Silhouette Nativity Project

I have been dabbling in Pinterest a lot recently and came across a sweet way to make a nativity scene. Now, I changed it up a bit, but the original idea came from here!

In my living room, I have these corner shelves that I load up with holiday decorations in the fall. I have always wanted to display a nativity scene, but not painted characters, I wanted something different. I came across this brilliant pin of the nativity scene in picture frames; well,3 picture frames will not fit on a corner shelf so I had to improvise. I put them on 3 candles instead.

I cannot wait to put these up for Christmas. I will try to update this post with a Christmas picture!

Cookies in a Jar

Below is one of my favorite cookie recipes! It's my "go to" recipe if you will. I usually have all the supplies on hand at any given point, so I can whip up a batch pretty quick. My plan was to originally make Halloween cookies, but with being out of town every weekend (for my Fightin' Texas Aggie Football) time is a little short, so I bought all the ingredients to put in a jar and give out. I came across a how to and waited 6 months - like always - and got to work.

I bought the biggest bags of flour, sugar, brown sugar, and multiple bags of M&Ms and chocolate chips at HEB and 12- quart sized jars. I measured out all my ingredients and put them into the jars carefully packing each layer down - I mean tight! It won't fit if you don't pack it! Thank goodness Husband graciously helped me or this would have been another one of Christine's unfinished projects that she under estimated the time it would take to complete! =D He's wonderful!

I put all the ingredients in the cars (packed tightly - just a reminder!!) with a cut out of Halloween construction paper with the recipe on the back side and tied with a ribbon!

Ingredients:

1 egg

1/2 cup butter

1 teaspoon vanilla

1 1/3 cups flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon of salt

1 cup oatmeal

3/4 cup chocolate chips

3/4 M&Ms (get creative and this could be for any holiday with diff colored m&ms)

1/2 cup brown sugar

1/2 cup sugar

Directions:

Mix egg, vanilla, and butter together and then add jar of ingredients. Once combined, roll out 1.5 inch balls on a cookie sheet, bake for 10 minutes at 350*. Enjoy!

Christmas Wreath

I am very proud of myself this year! I always have these artsy ideas rolling around in my head waiting to be made, but usually I am too lazy to put forth the effort to actually make them. They just pop up in my head: maybe I saw them in a magazine, a book, on display at a store, or even more recently - pinterest, but I always want to make something and I never know where I got the idea!

Not this year, I made the fall wreath I wanted to, I bought the supplies for my Christmas wreath and made that, and I also made my cookie jars I have been waiting to make (see future post)! So - here it is, my Christmas wreath! I might do some tweaking before it is actually put up on November 25th, we'll see . . .

Fall Wreath

I have been wanting to make a fall wreath since, *cough* last September. Well, I finally got it done last night and I am pleased with it. I was at Michael's looking at stuff trying to log into pinterest to see the wreaths that I already pinned and wanted to make! However, their mobile site is horrible and I couldn't see any of it, so I winged it and had to make one with my own imagination! So here it is! It's not as bright as I thought it would be, but it's okay! I also bought all my Christmas wreath stuff, so hopefully I will get that done soon enough for December 1st!

My cat, Sullivan, and my dog, Aggie (you can barely see her - she's the black shadow) watching me hang the wreath!

Baby Shower Cupcakes

My neighbor was in charge of making cupcakes for an office baby shower thrown for her co-worker. She made vanilla and chocolate cupcakes and I frosted and decorated them! I think they turned out really cute and those wrappers are just precious!

Candy Corn Cupcakes

Husband and I hosted a couples pumpkin carving party on Sunday afternoon, so I made these candy corn cupcakes! They are just vanilla cupcakes dyed yellow and orange and then topped with cream cheese frosting!

Here is our final product! Ours is the ghost on the right.

African Violet Cookies

A friend of mine asked for 3 dozen cookies designed after her sorority flower, the African Violet, for one of their sorority events. These were prepared on a platter!

Thank you Katie for your business!

Hook 'em

While I was making some cookies for Sister to give out, I made some for her. I have been wanting to make her these for awhile and what better time than when I already have a ton of orange frosting?! Of course, I do not have a "hook 'em" cookie cutter, so I cut these out with a knife! I think they turned out great! I might try to do a gig 'em next time!

UT Scrub & Swirl Cookies!

That's right folks! I made some burnt orange cookies! Sister wanted to give someone some cookies and she requested scrubs and swirl cookies, so I gladly obliged! (I told you swirl cookies would be back!) I am certain I have never had so much orange in my house before! ;-)

Packaged on a platter and ready to go!

Swirl Cookies

Last Thursday I decided to make some cookies for our trip to Vegas! I wanted something that wouldn't take too long (cough frosted cookies) and something crazy and fun, so I settled on making swirl cookies. (Clearly, I am not very creative when coming up with names for my cookies). I can see endless possibilities with these cookies! Red and green for Christmas? Orange and black for Halloween? Red, white, and pink for Valentine's Day? Red, white, and blue for the 4th of July? Pink and white for "It's a Girl" or blue and white for "It's a Boy"?! You get the idea! Please do not be surprised if you see these again, the chances are great! =D

Barktoberfest Cookies

Barktoberfest went great on Saturday! Thanks everyone for coming out! We couldn't have asked for better weather. It was cool (well, you know - 90's) with a cool breeze! Last year was Hot Hot! I made peanut butter dog treats for the bake sale as well as some cookies! See the recipe for the dog treats here! I hand cut puppy and kitten cookies and each one also got a pumpkin!

Barktoberfest

* 2011, 9th Annual Barktoberfest *

Saturday, September 10th 9:30a- 2 pm at Old Settlers Park

Saturday morning I will be volunteering at Barktoberfest bright and early to help set up for the day's activities. I also baked lots of cookies and pooch treats to sell for the bake sale.

*pics coming soon*

This is a wonderful event to help raise money and to help to save innocent pet lives and to find orphans a forever home!

What can you expect? Fun, games, food, cake walks, moonwalks, face painting, arts & crafts, a 2k walk and a dog costume contest!

Come out! Bring your dog! Support the SPCA!!

Schedule:

Walk registration: 9:30-10:00 AM

2K walk begins: 10:00 AM

Festivities: 10:00 AM-2:00 PM

Low-cost microchip appointments: 10:30 AM - 2 PM

Canine Good Citizenship demo: 10:45 AM

Agility Demo: 11:05 AM

Costume contest: 12:15 PM

Music by Nairobi Trio

Birthday Cupcakes!

These cupcakes were made for my friend's birthday, vanilla cupcakes and chocolate cream cheese frosting!

Happy Birthday Magan!!

Train Cookies

I made these cookies for a friend who hosted a baby shower for a little boy! Isn't this design cute? I based the train on a napkin I was given!

Cherries in the Snow

This recipe is one of my all-time favorite desserts! My mom always made this on Valentine's Day (why? i don't know) and I always looked forward to it. She even made me my own individual pies and brought them to College Station when I was in college. I needed a dessert for our neighbor dinner and this was the first thing that popped into my head. Enjoy!

Cherries in the Snow

Crust:

3 cups of crumbs

1 stick of butter

1/2 c sugar

Filling:

2-8oz of cream cheese (I used 1/3 less fat) (room temperature)

1-12 0z tub of cool whip (unfrozen)

1/2 c sugar

2 cans cherry pie filling

1. Crush graham crackers. Melt Butter. Add sugar to crackers and mix with butter.

2. Press mixture into a 9x13 pan. Bake at 350* for 10 minutes.

3. In a bowl combine cool whip, cream cheese, and sugar until creamy. Poor evenly onto crust.

4. Top with cherry filling. Chill, then serve!

They grow up so fast!

I cannot believe my little girl is TWO today! Where does the time go!? I remember when she was so little and fit perfectly in my arms, and now she's 57 pounds and I can barely hold her. Well, in honor of her 2nd birthday I will show you how to make her favorite snacks! She love, love, loves them and really gets a kick out of licking the peanut butter off the spoon when we are finished. Here's how to make her favorite peanut butter treats and banana ice cream cubes.

Homemade Peanut Butter Bites

1.5 cups flower

3/4 cup oatmeal

1/4 cup wheat germ

1/4 cup crunchy peanut butter

1/4 cup vegetable oil

1/4 cup honey

1 tsp baking powder

1/2 cup water

Directions: Preheat oven to 325*. Mix all ingredients until well combined. Form tablespoon sized balls and place on an un-greased cookie sheet (I personally make them more bite sized - the size of a quarter). Flatten balls to 1/4" (I use the bottom of a glass). Bake for 15-20 minutes.

Banana Ice Cream

2 cups vanilla or plain, low-fat yogurt

2 mashed bananas

2 tbls of honey

Directions: Put everything in a blender and combine. Put in an ice cube tray and freeze!

FYI: it is true that dairy products aren't good for your dogs, but yogurt contains much less lactate than regular milk and the live cultures are great for your dog's digestive system. - Thank you CTSPCA!

Oh, did I fail to mention my baby is a two year old, black and white, dog?! Oh yes, Aggie's a dog and she's my baby! ;-)

Aggie at 7 weeks old and 7 pounds!

Aggie today with her bone!

Happy Birthday Aggie!

50th Birthday Cupcakes

My mom threw a 50th birthday party for one of her friend's at her house. She helped me make and decorate all the cupcakes! We made chocolate cupcakes with chocolate, cream cheese frosting, vanilla cupcakes with cream cheese frosting, and finally coconut cupcakes with cream cheese frosting! They were delicious! I just looove cream cheese frosting!

Happy Birthday Pam!!

Monogram Hearts & Rose Cookies

These cookies were made for a family friend who threw a bridal shower yesterday! I had a lot of fun making these, especially the rose cookies and I will definitely be making them again! Wouldn't they be cute in a variety of colors? =D

Happy Independence Day!

I spent today by the pool with friends and family, cooking out and enjoying everyone's company. I prepared a few desserts, a vanilla cake and chocolate cupcakes along with some white chocolate covered pretzels. I have a few more good ideas, but I guess those will have to wait until next year but be assured they will be red, white, and blue.

Here are my 4th of July treats:

I saw a cake similar to the one I made in a magazine back in May and I wanted to make it for Memorial Day, but time got away from me. I think it worked out much better for the 4th!

Happy 235th Birthday America!