cut it out..

photo credit

Last year I answered a question about Valentines Dinner, see post here, and in thinking back I thought I  gave a lazy response, probably due to being very pregnant and sick so everything sounded like too much work to me.  I re-read my advice and it wasn't bad but it wasn't over the top delightful either.  Since you want cheap and easy, I am going to give you this little gem of advice: buy a heart shaped cookie cutter and use it on everything.  Everything. (Sandwiches, pancakes, eggs, apples, vegetables, brownies, pate, chicken...maybe not chicken.)  I have had many a romantic meal in my life, but the one I remember most is Justin serving me grilled cheese sandwiches cut out in a heart shape.  

You'll never guess the story going on in this photo.  Maybe tomorrow I will tell it to you if you are polite and behave yourselves.