Unity Candle

Remember these plates I made for Christmas presents?  My mom had the great idea of doing the same thing with our unity candles from our wedding.  They had been sitting at her house for the longest time because we really had no use for them.  The large brown plate is also from our wedding so it has sentimental value too.  The glass plates are from Target's after Christmas sale.  I'm excited to have a nice momento from our wedding!

and with our pound cake for New Year's Eve Dinner...

and this one is being used as a butter dish for New Year's Eve dinner...

Hope you all have a great, safe New Years!!

Milk Glass

I found this great piece of milk glass at the Goodwill the other day.  I just love it!  I don't collect milk glass but this just caught my eye and it's in perfect condition.  For $2.99 it was a deal I couldn't pass up.  I found the perfect place for it in our office.

Recycled Wreath

This is truly a recycled wreath.  I had all the things I needed to make it around my house.  Someone was actually going to throw away the wreath but I asked if I could have it because I knew I would find something to do with it.  The bark came from pottery barn.  It was $0.99 marked down from $10.  I didn't know what I was going to do with it when I bought it, but it was such a good deal and I loved the earthiness of it.  The moss was leftover from another project (I bought it at the dollar store)  The pincones were actually leftover from some potpouri that lost it's scent and the ribbon is some that I use to wrap gifts with.  I gave this to my sister as part of her Christmas gift because I thought it would go nicely with her house. 

Merry Christmas!!

I hope you all have a wonderful Christmas!!

“For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given: and the

government shall be upon his shoulder: and his name shall be called

Wonderful, Counsellor, The mighty God, The everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace.”

ISAIAH 9:6

source

Caramel Cake

I have been wanting to make a caramel cake for a while now.  I tried making one several years ago and had trouble getting the icing the right consistency.  With Christmas approaching, I thought it would be nice to give it another go and maybe try a different recipe.  It turned out great and was super easy!  We are planning on eating this tomorrow at Christmas dinner but my husband and I sampled the icing today and it was delicious.  The only substitution I made was, I used half & half instead of heavy cream because that's what I had on hand.  There are so many recipes out there but I turned to Paula Deen because her recipes normally turn out great for me! (anything with that much butter has to be good, right?)  I didn't use her recipe for the cake or filling.  I just made a yellow cake and used the icing for the filling between layers.  Here is the recipe for those who are interested....

Bobby's Caramel Cake

Ingredients
For the cake:

1 cup (2 sticks) butter, at room temperature
2 cups granulated sugar
4 eggs
3 cups sifted self-rising flour
1 cup milk
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

For the filling:

1 cup (2 sticks) butter
2 cups packed light brown sugar
1/4 cup milk
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

For the frosting:

1/2 cup (1 stick) butter
1 cup packed dark brown sugar
1/3 cup heavy cream, or more if needed
1 (16-ounce) box confectioners' sugar
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
1 cup chopped nuts, optional

Directions
For the cake:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Grease and flour 3 (9-inch) cake pans.
Using an electric mixer, cream butter until fluffy. Add granulated sugar and continue to cream well for 6 to 8 minutes. Add eggs 1 at a time, beating well after each addition. Add flour and milk alternately to creamed mixture, beginning and ending with flour. Add vanilla and continue to beat until just mixed. Divide batter equally among prepared pans. Level batter in each pan by holding pan 3 or 4-inches above counter dropping it flat onto counter. Do this several times to release air bubbles and assure you of a more level cake. Bake for 25 minutes or until golden brown.
For the filling:
While cake is baking, in a saucepan, combine butter, brown sugar, and milk. Cook and stir over medium heat for 3 to 5 minutes. Remove from heat and stir in vanilla.
Remove cake layers from oven and allow cake to remain in pans as you prepare to stack and fill. Remove first layer and invert onto cake plate. Pierce cake layer with a toothpick over entire surface. Spread 1/3 of filling mixture on cake layer. Top with second layer, repeat process. Top with last layer and repeat process again.
*Cook's Note: As I stack layers together, I stick them with toothpicks to prevent cake from shifting.
For the frosting:
Melt butter in a saucepan over medium heat and stir in brown sugar and cream. Bring to a boil, and transfer to a mixing bowl. Add confectioners' sugar and vanilla. Beat with a handheld electric mixer until it reaches a spreading consistency. At this time it may be necessary to add a tablespoon of heavy cream, or more, if frosting gets too thick. Just be sure to add cream is small amounts because you can always "add to", but you can't take away. Frost cake and sprinkle top with chopped nuts, if desired.

   

Christmas Ornament Craft

Here is a last minute Christmas ornament idea.  I made these to tie on some presents as a "bonus" gift!  You can buy these glass ornament balls pretty much anywhere (mine came from the craft store) and they are really inexpensive.  The paint is about $0.99 and comes in all different colors.  I just used the paint I had but you can do any color combination.  I like the way it looks with a little metallic paint mixed in too, gold and silver look nice.  However, I didn't have any of these on hand.  You could even add a little glitter too!  I thought of that after that fact but will definitly try that next year!  The sky is the limit!  All you do is remove the metal hanger from the top pour in the paint colors you want to use and then cover the hole with your finger and shake the paint around, making sure it covers the whole thing.  The more you shake it the more your colors will mix and the more swirls you will get.  You could even use a gold or silver Sharpee to write "Christmas 2009" or anything you want on the front of it.  Here is what I came up with using what I had on hand...

This one is for my mother in law, she loves black and white...

and all together...The green, blue, and orange one was supposed to just be orange and blue for the Florida Gators but the orange and blue mixed together and made green...oh well, it kind of looks like a globe?

Winter Wreath

I found this grapevine wreath at the thrift store for about $5.  I loved the size of it.  I added a little silver spraypaint and some silver, sparkly picks from the craft store ($0.60/each).  The poinsettia is a clip on ornament from my tree that way after Christmas I can take it off and use it throughout the winter.  I've always wanted to hang a wreath over a window too, it just looks classy to me.  It was hard to get a good picture of it but here it is...

 

A little more decor...

I can't believe Christmas is less than a week away!  I just finished up a few more projects that I am doing for Christmas presents but I will have to wait until after Christmas to show you so the recipients don't see them on here. :)  Here are a few more rooms in our home all decorated for Christmas.

Remember the tree I did for the centerpiece at the ladies brunch?  Here it is in my dining room...

and the front door...

inspired by Pottery Barn

I love how all the wreaths on the windows have ornaments too.  After Christmas I am going to scoop up some sale ornaments so I can attempt to do that next year.  Right now I have wreaths on all my windows but they only have bows on them.  I think the ornaments add a nice touch and make them a little more unique.  Now if only I could have some of that snow for my front yard too... :) 

Plate Project

These are so simple and inexpensive to make and they make great gifts!  I am going to put Christmas goodies on them and give them to my neighbors and coworkers.  My husband took some to the ladies in his office on Friday and they loved them. 

Old candle holders from the thrift store ($0.49-$0.99) +

plates from the thrift store ($0.49) +

Epoxy from Home Depot

=

Holiday Gift Wrap

I was recently asked about some holiday gift wrapping ideas and thought I would share them with you all.  All of the supplies I used are from either Walmart or the dollar store.  Gift wrapping is one of my favorite things to do.  You can get creative and not have to spend a lot of money on it.  I vowed this year to not buy anymore wrapping paper until I had used up what I have and here's what I came up with. 

This one has cinnamon sticks on it to give it a little holiday flair, and they smell good too!

This box came from the dollar store and the best part about it is you don't even have to wrap it!  The silver snowflake also came in a pack of three from the dollar store...

another box and snowflake from the dollar store...

These little pinecones come in a pack of about 25 from the dollar store, they are great for craft projects...

These little bells also came from the dollar store in a pack of nine...

Happy Wrapping!!

The Stockings are hung....

....by the electronics with care :)  This year our mantle is adorned mainly with electronics instead of Christmas decorations.  We don't have a lot of space in our living room so we have our TV mounted above our fireplace and the cable box and my hubby's x box are below the TV, leaving me little room to decorate.  So, I decided to fill the stockings with some leftover garland and glass balls.  You could even use some real evergreen, if you have a real tree maybe even some of the branches from it, and some pinecones for a more natural look.  The possibilities are endless!

Gingerbread Houses

I love spending time with family during the holiday season.  Last weekend we got together at my sister's house and made gingerbread houses out of graham crackers and royal icing.  The girls definitly went the more traditional route and the boys decided to get a little more creative.  Here are some pictures of the houses we made...

This one is my brother's, complete with a snowman and dog in the front yard :)

and here is my sister's...

and mine...

and my mom's, with a swingset...

and my husband's, a little less traditional... :)

and my dad's, we're still not sure what it is...

and all of them together...

Ladies Brunch

This weekend we had a ladies brunch at church.  Several of the ladies were asked to decorate a table and invite guests.  It was such a fun time of fellowship and getting to enjoy each other's creativity.  Each table was supposed to be decorated based on a Christmas song.  I chose to do "White Christmas" for my table.  I found most of the decorations from the dollar store and a couple were half off at hobby lobby.  Of course I had to throw in some sticks, which I'm sure isn't too surprising ;)  I thoroughly enjoyed getting to be a part of this event and even found a place in my dining room for the centerpiece I made.  Here are some pictures of my table and the other tables that the ladies decorated.  (Please excuse the blurriness/lighting, it was hard to take pictures in there.)

"White Christmas"

"Joy to the World"

"You're a mean one Mr. Grinch"

"Angels We Have Heard on High"

"Frosty the Snowman"

"We Three Kings"

"The Nutcracker"

"Away in a Manger"

"Light of the World"

"Let it Snow"

"It's Beginning to Look a lot like Christmas"

"It Came Upon a Midnight Clear"

"Charlie Brown Christmas"

And here are a couple more centerpieces I made for the food/beverage tables.  The wreaths were on sale at the craft store for $2 and the picks were 60% off!

Hope you enjoyed all the pictures!