Last Minute Christmas Gifts

Every year I let my daughter buy a couple of christmas presents

for her friends, with one rule, she has to spend under five dollars.

This year we fell in love with these cute holiday hand sanitizer

from Bath and Body Works.

They smell so yummy, and the best part is, they are five for

five dollars. (cha-ching)

Instead of using a gift bag, I decided to dress up these little

jars that my friend picked up for me, at the Dollar Tree.

All I did was, add a vinyl sticker on the front, place some

fake snow in the jar and tie a ribbon around it.

And VOILA!

I'm going to put two hand sanitizer in each jar.

I think they will love it.

These turned out completely adorable. ;-)

Tessa's Holiday Bread

I have never been a fan of fruit cake, even though it always looks

so pretty and festive. Kind of. Well, maybe not. Actually it doesn't

look very appetizing to me at all.

Sorry all you fruit cake fans, I just had to get that off my chest.

I feel like a HUGE wait has been lifted.

I have been carrying that around way to long.

But wait!... I do have good news to bring.

I have created a DELICIOUS holiday bread.

The perks of creating your own recipe is, you get to

put all the things in it you like, even fresh ingredients.

I think some of the fruit cakes I see at the store are left from

last year. The Supermarket people don't know what to do

with them, so they just recycle. Thats very green of them,

with detective music playing in the back ground and a sharp look

in my eye I say "Or Is It"

Dun Dun Dunnnn,

Can you tell I haven't been out of the house in a few days?

Anyway!

This is so good, I was eating the dough by the spoonfuls.

Heres what you need.

2 c. flour

1 c. sugar

1 1/2 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp baking soda

1/2 tsp salt

1 pkg instant vanilla pudding

1 c. crushed pineapple

3/4 c. pineapple juice (use the juice from the pineapple can)

1/3 c. softened butter

1 egg

1 c. sweetened shredded coconut

1 heavy cup chopped fresh cranberries

1/2 c. chopped walnuts

1/4 tsp coconut extract

Cream together butter and sugar, the add the egg.

next, combine the rest of the dry ingredients.

Add the wet ingredients to the dry and mix with spoon.

Then add pineapple, juice, and extract, mix until well combined.

Now, fold in the cranberries and walnuts.

Spray a loaf pan with spray pam and coat with sugar.

Pour batter into loaf pan and sprinkle sugar on top.

Bake at 350 for 50 to 60 minutes.

While your bread is baking, mix together

1/2 c. powder sugar, 1/8 tsp of coconut extract, and just enough

water to get the right consistency.

Pour over bread while its still warm.

ENJOY!!

D.I.Y. Christmas Tags

I am so GEEKED! to share this with you guys.

I was over at smallworldsblog, and Kim had the cutest gift tags

useing glitter scarapbooking paper.

I didn't even know there was glitter paper.

I ran to Michaels the same day, and let

me tell you, the paper is B E A U TIFUL.

They also have a good variety of colors.

SO! get your Cricut out and start useing those cartridges.

Thats all there is to it.

This looks beautiful on small packages and

I love the black.

Crowns are big deal right now, and the cool thing

about the Cricut is, you can make different sizes.

It's endless what you can do and useing the glitter

paper makes it look so festive.

I couldn't stop, it's like a having a new toy.

Love it (in my singing voice)

This one, is actually a scrap piece.

Here is a closer shot, This was a scrap piece and all

I did was cut around it with craft scissors.

I think it's time to go make some more tags.

O YEAH!!

Tis The Season

Is anybody else busy or is it just me?

December is going by so fast, and I need it to slow down

so I can enjoy it.

I did however find a little time to make some

holiday snacks.

These are super easy and super yummy.

All you do, is line your pan with pretzels, then place

rollos and peppermint kisses on top of the pretzels.

Bake them at 350 for about 1 t0 2 minutes.

As soon as they come out of the oven place an m&m

on top and press just a little bit until they become a little flat.

They look so festive, I love it!

This time a year, everything taste better with some

hot cocoa ;-)