Belated Christmas Wrap Up (again) - Part 2

In Part 1 of my Christmas-stuff-wrap-up, I talked about hosting the Christmas dinner, but now I am onto a couple fun Christmas kids crafts. I have noticed for awhile now that "quiet books" seem to be pinned a lot. I never really knew what it was until I started browsing through the "Kids" boards. From what I understand, its a book full of things to keep kids busy and quiet. Felt seems to be a popular material used in these books. Apparently felt sticks to felt. I then started to notice felt wall hangings, and in particular, felt Christmas Trees:



Source

What a smart way to give kids their own tree to decorate without messing up the real one. Rachel from Sol and Rachel made this adorable little tree during her own little Christmas Pinterest Craft-a-thon. Since there is no actual sewing involved, I knew I could tackle this.

I started with a large rectangle of green felt and just free-handed a tree shape on one side with some chalk:

Then I cut it out, folded it in half and traced my edge on the other side and cut that too. I wanted it to be symmetrical so I figured that was the easiest way. After that I just plopped myself in on the floor in front of the tv (watching National Lampoons Christmas Vacation) and started cutting out the decorations. I decided that it would be too hard to tape all the little edges of the tree to the wall, so I hot glued the tree to a rectangular piece of white felt. I also hot glued the details (the bottom part of the lights, the ribbon on the gifts, etc). Here is my final product:

I tried both 3m strips and masking tape behind it to keep it all up, but it just kept falling. So eventually I resorted to just taping with masking tape along the edges. JJ seemed to like taking all the pieces off, and it took a little help to get him to stick them back on. I am sure he will appreciate more next year, but it did keep him a little busy this year.

After it was attacked by JJ

I think before I try and hang it up next year, I will follow Amanda's advice from The Little Giggler and sew some D-rings on the top so I can hang it from hooks like her snowman:

Source

Onto the next craft: How could I let Christmas go by without using my baby's footprint or fingerprint on something. I mean its all over Pinterest:





Source: One Artsy Mama



Source: Beneath The Rowan Tree

Source: Kideas

I settled on this one (naturally its from Disney, I am a semi-closeted Disney nut):



Source: Disney Baby

  

I bought a brown stamp pad from Michaels and decided the best way to get a good print was while JJ was eating. So I covered the footrest of his highchair with plastic wrap (in case he set his inked foot down), gave him some Crunchies, and started stamping his foot.

Once they were dry, I attached a red pom pom for the nose, and some googly eyes. I tried to glue some brown pipe cleaners on for the antlers:

But they would not stay on no matter how much glue I used. On to Plan B, a brown sharpie:

Lastly, I glued it onto some Christmasy paper (also seen on clothespins on my Christmas Card Holder from last year). I made a bunch and used them as cards for JJ to give to his maany babysitters over the last year (and of course the grandmothers). They were a big hit!



Some were a bit more "smooshy" than others and my boy has a fat foot, but I think they came out cute. I had other grandiose plans to do a whole bunch more holiday stuff, like having a fresh bunch of Egg Nog Muffins ready for Christmas morning and getting the most adorable shot for a Christmas card, but in the end I am happy I could get these little things done, along with all the gift buying, wrapping, hosting, and oh yea, working I had to do as well. There's always next year!

Stay tuned, in my next post I am going to review the Personalized Board Books I ordered as a couple gifts.

Belated Christmas Wrap Up (again) - Part 1

I guess I just can't get a Christmas post together before Christmas. I didn't do it on time last year either. I realize I am super behind - I still need to recap JJ's first birthday party - which was almost two months ago. But I might as well recap some Christmas stuff first, right?

After a year off in 2011, Joe and I hosted Christmas dinner again this year. It was definitely a lot different than hosting pre-baby, but we had lots of help and it was sort of a light year. I used the same exact menu as in year's past, but instead of printing labels, I decided to make life a little easier for future entertaining. I got some wooden plaques from Michaels and gave them a couple coats of chalkboard paint:

The big ones I used for Joe's 30th Birthday Party (of course I have no pics from that), but the small ones came in handy for Christmas.

The menu included: baked beans, mashed potato and sweet potato bar, candied carrots, green bean casserole, and the traditional ham and turkey.



I also dressed up our pantry chalkboard door with some Christmas cheer:

Instagram photo - so the fuzziness is artsy, right?

I started instagraming a couple months ago and am starting to get addicted. I follow the YHL-ers and saw some comments about dipping the chalk into water first to make it brighter. It definitely worked!

Ok this post has the potential to get really long, so I will save the crafty baby things for Part 2. I will leave off with JJ's official meeting Santa pic:

As you can tell, he was thrilled! Happy New Year everyone!



Fudge Kiss Cookies

Today, I am gathering with a few friends to have a holiday potluck lunch and exchange secret Santa gifts. I volunteered to bring a dessert (surprise, surprise). I looked to pinterest and decided to try out these Fudge Kiss Cookies I've had pinned for over a year. The recipe comes from What Megan’s Making.

What Megan's Making

I gathered up my supplies, which seems to always be a difficult task for me. I went to Shaw’s first and they were completely out of Sugar Cookie mix (the shelf was wiped clean) and Hershey’s candy cane kisses. So I headed to Stop n’Shop where I was able to get the cookie mix but no candy cane kisses. I settled on getting a variety of other kisses flavors instead.

I melted the butter & chocolate per the instructions.

Added the sweetened condensed milk.

Mixed in the cookie mix & cinnamon.

Then using heaping tablespoons, I formed the dough into balls and baked at 350 for 7 minutes.

While the cookies were baking, I unwrapped the Hershey’s kisses.

Immediately after removing the cookies from the oven, I pressed 1 candy into the center of each.

After letting the cookies sit on the cookie sheet for 5 minutes, I tapped the tip of the kisses down.

And done!

The Verdict: These were super easy to make. They were really tasty but also very, very rich. Megan wasn't kidding when she called these fudge kiss cookies.

Things to Note/Consider: I wouldn't change anything about this recipe. It was perfect! I used three different varieties of kisses – dark chocolate, caramel, and white & milk chocolate hugs. The dark chocolate kisses didn't press down as well as the Hugs variety. Also, the caramel ones melted quickly. I would have preferred to have the candy cane kisses because they would have looked more festive but oh well! These tasted fine anyway.

Fudge Kiss Cookies

adapted from What Megan’s Making

1/3 cup butter

6 oz unsweetened baking chocolate

1 can (14oz) sweetened condensed milk

1 pouch Betty Crocker Sugar Cookie Mix

1 tsp ground cinnamon

60 Hershey’s kisses

• Heat oven to 350 degrees
• In a large bowl, microwave butter & chocolate on high for 1 minute then stir
• Microwave on high again for 1 minute or until butter is melted & chocolate can be stirred smooth
• Mix in condensed milk
• Stir in cookie mix & cinnamon until well blended
• Shape dough into balls and place on ungreased cookie sheets
• Bake 7 minutes (do not over bake)
• Once out of the oven, immediately press 1 candy into the center of each cookie
• Cool on cookie sheet for 5 minutes
• Lightly tap the top of the kiss down
• Cool completely

This will probably be the last post until after Christmas. But we should have plenty of new posts in the new year! 

Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays! [sung like N*sync]

Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Cupcakes: Re-Visited

Last February, I made some Chocolate Chip Cooke Dough Cupcakes using a recipe I saw on Kevin and Amanda. At the time, I wasn't very happy with how they turned out but I had some ideas on how they can be improved.

Last month, there was a bake sale at work and I thought that would be the perfect opportunity to try the cupcakes again but using my modifications.

I used the same technique as explained on Kevin & Amanda that I used the first time. The general gist is to make the eggless cookie dough, roll it into balls, and then freeze them. While the cookie dough freezes, make the cupcake batter and pour it into the cupcake pan. The frozen cookie dough balls go on top of the cupcake batter and then they get baked.

However, this time instead of using the cookie dough recipe on Kevin & Amanda, I used the eggless cookie dough recipe I used for the Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Truffles that I made last year. I didn't take any progress pictures, but if you want to see how that dough is made, you can check out the truffle post.

I also switched out the boxed cupcake mix for the cupcake batter I used in the Cannoli Cupcakes I made last January. Again, I didn't take any progress pictures, but if you want to see how to make that batter, check out the Cannoli Cupcake post.

I was lazy and used store bought frosting instead of attempting to make my own.

These chocolate chip cookie dough cupcakes came out much better then the first attempt! The cupcake batter recipe I used this time is honestly the best cupcake batter ever! It’s such a great recipe.

I will say that these cupcakes were still on the heavy side. But it was a vast improvement on my first attempt. If I every make these again, I would roll the cookie dough into much smaller balls. I think that would help with how heavy they are.

Vellum Paper Mache Igloo

Some of you may recall that every year, my department at work throws a children’s holiday party. Last year the theme was snowmen and I made the Styrofoam snowmen centerpieces. This year the theme was penguins. I had some difficulty trying to think of a cute, relatively inexpensive centerpiece idea. Then, I came across this adorable igloo made out of Vellum paper from Bloesemkids.

Bloesemkids

I thought that this would be cute if I could find some penguins to place outside of the igloo. So I started my search. I went to Target first where I found these cute little penguin ornaments.

Target

Score! They were $2 a piece which I thought was a reasonable price. So I picked up 10 of them. I also bought some latex balloons and flame less candles while at Target.

My next mission was to find Vellum paper and Mod Podge. I went to AC Moore. I found the Mod Podge easily enough. However the Vellum Paper was no where to be found. Now, prior to this project, I didn't even know what Vellum Paper was. A nice employee at AC Moore said they had it but it was sold out. I did a quick Google search to see what other stores sell Vellum Paper. And low and behold, Office Depot was one of the first places that popped up. Luckily enough, I was in the same shopping complex as an Office Depot. So off I went and picked up a pack of 50 sheets.

Now at this point, I need to apologize for the next set of pictures. I was in a rush to get these done in time for the party and only took a couple photos with my phone. However, Blosesem Kids has some better progress pictures. So be sure to check them out if you are planning to do this project on your own.

The igloos are fairly easy to make but are a bit time consuming. I started by cutting up the Vellum Paper into strips. I made sure to save a sheet or two for the archways. Next up was blowing up the balloons.

I placed the balloons in bowls (to hold them steady) and started to paste the strips onto the balloons. My first attempt did not go well. I spread way too much Mod Podge onto the Vellum Paper, which caused the paper to crinkle up. To fix that, I watered down the Mod Podge just a tad. Then using a sponge brush, I spread a very thin layer of the adhesive onto the Vellum Paper and placed it on the balloon.

The paper still crinkled a little bit but not too badly. Then I just continued to place the Vellum strips all over the balloon.

Each balloon took about 30-45 minutes to paper mache and used about 2-3 sheets of paper. Once I finished with the balloons, I covered a few glasses with plastic wrap and mod podged a few strips of paper near the rim. This is for the igloo doors/archways. Unfortunately, I didn't take a picture of this.

I let them all dry overnight. In the morning I slowly deflated the balloons. Then, using scissors I cleaned up the edges of the igloos and cut holes for the doors.

To finish the project, I broke out my hot glue gun and attached the archways to the igloos. I also attached the penguin ornaments with the hot glue gun to keep them steady.

And that’s it! I think they came out cute. I put the flame less candles inside the igloos but unfortunately, the party room was a bit too bright to fully appreciate that detail.

The party was a great success! One of our biggest turnouts! I also wanted to share this photo of the party entrance. We had a blow up penguin that welcomed everyone. So I cut out some penguin footprints out of orange construction paper and taped them to the ground leading up to him.

Total cost for the centerpieces

(10) Penguin ornaments                      $20.00

(1) Mod Podge (16oz)                           $9.89

(1) Pack of Latex Balloons (15pk)      $1.32

(1) Pack of Vellum Paper, (50sh)       $12.29

(2) Flameless candles (9pk)                $26.00

Total for 10 centerpieces:                 $69.50

Price per centerpiece:                        $6.95 – not too shabby!

Grace and I hope you are all having a wonderful holiday season! I have many posts to type up so keep checking back. We’ll have plenty of new posts in the New Year!