My Favorite No-Bake Cookie

This cookie is not a no-bake cookie in the traditional sense.  It was once baked, but twas not I who did the baking. These White Chocolate Peppermint Oreos are so pretty and delicious, and you will not believe how easy they are. I'm not a huge peppermint fan but these have just the right touch of mint flavor to combat the sweetness of the chocolate.

Each year for Christmas my family (immediate and extended) do a gift exchange where we draw names- one cousin and one aunt/uncle. This year we decided that we would skip the name drawing and do small/ hand-made gift for each person. I will not say what the lady gift is but I feel safe in saying I made jars of cookies for all the guys.

Really all there is to it is-
Melt white chocolate chips. Dip your cookies halfway in the chocolate. Sprinkle crushed candy canes on top. Voila! I made around 130 of these in about an hour. Not bad.

 

I carefully arranged 7 cookies in each jar. While they are simple and pretty just like that- I decided to make them more festive. With a little ribbon, a bow and a simple white tag they are suddenly like a party in a jar! I really wanted a gift for the guys that wasn't a food item because I felt that was expected. Even with Pinterest on my side,  I had a really hard time coming up with something. I guess men just really like food. These make a super easy, inexpensive (about $2.15 per jar for EVERYTHING) and delicious gift. Like seriously....they're so good. 

You could also come up with different combinations of these treats with other store bought or homemade cookies– sugar cookies dipped in chocolate with crushed Reese's piece might be a tasty combo. Any others you might try?

-M

Christmas Pumpkins!

What? Christmas pumpkins? How can that be?! Well I love pumpkins and I hate throwing things away! So I was on a mission to turn my perfectly good pumpkins into a Christmas decoration because I couldn't stand the thought of tossing them out. Plus, I have no outdoor decorations since we've only lived in apartments, and really didn't have it in my budget to buy any. I remembered seeing a stack of pumpkins painted like a snowman once and thought I'd give it a try.

I really love the grey pumpkins and wanted to keep them. I decided on grey, white and gold for my color palette which meant I'd obviously have to make it a glamorous snow-lady. For the base, I painted the orange pumpkin white with Miss Lillian's No-Wax Chock Paint in Snowflake. How appropriate!

Then I realized that her head was cream colored compared to the base. Being the person that I am I decided to put a coat of paint on it so they'd match!

I painted her face and gold polka dots with acrylic paint and found some ribbon for a sweet little bow on top. She's cute but missing something. I think I'll find her a scarf.

I painted these too! I have a few small white ones that I may paint with different patterns to mix in.

 

 

-M

Hand Lettering and Learning a New Craft

Last Week, I featured a cute little attempt at hand drawn type. I'm honest. I know that hand lettering is not exactly one of my strongest suits. And while I did go to school to school for graphic design, it's not something I ever really worked on. It intimidates me. And one of my closest friends is really good at it! She was always doodling little type master pieces in class that I would secretly drool over. Personally I felt I should leave that particular artistry to the people who could do it justice! So I never even tried.

And yet this little part inside of me regrets never taking the workshops that I could have participated in to practice my skill and ultimately get better. And it's all because I am a perfectionist. And I don't like it when something doesn't come naturally. I was comparing myself to someone who had a lot more practice. Which is what we do what with the internet– a gigantic interweb of billions of people showcasing their talents (amongst other weird things). How can we possibly compare?!

So all of this was really just to say I intend to practice my lettering skills and will occasionally post things. It would be neat if you could see my progress over time. But it is also to inspire you to practice that thing you've been wanting to learn but haven't for whatever reason. Whether you're scared, haven't made the time for yourself, or like I am many times, simply being lazy, it's time to get up and do it! I also want to learn guitar. But let's take this one hobby at a time.

Some of my inspirations-

 Absolutely gorgeous watercolor by Tanamachi Studio

Check out Lindsay Letters- her work is awesome and you can buy it!

Now go and get to it!

-M