Through The Camera Lens

Complete

Swan Heart, originally uploaded by fmc.nikon.d40.

My word for 2010. 2009 left a lot of things unfinished and I'm so intent on looking forward I'm not even going to list those things but this word will be used in my heart, home and scrapbooking. More to come!

Hope everyone had a wonderful time bringing in the New Year and wish everyone a Happy and Healthy 2010!

Can't wait to see what we will all create this year! I'm excited!

This & That

Teacher & Bus Driver gifts, tucked Snowman ornament into mug. More on the Snowman soon.

 

These for K class, from the 12*12*12 Blog Hop on Julie's blog Just Our Story. She made the cute tags & they are downloadable!

And these Candy Cane Reindeer for the K class craft project.

And these for 3rd Grade class. Found pretzel molds at Micheal's on clearance for $6.99. 3 trays, 6 molds each, 4 designs. Comes w/ 4 bags of colored chocolate too but I bought the white chips with sprinkles. Didn't have time to "paint" 25+ molds so just used one color.

And the Christmas card I made:

Hope you are ready to enjoy the Holiday! Have a wonderful Christmas Eve & a Merry Christmas!

Christmas Journal, Day 2 (& To Do)

Have a few pages in progress & finally got this one done after my "2" kept going missing - twice! Played with the picture a bit but really want to get my journal caught up so keeping it simple! (Sorry for bad pic - snowing outside & my eyes are bugging from threading a needle countless times...for days now!)

Behind in my journal because I've been:

• Make cards
• Buy Holiday Postage/Mail cards
• Cookie "To Bake" list
• Bake cookies
• • Cut-out Sugar cookies
  • German Stars
  • Rosettes
  • Peppermint Bark
  • Almond Toffee Bars
  • Fudge
  • "Chex" Mix
  • Rum Balls
  • Brandy Snaps
  • Molded Chocolate Pretzel Rods
  • Peanut Blossoms
    

• Shop for gifts
• Wrap gifts (DH doing everyone's now, but I need to do his.)
• Make Luminaries
• Make Teacher gifts
• Make Hand-made gifts
• Make Reindeer Food bags for K class
• Assemble Reindeer Candy Cane craft bags for K class
• Molded Chocolate Pretzel Rods for 3rd Gr. class

Will take some pics of some of these items for tomorrow's post. Off to try to get another item crossed off before heading to the classroom Holiday parties. :)

Hope you are enjoying the Season & crossing lots off your to do list!

Three for Thursday - Inspiring Holiday Photos

Candy Cane Curve, originally uploaded by TPorter2006

 

Christmas Is On It's Way, originally uploaded by besimo

Seasons Greetings To You All, originally uploaded by imago2007

Hope these inspired you to capture some of the details of the season!

Country Christmas

Over the weekend we drove through a local Holiday Light display a hotel puts on every year. I'd like to say this is a tradition but it's been more like every other year. You aren't really supposed to stop & take pictures as it is bumper to bumper but I was able to get a few pics when traffic got a bit held up.

 

It's pretty big and and divided into themes, like Candyland & Bear Country.

 

Or what animals do when we aren't looking, lol:

And of course, we can't forget:

Only 10 more days til Christmas - maybe 9 depending on when you're reading this. Are we all keeping calm & carrying on?

Christmas Lights

Spent the day playing around with my camera & trying to figure out how to capture Bokeh. Three lenses and not one quite the right one but I didn't give up & then kinda started to get the hang of it. Then moved on to making some lens hoods, either cutting by hand like these:

 

 

And then pulling out a couple of punches:

   

Still working on it. Maybe next year I'll have the right lens! I looked through these pictures at Flickr for inspiration and got some ideas I'd like to try after I get better results and here on how to make your own lens hoods.

Also got some more online shopping done tonight. Hoping I'm almost done & maybe just one trip "out there".

Do you like to shop the web or hit the stores?

Sea Salt Caramels

 

Welcome back! This time I'm going to share how to make some yummy Sea Salt Caramels!

A few things that you will need to make Caramels: a pastry brush, a candy thermometer and some Sea Salt. It's a good idea to calibrate your thermometer in some boiling water. It should read at 212F/100C. Another tip I found is that for every 500 feet above sea level you will want to cook to 1 degree less than recipe calls for.

You'll use the pastry brush lightly dipped in water to wipe down the inside of saucepan to avoid crystallization of sugar on the sides during the cooking process.

Sea Salt Caramels

• 2 Cups Sugar
• 1 Cup Corn Syrup
• 2 Cups Heavy Cream
• 1/2 Cup of Butter
• 1/2 tsp. French Grey Sea Salt + extra for topping.
• 1 tsp Vanilla

Add sugar, corn syrup, 1 Cup of the cream, butter & 1/2 tsp Sea Salt into heavy saucepan. You'll want to use a large one as it will bubble up. Over med-high heat while stirring occasionally, bring to a boil. Meanwhile, warm the rest of cream in another saucepan. Once mixture has come to a boil, slowly stir in the warmed cream. Continue cooking but not stirring. It will bubble & brown. This takes a bit of time 30-45 minutes. Cook until candy thermometer reaches 242 degrees F/116 C or candy forms into soft ball when dropped into cold water.

Pour, don't scrape, into greased 9x13 pan. I used greased parchment paper to easily lift out. Sprinkle top with crushed sea salt. Once cooled, cut into 1.5 x .5 inch pieces and wrap with wax paper, then paper strips. Tuck into a cute container and give a yummy Holiday treat to someone sweet!

Here is a sheet of printable tags to use. Using a 1 1/2 inch scalloped circle punch looks too cute!

Download SSCaramel

And don't forget to head over to Basement Chronicles at 7PM CST to see what Maya has in store for you!

Hot Cocoa Ice Cream Cones

Saw these in a store last season & knew I had to make some this year! Aren't they cute? We began by making our own:

Hot Cocoa Mix

• 1 3/4 C Nonfat Dry Milk Powder
• 3/4 C Unsweetened Cocoa Powder
• 1/2 C Brown Sugar
• 1/4 C Sugar

Combine all ingredients in mixing bowl. Can be stored in air-tight container for up to 3 months. To make Hot Cocoa add 1/2 Cup of mix to 8 oz. hot water.

I found this recipe and other fun Winter ideas here.

So on to our Ice Cream Cones! For each cone you will need:

• 2 Clear Cone Shaped Treat Bags
• 1/2 C Hot Cocoa Mix
• Small Rubber-band
• 1/4 C Chocolate Jimmies
• 1/2 C Mini Marshmallows
• Cherry Sour Ball, Peppermint or Red Gumdrop for "Cherry"
• Silver Twist Tie
• Tag with Instructions.

Pour 1/2 C cocoa mix into first treat bag, making sure to fill all the way to the end of cone. Secure with small rubber band and cut off excess bag. Put into second treat bag, gently pushing rubber-band tip down. Then pour jimmies in and then marshmallows. Top with your choice of "cherry" and secure with twist tie with just a few twists, leaving some room to attach your tag.

And BIG thanks to Laura who at 2AM so kindly made me a tag so I could make this sheet for you to download, sized to fit within a 1 1/2 inch scalloped punch.

Download CocoaTags

Give along with a cute Christmas mug & I think you have a sweet little gift!

Hope you are enjoying our blog hop and finding inspiration! Don't forget to check Basement Chronicles at 1PM to see what Holiday goodness Maya has for you!

Welcome to 12*12*12 Holiday Blog Hop!

Thanks for joining us today for 12 Holiday Ideas & Recipes by 5 creative, fun girls & myself. Here is our Holiday blog hopping schedule for today:

Laura at Cameron Crazy at 9AM

Mel at Sunlight Simplicity at 10AM

Sharyn at Living Artfully 11AM

Come back & visit me here at Noon!

Maya at Basement Chronicles at 1PM

Julie at Just Our Story at 2PM

Laura at Cameron Crazy at 3PM

Mel at Sunlight Simplicity at 4PM

Sharyn at Living Artfully 5PM

Hope to see you here again at 6PM!

Maya at Basement Chronicles at 7PM

Julie at Just Our Story at 8PM

Thanks again for visiting - we hope you have an inspired day!

Snowball Cupcakes

We had a Birthday here this week, so it was time to bake some treats for the classroom.The first choice was Brownies but since I wasn't sure if Cocoa was 100% nut free, we had to make a last minute adjustment and alter a mix. I changed the recipe a bit from Cake Doctor's "Cupcakes!" recipe book as her's calls for Coconut Milk & Coconut flavoring in place of the Whole Milk & Vanilla.

• 18.25 Oz. Box of White Cake Mix
• 1 1/3 C Milk
• 2 TBS Vegetable Oil
• 3 Large Eggs
• 2 tsp. Vanilla
• Cool Whip
• Flaked Coconut

Preheat oven to 350F degrees. In mixer beat Cake Mix, Milk, Oil & Eggs until well blended. Fill mini cupcake holders about 3/4 full. Bake 18-22 minutes until lightly golden and cupcake springs back when lightly pressed. Cool on wire rack. Once cooled, spread a spoonful of Cool Whip and then top with Coconut. If not serving right away, chill. Store in refrigerator for up to 4 days.

Hope you try them! They are even good without a topping! Luckily, I left enough for the class!

Planning on seeing some Holiday Lights tomorrow, do you have any Holiday plans this weekend? Whatever your doing, I hope it's a good one!

And don't forget to visit tomorrow morning at 8AM CST for the kick-off of: