Merry Christmas!

Day 25 of my personal creative challenge

God bless each of you on this day and all through the year.

Homemade Caramel Corn

It's day 24 of my personal creative challenge

The caramel corn is done and packaged up in it's Christmas popcorn boxes.  Yes, there is a prize inside each box.

This caramel corn is delicious and it turns out crisp not chewy every time.  I put a little prize in the bottom of each one.  Lip gloss rings for the girls and dinosaur erasers for the boys.  I found the prizes in the party isle at the big store down the hill.

It's almost time to deliver the goodies.  I hope your Christmas eve is filled with the love, joy and hope of the season and you and your family get to celebrate the birth of Christ and His gift to each of us.  I'll talk to you again soon.

Cowboy Christmas Cookies part II

This is day 23 of my personal creative challenge

If you've been reading my blog the last few days you may remember that I make a batch of Cowboy Christmas cookies for my gift platters.  Well, they didn't last long enough to go on the platters.  I went in to the pantry yesterday and found that the container only had about 4 cookies left, the guilty party admitted to eating them but said he thought I had more somewhere else and didn't realize these were for the platters.  Oh well, a second batch went together today and I think these turned out better than the first batch.  

 I started packaging them up as soon as they were cool enough so hopefully they'll make it out to our friends and neighbors.  For this gift I used another one of the cute little buckets I got at Target.  Then I made labels for the top of the containers.  I've still got to add a tag and some ribbon but, they're almost ready to go out the door.

I hope your day was filled with fun and laughter too.  I'll talk to you again soon.

Chocolate, chocolate cookies

It's day 22 of my personal creative challenge

Today I worked on some gluten free chocolate cookies for a friend of mine.  They have a meringue base and lots of chocolate.  I think they turned out pretty good and DH says "they rock", high praise indeed!  

I found these cute clear paint buckets in the Target $1 bins.  Perfect for a dozen of these little chocolate treats.  I just need to add a label and tag and ribbon, of course.  More goodies to be made tomorrow so I'll talk to you again soon.

10 minutes or less

This is day 20 of my personal creative challenge

A very quick card for the top of a cookie tray.  One stamp, one color of ink, a little glitter, ribbon and a tag I already had.  I really like this lime green color it's not a traditional green but I like it's brightness.  I'm making more goodies in the kitchen and hoping to post pictures soon.

Have a great evening.  I'll talk to you again soon.

Thank you volunteers!

Today is day 16 of my personal creative challenge

Finished up the last of my volunteer thank you gifts.  They all turned out great and I think my ladies really liked them.

Each set ended up being a different color combination.  I can't decide which one was my favorite.  This green and red set was very traditional but I loved how it turned out.  The next set was is a pale blue green with accents of brown and it was really pretty too. 

Nope, can't decide.  What about you?  Do you have a favorite?  Thanks for stopping by, we have a gathering to go to tonight so I guess I better go wrap those white elephant gifts.  I'll talk to you again soon.

Sugared Almonds

This is day 15 of my personal creative challenge

A yummy treat and mostly healthy gift, these sugared almonds are pretty easy to make but, a little time consuming, you can package them up in a variety of cute ways.  This year I went a little easy on myself and made some small popcorn shaped  boxes to put them in.

These were easy to put together and then wrap up with a little clear wrap.  A quick tie with some ribbon and they are good to go.  This recipe will make enough for several little gifts as long as I stay out of the bowl.

I hope you are having a great evening.  Only one day left before our Christmas break starts, not that I'm counting or anything.  I'll talk to you again soon.

Christmas gift set version II

This is day 13 of my personal creative challenge

Finished the second Christmas gift set this evening.  I used the un-traditional colors of pink and black for this set.  This gift is for my friend Rebecca, she is a girly girl so the color combination reminded me of her.

This set contains the same elements as the first, a decorated notepad and paperclip bookmark, three different gift tag designs, 4 embossed note cards and envelopes and 4 embossed gift card envelopes.  Hope she likes it. 

I've got somethings in the oven so I better go take care of that.  Thanks for stopping in, I'll talk to you again soon.

Christmas Cowboy Cookies

This is day 12 in my personal creative challenge

This evening it was more baking for the neighbor's treat trays.  I was trying a new recipe for cowboy cookies.  There are several versions on the web and I read just about all of them.  I decided to use Bakerella's version to start off with but, I hit a few snags.  My first problem was I thought I had enough oats in the cabinet but when I opened the container... no joy, not enough for the recipe.  But in that same cabinet I had a bag of "Bare Naked granola" and that got me thinking, these cookies are flexible enough to have lots of goodies in them why not substitute the oatmeal with granola.  Okey Dokey, in the bowl it went.  Next, I had no pecans!  What!!! how could I have no pecans.  Well, I didn't and I wasn't going out in the rain/ice/snow to pick some up so I guess there'll be no pecans in this batch.  I added the rest of the ingredients and as I was mixing,  the dough was very dry and was not going to hold together to bake.  Again I though to my self, what should I add, milk? nah, I think I was channeling Paula Dean,  so I added more butter and another egg, better,  but now it was a little too sticky so I added more flour.  Are you getting the picture?  The stuff in the bowl kept getting bigger and bigger!  Finally, the first batch went into the oven.  They smelled really good, they didn't look bad, I sort of let them cool and tried one.  MMMM, I think I'm on to something.  

They have the chewy texture of an oatmeal cookie, lots of chocolate goodness, and the coconut adds another layer of texture and taste.  My adventurous DH tried one (after they'd cooled for a couple of minutes) He pronounced them tasty.  Okay, guess these will make it on to the treat trays after all.

I'm off to take another batch out of the oven.  Sleep well, and I'll talk to you again soon.

Gift set

This is Day 11 in my personal creative challenge

Finished!  All the pieces are together in my holiday stationary gift set for my friend Rosa.  I'm making three more sets in different color combinations but I just had to show you one of them completed!  Everything is handmade, even the gift box.  So here's what's inside...

On the left side of the box is the notepad and matching paperclip bookmark with a coordinating pen.  The center sections hold the three different designs of gift tags (four of each design) on the right are 4 snowflake embossed note cards and envelopes and the bottom right are four snowflake embossed gift card envelopes.  Hopefully it has everything she needs to finish her gift wrapping and correspondence.  I'll add a big bow and gift tag when I give it to her.  As I finish the other sets I'll post them too.

Well, I have some photos to edit still tonight so I guess I better get busy.  Have a great start to your week and I'll talk to you again soon.

Creative Kitchen

This is Day 10 in my personal creative challenge

The holiday baking has started.  I decided to make these Candy Cane Blossom cookies for the cookie exchange at school.  I found this pretty red pearlized sugar at Michael's.  It's so sparkly.  These are super easy and look so pretty.  I'll probably bake extra for my neighbor treat trays.

You can find the recipe for these on the Hershey website here.  Well, I'm off to do more baking.  I hope your weekend is off to an excellent start.  Thanks for stopping by, I'll talk to you again soon.

Tags again!

This is Day 8

in my personal creative challenge

This is the last set of tags for the gift set I'm putting together.  This gift set is done in shades of purple and blue with a little silver and glitter thrown in.  There are a couple more pieces to the set then I'll show you the entire project. 

This little challenge of mine was a bit hard to do today, it was a long day at school and I kind of wanted to come home and veg out but I knew I'd be disappointed in myself if I didn't at least make the attempt.  I'm glad I did.
  

I'm photographing an event tomorrow night so I know I'm going to be creative, but I'm not sure I'll be able to post, I'm going to try my best though!  Have a great day tomorrow and I'll talk to you again soon.

Glittery snowy gift tags

This post is Day 7 

in my personal challenge to do something creative every day.

More tags for the gift set I'm working on.  Can't wait for you to see it all put together.  But, until then, this is another small part of the set.  We're back to school tomorrow there has finally been some melting of the snow and roads are clear enough for the buses and student drivers to make it to the various campuses around the city.  It's been a great and unexpected break and a nice jump start to my creative challenge.

 Have a great day tomorrow and I'll talk to you again soon.

Day 6 Treat boxes

Spent part of the day making treat containers and deciding on which recipes to use this year.  We always deliver treat trays to our neighbors, it's a tradition I enjoy and helps to kick off the season.  The bigger containers are for my favorite caramel corn recipe.  It comes out perfect every time and so addictive I could eat an entire batch by myself (almost in one sitting!)  I will try to refrain from over indulging but it will be a struggle.  These still need tags and labels but at least they are started.  Have a restful evening and I'll talk to you again soon.

Day 3 creative personal challenge

Whew! just made it.  I've been away from home the majority of the day, but I was able to get a card made for a care package that is leaving tomorrow for a friend stationed in Korea.  That was first thing this morning about 7:30 am, but I only got home a few minutes ago to post.  I guess that's why it's called a challenge, right?  My goal is to use this activity to manage my time better, to use those quick minutes productively rather than squander them.   I know when I've been able to be creative in some small way during the day I feel like I've accomplished something and that gives me a little more joy.  When I get to make or do something for someone else that brings them a little joy, that just adds to the feeling.

There is still time, do something this evening that brings you joy, and if it is for someone else... that's all the better!  I'll talk to you again soon.

Cookie Exchange

I am helping with the preparations for a holiday cookie exchange.  I'm making the invitations, yes, 96 of them.  I found this cute wrapping paper in the $1 bin at Target.  It works perfectly with our theme of peppermint candy and candy canes.  I'm planning on posting a tutorial for the envelopes later this week/weekend.  Inside the envelope are two recipe cards.  The first one is the typed up invitation with all the exchange directions and the second is a blank recipe card for them to RSVP with by filling it out with their cookie recipe.  Next, I printed out sheets with "You're invited" and punched them out with a tag punch, a little distressing on the edges, a cute candy die cut and bow and it's ready to be attached.  This is one of the prototypes so I used embroidery floss for the bow on the tag but I found some cute baker's twine that coordinates exactly with the wrapping paper so for the real thing I'm going to use that.  I painted the natural wood clothespin white and then added peppermint stripes to it as well. A little candy cane to finish it off and it's done.  Now, just 95 more to go!

I went back and forth about the closure for the top but decided that the peppermint clothes pin was too cute not to do. 

Do you have any great suggestions for an amazing cookie recipe? Leave me a comment, we could do a virtual exchange, post a pic of your cookies in the comments.  I am looking forward to hearing about your cookie creations!  I'll talk to you again soon.

Holiday Cards 2010

A bright and cheery holiday card.  This is one of a very few we'll be passing out this year.  I just ran out of time.

This one is a little more elegant, but with lots of sparkly glitter.  So much left to do and so little time to do it!! Guess I'm off to get busy.  Talk to you again soon.

Count down to Christmas!

Finished up these 12 days of Christmas count down calendars for my library volunteers.  They were a big hit and fun to put together as well.

The little tins have magnets on the back so the shape of the countdown can be rearranged every year.  I used lots of glitter and bling.  Some of the days are filled with candy for sharing and others have tiny ornaments and the last day is a cute little Christmas bracelet for my wonderful workers.

I'm counting the days till I'll be spending time with family and friends this holiday season.  I hope your days are filled with love, hope, joy and peace.  I'll talk to you soon.