Wednesday, November 23, 2011

Cheesecake Tarts

I don't really know what else to call these. I made up another recipe. I like to make treats for my husband to take into work for Holidays. This is what I came up with for Thanksgiving.


I used tart pans to make little pie crusts. Then I filled each crust with no bake cheesecake filling and topped each one with Cherry pie filling. The hardest part was making the little crusts and they weren't really hard...just time consuming. I couldn't find a recipe anywhere that I really liked that much so I improvised. Here is the recipe for you.

Cheesecake Tarts
  • 2 8 oz packages cream cheese (softened)
  • 3/4 cups white sugar
  • 1 small container of whipped topping
  • 1 tsp vanilla extract
  • 1/2 tsp lemon juice
  • 1 can cheery pie filling. (I like the kind with a lot of fruit in it)

Beat the cream cheese and sugar until smooth. Add vanilla and lemon juice. Then beat in whipped topping on medium speed. Beat for 2 minutes or until well blended. Scrap sides of the bowl during the 2 minutes of beating. Then place the filling in the fridge.


The crust is just regular pie crust.  I found the recipe on allrecipes.com.

Pie Crust
  • 1 cup vegetable shortening
  • 3 cups all-purpose flour
  • 1 teaspoon salt
  • 1 cup cold water
Mix shortening, flour, and salt together with a fork or a pastry blender until very crumbly. Add as much water as needed to hold together, and mix lightly with a fork.  

I rolled my pie crust out on waxed paper that was dusted with flour. Then I took my tart pans and placed them on the crust. I cut the pie crust around each pan about an inch larger then the edges of the pan. Then I placed each pie crust into the tart pans. Just gently press it into the bottom and then sides. Then you use your fingers and the edge of the pan to take off the excess crust. Poke holes in the bottom and sides of the crust before placing it in the oven so it doesn't get air pockets and loose it's shape. Bake at 425 for 15 minutes or until golden brown. When they are done baking and cooling fill each crust with the filling and top with a cherry.


This batch will make enough for 48. If you want a smaller batch just cut the recipe in half. But everyone will want to eat more then one because they are soooo...yummy!


And there you have it...Brielle's Cheesecake Tarts.

Tuesday, November 22, 2011

Pinterest

I am totally addicted to pinterest. I check my email every morning and then I check pinterest. And then in the evening I look through it again. I love to search for things and to pin things from all the wonderful blogs I read. Most of the things I see on pinterest and have tried are really awesome and work out great. I've tried a lot of things I've seen. There are a few things however that didn't turn out very well.

Frozen Fun


I saw this idea on pinterest from Counting Coconuts. My three year old LOVED this. I just used one of my Tupperware containers and I put a bunch of toys in it and filled it with water and put it into the freezer. I let him use my little crafting hammer and he went to town on the balcony. He broke up the entire block of ice. He asks to hammer the ice all the time now.


Here is my version with my little guy. The second time I did this for him he hammered at it for awhile and then he turned it upside down and threw it on the concrete and it broke into a bunch of smaller pieces. You should have seen how pleased with himself he was.

Thumbprint Christmas Lights Card


Isn't this adorable? The original is from Meet the Dubiens. I've already made a few of these beauties. I used ink and my three-year-old's pointer finger. I had drew the wire with colored pencil first and then had him add his prints.

Here is my version.



Toilet Paper Roll Bird Feeder

I loved this next idea from The Moffatt Girls because we don't have any pine-cones and it was a good way to re-use something instead of throwing it away. Austin loved helping me and the birds loved it too. I tweaked it a bit and punched two holes in the toilet paper roll so I could hang it from a string since I didn't have a tree to put it on. I hung it on my balcony instead.


CAUTION!!! Your three year old might unroll all the toilet paper off a new roll to get at the cardboard roll underneath so he can make another bird feeder. Just saying... :)

Scratched DVDs

This next pinterest saved me a lot of money. The original idea came from The Handmade Dress. Almost all our DVDs that my son watches were scratched and skipped in a bunch of places. It made me so mad because DVDs aren't cheap. I tried this out and it really worked. I used oral B stages kids toothpaste but I think any kids toothpaste would work. 




Paper Pumpkin Lanterns
I just have to say right off the bat that this next pin came from one of my favorite craft blogs that I look up to and I will continue to follow and copy lots of ideas from. Little Birdie Secrets. Her version of this pin looks awesome. So awesome in fact that I attempted it myself before our church Trunk or Treat. I failed. It was not easy to do and it was not worth the effort and time. And the little lanterns looked nothing like pumpkins. I showed my husband a few and he told me I should probably re-visit the blog. Hehe thanks honey. But yes it was a disaster. I followed it exactly and used the same supplies. I consider myself crafty but this just did not work for me. If it worked for you please leave a comment to let me know so I can maybe trouble-shoot to see what I did wrong. 

 
I don't have a picture of my version because it was too embarrassing. 



If you like any of the ideas you see here please click on the link I provided to the original creator so you can pin it from their site. That way when someone re-pins it they will be lead back to the creator's site. 

Thanks for stopping by and...Happy Pinning.
 

Monday, November 21, 2011

And the winner is...

# 6  Jovonna

Jovonna said...
I already follow you! I never win anything but I thought I would give it a try! I am thinking Christmas gifts...

Please contact me with your full name and mailing address so I can ship these beauties out to you asap. You said you were going to use them as gifts but if you end up creating anything I'd love to see some pictures :)

Thank you everyone for participating. I can't believe I have 73 followers now. I had so much fun doing this giveaway that I will for sure be doing some more in the near future. Stay tuned because I will be doing a post on some of the things on pinterest I've tried. You'll get to see which ones I give an A grade and which ones Failed.

Monday, November 14, 2011

Vintage Hankies Giveaway

I know the title sounds a little weird but that is exactly what I'm going to do. I am giving one of my lucky readers 26 hankies. Why 26? Because that is how many I have :) You may be thinkinging "What the heck am I gonna do with 26 vintage hankies?" I am so glad you asked.


Make doll dresses out of your vintage hankies.


Attach the hankies to canvas or frame them and use them as wall art.





Make a quilt out of them.


Make a table runner.


Use them for banners or bunting.


Make a wreath out of your hankies with felt flower embellishments.


Give gifts some elegance with some vintage hankie gift wrapping.


place hankies in embroidery hoops and hang them on the wall or place them in a container for display.




Make an ordinary canvas tote more interesting.


If you don't consider yourself the crafty type but you like to look at the beautiful design then put them in a jar on your shelf.


I have to admit I never would have come up with this idea in a million years. Make Heirloom Bloomers. How cute!!! If you go to the site it has a tutorial and a pattern.


Here is an easy to make little girls dress. It is also reversible!


Do you know someone who is getting married soon? Display the hankies at the wedding with a sign that says Take one for tears of joy. Then the guests can have a hankie for the ceremony. What a great idea. I think it is a lot better then butter-mints.

Now that you know what you can do with vintage hankies.Below are pictures of my...maybe soon to be YOUR hankies.



Want to win them? There are several ways you can enter. 

1. Follow I hold all the cards. Leave a comment telling me you did. If you are already a follower just leave a comment telling me you already follow this blog.

2. Post about this giveaway with a link back to my blog on your blog. Make sure you leave a comment telling me about your post.

3. Share this post on facebook. Again...be sure to leave me a comment telling me you did so.

You must leave a separate comment for each entry. Please keep it honest folks. I will be checking to make sure you did what you said you did in your comment. I will be choosing the winner on Monday November 21st and then announcing who the lucky person is the next day. I will ship anywhere in the USA. Sorry people from different countries.What would you do with the hankies if you won?

Thursday, November 10, 2011

Washer Necklaces

I first saw this idea at a Girls Weekend Out I had with some of my friends. As soon as I came home I went to the hardware store and bought some washers and the gooey stuff you need for the top. I don't have a tutorial here because there are a lot of tutorials out there already. I'll just let you follow this one.



Wednesday, November 9, 2011

Apple Cinnamon Pancakes

I invented another recipe. Austin and Jeff loved these. These pancakes are not fluffy. They are more flat like crepes and have chunks of apples in them. My three year old and I ate ours plain but my husband ate his with syrup. This is supposed to serve four people but I found this recipe makes enough for 2 adults and 2 kids.

1 cup milk
1 egg
2 T oil
1 cup flour
2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
prepared apples
  • 1 tsp cinnamon
  • 1/4 cup Splenda (may substitute granulated sugar)
To prepare apples, core and skin 2 apples. Then place the apple slices into a food processor. I chopped them until they were in little pea size chunks. Place apple bits in a bowl and add the splenda and cinnamon. Set aside.

Preheat griddle to medium heat. 

Mix milk egg and oil until combined. Add flour a little bit at a time to avoid clumping. Add baking powder, salt and mix until well blended. Add apple mixture. Mix until combined.

place 1/4 cup of batter on preheated griddle. Allow the batter to spread out in a crepe like fashion. When the top of the pancake is covered with bubbles and does not appear runny anymore flip the pancake.

Serve with powdered sugar or syrup or just eat them plain.