Cookies For Santa Kit and Izzy Wore a Costume!!!

Happy Saturday everyone!

I hope every ones' Saturday was as beautiful as ours. It was absolutely gorgeous here today. The sun was out, it was in the seventies and there was a gentle breeze all day. Izzy got to play outside and we even went to the park for a little while this afternoon. It was just wonderful.

I had a busy day, but didn't really get too much stamping in. I did get a bunch of great ideas and bought the rectangle nestabilities finally. I had to wait for my November budget to kick in. I am still waiting on the final verdict of whether or not my stamps will also double as toys and increase my budget. I don't think it is going well so far.

Well my first and only project for today is actually a few projects all in one. It is what I am calling a Cookies for Santa Kit. I think it would be a lovely gift to give someone who has small children. Inside the bucket is a bag of marshmallows, a tin of hot chocolate, a box of cookies and a recipe card. All the recipient needs is a mug and a plate and they are all ready for Santa.

Isn't it cute. I will describe each individual part separately since different stamps were used for different sections. First though the bucket itself is a dollar spot find from Target. (I just love, love, love that place.) I then cut out a length of white satin ribbon and threaded through some paper ornaments with "Santa" written on them. The ornaments were made with my Cricut machine along with the letters. I used red card stock, pink metallic card stock and Christmas DP. I then added the black brads and some little gingerbread buttons I had. I then stuffed some silver tissue paper in the bottom for all the artifacts to rest on.

Next I made the marshmallow bag. I started off by taking a cellophane bag and stamping the snowflake from Baby It's Cold Outside by MFT stamps all over the bag using stazon ink. I then filled up the bag with marshmallows. To make the tag at the top I cut out a circle of Christmas DP using my nestabilites and cut about a fourth of it off. I then cut out another circle from white card stock and stamped Snowflakes by Penny black in the center. I mounted it on the larger DP circle and left it hanging over the edge. I then added a snowflake charm to the top and folded the flap over to seal it.

For the cookie box. I started off with a plain white candy box and filled it with some delicious cookies. (If I am honest, this really is the most important step!). Next I stamped the image Mimi in Sleigh by Denami Designs on a piece of white card stock and colored her in with my prisma color pencils and some glitter pens. I added a little bit of diamond stickles to her "fur" and then added a little more glitter while it was still wet. I mounted the stamped image on a piece of Christmas DP and then onto a piece of dark Green DP. I stuck the image on the top of the box and tied a dark red ribbon around the outside. I then placed it inside the tin.

The hot chocolate tin was next and was so fun to make. I started off with a round clear lidded tin. I placed a piece of Christmas DP around the tin and then cut a piece of pink metallic card stock to go the in the middle. Before adhering it, I stamped the three mugs from Hot Stuff by MFT stamps on the pink strip in an alternating pattern. I then stamped the plain mug on a piece of Christmas DP along with a red piece of card stock, the polka dot mug on a piece of DP and a green piece of card stock and the crisscross mug on another piece of DP and a fuchsia piece of card stock. I then paper pieced the images all around the pink strip and adhered it to the tin. For the tag, I started off by stamping the sentiment from Baby Its Cold Outside on a piece of white card stock along with the little cup and saucer. I colored the cup and saucer in with my prisma color pencils and added a little liquid applique. I made a tag shape and mounted it on a piece of Christmas DP and a piece of metallic pink card stock. I added a black eyelet and threaded though a pink grossgrain ribbon that I tied it around the lid. I filled a cellophane bag with hot chocolate and placed it inside. I went ahead and printed off the heating instructions for the hot chocolate and placed them on the bottom of the tin. For this part I used my nesties and my Xyron machine.

Last but not least was the recipe card for White Chocolate dipped Oatmeal-Cranberry Cookies. I simply printed off the recipe on my computer and cut it in half. I then mounted it on a piece of DP,\; one side has the ingredients and the other side has the baking instructions. I stamped the cookies using my Cookie Stubbie by Stamps by Judith and added the snowflake charm in the corner. I am telling you, if I were Santa, this is what I would want left out for me.

Now on to Izzy and her costume saga. Yesterday afternoon I was talking to my neighbor and she asked me to bring Izzy over to show them her costume. They didn't celebrate Halloween this year because it fell on the Sabbath. I told her I definitely would if I could get her to wear it. So that night after it had gotten dark, I asked Izzy if she wanted to wear her jacket. (The bee costume is basically a jacket and pants). She said yes and I pulled if out of the closet. I had one arm in before she realized what it was and started to grump. I went ahead and forged through getting it all the way zipped before she really started to cry. That is when the miracle happened. The doorbell rang and there were trick-or-treaters there. Izzy got so distracted by them oohhing and ahhing over her that she forgot she was even wearing the silly thing. Well the stinker wore it the rest of the night and even asked to wear it again today. Ahh to have children. And here she is.

Well thanks for waiting up for me to post tonight. I know it is pretty late. Thanks again for all the wonderful comments. I really appreciate them. And as a bonus here is the recipe for the Craisin cookies.

White Chocolate-Dipped Oatmeal-Cranberry Cookies

1 cup butter or margarine, softened

1 cup firmly packed light brown sugar

1/2 cup granulated sugar

1 large egg

1 Tablespoon vanilla extract

2 cups all-purpose flour

1 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon baking powder

1/2 teaspoon salt

2 cups Craisins

1 1/2 cups pecan pieces

1 1/4 cups uncooked quick cooking oats

12 oz white chocolate baking bars--coarsely chopped

3 Tablespoons shortening

Beat butter at medium speed with an electric mixer until creamy; gradually add sugars, beating well. Add egg and vanilla, beating until blended. Combine flour & next 3 ingredients; gradually add to butter mixture, beating until blended. Stir in cranberries, pecans, and oats. Drop dough by heaping tablespoonfuls 2 " apart onto lightly greased baking sheets. Bake at 375 degrees for 9 to 11 minutes. Cool on baking sheets for 2 minutes. Transfer to wire racks to cool completely.

Microwave white chocolate and shortening in a medium-size microwave safe bowl on high 1 minute or until chocolate melts stirring once or twice. Dip 1/2 of each cookie into melted chocolate, letting excess drip back into bowl. Place dipped cookies on wax paper; let stand until firm.

I can attest to how delicious these cookies are!

Have a wonderful weekend!