Another Round of Christmas Cards

Thank you Friday Sketchers for your fabulous sketch! It got the creative engine running and gave me a fun way to play with my new Bella Road Paper pack. Between delightful sketches and playful paper I will survive this holiday season. Thanks Friday Sketchers and Bella Road!

A Sketchy Layout

Thanks to my lovely and talented friend, Amanda, I have learned the joys of Sketchy Thursday! So, I finally sat down to scrapbook. It was nice taking a break from Christmas craziness to play with fall paper. Ah paper! Here are some fun photos of my fall layout.

Enjoy this layout about fall in Disneyland.

Lemon Bars

The weekend has arrived and thus the baking begins. Thanks to the Food Network Magazine March 2010 (Volume 3, Number2) issue, I made lemon bars. Tasty! This recipe has things like white sugar, white flour and other items on the naughty food list. That is why this is weekend food only.

So I made lemon bars for a Christmas Party and unfortunately, I do not have a picture of the finished product. The bars went like hot cakes... or rather like lemon bars.

I do, however, have many fun filled photos of the process along the way.

Recipe:

Crust:

1 1/2 Sticks of cold butter diced

2 Cups all purpose flour

1/4 Cup brown sugar

1/4 Cup Confectioners sugar

1/4 tsp salt

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees

2. Grease a 9 x 13 pan with oil. Line the pan with foil and grease the foil.

3. Pulse butter, flour, both sugars and salt in the food processor until the dough comes together. About 1 minute.

4. Press evenly into the bottom and up a 1/2 inch on the sides of the pan.

5. Bake until crust is golden for 25 minutes.

Filling:

4 Large eggs and 2 Egg yolks

2 Cups granulated sugar

1/3 Cup all purpose flour

1 tsp grated lemon zest

1 Cup fresh lemon juice (about 8 lemons)

1. While the crust is baking, whisk the eggs, yolks, sugar and flour in a bowl.

2. Whisk in the juice and zest.

3. Remove the crust from oven and reduce temperature to 300 degrees

4. Pour filling over the warm crust and return to the oven.

5. Bake until filling sets, about 30 minutes

6. Let bars cool in the pan and then in the refrigerator for at least 2 hours.

7. Sprinkle powered sugar over top

8. Lift out foil and cut into bars

Yeah weekend treats!

Hanukkah is here

We are in the thick of Hanukkah and although I am a little late, I made a few cards for my friends. One of the nice things about Hanukkah, is that it lasts 8 nights. So, I have some time to get these in the mail. To all those who are celebrating, Happy Hanukkah!

For this card, Bo Bunny's new Winter line came through! Nothing like bling and ribbons to brighten up any holiday.

Crafting Again

Still have many homemade Christmas cards to go. But thanks to Mojo Monday, I managed to get three done. I am so pleased with them, they are definitely worth the extra postage.

Homemade Christmas

This year I worked several weeks on a homemade Christmas and Hanukkah. Most of our families will receive Cranberry-wine jelly, pecan-praline syrup, pecan-maple syrup and savory applesauce. The silver lining to the intense hot work of canning is a truly tasty gift! I decorated and labeled the jars and included some other treats.

For the Christmas goers, I made Christmas journals, with pages for keeping track of favorite memories and recipes.

Of course, since I am constantly moving forward, I am already making a list of other homemade gifts I can make for next year. Once I get these boxes in the mail, I intend to take a breather. Then open the Christmas binder and begin notes for 2011.

Hope everyone's shopping or crafting is going super swell!

Just one of the dogs

I realized on our morning walk today, that the two furry devils and I have a lot in common. Mischa and Paige sniff the ground with such interest and delight. They mosey along taking their time to savor the journey and then they begin to walk in earnest. They pick up the pace to keep up with me and grin as the feel good endorphins pour through their body.

In reviewing the walk, I realize that I am no different. I stop at a few back yard fences to smell roses. Sometime I slow down my pace to enjoy the ocean breeze or get a closer look at the water fowl near by. Then I realize I need to get some exercise and I pick up the pace. I smile as I realize how strong and skinny I am going to be if I just keep this up.

So, in the grand scheme of things I guess we really are a pack. And we really do take on characteristics of our loved ones, often when we are not looking!