Merry Christmas!!

Hope your Christmas day has been joyous!

Christmas 1979

Bummer of a week

Well, this week was a little rough. It's been so busy with Christmas shopping, working full-time, taking care of kids full-time since my hubby has been working overtime for UPS and attending holiday gatherings! Whew, I need a break. To end the week on a very sad note, our dog Gunner went on to doggie heaven. It's been really hard to talk about, Gunner was with us before kids and he's not all that old 8-years, hiding the grief from the kids is not the easiest. Having a 4 and a 2 year old, they do not quite understand yet. At first we decided we would wait and see what our older daughter would say, but today had to finally tell her that he was really sick and went up to heaven. The constant asking of when is Gunner coming home, was rougher on me than anything, it was time to tell her the truth. She wanted to make sure someone was taking care of him, what a sweetheart. Gunner is truly loved and will be missed. This girl is done with animals for a very long time.

This week can only get better.

Nicki

Winner!

Congrats to the winner of the Holiday Necklace on Thursday's Post!

The winner is: Sarah- Gypsy Mermaid

Drop me an e-mail at jdnicteel@mchsi.com with your mailing address and I'll mail the necklace right out to ya!

Thanks for all the comments!

Nicki~ Scrap it Swanky Sister

Scrappy Jessi's Cookie Exchange & Give Away!

So excited to be part of Scrappy Jessi's Cookie Exchange this year! I can't wait to see what all the other girls are making today also! Christmas is my favorite time of year, and I LOVE to bake!! Just wait until you bite into these little Gems.


Cardamom Snaps

Ingredients:

3/4 Cup Shortening
1 Cup Packed Brown Sugar
1 tsp. Baking Soda
2 tsp. Ground Cardamom (split into 1 1/2 tsp & 1/2 tsp)
1 tsp. Ground Cinnamon
1/4 Cup Mild-Flavored Molasses
1 Egg
2 1/4 Cups all Purpose Flour
1/4 Cup Granulated Sugar











Looks like a lot of stuff, but it really isn't, they're pretty easy to make!

Here's a step by step, pics and all on how to make these.

1. In a mixing bowl take the 3/4 cup of shortening and beat with mixer on medium to high for 30 seconds.










2. Add Brown Sugar, Baking Soda, 1 1/2 tsp. of Cardamom and Cinnamon. Beat on med to high until combined. Should look like this...











3. Beat in Molasses and Egg.












4. Beat in as much flour as you can with the mixer and then stir in the remaining flour with spoon.













5. Pour Sugar and 1/2 tsp of remaining Cardamom into a separate bowl. You will now shape the dough into 1 inch balls and roll the balls in the Sugar to coat. You can use Green & Red Christmas sugar in the mixture as well to keep it festive!

Place these 2 inches apart on an ungreased cookie sheet, or do as I did and use parchment paper (love this stuff!!)















6. Bake at 375 degrees for 10 min or until edges are set and tops are slightly cracked. Cool on wire rack.

Makes 48 Cookies

Check out these scrumptious little crunchy on the outside gooey on the inside snaps!















They're so delicious! What goes perfect with these is a cup of Mexican Cocoa!


















I'm a cinnamon girl, actually I would bathe in it if I could~ LOVE IT~ if you are too, then this is the cocoa for you!!

Mexican Hot Cocoa

3-4 Tablespoons of sugar
3 Tablespoons- Nestle Tollhouse Baking Cocoa
1/4 Tsp- Cinnamon (or little more ;0))
2 1/3 cups of milk
1/2 tsp vanilla

Directions:

In small saucepan, combine sugar, cocoa and cinnamon, over medium heat stir in milk constantly until hot (DO NOT BOIL~did that before and oops didn't turn out). Remove from heat stir in vanilla and beat with wire wisk until frothy- serve immediately.

You can add marshmallows and cinnamon sticks as desired.

This is sure to make your tummy tingle!

Now for the give away... I'll be giving away my new little holiday charm necklace that is shown on yesterday's post. Leave a comment today and I'll draw a winner at random and announce the winner on Saturday! Thanks and good luck!

Happy cookie blogging today & thanks to Jessi for hosting!!

Scrap it swanky sister~
Nicki

Ahhhhh, Starbies and Baking

My kitchen smells of molasses and cinnamon, I've got my Starbies and I'm baking away for Scrappy Jessi's Cookie Exchange today. Mmmmm.... I can't wait to bite into these yummy little sweet things... stay tuned, the cookie recipe is comin up!

Charmed

I've been working on some new little necklaces over the past few days, here's one that I wanted to get posted before I got too busy with other things. I used Tim Holtz new Idea-ology Fragments and backed them with some adorable Doodlebug paper. I added in a glass bead from my bead stash. These will be perfect for the little girls on my list to buy for this year! I'm doing some other projects with these as well, but don't want to give too much away until after my gift giving is done, since these will be given as gifts this year. It's been fun making jewelry again, haven't done it in a while and to combine jewelry making and papercrafting in one has been really cool.

Tomorrow I'll be posting my sweet treat for Scrappy Jessi's Annual Cookie Exchange, stay tuned and check out all of the blogs participating!