Feb 14 2025

Valentine’s Day Highlights Seek and Find Activities

Check out what came in the mail today! Thanks to Highlights, I received these gorgeous activity books that are perfect for home or on the go! Each activity features a seek and find, but with flare. What a wonderful way to celebrate the day of love with a company I have loved since I was a kid. Although it has been an undisclosed amount of years *wink*, Highlights hasn’t lost their ability to spark the imaginations. Check out the reviews below.

Valentine’s Hidden Pictures Puzzles to Highlight

Working on a play on words, Highlights has released a highlight activity book, Valentine’s Hidden Pictures Puzzles to Highlight (affiliate link)! Using the included highlighter, or grab your own highlighters, highlight the white lines when you find the items within the images. There could be anything from boomerangs to paper clips, to socks, to cups, and more. In fact, there are over 300 items to find within these fun pages!

These seek and find pages are not like your normal searches. Because it is line art, the task can be a bit more difficult. Check out page 16 and all of the items you have to find. I will admit, I am still looking for the needle (anyone see it?). Personally, I love the difficulty with the whimsical images provided!

Scratch-And-Play Valentine’s Hidden Pictures

Scratch-And-Play Valentine’s Hidden Pictures (affiliate link) is another activity pack, but instead of this being for one person, the pack includes 10 Valentine’s Day cards to hand out to your friends or family! Using the scratch tool provided, kids (or adults) scratch to color an image on the front of the card. After their piece of art is done, they fill out the ‘To’ and ‘From” and give the card to a friend or family member. The giftee then gets to use the image on the back of the card to seek and find the items suggested. It’s a fun activity for all involved!

The image above depicts the back and front of the cards. The back with the awesome kitty mermaid seek and find and a front that tells the giftee to have a Paw-some Valentine’s Day. The white lines on the front are what will be scratched by the gifter to make their beautiful piece of rainbow art.

Thankfully, if anyone gets confused about how these adorable cards are supposed to work, there is a sheet of instructions. with Scratch it, Share it, and Solve it.

Each of these activity books are perfect for the season and take seek and find to a whole new level. One is to use personally or with friends, the other is to give so that others may enjoy the game. How amazing is is that a simple collection can not only expand the imagination, but also teach the fundamentals of sharing? Great job Highlights! SKGaleana approves.

These books can be found on Amazon.com using the affiliate links below

Valentine’s Hidden Pictures Puzzles to Highlight – https://amzn.to/42Pu3l7

Scratch-And-Play Valentine’s Hidden Pictures – https://amzn.to/4k0mUEw

Feb 13 2025

Monster High Printable DIY Valentine’s Day Cards

It’s time to celebrate a Fang-tastic Valentine’s Day with the help from all the girls at Monster High! Inspired by everyone’s favorite Boo Crew from the upcoming release of Monster High: Season Two, which is available February 18th on DVD (squeeee!), Nickelodeon has released a collection of monstrously fun printable Valentine’s Day Cards!

To grab these adorable cards, click the image below and save the PDF to your computer. Then print, create, and have the kids hand them out to all their ghoulish friends. Unique and fun, there is a card for everyone.

Grab a copy of Monster High Season 2 on DVD by heading over to Amazon.com (affiliate link).

Feb 12 2025

My Little Pony Printable Valentine’s Day Cootie Catcher (Fortune Teller)

Get ready for Valentine’s Day with the cutest ponies around from My Little Pony Friendship is Magic and this adorable Cootie Catcher (Fortune Teller)! I personally love the term Cootie Catcher. It makes it sound so cute.

I believe it’ i’s called a cootie catcher because when formed, it can be turned onto a makeshift hand and grab items that may have cooties. That way, it protects the wearer from catching the cooties. I know, as a kid, I used it to pick up toys and random items off my desk. Have you ever tried to pick up a pencil with a cootie catcher? It is not the easiest thing to do.

The Cootie Catcher is also referred to as a fortune teller because small hidden notes can be hidden inside, and when you select the appropriate number, it will tell you your fortune. In this case, The My Little Pony Cootie Catcher will tell you what pony you are by the number you choose!

  • To play,
    • print out the template and make the cootie catcher.
      • To make
        • Cutout the template along the solid black line, the outer square
        • Color facing up, fold the paper in half and reopen
        • turn the paper 90 degrees and fold the paper in half, unfold. You should have a plus sign shape in the folds
        • Fold diagonal, unfold
        • Rotate paper 90 degrees and fold diagonal, unfold
        • With color side facing down, fold each corner to the center point, the words and numbers should be facing you
        • Turn the paper over so that color side (hearts) is facing up.
        • Fold each corner to the center point, the hearts should be hiding under the flap now
        • From the word side, take your fingers and place them in the flaps. Push the points together to form the four pyramids
          • The Cootie Catcher is made
    • Now place each thumb in the pyramids closest to you and a pointer finger in each pyramid farthest from you When you open and close your fingers, the cootie catcher will open and close
    • Have a friend pick a word
    • Spell the word as you open and close the cootie catcher. For example: your friend picks the word pony. Starting at a closed cootie catcher, take your pointers and point them away from you to open it long ways and say “P” Close the cootie catcher again. Then open the cootie catcher by pulling the thumb and pointer to the side to open it side ways and say “O”. Repeat the process of opening long ways and side ways until the word is spelled.
    • On the last letter, where the cootie catcher is opened, have your friend select a number.
    • Like spelling pony, open long ways then side ways while counting.
    • When you land on the final number, have your friend pick a number again. This time pull your fingers out of the pyramids, flatten the cootie catcher and open the flap with the chosen number. Under that number is what pony they are!

The ponies and characters that are included in the cootie catcher are, Twilight Sparkle, AppleJack, Fluttershy, Pinkie Pie, Rarity, Rainbow Dash, Spike, and Princess Celestia.

Which MLP character are you this Valentine’s Day? Download the template below by clicking on the image and saving the PDF to your computer. Then print and create for tons of Valentine’s Day fun!

Feb 10 2025

Valentine’s Day Minnie’s Spaghetti With Hearts Inspired by Mickey Mouse Clubhouse – Recipe

With all the snacks and treats we have shared over the last couple of weeks, we didn’t want to forget the most important meal of the day, dinner. For this meal of the Mickey Mouse and Minnie Mouse Valentine’s Day recipe parade, I am sharing Disney’s Spaghetti with Hearts. This entrée works for both a family get together or a cute romantic dinner for two. With the cheese-y little heart-shaped meatballs, this delicious spaghetti meal goes from drab to whimsical.

To make this Spaghetti with Hearts, the chef will need to mix turkey, egg, breadcrumbs, salt, pepper, and onion until well combined. This should make a slightly goey meat mixture that we can mold into whatever we want, in this case we will turn this mixture into meatball hearts.

To make a meatball heart, take a tablespoon of the meat mixture and roll it into a ball. place the ball on some wax paper and slightly smash down to form a disc. Using a knife cut a V-shape from the top center of the disc and cut the bottom of the disc into a V-shape. This will form the heart Repeat this step until all of the meat mixture is shaped like hearts Bake them in a 375 degree oven for 10 minutes.

While the heart meatballs bake, we will make the spaghetti sauce by placing crushed tomatoes, tomato sauce, and chicken stock in a medium saucepan. Bring the spaghetti sauce to a boil over high heat, then reduce the heat and simmer. At the same time, get a pot of water over high heat with one tablespoon of butter inside. Bring the water to a boil.

Once the heart meatballs are done in the oven, place them into the simmering sauce and add the basil. Once the basil has been added to the sauce, add the spaghetti noodles to the boiling water. Let the sauce simmer for another 15 minutes and let the noodles boil for 15 minutes.

After 15 minutes has passed, drain the noodles and mix them with the meatball sauce. The Spaghetti and Hearts are ready to eat. Top with some Parmesan Cheese and make it even more tasty.

This recipe makes about 6 servings. To save the recipe, click here to download the official Disney Recipe or click print on the recipe below.

Happy Valentine’s Day!

Spaghetti With Hearts

  • Servings: 6
  • Difficulty: easy
  • Print

The perfect entrée for the season of love.



Credit: Playhouse Disney

Ingredients

  • 1 pound lean ground turkey
  • 1 large egg
  • 1/2 cup plain breadcrumbs
  • 1/4 tsp salt
  • 1/4 tsp pepper
  • 1 tbsp freeze-dried or dehydrated onion
  • 1 (28 ounce) can crushed tomatoes
  • 1 (14-ounce) can tomato sauce
  • 1/2 cup chicken stock
  • 1/4 cup fresh basil, chopped
  • 1 pound spaghetti
  • Grated Parmesan cheese for garnish (optional)

Directions

  1. preheat oven to 375
  2. Spray baking sheet with non-stick cooking spray
  3. In a medium bowl, mix together turkey, egg, breadcrumbs, salt, pepper, and onion until well combined.
  4. Shape turkey mixture into small heart shapes and place on prepared baking sheet. Bake for 10 min
  5. Meanwhile, place crushed tomatoes, tomato sauce, and chicken stock in a medium saucepan and bring to a boil over high heat. Reduce heat and simmer.
  6. When meatballs have baked for 10 minutes, remove from oven and place into the saucepan.
  7. Add basil to the sauce and continue cooking for 15 minutes.
  8. Cook spaghetti in a large pot according to package directions.
  9. Drain water from spaghetti.
  10. Toss spaghetti with sauce and meatballs
  11. Serve with grated cheese

    12. Makes six servings


Feb 04 2025

Valentine’s Day Minnie’s Cocoa Heart Pancakes with Strawberries Inspired by Mickey Mouse Clubhouse – Recipe

There is no better way to start a day then with love, chocolate, and pancakes. With the most important meal of the day, all three awesome starts can be combined into a delicious plate of yumminess, especially when they are Disney’s Cocoa Heart Pancakes with Strawberries.

This recipe is simple. Take your favorite pancake mix, add cocoa powder, pour into a pan, spread into a heart, and cook. These pancakes become a decadent chocolate surprise. And what goes well with chocolate? Strawberries ,of course! Add some sliced strawberries and whipped cream to top off the most delicious breakfast ever.

This recipe makes eight 4-inch pancakes. To save the recipe, click here to download the official Disney Recipe or click print on the recipe below.

Happy Valentine’s Day!

Cocoa Heart Pancakes with Strawberries

  • Servings: 4
  • Difficulty: easy
  • Print

Start the day with Love and a delicious cocoa pancake.



Credit: Playhouse Disney

Ingredients

  • 1 cup pancake mix
  • 1 tablespoon unsweetend cocoa powder
  • 3/4 cup plus 1 tablespoon water
  • 8 strawberries, sliced
  • 1/4 cup whipped topping for garnish

Directions

  1. In a medium bowl, stir pancake mix and cocoa powder together
  2. stir in water
  3. Heat a non-stick skillet over medium heat
  4. Pour two tablespoons of batter into the hot skillet and spread into a heart shape with the back of a spoon. Let cook until bubbles show on surface of pancake, about one minute.
  5. Turn and cook another minute on the other side
  6. Garnish with sliced strawberries and whipped topping.
    7. Makes eight (4-inch) pancakes.

    Makes six servings


Feb 03 2025

Rubble & Crew: On The Job! Review and Giveaway!

Tomorrow is the day that Rubble & Crew: On The Job! is released on DVD! We get to join Rubble and his pup family, Mix, Charger, and Wheeler, as they take on new construction jobs in the growing town of Builder Cove! From a dinosaur museum and splash park to a new school, library tea shop and so much more, Rubble and his crew always find a construction solution! With Rubble leading the way as the foreman, Rubble & Crew: On The Job! will be available from Paramount Home Entertainment and Nickelodeon Home Entertainment for the suggested retail price of $10.99. Find it on Amazon.com here (affiliate link).

Rubble & Crew: On The Job! will be released in time for Valentine’s Day and includes more than two hours of episodes!

  • The Crew Builds a Dinosaur Museum
  • The Crew Builds a Wheelchair Ramp
  • The Crew Builds a Splash Park
  • The Crew Builds a Playroom
  • The Crew Builds a School
  • The Crew Builds a Waterway
  • The Crew Fixes a Haunted House
  • The Crew Builds a Bat House
  • The Crew Builds an Observatory
  • The Crew Builds a Zip Line
  • The Crew Builds a Library Tea Shop
  • The Crew Builds a Dance Floor
  • The Crew Builds a Giant Lemonade Stand
  • The Crew Builds a Wildlife Bridge

Taking a wag from the original PAW Patrol, Rubble and Crew share similar values with team building, teamwork, and problem solving. It is a show that takes the audience on an adventure of building with compassion and facing problems as they arise. With their thinking caps on and a smile on their face, the face any building construction complication. It is a fun spinoff of the PAW Patrol.

To celebrate the release of Rubble & Crew: On The Job! and thanks to Nickelodeon, we are hosting a DVD giveaway. Use the form below to enter for a chance to win Rubble & Crew: On The Job! on DVD by commenting, liking, and sharing. If the form isn’t working feel free to send us an email with your name and email, and we will add your entry to the list. Many will enter only one will win! Be sure to read the terms and conditions on the form below.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Jan 29 2025

Printable Year of the Snake Red Envelope

Today is Chinese New Year! It is officially the Year of the Snake. Now all I want to do is go around and boop the snoot of every person who is a Snake. BOOP! As a person that is from the Year of The Dog, I should be able to do that. 😀 Are you the Snake Chinese Zodiac? It depends on when you were born! Use the dates below to see if you are a snake:

  • 1929 February 10, 1929 – January 29, 1930
    • Element: Earth
  • 1941 January 27, 1941 – February 14, 1942
    • Element: Metal
  • 1953 February 14, 1953 – February 2, 1954
    • Element: Water
  • 1965 February 2, 1965 – January 20, 1966
    • Element: Wood
  • 1977 February 18, 1977 – February 6, 1978
    • Element: Fire
  • 1989 February 6, 1989 – January 26, 1990
    • Element: Earth
  • 2001 January 24, 2001 – February 11, 2002
    • Element: Metal
  • 2013 February 10, 2013 – January 30, 2014
    • Element: Water
  • 2025 January 29, 2025 – February 16, 2026
    • Element: Wood

If you are a snake, here is a little about your character according to the zodiac:
Snake is a cautious, introverted observer, cool and mysterious in behavior owing to their suspicious and insecure nature, yet their armor conceals abundant sensitivity, wisdom, and passion that will surely surprise their few confidants. (https://chinesenewyear.net/zodiac/snake/)

To celebrate the Lunar New Year, our sister business, Cutoff Crafts, will be in Spokane at the Spokane Lunar New Year! We will be selling some pretty awesome items including Crochet Snake Pets and curated Chinese New Year dice and dice bags! These items are limited in quantity and only available to people visiting the show!

We are also celebrating The Year of the Snake with an epic free printable red envelope! Click the image below to download the PDF, then print and create. Once created, place money in it and give it to friends or family members so that they can celebrate as well!

Happy Lunar New Year!

Jan 28 2025

Valentine’s Day Minnie’s Sugar Cookies Inspired by Mickey Mouse Clubhouse – Recipe

The classic love for kids and adults is the ever popular, ever consistent, buttery goodness in cookie form, the Sugar Cookie. This cookie is normally a Christmas Cookie cut into shapes featuring candy-canes, Christmas Trees, and other holiday shapes. BUT! The Sugar Cookie is versatile. Not only can it be a cookie for Christmas, it makes a perfect canvas for the day of love, Valentine’s Day!

To continue the Mickey Mouse and Minnie Mouse Valentine’s Day recipe parade, Disney shows just how versatile the Sugar Cookie is with heart shaped cookies coated in sanding sugar. Sugar Cookies have a certain process that must be followed, so grab the recipe below in order to make a nostalgic Valentine’s Day Treat.

To make the cookies, first we must make the dough. Sugar cookie dough is made by creaming butter and sugar until fluffy, adding the other wet ingredients, and then slowly adding the dry. Once the dough is formed, it must be placed in the refrigerator to get cold. Warm sugar cookie dough spreads way too much and tends to be messy. I suggest taking small batches of dough out of the refrigerator at a time

Once the dough has been in the fridge for at least an hour, roll the dough out to 1/8 inch thick. Using a heart-shaped cookie cutter, which can be found on Amazon.com (affiliate link), cut as many hearts from the dough as you can. Place each shape on the cookie sheet 1-inch apart, and bake at 375 for around eight minutes. Once they are done, remove them from the cookie sheet and place on a cooling rack.

When the cookies are cooled, it is time to decorate! Coat them with icing and cover them in sanding sugar to make beautiful masterpieces. Get everyone in the family involved and have a decorating party.

This recipe makes about 36 cookies. To save the recipe, click here to download the official Disney Recipe or click print on the recipe below.

Happy Valentine’s Day!

Minnie's Sugar Cookies

  • Servings: 36
  • Difficulty: easy
  • Print

Heart-shaped cookies make a wonderful present on Valentine's Day.



Credit: Playhouse Disney

Ingredients

  • 1 stick unsalted butter, room temperature
  • 1/2 cup granulated sugar
  • 1 large egg
  • 1 tsp vanilla extract
  • 1 tsp baking powder
  • pinch salt
  • 1 1/4 cups all purpose flour
  • prepared decorating icing in white and red
  • pink sanding sugar

Directions

  1. In a medium bowl, combine butter and sugar
  2. Beat at medium speed ith an electric mixer until creamy, scraping down sides of bowl as necessary
  3. Beat in egg and vanilla
  4. Reduce mixer speed to low and beat in baking sode, salt, and flour
  5. Divide dough in half and form into flatten balls
  6. Wrap in plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least one hour
  7. Preheat oven to 375
  8. Roll out refrigerated dough on a floured work surface to 1/8-inch thick
  9. Cut out dough with a heart-shaped cookie cutter and place one inch apart on an ungreased baking sheet
  10. Bake for about eight minutes or until cookies are lightly browned around the edges
  11. Place cookies on a cooking rack and let cool to room temperature.
  12. Decorate by spreading decorating icing on the cookies and sprinkle with sanding sufar.
    13. Makes about 36

Jan 25 2025

Pokémon has Arrived at McDonald’s Once Again!

Pokémon has returned to McDonald’s with an exciting lineup of cards! With huge hits such as the 151 collection and Prismatic Evolutions, this Pokémon/McDonald’s pair up in not that big of a surprise, and it is honestly a welcome site to Pokémon fans everywhere.

Celebrating some of the best Pokémon creatures from the series, fans can expect to find Pokémon from many different regions featuring top favorites such as:

  • Dragonite
  • Dragapult
  • Charizard
  • Umbreon
  • Roaring Moon
  • Rayquaza
  • Quagsire
  • Pikachu
  • Miraidon
  • Koraidon
  • Jigglypuff
  • Hydreigon
  • Eevee
  • Hatenna
  • Drampa

If these cards are like their last release, fans even have a chance of collecting a halo version of some of the cards. With 4 cards per booster pack, it should be fun to collect them all!

Pairing with the cool Pokémon cards are fun Happy Meal Boxes featuring Charizard, Dragonite, Rayquaza, and Roaring Moon. These boxes have amazing art and bring the full Pokémon immersion to life.

Along with the cards and the box, HappyMeal.com has also released a fun activity pack featuring two coloring pages! Simply head over to the website to download the PDF then print and create. Or click the image below and download the PDF.

Happy Collecting!

Jan 23 2025

Valentine’s Day Fruity Bread Bites Inspired by Minnie from Mickey Mouse Clubhouse – Recipe

We are continuing our Mickey Mouse and Minnie Mouse Valentine’s Day recipe parade with a very simple yet delicious recipe featuring only 5 ingredients, Fruity Bread Bites. This recipe is perfect for breakfast, afternoon snack, or a simple dessert. Since these are cut into adorable hearts, these make a perfect Valentine’s Day treat!

To make these Fruity Bread Bites, grab 4 slices of cinnamon raisin bread and cut them into the shape of a heart. Use a cookie cutter to make the job easier. The heart-shaped cookie cutters can be found on Amazon.com. After the bread is cut into hearts toast the bread to your desired crunchiness. Then let cool.

While the toast is cooling, wash the fresh strawberries, blueberries, and kiwis. Clean fruit is delicious fruit. Take the strawberries and pull off the stems and remove the core. Then slice the strawberries to form little hearts.

Peel the kiwi. I usually cut the kiwi in half, lengthwise. I then use a spoon and gently scoop out the meat of the kiwi, pulling it away from the weird skin. Once it is free of the kiwi fur, it can be sliced easily.

After all the fruit is prepped, grab a heart and place a layer of cream cheese on top. Follow it with 4 slices of kiwi, 3 slices of strawberries, and 3 blueberries. Repeat this step with the other three slices of bread.

The Fruity Bread Bites are ready to serve. This recipe make s four. To save the recipe, click here to download the official Disney Recipe or click print on the recipe below.

Happy Valentine’s Day!

Fruity Bread Bites

  • Servings: 4
  • Difficulty: easy
  • Print

A heart-shaped snack perfect for Valentine's Day.



Credit: Playhouse Disney

Ingredients

  • 4 slices cinnamon raisin bread
  • 1/2 cup non-fat cream cheese
  • 4 strawberries, sliced
  • 12 blueberries
  • 1 kiwi, peeled, cut in half, and sliced

Directions

  1. Cut raisin bread into heart shapes and toast
  2. Let cool for five minutes before spreading with cream cheese.
  3. Arrange strawberry slices, blueberries, and kiwi slices on top. Serve.
    4. Makes 4