DIY Chocolate Valentine’s Gift

candy-valentine-riesen-love

Sometimes when we walk down the candy aisle at the grocery store, we just can’t control ourselves. One of our favorite treats to sneak into the cart is yummy chocolate caramel bites, known as Riesen {pronounced just like the word reason}. Our Nani introduced the candy to us years ago, so as we chew the deliciousness that is Riesen, we lovingly think about her. She also loves Valentine’s Day, which made it the perfect reason to tell her how much we love her, and do it with her favorite candy.

A pillow box is in the mail to our Nani with her favorite candy, and all the Riesens or “Reasons” we love her.

candy-riesen-valentinesday-love

To re-create for someone you love, you’ll need:

  • A pillow box. We bought a pack of 5 from Target
  • A bag of Riesen candy
  • Paper {Astrobrights Paper}
  • Glue stick
  • A Silhouette electronic cutting machine {Sharpie or stickers will work too}
  • A lovely person to send it to

We used our Silhouette to design the wording on the front of the pillow box, as well as the numbers. If you don’t have a Silhouette {you should add it to your want list}, you can also write or print your own design, or buy stickers. We used a glue stick for all the letters and numbers, as well as on the bottom of the candy wrapper to keep them in place on the paper. Finally, write all the reasons why you love the person your sending it to on small pieces of paper.

It’s a simple, cheap way to share love and chocolate. It’s going to make your loved one’s day…and you get to eat chocolate in the process. Win-win.

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{photos via j. sorelle}

Love Art Print and Gifts for the Home

all around.

It’s February, so naturally LOVE is on my mind.

The truth is, I love Valentine’s Day. I know, I know, it’s overdone and commercialized like most of the holidays in this country. It’s not necessarily the holiday I love, but I love the idea of celebrating love. I am, and always have been, the eternal optimist and believer of true love.

I love being in love {tommy, love of my life}. I love loving other people.  I love my family and my friends. I love the way being in love feels. I’m the hopeless romantic that believes even if you haven’t found the right person, or even if your heart has been broken one too many times, you can still find love. And, if not with another person, with yourself. You have to love yourself first before you can love someone else. And, when you love yourself, the world opens up and there is endless opportunity to share your love and gifts with others.

I promise I won’t preach about LOVE everyday this month…but today, I just couldn’t help myself! In celebration of my obsession with love, I’m sharing {and have asked my sisters to share as well} a couple of our favorite movie scenes. We hope you take some time to enjoy a little ‘love’ today.

What’s your favorite movie scene about love?? We’d love to hear it.

This scene is from one of my favorite movies {the list is long}, Love Actually.

And who could forget this scene from Sex and the City the movie, one of Jodi’s favorite’s.

And, Jenna happily shared her favorite clip from her favorite movie, Breakfast at Tiffany’s.

We’re going to leave you with one of our all time favorite quotes about love by William Parrish {Meet Joe Black}…and it’s available here in our etsy store, Fleur de Lis, a paperie. I’m going to add it to my Valentine’s Day-themed mantle {which I’m going to share with you this week}.

{images via YouTube and Tutto Bella}