sweet notes for Valentine’s Day

Sweet notes for Valentine’s Day- as in musical notes…. Valentine’s Day is fast approaching so I just finished a couple of projects for the romantic holiday using sheet music since love songs are usually associated with this affectionate holiday.  I love using sheet music on many projects and it just evokes an air of romance.  I created some decorative hearts for a bit of Valentine decor touches and some Valentine’s Day music lemon sugar cookies as a sweet treat.  

For the decorative hearts, I decoupaged some paper mâché hearts with thrifted sheet music and as a finishing touch I decorated them with ribbons from my craft stash.  I used the same technique on Easter eggs years ago, which you can see here{Easter eggs}.  The best part is that they are pretty simple to create.  I used one sheet of music for each heart.  I cut the sheet in half horizontally and used one half to wrap around each side of the heart.  I love decoupaging since it tends to be pretty forgiving.   

To assemble simply slather one side of the heart with Modge Podge {or any decoupage medium} and lay the sheet on it.  Wrap the sheet around the edges of the heart, adding more decoupage medium as you go along to adhere the sheet securely to the heart.  Repeat the same process on the other side.  For the size of hearts I used the two halves overlapped, covering the entire heart.  When done adhering the sheets to the heart, apply one last coat of Modge Podge all over the heart to seal it.  Set it aside and let dry completely before applying any embellishments.

I found the hearts I used at Hobby Lobby and I apologize there are no step by step pictures of the project in process.  We have a lot going on over here.  Last week our son called us from college to tell us he had tested positive for Covid-19.  There’s much to tell about the story and maybe I will share in a subsequent post, but long story short here, we made the family decision to bring him home.  His college is too far to get to him quickly should something extreme happen.  So Mr. M made the 8 hour drive to get him and the next morning they high tailed it home.  Good news is we got to watch the Super Bowl together…with masks on…6 feet apart.  Not ideal- but this momma was happy to have our boy home.

Sooooo, needless to say, I have been a bit preoccupied.  We have all been quarantining at home together. Luckily, Sebastian, my son has only shown flu|cold like symptoms and he appears to be better every day.  The rest of us have not developed any symptoms and we are keeping our fingers crossed. 🤞 Sebastian and my husband will take Covid tests on Friday, and my daughter, Lexi, and I will take our tests later next week.  One of the wonderful things about having Sebastian home again is I get to hear him either playing the drums in the garage or the guitar in his room.  So these music notes are appropriate for him.

He is my music guy, which he did no get from me I am sad to say.  It all started with his guitar elective in middle school, which was complimented by his dad’s drums in the garage.  And although he’s not in a formal “band” nor does he play any “gigs” his friends do come over and jam in the garage with him.  I love it!  But no jamming right now during quarantine and I digress…cookies!

Have you ever heard of edible paper?  Well, I was intrigued so I had to try it.  I chose these hand written music sheets I bought on Etsy.  The edible sheets are printed with edible ink on edible paper, which I can only compare to a thin communion wafer for all you Catholics out there.

I made lemon infused sugar cookies, and decorated some with the edible music sheets.  I also made some heart shaped cookies decorated with pink and lavender sugar. 

In order to adhere the edible paper to the cookies I used a confectioner’s sugar icing, which I made extremely watery so that I could spread a very thin layer.  The directions recommend using a couple of drops of corn syrup but since I had make the icing to decorate the heart shaped cookies I thought might as well use it for all the cookies.

I am no master baker and my technique leaves much to be desired.  I am quite sure there is much more finesse in using these edible papers but it was a fun experiment none the less.  There are different applications you can use with fondant or frosting and even beverages so I think I will continue to experiment and maybe perfect a technique or two along the way.

My family is so happy that this post is over and all pictures are taken so they can eat the cookies.  😂  I was happy to enjoy some cookies this morning with my coffee too.  The subtle hint of lemon in the sugar cookies is SO good.

Valentine’s Day will be spent at home just the four of us since we will still be within the quarantine window; and as long as none of us are feeling sick I am ok with that.  I appreciate time we can all spend together in our home since I know those days will not last forever.  On a total side note, do you see that delicate white flowers in the background?

I just found these plants at a local nursery garden and I fell in love with that small delicate flower.  I hope to incorporate them into our garden design for the top area of our front yard this spring.  I have been working on some winter garden projects to prepare for the next phase of our front yard remodel which started here{as 2020 unraveled}.  If I can get myself organized I will share all the details with you here.

The weather has actually been pretty darn nice around here and there are signs of Spring springing all around.  In between all the nice days we have a day of heavy rains which is wonderful for all the vegetation.  The branches in the vintage French metal jar are from our ornamental pear trees in the back yard.  The mossy branches in the wicker basket are from our Locust tree in the front yard.  We had a big wind storm one night a couple of weeks ago and I found a bunch of these mossy branches on the lawn.  I had to use them since anything with moss always catches my eye.

“Life is one grand, sweet song, so start the music.”

~ Ronald Reagan~

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