Holiday Iced Branches

First, gather your supplies. You will need:

Tacky glue

cheap foam brush

paper plate

bare branches

Colorfill Diamond Vase Filler (I used a 1lb bag and had leftovers)

Newspaper to cover your work area

The paper plate and glue I had on hand, the branches I got on sale at Hobby Lobby, the foam brush I had but it came from the Dollar Store and the Crystals I bought online. The crystals were the most expensive, not because they cost that much but because I had to have them shipped and they weigh a lb, literally. So, if you can find some locally it might be a better deal. Still, total project cost was between $15-$20.

Step one: Pour out your crystals on the newspaper

Step two: "Paint" the glue onto your branches. This glue is really thick and kind of hard to spread but do your best to spread it evenly over the branches - no big clumpies! 

Step 3: Lay the glue covered branches onto the crystals and roll and press them to stick. I found that, sometimes, it helped if I held a handful and pressed them to the branch if it was a particularly "bendy" area that was hard to cover.

Allow to dry on the newspaper for at least 45 minutes.

Here is a close up of what the branches looked like when they were all dry.

And this is the final product displayed! I picked up the ball ornaments at the Dollar Store ($1 for 7) to use as a base to balance the branches in my apothycary jar. I am really pleased with how they turned out and think they add some winter elegance to my decor! I love how the light reflects off of them and am thinking about getting some of the little battery powered tea lights to hide down in the jar to light it from underneath. I can't decide if having to digg to turn them on would be worth it or not!

Anyway, hope you like my Wintery craft!

A take along dessert

With all the holiday fun coming up I am sure almost everyone will have an opportunity to "make and take" something somewhere. This is one of my favorite recipes to do so with!

1)b/c it is super yummy

2) b/c it makes a LOT to share (you can always take two pies and keep one at home for yourself...)

and 3) b/c it is relatively easy and fast

I hope you enjoy them as much as my family does...

Caramel Topped Pie

This makes THREE (3) pies!

16 oz cream cheese, softened (DON'T use fat free, it mixes weird, low fat is okay)
2 cans sweetened condensed milk
16 oz Cool Whip
3 graham cracker or shortbread crusts (you can make your own if you really want to but the ones at the store come with their own pie pans already!)
Caramel ice cream topping
For topping:
1 1/2 c pecans
1 1/2 c coconut
3/4 stick butter or margarine, melted

Mix milk and cheese together. Fold in Cool Whip (you are going to want to do this in small batches or it will take over your mixing bowl)
Pour into crusts.

For topping:
Preheat oven to 350. Spread coconut and pecans onto baking sheet, pour butter over and stir to combine. Spread the mix as flat as possible. Toast until brown. (I do this in 5 min increments stirring after each time. It usually takes between 15-20 minutes to get everything golden. BE SURE TO WATCH IT ! There is a very fine line between golden and blackened!)
Let cool then sprinkle over pies.

Drizzle caramel topping over each pie.
I always put mine in the freezer so that they get really firm and are easier to serve. I think if you take them out about 20-30 min. before serving they would be soft enough to cut into.

Wee little dresses

So, this weekend I went down to visit my family with the purpose of getting some sewing instruction from my momma so I could make dresses for our impending arrival. I am pretty proud of myself, 3 dresses in 3 days, and on my first attempt at making anything with a pattern. Here are my finished items!

This is the first one I made. My Momma hovered around and told me what to do and how to do it. But I made it all myself. Except the button holes, my machine went all wonky when we tried to do them so Momma just made them on hers.

This was the second one I made all by myself while momma was at work. Since our nursery is done in "Classic Pooh" I wanted her to have a some "Pooh Bear bees!" Again, the buttonholes were made by my momma and cut by me.

Last one, and this one is a medium instead of newborn size. I wanted her to be able to wear it on our family beach trip this summer so I tried to estimate where she might be at around 6 months. I had a tiny bit more help with this one. In addition to the buttonholes, momma sewed on the rickrack. It was so small and I was so tired and not feeling very confidant in my ability to stay on such a tiny line.

All in all I am VERY happy with how each dress turned out. Not bad for my very first time I thought. And, I now feel like I could easily make one at my own house without the emergency back up available! Maybe there will be more sewing in my future....

An Experiment

So, I decided to try a little experiment for dinner the other night. It turned out pretty well if I say so myself (hubby had 3 helpings) so I thought I would share it with you.

Mexican Chicken Lasagna

4-6 chicken breasts, cooked, cooled and shredded or cut into bite sized peices

2 cups chicken broth (can be reserved from cooking chicken)

1 c chopped onion

1 c chopped celery

1 can cream of chicken soup

1 can cream of mushroom soup

1 1/2 tsp Tony Chatchere's Seasoning

Sm jar of processed cheese

1 can rotel (use hot if you like an extra kick!)

Package oven ready lasagna noodles

4 cups shredded chedder cheese

Preheat oven to 350

Boil onion and celery in chicken broth until tender. Remove with slotted spoon and set aside. Add soups, seasoning, processed cheese and rotel. Stir until melted. Add chicken and reserved veggies. Stir until combined.

Spray lasagna pan with non-stick spray. Spoon 1/4 of chicken mixture into bottom of pan. Top with a layer of noodles. Add another 1/4 of chicken mixture. Top with shredded cheese (enough to cover). Layer more noodles, 1/4 of chicken mixture, shredded cheese, repeat one more time being sure to end with cheese.

Bake for 40 minutes until bubbly and noddles are cooked through. You may want to put a cookie sheet under your baking dish, mine bubbled over some.

Let sit for 10 minutes before serving.

The recipe would easily serve a family of 4 with leftovers. Even with all my hubby ate the two of us had about a half pan left.