Cranberry Butter Spread

Everybody loves the holidays for at least one reason! Mine being food and fun :) This is a festive spread because of the delicious fresh cranberries that are used... mmm.

I saw this simple recipe but I do not remember where I saw it! Just know that I'm not clever enough to come up with this one on my own...

What you'll need:

1 lb softened butter
1/2 cup fresh cranberries
1/2 cup honey
Zest of a full orange

*I used "I Can't Believe It's Not Butter" to try and cut some fat out.

To begin, empty the butter into a medium sized mixing bowl

Then make sure you give those tart cranberries a good chop.

I chopped the cranberries because I wanted them mixed in really well, but I suppose it's all about personal preference.

Now... for my favorite part... the honey <3

All that is left is that beautiful orange. Make sure you get at least a medium size so you get a nice amount of zest to mix in.

By the way, I used a regular ol' grater... no fancy kitchen utensils here!

Next, give it a good stir until smooth and creamy.

Yum yum yummy!!

This spread was wonderful on toast, but I bet it would be just as wonderful on pancakes or muffins! Try it out :)

Personalized Wine Carafe

I hope everybody's holiday was wonderful! I had a fantastic time with the family, and I am definitely looking forward to New Years with them!

Now that everyone has unwrapped their gifts, I can FINALLY post about them! For the next few days, expect a flood of crafty blogging :)

First off- I have been dying to post this one. For Christmas, I made David's mother a personalized wine carafe.

I grabbed this cute carafe from Hobby Lobby :)

On my Cricut, I cut out "Valeria's Wine" on vinyl and smoothed it over the carafe.

Then I applied a thick layer of Etching cream in the cut-out letters and left it to dry for about 10 minutes.

After the time was up, I rinsed the carafe under water and took the vinyl off.

Here is the finished product-

It's kind of hard to see, but it really did turn out nice!

I love being able to personalize items, especially for people with unique names. This carafe made a great gift. Who doesn't love wine after all??

I WON!!

I am very pleased and excited to say that I have won my FIRST blog giveaway!!

Here, on Sumo's Sweet Stuff, I won a beautiful jewelry piece from BlackGiraffe on Etsy <3

I will update with pictures when I have received my piece!

YAY!!

That Christmasy Feeling...

It finally snowed down here in Carbondale!

I literally was talking about this last night with my friend. She asked, "when do you think it's going to snow?" and I said, "Down here? Probably not 'til late January!"

Boy, was I wrong...

View from the apartment deck

My dogs were quite excited to see the white fluffy snow. The minute I opened up the deck sliding door, Zoe ran out and created the most perfect little paw print  <3

It's really beginning to look a lot like Christmas!

Another thing I wanted to mention- coffee creamer. What other great way to smell and taste the holiday season than a sweet and spicy creamer for your coffee??

David and I ran into this one at the store...

Rufus modeled in the background for us

And OMG YUMMY! Vanilla Spiced Rum creamer. If you love tasting the holidays in your coffee cup, you have to try this delectable creamer.

Hope everyone's season is turning out to be beautiful!

Project with My Kindergarten

I wanted to share a cute project I did with my Kindergarten class this semester :)

I asked the children to describe pumpkins and things we do in fall. We had a pumpkin and I wrote the descriptive words on it as a reference for them.

Then I passed out cute bordered autumn papers for them to write a simple story about something they did this past fall.

Here is a sample of a page-

"I gutted pumpkins"

When all of the pages were finished, I compiled them together in order to make a "Fall Book". Unfortunately, a lot of the children lost their pages (*sigh*).

BUT- I did make a super cute cover for the book-to-be!

I love my Cricut <3

So there you have it, a cute, simple, fun idea for kids to be creative and reminisce about their Fall adventures.

Favorite Ornaments

Looking through my Google Reader, I came across a blog that is hosting a "Favorite Ornament Party"! How fun!

I decided to chose my favorite ornaments on my Christmas tree and take a picture to join the party.

This is my favorite ornament because it contains a photo of the ones I love most- my fur-kids, Zoe and Rufus <3

This photo was taken last year when they were dressed in their Christmas pajamas waiting for Santa Paws... too cute, right?!

My other favorite is this darling one-

It's my favorite because this was the first ornament David and I picked out the first year we moved in together <3

If you would like to join in on the fun, here is the link for the Flamingo Toes Favorite Ornament Party :)

Early Christmas Gift!

My friends decided to throw a wonderful (early) Christmas party since finals week is coming up and we're all going home. We did a Secret Santa drawing so that everyone can get at least 1 gift...

Needless to say, it was successful!

I decided to write this blog because my "secret Santa" was none other than my wonderful boyfriend, David! What a great surprise!

Here's what he got me...

This AWESOME organizer for all my crafty things!! I was in love! (not just with my organizer, but with David for picking out such a thoughtful gift!)

Hang tight for some more blog entries... I can't really post anything I have been working on lately because they're all gifts... shh!

DIY Recycled Ornaments

David, my wonderful boyfriend, is a magician (yes, a magician); therefore, we have odd things laying around the apartment for who-knows-what reasons.

One of those odd things-

Are these. They are the little plastic balls that hold cheap toys in the $.25 machines, or that hold pantyhose.
Side note- this is also a good activity for the little guys who actually buy the silly toys. Keep these balls around to repurpose them into ornaments!

I found 3 of these little guys on my desk. Wondering why, I asked Dave, "...What are these for?" He replied, "I thought you could make dog treat ornaments or something."

HOW THOUGHTFUL!! HOW SWEET!! HOW LUCKY AM I TO HAVE A BOYFRIEND WHO APPRECIATES MY LITTLE CRAFTS?!

Incredibly impressed, I gave him a big hug and put them away...

Until last night.

Ornaments? Hmm...

Great idea!

I decided to attempt this idea-

I took the little ball-thing and punctured 2 holes on the lid and put a ribbon through them.

Then, I stuffed it with glittered tissue paper that I had leftover from wrapping gifts.

I took some red ribbon and glued it around the lid closure.

I knew it needed a little something else, so I added some dazzle.

How cute!?

I didn't have any string or fishing line, but once I do I will tie it around the top ribbon in order to hang it on the tree :)

Christmas Wreath!

I was looking around at Big Lots, Walmart, Hobby Lobby, and other places for a pretty wreath. They turned out to be more than I wanted to spend, so I decided to make my own!

At Hobby Lobby they had all Christmas crafts for 40% off (I bought a styrofoam ring), then at Walmart they had seasonal fake flowers, berries, and pine cones for $1 each! Sooo much cheaper!

I took the ring and hot glued the flowers, berries, and pinecones. Then at Big Lots they had a giant bow for $1, and of course, I added it!

Sorry I forgot to take pictures during the process, but I am sure that if you were to try it you wouldn't fail :)

Easy, inexpensive, and personal <3

Christmas Vase

With all of the time I had at home, I thought I would make myself productive. I didn't have my Cricut with me, so I had to really get creative!

For the holiday season, there's never too many decorations, so I decided to create a "Christmas Vase". I picked up some Christmasy flowers and cinnamon scented pine cones from Michael's, then my mom gave me a vase she never uses.

My mom had some leftover ribbon so I took 2 pieces and hot glued them into a bow. I cut the back and added velcro so I can take it on and off.

Cute "Christmas Vase" if I say so myself!

Cute Questionnaire

As I have nothing to do now that Thanksgiving is over (Happy Thanksgiving by the way...), I found this cute questionnaire in this adorable blog. Why not right? I mean, who wants to do homework anyway??


So without further ado, a little something about me-


{one} what time do you normally wake up?
Weekdays @ 6, weekends @???.

{two} do you have a go-to song for karaoke?
Even though I HATE karaoke, any Disney Princess song will do :)

{three} if you could only see black and white except for one color, what color would you choose to see?
Rose, I think it'd make everything look beautiful.

{four} what color best matches your personality?
I LOVE the color purple, so I guess purple... it's a color that means a lot of different things.

{five} if you could choose one meal to cook better than anyone else, what would it be?
Maybe some sort of chicken roast? I have no idea.

{six} how many keys do you have on your key ring?
Five, plus a cute "Love" keychain.

{seven} do you give your pets birthday/christmas gifts?
ALWAYS! I usually end up spending more on my fur-kids than on anyone else!

{eight} when your plate has different foods on it, do you mix or not?
Nope. I do not have anything against it, but if it doesn't "go together" then I don't mix it.

{nine} if you could hire someone to do one thing for you all the time, what would it be?
Clean! Oooh how wonderful that would be!

{ten} when flying, do you prefer the window or aisle seat?
I hate flying... but the window seat would be preferable.

Little "Joy" Pails

I loved this idea from my friend Leah and had to try it out!

The pails were 3 for $1 at the Dollar Tree and the ribbon was half off at Hobby Lobby ($.50)!
I cut the letters using the Opposites Attract cartridge and Mod Podged them. SO SIMPLE!

I decided to make these for my friends who are having a Christmas party in a couple weeks, I hope they enjoy them!

Smoked Salmon and Eggs

This is a household favorite! My mom makes this for me for breakfast whenever I come home from school, and I LOVE IT!

First off- you have to be a fan of smoked salmon (aka lox). If you're not a fan (because you haven't tried it), shame on you! Now, I'm not a salmon fan in general, but there's something about smoked salmon that is oh-so-good! If you have not tried smoked salmon, I say try it! You never know what you might like until your taste buds get the experience.

So, not only is this recipe super easy, but it is SUPER delicious!

You need (for 2 servings):

• 6 eggs
• 2 tbs of milk
• 1 pkg smoked salmon
• softened cream cheese
• green onion
• salt
• pepper

 Add the eggs and milk to a large bowl and scramble

Heat an oiled skillet and cook eggs

Meanwhile, take a nice helping of the smoked salmon (I usually do about 1/3 cup) and chop into easily distributable pieces

Take about 1 stalk of green onion and chop into fine pieces

Once the scrambled eggs are done cooking, turn off the heat and set aside

Next, take a heaping spoonful of cream cheese and plop it right into the scrambled eggs

Add the salmon and mix together until well blended

Serve topped with the green onion, salt, and pepper (to taste)

Now you have a perfectly delicious, drool worthy, filling breakfast (or lunch, snack, dinner, etc... I can eat this stuff all day)!!

Enjoy <3

Birthday Cards

I thought I would share a few more birthday cards I created... I think I'm finally getting the hang of it!

I made this cute little guy for my sister's 21st birthday!

Then this card I made for David's client. He did magic at a 5 year old's birthday party.

Practice makes perfect, right? I think I am definitely improving in my card making skills. Only time will tell!

My Daddy's Birthday Card

Just thought I would share the birthday card I made for my dad using the Cricut.

I won't go through the step by step process, but I will tell you that using a piece of cardstock that is 9" x 5 3/4" words out awesomely if you have the Cricut Personal Electronic Cutter.

Some of the cards from the Wild Card cartridge would not cut at the proper measurements because my machine will only cut up to 5". So for this particular card I used the Paper Pups cartridge and the words were from Wild Card.

The little dog looks similar to my dad's dog, Kramer.

Back

Inside

Cute and simple :)

Biscuits and Gravy!

To anyone who LOVES creamy flavorful gravy and fluffy biscuits... this one's for you!!

David and I are huge fans of this breakfast meal because it incorporates meat, creaminess, and fluffy hot biscuits... mmm.

You need:

Biscuits-

• 1 cup flour
• 1 1/2 tsp baking powder
• 1/8 tsp salt
• 1/2 cup milk
• 1 tsp melted butter

Gravy-

• 1/2 lb bulk breakfast sausage (whatever meat you like)
• 1 tbsp butter
• 3 tbsp flour
• 1 3/4 cup milk
• salt and pepper to taste

First, mix together the flour, baking powder and salt in a medium bowl. Add the melted butter and milk until the mixture is moist.

Set the oven to 450 degrees.
Plop spoonfuls on a cookie sheet (I spray mine with Canola oil to help relieve stickiness).

Bake the biscuits for about 10 minutes, or until golden brown.

Meanwhile- in a medium saucepan, cook the sausage until there is not any more pink showing.

Add the butter to the pan and stir to help it melt. When butter is melted, sprinkle the meat with the 3 tbsp of flour and mix well.
Add the milk, salt, and pepper to the meat and bring to a boil. The gravy should start to thicken.

After the gravy has thickened and the biscuits have baked, serve in a bowl with the gravy smothering the biscuits.

Yum yum yum!! Hope you enjoy this as much as we have :)