I have literally been snowed in here for most of the week. And being the craftaholic that I am, you would think I have lots to show you. Yes, I spent a large amount of time crafting and I have three projects currently in the works. But none of them are complete. Why, you ask? Well, I ran out of supplies for one project, another project is still being worked through in my head, so it is not coming together as quickly as I’d like, and the third one is totally kicking my butt. Here is a bit of my three projects combined:
A mess. But it will come together. You will see them all soon, and in the meantime, I’ll share with you a project that I did last Valentines day.
Well I got all Martha Stewarty and decided to make some Valentine baskets for the girls. Yes, I know they are a bit old for that, but apparently their mom isn’t. I found a great recipe on the internet for home-made conversation hearts.
For this project I used:
2 tsp. light corn syrup
1/2 cup water
1 packet (or 2 tsp) unflavored gelatin
2 lbs. powdered sugar, plus a bit more for dusting
Almond extract
Food coloring
A small heart-shaped cutter
Food coloring markers (from my local craft store)
Put the corn syrup, gelatin, and water in a small microwave-safe bowl. Stir it well. Microwave for about 30 seconds so the gelatin dissolves, and stir again.
Then pour the mixture into a large bowl and add 1 cup of powdered sugar, mixing it with a mixer on low until the sugar dissolves. Then keep adding sugar and mixing until the full two pounds of sugar are added. This will become a stiff, sticky dough.
Use a sifter of powdered sugar to dust the counter and scrape the candy out of the bowl onto the counter. Add lots of extra powdered sugar to the top and start to knead it like bread dough. Keep kneading and adding sugar if needed until the candy is satiny instead of sticky.
Then decide how many colors you want to make and divide the dough up into that many portions. Take each portion, add a few drops of food coloring and almond extract and knead it until the color is well distributed. (By the way, any flavored extract will work). For this step, use rubber gloves so that you don’t end up with rainbow hands. Repeat this with the other portions until all your candy is colored and flavored.
Dust the counter again with powdered sugar and roll out one of the colors to about 1/4″ thick.
Then use the heart shaped cutter to cut out the hearts and place them on a sheet of parchment paper. One batch makes a lot, as you can see.
The hearts have to air dry for at least 24 hours before you can write on them. Be sure that they are totally dry before you go to the next step or the ink will run due to the moisture.
I found my food coloring markers at Michaels in the Wilton cake supply section. They are easy to write with and can be used for lots of future projects. If you cannot locate them, you can use a toothpick and liquid food coloring to write with instead.
My hearts have lots of personal sayings on them that only my kids would appreciate; Amanda-Panda, Dork, Myers-Tires, and of course the usual stuff like Sweetheart and I love you. What is great about this project is how personal you can make it.
The finished hearts should be stored at room temperature in an air tight container. Don’t I sound just like Martha Stewart? I’m wearing my sensible loafers as I type this.
Isn’t that SO cool! I love that you could personalize them to your inside jokes or nicknames!
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>LOVE the homemade conversation hearts idea! Don't know that I'll have time before Valentine's Day to make them since we are currently in the hospital with our 10 month old, but this is definitely going in my folder of things to try!
>Hello. I would very much like to nominate you, but I am totally confused when I go to the link. If you could contact me, p'rhaps you could help me go to the right nominating spot? There seems to be more than one landing pad. I'd surely appreciate it. Thanks.
>What a great idea! I could see this being used to make your own Valentines Day cards…the saying on the cards could be "Love Evelyn" (in my daughter's case) My site is all about personalized cards, so this is a perfect idea. Hmmm, I don't know if I will have time to do this and do a posting on it. If I do I will give you lots of links saying that this was YOUR idea. Thanks for the inspiration!
>LOVE the homemade conversation hearts idea! Don't know that I'll have time before Valentine's Day to make them since we are currently in the hospital with our 10 month old, but this is definitely going in my folder of things to try!
>Thank you for letting me be a guest on your site!
You made my day!
suzy
>I used Suzy's recipe, but went a different direction and used them as cupcake decorations! You can check it out at https://messhalltobistro.blogspot.com/2011/01/cutest-baby-shower-cupcakes.html
They were relatively easy to make and they were a huge hit!
>This is a great idea…I admire the effort you put into it, especially when it's so easy to just buy a few boxes! 🙂
>Hello. I would very much like to nominate you, but I am totally confused when I go to the link. If you could contact me, p'rhaps you could help me go to the right nominating spot? There seems to be more than one landing pad. I'd surely appreciate it. Thanks.
~ Yaya
>I just nominated you for the Homie award! Good luck!
Nancy
>What a great idea! I could see this being used to make your own Valentines Day cards…the saying on the cards could be "Love Evelyn" (in my daughter's case) My site is all about personalized cards, so this is a perfect idea. Hmmm, I don't know if I will have time to do this and do a posting on it. If I do I will give you lots of links saying that this was YOUR idea. Thanks for the inspiration!