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These cucumber sandwiches were originally featured in my Valentine’s Spa Day Lunch post with FREE PRINTABLES! You might have also saw them on KATU’s Afternoon Live.  They are both tasty and famous! 😉 Big thank you to my friend Alicia who helped me prep everything for the TV shoot and put together these beautiful sandwiches for photographs!

Heart Shaped Cucumber Sandwiches - A Well Crafted Party

Valentine’s Day for me is a time to celebrate all of the people I love, not just my husband. Each year I try to come up with at least a fun valentine to share with friends, coworkers, and my children. This year I went a little further and came up with a party designed to celebrate the very busy, kind, and often stressed women in my life. I had the opportunity to share the Valentine’s Spa Day Lunch on KATU’s Afternoon Live and here on the blog.

Heart Shaped Cucumber Sandwiches

One of the tasty recipes that I put together for the party is this heart shaped cucumber sandwich. Cucumber sandwiches are known mainly as a go-to for tea parties. However, because I love the little sandwiches and feel like spa days and cucumbers go hand in hand, I thought it would make for a nice light lunch item for either a Valentine’s Day Tea Party or a Valentine’s Spa Party. I think these sandwiches would also be great for a wedding shower, bachelorette tea, baby shower, or a tea-time reception.

The recipe is pretty simple and can be adjusted to taste. If you are really stressed for time then substitute the cream cheese mixture below with a ready-made herbed cream cheese. I personally like my cucumber sandwiches on a nice white bread, but feel free to change the bread to any that you prefer. I use a heart shaped cookie cutter to cut out my hearts taking a knife to trim the edges if needed. Metal cookie cutters work best for this, but really, any cookie cutter will do.

 

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Don’t forget to hop on over to the main Valentine’s Day Spa Lunch post to get your free party printables!


Valentine’s Day for me is all about love (of course) but, it is often about having the opportunity to tell my friends that I love them in addition to my husband. I was always a fan of giving out Valentine’s at school. This year I really wanted to focus on self-care and sharing with my friends an opportunity to take some moments out of the day to enjoy some very much needed “me time” with a few friends.

See these party tips on my spot on KATU’s Afternoon Live:

The Valentine’s Spa Day Lunch features a menu of light foods and sweet treats complimented with sparkling wine and cucumber lemon water. It is a perfectly laid back party that includes chatting with friends over a glass of sparkling wine while manicures are drying. If you really want to make this something special, hire a massage therapist or manicurist to come and treat your guests!

Cucumber Sandwiches for Spa Day Lunch - A Well Crafted Party

Sparkling Rose' Jello Hearts - Spa Day Valentine's Lunch with A Well Crafted Party

Spa Day Lunch Menu:

  • Salads served in champagne flutes
  • Heart Shaped Cucumber Tea Sandwiches
  • Strawberry Cake Truffles
  • Sparkling Rose Jello Hearts
  • Sparkling Rose’ served with Strawberry Hearts
  • Cucumber Lemon Water

Valentine's Day Spa Party with Free Printables - A Well Crafted Party

DIY Bath Salts for Spa Day Party - A Well Crafted Party

Valentine’s Spa Day Lunch Activities:

  • DIY Bath Salts (Get your free printable below – Check back soon for tutorial!)
  • Rose Shaped Hand Towels (Check back soon for tutorial!)
  • Manicures/ Pedicures

Spa Day Favors + Free Valentine's Day Printables - A Well Crafted Party Spa Day Favors + Free Valentine's Day Printables - A Well Crafted Party

Valentine’s Spa Day Favor Idea:

  • DIY Manicure Kits with soap, nail polish, and nail kits. Use the free printable tag below.

Free Printables for Valentine’s Spa Day

Valentines Day Spa Invitations - A Well Crafted Party

Click here -> Download a free customizable PDF invitation <- Click here

Directions: Add your information into the text boxes. You can do this using Adobe Acrobat or even do it in the Chrome browser! Print back and front on card stock in full-color. If you are doing on a home printer you may need to adjust your printer settings to line up the front and back artwork. The card is made with a .25 inch bleed which means you have a quarter of an inch to cut into the design. This helps bring the design all the way to the end of the page. Once cut it will fit in an A7 card.

Click here ->Download free Bath Salt tags <- Click here

Directions: Print on card stock in full color. Cut out each circle. Place this circle in between the lid and the ring of a canning jar or punch a hole in it and tie onto a bag.

Click here -> Download free Valentine’s Day Tags <- Click here

Directions: Print on card stock in full color. Cut out each circle, punch a hole into the circle, and attach with ribbon on a gift. Alternatively, print on sticker paper, cut out, and stick to your gift.

If you are visiting from Pinterest… welcome! So glad you found our little party. I hope you’ll stick around for more by signing up for our Well Crafted Newsletter.

Happy Valentine’s Day! Today is one of my favorite holidays. Not for all the mushy stuff. That is great and all, but that isn’t what I love about today. I love chocolate, sweets, red, pink, decadent foods, the phrase ‘I love you!,’ little notes of love, and so much more.

When I was a little girl my dad always made a point of getting my sister and I something small for Valentine’s Day each year. Even when we couldn’t really afford anything, he made a point to tell his girls we were special this day. When I got a little older I loved making valentine’s for my friends. I might have tried my best at hiding a crush or two within friendly valentines. I guess I was pretty good at the hiding part of it all, because no one ever seemed like they found out! Whooops.

It never was a “romantic” time even after meeting my husband. I worked in the restaurant industry for so long that Valentine’s Day usually meant I had to work. Because of that time I never really like to go out on Valentine’s Day. I prefer to stop by the grocery store and grab some delicious ingredients that we don’t get to use often. Tonight is no exception. Tonight I’m going to run by Whole Foods for their Steak & Lobster special (seriously, once you see this Herb-Roasted Lobster Steak recipe you’ll want it too!) and bunch of their roses that are on sale. We are doing a small dinner party with friends. I can’t wait!

How to Make an Amaretto Sour - A Well Crafted Party

In planning my menu for tonight I knew I wanted to use one of my most beloved liqueurs in a drink. Amaretto is one of my favorite ways to give a little sweetness to a drink. Amaretto is a sweet almond-flavored liquor that is made from a base of apricot pits or almonds or both. Funnily enough though sweet and delicious the name Amaretto comes from the Italian word Amaro meaning bitter.

Good ole’ wikipedia says this of the word, “Conflation of amaro (“bitter”) and amore (“love”) has led to associations with romance.” I guess I’m just going to be a part of all those people that have trouble distinguishing the two, because I definitely amore my Amaretto.

I’ve always believed drinking a good Amaretto Sour felt like enjoying a really great make-out-session. Don’t believe me? Make one and find out! Or, scroll down a little further and find ways that Amaretto can enhance other favorite beverages to make them even more lovely.

How to Make an Amaretto Sour - A Well Crafted Party

How to make an Amaretto Sour:

Ingredients:

  • 2 oz Amaretto
  • 3/ 4 to 1 oz home-made Sour Mix (to taste)
  • A good maraschino cherry (check out my thoughts on a good maraschino cherry here)
  • Orange Slice (optional- I just love the flavor of orange and amaretto
  • Ice

Directions:

  1. Pour the amaretto and sour over ice. Crushed ice gives this drink even more ‘kissability’. I like to garnish with a a good maraschino cherry and a slice of orange!

How to Make an Amaretto Sour - A Well Crafted Party

Use Amaretto in these drinks to make them even more lovely:

  • Margaritas— Enhance the orange flavors and lend some sweet to your sour by adding Amaretto to your Margarita. To make a great margarita with Amaretto rim your glass with sugar rather than salt and pour the following ingredients over ice or blend in a blender together: 1 1/4 oz tequila, 3/4 oz amaretto, 2 oz sour, and 1 0z of fresh orange juice. YUM.
  • Spiked Coffee— Put 3/4 oz to 1 oz of amaretto in a hot coffee, top with a dollop of freshly mixed whipped cream and top with a dash of nutmeg.
  • Sidecar — Someday I’ll share my very favorite side car recipe with you… but, for now, consider trading out the cognac in a sidecar with Amaretto! To make pour the following ingredients over ice in a shaker, shake, and then strain into a chilled and sugar rimmed martini glass. Garnish with a twist of orange peel. Ingredients: 1 3/4 oz Amaretto, 1 oz Orange Liqueur, and 1/2 oz fresh squeezed lemon juice. So good.

Have the happiest of Valentine’s Day… may it be sweet and not sour at all!

Do you have a favorite drink featuring this lovely liqueur Amaretto? Comment below with your recipe!

Need more drink ideas? Check out all of my cocktail recipes!