Vanilla Butter Sugar Cookies

408.  Valentine's Day seems to come along so quickly each year.  But it is so welcome bringing chocolates, cookies and many delicious treats in heart shapes.

This recipe for Vanilla Butter Sugar Cookies has been a staple in my recipe line-up for many years.  It makes a large batch of cookies but you are able to cut the recipe in half for the perfect batch.  They might last 3 days if you are lucky.

You can save this recipe by selecting and dragging to your desk top and printing.

"Baking cookies is comforting, and cookies are the sweetest little bit of comfort food.  They are very bite-sized and personal."

~Sandra Lee

Blueberry Valentine Pies

199. This Valentines Day I made my Valentines mini heart shaped Blueberry Valentine Pies for dessert.

I used these beautiful heart shaped baking bowls to make individual pies.

My recipe is made with 4 cups blueberries, lemon zest, 1 cup sugar, 3 Tablespoons cornstarch, pinch of kosher salt

juice from half a lemon and a pinch of cinnamon.

I made half a recipe of pie dough and only covered the top of each dish.

I crimped the edges to the dishes and made heart shaped air holes in the crust.

Baked for 40 minutes at 350 degrees

these little pies turned out beautifully!

We enjoyed them with a dollop of whipped cream and coffee.

Happy Valentine's Day

"Who, being loved, is poor?"

~ Oscar Wilde

Valentine Give Away

Congratulations Judy at The Fajdich Times!

You are the winner of the Homespun Heart Pin!

198.

As I was enjoying reading all of your many blogs today,

and drooling over the wonderful recipes;

like this one from "Kellishouse" of

Red Velvet Cupcakes with Cream Cheese Frosting!!!!

(I could really go for one of these cupcakes right NOW.)

I found a post

on "Beedeebabee's" Blog of beautiful items

she received

from a friend in Germany.

Her friends name is Jeany at "Jeanysbrunnen" and she is very creative.

Jeany had a post about a special event that is taking place,

in "Blogland" called One World One Heart.

All you have to do is give away free, one special item

to anyone who posts on your blog.

The event will be from January 30th thru February 17th.

My give away is a sweet little

felted heart pin.

All you have to do is post about this give away on your blog

and then let me know you are interested

by leaving a comment on this blog.

The Winner, on my blog will be

selected on February 17th.

Let me know if you would like a

red heart pin with white flowers

or

a white heart pin with pink flowers.

You can see this sweet pin featured in my Etsy Shoppe, at

The Lilly Tree.

Check back to see who participates

and make sure you spread the word.

Give Aways are so much fun!

"The more credit you give away, the more will come back to you.

The more you help others,

the more they will want to help you."

~Brian Tracy~

"What you keep to yourself you loose,

what you give away

you keep forever."

~Anonymous~

My First Valentine

35.  My sweet, sweet mother put together wonderful memory scrapbooks for 

my siblings and I this past year. 

It was amazing how she saved so many 

precious pieces of memorabilia from each of our lives: 

school papers, baby bracelets, certificates, Christmas wish lists,

notes we wrote to her and of course photographs.  I spent the other 

day just paging through this wonderful treasure of my life memories.  

And I came across my very first Valentine!  I was only one years old! 

 It was sent to me by my maternal Aunts, Grandmother and Grandfather.  

Inside it says, "Because you're such a darling tot, So cute in every way.

Everyone will want you for a Valentine today", 

and then they each signed it!

Isn't this the sweetest thing?

I realized this card is vintage now...February 1961.  Does that make me vintage?  

Happy Valentine's Day to each of you!  

I hope you each have a sweet day filled with lots of love and goodies!

And...Happy Birthday to my dear sister! 

"I've fallen in love many times...

always with you."

~Author Unknown <3