It's almost over...

This year went by crazy fast!  I had great plans to post lost a lot (I should proof read before I hit "publish"!) this month but I was a big time failure.  {{head hung low}}  First I got sick with a bad cold/flu/whatever the day after my last post.  In bed for 4 days feeling miserable.  It totally put my Christmas decorating, DIY'g, and gift buying to a complete stop.  I finally felt almost 100% the following week to catch up on work stuff and Christmas shopping.  I guess that's what happens when you procrastinate!  I am happy to report it all got done in time and I managed to bake some goodies for Christmas.

I spent most of Christmas Eve at my guy's family's house and then on to my brother's for midnight opening of gifts.  These are the baked goods I made to take to both houses....

All recipes (except for my cinnamon brownies) are courtesy of Picky Palate.  Basically what happened was that I had no idea what I was going to bake this year (I always like to try something new).  Lucky for me the amazing Jenny of Picky Palate decided to do a recap of her favorite holiday recipes.  I made Kiss Pies and Brownie Covered Oreos.  I also used the cookie base from her Peppermint Patty Surprise Chocolate Chunk Cookie Bars (I made these for "girls night in", which had to be postponed for the following week due to my being to sick to stand let alone drive anywhere, anyway, they all said they were delicious!) but instead of putting Peppermint Patties in the center I added "dulce de leche" (which is a thickened syrup made out of sweetened caramelized milk.  The one I used is called "Cajeta Quemada"...same deal but a bit thicker. ) as I figured I had enough mintiness (it's a word...just don't look it up) in the other treats.  I received rave reviews for the Cookie Bars and Kiss Pies (and I always get a "high five" for the brownies -- can't go wrong with brownies and when you add some cinnamon to them...yeah, basically the yummy factor goes through the roof...unless you don't like cinnamon, which is weird but maybe you're allergic...hey, it can happen...so just omit it...no biggie).

Here's another photo...

I hope you all had a wonderful Christmas and you have a fantastic New Year's!

Until next time....

Vivian & Luna (2006)

Luna's shirt says, "Dear Santa, Bring Me Some Bling".

Couldn't resist adding one last Christmas pic (2009)

The one with the cake pops & earrings

I know I was MIA all last week.  I was busy making 165 of these little suckers….

I made them for one of my best friend’s little girl.  She turned 5 years old and had a birthday bash this past Saturday.  Her favorite character is, of course, Hello Kitty, and her very talented mama had a Hello Kitty themed birthday party.  I am happy to say that the Hello Kitty Cake Pops were a success…even if they did not have faces!  I had every intention of putting faces on them but the two Wilton Edible Ink pens purchased for said faces did not work!  I was very upset but my friend said “don’t worry about it”, and after worrying about it some more (trying to figure out what to use for eyes and whiskers...sprinkles came to mind) I decided to let it go and found that I liked the cake pops just as they are!  Faceless! 

So, this project along with working full time left me little time to do anything else but it was all worth it! It all came together just right and we had a great time at the party.

OK, so that’s done and now I have moved on to thinking about Christmas.  I decorated my little tree this past Sunday, and actually bought one gift.  I’m one of those wait until the last minute type of people...er person...no people, right?...looks weird...anyway....it's not just because I’m a procrastinator by heart, but because I end up giving the gift ahead of time!  So, yeah, I wait until the week or two before Christmas to shop (some years the day before!)…and even that’s hard to do!  Last night I made two pairs of earrings for Christmas gifts.  Here is one…

I'm diggin the ability to make collages on picnik.com! 

I like the way the chain around the big black beads turned out.  Kind of bad ass…well, sorta.  I liked them so much I’m keeping them…wearing them right now as a matter of fact!

Gotta get busy and make more stuff!  Tonight I'm baking as having girls night in and trying a new cookie recipe.  If it works out will post by end of week.  Wish me luck!

Until next time!