Add a Little Love

Valentine’s Day is quickly approaching.  I love a day celebrated around, well, LOVE! It just reminds us to take a moment and tell all those around us how much we adore them.

Here are a few hints of saying “I love you” without hurting the wallet:

• A love letter. Seriously, a handwritten note is probably the most genuine way of saying I love you. Say those things that you don’t have time to say on a day-to-day basis. Let them know what they mean to you. It doesn’t have to be long. But it does have to meaning (no writing song lyrics…make it original!) and it does need to be hand-written!
• Do something nice. Something unexpected. You usually don’t do the dishes…do them. Wash their car for them. Fold the towels. Get the groceries. Do a chore that isn’t usually “your responsibility”.
• They say the way to person’s heart is through their stomach. So bake a little something. Heart shaped cookies would be a great way to start. Not a baker? Then make heart-shaped rice krispie treats (kids would love to help with this!).
• Draw a heart in the snow and put their initials in it. Add some food coloring to water in a spray bottle and do it in their favorite color.
• Give them a back rub. Now a days it seems that we find ourselves coming and going. Take a moment and give them a five-minute massage.
• Put the kids to bed, light some candles, have the cell phones turned off, and soft music playing. Just communicate with each other and take time to LISTEN to your loved one. There is a box of questions called “Chat Pack”…ask questions to each other.  You must might  be surprised by the answers ad get to know each other on deeper levels.
• Look into each others eyes.  In a calm enviroment (see above tip) face each other. Put your right hand on their heart. Look into each others’ eyes and breathe. It is not a staring contest. But look deeply. You will notice that you will start to breathe together and your hearts will actually start to beat at the same rate.
• Open a bottle of red wine. Not only is it enjoyable…but it is heart recommended!
• And lastly…say I love you. Each day. To your spouse or your loved one…to your children…to your parents…to your siblings…to your friends.  Be a person who is known for loving others.

So I will take this opportunity to say I LOVE YOU to my prince…the man of my dreams.  To my son – who makes me proud every single day. To my parents – who have always shown me unconditional love. To my brother who has always been my best friend.  To my aunt who has guided me to a prettier world. And to all my friends…thank you for your passion of life  that you bring to the party!

Cheers,

Julie Wurr

10 Year Anniversary Party Is Approaching!

We are celebrating being 10 years downtown in our current location! Join us on March 13th!

Candle Tidbits

Burning different kind of candles have different sets of guidelines.

I LOVE burning candles.  I love the scent of them and their gorgeous flames are like little tiny fireplaces!  But there are different guidelines for different kind of candles.

If you are burning a jar candle and you want to get the most “goodie” out of it as you can…then you have to burn the candle so that the melted wax touches the side of the jar.  This allows an even burn for the entire lifespan of the candle.  If you light it and decide you are leaving and blow it out…you create a pocket or hole next to the wick.  This then creates a crater that the candle will follow when burning and never reach the edges.  That is when you have left over wax on the side of the jar of the candle.

Pillar candles are completely different.  You want to create a crater for the wax.  The first few times you burn the candle make sure it doesn’t get close to the edge.  If it does…that is when you will have wax spill over the edges.  So if you are going to have a long dinner and want pillar candles as accents…burn them before so you don’t need to worry about wax on your tablecloth.

Votives are made with the same soft wax as jar candles are.  So you ALWAYS want to make sure you put them in a container.  The tighter, or closer the container is to the votive, the votive will burn longer.  When a votive spreads out in a loose container; you don’t get the long burn time.  For a larger container you may want to consider using tea lite candles.

Enjoy your candles…but be cautious where you put them and make sure they are out of the way of children or pets (wagging tails can be dangerous!).  So light those candles, put on a great soft jazz cd, and relax!

Cheers,

Julie

Anniversary Celebration

Open Invitation to join us in celebrating our anniversary!

Can’t believe we are starting to plan  our 10th Anniversary Party in our current location!  We have had a crazy time doing all this!

Back in 1992 I did the first craft show ever using dried and silk florals.  It was at a mall in Spencer, Iowa and I was nervous as all get out.  After the first day I had completely sold everything I made and stayed up the night to make more. 

In 1996 my wonderful prince converted our garage over into a store…complete with a furnace and air conditioning.  It was great to work at home with a little an elementary aged son to keep an eye on.

In 2000 my prince kindly suggested that I had outgrown the garage and it was time to expand.  We rented the space downtown that we have been in for the past 10 years.  We got the building January 31st and with some painting and few changes…we opened March 10th.

So this March 13th we are having a Tenth Anniversary Open House!  Join us for cake and other goodies that day!

Cheers,

Julie Wurr

Organizing the office

I am an organizational “nut”.  I feel more together and as though I can “conquer the world”!  So for the beginning of 2010 – to have a fresh start, I decided to repaint and re-organize the office at the shoppe. 

It started out by simply painting over 10 years worth of flowers and sky. The office is so much the hub of activity with getting things onto the website and marketing that over the years it has filled up. The flowers and sky were simply adding to the distractions.A fresh coat of paint, moving of furniture, and going through 10 years worth of catalogs and flyers helps an office feel fresh and new!

To help our then-11-year old son embrace the idea of his mom having a store, we let him paint the office!

I purged and spent three days organizing…now onto the main floor of the store!

Cheers,

Julie

Not only were there flowers on the wall…but a ceiling sky!

To help our then-11-year old son embrace the idea of his mom having a store, we let him paint the office!

A fresh coat of paint, moving of furniture, and going through 10 years worth of catalogs and flyers helps an office feel fresh and new!

I have an obsession with clip boards. It keeps important notes and projects right in my eyesight!

Time to Reflect and Plan

In Northwest Iowa we had an enormous amount of snow given to us during the Christmas holiday.  I do try to find true beauty in all things around…and even the stress of a storm can go into the background of my mind as everything starts to glisten and sparkle.

Finding peace in the beauty.

With this beauty also gives me time to pause and reflect on the past year.  Despite what the media tries to pound into our brains…it was a pretty good year.  I was cautious at the store in purchasing and it seemed to pay off.  We did have the break-in which was the first time in almost 10 years of being here.  But great customers pulled me up from the bottom of sadness to help regain my momentum.

And now I start to look into 2010 and my goals.  This is an odd ride we take here never knowing which way we will go next.  9 years ago if you would have said that wine would be such an important part of the store – I would have looked at you like you were crazy.  And here we are; doing  judging, writing, and speaking about wine.

I hope to be better organzied this next year.  I am already planning some large events to help celebrate the Heart ‘n Home customer!  I also hope to get back to the store’s roots and do more interior florals.  They certainly do help to put a little “smile” into a room!

I hope you have a great time reflecting on 2009 and look optimistically at 2010!

Cheers,

Our backyard after the Christmas Blizzard of 2009 - it gave us time to stop, relax, and focus.

Julie

Amazing Wine Art

We are so proud to sponsor at the Clay County Fair an event for wine lovers/artists.  The catagory is in creative living and it is any creative outlet form that features grapes or wine.

In 2009 the judges picked the artwork of  Ken Harskamp of Ida Grove, Iowa.  His watercolor painting called “Splash of Grapes” won him top honors. 

We think you will agree that this deserves the honor.  It will be exciting to see what 2010 Clay County Fair winner will do!

The winning entry for the Clay County Fair sponsored by Heart 'n Home

Cork Ornaments

For the 2009 Laurens Festival of Trees, I decided to do a “Celebrate” Christmas tree. Started with a pencil alpine tree that we have at the store and did a light spray of white spray paint on it (to soften the green). I didn’t want it flocked. I have had great success with this in past trees and the color doesn’t change to a yellow-white.

Then took the collection of wine corks that I have and gave them a little “sparkle”. I took 2 inch jewelry pins that you can find at any hobby store and placed pearls and acrylic beads on it (yes, glass would have been pretty…but very expensive). On top of the cork then put an extremely small eyescrew on top and then threaded ribbon through it to hang it. I also made double and triple length cork ornaments.

The tree topper is made with champagne flutes wired to the top and filled the top up with them.

To add depth to the tree I added wine labels that I have been saving (using the Label Lifter) and tucked those into the tree.

Adding a few other touches and the tree was done!

CRAB DIP RECIPE

So many have been asking for the  CRAB DIP recipe that we served during our last Christmas Open House.  We are going to give you both recipes for the hot and cold dips.

 

COLD CRAB DIP

• one 8 ounce package of cream cheese, softened
• one cup grated cheddar cheese
• one cup sour cream
• half cup diced celery
• half pound crabmeat, chopped
• 3 tablespoons of dip mix

In a medium bowl, blend the cream cheese and sour cream.  Mix in the celery, dip mix, cheddar cheese, and crab.  Serve chilled.

 

HOT CRAB DIP

• one 8 ounce package of cream cheese and one 4 ounce package of cream cheese
• 5 tablespoons real mayonnaise
• 3 tablespoons of crab dip mix
• 6 ounces of crabmeat, chopped

Preheat over to 350 degrees.  In a medium bowl, combine the cream cheese, mayonnaise, crabmeat and crab dip mix.  Spread mixture into a 1 quart baking dish.  Bake for 30 minutes in the preheated oven.  Remove baked crab dip from oven and stir well.  Serve hot.  (We will skip the oven and put it into a microwave on medium power for 5 minutes (keep an eye on it)  then put it into our electric dip warmer so it stays warm during the entire party.)

*We use the imitation crabmeat instead of the real crabmeat due to many people have allergies to shell fish.  Can’t tell the difference!

 

Christmas Open House 2009

We just held our 2009 Christmas Open House on November 14th.  The weather was perfect…cool enough to think about Christmas but not so cold that you didn’t want to leave the house!

We had one of the larger open houses that we have held in recent years.  Over 250 people registered to win one of the 5 twenty dollar gift certificates.  Winners were Pam Lawman, Judy Shimon, Terry Ferguson, Caryl Dukes, and Jackie Hudson.

We had our refreshments in the backroom.  Aunt Mary did the baking that has created quite the raves.  We will be starting a “recipe corner” in our weekly e-newsletters (you can receive a free e-newsletter by e-mailing a request to julie@heartnhomeonline.com ).  Lots of chocolate and sweets were done by Aunt Mary.

Our other refreshments were featuring the gourmet food from Heart ‘n Home.  We believe in one-step entertaining.  Pickled Green Beans, Black Olive Tapenade, Gourmet Salsas, and so much more are a great pantry staple to have on hand for when company knocks on your door.

Our wine tasting was fabulous.  We featured sweeter wines with “wine as gifts” in mind.  People were surprised by their favorites.  But it helps when you buy wines from people who actually know the wines.

Our Christmas decor is wonderful.  Fresh green, glitter, and plaids highlight the shoppe.  We were able to purchase ornaments that were on sale…and we are passing the saving onto you!  We love the gazebo in its dazzling whites, silvers, and shimmering snowflakes.

We have a lot of events coming up for the holiday season.  Keep checking back for details!