Christmas | Catered Crop

   I hollered, "Don't look, Ethel!"
   But it was too late. She'd already been mooned.
   Flashed her right there in front of the shock absorbers.
   ~ Ray Stevens, The Streak

Don't Look Ethel! And by that, I mean you, Sharon.

This is your Spoiler Alert, Sis.

For the rest of you, just keep scrolling down the page.

I know you're peeking, Sharon, so just stop right now.

I put a hex on this that will make your eyes burn if you keep looking, Sis.

Okay, now, for the rest of you (Not You, Sharon!) . . .

I want to give my sister a cozy Christmas. I can't ship Texas sunshine or a warm hug up North, so I sent her a big package of soft, cozy, comfy things to open Christmas Eve.

Sharon, that's all the hint you get.

That is, if you're still peeking.

That's the outside of the card that goes with my cozy Christmas package. Here's the inside.

I wish I could tell ya'll about all the fun things I put in my sister's Cozy Christmas care package. But, you Know She's Peeking.

I will show you just one thing.

It's a Cozy Coozie for tissues. I Love, Love making these, mostly because they're so crazy easy to make; only four seams. Sister saw them at the Heritage Fair when she visited in October and liked them . . . so I tucked away the idea to make her one.

I followed Holly Ramer's instructions at her very fun site, Stitch Craft. I modified the instructions by cutting the outer print 6" by 6" and the inside print 6" by 8" to make the center stripes a little wider.

And, one last thing. I found some great Santa tissues to put in the tissue Coozie.

I sent along a fun surprise for my brother to open up on Christmas day; and, brother, if you're peeking, I'm not spilling the Beans. (That's the only hint you get.) I can't wait to show it to all of you, but I love torturing my Brother, so you'll have to wait until after he opens it.

Whaa ha ha . . . I am the master of gift disguises.

But, I am not the master of keeping secrets, given I just gave my sister such a spoiler. I make a lousy elf.

Here are the Copic markers I used and the rest of the recipe.

InLinkz.com

December 22, 2011 | Filed Under: Card Gallery, Christmas, Heather Ellis, My Favorite Things, Pure Innocence Tagged With: Christmas, Heather Ellis, My Favorite Things, Pure Innocence | 4 Comments

Special day! Oh, what have I forgotten now?
Now, don’t panic.
Is it Bacon Day? No, that’s crazy talk!
~ Homer, The Simpsons

Welcome back to my "Friday Five." It's just my crazy collage of gossip, stop-the-presses news, and random thoughts for giggles and grins.

You just never know what we might come up in Friday Five. Since the Holidays are on all our minds – or at least on mind since I still have so much to do – here's five Holiday honeys I found this week.

Grin #1 – Bacon! And a really cool site for crazy fun gifts! Check this out.

Hog Heaven at ThinkGeek.com.

Grin #2 – Mel's done it again.

Mel's curated over 100 free tags to print and decorate your packages. Oooo, and while you're visiting her tags, be sure to look around her site, Mel Stampz. Mel is an amazing paper craft artist and she's collected a ton of fun templates, tutorials and tags.

Grin #3 - My daughter, Caitlin, and I love treasure hunting at estate sales, antique stores and flea markets around Central Texas. We found some wonderful vintage canning jars we thought would be fun for filling with Christmas gifts.

Photo Credit: jmourray

I came across these sites while searching for some gifts to put in our jars.

Tip Junkie's 48 Homemade Gift Ideas in a Jar
All Recipe's Best Cookie Mix in a Jar Recipes
Mixes in a Jar for more than 250 recipes

How do these people come up with all these ideas? Brilliant.

Grin #4 – Stocking Stuffers!

When I was growing up I got oranges in my stocking. It wasn't that I was on Santa's naughty list. It was just that my Depression-era parents thought fresh fruit was really special on Christmas.

My kids aren't kids any more, but we all get something in our stockings, even Mailey Dog and Pillow Pup. Usually the stockings are filled with a Santa ornament for Ben, a snowman ornament for Caitlin, lottery tickets, hot chocolate mix, some fun trinkets, maybe an iTunes card, and our favorite candy, which means a search for black licorice for Tom.

Jenna at Jenna's Journey as compiled a list of 150 Stocking Stuffer ideas. This chick is a genius. I'm printing off her list when I go stocking shopping this weekend for some extra inspiration.

Grin #5 - Christmas Breakfast. Since the Southern Living 1986 Annual Recipes book came out, we've made a breakfast quiche on Christmas Eve to put in the oven on Christmas morning.

On Christmas morning we usually open our stockings and heat up the hot chocolate Santa put in the stockings with a little coconut liqueur mixed in – nom nom. We open presents under the tree and then put our quiche in the oven for breakfast.

We've used this recipe so many times, the cook book just opens to this page.

Crustless Grits-and-Ham Pie

Ingredients:

1/3 cup quick-cooking grits, uncooked
1 cup water
1 cup evaporated milk
3/4 cup (3 ounces) shredded Cheddar cheese
3/4 cup cooked, chopped ham
3 eggs, beaten
1 tablespoon fresh chopped parsley
1/2 teaspoon dry mustard
1/2 teaspoon hot sauce
1/4 teaspoon salt
Vegetable cooking spray

Cook the grits in water according to the package directions, omitting salt.

Combine cooked grits, milk, cheese, ham, eggs, parsley, mustard, hot sauce, and salt, mixing well. Pour the grits mixture into a 9-inch pie plate coated with cooking spray.

Put it in the refrigerator on Christmas Eve. On Christmas morning bake it at 350 degrees for 30 to 35 minutes or until it sets. Let is stand 5 to 10 minutes before serving. It makes six, 1-1/2 inch wedge servings.

If you use evaporated skim milk, reduced calorie Cheddar cheese and lean ham, each serving is only 181 calories. Which, of course, still won't make up for the hot chocolate and peanut-butter bonbons we also make for Christmas morning, but hey, it's good, clean living and it's yummy, too.

December 17, 2011 | Filed Under: Christmas, Friday Five Tagged With: Christmas, Friday Five | Leave a Comment

I stopped believing in Santa Claus when I was six.
Mother took me to see him in a department store
and he asked for my autograph.
~ Shirley Temple

Well, I don't know about you, but I for one, still believe in Santa Claus.

I even saw a package he had delivered to the house yesterday with my name on it. Apparently, he's planning ahead to spare the reindeer on Christmas eve.

I told Santa I really just wanted crafting toys this Christmas. He told me his elves didn't know the first thing about paper craft toys. So, he asked me to go online, fill up a shopping cart at one of my favorite shops, and then send him the link to the shopping cart. He said he'd pick and choose from the things in my shopping cart so I could still be surprised.

So I did. I even filled in a special promotion code so Santa could get a good deal.

Apparently I was on Santa's "Nice List," because the jolly man sent off my order.

Then, he changed my password on the site so I wouldn't be able to see the pending order and its status. And then, he got really maniacal. He changed the e-mail address I previously assigned to the site so I couldn't ask for a password reset.

Of course, you know why I know all this. Because I tried to steal a peek at the order!

That Santa is one sneaky dude!

Recipe

That adorable stamp is from Eat Cake Graphics, called Amanda Saw Santa Claus. Freakin' cute, right? Amanda and her bear are colored with Copic Markers. Her pajamas are paper pieced from Cosmo Cricket paper, and her cheeks are blushed with Sampin' Up! Stampin Pastels.

Here's the rest of the recipe.