Okay, okay, I don't have any directions for this. I basically combined two ideas I saw over at Tatertots and Jello to make something I think is really fabulous for the Christmas season. One of the bloggers over there made a Christmas tree shape out of the scripture found in Luke 2: 13-14. Another showed of her ornagami skills (get it - ornament origami) by making a 3D star. So I put the star on top of the scripture tree, and its' probably my favorite part of my Christmas decor.

Stocking Hanger

Time Needed: 30 minutes
Level of difficulty: easy
Materials needed: 2x4 cut to desired length, paint, paint pen, hooks


Directions: Paint the background and let dry. Then, paint on the words or designs you'd like with your paint pain. Again, let dry. Add the hooks, using as many as you want/need to accommodate all the good little girls and boys in your home. Then, hang on the wall. Nice and easy and very fun. Thanks to Monica for making this for me - what a cutie!

Mistletoe

Time Needed: 10 minutes
Level of difficulty: easy
Materials needed: green felt, glue gun, scissors, pearl beads, ribbon or raffia

Directions: Cut out the pattern you'd like to use for your mistletoe. (I got mine here.) I also double backed mine to make it hold its shape when hung, but you do what works for you. Glue on the beads wherever you'd like the mistletoe berries to go. Glue on the ribbon or raffia however you'd like in order to hang, then hang and find your hubby! Woo woo!

Christmas Feet

Time Needed: 5 minutes
Level of difficulty: easy
Materials needed: red, green, and white nail polish, toothpick

Paint your toes red and green, alternating toes. Then, once that's dried enough, use the toothpick to add white dots. Aww, Christmas!

Distressed Tee Knock Offs

Time Needed: 10 minutes
Level of difficulty: easy
Materials needed: t shirts, printer, printer transfer paper, scissors, iron

Directions: Choose the photo of your choice. If you need to, use a program like Photoshop to get the look you're going for. Print it out on the transfer paper and cut to desired size. Then, follow the transfer paper directions to iron on the pictures to the shirts. Then you get these cute, sassy shirts that everyone wears and they're super easy and super cheap!So... 10 points to the person who can tell me what these shirts are saying. Tee hee!

DIY Grippy Gloves

Time Needed: 10 minutes active time, at least 4 hours to dry
Level of difficulty: easy
Materials needed: mittens, puff paint, and patience

Directions: Lay your mittens flat on the table with the fingers facing each other (you'd hate to have to paint on the wrong side of one of the gloves!) Then, get the puff paint ready according to the puff paint directions, and paint the design of your choice on the palms and fingers. Let dry for at least four hours, or however long the puff paint directions dictate. How easy is that?
These ones are for the hubs, and he LOVES them. I wonder why...

Holiday Ornament Wreath

Time Needed: 10 minutes
Level of difficulty: easy
Materials needed: wicker wreath, glue gun, various assorted ornaments, ribbon

Directions: OK this could not be any easier. Hot glue your ornaments around your wicker frame in the pattern/layout of your desire. Pack them in as tightly as you can so that you can't see the wicker. And, feel free to use as much behind-the-scenes glue as you want to hold stuff in place. I used like 5 sticks. When you're done, tie a ribbon on the top and hang it from your door. Voila!

Helpful hint: I got all my supplies at the dollar store for a total of $6. Nice.

Thanksgiving

For Thanksgiving, the hubs and I joined two other families. I was in charge of dessert and a salad. I made two beautiful pumpkin chiffon pies, an amazing apple pie, and the most wonderful turtle cheesecake. The salad was pretty good, too, if I do say so myself. However, they were inhaled and I have no pictures to show you. And I'm so stuffed I don't have the energy to tell you about any of the how-to's either. So let's take a break and be thankful for crafting and baking, shall we?

Owl Stockings

Time Needed: 2 hours
Level of difficulty: intermediate
Materials needed: sewing machine, buttons, needle and thread, felt, 1/2 yard flannel, ribbon

Directions: Cut out the shape you'd like the stocking to be in. Then, cut out the owl, his beak, his wing, the branch, and the leaves. Pin them together and sew them on the top layer of the stocking. Leave the buttons off for now. Then, fold over the top of the stocking and sew down so that the lip is pretty. Pin the two sides of the stocking together and stick the ribbon to where the back seam will be. Sew together with the fronts touching and then flip right side out. Stitch on your button eyes and button holly berries. Hang over your fireplace (or in my case, closet) and bask in the glow of your wonderful creativity.

Raspberry Sunrise

It's been awhile! Oh my goodness, work has been crazy and I've been exhausted. Sigh! One day, I'll be able to quit and stay home and blog and craft all day. Anyway, on to the crafts!

Time Needed: 5 minutes
Level of difficulty: easy
Materials needed: 1/2 carton vanilla ice cream, 1/2 carton pineapple sherbet, 1/2 bag frozen raspberries, 3 sliced bananas, blender

Directions: Put all the ingredients in the blender. Blend until smooth. It'll turn pink and delicious and fancy. This would be amazing to serve at a fancy party or event. Have fun!

Gramma's Lasagna

Thanks, Gramma Bowen!

Time Needed: 60 minutes
Level of difficulty: easy
Materials needed: Part 1: 1 ½ lbs. Hamburger, browned, 1/8 tsp. minced garlic, 1 T. parsley flakes,1 T. dry basil 1 tsp. salt, 1 qt. Tomatoes, 1 can tomato paste
Part 2: 1-pint cottage cheese, 2 beaten eggs, 2 tsp. salt, 2 T. parsley flakes, ½ tsp. pepper, ¼-1/2 C. parmesan cheese
Part 3: lasagna noodles, shredded mozzarella cheese, to taste
Directions:
Part 1: Add seasonings to browned beef and cook for ½ hour or until it is boiled down.
Part 2: Mix together and set aside.
Part 3: Take pan and line lasagna noodles and double. Then cook until tender. First layer is noodles. Then ½ cottage cheese mixture. Finally ½ meat mixture. Put slices of mozerella cheese on top of the meat. Repeat layers ending with meat and cheese. Bake at 375° until bubbly.

50th Birthday Book

Time Needed: 90 minutes
Level of difficulty: easy
Materials needed: blank scrapbook, scrapbooking paper, glue stick, stickers, photos, 50 memories, printer, printer paper, shaped edge scissors
Directions: Because this is for a 50th birthday, there are 50 memories. If you are going to do this for another birthday, just adjust your memories accordingly. Have everyone involved in giving this gift split up the 50 memories. Have them typed, put them in cute font, and print them onto the printer paper. Cut the memories with the shaped edge scissors. Set your memories and photos on top of the scrapbook pages to get an idea of how you'd like the layout to be. Then, remove these and back each page as desired with the scrapbooking paper. Glue on the memories and photos and accent with the stickers.
My siblings and I have done this for both of my parents' 50th birthdays, and these books now display prominently in their home. They are some of my parents' most prized possessions. I've included several pictures with this one so you can see more of what the finished product looks like.

Bread Bowls and Pot Pie Stew

Can you tell I've been dying for soup season to get here? Don't worry - I have like 3 more soups I'm posting in the next few days.
I can't take credit for this one. I found it at the King Arthur Flour website. I will, however, share my modifications.

1. Double the chicken stock and triple the milk. Otherwise, it's more like coated meat and veggies. In fact, as it was, I'd probably still like more liquid.
2. I don't have pearl onions nor does my grocery store. So I diced and sauteed a normal one and threw that in.
3. I'm an Idaho girl through and through. I diced a few potatoes, boiled them, and tossed them in as well. Mmm yum!
   

Chicken Noodle Soup

Time Needed: 45 minutes
Level of difficulty: easy
Materials needed: 1 large onion, diced, 2 large carrots, diced, 3 ribs of celery, diced, 1 tablespoon garlic, 2 tablespoons olive oil (I use garlic infused oil, personally), 8 cups chicken stock, 1 cup water, 1 1/2 cups diced cooked chicken, 1 1/2 cups diced potatoes, cooked, 1/2 package egg noodles, cooked, 1 cup instant rice, uncooked, 1 teaspoon dried thyme, 1 teaspoon dried parsley, salt and pepper, to taste

Directions: Heat the oil in a stock pot. Saute onion, carrot, celery, and garlic until they soften. Add the stock and the water, and bring to a boil. Add chicken and rice, cook until chicken is heated through. Add potatoes, noodles, and seasonings. Cook until rice is done or until you feel good about it. In case you are wondering, this takes less than 30 minutes to cook. I added 15 to the total time for chopping and pre-cooking stuff.

*Note - this is also really good if you leave out the potatoes done this way. If you heap the soup over mashed potatoes, that's really good, too (props to Aunt Jill on that one)

BYU Mint Brownies

If you've ever been to BYU and had the privilege of eating their mint brownies, you might be so excited about me posting this recipe that you are giggling and bouncing up and down. Well, hold still so you can read this, okay?

Time Needed: 4 hours (including cooling time)
Level of difficulty: intermediate
Materials needed:
Brownies: 1 c margarine, 1/2 c cocoa, 2 T honey, 4 eggs, 2 c sugar, 1 3/4 c flour, 1/2 T baking powder, 1/2 t salt, 1 c. chopped walnuts (optional)
Mint icing: 5 T margarine, dash of salt, 3 T milk, 1 T light corn syrup, 2 1/3 c powdered sugar, 1/2 t mint extract, 1-2 drips green food coloring Chocolate icing: 1/2 c cocoa, 1/3 c milk, 1 1/2 t vanilla, 6 t softened butter, 2 2/3 c powdered sugar


Directions: Melt margarine and mix in cocoa. Allow to cool and add honey, eggs, sugar, flour, baking powder, and salt. Mix well. Add nuts. Pour batter into a greased 9x13 pan. Bake at 350 for 25 minutes, or until toothpick inserted int he middle comes out clean. Allow to cool completely before frosting.
Prepare the mint icing: soften margarine, add salt, corn syrup, and powdered sugar. Beat until smooth and fluffy. Add mint extract and food coloring. Mix. Add milk while mixing and mix until consistency is just thinner than cake frosting. Spread over cooled brownies. Stick brownies in the freezer for 10-15 minutes to let icing harden.
Prepare the chocolate icing: cream the butter, add sugar and cocoa and mix. Add milk, mixing the whole time. Add vanilla and mix. Take brownies out of the freezer and spread chocolate icing on the top. Allow to harden and serve.