Lacey Snowflakes or 3D Snowflakes

My version of Lacey or 3D Snowflakes. First of all, I know this post is really late, but I had to have my sweet husband pull this pic of my phone and he was finally able to do it!

So I got a wild hair and wanted to put these in my tree for daytime decoration. So the kids and I took a Sunday morning before church and made them and hung them in the tree. They turned out great and it is really therapeutic putting them together.

I found great instructions for them HERE and HERE. Or you can adapt them however you would like. I folded my paper like the 2nd step of a snowflake and then made marks on the fold at
1 1/2, 3, 4 1/2, 7 1/2, 9, and 10 1/2. It was quick and simple!

I think I might experiment and see if I can't make these for Valentine's Day. I wonder if I can change the straight lines to hearts? (OOHHHH I do love a good crafty challenge!!!) I will let you know if it works. Anyway have a great weekend and stay tuned for my next post, I will be featuring my first post in my new "My 12 Favorite Tools or Helpful Hints"!!

Magic Cookie Bars

Christmas Cookies #3 Magic Cookie Bars Magic Cookie Bars

Ingredients:

1/2 cup Margarine or Butter
1 1/2 cups Graham Cracker Crumbs
1 14oz can Eagle Brand Sweetened Condensed Milk
1 12oz package Semi-Sweet Chocolate Chips
1 1/3 Cups flaked Coconut
1 Cup chopped nuts

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees (325 degrees for glass dish). In 13X9-inch baking pan, melt margarine in oven. Sprinkle crumbs over margarine; pour sweetened condensed milk evenly over crumbs. Top with remaining ingredients; press down firmly. Bake 25 to 30 min or until lightly browned. Cool. Chill if desired. Cut into bars. Store loosely covered at room temperature.

Enjoy my favorite family treat!
CCG

Yummy Lemon Cookies

Christmas Cookies 2010 #2 Yummy Lemon Cookies
Yummy Lemon Cookies

Ingredients:

2 1/2 Cups Flour
1 tsp Baking Powder
1 tsp Salt
1 Cube Butter
2 Cups Sugar
2 Eggs
3 TBL Lemon Zest (4-5 lemons for juice and zest)
15 oz Ricotta Cheese (regular)

Directions:

Cream together butter, sugar, eggs, lemon zest, ricotta, then add flour, baking powder, and salt.
Mix well, scoop out and place onto parchment paper lined cookie sheet.
Bake at 375 degrees for 13 min. Place on wire rack to cool.

Lemon Glaze
2 1/4 Cups Powdered Sugar
1 tsp Lemon Zest
4 1/2 TBL freshly squeezed Lemon Juice

Blend together and spoon over warm cookies that were placed on wire rack.
*Place wax paper under wire cooling racks to catch drips of Lemon Gaze.

**Enjoy within two days or freeze and enjoy another day!!!

Happy baking!!!
CCG

***When I froze my cookies I glazed them before I froze them and they were delicious even frozen!!!!***

Rolo Cookies

Cookie recipe #1 from Christmas Cookies 2010 Rolo Cookies! Rolo Cookies

Ingredients:
1 Pkg Devils Food Cake Mix
2 TBL Flour
1/2 Cup Oil
2 Eggs

Directions:
Combine all ingredients together in a mixer and mix until combined.
With a large spoon or cookie scoop, scoop out dough.
Place Rolo candy in the middle and roll into a ball.
Roll balls in granulated sugar till covered on all sides.

Bake in a preheated 350 degree oven for 10 min. till the cookie barely cracks.
Cool cookies on a cooling rack and enjoy!!!!!
Makes 24 cookies

Crafty Camper Girl Note:

I was not able to find Rolo candies (that were not in a party mix bag) at my grocery store, but Wal-Mart did have a generic caramel chocolate candy that looked like a Reeses Cup but was a generic of a Rolo. I used them and they turned out great!!!

Also a little dough goes a long way, you will get 24+ cookies from this recipe. You don't need a lot of dough to cover the Rolo. They will spread a little on the cookie sheet but not too much.
Enjoy!!!
CCG

Christmas Cookies 2010

So these were the yummy treats we left for Santa this year. Clock wise from the top, Rolo Cookie, Yummy Lemon Cookie, Magic Cookie Bars.

The Rolo Cookies were a new treat this year. I got the recipe from my friend Terisa at work and the kids loved them. We had lots of fun making them.

The Yummy Lemon Cookies is a recipe from my sister Julie. They are so easy to make and are a favorite of my sweet husband!

The Magic Cookie Bars are a long time favorite from my childhood. I remember my mom making these every Christmas and it was fun to make them for my kidos!

I will post each recipe individually over the coming days. I have been having Internet problems so I am late on getting these posted but I hope that now that the major storm has passed our neck of the desert things will get better!

I will also be posting instructions on how to make the 3D snowflakes as promised from my family blog.

Also for 2011 I will be making monthly posts on my favorite tools or helpful hints that I have discovered over the years! I am really excited to share these with you.

Have a wonderful and safe New Years Celebration!!!
CCG

Our Favorite Neighbor Christmas Gift

This year for our neighbor gifts (as well as Visiting Teaching and Home Teaching families gifts) we decided to go with our families favorite tradition, the bottle of sparkling juice and poppers. I decided to update it this year and called my friend Shelley and asked her to design us a tag for our bottles. I gave her the basic ideas and then she took it from there and made it FABULOUS!

So I bought a case of sparkling juice, bags of poppers, and curling ribbon and printed out the tags and Costco and went to work! I put a popper on a string for each member of the family and then attached it and the tag to the bottle with the curling ribbon. Then curled all the ribbons and Wa-lah!!! Instant fabulous neighbor gift for a New Years Celebration!!!

Now that fireworks are legal in Arizona I think I might include a few sparklers next year!!!

Christmas Sewing

I have been a very busy crafty girl this Christmas season. I wanted to share with you what I had been up to but had to wait till after Christmas as these gifts were for my family and I did not want to ruin the surprise! Some of my Christmas presents this year were monogrammed gifts. I had so much fun designing these and sewing them on my embroidery machine.

I also learned a new technique on my sewing machine, Pin Tucking!!! I bought myself an early Christmas present. A twin needle and a pin tucking foot. I had a little trouble learning how to double thread my machine but after I got the trick and the right thread (you must use the same brand and type of thread or this project is VERY frustrating!!!) it was a breeze. Now I just want to find another project to use pin tucking on!!!