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~ Like dew hanging from the tip of a leaf, a single bead or word adds sparkle where there was none. BE the bright!

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Tag Archives: Valentine’s Day

Happy Valentine’s Day!

14 Tuesday Feb 2017

Posted by Julia Monroe in allsparkledup, art, crafts, encouragement, flowers, home decor, photography, projects, sewing, sparkling, Uncategorized, Valentine's Day

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All Sparkled Up, allsparkledup, allsparkledupdesign, hearts, photography, Valentine's Day

If you follow me on Instagram, AllSparkledUpDesign, you know I’m posting A Month of Hearts. Today is Day 14 and there are 14 days of hearts to go! Here are the hearts I’ve posted so far. Make sure you check instagram so you can read all the captions that go with these photos. Love to you all!

1

1-peach-valentine-box-6144

Pink Lace candy box

2

Candle-lit heart

Candle-lit heart

3

Real, edible, miniature chocolates.

Real, edible, miniature chocolates.

4

Mercury glass heart and pearls.

Mercury glass heart and pearls.

5

Beaded Heart, neat and tidy

Beaded Heart, neat and tidy


Beaded Heart, wild and unkempt

Beaded Heart, wild and unkempt

6

Circuitry Heart

Circuitry Heart

7

Welded Heart

Welded Heart

8

Tiny Raggedy Ann and Andy

Tiny Raggedy Ann and Andy


Tiny Raggedy Ann with her ILY heart

Tiny Raggedy Ann with her ILY heart

9

Vintage Valentines

Vintage Valentines

10

Ribbon Flower velvet candy box.

Ribbon Flower velvet candy box.

11

Silk Ribbon Embroidered heart box.

Silk Ribbon Embroidered heart box.

12

Stone and Crystal Heart.

Stone and Crystal Heart.

13

Pink Ribbon Flowers.

Pink Ribbon Flowers.

14 Happy Valentine’s Day!

Two swans heart.

Two swans heart.

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Happy Valentine’s Day!

14 Friday Feb 2014

Posted by Julia Monroe in American Girl Dolls, baking, dolls, food, Uncategorized, Valentine's Day

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American Girl dolls, baking, cookies, dolls, Valentine's Day

American Girl dolls, Kit, Nellie and Josefina, bake Valentine cookies together.

American Girl dolls, Kit, Nellie and Josefina, bake Valentine cookies together.

Last year we made shortbread hearts. You can see that post with the recipe here.
https://allsparkledup.com/2013/02/20/we-finished-off-the-valentines-day-cookies/
Today I’m baking cherry raspberry tarts. It was Valentine’s Day 1974 and I arrived home from school to a wonderful surprise. My mom had made heart-shaped tarts filled with a pink fluffy cherry filling of cherry jello and cool whip. Ever since then, my must-have Valentine’s dessert is tarts… but I’ve never made them. I was always too busy or didn’t have the ingredients. I’ve made cherry tarts just a handful of times all these years but never on Valentine’s Day. Today will be the day!

Happy Valentine’s Day to you all! May your day be full of sweetness that lingers in the most pleasant way.

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Time to put away the Valentines

28 Thursday Feb 2013

Posted by Julia Monroe in crafts, projects, tutorial, Valentine's Day

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circuit board heart, circuit board Valentine, heart, scroll saw, Valentine, Valentine's Day

I am slowly collecting the most amazing valentines. I will be displaying these in a wood bowl on the coffee table next February. Next year, it might be a terra cotta Valentine…

Last year, he made me a Welded Valentine of steel.

A Welded Valentine my son made for me

A Welded Valentine my son made for me


This year he worked with electronics.
Carefully unsoldering the resistors, capacitors and other components in the way of the cut line.

Carefully unsoldering the resistors, capacitors and other components in the way of the cut line.


He put on safety glasses and …
Carefully cutting on the white line with a scroll saw.

…Carefully cut on the white line with a scroll saw.


Then he gave me a Circuit Board Valentine!
Circuit Board Valentine

Circuit Board Valentine

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The old bouquet roses have donned their jewels

26 Tuesday Feb 2013

Posted by Julia Monroe in All Sparkled Up, flowers, Inspirational, nature, sparkling

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nature, old, old roses, rainy day, roses, Valentine's Day

Their edges are a bit crispy and tattered and the Valentine Roses can no longer hold up their heads.
I’m not about to part with a bouquet if it has even a speck of life in it.
I placed the musty bouquet on the table outside thinking perhaps a little sunshine might brighten them for a last hurrah.
But there was no sun. Instead, the sky darkened and the rain came down in streaks.

Past their prime, the Valentine roses droop their velvety heads.

Past their prime, these Valentine roses droop their velvety heads.


But these roses weren’t about to waste a good opportunity to glam up.
Like a group of aging women, they donned their crystal and went out one last time.
And I cheered them on.
Once vibrant red and perky, the Valentine Roses age gracefully in their queenly red velvet capes and dripping with jewels.

Once vibrant red and perky, the Valentine Roses age gracefully in their queenly red velvet capes and dripping with jewels.


I’m approaching the age to join their ranks. Beauty is in the eye of the beholder and I plan on seeing it and, even more so, participating.
You’re never, ever too old to sparkle. Don’t forget that!

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We finished off the Valentine’s Day cookies…

20 Wednesday Feb 2013

Posted by Julia Monroe in baking, food, recipe, tutorial, Valentine's Day

≈ 4 Comments

Tags

baking, cherry cordial cookies, chocolate, dessert, food, recipe, scottish shortbread recipe, shortbread, Valentine's Day, Valentine's Day cookies

They were delicious! We kept it simple and made just two recipes: Shortbread Hearts and Cherry Cordial Cookies.

The Cherry Cordial Cookies recipe was from a Chocolatier magazine from years ago. I cut out the recipe and taped it into my recipe notebook. I should have written down the year but it was probably from the 80’s.

The Shortbread Hearts were made by slightly adapting our traditional Scottish Shortbread recipe. The recipe was handed down from relatives in Scotland for ages. The usual form is patted out into two rounds or pressed into a 9″ x 13″ pan and cut into squares. We always do the square thing just for simplicity.

Here is the original Shortbread Recipe, which takes just 4 ingredients.

Scottish Shortbread
1 lb butter (Note: We use 1 1/2 cups of unsalted butter and 1/2 cup of salted butter for best flavor)
1 1/4 cup fine sugar (Note: We use granulated sugar and process it in a food processor until it is less grainy. It should be half-way between granulated sugar and powdered sugar in texture when you pinch a little bit between your fingers.)
1 1/4 cup cornstarch (Note: Various Scottish relations argue over whether this should be rice flour or not. We stick with corn starch because we like the melt-in-your mouth texture of the baked shortbread.)
3 1/2 cups all purpose flour (Note: We always use unbleached King Arthur flour for best texture and flavor.)

~ Knead ingredients by hand. (…um… we use a mixer…faster and way less messy!)
~ Press into a 9″x13″ pan.
~ Prick dough all over with a fork.
~ Bake at 325 for 50 to 60 minutes. The edges will be light golden brown but the top will still be pale. We usually break open a tiny bit in the middle of the pan to test for doneness in the middle, since these are very thick squares.
~ Cut while warm into 1″ squares.
~ Store at room temp for a couple days. Refrigerate air tight for several weeks. May be frozen, wrapped air tight, for over a month. (We’ve found shortbread in the freezer six months later and it was perfectly fine. It just has to be wrapped well in plastic wrap and then in foil to avoid picking up any off-flavor from the freezer.)

To make the heart shaped shortbread cookies, we added about 1/4 cup extra flour to the recipe to make the dough a little stiffer. The Valentines Day Conversation Heart Cookie Cutters were from Williams Sonoma.

Rolling out the shortbread. The cutters were from Williams Sonoma.

Rolling out the shortbread. The cutters were from Williams Sonoma.

One side of the cutter featured Valentine's Day sentiments, which were pressed into the shortbread. We also used a fork to press holes around the edges of the cookies.

One side of the cutter featured Valentine’s Day sentiments, which were pressed into the shortbread. We also used a fork to press holes around the edges of the cookies.

Valentine Shortbread Heart cookies

Valentine Shortbread Heart cookies. We baked them about 20 minutes at 325 but don’t remember the exact timing. They’re very hard to ruin.

A little tray of Shortbread Heart Cookies and Cherry Cordial Cookies, ready for giving away.

A little tray of Shortbread Hearts and Cherry Cordial Cookies, ready for giving away.

The last three cookies, posing sweetly beside my vanilla bean coffee. I ended up not eating them though, I gave them away.

The last three cookies, posing sweetly beside my vanilla bean coffee. I ended up not eating them though, I gave them away.

I didn’t take any photos when we made the Cherry Cordial Cookies but here is the recipe as printed in the magazine.

Cherry Cordial Cookies
1 pkg Ghirardelli Semi-Sweet Chocolate Chips (NOTE: The recipe does not specify the size of bag. 1 cup of chips are used in the cookie dough and the “remaining cup chips” are used in the frosting.)
1/2 cup butter or margarine
1 cup packed brown sugar
1 egg
1 tsp vanilla
2 cups unsifted flour (We use King Arthur unbleached flour)
1 tsp baking powder
1 jar (16 oz) maraschino cherries

~ In double boiler, melt 1 cup chocolate chips over 1-inch simmering water.
~ Cream 1/2 cup butter with sugar.
~ Add egg, vanilla and melted chocolate; beat until smooth.
~ Combine flour with baking powder and salt (NOTE: salt is not listed in the ingredients so we figure this was a printing error. We use 1/4 tsp salt); add to creamed mixture, beating until smooth. Chill at least 1 hour.
~ Enclose 1 cherry in 1 tablespoon of dough.
[NOTE: Enclosing that cherry in the dough takes a lot of work! The dough is fairly dry so it has to be squished around the cherry, it can’t be rolled and folded around the cherry. We drain the cherries while the dough is chilling, otherwise, the dough becomes a gooey mess when trying to squeeze it around a squishy cherry. We put a tablespoon of dough in the palm and pressed a little hole in the middle of it to start. Then the cherry was placed into the hole and the crumbly mixture was pressed up over the cherry. Then we carefully squished the whole lump in our fists to close it all up good and tight. Finally, we gently rolled around the lump to make a nice round ball.]
~ Place on greased baking sheet. (Note: we used ungreased, parchment paper-lined baking sheets.)
~ Bake at 350 degrees for 12 to 14 minutes. (ours took exactly 15 minutes)
~ Cool on wire rack.
FROSTING:
Melt remaining cup chocolate chips with 2 Tbsp maraschino cherry syrup and 1 Tbsp unsalted butter.
(NOTE: We used 1 Tbsp kirsch and 1 Tbsp maraschino cherry syrup)
Frost tops of cookies.
YIELD: 3 1/2 dozen cookies.

It was so tedious forming the Cherry Cordial Cookies that we vowed we would never make them again. But then when we bit into the deep dark chocolate cookie and tasted the exquisite cherry buried within, we decided to make these cookies our new Valentine’s Day tradition.

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Happy Valentine’s Day!

15 Friday Feb 2013

Posted by Julia Monroe in crafts, dolls, food, recipe, tutorial

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Tags

box of chocolates, chocolate, chocolates, doll-size, miniature, miniature food, valentine s day, Valentine's Day

Happy Valentine's Day! Here is a miniature box of chocolates for you.

Happy Valentine’s Day! Here is a miniature box of chocolates for you. Click photo to see a larger image.

Even though it’s just a couple minutes into February 15th, I still consider it Valentine’s Day since the day is not done. ;)

This is a doll-sized box of real chocolates. They are tiny, less than 1/4″ across!

I made the miniature box for these chocolates from tissue paper, cardboard and decorative paper.
The chocolates were made from chocolate chips and pieces cut from candy bars.
To decorate the tops, I drizzled melted chocolate on with a toothpick.
The papers for the chocolates were made by pressing a tiny circle of tissue paper over the flat end of a pencil.

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Valentine Candy Bouquet

21 Tuesday Feb 2012

Posted by Julia Monroe in candy, crafts, food, party, projects, tutorial, Valentine's Day

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Tags

bouquet, candy, candy bouquet, centerpiece, crafts, project, styrofoam ball, sweet, table decor, tutorial, valentine candy bouquet, Valentine's Day

We are still nibbling at the Valentine Candy Bouquet. It is delicious but very, very sweet. At this rate, it may hang on till Easter! Oh my! I do love the sparkling look of it though.

Valentine Candy Bouquet – 2012

Granddaughter Chloe nibbles a cake pop from the Valentine Candy Bouquet.

Here are directions on making the bouquet.

Prepare basket.

1. Cut Styrofoam to fit tightly in the bottom of a basket. Secure it firmly in the  basket so it won’t shift or move at all.

Secure Styrofoam in the bottom of a basket.

2. Spread out a set of battery operated bouquet or centerpiece lights over the Styrofoam in the basket. I purchased this light set at either Michael’s or A.C.Moore several years ago. Alas, I do not know if these lights are still made or sold elsewhere. Insert toothpicks around the light set in the area where the ball will be placed.

Spread light set around the edge of the basket.

3. Cut off a slice of a 5” Styrofoam ball so it can sit flat. Press the Styrofoam ball down firmly onto the toothpicks. Insert several other toothpicks around the base of the ball to secure it tightly. Trim toothpick ends with wire cutters.

Press the Styrofoam ball firmly down on the toothpicks

4. Scrunch a length of 12” wide tulle around the base of the ball, covering the lights and wires. I used a piece 12″ by about 6 feet long.

Prepare the candy.

5. To make Conversation Heart Batons, use royal icing to secure conversation hearts to a lollipop stick. When dry, pipe royal icing between the hearts and sprinkle with mini sprinkles. Tie a bow at the base with an 8” piece of ribbon; trim the ends.

Conversation Heart Batons

6a. For candies with square wrappers, twist one end of wrappers and wire three candies together.

Wire together three small candies

6b. Twist the candy bundle together around the end of a lollipop stick and secure with the wire. Tie with an 8” length of ribbon.

Wire the candy bundle around a lollipop stick & tie with ribbon

7. Cut a heart from gold paper, punch a small hole at the top and write a message. Tie a piece of lace and the gold heart to a lollipop with string.

Tie lace and a message with string to a lollipop.

8. Prepare cake pops as desired. I made chocolate cake pops by following the directions in Bakerella’s Cake Pops cookbook and using homemade frosting instead of store-bought frosting. These were the first cake pops I’ve ever made so mine were a little lumpy. But I was really happy they turned out and they are delicious!

Round cake pops.

9. Cake Pop secret – use lots of sprinkles to cover up mistakes.

Cone-shaped cake pops.

10. To help disguise the printed text at the base of lollipop wrappers, cut a fringe in the wrapper. Tie with a bow or twist tie.

Fringe bottom of lollipop wrapper and then tie with ribbon or twist tie.

11. I ended up not adding these to the bouquet. They looked very pretty in a glass dish next to the bouquet.

A dish of gold-wrapped Ferrero Rocher chocolates.

Assemble the centerpiece.

12. Using wire cutters, cut the end of one candy stick to make a slight point and insert it into the Styrofoam ball to see if you like the length. Remove the stick from the Styrofoam and adjust the length as desired. Cut sticks and insert candies, starting with the candy of which you have the fewest. I only had 8 sticks of rock candy so I inserted them first to evenly distribute them.

Cut sticks shorter with wire cutters and insert into Styrofoam ball.

13. Start in the center and work your way out as you fill the bouquet. Cut some sticks shorter so the candies help cover the Styrofoam ball. Next time I will make more of the little candy bundles to fill in the base better. I made 11 but 14 would have been better.

Valentine Candy Centerpiece

14. If desired, fill in any remaining spots on the Styrofoam ball with ribbon or tulle bows on wires. You can also use green gumdrop leaves, tissue paper or artificial flowers and leaves. I decided to leave the center open so the light set would light up the candy more.

To make ahead, the cake balls can be prepared a day or two ahead, as recommended in Bakerella’s cookbook. This bouquet was made on Valentine’s Day and then refrigerated that night, covered with plastic wrap for storage. It is one week later and the bouquet still looks wonderful and the cake pops are every bit as delicious, especially cold. Next year, I’ll prepare the cake pops several days before, refrigerating them until needed. The candies can be prepared well in advance and set aside. Allow an hour or so to insert all the prepared candies and cake pops.

In addition to holidays, a Candy Bouquet would look lovely for a Baby or Bridal shower, or as a Birthday centerpiece.

Valentine Candy Bouquet – click for a larger image.

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A Welded Valentine!

15 Wednesday Feb 2012

Posted by Julia Monroe in projects, Valentine's Day

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heart, love, metal, Valentine's Day

On Valentine’s Day, my 18 year old surprised me with a Valentine he made. He attends Welding School, where he is learning to weld. I can’t imagine what the other men thought of his project, which makes the Valentine all the more precious to me. Now that is LOVE. I will keep this Valentine forever! Well, made of heavy steel, it will probably last forever too.

A Welded Valentine my son made for me

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