Bright colourful corners are so welcome in my house right now and for the past week I’ve walked past this table and it’s cheered me up no end. Not only can I smell the candy and the sweets wafting up but it’s so cheery that I cant help but be cheered by it.

Creating a table or a display like this one is great if you have a birthday, a wedding or an event in this month that you want to make a bit special. The Favor Bags from the other day are quick to make and so is the rest of the table.

We created the tree by using branches of Hazel and a variety of Pussy Willow. It was placed in to a rather appropriate red polka dot pitcher and the branches were stuck in to a piece of oasis at the bottom.

We sewed together some very simple stuffed felt hearts to dangle from the trees. These types of hearts are very lightweight and hang from the tree without pulling the branches down. This type of decoration are also great for Christmas trees.

Let’s move on to the candy!

I found some great retro style lollipops in a shop nearby and knew they’d be right for my table. They were popped in to a hobnail milk glass vase to lighten the table up a touch.

I used my old trick of placing a liqueur glass on to an upended espresso bowl and filled it with chocolate filled hearts. This idea would make great individual table settings if you were hosting a supper. Add a name tag and you’re all set.

Another way of presenting sweets and chocolates is to almost fill a glass or dish with shredded tissue paper and place bon-bon’s on top of the paper so that they appear as if they’re spilling out over the top.

More sweeties hanging from the hazel branches. I remember these well from being a kid. I’d make my sweetie necklace last for days as I liked to accessorize from an early age.

Another rather cute idea is to use bud vases for smaller lollipops. Just remember to add some oasis/florists foam to the bottom of the vase if you’re having trouble making them stand up straight.

And here we have the first of my gifts to you today. I’ve designed four Valentine’s Gift tags and you can download them for free.

This is the first one. A simple message.

A very sweet tag to tie to a gift.

A boy tag. I believe they print out a little bluer than the picture is allowing you to see.

A simple tag.

These four tags can be printed out as many times as you like on to white card. I used various pairs of scissors to create the edges but you can just as easily use regular scissors.

Click the picture of the tags and this will take you to the .pdf download for them.

Have a rockin’ weekend love bugs. Get up to lots of mischief, glug glasses of Prosecco and eat all the soft cheese, seafood and carpaccio you like. And then I’ll live vicariously through you all!

Love, Cx
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I’ve decided to create a table full of all things things ‘Valentine’s Day’ and I’ll show you everything that it contains over the next couple of days. But today is the day of these super simple candy favor bags with a Valentine trim.

I have used clear cellophane bags to hold various bon-bon’s, chocolate covered almonds…….oh and more bon-bon’s. Valentine’s Day screams bon-bon’s to me and part of me wishes I’d filled the bags right to the very top.

I filled the bags with the candy, turned them over a few times at the top and held the bag closed using a clasp made from a strip of scrap booking paper and a paperclip with a felt heart stuck on to the front of it. You could also use wrapping paper, card or even a strip of wallpaper as the trim. And feel free to embellish the felt heart with a wee button should the mood take you.

I think the attraction of these paper clasps is that each one can be individual depending on the paper and the colour of the hearts. This, in turn, makes the table you present them on look like an explosion of colour has taken place and is very bright and welcoming. Especially in February when it can still be dark at times.

I only made four of theses favor bags but seeing as they only took about five minutes each to put together it’s possible to make many more and not feel like you’ve wasted a day. So, depending on how many guests you have coming to an event you may be hosting or even just attending get filling those bags. And of course these bags can be adapted to fit MYRIAD events not just Valentine’s Day. Changing the colours is all you have to think about.

Have fun, love bugs!

Cx

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This February we’re starting our Valentine’s celebrations early and have had a rather sweet and tasty start by making these fondant fancies. These cakes are so nice to receive as a gift or a favor and don’t have to be made only on Valentine’s Day. They are also perfect for Baby showers, Weddings and all types of party.

- I used a mixer for my cake mix but this can also be mixed by hand.

- Pre-heat your oven to 200c / 400f

- Click here for a weight conversion chart

For the cakes and fondant topping

• Start by creaming the butter and sugar together
• Add the flour, eggs, vanilla essence and splash of milk (if necessary and the mixture is a bit dry) and mix together until all the ingredients are combined and the mixture is light and fluffy with no lumps

• Grease your square baking tin and pour the cake mixture in
• Put the tin onto a low shelf in the oven and bake for around 55-60 minutes
• Check the cake regularly and when you can insert a knife into the middle of the cake and it comes out clean the cake is baked
• Once the cake has been removed from the oven allow it to cool completely before removing it from the tin

• Place the cooled cake onto a chopping board and using a long sharp knife cut the cake into small squares
• I cut the lines on my cake so I ended up with 20 squares in total but you may prefer to cut your lines closer together so you end up with more squares. If you’ve found that the top of the cake has baked unevenly then slice the top of the cake off using a long, sharp knife.
• In your mixer combine the butter, icing sugar and food colouring – we used a light pink

• Using a pallet knife spread the butter icing over each of the individual cake squares.
• Take your sugar paste and using a rolling pin and a light dusting of flour roll the paste out until it is about 2 mm thick.

• Then use a sharp knife to cut out little square tops for your cake squares and these will sit on top of the butter icing. By using the thin layer of sugar paste on top of your cakes will help to keep the top neat and flat when you start to cover them in the fondant icing. You may also use marzipan.
• We found our fondant icing from a baking supplier online by searching for it, we then followed the instructions for making it on the packet. But no matter what fondant icing you use when you are heating it up never let it boil or else it will lose its distinctive shine. Heat gently. Get a feel for the fondant. Lift it out of the pan and see if the consistency will allow you to drizzle it over the cakes and cover them sufficiently.
• We separated the cakes into two batches; ten of the cakes would be coloured red and ten of the cakes would be coloured pink using a paste colouring
• We added a poppy red food colouring to our first batch of fondant and a very pale rose pink food coloring for our second batch.

• We found that the best way to cover the individual cakes as evenly as possible was to stick a fork into the underside of the cake and hold it over the bowl of fondant and then drizzle the fondant onto the cake with a spoon until it is covered.
• We then placed the individually covered cakes onto a wire rack (with a tray underneath to catch any drips) and allowed them to dry.

Note: This can be a very messy process, so don’t be too hard on yourself if the fondant doesn’t sit perfectly smooth on your cakes! This is one where practice definitely makes perfect.

• Make sure that the fondant is fully dry and hardened before you try to move them from the wire rack.

Click here to follow my How-To for the rose decoration cake-toppers

Not wanting to stick solely to the traditional bright red palette of Valentine’s Day I found some delicious Tiffany blue boxes that fit my fondant fancies perfectly. Each one could be an individual gift if I wanted.

The pink and white cakes I can imagine being used at a wedding. As individual favors or as one part of the main cake itself.

Serve with ranunculus and you’ll have created a sweet sight of something that’s nothing more than a delight to make, look at and then scoff!

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Hearts in my Home – Valentine’s Day 2009

Welcome to Valentine’s Weekend 2009! This year will be fairly low key for Robert the Husband and I. A visit with family tomorrow and supper cooked by aforementioned husband tomorrow night. We have a little tradition of Steak with Peppercorn sauce which I can almost taste already, I love it that much.
Whatever you are doing this weekend have a wonderful time doing it.

On a homemaking note I have noticed many hearts and heart shaped objects lingering about my home and seeing as the modern emblem of Valentines Day is the heart I thought I’d share just a few of the ones that I noticed most recently.

Enjoy and I’ll see you all next week.

Cxo

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