We’ve briefly come over all romantic this week, felled at last by the growing global momentum of Valentine preparations and the rosy hue of shopfronts as the world turns red for a week. Valentine’s day here in the UK is still predominantly about celebrating grown-up, romantic love, but is gradually broadening to be a general celebration of love in all its forms. Harry proudly – and very carefully – brought us home a large envelope containing a card he had made us at nursery which we are not allowed to open until Thursday (though Harry is adamant, in a moment of 3yr old confusion, that in fact we have to wait until Christmas); he has red glitter in his hair and heart-shaped paint splats on his jeans, so I think we are safe to assume that Thursday is the day.
In turn, Harry and I have been busy crafting a Valentine card for his cool fairy Godmother; she’s the person in his life who brings him books about farting dogs and lollipops as large as his head, and believes that pyjamas should absolutely be worn all day if possible, thus earning his unwavering affection.
To decorate the envelope, I drew a tiny heart shape on the tip of a pencil eraser and carved away the edges (do this in good lighting and when free of caffeine, red wine, or anything else that might cause your hand to twitch..). It’s soooo simple but looks great, and makes the perfect rubber stamp for kids (or adults) to push into an ink pad and stamp randomly over any available surface. We used this ink, which I fished out of my old stamping supplies, and discovered as an added bonus that the colour turns from deep red to light pink as the pigment wears out, giving a lovely ombre effect.
It’s been a while since we were active in the kitchen so we also knocked up some little meringue kisses to give to friends. I used this recipe, which seems to produce drier, crispy meringues and allows you to whip them out of the oven sooner than usual, which is great for coloured meringues where you don’t want any browning or colour fade. For the kisses, I stirred rose food colouring in just before the icing sugar stage, piped imperfect rosettes to fill a silicon baking sheet, and then when the meringues were baked and cool, I brushed edible glue around the base of each and rolled them in rainbow sprinkles before setting to dry on a cooling rack…
With the leftover meringue, I spooned out dollops onto a baking sheet and then used a wooden skewer to swirl raspberry coulis through the peaks, giving this raspberry-ripple effect; as a treat we’ll have them with whipped cream, fresh raspberries and a glass of champagne on Thursday (after all, if you’re staying in you can afford to be a little decadent…)
So, a giddy pink day to celebrate all things romantic. Little does Mr B expect that Valentine’s Day itself will bring him the gift of 12 jars of marmalade in a vintage garden trug; I’m having to blow the dust off my Tracy Anderson bicep-building DVD before I can even contemplate lifting it…
Next time, by the way, I’m going to focus on answering some of the questions I’ve had of late about the fonts, graphics, camera and other tools and techniques I use here; if there’s anything you’re keen to know more about, please do shout and I’ll endeavour to cover it. I should preface this by saying that those seeking technological enlightenment and cutting-edge wizardry should hastily look elsewhere; my secrets lie more in the artistic draping of bedsheets as backdrops, the procurement of free graphics, and in providing life support to an ancient entry-level printer – but that at least makes everything I do very accessible and highly replicable!
Have a lovely week..
Naomi
Hi Kate, I love this entry! I’m going to be doing these with my 2 tomorrow now thank you!! (The man on the market is trying to procure some Seville’s for me although it may have to be from a large can, the marmalade that is!!) My world is one of gardening and I created my first ever free printable on my blog to encourage gardeners to share their romantic side. I saw your blog and thought ‘I’ll have a go’ and am hoping for a creative garden design blogging year. So, thanks for the inspiration!
Kate
Hi Naomi, love your card; I hope many a green-fingered romantic downloaded and shared the love last week! Thanks for stopping by..
Anonymous
love all these ideas! the little eraser heart stamp is so cute. happy valentine’s day!
Kate
Ah thank you, you too!
lovinghomemade
It all looks amazing, particularly the sprinkles on the meringue, what a great idea.
Barbara Ann
Thank you, Kate, for sharing with us the fruits your imagination and boundless creative energy! You are truly an inspiration. We hope someone surprises you on Valentine’s day…
Kate
What a lovely comment Barbara, thank you… it’s wonderful to receive such positive cheer! And yes, I did get a very lovely surprise on Valentine’s Day; my husband knows I’m not much of a girl for flowers, so instead at the foot of the bed when I woke up was a huge cardboard box containing…. a vintage Imperial typewriter. Heaven, for me
Joy
What great ideas! Loving the little handmade pencil stamp, how fun!!
tomatosardine
Those meringues are so lovely!
thehouseofjones
Hi Kate! Love those meringue kisses – if you’re looking for a recipe for the leftover yolks then this chocolate chip recipe I tried uses a spare yolk http://thehouseofjones.wordpress.com/2012/11/12/chocolate-chip-cookies/ (any excuse!)
I’m looking forward to your font/graphics secrets, your photos always look so beautiful with the added art and descriptions.
Have a lovely week!
Jones x
Kate
Thanks Jones… the cookies look divine! (And I love the instagram shots; I’m a new convert….)
Alex @ northstory
“pyjamas should absolutely be worn all day if possible” – I have a 2 and a half year old future friend of Harry’s on the other side of the pond that will attest to that as well. I couldn’t drag her out of them if I tried.
See, the meringue kisses is what I should have done. Apparently I had the urge to bake cookies. And make icing. So much unnecessary torture.
Raven Corwin, aka Meggie
Wonderful! As always. Thank you for sharing the meringue recipe. I have been looking for a good, easy one to make.
Anonymous
Lovely idea Kate !
Let us know what your husband ‘s reaction was when he discovered his (awesome) present !
Take care
Audrey
PS : my 7 years old son would like to join the “I wear my jammies all day and absolutely love it !” club .
angela
Those meringue looks amazing!
Mila.
Lovely post! Have a wonderful day, Kate!
homemadekids
Fabulous collection. Love the heart photo turned into a guess who & am now going to turn off the laptop and attach my children’s pencil cases – all in the name of love! Enjoy the big 14.
Nicola http://homemadekids.wordpress.com
BTW I am longing to see your collection of creative things to do with a 2-3 year old into a book of some sort, although really a blog is fine. Does Harry’s nursery know all the wonderful things you guys do together, must definitely raise the xmas/end of year gift stakes though!
Anjana
The card from your kid is just adorable!
Natasha
Hello, I have just started reading your blog and absolutely love all of your ideas! They are so inspiring and I think Harry will one day look back fondly on his wonderful childhood and know that he was loved. I am trying to create an auto shop for my little boy’s third birthday (inspired by Harry’s Hardware Shop) and was wondering whether you might be able to describe how you create the bespoke labels for things – like the paint cans and coffee cups. I am assuming that you need specialist design software, but would love to hear otherwise! Many thanks, looking forward to reading more about your endeavors in future!
Kate
Thanks Natasha , and you’ll be relieved (I think) to know that there’s absolutely no fancy-pants design software involved; I’m a secret luddite at heart and have never quite set aside enough time to conquer Photoshop and other e-bibles of design… I use Powerpoint, and a myriad of free-to-download fonts. I’m going to post a bit more about this next time so have a look, and do feel free to get in touch if you’ve got specific follow-up questions. Good luck!
butternutb
I love this post, your son is adorable. Here’s what I did for my valentine; not nearly as good as 12 jars of marmalade but maybe next year! http://butternutb.wordpress.com/2013/02/15/valentines-day-special/
Gillian
Love that big heart card – so cheerful and bright! Those meringue kisses look fabulous. I’ve never made those but I need to try them, they look to cute for words.
Gillian x
The Liebster Award « Katy Stuff
[...] Kate’s Creative space – another Kate and this one in England, she has an awesome blog about crafting things and they are all too perfect. I love/hate her at the same time because she has such a fun sounding house and such skill to actually do all those things. [...]
kateluthner79
Hello fellow Kate; I just awarded you the Liebster Award because I think your blog is Awesome. Come see my post on it with rules for acceptance!
http://wp.me/p4X0a-SS