Beary Comforting

                          

It's been a "beary" tough year,  so this month's Paper Pumpkin kit is exactly what you need to send your friends and family a big huge New

Year bear hug!

As in typical Julie fashion, I changed my kit up a bit.

With Valentine's day approaching I decided to create

Valentine's cards with this kit.

I used the sweater embossing folder to create

the background behind the bear used some

glitter to his cheeks to add some sparkle.

I also decided to use the cute cupcake to make some birthday cards to have on hand.  The only difference to this card is the cupcake

and added "hey, friend", inside I stamped happy birthday.

I added the glitter to the entire cupcake as well as 

his cheeks again.

If you are interested in signing up receive a Paper Pumpkin kit

monthly you can sign up  

Do something fun for yourself this new year, get creative!

This kit arrives monthly and allows you to create what's in the kit by following step by step instructions on how to assemble what's inside.

OR, you can go rouge like I do and make alternative cards!

The new year stands before us,

I love this quote by Alfred Lord Tennyson;

"Hope smiles from the threshold of the year to come, whispering

'it will be happier"

Putting my hope in the new year and wishing each and everyone

of you tremendous joy and good health for you and your family.

Happy New Year!

Adventuring

Good Morning!

I just haven't been able to pack Christmas away yet.

I feel like this holiday has just flown by.

I met up with my God-daughter for a hike in the Cascades.

We ended up chosing Franklin Falls to  hike as you couldn't even get close to the other hiking area we had planned on ...

This was along our walk today, gorgeous clear day!

Terri and her daughter,

hoping next time to be able to take them to

Gold Creek trails.

Merry Christmas

Wishing you a Christmas that is Merry and Bright!

We hope you have a safe and relaxing holiday season filled

with peace, joy to your heart and your home filled happiness and love

Merry Christmas!

Leavenworth Reindeer

We were in search of a magical getaway and found

it in Leavenworth, Wa

If you have never been it's a quaint little german barvarian 

village 2 hours east of Seattle and boasts so much to see and do.

And this time of year so many holiday festivities!

We found the most adorable Reindeer farm

just outside of town where you can visit and hear all about

Reindeer and then get to feed and pet them.

This farm was just adorable and held so much charm!

This was us getting ready to go in.

You should plan on getting reservations, we

did not have them and just showed up hoping

to be added to their cancellation list, we got lucky

and got to go in!

This farm is open year round, but of course 

Christmas time just feels so magical!

Here are a few cute pics I took while we were there.

This was their little chicken coup complete with a turkey.

This is the cute barn, inside there are shops and Santa!

They also have vintage sleighs, a movie theatre too!

On to the Reindeer visit!

Once they explained to us about the Reindeer we got to go into 

the arena and feed and pet the Reindeer

Here are our girls getting to hang with Rudolph,

he is real!!

I think they had a total of 25 reindeer, 

and they just walk around you as you feed them.

What a fun time we had!

It was an adventure I would plan on doing

every year! We loved it!

Christmas Luncheon

Our annual Christmas luncheon scaled down considerably due to covid.

We have been gathering together for YEARS! Literally years.....

Not everyone could be here so we made the best of it that would could.

Debbie, Terri, Ceri and myself

Shae, Brittanie, Ashley, Shelby 

missing were; Kelly, Katie, Amy and Erica and Susan

Every year we also get into our family groups and take pictures by the tree.

We always play games and each year they are different.

This year we played a simple game with Christmas bows.

You get one minute to take the backing off the bow and adding it to your partner's back. 

This was so much fun!

We laughed so hard playing this game!

Sharing just a little view of our living room with our christmas tree in the background.  We've kept things pretty simplistic here for the holidays, just taking in time together and thankful for the little things.

Are you ready for Christmas?

I'm still needing to get going on getting things done!

Paper Snowflakes

Being and spending time at home has given me the time

to try new things.

I found these lunch sack snowflakes on Pinterest showing you how easy it is to make these festive little stars.

I really wanted to add some white ones too, but it was impossible to find any white lunch sacks anywhere. 

To hang them I just used a clear push pin and stuck 

it right into the wall.  

To get the two different sized snowflakes I used

a standard sized lunch sack and also used small ones too.

Each snowflake takes 8 paper bags.  You basically 

just glue them on top of each other and then

cut out the sides to create the snowflake design.

You can see the Pinterest post HERE

I am not kidding, these are EASY!!!

Get some bags and give them a try!

Sugared Cranberries and Rosemary

Well the good thing about being at home is getting to 

take the time to try new things.

I've wanted to try to sugar both cranberries and rosemary that I have growing in my yard since last year.

So here goes!

You can store them once you make them in the frig in an air tight container for 2-3 days. 

Now let me show you how to make these sparkly festive goodies!

All you need is a few ingredients.

Sugar, cranberries, rosemary and water!

Start with 1/2 c of water and 1/2 c of sugar in a saucepan over med heat.

Bring to a boil and turn to low stirring til the sugar has dissolved.

Add a cup of cranberries and using a spatula fully coat them

with the simple syrup.

Once they are coated use a slotted spoon to move to either a drying cookie rack or parchment paper for just a minute to get a bit sticky.

Using a plastic or glass dish, transfer some of the cranberries into the sugar and coat. Once you've coated them move them to the parchment paper to dry.

Now don't throw away the simple syrup in the pan!

We are going to sugar some rosemary now!

Add your rosemary sprigs to the pan and coat the sprigs

with the simple syrup.  Remove and set on parchment paper

to set up and get a little sticky 

I used a longer length sized bowl that I filled with sugar to coat

the sprigs in. 

Roll the sprigs around in the sugar until you get a sparkly look.

Set them on the parchment to dry.

Speaking of sugar, I used granulated sugar, you could use decorative sparkling sugar or even sugar in the raw.

  Each gives off a different sparkly look. 

drying......

drying time is quick! Once they have dried you can store them in the frig in an air tight container for up to 2-3 days.

Here are a few ideas for you to use them for. 

I love the little clumps of the cranberries as these are

great to use on top of a cupcake or muffin

Add them on top of a cake....

Add a sprig of rosemary on top of a donut....

Or add to a holiday drink.....

These sparkly little gems are the perfect garnish for just about any 

dessert or just sitting in a bowl looking ever so festive!

I hope you give them a try, kind of fun and magical!

Hot Chocolate Bar

Hello friends!

Hope you all had a great weekend!

I decided it would be fun to make a hot chocolate bar

for the holiday.

The above sign says "home", I haven't used it since we moved so instead of buying a hot chocolate bar sign I figured I could make one out of what I have on hand. 

I used some black chalk paint ( I prefer chalk paint as it dries quickly)

I did two coats and let it dry before writing on the board. 

I went around the kitchen and pulled as many items I could out of cupboards to create my bar.

I only ended up having to buy the cocoa, marsh mellows and peppermint bits. 

Just stack and add as you go,  you can see I filled

ball jars with the goodies and empty jars with cookies and candies.

You can make yours to suit the ages in your homes.

Some other fun ideas are the piroutte cookies, candy canes, little chocolates.

You can use trays or boxes to put your jars on or put them

right on the counter.  I added some vintage santa mugs that

were my Grandma's too.

I set them on top of a cake stand, get creative as you like and

just move things around til you get it to look how you like it.

It's a lot of fun to do and you can also do this with the kiddos.