• Home
  • about emily
  • before + after
  • HGTV + DIY Network
  • good press
  • contact
  • Let’s Organize These Posts:

    • Art Attack
    • Backyard
    • Barn
    • Basement
    • Bathroom
    • Beach
    • Bedrooms
    • Being Thrifty
    • Business-y
    • Buying and Renting and Selling
    • Casual Celebrations
    • Closets
    • Curb Appeal
    • Dainty Details
    • Deck
    • Decor
    • Dining Room
    • DIY
    • Dog-Related
    • Entryway
    • Flooring
    • For the Kids
    • Garage
    • Gardening
    • Helping The Economy
    • HGTV + DIY Network Projects
    • Holiday-Related Projects
    • Home Safety
    • Kitchen
    • Lighting
    • Living Room
    • Merry Travels
    • Office Space
    • Organized
    • Other Pads
    • Outdoor Living
    • Scooter Fun
    • Stairwell
    • Sunroom
    • Supporting Sponsors
    • The Art Room
    • Tools
    • Uncategorizable
    • Wedding
    • Windows
    • Work-pads
  • Search

  • Hi, I’m Emily

    Emily Fazio

    I'm a home improvement enthusiast, living a very merry DIY lifestyle.

    You can find me writing for HGTV and DIY Network, follow me on facebook and instagram, or drop me a note if you'd like. I love notes.

    Thanks for visiting!

  • BROWSE POSTS BY CATEGORY:

    • Art Attack (7)
    • Backyard (92)
    • Barn (8)
    • Basement (27)
    • Bathroom (43)
    • Beach (13)
    • Bedrooms (73)
    • Being Thrifty (53)
    • Business-y (12)
    • Buying and Renting and Selling (23)
    • Casual Celebrations (36)
    • Closets (17)
    • Curb Appeal (44)
    • Dainty Details (8)
    • Deck (23)
    • Decor (286)
    • Dining Room (37)
    • DIY (577)
    • Dog-Related (24)
    • Entryway (59)
    • Flooring (58)
    • For the Kids (32)
    • Garage (17)
    • Gardening (70)
    • Helping The Economy (30)
    • HGTV + DIY Network Projects (283)
    • Holiday-Related Projects (80)
    • Home Safety (12)
    • Kitchen (83)
    • Lighting (31)
    • Living Room (77)
    • Merry Travels (21)
    • Office Space (21)
    • Organized (41)
    • Other Pads (14)
    • Outdoor Living (12)
    • Scooter Fun (8)
    • Stairwell (20)
    • Sunroom (22)
    • Supporting Sponsors (43)
    • The Art Room (3)
    • Tools (43)
    • Uncategorizable (1)
    • Wedding (28)
    • Windows (14)
    • Work-pads (10)
  • Search

  • Pages

    • blog
    • Merrypad Features
    • Privacy Policy
    • about emily
    • before + after
      • before + after, our current home
      • before + after, our first house
    • contact me
    • choose a badge and share the merrypad.com love
  • Home
  • about emily
  • before + after
  • HGTV + DIY Network
  • good press
  • contact

Lovefest-ing (With DIY Treats)

February 14, 2012

I’m getting hokey like the hokey-pokey this lovely v-day.

It’s probably my favorite holiday, even more than Christmas and Thanksgiving. Afterall, with all of that pink and love, I can’t help but ooze emotion. It’s a rare thing, a rare one-post-a-year thing, so embrace it.

I spent last weekend making treats, just because. I’m pretty disciplined when it comes to avoiding the cookie aisle, because when there’s as much as a spare sleeve of Chips Ahoy within reach, I’m the one who devours all of it in a glass of milk Kenny Zimlinghaus-style while watching The Biggest Loser. Download “Fat Kid” from his site while you’re over there, we love it. This really isn’t a plug, I digress. Valentine’s Day is a special day, a day (or week, or love-filled month) when I bring it on strong with the desserts, enjoy every last cookie, and gain 5 pounds happily knowing that when they’re gone, they’re gone.

The simple rewards of this year’s baking labor?

Pink Rice Krispie treats (like last year):

Pink Rice Krispie Treats

Heart-shaped cupcakes (baked with a ball of tin foil between the paper wrapper and tray):

Heart-shaped batter, soon to be heart-shaped cupcakes.

And for those cupcakes, almost DIY sprinkles (#fail):

Drizzled sprinkles on waxed paper.

The only real investment made for this food celebration was a new 12-pack of food coloring gel at Michael’s (Wilton brand, photographed below). Everything else happened to have been in the pantry, and that worked out nicely. With a 40% off coupon, the total cost of the dye was knocked back to $8 and some change, which equates to about 67-cents/jar, a.k.a. next to nothing when compared to the $4 1-oz. bottles I usually happen upon in the baking aisle. Considering that price, I was willing to test out a new brand even though Pete’s Williams-Sonoma gel dye that we’ve raved, and raved, and raved about still holds a special place in our lives.

12 new food coloring gel packs.

The sprinkles, which I tried really, really hard to make myself following this Brave Tart recipe (minus the liqueur), were an easy concept that I should have mastered on the first try. I think where I failed was using a sandwich baggie with a hole poked in it instead of a more professional <$5 piping set (clearly, I’m that cheap). As you’ll see, my sprinkle lines were pretty chunky-hunky and therefore are taking a long, long to dry (going on 72 hours, if you really want to know).

Quick DIY Sprinkles Recap:

  • 1 cup of powdered sugar
  • 1/2 cup of corn syrup
  • 1/2 tsp salt
  • 1 tsp vanilla extract (I used imitation vanilla)
  • Food coloring to your preference (from the above photo, I chose pink, red, and burgundy, those three jars on the bottom row)

Mix it up, it’s so ridiculously thick and sticky that you’re going to immediately want to give up on the whole thing. Scoop what you can into your piping set (ditch the baggie, learn from my error). Squiggle it along the waxed paper and maximize that sheet like it’s the end of your roll (also, as if I wasn’t already setting myself up for DIY sprinkle failure, that was the end of my roll).

Drizzling the sprinkles on waxed paper.

And then it sits. For many nights. And if your lines ended up super thick, maybe they sit baking on the radiator in the guest room, not that that really sped up the process in my case. The original author stresses the need to let it sit for 48 hours, but she was also using a consistent piping tip that yielded smaller globs than I ended up with.

Drying sprinkles.

Allegedly, when it totally dries you’ll be able to chop it up with a knife and use immediately or store those sprinkles for the rest of your life. I trust that I’ll get there with another day or two of air drying, and I’ll follow up with a facebook photo or something whenever I reach that point of success.

In any case, red velvet heart-shaped cupcakes are still little bites of love-yumminess.

Heart cupcakes.

Happy lovefest day!

P.S. Speaking of lovefests, after all of the positive feedback on my house tour, Apartment Therapy showcased my bedroom yesterday! Fun surprise. You can read the whole thing here for yourself.

Share

DIY  / Holiday-Related Projects

Emily
I'm a home improvement enthusiast, living a very merry DIY lifestyle. You can find me writing for HGTV and DIY Network, follow me on facebook and instagram, or drop me a note if you'd like. I love notes.

Leave A Reply


Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

  • HI, I’m Emily

    Emily Fazio

    I'm a home improvement enthusiast, living a very merry DIY lifestyle. Follow me on facebook and instagram, or drop me a note if you'd like. I love notes.

    Thanks for visiting!

  • Instagram

    Can’t believe I ever bought dumpling wrappers. 🥟 Pulse a few cups of flour in the food processor drizzling in cold water until it forms dough. Roll smooth. Use a conveniently large cookie cutter, or just trim out squares. The end ❤️ #hny #dumplings
    Didn’t think I’d be making more masks, but her Didn’t think I’d be making more masks, but here we are (now feat. recycled t-shirt layer for added softness and bonus-layer protection). #diy #amateurseamstress #diymask
    Get out there ☀️ Get out there ☀️
    The gang finally showed up. 👻 The gang finally showed up. 👻
    A record 233 cloves + 10 shallots 🧛🏻‍♀️ 
#merrypadathome #garden2021 #garlic #gardennotes #whatisnormal
    ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
    Immeasurably tall, lanky tomatillos. #garden2020 # Immeasurably tall, lanky tomatillos. #garden2020 #tomatillos #nofilter
    32 oz., reserved for the brave 🌶🌶 😍#homeg 32 oz., reserved for the brave 🌶🌶 😍#homegrown #tomatillos #harvest2020
    Nothing says “let’s stay home all fall, too” Nothing says “let’s stay home all fall, too” like a badass custom fireplace on our patio. 🔥 #chiminea #merrypadathome
    Load More... follow emily: @merrypad



  • Like Us On Facebook

    Facebook Pagelike Widget



  • Popular Posts

    • How to fix an IKEA drawer. Cheap IKEA Drawers (And The Quick Fix) 40.1k views
    • DIY sideboard rehab. Our Refinished Midcentury Buffet 39.7k views
    • How to design and make a barn quilt. How to Make Your Own Barn Quilt 33.3k views
    • DIY driveway removal. The Driveway Rocks 24.7k views
    • How to hang art on brick surfaces using specialty clips. The Easy Way to Hang Art on Brick or Stone 24.4k views
    • Goodbye, gold fireplace covering. Less Is More: How to Remove a Fireplace Surround 22.2k views
    • Our DIY flagstone patio. Building a Patio in One Day 17.4k views
    • Bedroom paint, freshened up with Snowbound paint. Painting Everything White: We Chose Snowbound, By Sherwin Williams 16.5k views
    • Tips for dying pasta different colors, and a Halloween Recipe for the kids. Tips for Dying Pasta Different Colors (+ A Special Halloween Recipe) 15.3k views
    • Finished stained kitchen cabinets. Javalicious, A Gel Staining Reveal (Update #3) 14.2k views



  • BROWSE POSTS BY CATEGORY:

    • Art Attack (7)
    • Backyard (92)
    • Barn (8)
    • Basement (27)
    • Bathroom (43)
    • Beach (13)
    • Bedrooms (73)
    • Being Thrifty (53)
    • Business-y (12)
    • Buying and Renting and Selling (23)
    • Casual Celebrations (36)
    • Closets (17)
    • Curb Appeal (44)
    • Dainty Details (8)
    • Deck (23)
    • Decor (286)
    • Dining Room (37)
    • DIY (577)
    • Dog-Related (24)
    • Entryway (59)
    • Flooring (58)
    • For the Kids (32)
    • Garage (17)
    • Gardening (70)
    • Helping The Economy (30)
    • HGTV + DIY Network Projects (283)
    • Holiday-Related Projects (80)
    • Home Safety (12)
    • Kitchen (83)
    • Lighting (31)
    • Living Room (77)
    • Merry Travels (21)
    • Office Space (21)
    • Organized (41)
    • Other Pads (14)
    • Outdoor Living (12)
    • Scooter Fun (8)
    • Stairwell (20)
    • Sunroom (22)
    • Supporting Sponsors (43)
    • The Art Room (3)
    • Tools (43)
    • Uncategorizable (1)
    • Wedding (28)
    • Windows (14)
    • Work-pads (10)





  • a little bit of everything, friends, DIY, and inspiration

    • Dadand.com < My husband and his BFF
    • DIY Network
    • HGTV
  • Get Posts Via Email

  • Some Legal

    Merrypad incorporates the occasional affiliate link to Amazon.com and Minted; we link to many other websites and products, but if it is in context of a paid sponsorship, it is always noted as such. Please review the privacy policy and contact me if you have any additional questions.

    Theme customized by Pete Fazio Creative, the guy from dadand.com.


© Copyright Merrypad