a Holiday Baking Disaster & a Plan B

Yesterday I did a little Holiday Baking for my Neighbors.

 A While back I found these cookies on Pinterest from here.  They looked so cute and festive and way easy. So I decided that was what I would make for my neighbors this year.

And then Jake was having some major cravings for Chocolate Popcorn, so I had planned to whip some of that up too.

I went to the grocery store and bought all the ingredients.  And I was looking forward to a fun day of baking.

I even found me a little helper

Seriously, what little boy wouldn't enjoy hammering some Candy Canes.

 He took his job very serious.

(when making these, remember to double bag your candy canes, then wrap a towel around the bags).

Then they should look pretty like this.

You can melt your chocolate in the microwave or a double boiler. But this is what I do; Put a small amount of water in a saucepan, and bring it to a low boil.  Put the chocolate in a metal bowl and lay it on top of the saucepan. 

Stirring constantly.

So far so good....And then it's time to dip in the Oreo cookies.  (By the way I have always had difficulties when I've tried to dip anything into chocolate).

So they ended up looking like this.

  Ba Ha Ha!  What a Freak'n Hot Mess! 

 First the cookies kept breaking.  Then they just weren't covering right.  I tried spoons, forks, tongs...Nothing was helping. 

I like to compare mine to the picture on Pinterest. I'm guessing she has a few secrets she wasn't sharing.

So I gave up on the cookies and moved on to the chocolate popcorn.

Which I burned the first bag, forgot to listen to the pops. I'm pretty sure at this point I was busy licking the chocolate spoon.

Anyway,  I made more popcorn, melted some dark chocolate, mixed it all together, then tasted it.

Ewww!  Looked at the package.  UNSWEETENED!

Googled what to do when you have accidentally bought unsweetened chocolate.  You would think add sugar, right,? Nope,  milk!

So I added some milk,  But that only made it into a thick frosting like mixture.

Tossed it!

And then we come to Plan B

Mix all remaining ingredients together!

Success!

So the final recipe goes like this:

White and Dark Chocolate Covered Popcorn with Oreos

Pop 2 bags of microwave popcorn,  Place in a large bowl.

Crush up 6 Oreo cookies, add to popcorn.

Melt 1 package of dark chocolate chips (Sweetened), Pour over popcorn.

Lay out on to Wax paper.

Now pop another 2 bags of popcorn, Place in a large bowl.

Crush up 6 Oreo cookies, add to popcorn.

Melt 1 Package of White Chocolate chips, Pour over Popcorn.

Lay out onto Wax Paper.

now Mix both white and dark popcorn together.

Eat/Share/Enjoy!

This is a no fail recipe,  I am not holding out any special tips or secrets on you.

Time to package!

I found these cute Popcorn bags at the dollar store.

I filled the bags half way full with the popcorn.

Then folded over the tops of the bags and hole punched.

Tied up with string, a tag and on some I added my homemade cardboard flowers.

I made the flowers out of paper towel rolls and blogged about it  here in my last post about gift wrapping.

 I spray painted these ones silver.

 I came across the tags last year.  They are just a free printable you can find here. There are a few other cute ones too.

I was happy with the way they all turned out.

 And it was also so good to get out of the house to deliver them. 

After being cooped up for hours, totally Chocolate Waisted!  Seriously,  I may not eat anymore chocolate until valentines day.

And Then......

After all that,  I was on Pinterest last night and found this:

My blessed life used Almond bark instead of chocolate,  and has a few helpful tips.

I just may need to give them another shot.

I'm sure this will be my last post before Christmas.

So I want to wish you all and your families a

Very Merry Christmas!

Gift Wrapping

 It's exactly One week until Christmas!  Are you all ready?  I am mostly,  just some baking and wrapping is all I have left to do.

I really enjoy wrapping presents....just not so much when it's late at night on Christmas Eve. So I'm trying to get most of it wrapped early.

My Christmas tree looks even more Cheery with gifts under it.

 This year I made these Cardboard flowers to add to my gifts. 

I'm sure you have all seen these a bunch lately. I first saw them here on pinterest.  They were made for Christmas tree ornaments.

And then recently I found them again here on Morning T blog.  I loved how she used them on her gifts.

 They were super easy to make. You just cut up a toilet paper or paper towel roll into 1/2 inch sections, then hot glue it into the shape of a flower.. or star.  You can also paint them and add glitter,  which I may still do on some of them, but I kinda like them brown,  there is kinda a woodsy look to them.

I think they look adorable tied up on my gifts.

 I created a little Gift Wrapping Station

here with my basket.  It's nice to have everything organized and at hand.

 I have also come across a ton of  Free Tag Printables on Pinterest.  I've just printed off a few of them,  but if you look around you'll be able to find even more. 
You can find these ones that are shown below  Here and Here.  Then all you do is print them off onto card stock, cut them out and add them to your gifts.

 I've also made some sticker tags by stamping my cute Christmas stamps on to a sheet of mailing labels .

{These are fun for the kids to make too}.

Another tag I made are these simple reindeer ones. I found this wrapping paper last year that I just loved.  Then all I did was cut out some of the reindeer and glued them onto cardboard tags.

 I also like to add small branches from my pinetree to my gifts. 

 But My Very Favorite Present  under the tree is this one here.

Liam wrapped it for his little bro Jaxon.  He came up with the idea of writing on the paper all by himself.  It's a great idea,  I think I may have to copy him on that one.  Try a little subway art,  or write a little message.

Happy Wrapping!

My Holiday Home Video Tour

Hello and Welcome to

My Holiday Home Video Tour

I thought it might be fun to do it Video Style

(It's only 2 minutes long)

To Watch Video in Full Screen click here:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-vDKn_nu4Oo&list=FLD_oSLFMPbDxCEP_T5wHnog&feature=mh_lolz

Wishing you all a Merry Christmas!

Yarn Decorations

In my Last Post I shared my Christmas Tree with you.  Thank you all for your sweet comments about it.

I also had said that I was going to post how I made my Yarn Ball Ornaments,  So here we go!

I originally was going to make them to sell in my etsy store,  But I loved them so much that I wanted to keep them all for myself ( a problem I keep running into) So instead of selling them, I'll just show you how you can make your own.

Start off with a Large plastic bulb ornament.  I found mine at the dollar store,  and they only cost.....1 Dollar!!!  ha ha that joke never gets old.

Trim off the tag string,  it will only get in the way.

Then add a big glob of hot glue.  Lay your yarn onto it and start wrapping!  I wrap until the big glob is covered and then add another big glob in another spot.
Wrap. Wrap. Wrap. 
Repeat.  Repeat. Repeat.

I also used a glue stick to push the yarn down into the glue.... BTW you will need lots of glue sticks for this project.

I also found that it helped to hold the bulb in my lap.... But note, wear an old T-shirt because you will get hot glue on it.  I learned the hard way the first time I made one.

They look kinda pretty with a little of the gold coming through,  so you could just stop half way through if you'd like,  Otherwise Keep Wrapping!  And Wrap until the bulb is completely covered.  Then cut your yarn,  tuck the end in and glue.

The last step is to tie on a hook.  I found that if you put a dab of hot glue on the end of the yarn you are able to feed it through the top easier.
Now hang it on your tree and Enjoy!

I  also had this Large red bulb in my box of decorations, that I decided to cover as well. 

So this is also a great way to give new life to some old ornaments you may already have.

I covered it in red yarn this time, but I did find that the hot glue was more noticeable on the red yarn,  so I didn't use as much glue on the top layer.

I just love the way they turned out.

I think they are fun and bring in some Coziness!

I didn't just stop there with the yarn.  I kept going!  I tied up my coat closet door with it!

And with just a few clothespins I'm able to hang up all of my Christmas cards.

 

I've received a few more cards since I took these pictures, and I have to say the more cards I add, the cuter it looks.

And then I'm using the yarn to wrap up my Christmas gifts.  Yarn is really inexpensive.  A roll goes a long way. It's re-usable.  And such a better idea then Plastic ribbon. 

Give it a try.

Happy Yarning!

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