Homemade Heart Sweet Treats

These bite size heart sweet treats are a melt in your mouth delicious goody to create for Valentine's Day! You won't believe they're made with just Ghirardelli white baking chips and cashew nuts formed in pretty silicone heart shape molds! That's it! Quick, easy and simple! 

I was inspired to make this treat from this pin on Pinterest.  Unfortunately, there are a lot of things I didn't like about the recipe. But I loved the pretty end results, so I came up with an easier and simpler way to make a sweet heart shaped treat.

 Of note - this baker refers to white chips as "white chocolate" chips. Even though they're made by Ghirardelli, they are not chocolate since the chips do not contain any type of cocoa. And chocolate whatever, has to have cocoa in it to be called chocolate. Ghirardelli was sued a few years ago for using "white chocolate" on its' packaging and had to pay a steep fine. Nevertheless, the white chips actually taste better than white chocolate according to a "taste test" and are perfect to use in most "white chocolate chip" recipes, including mine!

Ingredients:

Ghirardelli White Baking Chips

Chopped cashews

Wilton's Silicone Stack-N-Melt Candy Mold

Teaspoon for smoothing

Instructions:

Let's begin by hand washing the mold with soapy warm water. Rinse and dry thoroughly.  Then place 12 white chips in each of the twelve heart shape molds.

Place in microwave and time for 2 1/2 minutes at 50 percent power. Remove mold and using a small spoon, gently smooth the melted chips around the heart shape.

Chop about a 1/2 cup of cashews beforehand and .  .  .

spread a layer of chopped cashews over the melted white chips.

Then add 12 more white chips over the nuts. Microwave at half power for 2.5 - 3 minutes. The chips should be melted and ready to smooth out using the back of a teaspoon.

Put the mold in the freezer for thirty minutes for the hearts to firm. Remove from freezer and place mold on a hard surface. Remove treats from molds by gently pushing up on the bottom of the individual molds to release the heart goodies. 

The intricate detailing of the molded treat is very impressive!

Now, it's time for our January Pin Challenge which is - can you guess - Valentine's Day Dessert Recipes! The purpose of the Pinterest Challenge is to motivate us to not just pin, but to make it happen! 

For more Pinterest inspired projects from this month's Pinterest Challenge hosts, check out the links below ↓

Now, let's see what the other hosts have created ⇓⇓

• My Pinterventures - Easy Sweet Crepes Recipe
• Slices of Life - Pink Popcorn for Valentine's Day
• Little Vintage Cottage - Keto Raspberry Cheesecake Bites
• Purple Hues and Me - Homemade Heart Sweet Treats
• Our Sutton Place - Vegan Mini Heart Shaped Brownies
• Mom Home Guide - Air Fried Strawberries & Cream Cheese Fondue Wontons
• Our Good Life - Chocolate Cherry Fudge
• My Family Thyme - Skinnytaste Cheesecake Cupcakes

Grocery Bag Organizer Dispenser

 

 As a crafter, I like to use things I've accumulated to organize my stuff. I can usually find something I need in my recycling bin to help me get organized. Who doesn't love repurposing items? They make for good projects. And there are plenty of them, too! Most of the containers our food comes in like cans, bottles, glass jars and even cardboard boxes can all be repurpose! And with a little creativity, they can be quite decorative and functional, too! 

Take, for example, the Lysol wipes container - and re-using it as a dispenser to hold bags from the grocery store. You'd be surprised how many bags you can put in this container! I know this idea has been around but it's one of the best ideas I've seen to store grocery bags! So I'm making a few to use around my home, too. 

I use grocery bags to line all of my small trash cans - including the ones I have in my bathrooms, craftroom/computer room, and bedrooms. I also use them in the kitchen when I'm cutting up vegetables like celery and onions - you know the cut off ends will clog up the garbage disposal if thrown in - ask me how I know this! I also use garbage bags when I'm throwing out old leftovers from the fridge, tool So you can see why I need several bag dispensers around the house!  I usually just throw the empty bags onto a shelf like this:

 But really, it's so easy and simple to turn a wipes container into a decorative bag dispenser! Here's how:

Materials 

Wipes cylinder container - like Lysol or Clorox

Grocery bags

Ruler or tape measure

Self-adhesive Vinyl paper

Directions

Remove the label from the wipes container and thoroughly clean it, including removing the outside glue residue and inside area. Then dry with a paper towel. You don't want any previous liquid residue getting on the bags. Next, measure the area around the container and its' height. Then take a sheet of self-adhesive vinyl paper (Hobby Lobby) .  .  .

turning it over and using the measuring lines on the back to cut out the width and height of the container. You may need to piece the paper together for full coverage. I love this paper because it is sticky on the back so you don't need to have any additional glue to secure it to the container. Did I tell you that it's vinyl, too? Plus, it's removable if you don't line up the edges correctly the first time.

Once the paper is cut to the container size, separate a portion of the backing from the decorative facing at the edge and apply the decorative paper edge to the straight edge line that's on the container (there's one on the side when the plastic container was formed) - this makes it very easy to put the paper on straight.

Once the paper is lined up, begin smoothing it out on the container, while slowly removing the backing.

Continue smoothing the paper on the container while removing the backing .  .  .

until the container is covered. An additional circular piece can be cut out and attached to the top for a pretty decorative look!

Now it's time to roll the bags to fit in the container. 

Lay the first bag out on a work surface - smoothing it to remove any air pockets. The bags have  pleated box ends where you can insert your fingers into each end to easily snap the bags back into the original folded position.

Then fold the bag in half, matching the handles together and again, smoothing the bag out to remove any air.

Then fold the handles over and out to the side .  .  .

and begin rolling the bag neatly toward the bottom.

But before reaching the bottom, place just the handles of another folded bag on top of the first bag in order to get the dispensing effect .  .  .

and continue rolling the bags.

Adding more as you roll - just placing the handles on top of each additional bag.

Just remember to leave the end of the last bag that you roll visible, and then place the handles of the next bag on top of that bag and continue to roll - pushing the air out as you roll.

You should be able to roll up at least forty or more bags - which is a lot! Most wipe containers can hold up to fifty standard size grocery bags.

When you've finished rolling the bags, give a final squeeze to remove any air and insert the rolled bags with the handle sticking out into the wipes container.

After the rolled bags have been placed in the container, attach the top and pull the handles through the slotted opening.

What an awesome way to store bags .  .  .

while leaving space on the shelf to store other items, too! Lol!

It’s time for our monthly blog challenge! Every month a group of blogging friends,  participate in a challenge blog hop hosted by Beverly @Across the Blvd. For the first month of the year, our focus is on Organization Ideas! I'm sure you can’t wait to see how others met this month’s challenge!

Be sure to visit all of these talented bloggers for their organization ideas:

Across the Blvd

Domestic Deadline

Purple Hues and Me

Coastal Bohemian

Slices of Life

Cookies, Coffee, and Crafts

You are invited to the Inlinkz link party!

Click here to enter

How to Weave a Neck Scarf With Yarn and Posterboard

 

This is a re-post of a popular project of mine that first appeared over four years ago. Because of the pandemic, I think most of us are looking for things to do to keep us busy while we are confined at home. Making a neck scarf using a skein of yarn and posterboard is a fun way of staying busy, and making something useful during these cold winter months. 

I must first apologize to all those talented enough to be able to knit or crochet. I can do neither.  My creative and artistic late mother-in-law tried her best to teach me but I just couldn't pick up the techniques.  Fortunately, I did manage to acquire the love of crafting from this wonderful lady, for which I am forever grateful.

Weaving yarn using posterboard is pretty much like using the board as a loom, to "knit" a neck scarf. To make one, you just need posterboard, ruler, scissors, and a skein of yarn  I would not recommend using thick yarn for this because the weave gets very, heavy and too bulky for your neck.  Believe me, I had to learn this the hard way.

The following tutorial is very detailed, but once you get the hang of it, making the scarf goes rather quickly.

Let's begin -

1.  Take a piece of posterboard (I started with cardboard from a box and switched to posterboard for better stability) and measure it 38 1/2 inches long ( this is the length of the posterboard I had) and five inches wide.  (38 1/2" x 5")    But you can make it any length you want.   Mark 1 1/4" wide and 2" inch long lines and cut the lines into segments. 

Each segment should be 1 1/4 inches wide.

2.  After cutting the lines, fold down every other segment . . .

3.  And then cut off the folded down alternate segments.

4.  Next, pick up the yarn and make a loop on the end, tying a knot and placing the loop on the first left segment.

 5.  Loosely loop yarn in front of and back of all the segments over to the end of the right side.

6.  Wrap around the last segment and continue weaving back to the left side and then the right side, back and forth, for a total of four times.

7.  Ending on the left side, leave yarn hanging loose on the last left segment.
There should be two loops in the front of each segment.

8.  On the right hand side - on the last segment, hold the top loop in place with your finger and pull the bottom loop over the top loop - up and over and off of the segment. Repeat for each segment - right to left.

9.  As you are weaving, push all the loops down so the loops won't accidently come off of the segments - you should see one loop on each segment.

10.  Again, wrap the yarn around the first segment (left) and continue weaving to the right until you see two loops on each segment and begin lifting the bottom loop over the top and off.  You will see a ladder effect on the back after the first few rows of weaving.

  11.  Continue weaving left to right, for two loops on each segment and starting on right side, lift bottom loop over top loop and off, until you have your desired length.

12.  When it's time to cast off, leave one loop on all the segments and don't weave any more new loops, and just leave the yarn hanging down on the left of the last segment.

13.  Starting with the segment on the right side, pull the bottom loop up and over and let it go. Place the remaining loop on the segment to the left. Repeat pulling bottom loop up and over and let go.

 14. Repeat this until reaching the left side end.

15.  Pull the yarn through the last loop, cut with scissors and pull it tight. Tie both ends together.   *If you see any loops sticking out, just stretch the whole piece by pulling on it.

I love wrapping this around my neck!  It's so fuzzy and warm and looks super chic!

If you have a skein of yarn and some posterboard, have fun and weave one of these. You will love it!

Thanks for stopping by

and take a little time to enjoy,

Happy Crafting!