One last Christmas Gift!

Okay I found one more picture of things that I made for Christmas, so I had to share with you guys.  This was so fast and easy to do, and I have to say this caramel popcorn is absolutely to die for.  I made two huge roasting pan batches in my oven and was so surprised that it only made about 3.5 large bags of finished product.  We gave 3 bags to the neighbors and ate the half bag in no time at all!  This kicks the tail of any tinned popcorn I have ever eaten!  Next time I will make a double or triple batch so I can share the love.

Here’s what the finished product looked like:

the tag has that great saying from sweet season, “gingerbread and sugared things, enjoy the sweets the season brings”

Here is the recipe for the caramel popcorn:

Caramel Popcorn

Rated:

Submitted By: BS4U2C

Photo By: Monika

Prep Time: 30 Minutes

Cook Time: 1 Hour

Ready In: 1 Hour 30 Minutes

Servings: 20

"Popcorn is coated with brown sugar and corn syrup caramel then baked for a crunchy treat."

Ingredients:

1 cup butter

2 cups brown sugar

1/2 cup corn syrup

1 teaspoon salt

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

5 quarts popped popcorn

Directions:

1.
Preheat oven to 250 degrees F (95 degrees C). Place popcorn in a very large bowl.

2.
In a medium saucepan over medium heat, melt butter. Stir in brown sugar, corn syrup and salt. Bring to a boil, stirring constantly. Boil without stirring 4 minutes. Remove from heat and stir in soda and vanilla. Pour in a thin stream over popcorn, stirring to coat.

3.
Place in two large shallow baking dishes and bake in preheated oven, stirring every 15 minutes, for 1 hour. Remove from oven and let cool completely before breaking into pieces.

YUM-O!  Ciao for now!!!   Deidre

Happy New Year!

I can finally say that now that I have posted my last Christmas story for the year….on to 2010!  Life is good here in San Diego.  I spent some time this week making my future daughter in law’s wedding invitations with her help and getting to know her.  She is such a delight!  Jacquie was loving on my big shot machine…she likes scrapbooking and says she really needs one of them…guess what girl you joined the right family!!!  There are lots of birthdays and Christmases in the future so I have that girl covered!  We are so glad to have her join the family!  The big wedding is at the end of March in beautiful Big Sur, California and I am excited to go see a part of the state that I have never visited...I hear it is fantastic!

  I also got my club technique cards finished and my Columbus swaps done, so all in all, it was a pretty productive week I would have to say!    I am teaching a Valentine’s Stamp camp on Friday and looking forward to seeing my San Diego crafters this week!  We are going to make mailboxes, two cards and a cute packaged valentine treat.  I can’t wait!  I will share all of them after the class…can’t spoil the surprise you know.

So other than that it was back to the routine and that is a happy place for me.  Hope you guys are enjoying a great new year as well! 

Here’s my eye candy for today:

This is what I made all my club ladies for Christmas….you guys know you want to be in my club now don’t you???

And here was my technique card for my club ladies in November..I thought this card turned out so pretty..I love the non traditional Christmas colors and just love those vintage ornament stencils!

Ciao for now!  Deidre

Elf on a Shelf

So Santa brought us a special gift early this year. One night, the first week of December, the front door bell rang and on the stoop was a package from Santa. Inside was our own Elf on a Shelf! Santa was on the fence I guess trying to decide if Matilda and Matteson should be on the naughty or nice list and sent us an elf to help make the decision!

According to the story that comes with the elf on the shelf, the elf flies back home to the North Pole every night before Christmas to report whether the children have been naughty or nice that day and to relay what they want for Christmas.

We gave ours the name of JT, as every elf needs a name you know? I hope the real JT, our friend from preschool class doesn’t mind that he has an elf named after him! When the elf returns the next day he is always in a different location.

For some reason the girls did not want him in their bedroom that night so we placed him in the stairwell on top of a picture where he could oversee everything. The first thing the girls did when they woke up the next day was to go and see if he had moved…as soon as they saw that he wasn’t in the spot anymore…Matilda said, “whoa, he is magic!” Every morning they would search the house until they found JT.

They talked to him and told him what they wanted for Christmas, and when they were naughty, all I had to do is say… “do you hear that JT? Make sure and tell Santa that the girls are being naughty tonight,” and the next thing you know they were apologizing to me and begging JT not to tell Santa that they were naughty! The hardest part about having the Elf on a Shelf was remembering to move the little sucker every night. Santa’s helper had to really stay on her toes, and was more than a little bit relieved when JT went back to the North Pole until the next holiday season! For those of you wondering where you can get your own little guy, Santa shops at Borders around here!

Here is a pic of JT in one of his locations:

and here he is in a different locale:

See you next year JT! Here are some of the teacher gifts I made this year….I made the cocoa kits for the main teachers and the candy bars for the assistants. I thought they turned out pretty cute although I am getting tired of drinking the frappucinos to get the bottles and packaging!

and here are the bars:

the poem on them is about how this is this year’s edition of homemade Christmas fudge! So true this year!

Hope your Christmas was wonderful and looking forward to a great 2010. Happy New Year everyone!

Ciao for now….Deidre