Caramel Sauce Fall Treats

I found a very easy caramel sauce recipe and added my own flourishes and it came out wonderful if I do say so myself.  The sauce can be used on apples, ice cream, cake etc... ( it can even just be licked out of the bowl or off your finger)

I tripled this recipe to make the large quantity that I was giving away

3/4 Cup brown sugar
3/4 Cup white sugar
1/2 Cup corn syrup
1/3 Cup Butter
2/3 Cup whipping cream
1/2 tsp. vanilla

In a medium sauce pan combine brown sugar, white sugar, corn syrup and butter.  cook over medium heat stirring constantly until the mixture comes to a full rolling boil.  (It took mine about 5 minutes)

Remove from heat and let the syrup mixture cool for 5 - 8 minutes. add whipping cream and vanilla to syrup mixture , using a wire whisk mix completely.  This will make approximately 2 1/2 cups of sauce.  The sauce needs to be refrigerated and can be rewarmed.  It will last in the refrigerator 2-3 weeks.

I tripled the recipe and poured mine into the 4oz quilted jelly jars from ball .  They are about $9 a dozen at Wal-Mart. 

I put the jar in a cellophane bag with a fresh crisp Gala apple on top and added a tag and a bow!
 I will be glad to share my Happy Fall Y'all tags with anyone who would like them

Fathers Day Gift Card Holder

I actually made this little pretty last year for a Birthday present but I believe it would make a fantastic fathers day gift card holder too! I miniature tool box!!!  This one is made from two gift card holder tins that I found at www.papermart.com  you could use altoid tins. The hardware for the handle is called an Eye Strap I also needed screws and nuts that fit the eye strap(can be found at the hardware store or boat store).

I painted the two tins a bright red to resemble an old tool box like this

 

I used two tins to get the right depth one was just too flat.  You could actually write memories or a nice note to share to put in one tin and a gift card in the other.



When the paint was completely dry after several coats I glued the two tins together with E6000 glue and allowed it to completely dry.

I marked where the screws would be for the handle and then started a small hole with an ice pick. I placed the handle on and screwed in the screws and placed the nuts on the inside to hold it securely in place... Tahdah a mini tool box great for gift cards!

Linking up to:

Thirty Handmade Days
Skip To My Lou

Thank You Lord.. for the beautiful things that grow in the yard

 

The Peonies were started from just a shoot of my Grandmothers plant in her yard.  The yellow and Red roses were given to me for mothers day several years ago...  I jut think they are all so beautiful!  Thank You Lord for the gifts you give us!

 

 



 

Good Ole Biscuits

Savannah loves these biscuits so much I normally make two batches of them and freeze one for later!

2 1/4 Cups of Bisquick
2/3 Cup of Butter Milk
1 teaspoon of sugar
1 tablespoon of melted butter
extra melted butter for brushing on top of biscuits

I make thick biscuits so I usually have 8 in my batch. 

Preheat oven to 450 degrees.  I always bake them in a cast iron skillet (a cookie sheet will work) but somehow it just seems more southern like my great-grandma made them if I cook them in a skillet.

When using my skillet I place about a tablespoon of shortening in the pan and let it melt in the oven while it is preheating.

Mix the Bisquick, buttermilk and sugar together in a bowl. Add the melted butter into batter and stir until a soft dough forms. turn out dough onto a well floured working surface.  Knead 20 times(this is a very forgiving dough) and don't be afraid to get the additional flour into the dough.  I usually roll the dough to about a 3/4 inch thickness.. this is your preference. and cut them out with a round cutter or a glass.   Place close together in the skillet you should hear it sizzle a little bit in the melted shortening.  This will add a little crunch to the bottom crust(extra good) as I call it.  bake for 8 to 10 minutes. brush the tops with melted butter as soon as you remove them from them oven. 

when freezing a batch of dough I cut the biscuit rounds out and place them on a cookie sheet making sure that they DO NOT touch.  I place the entire cookie sheet in the freezer until they are frozen solid and then put them in a storage bag.  To cook the frozen biscuits I heat the oven to 425 degrees and cook them for 17 to 22 minutes watching them closely.

Razorback Sign...

I hand painted this sign for someone to give as a gift.... I think it turned out cute!

Mothers Day Picture Frame

This gift was made by Savannah for her YaYa.  YaYa loves buttons so we think this was just perfect.  Savannah painted the unfinished frame first and arranged all the buttons I had to help with the glue..

I hope everyone had a lovely Mothers Day!

Mothers Day Oven Mitt Gift

I purchased some kitchen tools with the handles engraved for Savannah to give her Gammy.  I thought I needed a cute way to give them as a gift.. Here is what I came up with..

Oven Mitt, Flour Sack Dish Towel and some Ribbon... The Tag is going to say  "I have to Ad-Mitt you're the best Gammy Around!"

Teacher Appreciation... Day Five

The World Needs S'More Teachers Like You!

 

 

And here is a view from the back!

I used the Clear boxes from www.papermart.com filled them with all the ingredients to make s'mores added a bow and a tag..
The back of the tag even has simple instructions for Quick and Easy S'mores made in the microwave.



Linking up to :
http://www.thirtyhandmadedays.com/2013/05/link_up_pity_party/
http://www.skiptomylou.org/2013/05/06/made-by-you-monday-151/
http://sewmanyways.blogspot.com/2013/05/sew-darn-crafty-linky-partyweek-113.html#more



Teacher Appreciation Week... Day Four

Take Note We Appreciate All You Do!

 

 

Today's Teacher Appreciation gift was a really simple one too!  I just purchased a nice notebook that has the Bible verse Psalm 46:10 "Be Still and Know that I Am God" written on the Front.  I just added a little tag that says "Take 'Note' We Appreciate all you do" and a bow!

 

 

Have a Lovely Day!!!



Teacher Appreciation... Day Three

Hands Down You're the Best Teacher Around

 

 

This was a pretty simple Teacher's Appreciation gift.  I traced and cut out Savannah's hand print added the text and a bow to a bottle of Bath and Body Works Hand Soap.

 

 

I hope everyone has a great day!



Teacher Appreciation Week... Day Two

Teachers Plant the seeds

 

Teachers Plant the seeds of knowledge that bloom for the rest of our lives! Thank you for helping me blossom this year!

 

 

First I cut green card stock out to fit inside the clear miniature paint can.  I added a Styrofoam ball in side and then put green paper shreds in to cover the Styrofoam ball.  I cut three different sized flowers out of three different colors of card stock to make each bloom.  The blooms were attached with a pearl head pin through the eraser of the pencil.  I then bent the pin down flush with the eraser and snipped it off with wire cutters.  I then just pushed the sharp pencils into the Styrofoam ball to hold them in place.  I used washi tape to attache the printed saying to the outside of the can..  You can't really see it well in the pictures but I added a piece of scrapbook paper to the top of the can and attached it with a ribbon so they can reuse the can.  

 

 

 

Laters Y'all

 

 

Linking Up To :  http://www.thirtyhandmadedays.com/2013/05/link_up_pity_party/

 





Teacher Appreciation Week.. Day One

Thanks A 'Bundt'ch for all you do!

 

 

 

First let me say that I did not come up with super cute idea.. It came from here:  http://eighteen25.blogspot.com/2013/04/thanks-bundtch.html  . What I can take credit for is that I made my own mini bundt cakes and packaged them myself. 

 

 

The tags also came from http://eighteen25.blogspot.com/2013/04/thanks-bundtch.html.

 

The mini bundt pans are from Bed Bath and Beyond http://www.bedbathandbeyond.com/product.asp?SKU=112176  Don't forget that Bed Bath and Beyond will take even their expired 20% off coupons.. 

 

The boxes are 3x3x2 inch from PaperMart  http://www.papermart.com/Product%20Pages/Product.aspx?GroupID=16493&SubGroupID=16494&ParentGroupID=38447#16494

 

I used a 3inch circle punch to make the white paper circles that the cakes sat on in the box and to punch out the tags. 

 

You can use any type of bakers twine or ribbon to attach the tags. 

 

I made butter pound cakes with cream cheese icing and Devils food pound cakes with dark chocolate icing. 

 

I just filled the center of the bundt with the icing (ps.. I took the easy road on the icing and used Duncan Hines out of the can)

 

I tied one of each flavor together with the twine and added the tag. 

 

 

 

 

Here are the recipes for the pound cakes I made..

 

Butter Pound Cake

 

•1 pkg Duncan Hines Butter Recipe Yellow Cake Mix

 •1 (3.4 oz) pkg vanilla instant pudding and pie filling
 •4 large eggs
 •1 cup water
 •1/3 cup vegetable oil

 

Preheat oven to 350 degrees (325 for dark pan) grease and flour mini bundt pans. 

Combine cake mix, pudding mix, eggs, water and oil in large bowl.  Mix at medium speed with an electric mixer for 2 minutes and divide evenly into pans.  Bake at 350 degrees (325 degrees for dark pan) for 18 - 20 minutes (I used the cupcake timing on the cake mix box)  or until tooth pick inserted in center comes out clean.  Cool in pan for 10 minutes.  Invert onto cooling rack until cooled completely.  I then put my can of Duncan Hines Cream Cheese icing into a gallon zip lock bag, snipped off a tiny corner of the bag an piped it into the center of the cakes.

 

 

Devils Food Pound Cake

 

•1 pkg Duncan Hines Moist Deluxe Devil's Food Cake Mix

 •1 (3.4 oz) pkg chocolate instant pudding and pie filling
 •4 large eggs
 •1 1/4 cups water
 •1/2 cup vegetable oil



 

Preheat oven to 350 degrees (325 for dark pan) grease and flour mini bundt pans.

Combine cake mix, pudding mix, eggs, water and oil in large bowl. Mix at medium speed with an electric mixer for 2 minutes and divide evenly into pans. Bake at 350 degrees (325 degrees for dark pan) for 18 - 20 minutes (I used the cupcake timing on the cake mix box) or until tooth pick inserted in center comes out clean. Cool in pan for 10 minutes. Invert onto cooling rack until cooled completely. I then put my can of Duncan Hines Dark Chocolate icing into a gallon zip lock bag, snipped off a tiny corner of the bag an piped it into the center of the cakes.

 

 



It's been a long time...

First I want to apologize for not being here for a long time.  I got a new Job last year to implement Electronic Medical Records for a large practice and just did not have much time to blog.  I hope to be back on my game now.. I have lots of good stuff to share with you guys...

Love Y'all

Sherry

No Boy Wrapping Paper

I was in a bind this morning... We had a birthday party at 10am.. and I realized that I had a gift that would not fit in any gift bag that I had in the house, and I have no boy wrapping paper.  I have every sort of pretty polka dot, zebra stripe girly girl paper you can imagine but nothing suitable for a 4 year old boy... 

Never fear.  I have a large roll of butcher paper.  I wrapped the present in butcher paper used my Pazzles machine to cut out chevron paper letters of his name, a little twine for a bow and TAHDAH... I think it turned out ok for last minute... What do you think?

Fortunate Valentines

I'm Fortunate to call you my friend

This year I made felt fortune cookies for Savannah's first grade class.  I placed them in a mini Chinese take out box along with a few pieces of candy.  I had to experiment with sizes and ended up using a 3inch circle of felt and glued a two and a half inch piece of pipe cleaner in the middle to hold the fortune cookie shape.  I did add a sticker to the outside that said Happy Valentines Day that didn't make the picture...

Monogrammed Boots

Check out Savannah's monogrammed boots!  I just love how they turned out.  Everywhere we go people stop and ask about them.

The best part is that I only paid $9.91 for the boots on clearance