Ice cold hearts for Valentine’s Day

 Early Valentine roses from my sweethearts – just had to show them off. :)

 

We did something different this year and made hearts from ice.  I saw an idea similar to this recently here.  It looked like fun, and they sure were pretty, so we decided to make our own version.  M is all about freezing things – he has loved to make colored ice since he was very little, so this was a good twist for that favorite activity.

Supplies – water, sparkly things, food coloring, silicone heart mold, and freezing temps outside.

First M filled the molds a little more than halfway with water.  We tried pouring, but decided to use the baster instead:

Then he added in some heart confetti and sequins, which pretty much floated on top.  I had foreseen this, and that’s why we only filled them halfway.  After freezing them we filled them the rest of the way and set them out to freeze again, so the sparkles were all contained in the middle of the ice:

We added yarn to the hearts prior to freezing so we’d be able to hang them up later:

See the wire rack in the photo below?  It’s best to place the mold on top of a rack or tray of some sort before adding all the water!  This makes it easy to transport.  I found this out the hard way. :)

After the hearts were totally frozen:

We added some salt (see the bits?) and a couple of minutes later we added drops of food coloring, then stuck them back outside to freeze again:

After we remembered them (3 days later!) we popped them out and hung them up:

 They are prettier in real life than these photos would suggest. 

 

We worried, a bit too late, about the sequins falling out when the ice melts.  M decided they will just make pretty decorations for the tree, but I’m thinking maybe pine branch tips or tiny pine cones would have been a better choice than sequins.  Oops!

Have a beautiful day! :)