Here come the holidays!

Tis the Season! board by Kelly. See more Minted.com

Attempting to Duplicate the TJ Pretzel Slims

These are my favorite new Trader Joe's item. They are fabulous! I think this is the first year they have had these. It is WAY to easy to eat a lot of these. After we had finished two bags at our house and it was still early December, I decided I would attempt to make my own version.

I bought the three ingredients - deli style thin pretzels, peppermint and white chocolate chips.

I melted the chocolate in the microwave, dipped both sides of the pretzel in the chocolate and then sprinkled with crushed peppermint.

Mine didn't look as pretty as theirs but they tasted pretty similar. And they were easy to make!

Happy Baking!

Reindeer Chex Mix

Another easy and delicious treat. I don't know about you but holidays are synonymous with Chex Mix for me. I cannot think of a Christmas season that went by without having Chex Mix. I really enjoy the traditional mix but I also wanted to try some of the new fun mixes. This is simple, quick and it makes a lot.

Ingredients needed:

6 cups Corn Chex

1 bag white chocolate chips

1 box of peppermint candy canes crushed (place unwrapped canes in a plastic bag, seal and tap with a metal spoon - easy, tidy candy cane crushing!)

Melt white chocolate. I melted mine in the microwave. You can also do it on the stove in a double broiler.

Pour the melted white chocolate and half of the crushed candy cane over the cereal. Mix until completely covered.

Spread out on a cookie sheet or wax paper on a flat surface. Sprinkle the rest of the crushed candy cane over the mix.

Wait until it hardens (you can put it in the fridge if you are in a hurry). Break into pieces and you are done!

Great for neighbor gifts. Put the mix in cute to go boxes and tie with a bow. Or perfect to have in easy to reach bowls at a holiday party. People will devour it!

Happy Baking!

Elf Kisses

These are SO simple. The most time consuming part of the entire recipe (if you can call it that) is unwrapping the Hershey Kisses. My kind of recipe.

Unwrap an entire package of Hershey Kisses. I chose the white chocolate mint flavored. Any of the solid kisses will work.

M&M's. Any of the flavors work as long as they are the plain M&M's, not the peanut or almond varieties.

Heat oven to 275 degrees. Place the kisses on top of the mini pretzel twists.

Put in the oven for three minutes.

TIP - put your cookie sheet on the top rack. This worked the best.

Press an M&M into each kiss right as it comes out of the oven.

TIP - Put the entire cookie sheet in the fridge to cool as soon as your M&M's are pressed into the kiss.

Ta Da! You are done. They are perfect bite size treats. Place them in a festive bowl for people to grab at any holiday gathering.

Happy Baking!

White Chocolate and Friends - A Great Mix!

My fabulous friend Alissa came over for a fun night of chatting and baking. We went on a blitz and made four different types of holiday treats! All are simple to make and tasty. We made these to package up for neighbor gifts but they would be perfect to throw together for a cookie exchange party or any holiday gathering you may have at your home.

Theme of the night - white chocolate and peppermint! Yum!

All of the supplies. Candy canes, tons of white chocolate and almond bark, sprinkles, pretzel sticks, Peppermint Jo Jo's and red hots.

I found these adorable aprons at Crate and Barrel.

Let the crushing begin. We used a heavy duty gallon size zip lock bag and tapped on the candy canes with the back of a metal spoon. They crushed very easily. And by using the heavy duty bag you don't have any pieces poking through the plastic.

Fresh crushed peppermint. Pretty and it smells good! Each recipe we were making used peppermint as one of the main ingredients. We needed a lot of peppermint!

I went to six different stores looking for peppermint sticks and couldn't find them anywhere. My husband suggested I cut off the cane part and cover that end in the chocolate and no one would know. Brilliant! (He was probably tired of driving all over town with me looking for peppermint sticks and was desperate for an idea!)

We scored the cane with a knife and then broke the pieces in two with our hands. Once you score the cane, it snaps apart very easily.

First recipe: White chocolate dipped peppermint sticks with white sprinkles. We melted the chocolate in the microwave and it melted so much better than using the double broiler we tried at first. We just dipped the canes in the chocolate and sprinkled with the white dots. I found these sprinkles at Michael's. They were pretty difficult to find.

Perfect hot cocoa stir stick!

Next up was the white chocolate dipped pretzel sticks. We dipped the sticks in melted chocolate and then sprinkled with a variety of different festive sprinkles. We laid them out on wax paper and it was perfect once they cooled to easily peel them off the paper.

Peppermint Jo Jo's Dipped in White Chocolate and Crushed Candy Cane - My favorite recipe of the night. I got these cookies at Trader Joe's. They have them each year and they are delicious right out of the box. But I love to dip half of them in white chocolate and then roll them in crushed candy cane. They are delicious and look adorable packaged up with a red bow. Once I get my goodies packaged I will add more pictures. YUM!

Last but not least - Peppermint bark in the shape of Christmas trees. I used a Christmas tree mold and we poured in the melted chocolate mixed with peppermint. We waited for them to chill and then popped them out of the molds. Perfect little trees.

All of the goodies!

Baking holiday treats is always fun but doing it with a friend makes it that much sweeter!

Happy Baking!

Organizing Holiday Baking Items

I have been doing so much baking for the holidays and I am enjoying every minute of it. I have accumulated so many baking items over the last few weeks. I decided to put them all in a bowl to help organize them a bit. It makes it so simple to grab the bowl (you could use an old shoe box if you have one) and get to baking. The holiday items are all there and within reach and my pantry doesn't look like a bomb went off because the items are contained!

Check here for some of my favorite recipes of the season!

Happy Organizing!

Letter Ornament

This project is so easy and the finished product is adorable! By changing the paper and ribbon you can completely change the theme of each letter. These are great for gifts and/or for yourself. I made one letter with our family name and one with each of my kids first initials. And now I am working on more for holiday gifts.

Supplies needed:

- wooden letters (found mine at Michael's)

- scrapbook paper (I used the holiday package I had on hand)

- Modge Podge

- paint brush & scissors

- small screw in hook (I bought a set of 4 types of hooks and hangers at the dollar store for 79 cents!)

- ribbon of your choice

I like greens and vivid pinks for holiday pops of color. You can use anything that works with your theme.

Directions:

1. Flip your scrapbook paper over and trace the front of your letter on paper. Cut out the letter.

2. Apply a light layer of Modge Podge to the face of the letter. Apply the scrapbook paper. Make sure all edges are attached.

3. Screw in hook to the top left corner of the letter. This makes the letter hang on an angle on the tree. If you do not like that style, insert your hook in the top center of your letter.

4. Tie ribbon through the hook. Double knot and tie a bow. Voila! You are done!

My letters.

On the tree!

Happy Crafting!

Organizing Kids Seasonal Crafts

I keep the majority of our craft supplies in an upstairs closet, but I keep a few things downstairs easy to access for spur of the moment crafts. We like to do lots of projects and having these supplies within reach makes it so simple to start a project. And because the items are right there, you don't feel like it is an undertaking getting everything out.

I like to change out the supplies each season or holiday. See below for details on the items I have out for Christmas. Once you get a few containers and a designated area for your spur of the moment crafts, it is easy to switch the items out each season. I move the old items up to the craft closet and store them for next year.

If I have a specific project in mind I know we will be doing this season I will make sure to include those items. For example my little people love sparkle bottles and we will be making Christmas themed ones so I have the shimmer glitter and marbles in with the supplies. And who knows, maybe we will find other uses for those items too!

My seasonal craft supplies for the kids take up small areas of two shelves. I bought the plastic paint can storage bins at Michael's and the brown bin at Target. The brown bin also stores my kids busy bags. They are easy to grab and throw in my purse as we are heading out the door to an appointment, dinner, etc. Easy accessibility is key! It helps you use your items more and simplifies your life. Win win!

 I begin collecting items as I see them on sale or in the stores throughout the year. By the time we get to the holiday or season I usually already have quite a collection. These are the items I have for this years Christmas season: foam wreath kits, stickers, foam stockings and trees, festive colored sparkle pom pom balls (huge hit!) stickers, sparkle glue, little plastic Christmas lights, red and green plastic jewels and sparkle ornaments.

I collect lots of mini storage containers from places like the Container Store and Target and I always get rid of the packaging for things like the jingle bells, pom poms, etc. They store so much nicer and take up less room than attempting to save the plastic bags they come in. Plus you can reuse the containers for new supplies down the road. Bonus - your items do not pour out of the package and make a mess!

I buy stickers whenever I see them on sale. And I keep them with like stickers by attaching them together with a binder clip. When it comes time for the season, I just pull out the specific seasons clipped bunch and we are set. My kids love stickers so I always have lots on hand. They can use stickers with so many projects.

Simple organization that enables lots of quick, fun Christmas crafting!

Happy Organizing!

No Sew Ruffle Tree Skirt

I did it! Or I should say, we did it! My mom and I made this no sew ruffle tree skirt I had been eyeing while we were visiting them for the Thanksgiving holiday. I saw a version on Better Home and Gardens and also an adorable one on Pinterest. I knew I had to make one for our family. Once we got the hang of the gluing, it was a pretty simple project. Time consuming but simple. And it was definitely easier having two people work on it. I am so excited about my new tree skirt!

My mom is a fabulous quilter and has lots of fun, useful sewing tools. We used her rotary cutter, cutting board and quilting ruler. Using her rotary cutter and quilting ruler made the cutting so much quicker and more precise. If you don't have them, scissors will work just fine.

We used a light weight twill for the base because it came in a wider width at 57 inches. We wanted our skirt to be 54 inches by 54 inches. We folded it in to a square.

And then in to a triangle. We had to cut the edge off to make it even.

Once it is an even triangle we cut off the top point to make the circle for the tree trunk. And then we rounded the bottom of the triangle. To make sure the bottom was even we measured from the top of the fabric to three different points and connected the line between to make sure each was equal distance from the top of the fabric. 

 We used this cute quilters Cotton for the ruffle. I love this snowflake print. We got 3.5 yards of this fabric.

We cut the selvedge off of the ruffle fabric to make sure the edges were clean.

We then cut our strips the length of the fabric. Each strip ended up being 3.5 yards long.

Two hands make this project much quicker and more it is fun having a buddy! I was the glue gal and my mom was the ruffle pincher. We made a pretty good team.

Ruffle one complete.

Getting closer.

Almost done.

Once we were done with all of the ruffles we glued grosgrain ribbon in three places on the under side of the skirt to make bows on the seam of the skirt.

Ta Da!

Right when we got home the skirt went under the tree. I am so happy with the finished product.

Happy NO Sewing!