" Home Churned" Chocolate Chip Cookies

" Home Churned" Chocolate Chip Cookies

from the back of a box of "Home Churned" Margarine (store brand)

2 1/2 cups All-Purpose Flour
1 teaspoon Baking Soda
3/4 cup margarine (stick, melted and cooled)
1 1/2 cups Brown Sugar
1 Egg
1 teaspoon Vanilla Extract
1 cup Semi Sweet chocolate Chips

Preheat oven to 350F.
Combine Flour and Baking Soda, set aside.
in a large bowl, combine margarine and brown sugar. Mix well. Stir in egg and vanilla extract until well blended. Add flour mixture and stir until combined. Stir in chocolate Chips.
Drop by Tablespoon onto an un-greased cookie sheet. Leave 2 1/2 inches between each cookie for 8 to 11 minutes or until edges harden and center is set.

 

Billie C.

Oct 26, Billie's Christmas Corner

go to http://billieschristmascorner.blogspot.com/ to see more....

 

CHRISTMAS

 

 

~ Holiday Spice-Flavored Sugar ~

Grind together until fine:
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
1 teaspoon nutmeg
1 cup granulated sugar
12 frozen cranberries (optional)
Uses: Sprinkle onto oatmeal, a warm
coffee cake, buttered toast or coffee.

 

 

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Holiday Spritz cookies

1 cup butter, softened
1 cup conectioners' sugar
1 egg
1 1/2 tsp rum extract
2 1/2 cups flour
1/4 tsp salt
Colored sugar
In a small bowl, cream the butter and the confectioners' sugar until light and fluffy. Beat in the egg and the extract. Combine the flour and the salt. Gradually add to the creamed mixture. Mix well. Using a cookie press fitted with the disk of your choice. Press the cookies 1 inch apart onto ungreased baking sheets. Sprinkle with colored sugar. Bake at 375 F for 6-9 minutes or until lightly browned. Cool for 2 minutes before removing from the pans to wire racks to cool completely. Makes 7 dozen cookies
Recipe Source: Taste Of Home - Lisa Varner

 

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Birthday of A King

In the little village of Bethlehem,
There lay a Child one day;
And the sky was bright with a holy light
O'er the place where Jesus lay.

Chorus:
Alleluia! O how the angels sang.
Alleluia! How it rang!
And the sky was bright with a holy light
'Twas the birthday of a King.

'Twas a humble birthplace, but O how much
God gave to us that day,
From the manger bed what a path has led,
What a perfect, holy way.

Chorus:
Alleluia! O how the angels sang.
Alleluia! How it rang!
And the sky was bright with a holy light
'Twas the birthday of a King.

 

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http://www.favecrafts.com/Entertaining/Holiday-Apron-Tutorial/ml/1

Holiday Apron Tutorial

By: Freda Marie for Creative Chics

Sport this cute holiday apron while you prepare Christmas dinner for the family. This easy Christmas craft requires basic sewing skills. It makes a great Christmas gift or fun Christmas craft with your friends.

Materials:

• Apron
• Fabric scraps (4" x 4" works best for easy drawing and cutting)
  • 1 piece for the snowman body
    
  • 1 piece for the hat
    
  • 1 piece for the shawl
• Sewing Machine with zig zag stitching
• Sharp scissors
• Spray fabric adhesive
• Black fabric paint or black marking pen
• Matching threads for your fabrics

Steps:

1. Purchase an apron at your favorite craft store that is ready for you to create your own holiday design. The apron can vary in price but seldom will cost you more than $5.00, making this entire project very affordable and fun!
   
   
   
2. Decide what design you want on your apron, snowman, reindeer, a saying, etc and create the design from fabric. In my example, I found a snowman online, printed it on my printer (4 copies) and used it as a pattern to cut out my fabric pieces. Be sure you allow 1/8" overlap between pieces that touch each other.
   
3. Cut out the printed image and pin it to your apron. Then sew a basting stitch around the outside edge of the design.
   
4. Now cut the image into the individual pieces. In my case I had a snowman body, scarf, and hat. I cut the snowman out of the fabric I was using for his body and another cut was made from a stabilizer (pellon) the same size as my fabric cutout. I did this with each piece of the snowman design.
   
5. Next I used fabric adhesive to place the stabilizer on my fabric making sure I placed it on the sewn outline for the body. Using the same technique I then placed my fabric for the snowman on the stabilizer. Now I was ready for the next layers, the scarf and hat. Using the same technique of a layer of stabilizer and then the fabric I laid all of the pieces on my apron outline.
   
   
   
6. Then, topstitch around the outside edges of each piece of fabric in the design. Use a narrow and short zig zag stitch to create a tight sewn edge on your design, changing threads to match the color of your design fabrics.
   I used black fabric paint to create dots for the eyes and buttons and orange thread in a zig-zag stitch for the carrot nose and a straight black thread basting stitch for the mouth.
   
7. Finish off by using an off white thread the color of my snowman to embroidery "Let it Snow" and some embroidered snowflakes finish off the theme.
   
   
   
   
   Crafter's Tip for Moms: You can make this a fun project for the entire family by letting them come up with the designs and cut them out while you help out with the sewing and embroidery. If you don't have an embroidery machine there are lots of felt letters in the craft store that can work for your design. Happy Holidays Everyone.
   

 

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Things to do at Christmas time, Get your pets fresh new collars, name tags and leashes.

My dogs love new collars and new leads. they step a little higher when they are wearing "New" things.

 

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http://www.thehistoryofchristmas.com/trivia/yulelog.htm

 

Yule log - origins & trivia

In Northern Europe, Winter festivities were once considered to be a Feast of the Dead, complete with ceremonies full of spirits, devils, and the haunting presence of the Norse god, Odin, and his night riders. One particularly durable Solstice festival was "Jol" (also known as "Jule" and pronounced "Yule"), a feast celebrated throughout Northern Europe and particularly in Scandinavia...

 

 

 

 

 

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Billie C.

Cake O' Lantern

Cake O' Lantern posted by quintopatruno in a closed group I'm in. 

Made from two bundt cakes, this jack-o'-lantern will light up any party. Because of its delicious homemade pumpkin flavor, this cake is sure to be carved up in a hurry. If you're pressed for time, substitute three boxes of spice-cake mix for the ingredients we've listed here. Serves 24.


Ingredients

Cake
5 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
4 tsp. ground cinnamon
1 tsp. ground ginger
1/2 tsp. ground cloves
1/4 tsp. ground nutmeg
4 tsp. baking powder
1 1/2 tsp. baking soda
1 tsp. salt
1 1/4 cups milk, at room temperature
1 can (15 oz.) pumpkin
1 tbsp. vanilla extract
1 cup (2 sticks) butter or margarine, at room temperature
1/2 cup vegetable oil
2 1/4 cups sugar
6 large eggs, at room temperature
Frosting
2 packages (8 oz. each) cream cheese, at room temperature
1 tbsp. vanilla extract
Approximately 9 cups powdered sugar
Green food-coloring paste
Orange food-coloring paste
One flat-bottomed green ice cream cone
12 large yellow and white gumdrops (6 of each)
Sugar (to roll gumdrops on)
2 tbsp. chocolate chips
Clear edible cake glitter

Cake Directions

1. Heat the oven to 350° and butter two 10-inch bundt cake pans.
2. In a large bowl, stir together the flour, spices, baking powder, baking soda, and salt.
3. In a medium bowl, stir together the milk, pumpkin, and vanilla extract until smooth.
4. In another large bowl, beat the butter or margarine and oil together with an electric mixer until combined. Next, beat in the sugar. Then beat in the eggs, one at a time, mixing well after each addition. Alternately beat in the milk/pumpkin mixture and the flour mixture until just combined.
5. Divide the batter between the two prepared pans. Bake for 50 to 60 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the center of the cakes comes out clean.
6. Cool the cakes in the pans for 15 minutes, then turn them out onto wire racks to cool completely.

Frosting Directions

1. In a large bowl, beat the cream cheese until smooth.
2. Mix in the vanilla extract. Then beat in the powdered sugar gradually until the frosting is a spreadable consistency.
3. Color about 1 cup of the frosting green and the rest orange.

Assembly Directions

1. Trim the bottoms of the cakes so they lie flat against each other.
2. Frost the flat surface of the bottom cake and place the other cake on top.
3. Frost the entire cake orange. When the frosting dries, add green frosting leaves and top with the ice cream cone to create a stem.

Decorating Directions

1. Sprinkle sugar over your work surface and use a rolling pin to flatten 12 large yellow and white gumdrops together into a pancake about 1/4 inch thick. Adults only: use a knife to cut out the eyes, nose and mouth.
2. Microwave 2 tablespoons of chocolate chips for about 60 seconds. Dip the left side and bottom of the facial features in the melted chocolate. Dab a small amount of water onto the top surface of each feature, sprinkle the edible glitter on top, then press the facial features onto the cake.

 

Billie C.

public figures

"Today's public figures can no longer write their own speeches or books, andthere is some evidence that they can't read them either."
-- Gore Vidal

Googly Eye Cake

Googly Eye Cake

Ingredients:

• A cake mix for a double layer 10 inch round cake. (You'll also need the ingredients required by the cake mix instructions.)
• Two cans of chocolate frosting.
• A pastry bag and several tips (star and thin).
• Two tubes of decorative icing (white and black).
• An assortment of candy such as Necco Wafers, Life Savers (Gummy or Hard), M&Ms (Different Sizes), etc.

Directions:

Make two 10 inch round cakes using one box of cake mix. Cool and remove the cakes from the pans according to the instructions.

Place one layer on a plate, cover the top with frosting and frost the sides lightly.

Place the second layer on top.

Put the remainder of the frosting in the pastry bag and use the star tip to make the cake look "furry". You should cover the top of the cake and down the sides of the top layer with frosting.

Decorate the cake using the round candies and the decorative icing with the thin tip. Place two round candies side by side and affix smaller candies to the front using icing. The pupil of the eyes can be made using white icing.

Black icing can be used for eyebrows either above the eyes, around the eyes, or in a line slanted across each eye. Black icing can also be used for eye lashes. You can also add light glints and other effects.

Variations and Hints:

Brown makes for the best "fur" color, but other colors of frosting can be used.

A different flavor of frosting or a pudding can be used between the layer cakes.

We put the number candle on before the eyes so we were sure there'd be room for it.

Lighter candies should be placed on the sides of the cake so they don't slide down.

Some of the eyes can be centered and others at crazy angles for a googly eyes effect.

 

Billie C.

Christmas Angels

http://itsastampthing-vicki.blogspot.com/2011/12/christmas-angels.htm

Christmas Angels

Merry Christmas!

I wanted to pop in here quickly to share with you these cute little Christmas Angels I have been making! They are so fun and easy!!!

I found the tutorial for them while blog surfing HERE, she has a video tutorial that explains the process, they are really very easy. They can be embellished to the hilt are left simple, I just used supplies I had on hand, but I want to pick up some feathers and that pretty punch she used to make some more fancy ones, I am thinking of one for each month of the year would be adorable!

The base is half of a 7-3/4 inch circle and the arms are half of a 4 inch circle. The half circles are curled into a cone shape and glued. I used a small clothespin to hold it together while the glue dried.

On this one I used some confetti cream card stock and I stamped the image from the Stampin Up "Beautiful Season and colored it before assembling the angel.

The head is a small ornament and is glued to the cone after pushing in the point to make the place for it to sit.

I had some of this gold laced rick-rack that I got at JoAnns sometime last year and I added it around the bottom and the sleeves of the angel. I embossed her sleeves and wings with the dot embossing folder. the halo is some chenille pipe cleaners, and I wrapped some red string beads around the halo. I added a lace bow made with some SU crochet trim and a bit more of the red string beads. Love how this came out!

You know I had to try some of my favorite paper to make a Country Angel too:

I kept the embellishments to a minimum on this one, so the pretty music sheet paper could shine through :)

I used a polished gold ornament for her head and coffee dyed the chenille pipe cleaner to match her paper. The ribbon is more I had in my stash and matches the "country feel" I was going for on this one. I glittered her wings with some gold dust stickles.

Well, that is all from me for now, I know I will be making more of these cute little angels and I will show them to you as I do. Hope you all have a blessed Christmas and Enjoy it with all the ones you love the most.

HAPPY STAMPING!!

 

Billie C.

Garland of thanks

http://blog.paper-source.com/how-to/how-to-garland-of-thanks/

How-to: Garland of thanks

November 9th, 2011

Create a lovely garland of thanks for all to enjoy this Thanksgiving.

Materials Needed:

• Garland of Thanks How-To PDF
• Printable Label Template
• Turkey Shapes Pack
• Paper Wraphia in Natural
• Superfine Soft White 2.5″ Round Printable Labels
• Small Die Cut Fall Leaves
• 1/8″ Hole Punch
• Transparent Tape
• Scissors

Instructions:

1. Using the Printable Label Template, print the words "GIVE THANKS" onto Super Softwhite 2.5″ Round Labels.
2. Stick labels onto alternating colors of turkey shapes. (Note that we have turkeys facing each other in pairs.)
3. Layout shapes and use transparent tape to adhere them to Paper Wraphia.
4. Stack several leaves in various colors on top of one another and use a hole punch to make a hole through the layers.
5. Thread leaves through end of Paper Wraphia and knot end. Repeat so that each end is finished with a stack of leaves.

 

Billie C.

http://www.allfreecrafts.com/christmas/salt-dough-ornaments.shtml

Microwave Salt Dough Ornaments

Here's a new twist on an old favorite - microwave salt dough Christmas ornaments. Just follow the simple recipe, cut out your favorite cookie cutter shapes, and microwave a plate of ornaments at a time.

If you are looking for some fun, inexpensive crafts for Christmas, making ornaments with salt dough is a good choice. Basically, with salt, flour, water and some decorations you can make beautiful ornaments to give as gifts to family and friends - and you probably have these items around the house. This is an excellent craft for kids. My kids and I make this a tradition each year during holidays. We make them for everyone and now people look forward to getting one each year. You can also make these for any occasion. We have made them for Valentine's Day too.

Supplies:

◊ 4 cups of flour
◊ 1 cup of salt
◊ 1-1/2 cups of hot water
◊ holiday cookie cutters
◊ decorations - glitter, paint, beads, etc.

Directions:

1. Half of this dough recipe is enough to make all the ornaments shown, plus extras. You will also need paint in red, green, white, and gold, plus green glitter paint, and trims such as iridescent stars, pom poms, mini candy cane erasers, and glitter chenille stems.

2. Use Christmas cookie cutters to cut a variety of snowmen, Christmas trees and stars. Use a toothpick to make a hole for hanging, being sure to make the hole a bit larger than you will want as they tend to close when baking.

3. Using a microwave-safe plate (not paper or cardboard), microwave a plate of ornaments for 1 to 4 minutes, increasing the time by 1 minute increments and keeping a close eye on the microwave as the ornaments bake. Microwave power levels differ, so use high power in a less-powerful oven, but lower if your oven heats things very quickly. You don't want to risk a fire! Let ornaments cool completely before decorating.

4. Snowmen: Base coat white. Paint hats black. Use paint or markers for eyes, nose, mouth and buttons. You can also paint on a scarf, unless you are using chenille stems. Take one chenille stem and, leaving enough stem to form an arm on the left, wrap the stem around the neck, and form another arm on the right. Cut off excess stem and bend each end in a 1/4" to form hands. Add mini candy cane erasers if desired.

5. Stars: Base coat white or gold. Add green glitter paint, or outline with gold paint or glitter paint, if desired. Glue an iridescent star in the middle of each ornament. Take a chenille stem and, leaving a little extra at the top to form half a loop, bend the stem around each star point, pushing in with your fingers until the stem will retain the star shape. You will find the stem ends at the top with some extra left over. Bend both of these end lengths together to form a hanging loop.

6. Christmas Trees: Base coat green, then re-paint with green glitter paint. Add gold and white accents in a "garland" effect, then use red to add red "balls" to the tree. Glue sparkly pompoms or two iridescent stars glued together on top of the tree if desired.

Variations: These are just some possibilities for decorating microwaved salt dough ornaments. This is a good group project - just microwave batches of ornaments and provide paints and embellishments for creative activity. Properly dried the ornaments should last years.

If you prefer to cook salt dough ornaments in a conventional oven, use our alternative salt dough recipe and directions for Halloween Cookie Cutter Creatures.

For general information and recipes, see our Salt Dough Tips and Techniques Tutorial.

 

Billie C.

Pretty Jeweled Pumpkins

http://www.glorioustreats.com/2011/09/pretty-jeweled-pumpkins-d-i-y-craft.html

Pretty Jeweled Pumpkins {D.I.Y. Craft}

Last year I saw some pretty "bejeweled" pumpkins in a high-end home decor magazine. I thought the decorative pumpkins were really beautiful, until I took a look the price… $200 for three pumpkins!! In other words almost $70.00 per pumpkin! They were pretty, but not quite that pretty! Now by all means, if you have $200 to spend on decorative pumpkins, go for it! But when I have $200 on hand I prefer to use it for much more glamorous things…like gas and groceries!

This year when I saw the same company selling the pumpkins again (they must have been a hit last year!), I just couldn't deny their beauty… so I made my own!

My first thought was to use sticky-backed jewels (designed as scrapbooking embellishments), and I went to the store and bought a few packages of pretty black jewels and dressed up one pumpkin (not shown in this post). When I went back to the craft store for more jewels, they were out of stock. The scrapbooking jewels did work well, so if you can find enough of them (you'll need several packages per pumpkin), they are a good option for this craft.

It took me a few moments to think of another way to get the same look (and for even less money than the sticky jewels)… glitter! I found some gorgeous Martha Stewart brand glitter (in onyx), then grabbed a bottled of Martha Stewart craft glue, and headed home to get crafty!

Want to make some pretty pumpkins?

Let's get started!

You'll need some nice looking faux pumpkins. There is certainly no reason you couldn't use real pumpkins, but then they would obviously only last one season. I chose orange pumpkins (simply because I wanted to duplicate the original photo I saw as closely as possible), but I think this craft would be gorgeous on white pumpkins as well! I bought the pumpkins below from Michael's ($9 for the large, $6 for the small).

1. You'll need some black glitter, and some craft glue. I used Martha Stewart glitter in onyx and Martha Stewart craft glue, both available at Michael's.

2. Drop small dots of glue in a swirl patter of your choice.

3. While the glue is still wet, generously sprinkle the glitter over the glue. Tap off excess glitter onto a sheet of newspaper or a craft tray of some kind. There will still be some excess glitter, but don't worry about that for now.

4. Once the glue if fully dry (about an hour), use a soft, dry paint brush to remove the remaining excess glitter.

A few notes…

You'll want to adjust the size and style of the swirls as you work around the pumpkin. Also, I found that I could only decorate about half of the pumpkin at a time, and then had to wait for the glue to dry, or I had no where to hold the pumpkin (without messing up my work).

Here are two of my newly bejeweled pumpkins (and two pretty glassybaby candle holders). The cost of the pumpkins I used was $9.00, $7.00 and $6.00. The glitter was about $5.00 and the glue was under $3.00. Total cost for three decorated pumpkins (with lots of glitter and glue left over!) was $30.00. The original set of three pumpkins that inspired this craft are sold for $200.00. I assure you I'll have no problem finding ways to spend my $170.00 savings! =)

 

Billie C.

Jalapeno Potato Casserole

 

Jalapeno Potato Casserole

"From Our Home to Yours"
Ozark First Church of the Nazarene"
2004

4 to 5 Irish Potatoes
1 Bell Pepper, cut small
1 small Onion, chopped
1 small jar Pimento, including Juice
1/2 stick Butter, melted
1 Tablespoon Flour
1 cup Milk
1/2 roll Garlic Cheese, cubed
1/2 roll Jalapeno Cheese, cubed
Salt and Pepper, to taste.

Boil potatoes in skins. Slice into 1/2 inch pieces. Layer in buttered casserole dish. Mix pepper, onion, pimento, melted butter and flour. Stir until blended. Gradually add milk, then add cubed cheeses. Pour mixture over potatoes. Bake at 350F for 45 minutes.

 

Billie C.

Fabric Covered Pumpkins

http://www.alderberryhill.com/fabric-covered-pumpkins/

Fabric Covered Pumpkins

These little fabric covered pumpkins are just adorable. They are so tiny and cute!

All you need are dollar store pumpkins, fabric, Mod Podge and yarn or twine for the stem.

Here they are in they dollar store glory. I knew I could jazz these babies up into stylin' Fall pumpkins.

I coated my strips of fabric with the Mod Podge and started laying the fabric on. There really is no rhyme or reason for the placement of the fabric but I did tend to lay them more vertical. I used my fingers and the paint brush to press the fabric down, it does get sticky!

They take a little while to dry but well worth the wait. If you put them outside they will dry a lot quicker.

I covered the stem with olive yarn but you could use bakers twine, burlap, raffia.

The possibilities are endless here, you could have turquoise, lime, bold patterns, tweed fabric, plaids!!!

Now I just have to find a home for them, but one things for sure, they will definitely fit in with my current Fall decor!

How are all your Fall projects coming along, have you started decorating yet?

 

Billie C.

For Today ... October 11

For Today ... October 11

 

Hello ... and good evening. I folded and put away the laundry today. I sorted  through our clothes, removing the summer clothes to a tub. Jerry brought me in a tub from the van that had some of our winter clothes in it and those are now in our drawers.

 

Outside my door ... It's now dark but today was nice and sunny for the most part.  We had a few high dark clouds coming in while the sun was going down and we have a slight chance of rain over night.

 

The Dogs ... have had a good day.  Eating, sleeping, going outside, then coming back inside.  Playing with each other. Barney playing with an empty cola bottle.

 

The Cats ... came inside for a while. All asleep on Jerry's bed for a bit. Macon had two of them cuddled up with him for a bit.

 

From the kitchen... I took a box of Dressing and used my mini chopper to turn it into ground up dry bread, Then added the seasoning pack to it, to coat two pork chops with it. I baked two potatoes in the roasting oven. I started them about 20 minutes before I put the pork chops in the oven. Jerry cut up the vegetables for our dinner.

 

I am hearing... The TV. I'm channel searching. trying to find something we both want to watch. Not having much luck on that.

 

I am wearing... brown Sweat pants and a dark blue top with 2011 New Grandma on it

 

I am reading... emails all day long.

 

 

Billie C.

Hello

Hello. I've been "Missing".

 

My hubby is job hunting.  When he's home it's harder for me to be on-line for any length of time. Just catching up with my emails when I can.  I hope that Life returns to Normal soon.

 

I got my hair cut today. We had to go to our Daughter's house to pick up our mail, and while we were in town I went to the lady who cuts my daughter's hair. I had to tell her to go shorter. well, it's shorter but not as short as I had it before.. That's ok, cause I can always go have it done again, in about 3 months.

 

 

 

Billie C.

Autumn Clock Face

http://www.grandmageorge.com/fall/ggfclock.gif

 

 

 

 

Billie C.

hippopotamus

 

http://www.hellokids.com/c_19626/kids-craft/fun-kids-craft/hippopotamus

Always use your imagination and be creative when building these kids crafts or any others. It's your creation, so be inventive when looking for building supplies — you just may be surprised! When building your project, experiment with new and different ways of putting it together. The most important thing is to have fun.

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Find these or similar supplies!

• Plastic Container
• Masking tape
• Cork (four pieces) or used toilet paper tubes
• Some old cardboard or construction paper
• Markers or pens for customizing

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1. Trim your corks!

The first step to making this awesome hippo is trimming the cork legs. You will need to cut the corks at an angle so that the legs will fit on the side of your container. Depending on the shape of your container you may not need to do this.

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2. Draw out Hippo's body parts!

The next step is drawing out all of your parts. You will need a pair of eyes, nostrils, ears, and two big hippo teeth. Don't forget the tail! Cut these out when you have some designs you like.

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3. Attach Hippo's body parts!

Now you can tape on your eyes, ears, teeth and tail. Try holding up the features to get everything the way you like it.

The simple version is complete! This cute hippo is easy and fun to make. From here you can decorate your hippo however you'd like.

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4. Ready for the fancy version?

Now for the fancy version! We started out covering everything in a base layer of masking tape. This adds lots of texture to the project.

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5. Tape up your body parts!

Next we then covered all the body parts in tape, making them easier to color on later.

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6. Attach Hippo's body parts!

After covering everything with tape we put on the legs and face just like the simple version.

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7. Decorate your Hippo!

The final step is the most fun... Decorating! We decided to make our hippo have a nice muddy complexion, but you can color your hippo any way you like. Voila! Hogan the Humongous Hippo!

Billie C.
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/BackOfTheBox/

http://billieschristmascorner.blogspot.com/