Christmas Eve

We're spending Christmas Eve day with Leif's family in Roundup. The Christmas festivities have officially begun!! Really, though, the gift giving started earlier this week, with the delivery of homebaked goodies (like the cookies you've been seeing all week!) to our friends. Here's what the finished packages looked like:

The cookies and tags were tied to the handle of the takeout boxes, so when you carry them, they look like this:

The stamps, of course, are PaperTrey Ink stamps. I love them! I think this is the third year I've used them, and I probably will next year, too. They are beautiful! For the labels I used another PaperTrey Ink set and I got to use my newest Martha Stewart border punch. Isn't it glorious? I'm very excited about it, and this is it's debut in my crafting!

The boxes are stuffed with sugar cookies, peppernuts, and hard candies shaped like gingerbread men (and flavored like English Toffee). I had so much fun putting them together! I hope the recipients enjoy them, too!

Happy Christmas Eve to you all!!

Ooh! Pretty Sparkly Snowflakes!

These are what we're using as tags on our gifts this year. Fun!

O, Tannenbaum!

I have to say, I really liked decorating the trees. Didn't think I would, but these are fun!

Impromptu Dessert

Tonight we had friends over for dinner and it was decided that they would provide appetizers or dessert. We didn't really plan anything for either and they brought appetizers. As dinner came to a close, Leif mentioned how good it would be if we had something for dessert. So I set about to find something. I remembered that we had some heavy cream, so I started with that. I pulled out my trusty book of recipes from my mom and discovered that our recipe for Cappuccino Truffles calls for heavy cream. So that's what I set out to make.

I melted the ingredients together, hoping they'd cool in time for us to eat them before the kids' bedtime (aka 'party over' time). While I was waiting for the truffle mix to cool in the freezer, I started making some almond bark cups, using a mold I've had, but never used before. I knew it would come in handy some day! The cups took no time at all to cool, so I filled them with the still-soft-and-runny truffle mix, which was more like a ganache since I was too impatient to wait until I could roll it into balls. =D I topped the filled cups with some fresh whipped cream and some coffee ground sprinkles. Here's the bite-sized end result:

They were rich and decadent, and not bad for dessert on the fly, if you ask me! We had all the ingredients on hand and they took about 20-30 minutes to make, which was enough time for dinner to settle and coffee to steep. Yum! Here's the recipe I used. The rest of the mix I will make into "proper" truffles for a party tomorrow night. =D

Cappuccino Truffles

12 oz. chocolate chips (I used semisweet)
1 1/2 T. instant coffee granules
6 T. butter
3 T. heavy cream

Melt all ingredients together. Refrigerate until firm enough to roll into balls. (This is the step I was too impatient to wait for, so I just poured the cooled, but not yet stiff, mixture into almond bark cups.) Coat balls with powdered cocoa, crushed nuts, powdered sugar, etc. I coat the truffles with almond bark in a candy mold.

Ornament Cookies

Though you can't see it very well in the pictures, these cookies have color flow frosting and royal frosting, AND some edible glitter and sparkle dust! They are VERY fun!!

"Gingerbread" Men (and Women)

Well, they're not technically made of gingerbread, but they are in the shape of gingerbread people! I went over to Erika's on Friday and we baked sugar cookies. Then I came home and decorated them that night! It was my first REAL foray into color flow frosting, and I had fun experimenting. I hope to get a lot better - but I thought these guys were pretty cute!

I decorated lots of cookies, so be on the lookout for more cookie posts!!

Wanna see what I've been working on??

Yup... Cookies!! Peppernuts, gingerbread, sugar cookies... and frosting! It's been a LOT of fun!!

Sweet Baby

This is a sweet and simple baby card, left blank so I can add the sentiment at a later time.

Gingerbread

Today I'm baking gingerbread snowflakes. I can't wait to decorate them, but it will have to wait because this afternoon I'm crafting with Michael (woohoo!) and then my inlaws are coming out to watch Eliana so Leif and I can go on a date tonight for our anniversary! It's a very exciting day, I tell ya!

True Love

Today is my 9th anniversary... Happy Anniversary, Love!!

Peppernut Day!

Today was Peppernut Day! We have one every year, where I make those little German spiced cookies we just can't have Christmas without! Last night Ellie and I made the dough, then I rolled out the logs and stored them in the garage overnight so they could freeze. That's one step that's different now that I live in Montana! But I do like being able to freeze things without clearing out space in the freezer, that's for sure! This year I made one change to the recipe I always use. Because Eliana can't have milk, I substituted coconut milk for the evaporated milk in the recipe - and you can't tell one bit of difference! I am very excited about this substitution for holiday baking. It's so much more fun when Ellie can eat the treats with us! So for now, she can have as many peppernuts as she wants!

Happy Holidays!

Butterfly Love

To love abundantly is to live forever...

Love Cards...

More simple cards using up my stash, because it's easier to use the pieces on cards than it is to put them away where they belong. ;)

Using up the stash

Another card, just using white cardstock and some random pieces from the stash:

Green and Brown

I made a whole bunch of cards in the last month, several of which are blank, so I can stamp whatever sentiment I need on them. This is one of them...

Daily December Album

Over the weekend I finally made my Daily December album for this year. I love the papers, and I'm really excited about how it turned out! I had several chipboard albums that I wasn't using, so I decided to mix them up and put them together to create one larger album for my Daily December. I love it! Some paper and some paint were all I needed to make them cute as can be and ready for my pictures, which I am still faithfully taking each day. Tonight is Grinch-fest. Woohoo!

Today I get to go and pick up my pictures from Costco so I can finish last year's Daily December (because I feel this need to actually finish it, even if it is a year late!) and get started on this year's! I'm so excited! It's almost enough to make me forget that it's 10 below zero out there right now...!

Unique

Scrapbooking, originally uploaded by elizabethwickland.

I can't believe I haven't blogged this layout yet, but I can't find it, so I guess I haven't! This is one I did about a month ago, just using some supplies from my stash. A Theresa Collins journaling page as the background, some rub ons by Heidi Swapp (the fuzzy damasks - boy were they a pain in the rear!! I threw the others away they were so awful to use! But cute...), Karen Russell, and foofala. I used a Prima frame and a couple punches, and some paint, and that's about it! Just wanted to document how unique I feel the relationship between a mom and her daughter is.

Daily December List

What's on your Daily December activity list? So far this month we have...

1. Made cookies (though there will be more of that, for sure!)
2. Wrapped gifts (and more of that, for sure!)
3. Made Christmas gifts
4. Devoured the gingerbread house we made
5. Gone to the Christmas Stroll
6. Given to the Salvation Army

Still to do on my list...

1. Make Peppernuts
2. Look at Christmas lights
3. Take family Christmas picture
4. Take pictures of our decorations
5. Watch "How the Grinch Stole Christmas"
6. Drink some eggnog
7. Read some Christmas books by the Christmas tree
8. Open "12 Days of Christmas" gifts
9. Sing Christmas carols
10. RNT Holiday party (next Friday night!)
11. Build a snowman
12. Finish and send out Christmas cards
13. Open Christmas gifts
14. Have early Christmas with the Wicklands
15. Make salt dough Christmas ornaments

I'm sure there are other things I have on the list to do, but this will at least give me ideas as we think through what to do each day!

I went shopping today!

Today the scrapbooking store (that is no longer open) owner had a crop at one of the local hotels. I didn't actually get to go crop there, but I did get to stop by and do some shopping. Woohoo! Wanna see some of what I got??

I got this cute set of papers and embellishments that I can't wait to use with pictures of me and Ellie baking this year - we've done a lot of cooking / baking projects, so these are perfect!

I got these 5x7 journaling cards from 7Gypsies. I can't wait to use them to make a mini book!

I also got several Graphic 45 papers, but I didn't get pictures of any of those. Cute stuff I plan to incorporate into projects with some other lines, though!

And last, but not least, (and actually the first thing I picked up) I got these cute Christmas papers and stickers from October Afternoon. I love 'em! In fact, I'm using them RIGHT NOW to create my December Daily album. I'm so excited! I'm also determined to finish mine this year, since last year's ends around day 7... I am excited to be crafting today as the snow falls outside and we get ready to head to the Christmas stroll tonight. It's been a very festive December so far and I can't wait to start documenting it in this album!

Like Mother Like Daughter

These pictures are of my best friend and our first children. Now Charlotte has 4 beautiful children and our oldest are 3 - it's so hard to believe!

There is Time...

Just a layout about the precious moments I have with my daughter. I love this photo of her tiny, newborn fingers holding on to her grandad's thumb. I used some Scenic Route, Theresa Collins, Graphic 45, and Prima for this one.

Scarflet

FlickrDroid Upload, originally uploaded by elizabethwickland.

I knitted like crazy over Thanksgiving break and it was great! One of the things I made with the very end of my yarn was this little scarflet. It was supposed to be a full scarf, but I ran out of yarn about halfway, so I finished the ends with scallops and added a little knit button that fits through the knit quite well. It ended up pretty cute for a totally unplanned project, and it matches my favorite coat! I might just have to make more of them....

I want those shoes!

Ha ha! This picture cracks me up!! It's Ellie with her little friend Corinne before they could walk!

Look Out the Window and Let Me Show You the World!

I love these pictures of my mom and Eliana on her first ride in a small airplane! I got to play with some fun Prima flowers and swirls for this one, too, and some acetate photo frames from my stash!