Caramel Popcorn

Merry Christmas to all of you still out there in blog-land! I realize it's too late in the season to be starting on gifts, but this recipe is so good I had to share. And maybe you won't be doing any last minute gift-giving, but you could still whip up a batch of this for your family to enjoy when you snuggle in to watch Christmas movies tonight. The recipe card is a little different from my usual style, but I had fun making it!

A few tips on the recipe:
1) 6 quarts of popcorn is a lot! I personally don't have a bowl big enough to stir it all in. So I separate it into 2 bowls, so it will stir easier. You want the caramely goodness to cover all the popped corn. My little popper makes about 3 quarts at a time. So I put one batch each in 2 different bowls.
2) Get all the old maids out before adding the caramel.
3) When the caramel mixture is done boiling, get it off the heat while you add the soda. The first batch of mine boiled too long. While the flavor was still good, it ended up hard as a rock. This recipe makes delightfully chewy caramel corn, so don't cook it too long!

All Digital Supplies: Designer Digitals

Little Paper Houses

Well, are you all ready for this week? I am slowly getting there. The last big project that I actually felt like I had a deadline for, the kids' teacher gifts, is done. I made 4 houses from the Home Made template. I love these little paper houses. There are some really fun, over-the-top, awesome houses I've seen out there. I definitely kept my decorating to a minimum since I was doing four [And don't mind the off-kilter bows. I was trying to tie the bows by myself while my bow-tying helper was at school.] I think these are such a fun way to package a little goody up. I ran into a major road block this morning on the way to finishing these. The 2 main things in the houses were going to be Denise's lotion (scroll down about 8 posts to #1172) and homemade caramels. I had made my caramels in advance, so they would be perfectly set up by today, so I could wrap them up. This morning I could not find my wax paper anywhere!!! And driving to town from where we live takes too long when you're racing with the clock. I switched gears and went with caramel popcorn, and filled the extra space with hot chocolate mix, peppermint candies, butterscotch candies, andtootsie rolls [the open picture was before I found all the extra candy, so the house looks pretty empty]. The little poem, I include with the lotion, just so they will realize it is definitely not an edible goody! I will definitely be making more of these houses next year! And I hope to be back later in the week with my caramel recipe and caramel popcorn recipe.

Winter Wedding Congratulations

Well, it feels like forever since I sat down to make a card. We were going to my niece's wedding last night and I felt like making a girly wedding card for her. This is what I came up with. I love this big leaf image from Papertrey's Turning A New Leaf. I love that the big leaves can take the stage all by themselves, or share their space with pink flowers, and look terrific either way! The wedding was gorgeous, and my niece and her new husband looked so happy together. I love to see the bride and groom so happy at weddings. It was freezing cold, though. I don't know how people do winter weddings. I was very happy in the heat of June!

Stamps: PTI Turning A New Leaf, SU Botanical Blooms, Congratulations
Ink: PTI Hibiscus Burst, Raspberry Fizz, Spring Moss, True Black
CS: PTI Rustic White, SU Rose Red
Accessories: Martha Stewart Lace Doily Punch, Dew Drops

Corn Flake Cookies

Well, as you can probably tell from my lack of posting, we've hit the really busy time of year. Today I have a recipe card to share with you. Kara, at Kara's Kitchen Creations, is getting ready for the holidays by having a Christmas cookie recipe swap. I have lots of treats that I love to make and to eat around the holidays. I picked this recipe to share, because these cookies bring back so many memories for me. When we were little kids, we lived in the same town as one Grandma but the other one lived out of state. We would go visit at spring break, Thanksgiving and other times throughout the year. But every Christmas, without fail, we would get a box in the mail from my Grandma, filled with treasures and treats. And my favorite thing ever was her corn flake cookies. Just thinking about getting home from school, and seeing the package that my dad picked up from the post office and slid under the tree, makes me smile.

Milk and "Cookies"

December first already! Wow, I can't believe it. I love this time of year and seeing the Christmas lights start to glow, listening to the festive music, and spending time with my family. This is a layout using pictures from Christmas 2007. I love these pictures of the kiddos from that Christmas Eve, and have been trying to make a layout for ages (2 years, to be exact). Finally today, I just sat down, continued to ignore my messy desk, and made this layout. I'm really happy with how it turned out. The story is that we were getting ready to make cookies for Santa. Everyone started talking about all the cookies Santa gets on Christmas Eve, and we decided to leave donuts that year, instead of cookies. It is a really fun memory for me.