Warm Fuzzy Valentine

Here's a quick little Valentine's decoration with a twist: It holds chocolate!

Materials

1. Felt
2. Fabric glue
3. Needle and thread
4. Embroidery floss
5. Pins
6. Scissors
7. Ribbon
8. Chocolate!

Steps

Cut heart shapes out of felt. I cut two sizes, one for the front sides of the pockets that will hold the chocolate, to decorate the pockets with. Glue (or sew, if you prefer) the smaller decorative hearts to the larger (pocket) hearts (you can also do this second step later; I just happened to do it at this point).

Pin large hearts onto another piece of felt and cut around it to create the back sides of the pockets.

Set front sides of pockets aside and lay the back sides out in a line. 

Measure out a piece of ribbon and position lay it on top of your row of pocket-backs. Pin in place

Sew (or glue, if you prefer) the ribbon to the pocket-backs.

Pin the front sides of the pockets to their corresponding backs. Using embroidery floss, sew most of the way around, leaving the top open (pic below is out of sequence).

Fill the pockets with chocolate and hang (use push-pins, magnets, or sew a ring to the top of the ribbon -- I used magnets to attach my chocolate-pocket heart garland to a lamp).

Happy Valentine's Day!

Linda
Purty Bird

Champagne Hearts

Continue your celebrations of love well past February with this simple and delicious champagne cocktail. Perfect for a late night rendezvous or breakfast in bed, nothing keeps the heart aflutter like a few well placed bubbles in a little liquid love...


Pink Hearts Champagne Cocktail

There are two requirements for making this recipe. First, is a heart-shaped ice cube tray which you should be able to find fairly easily online. The second thing is a willingness to get a little tipsy.

1 oz of Ice Wine
1 oz of lychee juice
3 oz of dry champagne
2 pomegranate hearts

The night before, make a tray of pomegranate juice ice hearts. I like pomegranate cause the color is gorgeous and it's not too sweet. Alternatively, you could use any pink or red juice, or try mashed fruit -- raspberries and strawberries blended with a little sugar work especially well.

If you have a small shot glass handy, use that to measure out an ounce of Ice Wine. Ice Wine is a dessert wine produced from grapes that have been frozen while still on the vine. It adds a nice depth of flavor to the champagne and is also perfumey. If your shot glass is bigger, fill it up 3/4 full to approximate an ounce.

Or you can skip measurements all together and go by taste. Fill your flute halfway with champagne, add juice/wine mixture till it tastes the way you want and leave enough room to drop in your two ice hearts.


The beauty of this recipe is that it's completely adaptable to your individual tastes. Love mimosas? Substitute 2 oz of OJ for the wine/juice mix and raspberry ice hearts for the pomegranate. Love the tropics? Use 2 oz of mango juice or a tropical blend instead.

For a little extra zip, skip the fruit juice all together and mix 1 oz of fruit-flavored liqueur or brandy and 1 oz of vodka with the champagne and float a single ice heart on top. Delish.

And the easiest version of all? Fill your flute with red hearts, pour the champagne over and let the magic unfold....

This recipe is so lovely, you can use it even if you don't drink. Substitute ginger ale for champagne, pop in your favorite red fruit ice hearts and voila!

Two important things to remember about this recipe:
1. Alcohol doesn't freeze, so don't try to make your ice hearts with alcohol.
2. You're only limited by your taste buds and imagination.

Enjoy!






-- Susan
persuede.etsy.com