Continue reading “Up up & away: Pink and Red Valentine’s OOTD”
Tag: ValentinesDay
Hearts on Hearts
Love Is In The Air
This past Sunday I met up with local photographer and blogger Krenare! She did an amazing job not only capturing my Valentine’s inspired outfit, but also caught some adorable moments with my fiancé I can now cherish forever. We initially planned on shooting inside Sweet Philosophy, but they unexpectedly had to close for a few days due to a family emergency. I can tell you however, it is even cuter inside than it is outside (if that’s even possible), and I definitely want to go back to get some shots!
The weather may not have been on our side that day for outdoor photos (welcome to Canadian winters), but we managed to get a small break in freezing rain for Krenare to do her magic! After all, love is all about making sacrifices right?!
What girl wouldn’t swoon over a boy holding the most beautiful floral bouquet? A huge thank you to Blossom Moments Flowers for making dreams into a reality! Be sure to follow along with them on Instagram for the most beautiful bloom feed and inspiration!
Grab your sweetheart, put on something red/pink and do a cute little photoshoot, you won’t regret it!
Okay…so maybe I picked up this adorable scarf and thought it would be the perfect focal point for a shoot all about love! Either way, the outfit turned out almost as cute as the photos themselves!
Sorry in advance to my fiancé, I’m painting our house and door pink!
Windy, cold, freezing rain day= shrinking balloons…luckily we managed to get some good shots in!
Photography: c/o Krenare Ali Floral Bouquet: c/o Blossom Moments Hair: c/o Hair Addictz Studio , Makeup: c/o: Facetime With Daniela , Pants: c/o: Suzy Shier , Scarf: H&M (similar)
xoxo, Staffordable
DIY Sharpie Mugs & Catch-All Dishes
When I say images of all these beautiful DIY mugs and dishes on Pinterest I just had to put it to the test myself! I love that you can get as creative and personal as you want with these. Oh and did I mention, I made each of these for under $5.00 each!
I decided to recreate a few mugs and a catch-all dish that I had seen online using oil-based Sharpies.
The designs I opted for just so happened to tie in perfectly with it being Valentine’s Day!
What you will need:
I wanted to draw my designs on bright white mugs and dishes so I went searching for just that. I found both the mug and tray for under $3.00 each at Dollarama!
BE SURE to by oil-based Sharpies otherwise your design will wash off in water. These are a little more expensive than your regular Sharpie but I bought mine from Michaels with a 40% off coupon so they came to around $3.00 each! The good thing about these is that one marker will last you through quite a lot of designs so paying that amount upfront isn’t so bad in the long run!
Steps:
- Allow your designs to dry overnight. This will ensure that your paint is completely dry!
- Stick them in a cold oven (this step is really important!) Let them heat up with the oven that you will put at 300 degrees.
- Bake for 20 minutes
- Remove your mugs/trays and allow to cool for 20 minutes (turning off the oven at this point)
- Once they are cooled entirely, place them back in the oven and repeat step 2 and 3.
- After 20 minutes turn off the oven and allow them to cool in there entirely.
- You can spray your designs with a sealant when you’re done if you’d like, I opted out of this and they have been just fine. I hand wash my items only with soap and water.
Tip: Place your mugs or trays on a cookie sheet so that you don’t actually touch the paint and ruin it (I did this the first time, woops!) Once it starts to heat up it will be susceptible to smudging.
For the gold heart-shaped mug:
- First, you will want to make a heart stencil out of paper that matches the size of your mug.
- Next, you can start tracing the gold dots around your stencil. The dots are denser closer to the stencil and began spreading them out more the further away I got.
- Next, remove your stencil and begin to cover the handle in gold dots. I was pretty sporadic with how I did these.
- On the other side of the mug I used another heart stencil and once again traced gold dots around it, having them more dense closer to the heart and further apart the more you move away. I wish I had made my heart stencil a little smaller only because it took up most of the mug (not a big deal, just something to keep in mind for next time!)
- If you do happen to make a mistake you can simply take some water and mild soap and erase what you would like to correct. This is easier to do while the marker is still wet so catch it early if you can! For my mug and catch-all dish this came in handy, I think I re-did these ones each three times before I got it exactly how I wanted it!
Here’s the finished product! I absolutely LOVE how this turned out. I really like the gold dot design, it just screams Kate Spade to me!
Eyelash & Lips Mug:
This design was a little more free-hand. I pretty much just found an image I liked and went with that. I used a piece of tape straight across so that the eyelashes were at the same level and length. I used a black Sharpie for the eyelashes and just free-handed the lashes and used a red Sharpie for the lips, also free-handing. Just when I thought the gold heart mug was my favourite, I see the end product of this one and now I can’t decide!
Love-Letter Catch-All Dish:
- I just love catch-all dishes, so when I found this dish at Dollarama for $3.00 I knew exactly what I would do with it!
- I had seen love-letters and envelope designs on catch-all dishes from West-Elm sold for over $20.00 and thought I could easily make my own for under $5.00 (and so I did!)
- Using a couple pieces of Scotch tape helped me make the sharp straight lines that I filled in with a black Sharpie and finished off with a free-handed small red heart.
- This tray is definitely multipurpose, I decided to use this dish as a serving dish for my Valentine’s Day desserts. I didn’t spray my mugs or dishes with any coating and the markers are non-toxic so they are okay to eat off of! 🙂
Enjoy your DIY mugs and catch-all dishes!
xoxo Staffordable
3 Sweet Treats- Valentine’s Day Edition!
This Valentine’s Day I decided to really get my bake on! I opted for three different treats and I loved how each of them turned out!
Below are the three recipes and pictures of each dessert! I hope you try these cute treats out and enjoy them as much as I did!
Sweet Treat #1: White-chocolate covered Oreo truffle hearts
I love to bake but if I have the chance to make a dessert that requires NO baking (yes, you heard that correctly) I am all ears! These delectable heart shaped truffles are the perfect mix of creamy on the inside and crunchy on the outside! If you don’t eat these all to yourself (which is totally understandable) they make a perfect Valentine’s Day gift wrapped up in cellophane with some ribbon.
To make these treats into a heart-shape all you need is a heart-shaped cookie cutter. This option proved to be a lot faster than rolling them into balls which is typically how truffles would be made. This recipe is without a doubt a piece of cake! It’s as simple as finely grinding the Oreo cookies and placing them into the cream-cheese mix, spread this mixture onto baking paper, place in the freeze (this makes it MUCH easier to use the cookie cutters), then all you have to do is dip the hearts into melted chocolate and decorate how you please! 🙂
I only did a single-dip of chocolate for mine, but if I were to make them again I think I would do a double-dip to make a thicker and smoother finish on the hearts! You can opt-out of the sprinkles but I thought they added a nice extra crunch to the creamy texture inside!
The thought of making truffles might frighten you but you have my word that these Oreo Truffles are super simple to make! The mixture might not look the most appetizing before its dunked in chocolate but the taste makes up for its looks! The only downfall of these treats is that they’ll disappear before you know it!
Ingredients: ( 3 simple ingredients! )
* One (1) box of Oreo cookies-crushed finely into crumbs
* 5 oz of softened cream cheese
* 12-14 oz of white chocolate candy melts or bakers chocolate
*Sprinkles (optional, but necessary)
Step-By-Step Instructions:
* Line a tray or baking sheet with wax paper
* Crush whole Oreos (filling and all) into really fine crumbs, and combine with the softened cream cheese
* You can do this by hand (a little bit messy), or use a mixture with a paddle attachment. I found it a lot easier to just knead the mixture but hand.
* Once the mixture is evenly combined you can transfer it onto the wax paper. Spread it in an even layer about a 1/2 in thickness (or larger depending on what size you want your hearts to be)
* Place the tray into the freeze for about 45 minutes (or until it's hardened)
* Using your heart-shaped cookie-cutter cut out the shapes and place them back in the freezer for another 20-30 minutes. ***Truffles must be frozen before dipping them in the chocolate!
* Take a few hearts out a time to dip in chocolate and decorate while the others stay frozen in the freezer until you're ready to get working on them.
* Using a fork dunk your hearts into the melted chocolate and tap off any excess chocolate. Transfer your completed hearts onto the wax paper and put any sprinkles on at this point if you are going to use them.
* The truffles can be stored in an airtight container in the fridge or freezer (freezing them will last longer)
* Yields approximately 16-20 small (about 1.5 inch) heart treats
ENJOY! xoxo
Sweet Treat #2: Chocolate-dipped heart-shaped Rice Krispies
Everyone young and old can’t turn down Rice Krispies. And who in their right mind would turn down a heart-shaped chocolate-dipped sprinkle Rice Krispie treat?!
You can use any recipe that you have to make the Rice Krispies. I placed my completed mixture in a large casserole dish and immediately after I began to use a large heart shaped cookie-cutter. It is easier to do it when they are warm, making it easier to cut through the mixture. You can make them as thick as your cookie-cutter allows you too!
Once you’ve completed that step all you have to do is use your favourite coloured chocolate candy melts and dunk them or drizzle them however you’d like! I decided to add sprinkles to mine (remember to do this quickly before the chocolate dries!)
Yields approximately 10 large heart-shaped treats. This will vary depending on how large of a cookie cutter you use!
Having a bit too much fun in the kitchen with one of my favourite childhood treats!
Sweet Treat #3: Conversation Heart Mini Cheesecakes
The iconic Valentine’s Day conversation heart candies were the inspiration for my final treat!
I decided to go with a cheesecake recipe that requires you to bake the mixture but it’s perfectly fine for you to go with a no-bake recipe if you have one!
To coloured my hearts I went for Wilton brand gel food colourings in purple, pink, green and yellow and left a couple plain white. I used regular red liquid food colouring to write the messages on top of the hearts.
I found heart-shaped silicone molds that were exactly the same that Wilton sells but for a fraction of the cost at Dollarama. I bought two of these molds and I had just the right amount of mixture to fill them entirely!
These molds make the perfect sized cheesecakes!
Ingredients: * 1 cup of graham cracker crumbs (finely ground with a pinch of cinnamon) * 4 tablespoons (1/2 stick) of butter, melted * 16 ounces (2 blocks) of cream cheese, softened * 1 cup of sugar * 3 large eggs * 16 ounces of sour cream * 1 teaspoon of vanilla extract * food colouring ( pink, purple, green, yellow, and red) Supplies: * Stand mixer or a mixing bowl and a hand-held mixer * Rubber spatula * Heart-shaped silicone molds * Fine-tip paint brush * Roasting pan large enough to fit your heart shaped molds Instructions: * Preheat oven to 325 degrees * If you opt for a baked cheesecake you will need to make a water bath for it. Place your roasting pan in the oven filled with enough water to go approximately halfway up the sides of the heart molds. Allow the water to heat up while the oven does and bring some water to a boil in a kettle. *Combine graham cracker crumbs, cinnamon, and melted butter. I used a food processor to grind the crackers then I mixed in the cinnamon and butter by hand until combined * Spoon approximately 1 tablespoon of the crumb mixture into the bottom of eat heart mold. Press the crumbs down to ensure an even crust * In a large mixing bowl, beat the cream cheese on medium high until smooth, scraping the sides of the bowl with a spatula as needed. You will also want to scrape off the extra cheesecake mixture from the mixing blade so that you have clump-free cheesecake! * Add in the sugar and beat for 1 minute. Add eggs and beat until creamy, approximately 1 to 2 minutes once again scraping the bowl. Add the sour cream and vanilla and mix just until combined *Equally divide the filling in separate bowls to colour them. Add food colouring to create the colours that you like. * Pour the coloured cheesecake filling into the heart-shaped molds. Since cheesecake doesn't rise when baked you can fill them right to the top! * Bake your cheesecakes in the water bath for 22-25 minutes (if making baked cheesecake) * Remove your baked cheesecakes and allow them to cook at room temperature for about an hour. * Freeze your cheesecakes for at least 2 hours (if not more). Remove from freezer and carefully push out your cheesecakes from the bottom. If they don't pop out easily they aren't done yet and will need to go back in the freezer for longer. * To add the traditional conversation hear phrases squeeze some red food colouring into a small bowl. Using a fine-tip paint brush you can begin to write your messages on each cheesecake. Typically the says are printed in all capital letters. Don't worry if your words aren't perfectly centered, they typically aren't when they're printed on the candies. * If you use too much food colouring your letters will bleed * The food colouring will dry once you place your cheesecakes back into the refrigerator or freezer for a while.
These cheesecakes can be stored for up to several days or in the freezer for about a month!
These were definitely my most favourite and most fun to make/decorate of all my treats!
Here’s a few pictures of my final products all finished and ready to be delivered to my special Valentine! XOXO
