Gingerbread Houses

In the past week our girls have had 2 opportunities to make Gingerbread Houses. This is something we've only tried one other time {without much success} and this time we figured out how to do it right and they loved it. I think it may become a yearly tradition!

The first time was at a friend's Christmas party and we just did the easy way and used graham crackers and had the kids 'glue' them to boxes in order to hold the shape of the house ...

Here is Hope with her creation - I have no idea why she had a sticker on her forehead, just being silly with her friends I guess!
And here is Joy with hers - not looking at the camera I guess!

Then my friend Julie brought the girls some REAL gingerbread - she baked them with some special stoneware and the pieces come out imprinted to look like the sides and roof of the house! SO cool! She brought the girls the house pieces, some frosting and some candy and they had fun putting designs together!
Hope took these pictures, here is her house ...

And here is Joy's house...

And I finally learned how to make frosting that actually works and holds things together. The key is using meringue powder! Using that made the perfect frosting that held things together and hardened rather quickly. They turned out great and the girls had a blast making them.

PS. This is a great way to get rid of some leftover Halloween candy! ;)

Bath and Body Works

I absolutely LOVE the products and scents from Bath and Body Works. I have to say, I'm slightly addicted to buying them and having multiple different scents on hand.



I use their body sprays more often than regular perfumes and also love to use their lotions almost daily. Their lotions are so potent that they are almost enough fragrance even without the body spray!



I have so many favorites from B&B and my tastes have changed over the years. But right now I have 3 that are my top faves ....



First is Sensual Amber - don't laugh at the name! It's got a warm and sweet smell.
Next is a very sweet and fruity one - Black Raspberry / Vanilla

And my NEW fave ... it's so delish smelling I can't stop putting it on!
TWILIGHT WOODS!

Here is the description of Twilight Woods:
A hypnotic blend developed to instantly evoke the mystery and beauty of enchanted woods. When the sun has set and the evening begins, the unique enchantment of twilight woods is awakened through sights, sounds and scent. A new distinctly feminine fragrance, an alluring blend of bright flowers, surprising spices and creamy woods – layers upon layers of youthful luxury with an elegant touch of cashmere, captures the singular pleasure of a twilight stroll. Perfect for a cozy night in or magical night out, the intensely feminine fragrance wraps the wearer in a soothing warmth. Twilight Woods is the newest addition to Bath & Body Works’ “Cuddler” collection, a set of scents designed to make you feel cozy, comforted and relaxed.

My daughters have suddenly taken a big interest in B&B too, they love the lotions and scents almost as much as I do! I love that their products make fabulous gifts for just about anyone on your list.

Do you like Bath and Body Works products? What are some of your favorite scents?

Fruitcake

Let's have a poll ... how many of you LIKE fruitcake, how many of you can't stand it and how many of you have never even tried it?

"The worst gift is a fruitcake. There is only one fruitcake in the entire world, and people keep sending it to each other." ~Johnny Carson

***I actually happen to be one of the only people in the world who actually LOVES fruitcake! Got a fruitcake you don't want? Send it to ME! LOL***

I grew up eating fruitcake at Christmas time because my Grandma and my Dad loved it. But you HAVE got to buy the right kind ... I have never found another fruitcake that tasted as good as Claxton's.

It's sweet and nutty and rich. You only need a small slice of it at a time. I prefer to eat mine frozen just like my Daddy used to do. You just keep it in the freezer and when you feel like having some you slice off about a half inch and eat right away. It's soooooo yummy!

Just for fun ... I challenge any of you who have never tried it to try it this Christmas season. I have seen the Claxton's kind at Walmart so you could easily pick one up and give it a try. I bet you'll find that it's actually pretty good!

Christmas in my home

Just wanted to share some photos from my living room today. This is the room that has the most decorations. I have a few other things in other rooms that I'll share at another time, but for now, just this room is enough.

We have one of those electric fireplaces, because we don't have a 'real' one. Here is my 'mantle' ...
My candlesticks got a little extra bling for the holidays ...

On the mantle we have a small tree, a sparkly JOY sign from Target, a wooden NOEL sign that was given to me years ago, and a bowlful of ornaments from the Target dollar spot ...

On the other side is my pretty red vase {that I love} full of flowers my hubby got me for our Anniversary, a cute little tree shaped tea light holder, and our white and gold nativity that my Mother in law gave me several years ago. In the center of the mantle is a crystal bowl full of potpourri and a pine scented candle in the center...

My hutch is FULL of stuff ... mostly snowmen! I feel like it looks like something you'd see in a country store!

I used white lights on the hutch and I love how it looks when it's all lit up!

On the very top I have more stuff ... an apothecary jar full of Christmas potpourri, snowman photos, more snowmen, and my houseplant that I wrapped in burlap and tied red ribbon around to give it a festive look ...

Here is our real tree! I love it! I can never get a good lighting picture of it so here is one without the flash and the one below is with the flash. It looks much prettier in person!

Our bin full of Christmas books sit under the tree ...

On the top of my entertainment center I put green garland, red beads, and my mitten garland that says Merry Christmas...

Here is the 'Merry' side ...

And the 'Christmas' side ...

Do you decorate your WHOLE home, or just the main rooms?

I'm linking this post to the Nester's Christmas Tour of Homes and Kelly's Korner Show Us Your Life Christmas Tour of Homes. Go check out their blogs for LOTS more beautiful homes all decorated for the holidays!

Holiday Cookie Exchange Party

Edie at Life in Grace is hosting a virtual cookie exchange and you’re all invited to the party! Simply post about your favorite Christmas cookies and then share it over on Edie’s blog! Just think how much fun this will be and all of the fun new recipes you can get!

My recipe is courtesy of one of my very best friends; my friend Sarah who I have known since I was 15. She and her sister, Rachel shared this recipe with me years ago and I make them every year. They are so, so simple!

You take a box of Devil’s Food cake mix and add the following:

1/2 cup oil

2 eggs

Beat together to form your cookie dough.

Then you add any kind of choc chips that you want. I add about half of the bag or approx. 1 cup full. You can add more if you think it needs it! I usually do either white choc chips or mint choc chips. This year I discovered Andes Mint choc bits. They are heavenly! I added those to my cookies this year and they taste amazing!

Form into balls and Bake at 350 degrees for 10-11 min, this recipe makes about 30 cookies depending on how large you make them!

Side note … I LOVE this time of year when it’s perfectly acceptable to have a platter FULL of cookies on the counter every day! I just enjoyed some delicious homemade shortbread with my cup of tea. MMMMmmmmmmmm!!!!!

Now go join the cookie exchange party! =)

~~Kathy~~

Too cute, or who are you kidding?

The other day this is what I wore …

It was a VERY cold day out and I’m soooo tired of the same ol’ jeans and sweatshirt gig, so I decided to layer a cute summery tank with ruffles over top of a long sleeved shirt. Then, just because it seemed like it needed a POP of color, I added one of my hand made fabric flowers in hot pink!

So here’s my question … the tank over long sleeve look – do you think it looks cute, or goofy? Be honest!! This may just be my favorite look for the winter IF I am sure that people don’t think I’m walking around looking like a dork!

~~Kathy~~

The Other Wreath

I have been LOVING making some simple homemade crafts this Christmas. My fave right now is making fabric flowers. I’m making them as pins, hair barrettes, and adorning my wreaths with them!

For this wreath I used all felt that I already had, a wreath I already had and some burlap. I decided to only wrap the burlap around the part that I was going to secure the flowers to.

I love the way it turned out. Simple and cute and country-ish. It’s currently hanging on my kitchen door so I see it every time I walk in the house.

What types of things do you enjoy making this time of year?

~~Kathy~~

Searching for that perfect tree!

For years we have had a fake Christmas tree. You see, one year {about 10 years ago} my husband and I got tired of searching for the perfect tree and we went to one of those lots where they have a bunch of real trees that are pre-cut. The man assured us that the tree was fresh and had JUST been cut and that it would certainly last us until Christmas day.

Wouldn’t you know … it DIED before it ever saw Christmas morning. We would be sitting in the living room watching TV and it would sound like rain in our house – the needles just kept pouring down off of the tree until the whole thing was brown, dead and lifeless. It was so sad and we were definitely frustrated at the waste of money!

That year after Christmas we bought a large, fake tree in an after Christmas sale. We’ve been using it ever since.

This year we decided that it would be fun for our girls to go get a fresh tree. They’ve never had that experience before and we were ready to try again. This time we were smart though and skipped the pre-cut lot and headed straight to a tree farm where we could cut our own.

The tree farm was enormous and so beautiful! They were so kind and helpful too. They had free hot cocoa and cookies and a hayride to get to the fields of trees.

Here is Joy sipping on some cocoa in the trees …

 

There were gorgeous views from up on the hillside!

We had such a fun day and found the perfect tree, it’s gorgeous and just the size we wanted. I can’t wait to make this a yearly tradition!

We put the tree we got upstairs in our living room. Then we assembled the fake one and put it downstairs in our rec room and let the girls decorate it. They did a beautiful job! I’ll be posting pictures of both trees soon!

 

~~Kathy~~

Testing, testing 1 2 3

OK friends, I’m testing out windows live writer today … I’m tired of my posts not looking the way I want them to, so I’m trying a new approach!

 

My friend Jessica suggested windows live writer and I’m testing it today to make sure I know what I’m doing.

Random doggy pictures are simply to see what I can do with their placement! haha …

But I’ll bet you’re enjoying them anyway, aren’t you??

Because they’re just so darn cute all snuggled up to one another!! =)

Have a wonderful day!

Princess Pine Wreath

First let me ask ... why oh why does blogger bunch all of my paragraphs together???? When I type them there are separations and as soon as I hit publish I see that they're all MUSHED together! UGH! I'm so sorry that it looks awful when you're trying to read something and the whole thing is all grouped together. I cannot figure out why blogger does that!

Anyhow, on with the real post! I made a Princess Pine wreath today and wanted to share a quick tutorial with you! Princess pine is a plant that grows in the ground in wooded areas. It's kind of light and fluffy and looks sooo pretty when all bunched together in a wreath {see? SOME things looked good bunched together! My posts? Not so much!}

You will need about 1 trashbag full of princess pine in order to make a large wreath. It's better to pick too much than too little. My family and I went and picked the pine the other day and in just about a half hour we had 2 bagfuls!

Start with a hoop or coat hanger that you've bent into the wreath shape that you want. Grab large bunchfuls and wire them to the hoop with green wire. Decide how full you want it right from the start. I didn't make the first part full enough and had to go back later and add more and it was a pain to do later on. So make it nice and full right from the start!
I also clipped the ends of the pine to cut away the brown end part. Just make sure to leave enough to get the wire around.

See? Wrap the wire SUPER tight around the bunch of pine and twist it together to secure it. Making it tight will ensure that your pine doesn't fall out of the wreath.

I realized about halfway through that I didn't like the little buds on the pine so as you can see I started pulling or clipping them off. Then I went back to make sure that they were removed from the first bunches I did too. {see how the stuff on the right has no buds but the stuff on the left does?}

This is a messy project so make sure to choose your workspace wisely! I just used my kitchen floor and swept up when I was done.

Almost done ....

Add a pretty bow. Sorry for my LAME bow, I need to go buy one - I'm not happy with how this one looks.

I even learned bow making when I went to Floral design school a few years ago and yet I still can't make a decent bow to save my life! LOL

Here it is on the front door - it's HUGE! I love it!

Coming soon ... a wreath of a different kind!