Christmas Calories...

And lots of them! Isn't that what the holidays are all about though? I'm sending this plate of goodies to work with the hubby tomorrow. Better his employees eat them than me! The chocolate and white peanut butter crackers recipe is in a previous post. The recipe for the church windows is below. We used to make these every year at Christmas. They're rich but good.

Church Windows

12 oz semi-sweet chocolate chips
1/2 cup margarine
4 oz chopped nuts
1 bag colored marshmallows
Coconut

Melt chips and margarine in double boiler or microwave in large bowl. Let cool a few minutes and then add nuts and marshmallows. Mix together thoroughly. Lay out sheets of waxed paper with coconut spread on them. Shape mixture into logs and place on coconut lined paper. Roll up and twist ends. Refrigerate until set. Cut into slices.

Ritz Crackers + Peanut Butter + Chocolate = Delicious

I don't have a name for these, I just know they are good! They are super easy too! All you do is sandwich together two Ritz Crackers with peanut butter and dip them in melted chocolate or white confectionery coating. I laid them on waxed paper on cookie sheets and put them in the refrigerator to set.

The sweet taste of the peanut butter and chocolate and the salty taste of the crackers really make a great combination.

I jazzed up the white ones with some colored sprinkles.

My daughters and I used to take Cheeze It crackers and sandwich them with peanut butter and dip them in chocolate. They taste like Butterfinger candy bars. I'm all for anything with chocolate and peanut butter!

Now off to finish off the rest of my cards (about eight of them) and then back to making more treats!

Jar Gifts

I finished making some jar gifts this afternoon. Hopefully they will be ready to mail tomorrow! I still have about eight cards left to address and get mailed. I feel like I've been going in about 50 different directions that last few days. I'm almost done! This morning I was even able to get a few treats made. I still have to work on that this evening.

The red plaid jars are Cinnamon Spice Coffee Mix and the blue snowflake ones are Red Hot Tea Mix. Recipes are below.

Cinnamon Spice Coffee Mix

1-1/3 cups instant coffee granules
2-2/3 cups sugar
4 teaspoons ground cinnamon
1 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1/2 teaspoon allspice

In a large bowl, combine the above ingredients and stir until the mixture is well blended. Place mix in a wide-mouth 1-quart canning jar. (I used wide-mouth pint jars).

Attach a gift tag with the directions on how to prepare the coffee:

To make one serving:
1 Tablespoon Cinnamon Spice Coffee Mix
8 oz (1 cup) boiling water

Place the Cinnamon Spice Coffee Mix in a mug. Pour boiling water over the mixture. Stir until the mix is completely dissolved.

Red Hot Tea Mix

2 cups powdered orange flavored drink mix
1-1/2 cups sugar
1/2 cup unsweetened instant tea
2 Tablespoons presweetened lemonade mix
1/2 cup red hot candies

In a large bowl, combine the above ingredients and stir until the mixture is well blended. Place mix in a wide-mouth 1-quart canning jar. (I used wide-mouth pint jars).

Attach a gift tag with the directions on how to prepare the tea:

To make one serving:
3 Tablespoons Red Hot Tea Mix
8 oz (1 cup) boiling water

Place the Red Hot Tea Mix in a mug. Pour boiling water over the mixture. Stir until the mix is completely dissolved.

Quick Cards

If you're looking for quick and easy cards to make and get out the door, then this one's for you! My inspiration for these cards was the header on the Fiskars blog! I saw this the other day when I was going through my blog reader. Since I'm down to the wire, these worked perfect for me.

All I did was figure out what size I wanted, found patterned paper I liked, cut 3 different sized squares and then cut them in half, added pop dots and stuck them to the card. Some of them I stamped the word Joy for the trunk since I have that stamp and then noticed I had some felt words that worked perfect. Add something to the top of the tree and you're done!

Products I used: Bazzill cardstock, patterned paper from Oriental Trading, Hero Arts gemstones, felt words. On some cards (not shown) I used the stamp Joy from the Hero Arts "Holiday Sayings" CL343 and embossed them.

Back to cardmaking and then I need to start making some treats!

Almost Done...

I have been feverishly trying to get all my cards done and I am nearing the end. I've made almost sixty and I still have about six left to go. This year I didn't use much black at all and that's my favorite color! I barely used any buttons either. It cost me a fortune last year for stamps, so I thought I'd save button usage for cards made during the rest of the year.

On Monday I found this great paper that I've used on the cards below. When I came home with it and told the hubby, he was surprised that I needed to buy more paper. He asked if I really needed it. What a ridiculous question that is! It's impossible to explain to men that you really need it when you have a room full of paper. Or that when you see something you have to get it at that moment because you may use it at some point or that it will be gone the next time you want to buy it.

The patterned paper is from Creative Imaginations called Holiday Season by Christine Adolph. It was exactly what I needed to make some quick cards. I made multiples of each.

All I did to the stocking was add gemstones.

To the presents I just used my quickie glue pen on the ribbon and added glitter.

I didn't add anything but ribbon to the deer.

This tree is probably my favorite. I added flower soft to imitate snow. Below is a side view so you can hopefully see it better.


Well, I'm off to start addressing envelopes. I'll post more cards tomorrow.

Products used for these cards: Bazzill Cardstock, Patterned Paper from Creative Imaginations called Holiday Season by Christine Adolph, Hero Arts Stamps "Holiday Sayings" CL343, Hero Arts Gemstones, Quickie Glue Pen, Glitter, Ticket Punch, Flower Soft, Embossing Powder, Ribbon, Cord.

Truckin' Toward Christmas

When I saw this stamp, I knew I had to have it! I don't own many rubber stamps at all and there are some very cool ones out there. I've really only been making cards for a little over a year and have only purchased clear stamps. When I bought this one, there was also another one of a bicycle that I wanted. My hubby told me to go ahead a get it, but I said no, I will next time. Hindsight being 20/20, now I wish I would of gone ahead and picked it up.

Years ago when I lived in Kentucky, my Uncle had an old Ford pickup truck and I just adored that old beat up thing. This stamp reminds of it.

I haven't used markers very much at all, so my coloring is probably something to be desired and something I need to brush up on. I mostly do more paper piecing and just stamping. These were my first attempts at using this stamp. On the green and blue truck I used black sparkle embossing powder and on the red one I just stamped it. I think I like the embossed outline best.

I see alot of possibilities for using this stamp, so maybe the cost of it will be worth it in the long run.

For now, I'm going to play around with it and make a few more Christmas cards. Later I'm going to use it for some birthday cards. I think it's a fun one for male and female alike.

Supplies used: Dad's Truck Rubberstamp from Printworks, Hero Arts Stamps "Holiday Sayings" CL343, Marvy LePlume Markers in Light Green, Red & Manganese Blue, Black Sparkle Embossing Powder, Graphic 45 paper Typography from the Commuique Collection, Deck The Halls from the Christmas Past Collection and Christmas Day paper from the Merry & Bright Collection by We R Memory Keepers, Glitter Dots by Dress It Up, Ribbon, Machine Stitching.