For the New Year

Last week when I was at Target I picked up a couple of journals that I've covered. Both of them have a hot pink binding so I picked pattern papers to go with the binding. The large one will be my journal for the year. I think it still needs some embellishments - just don't know what yet. The smaller one will be for the books I've read. It should hold 2 years worth of books. I like to keep the title, author, copyright date, and date I've read the book along with a few notes on what the book was about. I also keep some lists of books to read, books to buy as gifts, books that have won awards, and books my book clubs are reading.

Cards

I got most of my Christmas cards sent out on Monday. I had the day off so I headed to the PO on their busiest day of the year. The line wasn't too long and the clerk was cheerful. I had to put extra postage on some of them, so I hope they all got to everyone all right. I have a few stragglers left to send out but I'm out of stamps at the moment.

I made two designs this year since I didn't have enough of the wild wasabi green paper to do them all in green. I used a new SU stamp set, Season of Joy, for both designs. The white card is made with some great linen texture paper that Tim brought home. I love making our cards every year so I hope everyone enjoys receiving them.

I also made a few gift tags to put on the few presents I have to wrap. I just used some scraps of card stock and the Season of Joy set and Ornassortment set from last years cards.

A New Holiday Tradition

Last year I found a easy microwave recipe for peanut brittle and have added making peanut brittle as my newest holiday tradition. I will confess that I tried making a batch on Sunday after I made the peanut clusters, but I burned it. Burnt sugar can sure stink up a house. I was off on Monday and did the last of my Christmas shopping and candy making. The bad part about having this yummy stuff in the house is that Tim just doesn't eat it and it's too cold and dark out to do much walking.

Peanut Brittle

1-1/2 cups of peanuts

1 cup sugar

1/2 cup white corn syrup

1/8 tsp. salt

1 tsp. butter

1 tsp. vanilla

1 tsp. baking soda

In a large microwave proof dish, stir peanuts, sugar, corn syrup and salt. Cook 8 minutes on high. Stir well after 4 minutes. (Be sure to keep an eye on it.)

Stir in butter and vanilla. Microwave on high 2 more minutes.

Add baking soda and quickly stir until light and foamy.

Immediately pour onto a lightly greased sheet and spread out thinly. When cool, break into small pieces.

Now it's Christmas

I made peanut clusters today. It's a traditional family holiday treat at the Holles house. Mom usually sends me some, but this year she is taking it easy. I called her this morning to see if she had Grandma Holles' "official" recipe. We decided it's 2 parts chocolate chips to 1 part butterscotch chips. I have all of Grandma's recipes in a box, and I'll have to dig out the recipe and see if we got it right.

I used 1 package semisweet chips and half a package of butterscotch chips, which I melted in the microwave. Then I added most of a jar of dry roasted peanuts - Tim managed to eat some of the peanuts. I think Grandma used Spanish peanuts in hers, but I don't like them. I made one large sheet of clusters. I even have Grandma's large old jelly roll pans. Lots of good memories with peanut clusters.

And now it feels like Christmas. And yes, there will be a scrapbook page to come.

What's the temperture you ask?

Well, it was 80 degrees out yesterday. Last night we slept with the bedroom window open - which wasn't great for my sinuses. It doesn't seem right to have the Albemarle Christmas parade when it's 80 degrees, but they did. I didn't go to the parade, I went over to my friend Judi's house instead. I wasn't very inspired to stamp so I worked on this pine cone Christmas ornament. It's a fussy little project, and I probably won't make any more. The base is a 3 inch Styrofoam ball. Pieces of pattern paper are cut 1 inch by 2 inches and folded into triangles and then attached with straight pins (a thimble is a must). I'm happy with how it turned out. And now there is an ornament hanging on our tree.

Happy Anniversary

Today Tim and I are celebrating our 14th anniversary. I have to say, they've been 14 great years, and I wouldn't have wanted to do them without him. Tim isn't a big sweets eater, but he does love cheesecake so this morning I made one. I got the recipe from the Keebler Ready Crust label.

Fluffy Pumpkin Cheesecake Pie

2 pkg. (8oz ea.) cream cheese, softened

2/3 c. sugar

2 tsp. pumpkin pie spice

2 eggs

1 can (15 oz) pumpkin

1 extra serving size graham cracker pie crust

Beat ingredients together until smooth. Pour into crust. bake at 350 for 35-40 minutes. Cool for one hour on wire rack. Refrigerate at least 3 hours.

I also made the card for him this morning. I think I need some more masculine stamp sets. I used the Big Pieces and Little Pieces stamps sets and the Rough Edges Alphabet to stamp the greeting. The paper colors are True Thyme, Close to Cocoa, Marigold Morning and Very Vanilla, and the ink colors are Basic Brown and True Thyme. It's a very simple card accented with a silver metal tag and brad and some True Thyme ribbon.

Happy Anniversary Honey!

'Tis the Season

It's early Sunday morning and I'm up, laying on the couch looking at the Christmas tree. I guess I've caught up on my sleep from our trip to South Dakota for Thanksgiving week. I put the tree up yesterday afternoon while Tim was outside painting one of his bikes. Tree stands must require a Y chromosome for assembly because I just couldn't get the thing together without Tim coming in to give assistance. This year we just put light on, no ornaments, and it is sitting in the corner by the fireplace and front window so people can see the lights from the street. We had to run to Lowes to get a new string of lights. I found a tree skirt on sale while I was there. It is made of felt, so it coordinates with the stocking my Mom made us - only it's not as nice as the stockings. Riley and Tarzan enjoy playing under the tree. I still need to decorate the mantle, but the stockings are hung. We also need to put the lighted garland on the front porch, but I do have the wreath hanging outside.

I've been busy making my Christmas cards. I had to make two styles this year because I didn't have enough green paper to make enough cards of one style. I'm almost done, I have some cutting to do and stamping the envelopes. Then I have a few gifts that I would like to make.

I hope everyone else is having a good holiday season.