Cookie Week / Double Chocolate Cookies

Cookie Week - Day 3

  I'm loving cookie week! Thanks so much for joining me. 

  These cookies are really versatile. You can mix your chip flavours to vary the flavour of these cookies. Think: Chocolate chips, mint chips, peanut butter chips, white chocolate chips, etc. 

Double Chocolate Cookies

makes 2-1/2 dozen

2-1/4 cup flour

2/3 cup cocoa

1 tsp. baking soda

1/4 tsp. salt

--

1 cup butter or margarine, softened

3/4 cup white sugar

2/3 packed brown sugar

1 tsp. vanilla

--

2 eggs

--

1-2/3 cups chocolate chips (or try a mixture of peanut butter chips & chocolate chips or mint chips & chocolate chips)

Preheat oven to 350º F.

Combine dry ingredients. Set aside. 

In separate bowl, beat butter, sugars, & vanilla until creamy. 

Beat in eggs. Gradually beat in flour mixture. Stir in chocolate chips. 

Drop by teaspoons onto ungreased cookie sheets. Bake for 8-10 minutes. Cool for 2 minutes before removing to wire racks to cool completely. 

~~~~~

Come back tomorrow for Ginger Softies. I scream! You scream! We all scream for cook-ies! Um, ya. I never claimed to be a poet.

Enjoy your day, fellow bakers!

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Let Birds Fly

The Creative Paige

Cookie Week / Haystacks

Cookie Week - Day 2

  This cookie recipe comes from my mother-in-law, Ethel. She's an amazing baker & was kind enough to share this recipe with me. 

  These are super fast, no bake cookies. Perfect for days you just don't want to turn on the oven.

Haystacks
makes 15

3 cups oats
1 cup coconut (long, not fine)
6 tsp. cocoa
--
1/2 cup butter or margarine
1/2 cup milk
2 cups brown sugar (loose, don't pack)
--
1 tsp. vanilla

Mix first 3 ingredients well.

Heat butter, brown sugar, & milk in a pot. Take it off the heat when it just starts to bubble. Or, if you're careful, you can do this step in the microwave. Be careful though, it can easily boil over. Stir often & watch closely.

Add vanilla & pour into the first mixture. Stir well. Drop by spoonful onto waxed or parchment paper. Freeze for 15 minutes. Remove & place into a container. Store in the refrigerator.

Join me tomorrow for Double Chocolate Cookies. Yay for cookie week!

Enjoy your day!

Linkin' Up:

Mommy By Day...Crafter By Night
Skip To My Lou

Cookie Week Kickoff! Oatmeal Raisin Cookies

Cookie Week - Day 1

  Welcome to cookie week! This week I will be sharing my favourite simple, everyday type cookies. Nothing too fancy here. Just tasty cookies to satisfy your sweet tooth, to make for a simple dessert, or for your kid's lunch boxes. I'm kicking cookie making into high gear and starting things off with these totally delish oatmeal raisin cookies. 

  Before I say anything else though, I must say Happy Thanksgiving to my fellow Canadians! I hope you have a marvellous day with family & friends. 

  Okay, back to cookie business.

  Funny cookie story: About a year ago, I made these cookies, only when I made them I was out of regular oats & only had a porridge blend on hand. It was made of all kinds of grains - high fibre grains, if you get my drift. The cookies turned out quite good & tasted delicious & my husband had several that day. The next day he asked me what I had put in those cookies because he had spent quite a bit of time in the bathroom, if you know what I mean. I hadn't even thought to warn him before eating them! After that, we called that particular batch of cookies "Remember They Are High Fibre Cookies". :)

Don't you love the owl napkin? I sure do!

Oatmeal Raisin Cookies

makes 3 dozen

1 1/4 cup butter, softened

3/4 cup packed brown sugar

1/2 cup white sugar

1 egg

1 tsp. vanilla

--

1 1/2 cup flour

1 tsp. baking soda

1/2 tsp. salt

1 tsp. cinnamon

1/8 tsp. nutmeg or allspice

-- 

3 cups oats

1 cup raisins or 2 cups chocolate chips 

(Just to switch things up a bit, although you'd have to change the name of the cookie to Oatmeal Chocolate Chip. I make both varieties regularly.)

Heat oven to 375º F. Cream butter & sugars until light & fluffy. Beat in egg & vanilla. 

Mix dry ingredients. Add to creamed mixture. Stir in oats, then raisins. 

Drop by rounded teaspoons onto ungreased cookie sheets. Bake 8 minutes. Cool for a minute before removing to a wire rack to cool completely. 

~~~~~

I'm looking forward to sharing some of my favourite recipes with you this week! I hope you'll join me again tomorrow for Haystack Cookies.

On a completely different topic, what do you think of my blog's new look? I'm excited to have it up & running. I'm so happy with the finished product. 

See you tomorrow!

Enjoy your day!

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Sumo's Sweet Stuff

Craft-O-Maniac

Chef in Training

Scrapbooking our summer vacation

  I'm almost finished scrapbooking the photos from our summer vacation to Jasper National Park. I got these 4 layouts done last weekend. 

  Sorry about the less-than-perfect photos of the layouts. I was photographing them in the evening when I had no natural light. 

  I used Echo Park's Country Drive collection for 'Hangin' Out'.

  More Echo Park on this one. I used the Splash collection for 'River Rafting'. I printed a Picnik collage onto an 8x10 sheet & trimmed the sides to make it the 8x8 square I wanted.

  

  I used mostly My Mind's Eye for 'Evening Walk'.

  'Maligne Canyon' was made with a mish mash of products.

  What crafty projects have you been up to?? Drop me a comment & let me know. I'd love to hear from you.

  I'm excited about this coming week. We're headed out of town tomorrow for my husband's grandpa's 90th birthday celebration. On Monday, we have Thanksgiving with my family. Later that day, my mom-in-law & sister-in-law are coming for a week long visit. We love having them!

  Another fun thing about next week is going to be.... Cookie Week! Oh yes. I'm going to be posting 5 of my favourite every day cookie recipes. I hope you'll join me. It's going to be tasty.

Have a wonderful weekend!

Happy Thanksgiving! I'm thankful for you.

Don't Mess with My Pumpkins!

  Fall decor is lovely... until it gets stolen!! Grrr! Last night, my husband came home from an evening meeting to find one of my lovely pumpkins (previously residing on our front porch) smashed in front of our next door neighbour's house. I'm positive it wasn't my neighbour's doing. Likely some passing kid thinking it was funny. Don't get me going. Just let me start & finish by asking you to please teach your kids to respect other people's property. I will stop my rant there.

  I'm trying to just forgive & move on. But to protect my remaining pumpkins from harm, what can I do? I thought I might carve something like this into them...

What do you think? Perhaps throwing some explosives into the mix would help as well?? 

I'm trying to enjoy my day. Enjoy yours!

"Thankful" thanksgiving banner

  Well, here in Canada, Thanksgiving is coming up soon. This weekend, in fact! Turkey, stuffing, mashed potatoes, gravy, pumpkin pie... Mmmm... is it dinner time yet, Mom? :) We're so blessed to be invited to my parent's for Thanksgiving dinner on Monday. It's one of my favourite times of year. 

  For Thanksgiving, I like to add some extra touches to my fall decor. I made this Thanksgiving banner to display at this time of year. 

  I started with 8x8 squares of patterned paper. Then, I wanted to round the corners off to make them look "leaf-ish". I actually used a soup bowl to trace the rounded edge & free cut them. 

Then I:

-inked the edges 

-cut the letters with my cricut 

-stamped leaves in fall-ish colours & cut them out

-gathered all my fall type stickers, etc.

-started decorating!

  Then I punched holes in the top of each "leaf" & used ribbon to connect them into a banner. I hung it under my bar top between the living room & kitchen. 

  Happy Thanksgiving to my fellow Canadians! 

I'm thankful for:

My loving Saviour, Jesus Christ

My wonderful husband

My precious children

My warm, comfy home

My fabulous friends

My great church family

And really, what else do I need?

What are you thankful for this Thanksgiving?

Enjoy your day!

Linkin' Up:

Someday Crafts

Crafty, Scrappy, Happy

The Creative Paige

Tatertots & Jello

The DIY Showoff

One Artsy Momma

Simple from-scratch pancakes

Every weekend while I grew up, my dad would whip up a batch of his famous pancakes. These deliciously simple pancakes are one of my dad's specialties. I've adopted the recipe he can recite by heart & now I make it often for my family. Who needs a mix when they're this simple to whip up?

Dad's Pancakes
makes about 12


2 cups flour
1/4 cup white sugar
5 tsp. baking powder
2 cups milk
2 eggs
2 Tbsp. oil (I use canola)

Mix dry ingredients, then add wet ingredients & whisk until smooth. Heat skillet or frying pan over medium-low heat. Add batter & cook pancakes for approx. 3-4 minutes per side. Serve with fruit, butter, & maple syrup.

Enjoy you day!

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Chef In Training

My day at the flea market

  On Saturday, my friend, Allison & I made a trip to the semi-annual flea market here in Saskatoon. Allison is an amazing photographer & she was looking for props for her photo shoots. I was looking for some vintage-y type things. I had a vintage globe, map, & suitcase on my wish list. My son, Parker, also asked me to look for some cowboy stuff for him. Off we went!

We wen't sure what to expect, but we weren't disappointed. 

Goodies were everywhere! 

Pretty dishes

Purses, hats, & gloves

Fun owl finds

Tin signs

Snow Shoes

lanterns

Scales

Tins

How cute is this little baby buggy? 

This was awesome.

Lots of Soda Pop products

Old radios

Cameras

This lovely old piece was calling to me

Not sure what this is, but it's tiered drawers were filled with little compartments. 

Old school clock

Pretty hats & sewing notions

This lady's booth was my favourite - so feminine!

Aren't those bags beautiful?

The suitcases we bought

 We found a booth selling only vintage fur coats for amazingly low prices. We each bought a persian lamb coat. 

Just for a vintage diva look. :)

Modelling our fur coats

Bringing home our goodies!

Here's what I came home with:

Toy guns for my son - $8

Persian Lamb fur coat - $10

Suitcase - $15

Clip on earrings & vintage broach - $10

It was so much fun. I'll definitely be going back in February.

Enjoy your day!

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Mommy By Day... Crafter By Night

Crafty, Scrappy, Happy

Verse for the day

5 minute card

Here's a super fast card idea for when you need to:
a) get a card made quick!
b) use up some scraps of paper
c) feel like you did something with your crafty time. Sometimes, that's just the way it is. :)

First, gather your materials. You will need:
-cardstock
-patterned paper
-stamp
-ink
-gem or pearl
-adhesive

Minute 1
Cut your cardstock to the size you want your card. I cut my card stock to 8-1/2 inches x 5-1/2 inches. Fold in half to make card.

Minute 2
Punch out your patterned paper. I used a square punch , then rounded two opposite corners with a corner rounder punch. Cut additional strip of patterned paper.

Minute 3
Stamp sentiment on card.

Minute 4
Adhere the punched papers.

Minute 5
Adhere paper strip & pearl.

Done!

Have you done any super fast projects lately? I have to admit, I'm not into long, really detailed projects. Quick & simple are my favourite!

I'm off to the semi annual flea market tomorrow!! I'm super pumped!! Look how many exclamation points I'm using! :)

Happy Friday! 

Enjoy your weekend! (more exclamation points... sheesh, talk about overkill.)

Linkin' Up:

Tater Tots & Jello
Mommy By Day... Crafter By Night
Oops, I Craft My Pants (the name of this blog makes me laugh every time!)

Bulletin Board Makeover

  I'm not alone am I? Every family seemingly has a ton of loose papers floating around or sitting in piles, boxes, & binders. I personally like to have some of those papers out in the open for reminders or to appreciate (such as my children's artwork), but I don't like to have my fridge cluttered up with a bunch of stuff. This was my solution. A bulletin board. Simple, right? The trick for me was to have a nice looking one & not spend a lot of money. I was so blessed with this project that I didn't end up spending a penny! The supplies was either: 1) given to me, or 2) I already had it on hand. That's what I call economical!

  Several months ago, I helped my mom go through & organize some rooms in my parent's basement. We made piles of things to keep, give, & toss. At the end of the day, I ended up taking part of the "give" pile home with me! The bulletin board, frame, silver paint, & glaze were all items that I "inherited" (wink, wink) from my mom. I took the frame with another project in mind for it altogether. It took me a few months to figure out that the bulletin board was a perfect fit for it! It was easy glued into place using white craft glue (I had on hand) after I had painted the frame with purple craft paint (I had on hand).

It hung painted like this for months. Last weekend, when we painted our hallway & back entry, I had taken it down & had another look at it. I thought it looked kind of flat & boring (the paint was flat, after all). I looked in my box o' craft paints from my mom's basement & found a creamy glaze & a silver paint.

Enter brain wave. "What about a shimmery white glaze?" Sounded lovely to me. What did I have to loose? I had no money invested in it after all. "Let's play around", I thought.

So, I concocted a mixture of 3 parts creamy white glaze & 1 part silver paint.

On it went. And then off it came. On purpose. I painted it on making sure to get it in the corners & nooks & crannies. Then I took a rag & wiped off the excess. Here's what I was left with:

 When it was dry, I edited what I had pinned on it earlier & put up the papers, postcards, etc. that I wanted to remember/display. I really like how the shimmery white adds some detail to what was otherwise kind of a boring bulletin board.

What kind of projects have you been up to lately? I did some thrift shopping yesterday & found the ingredients for several more projects. I'm excited to get started! A lamp makeover, some sweater pillows, some wall art as well as some other goodies. You won't want to miss it!

Enjoy your day!

Linkin' up to: 

Today's Creative Blog 

Mommy By Day... Crafter By Night

Transformation Thursday

Crafty, Scrappy, Happy

Tater Tots & Jello

The Creative Paige