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 Cherished Moments

12/30/2014

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PictureMe, my Grandma, and my mom at Jack's citizen party in 2012
This last month has  been very hard me and my family. My Grandmother fell right before Thanksgiving and wasn't able to call for help, thankfully my Mother was worried about her when she couldn't get ahold of her in the morning and was able to help her get to bed. I visited with her  the Sunday after the accident and we talked for awhile. We talked about the genealogy class that I just took and about our family history. We also talked about  Jack and I starting a family. My Grandmother told me I would be a wonderful mother one day. I think back on that moment and tears still start to swell up . Today I helped my Aunt finish cleaning out her house so my cousin can move in temporally while the family decides what to do with it.

A few days before Thanksgiving my mother was prepping the turkey at my Grandmother's home, when my Grandmother had a severe stroke and was rushed to the hospital. I visited her as often as I could while she was in the ICU. Things started to look better as she was moved to a regular room. Then the Sunday before she passed I felt an urging to go to Mass. The sermon was about being at peace in your heart and being ready for whenever it was your time to go "home". I cried throughout Mass. As I walked to my car, I felt the urge to go visit my Grandmother in the hospital. My mother was in the room standing next to her. I was fighting back tears as I looked at her frail body.  She opened her eyes and looked at us, which later I found out was the last time she had opened her eyes.  I stayed for a little longer before having to get back home. I cried all night when I realized that her body was starting to shut down  and wasn't going to make it. The night of her passing  she finally heard God calling her name and she peacefully slipped away. My brave mother and aunt were by her side.

I will always cherish our final conversation and I'm  internally thankful for our last real moment together. 

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 Mom's Christmas Gift

12/23/2014

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Christmas time is here and that means it’s time for Christmas gifts. I know when it comes to the perfect gift to my mom I just need to do something that involves her dogs! I decided to make her a special shash for her Prima Miche bag. I am a Miche representative and all of the ladies in my family carry these great bags so I have made my own sashes for certain shells. I picked 30 favorite pictures of all her dogs and printed them on fabric paper that I found at the local craft store. I simply created the print out in Word and made them about two inches height and closely next to each other. I cut the rows of pictures in small strips and sewed them all together to create a long ribbon. I then sewed on a cute dog print fabric to the other side of the picture ribbon. Lastly I ironed the sash and put it on a new Prima shell. I have no doubt that she is going to love her personalized gift. I hope you take the time to make a unique gift this Christmas for someone special.

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 Pre-Made Sugar Cookie Mix

12/21/2014

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Around this time of year I like to make a lot of sugar cookies for work and gifts. Plus who doesn't love to leave Santa a fresh plate of homemade sugar cookies?! Last year Amber and I started a new tradition of getting together and making some of our favorite sugar cookies. In the past if I was in a lazy mood I would just grab a bag sugar cookies mix you can buy at any grocery store, but since this year I have been trying hard to buy less processed foods I decided to make my own bags of sugar cookie mix! They were so easy to put together and I had about 8 bags ready to go for the holiday season in only a few minutes! An extra bonus was it was a lot cheaper per bag to make too!  

Betty Crocker Sugar Cookie Mix $1.99
My Pre-Made Sugar Cookie Mix Breakdown:
Pantry Ingredients $0.40 each mix, $3.20  for 8 Cookie Mixes
Compare to Real Betty Crocker Cookie Mixes $15.92
Total Savings:  $12.72

Sugar Cookie Cutouts
1 1/2 cups + 1 tbsp Flour
3/4 cup White Sugar
1/2 tsp Baking Powder
1/2 tsp Baking Soda
1/2 tsp Salt

Mix together and store in a quart size baggie.
Write instructions on the bag to add:  
1/3 Stick Softened Butter
1 Large Egg
1/2 tsp Vanilla Extract
Mix & Bake at 350 degrees for 6-8 minutes.  

I hope you spend a few minutes making your own Sugar Cookie Mix Bags. It will save you time and money when you're ready to bake some cookies for Santa!


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 Fireplace Remodel

12/20/2014

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Jack started on the fireplace remodel when he mounted our TV onto the wall above. We didn't get to work on the next phase of the remodel until this month which was perfect for Santa Cause to shimmy down it on Christmas Eve! 
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We decided that it would be much easier to cover the old brick than it would be to remove them completely, however, due to the uneven texture he had to even them out with a small jack hammer that attached to our air compressor. We spray painted the inside of the fireplace with a high heat white spray paint; since the bricks were so porous we had to use five cans of spray paint to get an even finish. 
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We then added a thin layer of sheet board using the air compressor nail gun.
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He used cement glue to hold the cement backer board to the bricks and screwed in cement screws. 
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 We found the trim we wanted in the baseboard and crown molding section of the hardware store. He measured and cut each to create the desired design and mantel, using wood glue and stapling them in place.
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Once the wood filler was dried we painted the remaining wood, since we used pre-painted trim we only needed to paint the sheet board.
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 We left the original marble on the bottom step of the fireplace so we found a great mosaic tile that was made up of stone, glass, and marble that complemented the marble and the design we wanted. Cutting the title turned out much more difficult than we were expecting. We tried several types of saw blades, but they only left the different types of tile in crumbles. After much research and patience we found that a grinder with a diamond blade worked the best. We used a peanut butter consistency of mortar to tile with using 1/8 tile spacers. As I tiled, Jack cut the needed lengths so we were done in no time. Once the mortar was completed dried, we used a sanded grout to fill in all of the space between the tiles.
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 Now we are ready to hang our stockings with care and were already for Santa!
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Spoonful of Sugar

12/19/2014

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Who doesn't love homemade Christmas treats?! I love to do a little something for all of my coworkers, but since there is so many I need to keep it simple and cheap! I got the idea for the Spoonful of Sugar from seeing those honey dipped spoons you see in little gift shops when on road trips. Since I don't know too many people who drink tea I decided to dip my spoons into chocolate to mix coffee with. Yum! 
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I melted my chocolate melts in a double boiler until it was smooth and running.  
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I dipped each spoon into the melted chocolate and immediately sprinkled with sugar sprinkles. I used two small jars to sprinkle the spoons over. I let the spoons cool on wax paper. Once they were dried I covered them in cellophane wrappers and tied a ribbon and a Spoonful of Sugar tag. 
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Everyone loved the spoons and look forward to using them in their coffee. ​​
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 Grandma'sDinner

12/18/2014

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​My Grandma passed away a few weeks ago and today is her birthday. Now she wasn't the type to make a big fuss of her and she really didn't want a sad memorial services so we decided to get the immediate family together for a birthday dinner celebration. As the family baker I got asked to make simple cake that would honor her. I selected some of my favorite pictures of her and went to our local cake supply store and to have the pictures printed on editable rice paper. 
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After making the cake and covering with white fondant, I cut the rice paper using my ruler and rotary blade. Regretfully I didn't cut on my cutting board, but on my cake mat and sliced right through it! So if you use any type of blade to cut the rice paper make sure to use a cutting board. 
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I was very close with my Grandma so I wasn't sure I would be strong enough to get through the decorating without crying. As I Iaid the final picture on top the tears started to well up. I tried my best to finish the last details before they started to flow. I was very pleased with the way the cake turned out and I think my Grandma would have enjoyed it as much as the rest of the family did.
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 Homemade Canned Chocolate Sauce

12/14/2014

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This year for Christmas gifts we decided to give out baskets with homemade goodies. The first thing that is going in the baskets is homemade berry jam, the second item going in is homemade canned chocolate sauce! This is an incredible easy and delightful recipe. I always keep a couple of these jars in my pantry since the chocolate is perfect over ice cream or in a glass of milk. Once you try this you will never want to go back to those High Fructose Corn Syrup version found at the grocery store!!!

Ingredients
     1 cup Unsweetened Cocoa Powder
     1 cup Sugar
     1 cup Water
     1/2 tsp Salt
     1 tbsp Vanilla Extract

Directions
  1. Whisk together the cocoa powder and the sugar in a medium saucepan until blended. Add the water and the salt. Stir constantly over medium heat until boiling.
  2. Continue to boil for 3-4 minutes until the sauce thickens.
  3. Remove from heat and stir in the vanilla. The sauce will continue to thicken as it cools. Makes one cup.
  4. Pour the syrup while it is still  warm in jars. Refrigerate up to a month or preserve it by using the same canning method as in the homemade jam.

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 That's My Jam!

12/13/2014

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Growing up I was very blessed as a kid since we always had homemade jam. My favorite jam was this incredible fresh elderberry jam that my aunt made. She would pick the wild elderberries near her cabin and give them out as gifts. This year I thought about bringing back that tradition and made and gave my own jam as Christmas gifts. Now mine wasn't fresh elderberry jam, but frozen mix berries works perfectly!! There is just no comparison between overly processed store bought jam and delicious homemade jam! I used 5 cups of frozen berries with 7 cups of sugar. Each fruit has different amounts so make sure to follow the recipe on the pectin box.
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Wash, then boil the 1/2 pint jars and lid rings for 10 minutes.
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Boil water in a small saucepan for 10 minutes. Remove from heat and place the lids in the hot water. Leave in the water until needed.
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Crush 5 cups of mixed berries in a large pot and mix in pectin then bring to a rolling boil.
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Stir sugar in and bring back to rolling boil for one minute exactly. Remove from heat and skim off any foam with a spoon.
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Before the jam gets too cool pour into the sterilized jars using the funnel. Use the measurer to leave a 1/2 inch gab. Place the lid on the jar and tighten the ring. Place the jars in hot water and boil for 10 minutes. Carefully remove with the tongs and cool on a towel. Wait 24 hours before enjoying.
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Christmas Parade Tradition and Ugly Sweaters

12/5/2014

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PictureDuffey is all ready for the Ugly Sweater Party!
Every year Amber and I get together and watch the local Christmas parade. After the rough couple of weeks I have had, we decided to watch it from my house so we could work on our ugly sweaters for our up coming party. We found sweaters and our favorite thrift stores, but they just weren't ugly enough! I found a Santa pom pom kit at a craft store and put them together and glued them on Jack's sweater. For my sweater I added sparkly pom poms, fuzzy trim, jewels and plaid bows. Amber added pom pom, trim, and bows as well. Needless to say by the time the parade was over we had a couple of ugly sweaters to party in!


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 The Lucky Tree, Raffle Basket

12/4/2014

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Today was our Winter Warmer at work. Each division in the department was asked to submit a raffle basket to help raise funds for the next event, so we decided to make a Lottery Tree. Since I'm the crafty one of the group I got to put it together. It took a little maneuvering, but I think it turned out great and was a big hit at the luncheon!!
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I started with a craft store cardboard tree and painted it a metallic emerald green. Also at the craft store I found a round wooden base that I painted gold and a gold star to top it all off.
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Once the tree is glued to the base and the star glued to the top, start taping the largest lottery tickets to the bottom of the tree. Only tape the top of the tickets and if needed the sides so the bottom can curve out to look like branches. Moving up use the smaller tickets and spacing them accordingly.
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Once all the tickets have been taped in place decorate it with some garland and presents!
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    From Me...

    I created this blog to share my creations with hopes that it will inspire others to show their creative side.

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