Valentine's Day Painted Mason Jar Flower Arrangements

I'm breaking a blogger rule and posting this extremely last minute because I honestly forgot all about them.  Not good planning on my part!  I figure better late than never and these little Mason Jars would be a great decoration for any season even though I did mine with Valentine's Day in mind!  I made mine in a few hours and ready to go on my table to add a pop of color.

 You will need:

Chalky Finish Paint and of course my favorite is Americana Decor by Decoart

Paint Brush

Jars

Wax to protect them if you'd like

Embellishments of your choice.  I used paper doilies, felt hearts and Baker's Twine

Dollar Store flowers or any silk flower

Tray and tray filler if you'd like

 The most time consuming part of this project is painting the jars.  Just use your chalky finish paint and brush it on the outside of the jars and let it dry and do another coat.  I did 3 coats on mine to make sure they were well covered.  I then sanded them lightly and applied a coat of Wax from Americana Decor to finish them.

Now the fun part...embellishing them

 I laid a felt heart on top of a paper doily and then wrapped twine around the jars several times to hold that in place and tied a knot.  I didn't want to glue the doily and the heart down because I might want to use these jars for Christmas or another occasion where red is appropriate.  That is it!  You could finish them at that but I wanted mine to be a little more colorful for a centerpiece so I filled them with silk flowers from the dollar store and then added in some fun heart garland made into little "curly q's".  That was all there was to it!  

 I used a red tray that I usually use at Christmas and then filled the tray with plastic hearts from the dollar store and then placed my vases on the center of the table and it was the perfect centerpiece.

I think these would be so cute for Easter or Sprint using pastel colors and filling them with pretty spring flowers!  I think I will be making a set for that too.  I'm thinking pinks, blues, yellows and greens.  

Happy Valentine's Day!

. . . Amazing Banana Pudding Recipe . . .

I can remember the first time I had Banana Pudding and thought I had gone to heaven.  How can something so simple taste so amazingly divine?  I don't know, but it sure does work!

My husband recently reminded me that I hadn't made Banana Pudding in a long time and he thought I needed to remedy that situation.  I decided to try it a little differently this time after seeing lots of people using Sweetened Condensed Milk in their recipe.  I always just make it with pudding and Cool Whip but I think I found the magic ingredient that worked and then I added extra Vanilla Extract to really make the flavor pop.  It was delicious!

 You will need:

1 large package of Vanilla Instant Pudding

2 1/2 Cups cold Milk

1 Can Sweetened Condensed Milk, 14 oz.

1 tsp Vanilla Extract

1 Container of Cool Whip, 16 oz.

1 Box of Nilla Wafers

4 to 6 Bananas

To Make:

Add your pudding mix and milk to a bowl and mix with an electric mixer until it is well combined.  Add in your Sweetened Condensed Milk and Vanilla extract and mix well.  Fold in HALF of the Cool Whip and combine it with the pudding mixture.  

To Assemble:

Start with a small amount of pudding on the bottom of your bowl and then add sliced bananas to cover the pudding mixture and then add a layer of Nilla Wafers.  Repeat this until all your pudding is used up and then spread the remaining Cool Whip over the top to create a "frosting".  I ended mine with Nilla Wafers and then did the Cool Whip topping.  Chill for a couple hours before serving.

 Adding the Sweetened Condensed Milk and Vanilla Extract really help kick this Banana Pudding up a notch!

   This dessert is sure to please and it's so simple to make!  It can be done in minutes.  The hardest part is waiting for it to chill!

I hope you enjoy this pudding as much as we do!