Thanksgiving Turkey Treats

You need: Oreos or another creme-filled cookie(base for feathers and body)
Frosting(glue everything together)
Candy corn (feathers)
Whoppers or another malt-flavored ball (body)
M&M candy (head)
Red hot (gobbler)

Isn't he cute? We make these every year for Thanksgiving. It's a great kid craft and they can eat it after they are done admiring their work!

Try experimenting with different candies. They have different colored candy corns that give you a variety of feathers to choose for your turkey. Have fun and Happy Thanksgiving!

We are moving into a new house across town this weekend, so my posting may be delayed for a little bit....I'll be back as soon as all my crafting and baking supplies are unpacked again!

My Favorite Dessert

Nothing is better than delicious, homemade shortbread with a little drizzle of melted chocolate and a cup of cocoa for dipping. To my detriment and delight, this recipe makes a full cookie sheet of shortbread. My mouth says yum..... and my figure says no!

I begged my friend for this recipe after tasting it once at bookclub and I believe it is her Scottish grandmother's recipe. Authentic. It makes me like it even more.

Nan's Shortbread

1 lb. real butter, softened (yes, FOUR sticks!)
1 cup of sugar
1/4 cup of powdered sugar
1 1/2 tsp vanilla
4 cups of flour

Mix first four ingredients for about 5 minutes until whipped. Add flour one cup at a time, beating for 2-3 minutes each time.
Butter cookie sheet (with sides) and add wax paper to bottom of pan. Spoon mixture onto pan and smooth out. Add another piece of wax paper on top of dough and use a rolling pin to roll out until smooth and even on edges. Pull top layer of wax paper off slowly. Bake at 350 degrees for 12 minutes.
Take out of oven and cut dough into desired amount of bars. Prick each bar with a fork a couple of times and return to oven. Bake for an additional 13 minutes or until golden brown on edges.
Cool for 20 minutes in pan. Cut bars again and remove from pan.

Enjoy and bake with caution, this stuff is just too good to sit in your house for long!

Homemade Pizza

I used to make homemade pizza when Doug and I were in college and stopped for some reason after we moved. Now, thanks to my cousin, Erica, we are back in business and loving it! Check out her cooking blog for the dough recipe and excellent BBQ chicken toppings. I made her pizza the first time I tried it, and thought it was heavenly. A few days ago I was craving homemade pizza again, but didn't have all the ingredients for the pizza I made before.....so we improvised.

This is buffalo-blue cheese chicken pizza with mozzarella. I added some veggies I had in the fridge and it was delicious! I used blue cheese dressing for the sauce and tossed the shredded chicken in some buffalo wing hot sauce. Add your preferred veggies or leave as-is and enjoy.

Thanks Erica, you have brought homemade pizza back into our home again.

My Twilight T-shirt

I loaded my boys in the car today and went to the craft store to get my supplies. This shirt took me about 30 minutes to make from start to finish.

Black T-shirt
Iron on T-shirt transfers (for dark fabric)
Word/phrase/picture on computer that you want to print out
Scissors and/or craft knife
Iron with steam off
Red glitter glue

This is what the shirt looks like after you iron on the letters printed on the transfer paper. I almost left it like this because it looked so good, but alas....I like sparkles. I got this font from this website. They've got some fun stuff on there for Twilight fans.

Preheat your iron and follow the instructions in the iron-on transfer packet for printing and ironing on your letters.

My mom did some experimenting and suggested that you cut out each individual letter so it looks really authentic. You won't get any transfer paper line that way on your shirt. Once each letter is cut with scissors or a craft knife, then you can iron them on your shirt.

Last step: glitter glue! I used a toothpick to get it up right to the edge in some places.

Anyone interested in a Twilight shirt? Leave a comment or send me an e-mail. We can personalize it to your preference if you wish.

Twilight T-shirt

Ok, so doesn't this shirt look great? My mom is hosting a "Twilight" party before she and her friends go to the midnight showing on Nov. 21st. She had a hard time finding a shirt that she would like to wear for the party and movie, so she decided to make her own. I love how it turned out and it's one of a kind. It's glittery too, so what is better than that?
This has inspired me to want to make my own and I have her instructions on how to do it. I'll post my version and how-to soon. If it goes well.....maybe I'll even take some orders if anyone is interested!

Hello Pumpkin

I have a new niece and wanted to make a little homemade gift for her to wear during the Thanksgiving season. I even ordered a special stamp that said "hello pumpkin" and was going to use it. Well, the stamp still has not been delivered (bought it online), so I was forced to use plan B. It turned out alright, but I think I'll make another one when my real stamp gets here.

The present probably hasn't gotten to you yet Tiff, so I guess you get to see it early. I hope you like it and you'll have to tell me how it washes up for you. I washed it once with the decorations on, but baby clothes get washed so often, you don't know how they'll hold up.

Mummy Dogs

The boys and I had these for lunch on Halloween.

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Cut thawed puff pastry into long strips and wind around hot dog. Cook for 25 minutes and add mustard eyes.