Is it time yet? Is it time? I can't wait! Have you seen that Target commercial with the rewind of little kids opening gifts on Christmas morning? That song has been stuck in my head for days... the part "Is it time yet? Is it time? I can't wait!" I've been decorating sugar cookies, wrapping last minute gifts, and dancing around the house with that song in my head! Just in case you'd like to get the same song stuck in your head, I found it on
YouTube here (you can thank me later!). *grin* It's amazing how my excitement for Christmas has changed as I've gotten older. Now instead of looking forward to opening a new
Sony Walkman (the coolest tape player ever),
Lite Brite (they still sell these!?), or pretty pink bike with purple streamers, I'm looking forward to Christmas Eve service, family dinner, and watching my family open the gifts I made for them. I have one more card to show you before the holidays have officially come and gone. I stole a little time away in my stamp room yesterday and pulled out one of my favorites from last year,
Holiday Wonder. If you visit our home during the holidays you'll find that I have a thing for snowmen. It's almost as bad as my 'thing' for cupcakes that takes over during the rest of the year. We have a snowman themed Christmas tree, porcelain snowmen, snowman snow globes, plates, mugs, candle holders, cookie trays, and candy dishes. So it seemed only appropriate that I create a snowman card to celebrate the season!
I stamped the snowman in
Memento Tuxedo Black ink and colored him with Copics. I added a little bit of
white liquid applique as the snow, some
red rhinestones on his hat, and a bit of
Crystal Stickles to really bling it on. The patterned paper is from the
Doodlebug Winter Wonderland collection. For the snowflake embellishment I cut two layers using the
Winter Wonderland Snowflake die, one from cardstock and one from transparency (which you can't really see in the picture) and secured them together with a brad from the
December Key Ingredients kit.
Thanks so much for stopping by today! Many of you have emailed requesting recipes from the Christmas Tea Party I posted earlier this week. Most of the recipes came from Midwest Living magazine, but a few are old family favorites. Enjoy!
Christmas Tea Party Recipes
Caramel Heavenlies12 Graham Cracker rectangles
2 cups Tiny Marshmallows
3/4 c. butter
3/4 c. packed brown sugar
1 tsp. cinnamon
1 tsp. vanilla
1 c. sliced almonds
1 c. flaked coconut
1. Line a 15x10x1 baking pan with parchment paper or foil. Grease foil, if using. Arrange graham crackers in a single layer in pan. Sprinkle with marshmallows.
2. In saucepan, combine butter and brown sugar. Cook over medium heat until sugar is completely dissolved, stirring frequently. Remove from heat. Stir in cinnamon and vanilla. Spoon over crackers, spreading evenly. Sprinkle with almonds and coconut.
3. Bake in 350 degree oven 15 minutes or until lightly browned. Cool in pan on wire rack. Use parchment or foil to lift uncut bars from pan. Cut into 3” squares and cut each square in half diagonally. Store in an airtight container in refrigerator up to 1 week. Makes 30.
Cinnamon Pretzels
2/3 c. vegetable oil
1/2 c. sugar
2 tsp. ground cinnamon
1 – 16 oz. pkg small pretzel twists
1. In a large roasting pan, stir together vegetable oil, sugar, and cinnamon. Add the pretzels; toss well to coat with cinnamon-sugar. Bake, uncovered, in a 300 degree oven for 30 minutes, stirring twice. Spread on waxed paper to cool. Store in an airtight container. Makes 12 (1 cup) servings.
Holiday Chex Mix3 cups bite size rice square cereal
3 cups bite size corn square cereal
1 cup small pretzel twists
1 cup honey roasted peanuts
2 – 12 oz. pkgs white baking pieces (almond bark)
1 – 12 oz. pkg. of mint flavored (or regular) M&M’s
1. In a very large bowl, combine cereals, pretzels, and peanuts. Melt baking pieces according to package directions. Pour melted baking pieces over cereal mixture; stir gently to coat. Spread on waxed paper or parchment paper. Sprinkle with chocolate. Cool 1 hour; break into pieces. Store in airtight container up to 1 week or in freezer for 1 month. Makes 16 (1 cup) servings.
Applesauce Spice Cake (no sugar added!)
1 cup raisins
1 cup dried cherries
3 cups apple cider or apple juice
2 eggs, lightly beaten
1 cup unsweetened applesauce (for sweeter cake use sweetened applesauce)
3/4 c. vegetable oil
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 cup all-purpose flour
1 cup whole wheat flour
1 3/4 tsp. ground cinnamon
1 tsp. baking powder
1 tsp. baking soda
1/2 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp. ground nutmeg
1/4 tsp. ground cloves
1 cup walnuts, chopped
Powdered sugar (to sprinkle over cake)
1. In saucepan, stir together the raisins and dried cherries; stir in apple cider. Bring mixture to boiling; reduce heat. Boil gently, uncovered, for 30 to 35 minutes or until the liquid is almost absorbed. Remove saucepan from heat; cool 20 minutes.
2. Meanwhile, grease and lightly flour a 10-inch bundt pan; set aside.
3. In a large bowl, combine eggs, applesauce, oil, and vanilla. In a medium bowl, combine flours, cinnamon, baking powder, baking soda, salt, nutmeg, and cloves. Stir flour mixture into applesauce mixture just until combined. Stir in raisin mixture and nuts. Transfer to prepared pan.
4. Bake the cake in a 350 degree oven about 50 minutes or until a toothpick inserted near center comes out clean. Cool in pan on wire rack for 15 minutes; remove from pan and let cake cool completely. Wrap and store overnight. Sprinkle with powdered sugar before slicing. Makes 10 servings.
Pecan Tassies 1/2 cup butter; softened
1 3 oz. pkg cream cheese; softened
1 cup all-purpose flour
1 egg
3/4 cup packed brown sugar
1 tbsp. butter, melted
2/3 cup coarsely chopped pecans
1. For pastry, in a mixing bowl beat the 1/2 cup butter and cream cheese until combined. Stir in the flour. Press a rounded teaspoon of pastry evenly into the bottom and up the sides of 24 un-greased 1 3/4" muffin cups.
2. For pecan filling, in bowl beat egg, brown sugar, and the 1 tbsp melted butter until combined. Stir in pecans. Spoon about 1 heaping teaspoon of filling into each pastry lined muffin cup. Bake in a 325 degree oven for 25-30 minutes or until pastry is golden and filling is puffed. Cool slightly in pan. Transfer to wire rack and let cool.
Pumpkin Cream Cheese BreadPumpkin Bread:
3 1/3 cup flour
4 tsp. pumpkin pie spice
2 tsp. baking soda
1 tsp. baking powder
1 1/2 tsp. salt
2 2/3 cups sugar
2/3 cup vegetable oil
4 eggs
1 lb. can mashed pumpkin
2/3 c. water
Cream Cheese Filling:
8 oz. cream cheese; softened
6 tbsp. sugar
1 egg
1/2 tsp. vanilla
Crumble Topping:
4 tbsp. brown sugar
4 tbsp. flour
2 tsp. cinnamon
1/2 tsp. pumpkin pie spice
2 tbsp. butter
1. Start with cream cheese filling; mix cream cheese and sugar until smooth, add vanilla and egg. Put in refrigerator to chill until needed.
2. Pumpkin Bread: makes one regular size plus one miniature (or 4 minis). Sift together dry ingredients. Cream together sugar and oil in a separate bowl. Add eggs to sugar/oil mixture one at a time and beat. Add pumpkin. Mix in dry ingredients alternately with water and sugar/oil mixture until blended.
3. Grease and flour pans. Put about 1" batter in each pan. Layer a ribbon of cream cheese filling in each pan. Pour the remaining batter on top of the cream cheese filling.
4. Mix all of the dry ingredients and then cut in the butter. Crumble the topping on top. Bake in a 350 degree oven. Mini Pan: 35 minutes. Regular Pan: 45 minutes.Insert toothpick in center to test. Cool completely before removing from pan.
Can you believe 2011 is almost here? With the busy time of holiday preparations behind me, it seems as if the last few days of 2010 are creeping by. Which is not a complaint at all! I love it when it feels like three extra hours have been added to my day! I decided to take a break from creating for our January release (which is going to be BIG BIG BIG!) and pull out the Merry Little Cocktail set for a New Year's card. I started with a piece of gold stardream paper for the card base and settled on a non-traditional color combo for the rest. Actually, I couldn't decide what was 'traditional' for New Year's so maybe this is the new traditional!? I colored two of the drinks from the stamp set to fit with our preferences here at the VanBruggen house. Jon prefers red wine and an appletini tops my list! I colored the drinks with Copic markers, added rhinestones and Lime Stickles for bling, and a little glossy accents to finish them off. The ribbon is Cream Accordion and I added a strip of 1/4" sticky tape to the bottom of the ribbon and covered it with gold glitter. In the background I stamped the champagne bubbles in London Fog ink. The sentiment is also from the Merry Little Cocktail set and was punched out with a Stampin' Up punch and attached with a mini clothespin. 
