I Got Crafty

So, I can't sew (except to replace a button), I hate scrapbooking, and those "easy" crafts I see on Pinterest make me chuckle incredulously. I'm not very crafty, unless you count my cooking. But I wanted to make my friends, and Cookie Monster, something a little special for Valentine's Day. 

(source)

 

Yes, I think it's a stupid Hallmark holiday, but part of me still thinks it's fun. And so what if it's an excuse to do something nice for your sweetie? But it's not just my sweetie I wanted to let know I care about them; I also wanted to tell my good friends. 

So Valentine's Day this year was a way to tell my friends I care about them. Hallmark don't make a card for that (actually, they probably do. But damned if I'm gonna spend 3 or 4 bucks on something like that that they'll just throw away), so I made my own. Made my own cards, and made my own treats.

Here are the cookies I made. I totally plagiarized the idea from last year's Valentine's Day, but you know what? I don't care. They're still fucking adorable. And, to increase the theme and adorable factor, these cookies are cranberry-white chocolate chip ... so that makes them red and white. I used the chocolate chip cookie recipe from my trusty Better Homes and Gardens cookbook and instead of chocolate chips, just used dried cranberries and white chocolate chips. I spread the prepared cookie dough out onto a baking sheet and made one giant, flat cookie. Then I cut out heart shapes with my cookie cutter.

Now here's where the crafty part comes in. I simply took some brown paper lunch sacks and got out some Magic Markers. Then I just drew Valentine-y things, like hearts, on the bags. I put some red tissue paper in each one, making sure some stuck out of the top. Then I put in some cookies, folded down the tops, punched a hole and tied up the bags with red curly ribbon.

I made my own cards with red card stock and wrote cheesy messages on each one, like "I LOVE having you as a friend," or "I HEART that we're friends."

I had fun working on this little project. Maybe it was super cheesy, but I don't care. If someone's upset about getting free cookies, well, then, they're communists.