Gluten-Free Hazelnut Crackers with Vegan Herbed Cream Cheese

Easier than you think- gluten-free hazelnut crackers and vegan herbed cream cheese.

Holiday fever has struck. The wheel of the year has turned once again and Winter Solstice is fast approaching. And that means party food, Dudes and Dudettes. Appetizing little bites of joy and peace. Gluten-free hazelnut crackers you can serve your guests without apology. Snowy soft herbed cream cheese you can offer your favorite vegan and your die-hard carnivore. That's right. Both. At once. To whet their appetite. A tease. A taste of deliciousness to get the festivities rolling. And no one has to know how crazy easy it was to conjure these goodies. They'll just be totally impressed you made your own crackers. And after they try one? You might even score a kiss beneath the mistletoe.

You've got your mistletoe hung, right?


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Papertake Weekly - sketch week!

Happy Tuesday everyone!! I've got to tell you I am sooooo excited!!! I bought tickets for my daughter and grandson to come spend Christmas with us this year. They'll be here for two full weeks and that's the only Christmas present I want! They get here in two weeks and it won't get here fast enough for me.

So anyway, with it being Tuesday, that means it's time for a new challenge at Papertake Weekly, and this week it's sketch week. We're being sponsored by the fabulous Simon Says Stamp!

And here's what I came up with for the sketch

I chose to use #3039 Longing Tilda along with #457 Noel both from the amzing Diana over at Magnolia-licious. They're stamped with Memento Tuxedo black ink and colored with Copic Sketch markers. I used oval Nesties to cut out the word Noel. Cardstock is Bazzill, PP is Nitwit Collections, and the hearts were cut using my Cricut Expression.

I truly wish I could remember who's blog I recently saw the buttons and attached string on so I could give credit where credit is due. If you know, please email me so I can link to them! The ribbon is May Arts silk from Stamp and Create. That's it for me today! Please be sure and visit Papertake Weekly to see what the rest of the fabulous design team has created, and then we'd love it if you'd grab your paper and glue and play along with us! Thanks for stopping by to see me today, and hope to see you back again soon! Hugs!  

Blue Wednesday??? It's a Kid's Life Sale

We have had Black Friday, Cyber Monday, Pink sales... I think today is my Red Tuesday!  I am offering a two day sale on my DVD set, It's a Kid's Life.  The DVD features 18 12 x 12 double page layouts, complete with video instructions, pdf printable instructions, and the Design Studio cut files.  I have been told (but I have not tried yet) that the cut files convert to .gypsy files easily).

This week only, Tuesday and Wednesday, It's a Kid's Life is on sale for $15.00 (plus $3.00 s/h).  Just click the Buy Now button and proceed to PayPal to make your purchase!!!

Click on the SHOP link above for more previews!

Pumpkin Muffins, two ways

It's still November, so it's STILL pumpkin season, right?

I've confessed my love for pumpkin already...let me share with you two of my favorite muffins. One savory, one sweet.

These Pumpkin Cheddar Muffins come from the Baked Explorations cookbook.  I am IN.LOVE. with these muffins (I would happily eat all 12 in one sitting).  Even though they are listed in the breakfast section of the cookbook, they are wonderful with a cup of butternut squash soup or a bowl chili.

Pumpkin Cheddar Muffins
{adapted from Baked Explorations}

1 c. canned pumpkin
3 TBSP sour cream
2 eggs
1 stick unsalted butter, cooled and melted
2 c. flour
1 & 1/2 tsp. baking powder
1/4 tsp. cayenne
1 & 1/2 tsp. coarse salt
1 & 1/2 tsp. freshly ground black pepper
1/2 c. light brown sugar
1 & 1/4  c. grated sharp white cheddar

Preheat oven to 400.  Use a paper towel to lightly coat the insides of 12 muffin cups with vegetable oil.

Whisk together the pumpkin and sour cream.  Whisk in the eggs and cooled, melted butter until combined.  Set aside.

In a large bowl, whisk the flour, baking powder, cayenne, salt, pepper and brown sugar.  Make a well in the center of the dry ingredients.  Add the wet ingredients into the well and gently fold until combined.  Fold in 3/4ths of the cheese.

Divide the batter among the muffin cups.  Sprinkle tops with the remaining cheese.

Bake for 20 minutes, or until golden and the tops spring back when lightly pressed.

Cool in the pan for 10 minutes, then turn out the muffins to a cooling rack.  Serve warm.

{{*sigh*}}

Next up....the sweet.

These muffins can also be called "cake muffins."  They're SO easy and SO delicious.  Yes, they are made from a cake mix...and you know, a cake mix now and then comes in handy.

{And that pumpkin makes 'em healthy. Trust me, I'm a blogger.}

If you are one of the crazy pumpkin-haters (and I know you're out there), never fear, these don't taste like pumpkin, they taste like CAKE!

Vanilla Pumpkin Muffins

2 egg whites
1 box French Vanilla cake mix
1 (15 oz) can pumpkin
sanding or sparkling sugar

Preheat the oven to 350.  Lightly coat 15 or so baking liners with cooking spray or vegetable oil.  Place in a muffin tin.

Lightly beat the egg whites. Stir in the cake mix and the pumpkin.  Stir until combined.

Spoon into the prepared baking cups and top with a bit of sanding sugar for a little sparkle.  Bake for about 20 minutes, or until the tops bounce back when gently pressed.

Cool 10 minutes in the pans, then remove and cool completely on a cooling rack.

How do you like your pumpkin?  Sweet or savory?

Karina's Gluten-Free Potato Latkes

Nothing beats golden, crispy, lacy latkes.

A gluten-free favorite from the archives- these tender, lacy latkes are easy to make. Serve with homemade applesauce and sour cream spiked with a hint of horseradish or chives. And PS: I just passed my 5th year blog anniversary! Five years blogging gluten-free recipes.

Delicious thanks to all of you- much love xox Karina

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BBTB2 Deck the Halls & Ornament Layout

Happy Bitten by the Bug 2 Monday!  This week's challenge cut is a "two-fer".  My lovely design team sister Jeri selected a two part challenge, Ornament 1 or 2 *and* the Deck the Halls phrase from the Winter Frolic cartridge.  There were sooo many possibilities to use these cuts that I was almost overwhelmed by the challenge. 

At first I designed a Christmas card using ornament 2 and the challenge phrase, but then I realized that I was in the mood for a layout.  My ventures in paper crafting began with scrapbooking and I still love to create scrapbook pages.  For this 12 x 12 scrap page I started with a blank base page of light, light pink cardstock.  To the blank background I added the cricut cuts and Christmas morning photographs of my children.

The Deck the Halls phrase cut was created with three cuts:  A smooth white cardstock shadow layer, a red metallic base layer, and silver metallic top layers.  I did not use all of the silver cuts because I liked the contrast of the red metallic on the white cardstock.  

The looped edge full page was designed in Cricut Design Studio.  I placed the loop edge border from the Cake Basics cartridge, welding four sets of loops together.  I copied and pasted the row of loops until I had four rows.  Using the "Turn 90" degree turn button, I turned three of the rows so that the loops all faced outward.  I then welded the loops to a 9 inch round edged square from the George cartridge.  Using a full sheet of SEI paper, I cut out the loop edged mat.

Next I cut out three Christmas ornaments, two from Winter Frolic and one from Joys of the Season.  I cut the shadow layer of all three ornaments in smooth white cardstock.  I used scraps of SEI, Bo Bunny, and Bazzill cardstock to cut the top layer of the ornaments.  A circle from George was placed inside each ornament, but was NOT welded.  The circles cut out and made windows for the photos.   

If you use the cut file - which is available to download from the side bar with the title "Deck the Hall & Ornament Layout" - you will see that there is one page which contains all of the metallic silver cuts.  I actually cut two of the scalloped frames on a different page so that they could be cut in red and green metallics.  They would have looked nice cut in silver also. I trimmed the top of each ornament with ornament print ribbon.

To assemble the page I began by attaching the looped matting to the light pink base.  I then added the large silver frame.  Next I affixed the Deck the Hall phrase into place.  And finally I added the three ornaments to the layout.

Be sure to go by BBTB2 and check out the amazing projects the created by the Design Team.  These women are FABULOUS designers!!!

You know, I am not sure that my children would appreciate that I placed Christmas morning photos on my blog for all the world to see, but I won't tell them if you don't!!

Kraftin Kimmie winner!!

Hi everyone! Hope you've enjoyed your weekend and that all of my US friends had a fabulous Thanksgiving!! A big thanks to everyone that commented on my Kraftin Kimmie card, and I pulled a lucky winner for that adorable penguin, Oliver! So without making you wait any longer, the winner is....

And #24 is........

Yay!!! Congrats Sharron!!! I will get your stamp out to you right away! Thanks to everyone for all your continued support and kindess! Have a wonderful week!!! Hugs!

Mulligatawny Detox Soup

Need to detox from the holiday? Make some mulligatawny soup.

Did you over indulge? Just a little? Don't worry, Darling. I've got a body and soul soothing cure. Mulligatawny detox soup. It's chock full of antioxidant vegetable goodness with detoxing spices to boot. Cook it on the stove top or in a Crock Pot and let it simmer for the afternoon, filling your kitchen with a comforting aroma that feels like one big hug.

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A Little Elfie Fun

My family will want to shoot me.... But it is MY blog.  So instead of a paper crafting project, today you get an Edwards family JibJab project, in honor of the decorating the Christmas tree!!!    I hope you enjoy it.

Personalize funny videos and birthday eCards at JibJab!

Peggy Loves Vintage Christmas Cut Outs

Ok, the rush is on! Do you have all your Christmas cards made? Don't panic! With images from Peggy Loves Vintage, you can crank out those cards in no time at all! This precious image is from a set of her Christmas Cut Outs. I simply printed the image, cut it out with my circle Nesties, and popped it up with some dimensional tape. All cardstock is Bazzill and the PP is from Bearly Mine. I machine stitched the large panel, and while I was stitching the smaller panels, I noticed I had ran out of bobbin thread. I didn't want double holes, and it's so hard to get them lined up perfectly again, so I just continued stitching around it with my needle for the holes, and then used a white gel pen for the stitch marks. Not bad, huh?

Added a few Kaiser pearls, some paper lace courtesy of a Martha Stewart punch, and that was it! Please be sure and visit Peggy Loves Vintage to see all the fabulous Christmas images she has available to help you in your quest to get those holiday cards done and in the mail! And don't forget to follow her blog too. She loves to give away free vintage images!! Thanks for stopping by to see me today, and hope to see you back again soon! Hugs!

Nesties and JustRite Stamps team up for Elegance

Is everyone still "stuffed" from Thanksgiving??  We are looking forward to "round 2" today with the leftovers!

Before we get into the details of today's card, I want to announce the winner of my DVD set, It's a Kid's Life, from the Kickin' Off Christmas blog hop.  The winner is

Melissa (who) said...

This card is absolutely gorgeous!

 Melissa I will need your shipping address so that I can get a package in the mail to you!!  Congratulations!

And now on to my Christmas card....  This card was created using white cardstock as a base card and green textured cardstock as a front matting.  I stamped the candle image and surrounding circle onto smooth white cardstock.  After coloring the candles, bow and greenery with Copic markers, I used my circle nesties to cut out the candle image.  I then used to scalloped nesties to cut a small red matting and a larger green matting. The three layers were glued together and set aside.

I used the base layer of my nestie charm to create the pretty printed background matting.  I attached the three layers with the candle image to the center of the charm and affixed the charm to the front of the card.

I used Peel Off Christmas phrases to add greetings to the cards, as well as two different ribbons to create a different feel for each of the cards.  Where the print ribbon creates a sassy, fun card, the solid ribbon creates an elegant card.  In both cases I finished the cards with white gel pen doodles.

Depending on my post-Thanksgiving recovery and decorating schedule I may or may not return tomorrow with a new project.  I will keep both of us guessing!

Wags 'n Whiskers - Wrap it up!!

Hi everyone! For all of my friends that celebrated Thanksgiving yesterday, I truly hope you had a wonderful holiday with lots of food, friends, and family! And so the hectic shopping season begins! Did you get up in the wee hours of the morning to attend Black Friday events? Not me! I wouldn't touch that with a 10 foot pole! LOL! I like my sleep way too much. If you braved the weather and the crowds, I hope it was well worth your time and effort, and that you found all the deals you were after. 

It's time for a new challenge from Wags 'n Whiskers, and this weeks challenge is hosted by the sweet, wonderful, and extremely talented Nikki!! She is asking us to "wrap it up". So make either a bag, box, or tag.  I worked with one of my favorite images called "Say a Prayer" in both rubber and dgi form! I miniaturized the digital image so she'd fit perfectly on my tag. I love being able to do this!! They're both colored with Copic markers and cut out. The bag was cut using my Cricut Expression and the tag and scalloped edge were cut with Magnolia Doohickey dies.  Please be sure and visit my Design Diva Sisters to see the fabulous creations they came up with for this challenge, and then we'd love it if you'd grab your paper and glue and play along with us for a chance to win your own Wags 'n Whiskers image!

Chris, Tracy, Michele, Karen, Angelique, Tina, Jeanette, Debbie, Melanie, Mariska,  Carolina, Barbara, Kristen, Vicky, Lacey, and Nikki

Thanks for stopping by to see me today, and hope to see you back again soon! Hugs!!

Happy Thanksgiving!!

Happy Thanksgiving!  I hope you are having a wonderful day with those you care about most.  I have all three "children" home, my husband, our dog, Duncan the wonder dog, and my "grand-pup", Magnus!  It seems like a house full even if it isn't!!!

Earlier in the week I promised to post more photographs with better visual details of my North Pole house today.  Click on any of the photos to see them larger.  The house was cut using the Happy Hauntings spooky house. I know there ARE 3-D Christmas houses on other cartridges, but I like the details on this house and thought it would decorate well.  I especially like the to roof sections and the widow's walk area.   I cut the sides of the house in red Swiss dot Bazzill card stock and the roof and porch pieces in smooth white card stock.  Everything was cut at seven inches.

I used Zip-Dry glue to assemble the house, because it does dry so quickly.  I also found have paper clips and mini binder clips available to hold sections together while they dried to be beneficial.  I love that Provo Craft included step by step assembly instructions in the back of the Happy Hauntings handbook. 

After I assembled the basic house, I began to decorate.  The first step was adding the snowflake buttons to the edges of the roof pieces.  I used a 1/8th inch hole punch and punched eleven holes in the edges of the roof (because I only had 12 snowflake buttons and I did not want to risk one breaking and not having enough).  I added glue to the back of the buttons and inserted the button loop through the little hole, securing the buttons to the roof. 

Next I began adding Christmas buttons: Rudolph, two wreaths, and two candy canes.  I glued the red candy canes to the roof section around the gable.  I added Rudolph to the very top roof section.  I placed one of the button wreaths on the front door and the other over a circle window above the side porch. 

Next I used gold thread and hung the mini lights on the widow walk railings.  I added dots of glue to the thread to secure it into place.

At this point I still had miniature evergreen trees, bushy evergreen wreaths, eight strips of red beads, a bag of iridescent shred, and a bag of iridescent snowflakes.  I decided to glue iridescent snowflakes to the sides of the house.  I am not sure where this idea came from, but I really liked it and added snowflakes all over the house.  I set aside the remainder of the snowflakes.  I then added red beads around the top roof section, the balcony edge, the side porch roof, and the front porch rails and steps.  I added fuzzy wreaths to two windows and to the cellar doors.

I applied big swirling loops of glue to a deep red charger and spread some of the shred onto the glue.  I then add big swirling loops of glue over the shred and set the house in the middle of the charger.  I glued the  miniature trees around the house to the charger. 

I found my leftover iridescent snowflakes and using small dots of glue, I added the snowflakes over the shed and around the edges of the charger. 

The last element added was the North Pole sign.  I found a leftover holiday cardstock sticker and wrote North Pole.  I stuck the sticker onto a strip of clear plastic and affixed it in the shred. 

I was truly very lucky that the house came out this nicely.  I think one of the big factors was the iridescent snowflakes and the shred.  I was lucky to happen across both at the craft store!!

Happy Thanksgiving!

I hope you are are getting ready for a wonderful Thanksgiving....full of family, friends and PIE!

If you're in the mood to whip up some cookies to take to the feast, here's a simple idea for you.  This turkey doesn't require a special cutter....it's a combination of a few shapes you probably have already...or can cut by hand. 

I used a flower cutter, a small circle, and hand-cut a small rectangle.  A video of the process of putting them all together is on University of Cookie.

This turkey shape idea came from Paper Glitter's free Thanksgiving printables. Printables and kids' coloring books are great places to look for cookie inspiration.

Make your cookies, break out the royal icing along with Americolor food colorings in Super Red, Orange, Chocolate Brown, Egg Yellow and Super Black.   Have fun!

Happy Thanksgiving, you guys!  I am thankful for each and every one of you....except for you spammers, but other than that....each and every one. :)

Gobble, gobble!
{ps...to my cousin, Maura, currently in labor with her first little one...we are thinking of you! Can't wait to meet your little turkey!}

Kickin' Off Christmas Blog Hop Day 2

Welcome to day two of the Kickin' Off Christmas Blog Hop!  I heard through the grape vine that not everyone in the hop may not make a second project for today, but I thought you might want to see something new!  Again today my project was made using my Cricut Expression, Amy Chomas pen holder, and SP & Company Christmas Tree Stamps.  

This card was designed in Cricut Design Studio.  I began by welding a rectangle from the George cartridge to a solid snowflake (see below) from the 2009 When It's Cold Outside seasonal cartridge to create my base card.  I cut the base card in a blue diamond Bazzill cardstock.

Next I cut the top layer of the snowflake in two different cardstocks.  Using pop dots I added the middle layout to the base card.  Before adding the top snowflake layer I stamped the whole snowflake with embossing ink and sprinkled it with holographic embossing powder.  After heat embossing the top snowflake I added pop dots and attached it to the base card.

Next I cut to additional snowflakes from When It's Cold Outside in light blue cardstock and attached them to the base card in opposite corners.  See below.

To finish the card, I used navy craft ink and stamped my SP and Company Christmas Tree stamps onto smooth white cardstock.  I then added holographic embossing powder and heat embossed the trees.  The trees were then glued to the top large snowflake.

I finished the card with the Amy Chomas writing tool and the Christmas solutions cartridge.  Replacing the cutting blade housing in my Cricut with the Chomas pen tool, I used the Happy Christmas phrase.  Once the blade housing was returned to the Cricut I cut the phrase out by cutting out around the writing using the Happy Christmas phrase shadow cut.  The phrase was then glued to the top middle section of the card.

Before you hop on be sure to leave a comment below.  Everyone who leaves a comment will be eligible for a Custom Crops gift voucher drawing.  Remember that Samantha is also giving away a stamp set.  I will be giving away a copy of my DVD set, It's a Kid's Life - which features 18 layouts, video and pdf instructions along with cut files.  I will choose someone from all of the Tuesday and Wednesday comments.

After leaving your comment below, the next stop on the blog hop is the Cards by Linda blog.  Enjoy your hop!!!

I will be back tomorrow with a more photos and details on how I made the North Pole house that won Week Two of Michaels Crafting Holiday Magic Contest.

Amy Chomas

Amber Holden

Donna Mundinger

iCopic

Maria McGuire

Stephanie

Penny Duncan

Susan Edwards You are Here!!

Linda

Jin Yong 

Calypso

Dana Ansell

Lori 

Samantha