.

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

Sunday, November 30, 2014

GERMAN CHOCOLATE FUDGE


Let me say...yet again...
I Love German Chocolate anything !!!

Of course I know, with being a diabetic etc. I can't get carried away
with eating this kind of treat..but...
wouldn't it be just beautiful on a tray of Christmas goodies...
or in a pretty little gift tin for teachers, bus drivers, mail persons, Sunday School teachers...
neighbors, daycare providers...
on and on and on...

This is about the prettiest and most tempting fudge recipe
I have seen on internet or otherwise and I just had to share it here...

German Chocolate Fudge with SimplyGloria.com #Fudge

...you can get the recipe here along with bunches 
of other great fudge recipes...

Friday, November 28, 2014

Strawberry Cake Bars


I hope all of you had a wonderful Thanksgiving...
we sure did !
...and if you still have guests to feed at your house,
or even just your own family and the delicious
holiday pie is all eaten up already...
this would be a great recipe for you !

Wow !
What needs to be said about these...
they look unbelievably delicious....
and so quick and easy to make..
I can't wait to try them...
I'm going to use a sugar free cake mix though and I'm sure it will be so good too !

Can't you just taste these with a little whipped topping
or some vanilla ice cream on top...

cake bars.png Strawberry Cake Bars

....you can get this great recipe here...

Monday, November 3, 2014

THANKSGIVING WORD SCRAMBLE (Printable)


Thanksgiving month already...
does that seem possible ??
....to me it doesn't....this year has flown by so fast...
....when I set up a Thanksgiving table in the past
I always liked to add a little something to each
place setting to make it even more fun...
I have done place mats and utensil holders
and even turkeys on the tablecloth for each guest to color...

...but...now I like to do this instead...
create something cute and simple for all of you to
use on your dinner table....

...nothing is more fun than word scramble puzzles...
and it keep both kids and adults occupied while you are
finishing up those last minute dinner things...

I am including a printable for the puzzle itself
and also a sheet with the answers in case anybody gets
too 'puzzled' and can't figure one or a few out...

...of course you could take this to a prize winning level and
have a prize for the people who might get all of
them correct...
like maybe a little pie container holding one
piece of pie to bring home...
or...
you could make an extra pretty little
bowl of one of your dinner sides for
the winner to take home with them
(and keep the bowl of course)
.......
..all kinds of fun ideas could come from this...
another one would be a pretty candy dish filled
with fall candies like M&M's or such...

....however you do it I hope everyone has fun, fun, fun with it...


...here are the printables for you...


Wednesday, October 29, 2014

TODDLER'S HALLOWEEN MATCHING GAME


I couldn't sleep a couple of nights ago
so I put together this little
toddler's Halloween matching game...
it's very simple for little ones to have fun with ...
just print the game board
(I would suggest using card stock paper to make it stronger)
....then print and cut apart the matching picture squares...
all they have to do is place a tile on top
of it's matching picture...
...after working with kids for many, many years
I know they would feel like they really
accomplished something great when they find a matching
tile !

(since I was in a hurry to get this done in time for Halloween,
I used the help of my Scrapbook Factory program for
some of the pictures in this design).

...printables here...




Monday, October 27, 2014

BACON BAKED MAC & CHEESE CASSEROLE


I remember the delicious
homemade macaroni & cheese that my mom made for us
when we were growing up...
I still need to have that from time to time, but when I make it,
it's not as awesome as I remember when Mom made it...
when I was little and got sick she would ask me what I wanted
for supper and I always asked for macaroni & cheese...
I would be 'in bed' on the living room couch and she
would bring me a plate of it along with a buttered slice of bread....
sick as I was I still enjoyed it...

....then along came the boxed versions which we do buy
and have from time to time...it's good...and we like to create
different recipes with it...such as baking it with some kind
of meat involved...sliced hot dogs...smoked sausage...
even cut up pieces of pork tenderloin or stew meat...

I came across this recipe when I was passing some time
looking around one day and I thought it looked pretty good...
when I try it of course the cream of mushroom soup
will be replaced with cream of chicken though as I just
can't handle mushrooms in any shape or form on my plate...

I'm thinking it's not the most healthy recipe
with the bacon and crackers being so salty and all
the carbs in some of the ingredients...
but as we always hear....
'it's all about moderation!'
....I would suggest to not overdo on this one...
but again like I always say....
eating unhealthy is acceptable just now and then...

Bacon Baked Macaroni and Cheese Casserole Recipe from TheFrugalGirls.com

....here is the recipe...




Tuesday, October 21, 2014

HALLOWEEN BOOKMARKS


oof-da Kids
Halloween bookmarks....
have fun with these...
there are 4 different designs...
the printable includes all 4 on one sheet...



...print here:

Friday, October 17, 2014

HALLOWEEN OOF-DA KIDS HAVE ARRIVED !


Did you know oof-da Kids
love to trick or treat too ?
They do...
and here they are all dressed up in their Halloween costumes
for you...
This is my treat for everyone...
feel free to print as many as you like...
there are many ways you could use them..
how about printing them in a small size and
attaching them to drinking straws for your Halloween party...
or you could print them to fit the size of a candy bar
and attach them to it with double-sided tape...
when the candy is eaten...
the little person (or whoever you treat with them)
still has a cute little oof-da paper doll
to remember it by...
...there are many, many ways you can come up with
to use these ...
if you send Halloween cards to special people
you could print them to fit in the card for
an extra little treat...
...or even just hang them around the house...
or in your windows ...front door...
on and on and on...
...if you have another unique idea we all
would love to hear how you used them..
a little comment at the bottom of this post
or in email would make me and
the oof-da Kids smile !

...so....here they are..you can change the size of them in your
printer setup if you need to...

...there is a link for printing each one of them...
and...
HAPPY HALLOWEEN TO ALL !

(there are 8 different costumes...all have a white
background to save on your printer ink!)








oof-da Tiger Costume
Created by Khristelle Graphics
2014









Wednesday, October 15, 2014

PHIL'S WEBSITE


We have finished Phil's new blog
where his photos are now displayed...

...he will be adding new ones on a regular
basis so check back from time to time .....

here is the link to his blog:



Tuesday, October 14, 2014

SAUSAGE BRUNCH CASSEROLE


This looks so good and so easy to make...
I have made one similar to this before but it
used biscuits instead of the crescent rolls...
I hope to try this one soon...
I bet it's great with bacon or ham too...

Sausage Brunch Casserole Recipe

...you can get this recipe here...




Sunday, October 12, 2014

PHIL'S PHOTOS


We are in the process of moving Phil's photos to
a new website..
as soon as it is set up I will post a link for anyone
who wants to check it out.

Wednesday, October 8, 2014

HALLOWEEN OOF-DA KIDS !



A NEW PAGE OF PHIL'S PHOTOS ADDED


I have added an additional page for Phil's Photos...
you will find the scenic photos there...

Soon I will be back to posting my variety of things but for now
here is a sample of Phil's new moon eclipse photos taken
October 8, 2014...

....enjoy!...







Sunday, September 28, 2014

MORE NEW PHOTOS BY PHIL


Check out Phil's 12 new late summer photos..
just click on 
'Phil's Photos' 
at the top of this page to take you there...
....here are a couple samples...


        

 

PLASTIC CANVAS FACE MASK CLIPS

PLASTIC CANVAS FACE MASK CLIPS I have been sitting back wondering how I could help with this pandemic... I wanted to do...