Omigosh! The month is half over and I have not posted!

Please forgive me, I have not blogged in years so I got a bit busy (ok really busy) and forgot about posting...Yes of course I've been crafty, so I will work my way backwards starting today.

Today I was really wanting something sweet, so I went to my cupboards and looked through my vast ingredients, lol, I settled on some cookie dough. Flour, crisco sticks (instead of butter, are they really better for you?), brown sugar, white sugar, ectracts....yep got it all, but then I saw the half used bag of cake batter from making my cake batter mousse, and thought why not. I had also used it to make some cake batter cookie dough once but I didn't really like the outcome of that. In case you are not familiar with these, it's cookie batter made to be eaten RAW, no eggs are involved, they are NOT meant to be baked, that would not turn out well.

So I started out with my usual cookie batter dough recipe:
1 & 1/2 tbs butter (I use Crisco butter flavored sticks - not really sure if this is better for me or not)
1 Tbs brown sugar ( I use light brown and have used solely brown before no white and it is yummy)
1 Tbs white sugar
Instead of my usual 3 tbsp flour I used 3 tbsp cake batter (French Vanilla)
1 tbsp water
1/2 tsp Butter Vanilla Emulsion (you can use Vanilla Extract if you do not have emulsion**)
While this mixed well it was too runny for me, so I added 1/2 tablespoonsful of flour until it reached the consistency I wanted (2 tbsp)

Then I mixed in red, white & green Christmas sprinkles and topped with holly and berry sprinkles. This made 2 servings of what I call Christmas Dough. Next time I make make a special cinnamon swirl and hope it taste a bit like a snickerdoodle. (My plans for this are to separate out about 1/3 of the batter before adding in the 2 additional tbsp of flour and adding cinnamon and possibly a bit more sugar to this, then swirling it into the finished batter)

**What is a baking "emulsion"?  Emulsions are water-based,  alcohol-free alternatives to extracts.  Instead of using alcohol, the flavor is micro encapsulated in natural stabilizers and suspended in water.  The encapsulation enables the flavor to not lose its integrity when exposed to high heat. 
Which means....Use baking emulsions instead of extracts with better results!



You can get emulsions in many places, I found mine on clearance at TJMaxx, but you can order direct here

I've been crafty - I promise

Holidays, you know, you just get so tied up in them! Well yes, I have been cooking and crafting and finding all sorts of deals. I'll share them soon. I've also done some soul searching. Too many things have gone "wrong" and I've finally come to realize that in order for them to turn around and head in the direction they need to I need to make room for that change. Kind of like widening the roads. So...it's that time.

Christmas Lights of the South SUPER DEAL!!!

If you live in the CSRA you surely have heard the radio commercials for Lights of the South! It's a really great light show put on every year, complete with a hay ride, hot cocoa, roasted marshmallows and of course Santa!

The Augusta Chronicle put out a daily deal today on the purchase of tickets for Lights of the South. Four tickets for $12.00! This is really an amazing deal, adult tickets normally cost $8.50 and children (3-17) $4.50.

This is a limited time offer, right now as I type this is shows 2 days and 16 minutes remain, so that means midnight on Sunday the deal is over. Get yours now, sign up HERE then click HERE for this deal! As a bonus you also get popcorn with this deal.

Crafty Mama tips! When you plan your trip make sure to bring gloves, hats, warm jackets and a heavy blanket (or 2) for the hay ride. You may want a blanket to sit on and one to wrap up in. Even though it does not drive fast the wind can pick up and chill right through your bones as it is about a 30 minute ride. Bring insulated mugs to pour hot cocoa into to keep your hands from burning. Check the weather in advance and be prepared! If your bringing kids stop at the dollar store first and find some light up items like glow sticks, they sell them on location (plus other neat light up toys) but they can be expensive and we're trying to save money right! While your at it grab a bag of marshmallows, the sticks are available at the location, I think one person will have to buy a bag to get the sticks but you can share, or add the marshmallows to your hot chocolate!

Dollar Store decorating!!!

Thrifty, thrifty, thrifty that's me! I started my holiday decorating this week, my first project was a wreath, all from Dollar Tree items. Today I made a cute hurricane lamp decoration, again all dollar tree items!

The lamp is something I have had for awhile, I think it is actually used for flowers, but when unpacking the Christmas ornaments I had an idea! It took me a couple tries to get it to look just right. I tried first with red and silver ornaments but it looked too empty, there were a lot of spaces that the ornaments wouldn't fit into. then I tried beads, like mardi gras beads but it looked too busy, finally I saw some garland, cut up into small pieces it worked just right!

What you will need for this project:
Hurrican lamp/ wide mouthed vase
Small ornaments
Tinsel Garland
Candy canes (real or plastic)
Santa Hat






This went onto my "mantle" (another craft project). I had left over ornaments and holly leaves from the wreath so I made holly berries for the cabinet door handles. The doors have square window fronts and I use the cabinets for candle and picture frame storage so I wanted to hide the contents. I used some very pretty "tissue paper" also purchased at the dollar tree, it gave the window a frosted effect with a red holly design, I liked it but I really wanted it to be less see through so I added plain white printing paper behind the tissue. I put 3 red ornaments on a twist tie and added the holly leaves, and voila!

The last project was small and simple, glass beads around the votive candle holder with a tea light inside. Super simple, very pretty. I'll be adding more to this area soon.

 

Teddy Bear Bento!

I am so in love with making Bento's for my little girl. In case I haven't mentioned it before Bella just turned 6. At the school she goes to she has a half an hour "lunch bunch". So this is my first year of making lunches for my normally picky eater. I have found ways around it though. She gets so excited to see what is in her lunch that she forgets to be picky, I swear it's a conscious effort for her to be picky as she really does like most foods.

Bento Boxes come from the Japanese culture, and they are not just for kids. They can be very ornate or just stick to the basics. They usually have a good square meal of food groups. They are not at all difficult to make, even thought they may look like it. They do take some extra time depending on how crafty you get with them, but it's fun.

For today's bento I tried to go with a Teddy Bear theme. It wasn't a very good theme but I tried. First Bella had asked for a fluffer nutter sandwich. Well my fluff had gone bad so I headed out to Kroger to pick some up. While there I checked out the clearance items, deal seeker that I am, I hit bento jack pot!!! A great lunch box made by Fit & Fresh called the "lunch pod". It's a deep square box with a removable ice pack in the lid. I always line her box with a napkin and I try to find cute or decorative ones. I can often get these on clearance too!

So back to the sandwich, on the "top" piece I used a teddy bear cookie cutter to cut out a window in the bread. I added the peanut butter and fluff and put it together, you could see a white fluffy bear in the window. For a little fun I sprinkled in some Christmas colored sprinkles, not a lot, just a bit. The bear that was cut out was covered with peanut butter and I affixed a chocolate graham bear to it. I use one of those cutters to remove the crusts and smush the edges together as well. This fit nicely in the corner.

I then got out about a tsp of chocolate whipped frosting and dabbed it into a silicone mini muffin form, added some more sprinkles then placed 5 more graham bears into it. You're probably thinking, "wow that's a lot of sugar." trust me it's not I rarely give her sugary items and when I do it is very little bits.

So then the healthy stuff, a cheddar mozzarella swirled cheese stick, 2 slices of granny smith apple, and a orange creamsicle jello/yogurt snack I make. It's probably about 2 oz of that. (Recipe below) Then I fit in her apple juice and a spoon, and there you have it!!! So much fun for me to make, so much fun for her to open and eat. I just wish I could affix a camera that would take a picture of her face each time she opens a new box!

Happy Lunch making!!!

Orange Creamsicle Snack

1 package sugar free Orange Jello dissolved in 1 cup boiling water. Add 1 cup cold water to this. Then add in 2 containers of yogurt. I use fat free Vanilla for creamsicle. Put into containers and chill 2 hours (less depending on size)

Another Variation of this that I like is to set the jello first, then mix just the jello up till is sorta liquid but with clumps, then add in the yogurt and re-mix. You can also substitute 1 contained or yogurt for 1 c cool whip. Some other great combos are :
Strawberry Banana jello + Pina colada yogurt
Raspberry jello + Cheesecake yogurt (I think this was weight watchers)
Lemon jello + Key Lime yogurt

My first Christmas deco of the season

I love wreaths! Nothing says welcome to my home like a Christmas wreath hung on the front door, or on all the windows as was done on my grandmothers old house. I've never had one though, always wanted to make one! The budget is very tight right now, this economy is not the best, but I don't have to tell you that right? I mean that's why you are here. I took my low budget self on a shopping spree at the local Dollar Tree. Being that it is the "beginning of the season" they were not totally picked over yet.




I scored a 12" wreath on wire, it was skimpy to I got a 20 ft garland to work into it. I saw some nice red scroll designed wire line ribbons, so added that to the basket. Some very pretty glittery berries, but I didn't like the leaves on them. In the same display were some velvety holly leaves with not so nice berries, so I picked up both, the pretty berries and the pretty leaves. For a little extra flair I saw some pretty glittery reindeer with small bells and then for the center piece a start shaped door knob hanger with gold bells. So Red and Gold were the two main colors.

At home I rolled out the garland and began cutting 8" pieces. I wrapped these around the pre-made wreath to fatten it up a bit. I then unwound one of the ribbons and worked it in and out of the pine needles securing it in place by wrapping in through the hoop. Next were the berries, as I said I loved the glittery berries but the leaves had to go. So I took apart both picks and paired the pretty berries with the velvety leaves. Since they were on wire sticks they were very easy to slide into place and secure with one of the new tied on pine pieces from the garland. Since I could not find my extra bouquet wire I pulled the ugly berries off of one of the left over sticks and used it to secure the door knob hanging star to the top. Last were the reindeer. I wont lie I wanted to get this posted so badly that they are not secured into place yet. I'll have to hot glue them I think.



Not too bad and all I spent was $7.00!

Tutu's are so cute!

My friend LaDonna texted me today asking if I knew anywhere locally to get a tutu for her daughter on short notice. I didn't but I had seen and pinned several on pintrest and figured it wouldn't be too difficult, so I said, "No I don't but I could make it for you, just pay for the materials." She was a tad reluctant to accept this offer because she was planning to have me do the pictures of her daughter IN the tutu, but I said, no problem! I can do both, in fact I wanted to. This was a perfect opportunity for me to try my hand at a new craft that I knew would only help my photography business as well!

So we started with a picture of what she had in mind, an oh so cute Rock star onsie with a tulle tutu, lot's of ribbons and a cute hair bow. For now all I have is the tutu, we also got a bright pink tank top that will have rhinestones spelling out rock star, some pretty black satin ribbon decor and zebra ribbon as well. She got a bright pink headband and a flower with pink and zebra ribbons with another rhinestone in it as well. Some of the zebra ribbon will be woven into the tutu as well, and he mom is going to add "Rock Star" in her own handwriting to another bright pink ribbon. It's going to be sooooo cute when we are done and then, oh I can't wait, and then they will come over next Wednesday for their photo shoot! It will be Rylee's 9 month shoot. I'm so excited!!!