chocolate nut clusters

I love Chocolate.  I love Nuts. Put nuts in the chocolate and I could absolutely wilt.  If I only made one treat at Christmas (which was how this year was SUPPOSED to be) it would be this one.  I only let myself make it at Christmas because it makes around 100 clusters and I could seriously over the course of two days eat 50 of them.  Dangerous. 
Another reason why I love these guys is how easy they are to prepare!  Throw all the ingredients in a slow cooker and walk away!!

Chocolate Nut Clusters:
2 pounds chocolate almond bark
1 bag semi-sweet chocolate chips
1 box german chocolate baking squares
32 ounces salted peanuts (about 6 cups)
Cook on low in slow cooker for 2 hours.
Stir in 2 cups cashews and 1 teaspoon vanilla.
Drop by spoonful onto parchment or wax paper.

Enjoy!

girly gloves

I've gone a little bit crazy with these fun flowers that I discovered here.  And used here.  Because I needed a distraction from thinking about hard things, I 'embellished' these gloves for the girls to give their good friends as gifts for Christmas.  They turned out pretty fun.  I think I'll make ME a pair or two in January when we have some major down time. I want to try some different kinds of flowers.  I also have a headband/ear warmer that I want to try attaching some to for My Angel.  That will have to be later as well. Patience is not my strongest characteristic, but I'm working on it.

Happy Crafting!

christmas trees and santa hats

Every year for as long as I can remember, our girls have each hosted a Christmas late night and treat exchange. The girls all bring a dozen of their favorite Christmas treat, we put one on each plate and they have a whole plateful of fun to take home. This year, a lot of them got excited and made it through their plates BEFORE they went home...

 We start the evening by making a fun ornament. This year, we kept it simple and made stockings using felt and a boa. (Our Princess decided this year that her friends might be too old for this part, so we skipped it. Boo on growing up!!)
We have caramel popcorn, chocolate popcorn, and buttered popcorn and watch a Christmas movie. We also have an eclectic collection of Christmas mugs that we break out just for this occasion for cocoa with different marshmallows and toppings. Our Princess chose 'Christmas With the Kranks' (possibly the. best. christmas. movie. ever.) for her party and My Angel chose 'How the Grinch Stole Christmas' with Jim Carey. We had to pull it off a little bit early this year to make it happen, but nobody seemed to mind. I love to hear the peals of laughter all night as the girls interact with each other. It makes all the effort worth it.
Ever since October when we made these witch hats and loved them, I have been wanting to try Christmas trees. I've never used candy melts before, and when I was buying the green ones, I saw some red ones and wondered if we should try Santa hats as well. This is a sickness that I have.  I admit it.
I just used leftover sugar cookie dough from these cookie sticks to make it easier, but I think it would be fun to do a gingersnap cookie with the Christmas tree, so next year I'll try that. I made them exactly the same way as the witches hats, using the candy melts instead of the almond bark.

 We made a mix of Christmas candy corns, star gum drops, Christmas gummys, and m and m's to fill the cones with.

I left the cone showing a little bit at the bottom of the trees for the trunk and attached it with chocolate almond bark to the cookie.

Adding the pretzel stars was Our Princess's idea and that's what totally makes it perfect.  The pretzels and m and m's have to be added after it has set up just a bit or they just slide on down to the bottom...

The Santa hats took a little more thought.  Our Princess and I tried a few different ways before we found something that was perfect.  After spreading on the red candy melts and letting them set, we filled them and painted the red the rest of the way down to attach the cone to the cookie.  -We made smaller cookies that barely fit the bottom of the sugar cone for these ones-. Then we added a large marshmallow to the top, and used a thick powdered sugar frosting with a decorating tip to swirl the bottom.


Enjoy!

angels

This Friday, My Angel will be having spine surgery for scoliosis. It's the most major surgery she's ever had in her life, requiring ICU, probable ventilator and possible blood transfusion, an incision that runs all the way down her back, and a 7 to 10 day stay at our local Children's hospital. She is nervous. Extremely nervous. But she is brave and courageous and has a strength that comes from a Heavenly Father that loves her and watches over her and blesses her.
Please remember her in your prayers.

 The Ministry of Angels- Jeffrey R. Holland

When Adam and Eve willingly stepped into mortality, they knew this telestial world would contain thorns and thistles and troubles of every kind. Perhaps their most challenging realization, however, was not the hardship and danger they would endure but the fact that they would now be distanced from God, separated from Him with whom they had walked and talked, who had given them face-to-face counsel. After this conscious choice, as the record of creation says, “they saw him not; for they were shut out from his presence.” Amidst all else that must have troubled them, surely this must have troubled them the most.

But God knew the challenges they would face, and He certainly knew how lonely and troubled they would sometimes feel. So He watched over His mortal family constantly, heard their prayers always, and sent prophets (and later apostles) to teach, counsel, and guide them. But in times of special need, He sent angels, divine messengers, to bless His children, reassure them that heaven was always very close and that His help was always very near... May we all believe more readily in, and have more gratitude for, the Lord’s promise as contained in one of President Monson’s favorite scriptures: “I will go before your face. I will be on your right hand and on your left, … my Spirit shall be in your [heart], and mine angels round about you, to bear you up.”  In the process of praying for those angels to attend us, may we all try to be a little more angelic ourselves—with a kind word, a strong arm, a declaration of faith and “the covenant wherewith [we] have covenanted.”

Keep Smiling!

front porch looking in...christmas style

I love Christmas.  I love Christmas decorations.  I love Christmas colors.  I love Christmas music! (but that doesn't have anything to do with this...)
I was so excited to have my cute swing all ready (remember here) for some fun holiday pillows.  I'm getting much faster with the pillows (practice...) also, so I decided to make time for it.  Actually, confession, I was so excited that I did the porch before I decorated INside my house.
All I had to do were the 3 front pillows and I just used the same process that I used at the above link to assemble the pillow covers.  I decided to change up the method for the pillow fronts, though.  I accidentally bought no-sew heat and bond a while back.  When they say no-sew, they mean it.  If you want a gooey, gummy, broken needle on your machine, give it a try...
I think I've mentioned (a few times) that I'm a little strapped for time this year.  We have some pretty major family stuff going on, so I'm trying to do everything I really want to do the quickest way possible.  So I thought I'd try it and see if it really does hold, and I have to tell you friends, even in the Arctic cold community where we live, it's holding up in a fabulous way!
So, because I'm nice like that, in case anyone wants a template for the pillow fronts, I am very thoughtfully providing it here. I first trace it on the heat and bond,on the paper side remembering ALWAYS that the letters have to be traced on BACKWARDS. Then 'bubble cut' it out, (meaning, it doesn't have to be perfect.) Then you iron it on to the WRONG side of the fabric of your choice, and cut it out, following the lines carefully. Then you peel off the paper backing, place it EXACTLY where you want it on your pillow front, (I did this before I put anything for the pillow together.) and iron it on. That's it. It sticks like crazy. I just used big rick-rack for the deco on the ornament, and I even used heat and bond to attach it.
I think this stuff might just be my new weakness.

Happy Crafting!

cookie sticks

The other night My Angel was lamenting the fact that she was the ONLY 7th grader in the ENTIRE world spending Friday night home with her mother, so we came up with this fun idea. I have to give her the credit, actually, it was completely and totally her baby. I wish it could be mine, because they turned out absolutely cute (and yum!) For some strange reason they brought back distinct memories of the 'moon pies' that I used to eat for lunch in middle school...

Start with your favorite sugar cookie dough recipe. I'll share mine because once you try it, you'll never go back to any other again...
Note: This recipe makes a HUGE batch. Sometimes I half it, but I usually just make the whole batch, use what I need and then freeze the rest of the dough so the next time we need it, we don't have to make it!

Sugar Cookies
2 cups sugar
4 eggs
2 teaspoons vanilla
1 teaspoon salt
4-6 cups flour (I always use 6)
2 cups butter
1 teaspoon lemon juice
1 teaspoon baking soda
2 teaspoons cream of tartar

Combine, roll out, cut, and bake at 350 degrees for 8 to 10 minutes.
To make them on the pops, though, after you roll out, cut and put on the pan, carefully lift the bottom of the cookie and slide a sucker stick about 1 inch underneath.  Pat it down gently so that when it cooks, it will cook around the stick.

After they cool completely, take them off the pan, I line my pan with foil, so I can just slide the foil off the pan to cool the cookies on.

Then melt some white almond bark. Remember here, how I said almond bark can make anything pretty?  Once again, it pulled through for us.  Holding the cookie carefully over the pot of almond bark, we spooned it on one side, softly tapped it off, then turned it over and repeated on the other side.  Then we placed them on wax paper, sprinkled with Christmas sprinkles, and left them to set.

We discovered:
1. If you tap too hard, your cookie just may fall off the stick into the almond bark.
2. Sometimes they fall off for no reason.
3. Smaller cookies worked better.  We lost many gingerbread men before we discovered a trick for keeping them on the stick.  Spoon some almond bark over the back of the cookie where the stick is inserted, let it set, then finish the rest of the cookie.
The bigger cookies were a bit much to eat, anyway...

We made the cookies Friday night and coated them with the almond bark on Saturday morning, because it takes a bit of time for the whole process, mostly the cooling off and setting up time...

Enjoy!

be merry

Commenting on the pressure and anxiety often felt by those who focus on the temporal side of the Christmas season, President Dieter F. Uchtdorf of the First Presidency said at this year's Christmas Devotional, “We have in our minds a picture of how everything should be—the perfect tree, the perfect lights, the perfect gifts, and the perfect family events. … [But] sooner or later, something unpleasant occurs … and the picture-perfect Christmas we had imagined, the magic we had intended to create, shatters around us.”

However, if we focus our hearts and minds on the true spirit of Christmas, President Uchtdorf said, “we will recognize wonderful things happening around us.”

Here are a few funnies I've come across to help with the merry:

Dear Santa,
This year please give me a big fat bank account and a slim body. And please, don't mix those two up like you did last year.

Why does Santa Claus like to work in the garden?
Because he like to hoe, hoe, hoe

What did Adam say on the day before Christmas?
It's Christmas, Eve!

A Christmas thought:
STRESSED is just DESSERTS spelled backward.

keep smiling!

muslin tree skirt

You know how sometimes life gets so absolutely crazy that you just have to turn it all off for a bit and pretend that it isn't there? This tree skirt is an outcome of one of those afternoons. It seriously only took two hours start to finish, and that was even when my kids were home... It definitely wasn't the first project that I should have been working on, but we were setting up our tree and I have wanted a cute tree skirt for, sheesh! years! My mom and sister will vouch for me, and they will be happy to know that there will be no more whining starting now, because I couldn't be more happy with the way it turned out!! I don't even want to cover it up with presents!!

I saw a tree skirt on pinterest (of course...) that I love love loved!! and clicked on it so fast hoping for a tutorial. No tutorial. Just etsy. Priced at $160!!! EEEK! Not happening at this humble home... It is absolutely gorgeous and I was so disappointed!  So I thought to myself, hmmmm. I think I can. And I did! I made it a little bit different because I would feel wicked if I thought I was an idea stealer...

I started with a fun muslin that was thicker. I've been using this specific muslin for a lot of projects because I love it! Besides being thick, you can actually see the threads and it's got rough knobby things on it that make it totally my style.  I layered it with cotton batting and another layer of muslin.  It took me a while to figure out (I know, I'm slow) how to make a circle without a pattern.  Finally I had an Ah Ha! and tied a marker to a piece of yarn, held it in the middle, and traced around.  I decided to make the diameter 44 inches because that was the width of my fabric and I didn't have time to piece anything together.  Remember I didn't have time for this project in the first place... So I cut my yarn to be 22 inches and that worked perfectly.  I cut through all 3 layers at once. (And mom, I even did it with my crappy sewing scissors!!) Then I cut up to the middle so it would have an opening and then just eyeballed a small circle in the middle, about 4 inches diameter, to go around the skinny trunk of my fake tree. :)

Then, with the two muslin pieces together and the batting on the bottom, I sewed all the way around.  If you start at the edge of the little circle in the middle, you can make it all the way around without stopping, leaving one side of the cut into the middle open for turning.  No pictures, sorry.  I got too excited with the progress.
After turning it right side out, I stitched all the way around again, in a quarter inch from the edge, just to hold it well, at the same time, folding under and stitching through the side that we left open for turning.
Then I measured down every three inches and used a decorative stitch on my machine to sew a line all the way around to give it a "quilted" look and hold the batting in place. (You can see this in the pictures above!)

Next was the most time consuming part of the whole project.  I cut a whole bunch of 2 1/2 inch strips that were width of fabric from honestly, I don't know what kind of fabric it is.  It's kind of a mesh but its really soft.  I bought it on a bolt at Walmart this summer. It was with the 'road show' fabrics and a big bolt of it was only $5.  I think that muslin would work really well, maybe better, especially if you used a thinner one.  I used this because it matched the muslin perfectly and I love how the edges fray a ton and the softness of it made it so easy to work with and I had an entire bolt of it and um, ya. So after I cut out a million strips of this fabric, I put the pile of them in my lap and started feeding them through my sewing machine using the gathering stitch.  I didn't bother cutting threads between each piece, I was in a hurry.  I just pulled it through a couple of inches before I started the next one. 

Then I started pulling threads to gather them up.  One piece of fabric made 2 flowers.  As I gathered each strip, I laid it out on the tree skirt.  This is where I totally cheated.  I was going to hand sew all of them on, but at the last minute I thought "Why in the world would I do a ridiculous thing like that??" And I broke out the hot glue gun. It's not like I'm going to be washing it anyway, and if I do, I imagine the glue will hold up much better than MY stitches ever would.  So I glued them on, two flowers at a time.  Half of the strip curls around one direction to make one flower, then you curl the other end the other direction to make the second.  So. Easy.  And the coolest thing? I only had one strip left when it was finished.  This tree skirt and I were clearly M F E O.

(and the best news of all) $25 instead of $160! Merry Christmas to me!!

happy crafting!


linking up here:

Norma's three-way yummy caramels

One of the first things My Angel said to Aunt Norma when we saw her over Thanksgiving was, "When are we going to make caramels?" And our sweet Norma, who hadn't been planning on making caramels, taught her how to make caramels. Norma makes the best. christmas. candy. ever. and we look forward to her sharing it with us all year.

Most caramel recipes that I have found use sweetened condensed milk. I think what makes Norma's extra delicious is the whipping cream.

3 cups whipping cream
2 cups sugar
1 1/3 cups light corn syrup
1/2 teaspoon salt

Combine and stir constantly until firm ball about 45 minutes.

#1 Pour into a buttered cake pan. Norma has a silicone pan that makes it easy to get the caramel out when it sets up. I'm not lucky enough to own one, but a disposable foil pan works about the same way. After it sets up well, cut the caramels and wrap in wax paper.

#2 While still warm in the pot, before pouring into the buttered pan, stir in chopped nuts of your choice. After set up, as in #1, melt chocolate and spread over the top. I tweaked this one a little bit, because we didn't put the nuts in the caramel. So after I spread the chocolate on top, I sprinkled chopped peanuts on top and pressed them in lightly. Little bit like a snickers...YUM!
When set, these can also be wrapped in wax paper, or just cut in squares.

#3 (My personal favorite...) Dip pretzel rods in the caramel while it's still warm in the pot. Put them on parchment paper to set up. Then dip in chocolate (Norma uses the real stuff, I just use chocolate almond bark), then drizzle white almond bark over them.

enjoy!

a season of miracles

From Sydney Reynolds
A God of Miracles

'With Moroni of old, I believe in a God of miracles. Moroni wrote to the people of our dispensation, “Behold, I will show unto you a God of miracles, … and it is that same God who created the heavens and the earth, and all things that in them are” (Mormon 9:11). Moroni proclaimed that Jesus Christ did many mighty miracles, that many mighty miracles were wrought by the hands of the Apostles, and that a God who is the same yesterday, today, and forever must be a God of miracles today (see Mormon 9:18; Mormon 9:9).

Just as important as these “mighty miracles” are the smaller “private miracles” that teach each of us to have faith in the Lord. These come as we recognize and heed the promptings of the Spirit in our lives.

How do we access the quiet miracle that the Lord works as He transforms us, His children, into worthy heirs of the kingdom of God? I believe it is made possible because “God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life” (John 3:16). I believe it comes as we yield to the enticings of the Spirit, put off the natural man, and are filled with the love of God (see Mosiah 3:19). “Through the Atonement of [Jesus] Christ, all mankind may be saved, by obedience to the laws and ordinances of the Gospel” (A of F 1:3). All mankind—that includes me, that includes you—we can each have part in the Atonement, the greatest of all God’s miracles.'

I also add my witness that God blesses our lives with miracles every day. We've always said that every family needs an angel  like ours.  The experiences that we've had since she has been born have changed our family's perspective and strengthened our relationship with our Heavenly Father. You can't help but recognize the miracles and the small ones become just as important and appreciated as the mighty ones. 

It seems like during the Christmas season it's a little bit easier to recognize those miracles.  It also seems a little bit easier to be the miracle worker in someone else's life. I love to look back and reflect on the people that the Lord has blessed our life with to this point, the people who have been placed in just the right spot to be there when we were in desperate need, and sometimes even when we didn't even realize that we had a need.  It becomes a testimony that Someone always knows what we need and will bless us, and that with His help and guidance, we can and will make it together.

Keep Smiling!

gingerbread houses

Somehow a few years back it became tradition to make gingerbread houses at Nana's house at Thanksgiving. All week long the kids all ask, "Is today the day we're doing the gingerbread houses?" "Can we do the gingerbread houses now?" In fact, even in the middle of the chaos of fixing thanksgiving dinner there was pleading for making the gingerbread houses!! Nana always makes sure that every family that is there has a house to decorate together. Most of the time it is a kit. Last year she baked all of the houses and made all of the frosting and bought all the candy. Ya, she's kind of a power-woman like that. But I have to say, I don't think that one will be happening again...

This year was the best ever. It's called "PRE-ASSEMBLED." No slipping, no sliding, no holding for hours the roof to the walls...

happy crafting!

'reeses' peanut butter leaves

Ok, I'll admit. This is a treat that we make in the fall, in the winter, in the spring and you get what I mean. It is one that we definitely have to share with neighbors and friends, because I could seriously eat the entire large pan by myself.

Reeses peanut butter bars

2 cups peanut butter
6 cups powdered sugar
1 1/4 cup melted butter

Mix and press into a cookie sheet.

Melt 12 ounces of chocolate chips in the microwave for 1 - 1 1/2 minutes. Spread over top.

Put it in the fridge to set the chocolate up for 20 minutes or so. If you wait too long, the chocolate will crack when you cut them and it's not so pretty. If you don't wait long enough it just kind of gooey's all over. If you actually forget about them and leave them in the fridge too long, you can set the pan on the top of a warm oven and it will soften back up pretty well. Aren't you glad that I make mistakes to find such helpful solutions for you? They can be cut into bars, but I like to use seasonal cookie cutters. Besides, then someone has to eat what's left over after you cut...

Enjoy!

turley the surly turkey

There once was a turkey-quite a beautiful bird-
Who could talk just like us! Don't you think that's absurd?
When hearing his story, folks would travel a week.
Their eyes popped! Their mouths dropped
When they took their first peek!

With his unusual talent, Turley only caused pain,
For this gobbledy fellow could only complain
'Bout the farmer, his food, his coop and the weather;
He even complained 'bout the size of his feathers!

In one ear and out his words quickly flew,
And although he could talk, there was nobody who
Really wanted to listen to this ungrateful bird
'Till soon what he said was not heard - not one word!

Then on a morning close to Thanksgiving Day
Turley went to speak, but no word could he say!
He strained and he struggled, but nothing came out.
Not a peep nor a mumble or a gobbledy shout.

So poor Turley sat down, pulled his feathers all in,
And rubbed at his throat again and again.
He was sad; he was lonely. What could have gone wrong?
He sat there and thought, and he thought all day long.

Turley thought of the nice things he'd almost once said,
Wond'ring why he had not said those nice things instead.
His tail feathers trembled when he thought of his friends,
Of crunchy grain, his warm coop....
"Hmmm, I must make amends."

Now old Turley's feathers continued to shake
As he counted his blessings for his own turkey sake.
The more that he counted, the harder they shook
Until Turley stood up and took a much closer look.

Oh, my! Oh, my goodness! Are these feathers all mine?
Unbelievable! Incredible! They're simply divine!
For on each turkey feather of this marvelous bird
Were written Turley's blessings in capital words!

Why, this turkey, once known as ungrateful, was now
A turkey most thankful and humble - not proud!
Turley gleamed and he glowed! Turley gobbled with glee!
What a warm glowing feeling to be thankful as he!

As Thanksgiving arrived, Turley had nothing to fear.
He was cordially invited to spread holiday cheer.
Each blessing was counted, each thanks said, sincere,
His feathers now showed what to him was most dear.

(author unknown)

It's fun to look back and see how our perspective on blessings has changed and grown over the years.

President Gordon B. Hinckley said, “When you walk with gratitude, you do not walk with arrogance and conceit and egotism, you walk with a spirit of thanksgiving that is becoming to you and will bless your lives.”

It's important and even necessary for us to see the good in our lives.  There is always something that we can be grateful for.  Every single moment we have the choice to be grateful or not.  Let's keep on looking for those blessings and miracles in our lives, whether they be big or small. They are the things that change who we are and who we need to become.
Happy Thanksgiving, all.

Keep Smiling!