• Step 1:

Find glass jars – all sizes – clean them and remove the labels

• Step 2:

cut out some face shapes in masking tape or paint tape

• Step 3:

paint the jar with orange paint!

• Step 4

Let it dry a bit – remove the tape

• Step 5:

Add a candle and enjoy!

I think i might add some black paint inside or double the levels of orange.

I invited a bunch of girl friends to come over and enjoy the day doing a craft of their choice! (instead of going to that other event, that was was far away and had specific food requirements)

I was able to produce almost 40 cards!

I have a couple new patterns – the lady bug one, and the tuxedo jacket one. Both look great, but unfortunately for my thumb have a ton of cuts, so there were not too many produced of either kind. (hello sister, got any criquit peices that look like those parts? Maybe the hat or the face? or the shoes? hmmm??)  And i made the graduation card for the nephew – i had to go look up the school colors on line – to make sure i got it right!)

My t-shirt cards, mom asked for a bunch since they were able to be sent to males a little easier than some of my other ones! (I did a purse pattern last time i made a bunch!) I had to kinda re-create the pattern since my notes were pretty bad.

I still have a couple new patters to try – a doggie one and another one that will be a surprise!

I had a jolly good time with the gals, we gossiped, we watched 80′s movies, we drank wine… it was fabulous!

Here was the menu i created for us to dine on:

• Cucumber Salad
• Mushroom Fritatta
• Spanish Tortilla
• Apple Pancake
• Chocolate Crackles
• Chocolate Chip Almond Cookies
• Butter Crunch Lemon-Cheese Bars (straight from cooking light) Reminded me of Joanne’s Lemon Blue Berry Cheesecake – meaning the concept, not the taste… i did almost plop some blue berries on before baking mine… And it was weird to bake with cottage cheese and no cream cheese, but fun!
• Cafe au lait Chiffon Pie (straight from cooking light) Weird to use marshmallows in a pie! The crowd enjoyed… me, i’m not so sure, but it was my very first graham cracker crust, so that was exciting!

• Meatballs and sauce in the crockpot!  Mmmmm

Perhaps I over compensated and went a little crazy in the kitchen! But that is typical and now i think i have enough food in the fridge and freezer to eat brunch for the next couple months!

They brought with them a “Decorate your own pirate ship” kit for us to enjoy after din din!!

Here is my creation:

Hubby’s creation!

So quickly we forget!
Prior to Christmas I found an awesome caramel corn recipe and made it the first time with a microwave bag of popcorn.
After that first time and how yummy it was I determined I needed to find a different way to pop popcorn.
Then i went back in my memory banks and recalled a time when there was no microwave and we have a big metal contraption to pop the popcorn and corn came in a bag… Oh yeah.

I did some research and to my joy I found one could pop popcorn in the microwave without a brown paper bag nor oil! Woohoo!

Basically you get 2 soup bowls, shift then just a tiny bit so the steam can escape, pop it in the microwave for 3 minutes and 45 second for 2 tablespoons of kernels and whala – you have a bowl almost fully popped! Sweet!

It was just a sad state that we had come so far as to forget how to pop popcorn…  Didn’t the pilgrims and native americans do it ages ago, over an open fire even…

Technology just might kill us!

I like how it turned out. Up or remove the heat to your taste!

Ingredients:

1 cup sugar

1/4 cup corn syrup

1 cup beer

1 tbl butter

1 tbl Cayenne peppter

1 1/2 cup coarsely chopped peanuts

1 tsp Sea Salt

1 1/2 tsp baking soda

Preparation:

Line a jelly roll pan with a silpat

Combine sugar, corn syrup, beer , cayenne and butter in a heavy sauce pan.

Cook over medium heat, stirring until sugar disssolves.

Cook 30 minutes or until a candy thermometer registers 275.  (use the thermometer)

Stir in the peanuts.

Remove from heat, stir in baking soda and salt. Mixture will thicken, bubble and turn opaque

Quickly pour mixture onto prepared pan.  Spread to a 1/4 inch thickness using a wooden spoon coated with cooking spray (or just use the one you used to stir everything with!).

Cool completely.

Break brittle into bite sized peices.

(while still setting  the brittle can be scored for more even breakage once hard)

Other options:

Chardonnay Brittle – replace beer with wine, remove cayenne, add 1 tsp vanilla

So I found a pattern for poinsettia here, made some strips of green and put them through the sticker maker and created a “plant” pretty enough for giving!

Pattern: