Caramel Apple Cheesecake

I was totally craving cheesecake the other day and with the holidays, cream cheese always seems to be on sale so I had a ton of it in the fridge but I wanted to make more than a plain one. So I started seeing what I had in the pantry and came upon the idea of making a caramel apple one.

I took a basic cheese cake recipe I found online, and than diced three apples and tossed them in some sugar and cinnamon before arranging them around the top of the cheesecake. I baked it for about an hour and after it cooled, I heated up some caramel sauce and drizzled it on the top. For someone like me who does not bake or even like to, it turned out fantastic. Even my hubby asked numerous times if I really made it because days before I had attempted chocolate chip cookies that didn't really turn out.

Felt Toddler Xmas Tree

I saw this awesome pin  for a felt Christmas tree and I thought how perfect would that be to keep Mr. L's hands off the other trees in the house even though I noticed that somethings were already a miss on the one tree I have up. I just took a1/2 yard of green felt from the fabric store and bought 8x11 pieces of colored felt and went to town cutting it out. I think it took me less than 30 minutes to put it all together and well I am sure he will have hours of enjoyment with it. I also wasn't surprised by Miss O playing with it as well.

Herman the Naught Elf- Day 1

My daughter came home yesterday from school in a tizzy that her Elf hadn't arrived and was going to address the issue with a letter to Santa right away about it. She told me that  a lot of the kids had gotten theirs over the Thanksgiving break and she needed to make sure to ask Santa for one especially a naughty one which I found so cute.

So she went to work writing her note to Santa and stuffing her stocking with it and candy to lure the elf here. So she went to bed and well so did Mom but at 1 am, I remembered the elf needed to come so I trekked out of my nice warm bed.  He was going to come on Saturday anyway but I just couldn't deal with seeing her disappointment after all the effort she put into writing to Santa for him.

So Herman arrived this morning with candy wrappers all around. The first thing out of Miss O's mouth was wondering if her elf had arrived. I swear that kid ran down the stars so fast and of course Herman went to school with her today to show all her friends. Lumpy on the other hand was indifferent about him and wanted more to do with his cow puppet.

So let's see how much trouble Herman will get into the coming weeks. I am sure as my husband becomes more involved with it tat we will have an escalation of arms of the naughty stuff the elf will do . I love that we can give them the "magic" of Christmas!

Macaroni Kid Article 11/15/12

I know you all have been waiting with baited breath for this week:http://leaguecity.macaronikid.com/article/394646/mommy-confessions

Christmas Wreath

I took all of Thanksgiving week off more because I was sick than anything. I finally think all the icky stuff is out of here and we can now be healthy for the rest of this year. We have lots going on and to start off with, December is almost here and I am so excited for the Holiday season. I have been planning my theme this year that I want to do in my living room now that it is an official room instead of pieced together dining/ kids playroom. For some reason the bright greens, blues, pinks, and purples caught my eye. I think I am still carrying a torch after last years fun homemade ornaments on the white tree.

I knew I wanted to use the white tree again and when I went to pull it out of storage, I noticed it had yellowed. I was mildly upset more so because of now what was I going to do and not the three bucks it cost me. So I bought a thin white tree when I was at the craft store before Thanksgiving which actually works out better for what I want to do with it.

So the first project I am showing you is the fun wreath I created for above the piano in the living room. I was at the Nutcracker Market and saw all these beautiful wreaths from Paul Michaels and I thought I could do that and well sure enough they showed you how to create them using the stuff they had. Buying the items cost about an eight of what they were charing for the wreaths.

I knew that I wanted to have the above colors as well as peacock accents, so I have been picking up for weeks anything in that color palette for the room. I have to say this was one fun wreath to create and took me less than an hour to create it. The only downfall was glitter was every where from the ornaments and the glittery sprays of stuff I stuck in. I love how it turned out though my hubby not so much. When I showed him it, his response was it is blue! It doesn't bother me because he doesn't understand design.

I used a wreath blank that already had the greens attached. It was considered an incomplete green wreath. I added in the blue ribbon/mesh stuff and than added in the white and pink ribbons as well. I stuck in a variety of leaf and spiral spray pieces and than hot glued on the variety of ornaments. The rest will be going on the tree that I am decorating in the same colors. 

Macaroni Kid Article

Here is my rambling for the week and last!

This week: http://leaguecity.macaronikid.com/article/386965/mommy-confessions
Last Week:http://leaguecity.macaronikid.com/article/386221/mommy-confessions

Meatloaf Pictures

I made my crock pot meatloaf the other night and it was like perfect.  I used one more pound of ground beef to make it bigger because there were five of us eating that night so this size would work well for about 6 people because we had left overs. Of course I added some green bean casserole and homemade mashed potatoes which made the meal perfect. Sometimes traditional meals can be the best. I couldn't resist taking a picture of it after I sliced because it sliced so nice.

PS you will also notice I am posting food related things on Fridays now. I am going to posting three times a week now instead of almost every day because it is getting busy with the upcoming holidays.

Fun Ruffle Pillow

I loved my Halloween ruffled apron that I thought the idea of a ruffle would be cute around a pillow so using some fun coordinating fabrics which are actually Christmas ones, I made this fun little pillow. Right now it is is sitting on my new bench by the front door. I think  he may need some company soon so I might make more. It is just the right size decorative pillow for that spot.

Wreath

I know ti has been awhile. Between getting ready for the craft fair, Halloween, and my mom is town, I haven't really had the chance to craft or blog but I finally had some stuff to stick on. 

 I fully admit to loving wreaths and my front door is the perfect place for them. I just took down my Halloween one and needed one for the in between now. I do like Thanksgiving but I haven't seen anything that just makes me what to make one. I made this one for the craft fair I did a few weeks ago and I really love it. I was happy it didn't sell because I could see it up on my door. 

I wrapped a straw wreath with burlap and than added on the firework flowers in a fun fabric from Stampin Up! 

Macaroni Kid Article 11/4/12

Here is my article this week