Happy Valentine's Day

My card for HWNSNBP - on Saturday we went to a garden center about 45 mins. away that was advertising an event to make your own succulent garden for Valentine's Day.  I picked out the container and plants and HWNSNBP deferred to me to put it all together with the guidance of the owner.  I chose a square container (forgot to take a picture and it's now on my counter at school), so this stamp is not entirely accurate, but I decided to put a sheet of vellum over it to symbolize the "greenhouse" that we were in.  I picked those minty green and dusty blue colors for the hearts because they remind me of the colors of the succulents.  

My workspace is a mess this week with all the Valentine's stuff.

This card is for the "little bear" - our grandson.  Funny that I spent quite some time figuring out how to get those bears standing next to each other with their arms crossed to look like they would if the bears were holding each other and then I wound up putting the heart over them, so I could have really just cut them off and no one would have known any better.  Once again my timing was off because I don't think that he got it today - mailed too late.  Oh well, he's only 10 months old and will not know that it's late, right?

I picked up a package of these postcard-size notecards with envelopes at the Target Dollar Spot a while back.  I used them for the kids - my kids who are now adults.  It's a Unity stamp colored with the new SU watercolor pencils.  

This is another Unity stamp from that same kit, again colored with those pencils.  These are for a couple of my "peeps" along with some traditional Valentine's Day marshmallows which will be delivered later this week.  Shhhhhhhh!

Those marshmallows in the works.  

Heating the sugar (2/3 sugar and 1/3 flavor - in this case ground cinnamon red hots), corn syrup, water, and a pinch of salt to about 236º.

The hot mixture is added to the "bloomed" gelatin and vanilla and is beaten until fluffy and stiff.

Line a rectangle pan with parchment paper and oil it.  Spoon mixture into prepared pan.  Let sit at room temperature for 10 hours or overnight.  

I turn this out onto a mixture of rice flour and confectioners sugar.  When I cut this, I keep a paper towel with some vegetable oil on it to swipe the knife with to keep the sticky marshmallows from getting all over the knife.  As they're cut, I dredge each sticky edge in the flour/sugar mixture so the marshmallows themselves don't stick together.  To store, I place a little of that flour/sugar mix in a plastic bag and then carefully add the marshmallows.  I usually need about three bags because they will stick together if too crowded.  

Happy Valentine's Day!