GIVEAWAY!

In honor of this blog getting its own Facebook page I am giving a way a Christmas box filled with homemade goodies from this blog! To enter our random drawing all you need to do is LIKE this page on Facebook between now and Dec. 9th @ 8:00pm. Here is a link to the Facebook page.

The winner will be announced on this blog on Monday Dec 10th! Pin It

Week 12 Project List

The Santa hat pretzels did not get made last week and was replaced with Rolo pretzel snacks instead. So, Landon and I will be making these this week. Here is the weeks list of projects.

Santa hat pretzels (picture only)
Christmas mod podge sayings (no tutorial)
Snowman kit
Chocolate covered peppermint sticks (picture only)
Coffee and Cookies
Christmas tree nails
Crocheted dog sweater

I teach 2-5 year olds in Sunday School and today I had the privilege of teaching a little girl that Christmas is when we celebrate Jesus' birthday. She hadn't known that before. Now THAT is what Christmas is all about! Don't forget to keep Jesus the center of this season!



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Budget update: Week 11

Another big week. Half of the cost was caused by the gifts for the Christmas count down box. You decide what you want your gifts and activities to be in your count down so you control the price. It would not have to cost this much.
Fuzzy fluffy material for cozy toes slippers - $6.50
Pretzels for Santa hat pretzels and nutter butter reindeer - $3
Vanilla almond bark for Santa hat pretzels - $3
Mini marshmallows for Santa hat pretzels - $1
Nutter butter cookies for nutter butter reindeer - $3
Red hots for nutter butter reindeer and hot chocolate snowman - $1
Craft sticks for nutter butter reindeer - $2.50
Gifts for Christmas count down box - $22
This weeks total = $40 Pin It

Day 76: Nutter Butter Reindeer

This was one of the most difficult projects that I have done so far. I know, it really should be easy right? Nutter Butter reindeer, just dip cookies in chocolate and add a few things to make them look like reindeers. Yeah, that is what I thought.

To make the reindeers you need:
Chocolate chips
Nutter Butter cookies
Red Hot candies
pretzels
white and black royal icing
craft sticks

 

First take a cookie and place a craft stick in the middle.This step started the problem. The cookies would separate when you shoved a stick in them. I found these "skinny sticks" at Wal-Mart. They were a little thinner and longer than popsicle sticks.

 

 

Next, melt your chocolate chips. I did this in the crock pot. Here is the thing, you CANNOT  dip these if you want them to stay intact. Or maybe you can, but we couldn't! So many of our cookies ended up a chocolate peanut mess. We ended up spooning some chocolate over the cookie sitting on some foil. Then, after the chocolate has dried you can remove any unwanted chocolate from the sides of your cookie.

 

To add the antlers I used broken pieces of pretzel and shoved them in between the layers of the cookie. We also made some by just laying the bottom of the pretzel on top of the cookie and covering it with chocolate to make it stay.

Add a Red Hot to the bottom of the cookie for a nose.

Using black and white royal icing make eyes. I placed 1 of my eyes on a chocolate bump without realizing it, so it slid off and looked droopy.

To finish up I used plastic sandwich bags and curling ribbon to wrap up my little deer.

 

 

 

 

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1st Ever Crafter Meet Up

My 1st ever crafter meet up was yesterday. Sponsored by the library in Mt. Enterprise TX. We were few in number but had a wonderful time!
I set up different crafting stations and had 3 different crafts for everyone to try. These crafts were Christmas mog podge sayings, nutter butter reindeer, and glitter Santa jars. I will be going through how to make these projects on the blog in the next couple days.
We had yummy snacks, Christmas music, and some really awesome company with some old friends and new friends! It was a great kick off to December and the Christmas season!
Here are some pictures from our craft filled day.

Dani took the pic. Thank you sister :)
Don't forget: I will be in Tatum at the library hosting a crafting corner for KIDS! This is on Dec. 18th at 3:00pm! Santa will be there too. Make plans to bring your kids out for a fun Christmasy day! Pin It

Day 75: Christmas Countdown Box

It is 25 days until Christmas! Today's project was a Christmas count down bucket. We do not celebrate advent but I thought it would be fun to count down the days until Christmas anyway. I looked at several different blogs with ideas for your count down. Some people only have activities for their children to do each day on the count down. Others only have gifts for them to open. I wanted to do a mixture of both.
I made my list of 24 activities (obviously the activity on the 25 is Christmas) and gifts and went to the store to pick up the supplies I needed.

Here is my list:
wrap gifts
write Santa
record Christmas book to send to friends
quick Christmas craft
make Christmas cookies
make a snowman kit
make chocolate covered peppermint sticks
make Santa hat pretzels
watch a Christmas movie in fort
deliver cookies and coffee to library workers
play Lego board game with family
put a puzzle together with family
Christmas song contest (each person takes a turn listening to the first line of a Christmas song and tries to finish the rest of the song)
Nativity story coloring book and crayons
help cook favorite dinner
picnic in the park
make gingerbread play dough
go to Mama T's Christmas tree farm
new PJ's and movie in bed
go to dinner and a show and recite Luke 2:1-15
new Christmas book to read
hot cocoa and snacks
pick out toys in room to give away (he will get a very small new toy at the end to make it a little more fun)
Shopping for daddy's Christmas gift

I didn't have a bucket to use so I wrapped a corn dog box instead.

 

I wrapped the gifts that I had bought and made envelope with notes telling Landon what to do on the days that have activities.

I printed these count down printable numbers so he knows which gift or envelope to open on each day.

 

 

 

Today's activity was watch a movie in the fort. He was so excited to put up his new super hero fort kit (with the help of daddy)!

 

 

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Day 74: Rolo Pretzel Snacks

Today was crazy. We had to catch up on a lot of school that we had got behind on while Landon was sick. The house was a huge mess so I had to take time to make it a little more livable. And, I was all a bustle getting everything together for my 1st ever crafter meet up tomorrow! We also celebrated our family Christmas tonight. We were busy busy all day long. In the mist of this hoopla I once again forgot to work on a project for the blog. However, God knew I would forget and covered my back! I took pictures of the Rolo Pretzel Snacks that I made for the meet up tomorrow.
I had never made these before but when I heard the ingredients I knew I would love them!

All you need is:
A bag of Rolo candies
Pretzels
Pecan halves

Fill the bottom of a oven safe pan with a single layer of pretzels.

Unwrap the Rolos and place one on top of each pretzel.

Let the Rolos melt in a 250 degree oven for 3-4 minutes (depending on how hot your oven runs).
I did my first batch for 4 minutes and they melted a little to much so the next batch I left in for 3 minutes. I think 3 1/2 probably would have been ideal.

Working fairly quick after taking the snacks out of the oven, gently press a pecan half on top of each Rolo. It is probably best to let these sit for a while on wax paper and let them harden again. DO NOT put them in the freezer while they are on the pan. LOL, I speak from experience. They would not come off the pan after that. I had to reheat them and they lost a lot of the caramel the second time around.

I can not imagine these not being a huge hit at any party! They are SO good! They taste like chocolate dipped pretzel meets turtle candy! YUMMY!

Don't forget, any of you who live around Mt. Enterprise Texas Come out and see me tomorrow at the community center @ 1pm! We are going to have a great Christmasy time! Pin It