Bacon Roses

This past Valentine's Day Baby Girl and I surprised Husby with a bouquet of bacon roses.  These were really good to eat and could be made for all kinds of occasions -Baby Girl has already requested them herself ;)  

What's even better is that they are easy to make too, check it out:

Skewers & Toothpicks

To make the roses I used metal skewers that have a loop at one end.  I slipped a piece of bacon through the loop, then began winding it around into a little ball.  Once the strip was all wound up, I poked a toothpick through the bacon, making sure that it went through the loop of the skewer as well.

The toothpicks kept the bacon strips wound up tight for cooking, and then kept the 'roses' from falling down the skewer once cooked and placed in the vase.

 Wrap it Up

After wrapping the bacon on the skewers, I layered them onto a metal rack and placed them inside of a baking pan.    (I used the metal rack so that as much grease as possible would fall away from the bacon)

Side Note:  The directions I found on Pinterest were to bake at 350 for 40 minutes, but I ended up going longer than that to get the bacon nice and crisp.  This will vary depending upon your oven and how many roses you make at once.

Ready to Eat

After the bacon (and skewers) were cool, I arranged them in a jar stuffed with red tissue paper.  I chose red to go with the Valentine's Day decor of our brunch table, but any color will do.

Tip:  Make sure your container is heavy enough to hold the skewers without tipping over.  You may want to add marbles or stones for greater stability.

Not only were the roses tasty, but the kids enjoyed eating them as though they were bacon lolipops!

-Try it for yourself and let me know how they turn out-
I hope you enjoyed this how-to post, thanks for stopping by!

-Jennifer

© Jennifer Adams Flowers 2016

Valentine's Day 2016 - How We Celebrated

Working today from a Mid-Western blizzard!  Let's talk about Valentine's Day!

**********

We celebrated Valentines Day with a small gift exchange, brunch and plenty of relaxing.  For brunch we had biscuits and gravy, scrambled eggs, smoothies annnnd....bacon roses!

Check out the photos below:

Pretty Plates

I used a little red glitter gel to dress up our plates.

(I used it on the smoothie glasses too, but didn't get a photo - you can click here if you want to see something similar)

Everybody Helps

When Baby Girl saw that I was decorating plates, she wanted in on the fun.  The top photo shows the 'Happy Valentine's Day' message that she added to my plate.  

Not to be outdone, once the Little Man caught on he decided to help too....by taking a fork to Husby's already decorated plate ;)

Bacon Roses

When, I told Husby I was going to give him roses for Valentine's Day he looked confused....but when he saw the 'roses' he was quite pleased.  I'll post later this week with instructions on how to make these yourself.


I hope you enjoyed this holiday post, thanks for stopping by!

-Jennifer

© Jennifer Adams Flowers 2016

Red Roses - Valentine Decor

I was all set to write about how we celebrated Valentine's Day last weekend....and then I kinda sorta  got lost in my scrapbooking :D

So instead, I'll share with you how easy it was to put together a cute little vase of faux flowers (cause you know, those photos are already edited and waiting on my computer...hee hee hee)

Note:  I used my flowers for holiday decorating, but any color/ flower type could be substituted to make all sorts of lovely arrangements.

Dollar Store Find

I found these red rose bundles a few weeks ago at Dollar tree.  If you keep your eye out, you can sometimes find some really nice florals there!

I love red roses and I thought they would be a perfect addition to my valentine decor, so I purchased three bundles.

(You can click here to see the rest of my valentine decor)

Make a Bunch

After removing the cellophane from the three separate packages, I bundled them together using some floral tape.  You will need a pair of wire cutters if you want to even up the stem length like I did.

Vased

All that was left to do was pop them into a vase and they were ready to go.

I love inexpensive, easy projects!  Almost as much as I love it when my photos are already edited and where they should be, *ahem* not still on my phone! :D :D :D

I hope you enjoyed this how-to post, thanks for stopping by!

-Jennifer

© Jennifer Adams Flowers 2016

Making Valentines 2016

Valentine's Day was approaching last week and Baby Girl wanted to take part in her classroom party.  Instead of purchasing store bought cards and handing them out, she wanted to create her own (yay!).  That meant a trip to the dollar store (yay again!) where Baby Girl picked out her supplies.

Other than the stapling, Baby Girl constructed these valentines all by herself.  Take a look:

Materials

Baby Girl decided to use pink heart doilies, foam heart stickers, foil stickers and gummy heart candies to construct her valentines this year.

(Everything here totaled in at $5)

Step 1

Start with a doily.

Step 2

Add a foam heart sticker.

Step 3

Layer on a foil heart sticker.

Step 4

Add a candy (we used a stapler).

Valentines

And there you have it, cute little valentines ready to be shared with friends and family!

(You can click here to see the valentines she made last year)

I hope you enjoyed this how-to post, thanks for stopping by!

-Jennifer

© Jennifer Adams Flowers 2016

Valentine Quilt (2016)

As you might know, I like to recycle my kid's outgrown clothes into holiday themed quilts.  I keep these quilts in storage with the rest of my holiday decor and pull out a new one with each season change.  It's a great way to preserve memories :)

Today I'm sharing my Valentine quilt, take a look:

(You can click here to read an older post where I describe these quilts in greater detail)

Getting Started

This photo shows where my Valentine quilt is so far.  

I have a lot of patches that I will be adding this year!

Patches

Here you can see a close-up of the patches.
I don't stick to strictly Valentine themed clothing, but will use anything that has hearts or a lovey theme.




Little Hands

Here is what happens when I try to take photographs, I have to work fast around here!




Table-Top Tip

The easiest way I have found to work on these quilts is by spreading them out on the dining room table (I was using the living room floor before).  That way I can see most of the quilt at once, and little people aren't running across them!

I hope you enjoyed this quilting post, thanks for stopping by!

-Jennifer

© Jennifer Adams Flowers 2016

Valentine Happenings

I like to start celebrating Valentine's Day a little early!

Com on in and take a look at our fun so far:

Holiday Candy

Valentine's season is one of the times where I actually put out a candy bowl...well, for a few days anyway.  (If I leave it out then the little people tend to get in to it a lot more frequently than I'd prefer).  After a couple of days I tuck the candy into the pantry :)

(You can click here or here to read about these pretty roses and the rest of my Valentine decor)

Andes & Bliss

A closer look reveals that the bowl is filled with mint and dark chocolates, yum!

Valentine Fun

I get the kiddos a tiny box of chocolates each year. They keep them in the pantry and are really good about getting one piece each day.  It's just not Valentine's season without a heart-shaped box of chocolates!

The kids also got something new to wear:  Pjs for Little Man and a t-shirt for Baby Girl.

I have to admit that I buy these for my own purposes; not only do the kids wear their holiday fashions for the photo shoots that I like to do, but once outgrown, the clothing makes a great addition to my seasonal quilts!

  (I'll post soon with pictures of my Valentine quilt)


That's it for now, thanks for stopping by!

-Jennifer

© Jennifer Adams Flowers 2016

Actual Birthday (and a confession) 2016

If you remember, Husby and the Little Man share the same birthday. 
Here is a look at how we celebrated:

Pizza and a Wish

The boys decided that pizza would make a great birthday lunch. 
Of course you can add a candle to a slice of pizza!  :D

Cheesecake

Husby decided that this year he would indulge in a little cheesecake for his birthday treat.  I am not a maker of cheesecake, so I picked up this Cheesecake Factory boxed set.

Don't four slices of cheesecake look great on a glass cake stand?  I'm not sure if Husby realizes it or not, but the box came with eight slices (hee hee hee)!

Cheesecake is not on the heart healthy menu, so I wrapped up half of the slices and tucked them into the back of the freezer.  He will be pleasantly surprised come Valentine's Day ;)

Lemon Cake

Baby Girl enjoyed adding sprinkles and candles to this cake for the Little Man.  The Little Man enjoyed blowing out so many candles ;)

Truth Time:  So I'm always talking about this heart healthy diet.....and I'm also always making all these treats....you might be wondering how does that add up?

Well, it's like this:
I believe that everyone should be celebrated properly, which includes the occasional treat.  So I make up these cakes, give every one a reasonable slice at the time of the celebration and then.....Shhhhh.....I start throwing that junk away!

I know, right?! Me???  The queen of recycling and savvy spending???  I actually purposefully and intentionally waste food.

I figure wasting 3/4ths of a $3 cake is wayyyy better than future health problems, so I do things like 'forgetting' to put stuff in the fridge or not sealing a container all the way so that the food gets stale.  And then there is my all time favorite; serving myself a large portion each day of whatever the unhealthy stuff is and then 'dropping' it in the trash (sorry, not sorry Halloween candy).

So there you have it, my confession!  Yes, I do make up lots of treats, but I also make sure they don't all get eaten either ;)

Cake & Gifts

I thought I would add this shot of the Little Man's cake next to his presents.  He was very happy with the 'Melmo' (Elmo) paper!

 I hope you enjoyed this birthday post/ confessional, thanks for stopping by!

-Jennifer

© Jennifer Adams Flowers 2016

Construction Themed Birthday Cake & Cupcakes

Welcome back to our construction themed birthday party.  I'm wrapping things up today with this behind the scenes bakery post.....

.....but in case you missed anything.....

You can click here to see the invitations,
or here to see the party design materials,
or here to see the party decor.

Otherwise, scroll on to read about our cakes!

Cake & Decoratives

For the cake I used a vanilla mix and Funfetti icng.  (I bought Funfetti icing in green to save the step of adding food coloring and stashed the free sprinkles in the cabinet)

To add 'dirt' to the cake I used crushed up chocolate cookies and black/ brown sprinkle candies.

A #2 candle and a CAT bulldozer (both Dollar Tree) were perfect for topping it off.

Heavy Equipment

first thing I did was to position the bulldozer on top of the cake.  I placed it a little off center so there would be room for the cookie dirt.

Making a Mess

I sprinkled the cookie crumble here and there to look as though the bulldozer had been hard at work.

Final Touches

A few of the larger candy sprinkles and the candles finished off the cake.

Mini Cake

The Little Man had to have a coordinating mini cake as well ;)

Cupcakes!

For the cupcakes I purchased a chocolate mix and orange Funfetti icing (again saving the sprinkles).

I also purchased paper liners!  Normally I would use my silicone re-usable cupcake liners, but my white set is starting to show a bit of discoloring :(  I liked these orange and white striped liners as they fit with my color scheme, but they did fade during baking.

To top the orange cupcakes, I used Reese's Pieces candies.
Since I had some of the green icing left over, I made up a few of those as well.  I thought it would be nice to break up all of the orange with a few green cupcakes here and there - green is a calming color and can help to tone down your decor.

And those were our party cakes!
I hope you enjoyed this bakery post, thanks for stopping by!

-Jennifer

© Jennifer Adams Flowers 2016