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Be the reason someone smiles today.

Wednesday, December 31, 2014

NEW YEAR MEMORY JARS


I just love the idea of the yearly
memory jar....
such a fun thing that everyone in the house can
participate in during the year and
enjoy together when you read all of the
comments in the jar on New Year's Eve...

...after that you can just put it all back into
the jar and continue using the cards for following
years...or each year you can put them all into
a book and have a yearly memory scrapbook...

I like the idea of using recipe cards so you can
use them for more than one year and have plenty of
room to write on them....

I am putting together one using a large clear
glass cookie jar that I will decorate a little...
probably with some pretty paper strips...
and regular sized recipe cards...

I also plan to add things like restaurant receipts,
birthday cards, gift cards, tickets etc. to
go along with our comments about the day...maybe
even some pictures....

I really do wish I had thought of doing something
like this years ago...but it's never too late to do a
Memory Jar !


...here is a link that gives you more ideas on this...
http://steamykitchen.com/19992-memory-jar.html
_____________________________________________________________________________

...and here is another one...



...if you simply do a web search of  'memory jar'
you will get many, many blogs that have different ideas
for them...have fun !

WHITE CHOCOLATE PEPPERMINT POPCORN


Here is a holiday flavored popcorn that would be great
to serve at a Christmas event or New Year's Eve or New Year's Day
party....it has crushed candy canes in it...yum!

...of course it makes great gifts for just about anyone...
or a perfect snack for just you and your family to munch
on during the holiday season...


...recipe is here:

Monday, December 22, 2014

PLASTIC SPOON SNOWMEN


I have been collecting snowmen for some years now
and I just love them...
they have the happy faces that Christmas should bring
to everyone...
...so when I saw this craft I knew I just had to post it..

Spoon Snowmen in Clay Pots by Amanda Formaro of Crafts by Amanda

I know we are just a few days away
from Christmas but there is still time to make
a quick craft project like this one !
enjoy !
...directions here...

PAPER PLATE ELF


...and now...back to a couple more fun
Christmas crafts...

This is another fun Christmas craft that both kids and adults
can work on...
just gather the supplies....print the pattern...glue together and
add the cute little bells....
(reminder: of course if you are making this with a young child
you wouldn't want the little metal bells involved...but you can
easily come up with a replacement for them).

I think this is about the cutest paper elf I have come across
anywhere....I need a couple of them in our house too !

Paper Plate Elf by Amanda Formaro, Crafts by Amanda

...pattern is here...


CHEDDAR BACON RANCH PULLS


ohhh boy !
...recipes like this hurt...but hey...
even if I have to be careful about eating it I know
there are people who don't have to be....
so I like sharing these recipes when I find them ....

...this looks just absolutely delicious...
can't you visualize it on your Christmas Eve
buffet table...
maybe served with great things like deviled eggs...
fruit salads...potato salad...on and on and on...


....here is how you make this..


PRETZEL CRISPS


Now that I have posted a lot of last minute Christmas craft
ideas on here it's time to move on to a few yummy treats
to put out on those holiday serving trays...

I think this one would be fun to serve...I am not a fan of pretzels
but I think dipped in the white chocolate they would be delicious
to munch on...

holiday-pretzel-crisps*

...here is the recipe...


GINGERBREAD MEN - REINDEER


Do you still have to frost those Gingerbread Men 
before Christmas Eve ?
....how about turning some of them upside down and making them
into cute reindeer cookies instead...
this is a really awesome idea...
wish I had been the one to think of it !

...... they are so cute...

gingerbread_men_-_reindeer

....recipe and instruction here if you don't have
any baked yet....

Sunday, December 21, 2014

COOKIE CUTTER FUDGE


Again...what can I say about this one...
the picture says it all....
I can't think of a more fun way to present a gift of
fudge to someone...

...and not only the fudge is a gift but they have a 
great cookie cutter to keep after it's gone....

...there is also a recipe for the fudge that looks pretty
easy to make...

Cookie Cutter Fudge

....here is the link...

ROLL A SNOWMAN GAME


This is just so cute...
you know how restless kids get while waiting for it
to be time to open presents at Christmas...
(I still do myself.....)
this would be a great way to keep them busy...
it looks so fun I think you might want to jump in
and try to win it too...

....just print...cut out the pieces...take turns...
then see who gets his or her snowman done first....so fun!

roll a snowman

...you can print it here...

HOMEMADE BEADED CHRISTMAS ORNAMENTS FOR KIDS


If you are looking for something fun and pretty for
your kids to keep busy with here is a good idea...
and if you are checking out Christmas crafts or any other
craft then I'm sure you probably have a good supply of
beads somewhere in your home....
or you know where to easily find them in a store...
these are so pretty, when they are done any child would
be proud to have made one...
have fun!

homemade ornaments for kids

...here is the link to show you how to do them...

Friday, December 19, 2014

CHRISTMAS CARD DECORATION


This is going to be just a quick little post about
an easy Christmas gift project...
I wanted to come up with a little homemade gift so I went
searching in my craft drawers and this is what I came up with...

...first, I had these stacks or wooden boards, or slats I think they
are officially called in the craft stores....you can buy them pretty much
anywhere that sells craft items...and they are inexpensive...I bought mine
a couple of packs at a time over the years so I have had a good supply
on hand...

...when I picked these up I also bought bags of different sized
wooden pieces...so I took all of these and started thinking about what
I could do with them for Christmas...
then I remembered the boxes of left-over Christmas cards
that we had accumulated over the years and went to work cutting those
to fit on the slats....

then I used these board shapes...


...after I cut the Christmas cards to fit the board I Mod Podged
them onto it and let it dry well...


...I glued the mini popsicle stick to the center of both the
top and bottom edges of the picture...after it dried I painted them and
the edge of the boards that were showing alongside of them...

...next I glued the longer stick to the top of the board in the back
just to put a little finishing look on it...I painted that the same
color as the popsicle sticks...

After everything dried well I mixed some fine silver glitter into Mod Podge
and covered the entire thing with it....it dried with a very nice glittery
look but you can still clearly see the picture on the card....

...I then finished them off by gluing a hanger of jute cord with a couple
silver beads on it....you could use ribbon or any other kind of hanger
that you prefer...I used this because I wanted them to have a little bit of
a country Christmas look to them...

...after everything was good and dry I glued a little button to the
middle of the top popsicle stick to add to the country look...

...here is the final result...


I hope this is not too confusing...it really is a simple
little gift to make...the most time consuming part of it
is waiting for the paint, glue and Mod Podge to dry...
otherwise it's easy to make...

I think considering it was a last-minute idea it turned
out pretty good !
.....Merry Christmas....





CHOCOLATE CHIP DIP with GRAHAM CRACKER STICKS


When I planned holiday parties and dinners I always
thought of appetizers as consisting of fruits and/or vegetables...
or tiny little cracker sandwiches or itty bitty little pizza crackers...
but here is an easy sweet dip to serve with graham crackers...
this looks both fun and delicious...whether you choose to
serve it before or after the meal...either way it would be good...

...what a pretty looking dip !
...here is the recipe for you...

RICE KRISPY TREAT ORNAMENTS


...and again...here is another great treat that would be so nice
to give out as gifts....what can I say...just one fun Christmas idea
after another....
I have so many things set aside to add on here during the holiday season..
seems like every year more brilliant ideas show up on these blogs...
fun ! fun !



....link below...



Monday, December 15, 2014

SANTA PHOTOS


Here is an interesting Christmas website where
you can get not only printables and crafts but also
recipes and song lyrics (you can also listen to the songs).
If you are not in the Christmas mode yet this will certainly
put you there...so many nice things...

...below is a link to it where you can send in past or present
Santa pictures and they will post them to their site...
enjoy!

MARSHMALLOW STUFFED COOKIES


Those of you who are familiar with the
Smart School House
website have probably seen and maybe even
tried these fantastic looking cookies....

I have not gotten to try them yet but I hope to soon..
I remember my aunt Agnes making cookies that had a surprise
square of chocolate inside of them and that's what I thought of
when I first saw this recipe....
what a clever idea...
I bet it would work with other kinds of cookies too, like peanut butter?...
oatmeal? ...pretty much any kind....

(as a diabetic I know that if I eat marshmallows my glucose readings will
sky rocket every time...so diabetics beware and eat these carefully)!

....when you go to this blog for the recipe be sure to check out all the
other fantastic things on there....it's one of my favorites...

Marshmallow Stuffed Chocolate Cookies

....here is the recipe for these...

DIY FROSTY THE SNOWMAN CANDY GIFT POTS


 

Here is another easy and fun gift to make for
people on your list who you just want to do something
nice for and say "Merry Christmas"....
I think it would be fun to put it on your neighbors doorstep...
the best part of this little gift is that not only do they get
to eat the yummy candy but after it's gone they still have the
cute snowman pot to decorate with in the future....

DIY Simple Snowman Candy Gift Pots!  Perfect for a holiday party favor or secret santa gift!  More details at livelaughrowe.com

...here is your directions for this one...




JINGLE ALL THE WAY



I love this idea!
So simple and cute and what a great Christmas decoration...
I think I will make one next year to hang on our door...

One of the things that has always fascinated me
about crafts is that there are always new things that
people come up with...such clever ideas that someone
thinks of that other don't...
anytime I go searching around the stores or the 
internet I come across new and fun ideas for things
to make...I also love creating some of my own....

..take a look at this great idea!


...if you want to make one here is the link...




Sunday, December 14, 2014

PRINTABLE NATIVITY SETS


This comes from a great blog...
she has so many things for teaching children the
meaning of Christmas...
I think it would be perfect for Sunday School teachers etc....
I especially like these printable Nativity figures...
just add a popsicle stick to use as puppets....cute!


...here is the link...be sure to look around while you are there...

Friday, December 12, 2014

CANDY CANE DIP RECIPE


I have so many Christmas things I wanted to post
but my internet is so slow tonight I will have to try again another day...
it's not supposed to do this at Christmas time !

...but I do want to struggle with getting this one on now because
I think it would be so fun to serve at a holiday get-together...
they recommend dipping apples in it but I bet
something like Vanilla Wafer cookies or Sugar Cookies
or anything like that would be great too...
how about Graham Crackers...yum !

...this is just 3 simple ingredients and would make a great gift too
as she shows on her blog...

Delicious Candy Cane Dip Recipe and gift idea at the36thavenue.com Perfect for Christmas!





DRESS A SNOWMAN


I can't seem to get a sample of this to post
on here but it's a cute little program that allows you to
drag items onto the snowman...
it gives you a variety of scarves and faces etc.
so you can create lots of different snowman looks....

How fun this would be for kids and adults...
or how about kids and adults together !
...it's a great little Christmas activity for a family to do...
you could each take a turn and then take a picture of
the snowman each family member comes up with....
even print them out and hang them up for decorations
in your house...
enjoy !


(now I'm going to go dress me a snowman) !







 Christmas games

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