Super Easy Peppermint Bark

I am just not a baker.....I try, but it never turns out looking like the picture in the cookbook or blog.....maybe it's because I'm never exact with my measurements???

........but this recipe is one that is difficult to mess up!  (Although I have before!)

Grab a bag of white chocolate chips....

Cover a cookie sheet with wax paper....



Now, the reason I have messed up this recipe is because I have heated the chocolate too hot and that's because I don't have a double boiler.....this time, I decided to put this together for my double boiler...

 It worked great!  You put water in the bottom and the chips in the bowl and you heat the water on LOW.....be patient....don't rush chocolate or it turns to MUD!!........seriously.....well, maybe more like clay.....


While your chocolate is S-L-O-W-L-Y melting, crush up some candy canes (or peppermints)....since we are a classy establishment, we used our good and sturdy hammer....truly, it works better than a rolling pin!

As your chocolate starts to melt, add a spoon-full of Crisco...it makes the chocolate harden nicely and thins it out a little...



When it's melted through like this....

 .....pour onto your waxpaper-lined cookie sheet.

Sprinkle your crushed peppermint on top.....

Grab some yummy dark chocolate and melt in the microwave.....I put it in a coffee cup and melt it in bursts of 15 seconds on high until it is runny....

Drizzle chocolate on the crushed peppermint with a spoon and then refrigerate.....refrigerate about 1 hour or until you remember that you put it in the fridge!!



Once everything has hardened, break into pieces and eat!!

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My crafty daughter...

So...it's been about 6 weeks since I started this blog and it's been overwhelming how fast it has taken off.....my children each have had their own different responses to my writing....

My two sons-----they want to know if I can make any money and be famous....."No, this is just fun for Mommy to do..."   

They don't really get that.

My daughter though----she has been inspired and is now a crafting maniac......I just had to share her most recent creation.....heavily influenced by our Amish neighbors....

An Amish cap for her Barbie head...a little creepy, especially at night in the dark sitting on the kitchen island...but made with a napkin and stapler! LOL

Completely inspired and created by her alone....I'm just not sure there's a big market for an Amish Barbie......

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Cookie help.....

(Disclaimer----I did not make that cookie...none of my cookies would ever turn out that cute!)

Okay....so I have made only one batch of cookies and I am nowhere near finished with my Christmas shopping.  Nothing is wrapped and I haven't even bought wrapping paper yet.......panic is starting to creep steadily in.....

So...I have declared Friday cookie-making mania at my house.....I mean, doesn't measuring ingredients count as math.....yeah, I'm stretching!!  (And no...I would NEVER count that as actual math...they'll do their real math before they get to taste any cookies!! says the homeschool Mom-nazi....)

So, if you can relate to my panic at all, then you will appreciate my friend Alison's Christmas Cookie Exchange over at:

....here are some chocolate covered cherry cookies that I just might try....

....or some chocolate-dipped-peppermint oreos....

Oh....the decisions!!

She has about 16 yummy recipes over at her cookie exchange if you'd like to check it out....

We are going to make homemade hardtack candy this weekend with my mom and dad....I'll be posting pictures and a recipe next week......

(I still need my mom's help....stuff like that is just tooooo hard on my own and I don't have a candy thermometer!)

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Spraypaint blog hop

Oh my....you must check out some of the projects at this spraypaint party!




I entered some of my spraypaint project over there....but I can't wait to look at some of the ideas posted!  Spraypaint is just so much fun......now if it was just warmer out so that I could spraypaint!!

Check out some of these amazing entries!

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Paint party...

Are you looking for something to paint or spraypaint?

I linked up over here with some of my spraypaint projects.....maybe you can find some new ideas there, too!

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Gift Idea: Teen photo holder

Are your teen (or pre-teen) girls looking for a gift to give their friends this Christmas??  How about this....

I'd say "Isn't it adorable"....but I think that I say that too much! 

My friend, Dawn, is going to mod podge a scrap of the paper to the front of a clothespin and  glue it to the tile to hold a picture of her daughter and friend.....you could also glue a metal clip, as well.....just grab that Gorilla Glue!!

For instructions on how to do the photo holder, you can go here to my Christmas plaque idea.

Dawn got her scrapbook paper at AC Moore.....and she even used a coupon!!!  Love it!

Total Cost:  $0.20 for the tile at the Habitat Restore
 $0.69 for the scrapbook paper (and you can get at least 2 photo holders out of 1 sheet)
Mod Podge----on hand
Ribbon---on hand
Clothespin---on hand
Plate holder---she got hers at Walmart for $1.00....The Dollar Tree also has them, as well.

Total cost:  Under $2.00!!


Here are some other plaques that she is working on:

This one is for her daughter's piano teacher....(She just printed the words on computer paper and used pastels to color it in....the music paper is just from AC Moore!)  The font that she used is called John Handy LET.

Dawn is working on a gorgeous one for her daughter's ballet teacher with ballet slipper scrapbook paper and ballet-type quote and then she had this one just sitting around her house...

She was inspired by my Christmas plaque.....if you've been inspired by one of my projects....leave me a comment or send an email.....I'd love to share it with everyone!

Some of your projects have just been gorgeous (and adorable)!!

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Peppermint Wreath

Look at this fun wreath idea!!!  I think that I may fill the empty space on  my front door with this!!
(My door looks so forlorn right now with just an empty wreath hanger there.....*sigh*.....there are only so many hours in a day.....)

I found this cute idea at:



                                                           


She has a complete tutorial on how to make it with starlight mints and red hots!!! 

The best part......you can eat it on January 1....just kidding....kind've.....

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Christmas Gift Idea: Hand and Body Scrub

I found this a couple of week ago at the Craft-O-Maniac link party.....

(I'm ignoring that big ticky tack poinsettia on the top and looking only at the jar!  Sorry to offend you if you like the flower, I don't.)

.....homemade handscrub!!!

Here are the instructions!  All that you need is this:

I think that there are even greater possibilities for how to gift this......(instead of using canning jars)

In fact.....our local Gift and Thrift had some gorgeous antique jars the last time I visited......just add a "Christmas-y" bow.....


I found another idea here....


for body scrub.....

Here are the directions for this:

Now....you can make a whole gift scrub basket!  

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Beaded Initials

We were at my friend, Jenny's, the other evening and she is a crafting maniac!! I'm so glad that I thought to bring our camera because she had amazing projects all over her house!!  I can't wait to share some of them!

But I wanted to show you these so that you would have time to make them before Christmas.......

See the cool initials??? 

It's just wire and tiny beads!!!  Simply adorable and easy and cheap! (and they look amazingly expensive!!)

She just bent a loop at the end to keep the beads on....

....and twisted them into the initials of the members of her family!!

Aren't they just beautiful!!  Thanks, Jenny!

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Yummy Gingerbread Men

My Mother-in-law definitely makes the best gingerbread cookies......so here's her recipe that we use every year!  (You can see how "loved" it has been!)


You will need these ingredients (and milk.....forgot to get the milk for the picture!)....

Cream 1/3 cup of butter with 1/2 cup dark brown sugar......no...your eyes are not failing you, I didn't have dark brown, so it's light brown....it all tastes the same, right?!

(and yes.....that mixer is so old that it made my Christmas cookies when I was a little girl!)

Add 1/3 cup of molasses.....and it must be  Grandma's.  If there's a "secret ingredient" to this recipe, this is what makes the cookies sooooo yummy!

Cream it in.....(is that even a real baking instruction???)

Now the recipe calls for you to sift all dry ingredients together.  I'm sure that there's a very good and important reason to do that, but I never do...shhhhhh! don't tell my MIL!!!  

I just add 1/4 tsp. salt and 1/8 tsp. baking soda to the bowl....mix and then add my 2 cups of flour......

When you add the flour, alternate the 2 cups with 1/4 cup of milk.

The recipe calls for an optional 1/2 cup of finely chopped nuts....I've never added them....

Refrigerate for 1 hour (or 2 days if you're busy....).


Roll out the dough to whatever thickness you prefer.....some like thin and crispy in our house....and be sure to get flour to cover any flat surface in a 3 meter radius!

...allow your 9 year old son to take a picture with flour-covered hands all over your new camera.....shhh!  don't tell my husband....

...catch your daughter eating all the cookie dough and threaten to send her to her room and make her cry....

Bake for 10 minutes at 350 degrees.

Decorate.....eat in 1 day and repeat the whole process because there are no more cookies left!

To decorate...we just add a little bit of water to powdered sugar and use toothpicks to add eyes and accessories.....it's tradition!

Yummy!!!

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