Happy New Year!

Wishing you and yours a blessed New Year!

 

Peanut Butter Bon-Bons

 Like most people, I have favorite goodies that I look forward to eating each Christmas.  One of my top two favorites is my Great-aunt Ellen's Peanut Butter Bon-Bons...peanut buttery goodness that just melts in my mouth...YUM! 

These are really quite easy to make.  The "hardest" part is dipping the bon-bons which isn't hard at all!

Peanut Butter Bon-Bons

• 3 ½ cups powdered sugar
• 18 oz. jar of chunky peanut butter OR 16 oz. jar of creamy peanut butter
• ½ cup butter (1 stick)
 
• 3 ½ cups crispy rice cereal

Mix butter and peanut butter in a sauce pan over low heat.  Stir well.  Mix in powdered sugar.  The mixture will be thick.

Add in the crispy rice cereal.  I mix this with my hands…it’s the only way I can get mixed together really well.

Shape into balls; make them however big or small you would like.  I try to get them about the size of a large (shooter) marble.

Chill for 1 hour; then dip in almond bark and put on wax paper to set.  If you want to add sprinkles, mini chocolate chips, or cherry chips, make sure you add these before the almond bark sets.

I ended up with 100 bon-bons

While I make these for Christmas, you could make them for any special occasion...like New Year's Eve or Valentine's Day. 

I like to give these to friends or neighbors in a clean tin or pretty glass jar.  My neighbors tell me they look forward to these each year.

Have a wonderful weekend, and take care of you!

Finished Projects for Christmas...

Have any of you ever procrastinated on projects?  If not, well...you are a better person than me!  I'm the queen of procrastination when it comes to one major thing...putting binding on a quilt!  I don't know why that particular part of the project is such a pain-inducing feat for me, but it is.  In fact, I decided that I was GOING to finish quilts from years past that were just waiting for binding.  My hope is that by getting some of my "old" projects out of my house, I will be inspired to craft more in the new year.

Quilt Project #1 -- This one didn't need binding, but I did have it mostly finished by May 2012--which was when I intended to give it to my adorable great nephew for his 2nd birthday.  I got it done for Christmas, but I had one minor problem to fix:

Shiloh looks on, shaking his head, thinking "Mom needs to take a second look at those directions!  That dog looks wrong!"

That's better!  I've made at least five of these quilts.  They are very forgiving quilts to make (other than the eye placement!), and kids seem to love them.  It's like a blanket and a friend in one warm fluffy bundle!

 

If you want to try a flannel rag quilt in the shape of an animal or reptile or bug, look for Simplicity 4993 (dog, cat, bear), Simplicity 2493(centipede, turtle, dinosaur), or Simplicity 2935 (butterfly, owl, flower.)

 

There is also one designed for fleece: Simplicity 3955 (panda bear, clown fish, ladybug).  I really think that you could do any of the "flannel rag quilts" with fleece, you just wouldn't have to put batting between the two layers...even easier.  Cutting out the pieces honestly takes longer than the sewing.

Quilt Project #2 -- My nephew's Marine Corps T-shirt quilt was supposed to be done for Christmas 2011.  The top was done, but I didn't get it to Red Door Quilting to get it quilted in time.  I got it done this year, and I think my nephew really liked it.

 

Booger loves to stand in front of the quilts when we take pictures. And, yes, we are from Nebraska, so the rug in our living room is a "Huskers" rug showcasing a football helmet.

Quilt Project #3 -- This is the most embarrassingly procrastinated project!  I made a quilt for my parents-in-law for their 50th wedding anniversary...which was in January 2008.  Mind you, the quilt has been quilted and folded in my sewing room for over 5 years--because I had it professionally quilted in November of 2007!  All it needed was the binding.  I had the material, I just didn't have any "just do it" in my body.  I showed it to my mother-in-law after it was quilted, but it had been so long that she didn't have ANY recollection of what it looked like...even after she saw it again.  I told her it was their 55th wedding anniversary present!  Ha...ha...

I bought the fabric panel with the vintage girl and her puppy pictures.  I didn't have any pattern to follow, so this is what I came up with.  My mother-in-law loved it...even if it was 5 years late!

I really feel that a weight is off of my chest just getting those old projects out of my sewing room.  I've got several projects to work on this next year, though.  My baby sister is graduating from high school, and I have a nephew getting married, and I'm sure other happy occasions will pop up throughout the year, so I'm ready to sew...sew...sew...

I hope everyone had a fun and blessed Christmas season.  Don't forget to take care of you!

Snow Much Love!

Let it snow!  Let it snow!  Let it snow!  Nebraska has been the driest state in the country for the last several months, so I am thankful for ANY type of moisture...even a blizzard.

In my last post, I mentioned that I actually decorated my home for Christmas this year.  I used many things that I purchased at a local auction I attended in April (see post http://sewrecyclelove.blogspot.com/search/label/Auction)  I got a super deal on tons of crocheted snowflakes and other Christmas stuff.  I decided to do my Christmas decorating this year in blue and silver tinsel along with the snowflakes.  As I unpacked the boxes of snowflakes, I found angels and a few crocheted Christmas trees.  There was even a crocheted angel tree topper! 

The previous owner had also added suction cups to several of the snowflakes.  I put these on our sliding glass door.  When the blizzard hit here on Wednesday night, I snapped the following picture at midnight...crocheted snowflakes AND real snowflakes.

I hope you are all having a wonderful holiday season!  Merry Christmas, and don't forget to take care of you!

Making Traditions...

Christmas is such a wonderful time of the year.  However, it can also be such a stressful time of the year.  Growing up, I dreamed of all the wonderful baking and crafting I would do with my children.  Since that is an unfulfilled dream, I've spent this year really trying to figure out how to still enjoy Christmas instead of dreading it.

Last year, I did not even put up a Christmas tree...no decorations...nada...  I thought this would make the season easier, but it did not.  It made it worse.  So this year I decided to put out moderate decorations and try to come up with a way to make this a special time of year for Trevor and me.

I decided to shower my husband with small gifts to let him know how much I love him.  I figure if they can make a super-annoying Christmas song about the '12 Days of Christmas', then I could come up with some goofy, small gifts for Trevor.

He was quite shocked when he figured out what I'd done.  He's been having fun with it.  He's also been bragging to his guys at work about how awesome his wife is...so I think it's a success.  I got some great tags on the blog All Our Days.  Here's the link for the printable:  http://allourdays.com/2011/12/12-days-of-christmas-update-on-blessing-my-husband.html

I read several ideas from different bloggers on what they use for gifts.  Some are pretty strict about sticking with the theme from the song.  I'm not...but I did happen to get something with the right number of items for a few of the days.  Here's what Trevor is enjoying:

1) A wallet
2) Turtles (instead of turtle doves...he's not a bird lover in any way, shape, or form!)
3) Pens -- he has a specific kind/color he likes to use for work...
4) 4 Starbucks cold Mocha Coffees
5) 5 pairs of boxer briefs
6) A small tin with mini-snickers
7) An Axe gift pack
8) A dreamcicle lollipop
9) A box of chocolate covered cherries...he loves these...I think YUCK!
10) Some camo zippered bags
11) Royal Milk Maid candies...he loves these...I also think these are disgusting!
12) 12 socks (or 6 pairs)

Trevor's favorite line is "All I want for Christmas is underwear and socks!"  I didn't get him socks and underwear last year, and he kind of razzed me about it.  Giving him socks and undies during the pre-Christmas celebration is just a better idea. 

Thanks to http://antiqueimages.blogspot.com/ for the lovely image!

Merry Christmas!!  Take care of you!

Dog Shaming

I broke down and submitted one of my wonderful dogs to dogshaming.com.  I don't know if it will get published there, but here is what I sent them:

Shiloh has always been a dog that "pisses" when he gets pissed off...what a little turd!  I adore him, but I wasn't too happy with him last night!!

Take care of you!

Company's Coming Potatoes

Trevor and I came up with this recipe for easy potatoes for when we have company.  They are so GOOD with barbecued ribs or steak.  As an added bonus, they are super easy!

In addition to what is pictured, you'll need a crock pot, some seasoning (like garlic, onion powder, and season salt) and a bag of shredded cheese.

1 stick butter
16 oz. sour cream
8 oz. cream cheese (we use the chive & onion cream cheese)
Bag of hash browns
2-3 cups shredded cheese (we usually use cheddar or a mix like cheddar jack or Monterrey jack)
Small Onion, diced (we've also used one bunch of green onions...these are great)

1) Turn your crock pot on Medium.
2) Put in the stick of butter and the onion. 
3) Once the butter is completely melted, kind of stir it around to coat the crock.  Then pour in the frozen hash browns.
4) Over the top, glop on the sour cream and cream cheese.  Put the lid on.
5) After about a 1/2 hour the sour cream and cream cheese will be nice and soft.  Stir the sour cream and cream cheese into the potatoes.  Mix well. 
6) Let the mixture cook for about two hours, mixing every 20-30 minutes.  It kind of depends on your crock pot as to how much you have to stir the potatoes.  When the potatoes are getting done, I add garlic powder, onion powder, and season salt...mix...taste...add more if needed.  Remember, you can always add more spices, but you can't take them back out...so add a little bit, then taste, then add...
7)  About 10 minutes before you are ready to eat, add the shredded cheese.  I usually add 1-2 cups of cheese and mix in.  Then I put more on top that I don't mix in...it just depends on how much you like cheese.

I am out of the blogging habit due to a rough August, so I forgot to take a picture of the finished product, but you can probably guess that it looks like hash browns with good stuff on them.  I hope you like this dish as much as my family does!

In other news, Booger had to have surgery last month to have a salivary gland removed and a ranula opened so it could drain.  He didn't want me to bother him at all.  I tried to get pictures of his Frankenstein-like neck stitches, but he was totally uncooperative.  Here's what I got instead:

I believe this is Booger saying, "Leave me alone.  I don't feel good, and I just want to sleep!"
Take care of you!