A How to guide for Christmas Cookies

A How to Guide for Christmas Cookies (with a 4 year old and a 10 days away from being a two year old!)

1. STRIP 'em down to their skivvies!
2. Provide Already baked, Pillsbury Ready Bake Sugar Cookies; Pillsbury Easy Frost; and sprinkles and candies of their choice!
3. Let 'em go!

Here is Bailey enjoying the process. Actually, I think he is screaming for more icing on his fingers!!

Bailey's Masterpieces:

Barnum is cheesing it up for the camera while showing off his edible art.

A close-up of Barnum's masterpieces:

The Aftermath:

Whatever you do, let your littles decorate AND EAT (until they make themselves sick!) Christmas Cookies EVERY YEAR!!

Dinner Outta da Box

TYOHC is almost over and I promise to reveal pics of all that I made. Not because it is awe-inspiring or jaw dropping but so you can see what I have been doing for the past 3 weeks!!

We will be having "Christmas Eve & Christmas" with The Strong Man's family on New Year's Eve and New Year's Day. After that....a total reveal!!

Meanwhile, our circus has been quite busy! Travels, A White and FREEZING COLD Christmas, Family, a Birthday Party!! (My Bailey has turned 2!) and more Travels. The only meal we could return home to was a box of Annie's Macaroni and Cheese!

Barnum was over the moon that he was allowed to be Chef while Mommy was downgraded to Sioux Chef.

Just look at him go!!

Does it speak to his culinary skills or my lazy skills that the poor lad can fix himself a box of Macaroni and Cheese?

Is there a New Year's Resolution to be had?

Accordion Box and Herb Gardens

THANK YOU Organized Chaos!!


This has been THE BEST CHRISTMAS EVER and I have only gotten ONE gift!!

This AWESOME Accordion Gift Purse and stunning Rosemary Christmas tree!! How clever is The CEO? VERY!! She filled the gift purse with ROSEMARY RECIPES!!

(This photo courtesy of FTD.com)

This gift was wonderfully creative and made me SO happy I had to share the LOVE!! Organized Chaos linked to TWO great tutorials to make these Accordion Gift Purses happen. Stampin Inspirations and Wendy Smedley's Blog.

Here is my version of the Accordion Gift Purse. I used my very favorite "GRACE" paper from Close to My Heart.

Notice how mine looks more like a box?? That is because I cannot read directions and missed the steps for the purse handle. Thankfully, it could still do the job for which it was intended.

I was BEYOND excited to share the love of a Rosemary tree and recipe holder. I made my two accordion gift holders and then loaded up Barnum and Bailey to hit the local greenhouse, Plants for All Seasons. The GO TO Greenhouse in our neck of the woods!!

We strolled in, asked where we could find the Rosemary Christmas Trees and headed that way. They had a gorgeous line up of all sizes!! Unfortunately, they started at $30 and I only had $10!! Ten Smackareenos for TWO Rosemary Christmas trees. My Christmas Cheer was sucked right out of me!! I CAN'T spend $60! This is TYOHC!! (The Year of Handmade Christmas)

The sales lady was extremely understanding and helpful. She whipped up these two herb gardens ("with a hearty, winter flowering plant!" :) I got the biggest chuckle out of her saying that!!) in two seconds and I ended up spending $10! ( I had the clay pots and potting soil at home)

I used the cricut to bust out some mini plant markers and then hit my two favorite cooking sites Food Network and The Pioneer Woman Cooks for Rosemary, Basil, and Thyme recipes. If you are interested in the 3 x 5 recipe cards I placed in the holder please just shoot me an email. I'll be happy to pass those along. It will save you a good TWO HOURS!!!

Now imagine big red bows tied around the clay pots!!

I didn't take a picture of the finished products!! SORRY!

Although my dreams of sharing the love of a Rosemary Christmas tree came to a screeching halt, I was still pleased with the Teacher gifts and pleased to share an economical gift idea!

Once again...THANK YOU ORGANIZED CHAOS, STAMPIN INSPIRATIONS and WENDY SMEDLEY!! Please go and check these ladies out!

Photo Tile Coasters

2009, the year of "Handmade Christmas." I am sure those receiving gifts from me are thrilled by this announcement! HA HA! Just because it is the year of "Handmade Christmas" doesn't mean it is the year of LAME-O Christmas.

Because I highly suspect not to find Barnum and Bailey's Great-Grandparent's cruising this blog, I feel comfortable in posting their gift all over it. Not that Great-Grandparent's CAN'T cruise the web. These particular folks just don't. However, that doesn't stop their Great-Aunt Mary! I know you're out there!! :) (83 years old in case you were wondering!!)

I got the idea for these photo coasters from The Graphics Fairy's awesome tutorial! She is an uber talented and uber generous blogger!! Please go and check out her sites!! The Graphics Fairy and The Background Fairy!

I am going to show you a summary of the process but PLEASE let her tell you how to do it!! She does a great job!!

I designed (OK!! The Strong Man) designed our pictures in Microsoft Publisher. Then they were printed on a LASER (MUST BE LASER) printer. Next, I gave them 3 coats of OMNI-GEL Transfer and let those dry. They were cut to scale and here they are soaking in water.



Unfortunately, I used SUPER DUPER THICK HIGH GRADE paper and was forced into a million SERIES of soaking and rolling! After a month, I ended up with these:

The Omni-Gel Transfer BLOWS MY MIND!! It is such amazing stuff!! I ended up with perfectly transferred images!! Finally, I just lined up all of my coasters, sponge brushed a little Omini-Gel onto the coaster and the back of the image and glued them down!!

This one is still a little wet but you can get the idea!

Love it or Lame??

Breakfast with Santa-2009

Breakfast with Santa at The Downtown Aquarium was AWESOME this year!! They really go ALL out!

We had a G-R-E-A-T family day filled with lots of food, laughs, joy, fishes and Christmas cheer!

A Shark Tale

Snorkeling Santa

ROTFL!!!!

Joining in all the Reindeer Games:

I went into this year's Breakfast with Santa with NO EXPECTATIONS. (Trying to make that my new mantra! "NO EXPECTATIONS, NO EXPECTATIONS") I didn't expect Bailey to dig Santa AT ALL. However, he surprised me! When he heard Santa's jingle bells, he tracked him down and tried to shove the two little girls in their pristine Christmas dresses off of his lap so that he could hop up.

Until next year, Sharkey!!

Just Desserts

While in California, I abandoned all hope of calorie counting and INDULGED! When I stumbled upon this little gem, I HAD to go in. Besides, there is someone VERY near and dear to me named Kara. It would have been just plain rude not to investigate!


The little shop was ADORABLE!! Neat little darlings all in a row!

The best part...they had MINIS!!! This way, I could buy the 3 I was DYING to try and not feel too terrible in regards to my wallet or waistline!! My picks: Raspberry Dazzle, Chocolate Coconut, and Peanut Butter Milk Chocolate Ganache.

(Kara's Cupcake photos courtesy of www.uncorked29.com)

Little did I know that about 2 seconds down the block were THESE GUYS!!!

SPRINKLES! Of course I had to pay homage to my little strawberry darlings!!

(Sprinkles pics courtesy of www.sprinkles.com)

AND Peanut Butter Chocolate AND Chocolate Peppermint TWIST. OUT OF CONTROL!!! My justification to The Strong Man regarding these purchases was: it has been OVER TWO years since I had one!! AND I was pregnant, paralyzed and unable to TASTE anything!! He rolled his eyes and offered no sympathy BUT did allow the purchases!!

We carried on our merry way and ended up at The Cheesecake Factory for dinner. We decided on taking dessert home. The Strong Man suggested Stephanie's Ultimate Red Velvet Cheesecake. I curled my nose up and said, "whatever." I do not care for Red Velvet cake and I had an arsenal of cupcakes waiting for me in the car.

We get back to the hotel, order up our "Still in Theatres" movie and sit down with dessert. First bite for me, Kara's Peanut Butter Milk Chocolate Ganache. The cupcake was too chocolaty but the Peanut Butter Milk Chocolate Ganache Icing was HEAVEN. Second bite, Kara's Raspberry Dazzle. Unfortunately, it was a dud. Yuck on my tongue. Booooo. Third bite, Kara's Chocolate Cupcake with Coconut Cream Cheese Icing. I thought it was ok! Fourth bite, Sprinkles Peanut Butter Chocolate. The cupcake was great (minus the chocolate chips) the icing was not so great! Fifth bite, Sprinkles Chocolate Peppermint Twist. Yuck on my tongue. AGAIN! Boooo. It was ok I thought, I saved the best for last.....Sprinkles Strawberry cupcake. So I thought!! I wasn't as W-O-W-E-D as I remembered being!!

I was SUPER bummed because I just knew I would have been in cupcake heaven! The Strong Man was SUPER bummed because he shelled out $15 bucks for NOTHING and our coffee table looked like a war scene. However, he is a considerate one. He offered me a bite of his Red Velvet Cheesecake. I reluctantly agreed and then ALMOST DIED. Ya'll...I ALMOST DIED. It was SOOOOOOOOO AWESOME!!

It has completely changed the way I view Red Velvet Cake!! Well, it has completely changed the way I view The Cheesecake Factory's Red Velvet Cake! Remember, I said he was a considerate one and he shared the rest with me! Actually, I don't know if it was consideration or the fact that it is humanly impossible to finish a piece of this cake in one sitting!!

Yum, yum go get ya some!!

As far as cupcakes go...I'll be sticking with these:

Betty Crocker's Triple Chocolate Fudge and my sister-in-law's KILLER homemade vanilla buttercream!! Much more budget friendly!

Birthday Bliss-Posted a Little Late!

I am Last Minute Lucy with EVERYTHING!! Therefore, these birthday treats for Barnum's MDO class aren't quite up to the standard I had in my head. However, I wanted to post them in the event another Last Minute Lucy needed some hope!

Here is the ingredient list pictured at 11 PM the night before Barnum's 4th Birthday:




Here is what they made:

These treat toppers were obviously BEFORE I figured out the CENTERPOINT function on my cricut!! I had envisioned a super fun background shape, border shape and sentiment. (Last Minute Lucy learns a lesson!) Barnum could have cared less. He was THRILLED that he was taking special treats to his class and even MORE THRILLED that Buzz and Woody were gracing the tops of them!!

Next up...Last Minute Lucy Makes a No Bake Birthday Cake in 30 minutes!

Here are the pans used for the layers:

That is right!! Random, around the house pans!

Here, is the MAJOR mistake Last Minute Lucy made:

Last Minute Lucy tripled the normal Rice Krispy Treat recipe. LEARN FROM HER MISTAKE!!! You will have a stock pot 1/3 full of burning marshmallows and butter, 1/3 full of perfectly melted marshmallows and 1/3 full of regular consistency marshmallows that have no hope of melting!

Therefore, you have a HUMONGOUS mess and rice krispy treats that are not evenly coated! Guess what? Last Minute Lucy didn't have time to do anything about it!! Therefore, she was forced to deal with a mediocre No Bake Cake!

The Result:

Luckily for Last Minute Lucy, Barnum and the rest of the fam aren't harsh judges on appearance. At least not out loud!!

Even more luckily for Last Minute Lucy, they ARE harsh judges on taste factor, and devoured every last bite!

EXCEPT for the one who was the driving force behind all of the Last Minute Lucy Insanity:

All he wanted to eat were the Yummo Cake Pops made by The Costume Designer and the Blue Vanilla Ice Cream made by The Puppet Master!!