2016 Here I come!

Happy New -year everyone!


It's crazy how we look back at a year and realize that everything has changed. There's always the memories that you want to remember and the ones you wish to forget. The amount of people that have left your life and the ones that continue to stay. I plan on taking in the beauty that is all around me. I would love to go on more adventures. Connect with real people. Learn new things and grow as an individual. I am striving for a better chapter in my book this year.

 Happy 2016.

Sugar Cookie + Reindeer Food bags

Wow Its hard to believe that Christmas is almost here. Its been a busy season! I spent last week preparing activities for my daughters school Christmas party. Last week I made 80 sugar cookies so the children could have a decorating station. I also put together a station were the kids could make bags filled with Reindeer food to feed the reindeer on Christmas Eve. I made a batch of Fudge along with cookies to decorate and eat in our home. I try to separate all activities so that I can enjoy Christmas day with out feeling like I'm running none stop. I found this recipe about a year ago and I love using it! I thought I'd share it with you. I also added the link below for  printing the reindeer tags. Happy Holidays from my family to yours.

Sugar Cookie Recipe

Yield: 3 dozen cookies
Prep Time: 30 minutes
Cook Time: 6-8 minutes
Total Time: 38 minutes

Soft cut out sugar cookie recipe that keeps its shape and dough does not need to be chilled before baking- perfect edges every time!

Ingredients:

• 1 Cup unsalted butter, softened
• 1 Cup granulated white sugar
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1/2 teaspoon almond extract
• 1 egg
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• 3 cups all purpose flour

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350° F.
2. In the bowl of your mixer cream butter and sugar until smooth.
3. Beat in extracts and egg.
4. In a separate bowl combine baking powder with flour and add a little at a time to the wet ingredients. The dough will be very stiff. If it becomes too stiff for your mixer turn out the dough onto a counter-top surface. Wet your hands and finish off kneading the dough by hand.
5. DO NOT CHILL THE DOUGH. Divide into workable batches, roll out onto a floured surface and cut. You want these cookies to be on the thicker side (closer to 1/4 inch rather than 1/8).
6. Bake at 350 for 6-8 minutes. Let cool on the cookie sheet until firm enough to transfer to a cooling rack.

How to make Reindeer Food

Another great Pinterest find from  frogprincepaperie.com

Materials

• Bird Seed
• Glitter
• Oat Meal
• Christmas Sprinkles
• 4 inch wide x 6 to 9 inch long cellophane bags [ I changed mine a little but the site below offers another version, along with printable tags]
• Reindeer Food free printable tag

http://frogprincepaperie.com

Who's getting excited for Christmas?

It's the most wonderful time of the year

Now that we've all filled up on turkey leftovers and put away the pumpkins until next year we can focus on celebrating Christmas. Last night I put up the Christmas tree and decided that I wanted to go with a gold theme. First thing I wanted to do was take my pinecones outside and spray them with GOLD SPRAY PAINT. Ava wanted to also contribute so we made some ornaments using découpage. 

The Process:

1: If your not purchasing your pinecones please make sure to place them on a cookie sheet and bake them in the oven to kill any living bugs inside of them. I then would let them cool completely before spraying them with spray paint.

Finished pinecones 

Mod podge and a clear plastic ornament 

The process:

 

1: I went to Michael's craft store and bought clear plastic ornaments and Glitter.

2: I took apart a paperback novel that I purchased at a local used bookstore for $.50. I grouped the pages together using about six pages at a time and cut them with my paper cutter, cutting them to 1 inch squares. 

3: I had my daughter layer and cover the ornament with the squares onto the ball with mod podge I used the Matt finish Note: ( I first removed the top on the plastic ornament )

4: After the ornament was covered with mod podge I sprinkled it with the iridescent glitter. 

5: The top that I removed earlier I sprayed with gold spray paint and, placed it back on after the ornament dried. 

Enjoy

Tissue paper Pumpkin treats

Thanksgiving is on Thursday! So in between the baking I thought it would fun to do a little craft with my kids. Not everyone in my home likes to eat pies during the holidays. This was fun and inexpensive. 

Materials:  (all these items were purchased at the $.99 store)

: coffee filters

: tissue paper

: small clear hair elastic ( there hiding)

: green shredded filler paper

: Candy of you're choice 

Instructions:

Step: 1 first I opened my pack of orange tissue paper and cut one piece into four different squares.

Step: 2  I placed my tissue paper down and placed my coffee filter on top and proceeded to fill it with Candy. Note>>>> use as much candy as you want <<<<<

Step: 3 Gather the tissue paper together  and use your elastic to tie it. 

Step:4  Twist the top of the tissue paper together and tie a few pieces of the shredded green filler paper. 

Thank goodness it's Friday

This Quote and more found here>>>>>>

http://www.printabledecor.net/2014/be-bold-free-printable/ 

Easy scrapbooking using the ~Project Life app~

This is definitely one of the easiest ways I have found to document family photos. I am constantly falling behind with printing off my photos especially when they're on my phone. I love how easy project life is. Simply drop the photo into already made templates. You can even choose from an array of journaling cards as well. For an added bonus you save in the app and purchase directly from the app. My first batch of photos came out perfect. Also I was completely impressed by how fast they arrived. I received my order within 3 working days!!! With 4 kids life can get hectic and this definitely helps keep me organized. BeckyHiggins.com

7-Ingredient Easy Macaroni Chili

• 

• 7-Ingredient Easy Macaroni Chili

  Delicious Macaroni chili was made with just 7 ingredients!
  Prep: 5 mins Cook: 20 mins Total: 25 mins
  Prep: 5 mins Cook: 20 mins Total: 25 mins 

  Ingredients

  • 1 lb. ground beef 
  • 2 (12 oz.) cans Crushed tomatoes
  • 1 (15 oz.) can Tri- Bean Blend drained or your own personal beans.
  • 2 Tbsp. chili powder (optional add as much as you desire)      ( Also  a 16 oz bag of elbow pasta (optional) note, that's a lot of pasta in a bag. You probably only need a quarter of that, Depending on how many you are feeding.                                                                                                                         Directions:    In a large pot, cook ground beef  over medium-high heat until browned, stirring frequently.  Drain the excess grease. Add remaining ingredients and stir to combine. Remove from stove and place in a crock-pot. Reduce heat to low, cover, and leave for a few hours to marry flavors  In a another large stock-pot bring about 5 quarts of water to a boil and add elbow pasta for about (6mins or until ready) remove and drain. Immediately toss together with Chili. Serve warm with additional toppings if desired.( Cheese Topping)

Gorgeous finds over at Antropologie .

http://www.anthropologie.com

These are a few of my favorite items from Anthropologie.

Christmas is quickly approaching and I wanted to share a few of my favorite items found at Anthropologie.    http://www.anthropologie.com