How to make easy Snowman cards and more...

Rain turning to SNOW is in our forecast this week but so far it has just been a rain~snow mix. All we can do at this point is hope for a blanket of white overnight and, in the meantime, work on fun projects such as these cute DIY SNOWMAN cards. 

Most of the cards I make are very simple and do not require much extra equipment such as a cutting machine. Don't get me wrong, it would be great to have one and I have seriously considered it but the basics that I have work just fine for now. I am happy to draw my design and improvise on the construction using my basic tool selection.  For example, the Snowman card above was sketched first and then hand cut except for the holly, hole punch eyes and mouth. 

The Snowman with the scarf was also drawn and hand cut except for the hole punch eyes and snowball head which was cut with a manual circle cutter.

To make the snowflake texture I used my hot glue gun to make varied sizes on dots on a piece of card stock. Once it was completely cool and firm I covered it with another piece of white card stock and ran my 2" wide roller over the top to emboss the paper. That seemed much easier than running out to pick up the perfect paper. The best part was that it worked and made the background stand out a bit more.

It took a few tries to draw a top hat that was just the right size and had the perfect look as did the nose. Once I was satisfied with those I moved onto the second Snowman design and a Penguin card. 

To remember the size and instructions of my projects I like to make templates as shown here. It also makes construction go much faster if I ever decide to make more. 

For the snow on two of the cards I used embossing powder and made dots randomly around the card. Each dot is different, which I like, and the "snowflakes" give it a little texture.

SNOW there you have it! A few winter card projects that are fun and easy to make, especially on snow days!

Happy Monday!

30 minute Dinner Rolls

What could be better than homemade soup and hot rolls for dinner on a cold and rainy evening? The menu sounds great however soup and rolls usually require extra time to prepare and cook, depending on the recipe of course. I know mine takes longer which makes it impossible with a busy schedule.

On days when we are short on time, like last Thursday, I made 30 minute Dinner Rolls which honestly only took 30 minutes from start to finish. The first time might take a few extra minutes but after that it should be pretty close to thirty minutes. It will also depend on how long you knead the dough and let the rolls raise before baking. Since I was in a hurry I chose the least amount of time for both and they turned out fine. Another great thing about this recipe is you do not need a mixer although you can use one if you prefer as long as you have a dough hook for kneading. I decided to forgo my mixer this time and found that it did not take any extra time to stir and knead it myself. 

These rolls were so good hot out of the oven and were perfect with our soup. They also keep well and are wonderful the next day. If you want to make these rolls you can find the recipe I used at Spend With Pennies. 

Happy Baking!

Peppermint Icebox Cake

This year we celebrated Christmas twice,  once on Christmas Day and again on New Years Day to accommodate multiple schedules. We left the tree up since there were still gifts to be opened and decided to make our traditional Christmas dinner on New Years Day for those who were not able to join us on Christmas. As for dessert, we had plenty of Christmas cookies and cupcakes leftover from New Years Eve however I wanted something special like our Buche de Noel { Yule Log }, but it was long gone, so I decided to try this new Peppermint Icebox Cake recipe that my sister had shared with me in December. 

This No Bake dessert recipe is called a "cake" however it is made in a pie plate so it seems as if it could be called a pie as well. 

No matter what you call it it is wonderful!

It is light and fluffy and perfect after a big holiday dinner.

You just can't go wrong with Oreo's, peppermint, cream cheese, whipping cream and marshmallow fluff! If you want to make this fabulous Peppermint Icebox Pie you can find the recipe here.

Have a wonderful Saturday!

Better Late than Never....DIY Christmas Gift Tags

December is always so busy that it is hard to find time to get everything posted here so over the next few days I hope to get caught up. First off are these fun little DIY Christmas Gift Tags.

I like to have gift tags that match/coordinate with my wrapping paper whenever possible but sometimes, for whatever reason, I cannot find what I want in the stores and that was the case for this particular roll of paper. It is times like this when it is just faster, easier and more fun to make my own.

These were created with things I had on hand which were scraps of paper, stamps, embossing powder, embossing roller, string, punches and glitter. 

As you can see they are very simple which made them quick and easy to assemble. 

A festive little gift tag to coordinate with the wrapping paper and bow. 

Happy Thursday!

Caramallow Cupcakes

Cupcakes with a

surprise in the middle

to ring in the

New Year!

These Caramallow Cupcakes were the dessert I made to share with our friends on New Years Eve. The cupcakes are a chocolate mocha, filled with salted caramel and topped with a light marshmallow frosting.

The gold & silver liners and the glittery sprinkles made them extra festive. 

Wishing you a Happy & Healthy 2020!

Christmas Cake & Cookies

Christmas arrived so quickly this year that it was hard to keep up, however, I was happy to get most of my baking checked off the list. 

Gingerbread cookies are a tradition at our house and my recipe makes a big batch which always comes in handy. We had both big and small gingerbread men, a Gingerbread Star Tree and a few little reindeer. The mini gingerbread men and reindeer were used as toppers for my gingerbread cupcakes which were served on Christmas Eve. We had more cupcakes than we needed so shared some with our next-door neighbors who have young children which was fun. 

For dessert on Christmas Day I made a Buche de Noel, also known as a Yule Log. 

This year I used a new recipe. It was really good however the one I have made in the past is a bit easier to assemble so next time I may use combination of each.

This cake was nice and light as was the whipped chocolate frosting and mascarpone filling. The sugared rosemary was from our garden and looked so festive with the sugared cranberries. Definitely a fun cake for Christmas!

Happy Monday!

DIY Holly Jolly Santa Card

Another fun Christmas card that was made in the wee hours of the morning. That seems to be the best time to work on projects around here.

Here is how this card was created: 

The first step is to sketch out my idea.

Step 2: refine the drawing.
Step 3: resize it.
Step 4: cut it out and try it.

Step 5: repeat steps 2, 3 and 4 until I am satisfied. 

For the nose I used my heart punch and cut it as shown above and for the ball on Santa's hat I used my flower punch. Using 2 flowers gave it a little more dimension. The belt is just a strip of black and the buckle is a square. Since this was a large square I made slits on two sides and slid the belt through. The notches were made with a hole punch as were the eyes.

The North Pole  on the inside of the card is a border sticker cut to size and a red gem for the top. 

To embellish the hat I used holly stickers and red gems.

There you have it. My Holly Jolly Santa that was finished and mailed just in the nick of time!

Ho Ho Ho!