Neighbor Gifts

I wanted to think of something a bit unique to give to our neighbors this year so I bought some chargers at Michael's for 99cents and put some vinyl on them to make a plate for Santas cookies. 

Of course I had to add some cookies to the plate too. Who has time to make extra cookies? A friend of mine helped, you may even know her. Betty, yeah that's her, Betty Crocker. 

Merry Christmas!

Love,

Alisha

Christmas quote in a frame

We, like so many of you no doubt, did secret Santa this year. I wanted one of the gifts to be centered around the Savior. That's why we have Christmas and though all the other things are fun the reason for the season must never be forgotten. 

I found a quote by Jeffery R. Holland that I loved and I printed it in vinyl. I then put it on a frame for our secret Santa family and of course I made one for myself too. I hope they enjoy theirs as much as I do mine. 

Christmas Stories

A year ago on Pintrrst I saw an idea where someone bought 24 Chrustmas books, wrapped them up and each night their child got to open one. For the past year I have been collecting Christmas Stories for my own children. I've search the Thrift Stores, Flea Markets, used book stores all to find the perfect Christmas books for my cuties. And I've succeeded. So for the next 24 nights we will open one present every night and read that book together as a family. I'm so excited to start this new tradition one which I hope to carry on even with our future grandchildren.

Merry Christmas Sign

I've been super busy getting some Christmas crafts done. I saw a very cute sign from Pottery Barn but it was $129 and I thought to myself goodness me I can make that. So I pulled out my silhouette and started to design something similar. Here is what I can up with: 

It cost me about $10 to make this little gem and I LOVE IT! I got the frame on sale at Michael's for $5 and the vinyl probably only cost another $5 or so. It was so fun and so simple to create. 

Have you beenChristmas creating? If so what have you been up to?

Jalapeño Jelly

A friend of mine is an AMAZING gardener. A few days ago she mentioned that he had a bunch of jalapeños and had no idea what to make with then, you can only make so much salsa. She asked if I wanted them and I was over the moon with the prospect of making Jalapeño Jelly. Pretty much the minute she dropped them off I started. I searched out recipes and most of them used peppers too. I have green peppers but they called for yellow or red, nope none of those on hand. Also the recipes wanted me to weigh the Jalapeños. Since moving back from England I haven't bought kitchen scales so I wasn't going to weigh anything. Plus most the recipes I saw used 8, yes 8, cups of sugar. That's way to much. So I decided to put my own recipe together using bits and pieces of other recipes and what I've come up with is amazing! Seriously Yummy. My hubby and I are half a jar yesterday with cream cheese and crackers. So here is the recipe. Hope you enjoy it as much as we have been!

Jalapeño Jelly

2 cups Diced Jalapeños

2 cups Apple Cider Vinegar

5 1/2 cups White Sugar

2 - 3oz pkg Liquid Pectin

Start by deseeding, removing the stems from and chopping your Jalapeños. Make sure you wear disposable gloves for this process.

Next in a food processor mix 1 cup of Apple Cider Vinegar and all the Jalapeños. Blend until chopped up very fine.

In a large sauce pan mix; purée Jalapeños, remaining Apple Cider Vinegar and sugar. Mix over medium high heat until it comes to a rolling boil. Reduce heat to medium and boil for an additional 10 minutes stirring constantly. 

Remove from heat and add the Liquid Pectin. Return to heat. Stir constantly. Boil at a rolling boil for one additional minute. Remove from heat.

Many recipes called for green food coloring at this point. You can add 2 drops if you like. I left mine a natural color. 

Ladle hot Jelly into prepared jars. This made 3 pint jars. 

If you make this recipe let me know what you think. It's very simple to make and a lot cheaper than buying it at the grocery store. 

Enjoy

Alisha x 

Temple Plaque

A friend of mine is in charge of the Super Saturday activity for our ward. She text me a picture of a temple plaque she liked and wanted to do and asked if I could be willing to make the display. Now, here is the picture she sent me. I want to state this plaque is not my work. It looks like she got it from Pintrest but she only sent me the picture not a link.

Cute huh! Well I decided to change it up a bit. So I stated with a 12x12 board. I lathered that bad boy up with mod podge and slapped on a pretty piece of paper. Then another sister in our ward skipped down to the Dallas temple, we are after all living in Dallas, and took a lovely picture which we printed in a 5x7. Stuck that to the board with some ribbon and a pretty flower and it was done, or maybe not. I wanted to distressing effect so I bought a Timber color ink pad and "antiqued" the edges. I didn't want to put the words in mine because I loved it how it was. But..., I felt bad making that decision on my own so I cut some vinyl on my silhouette. I started putting the vinyl on and after the word temple was in TOTALLY decided against it. You can hardly see it anyway. So here it is. When I get it back I think I'm going to take the word temple off. But we'll see. Anyway, this one IS my design. 

I really like it and can't wait to display it in the house.

Love,

Alisha x x

September Book Club - The Hiding Place

Here is Septembers Book Club book.

Have you read this before? What do you think? I'm about 10% of the way into it and I am really enjoying it so far. 

Love,

Princess Party

Well it happened. The party of the century, at least here, took place yesterday. We has over 60 people here between children and adults it was such a success. But I thought I'd share a few pictures that I didn't get a chance to share. 

 

These are the chocolate bars covered. I didn't set them out because it was pretty warm in TX yesterday so instead I'm going to give them out with the Thank You cards.

These are a close up if the water bottles. In a previous post I put up the labels. They turned out so cute!!

I bought, from Michaels, these adorable cookie cutters which were crowns and glass slippers. These along with cupcakes, cake pops (two different flavors) lollipops and pixie sticks made up the dessert table, which is here:

I used Kerr jars with ribbon on them to put things in. They were cute. 

For dinner I ordered two 6' and a 2' sandwich. I also served veggies and dips, fruit and chips. The sandwiches made it so easy to just lay out and I didn't have to slave in the kitchen all day making dinner and my hubby didn't have to slave over a BBQ. Plus we didn't have to worry about little ones touching a hot BBQ.

The photo booth was a total hit!!! I put up this sign, so people would know to share their pictures with us

Yep, I'm a geek and gave a hash tag for pictures! 

We had a HUGE bounce house which was a big success with the children and the parents.

And the best part of the party was a visit from Cinderella. I had one of the beautiful Young Women from church dress up and she was amazing. My sweet 3 year old was over the moon she was here and hardly left her alone. Cinderella read stories to the children, danced with them and did a piñata with them. 

It was an absolute success! I hope that my preparation and success will help your party to be a success too and give you some great ideas. 

I'm sure there will be more princess parties in our future. If you have any more ideas I'd love to hear them for next year! 

Lots of Love!

x x x x

More Princess Party

So, did I mention my three year old's favorite princess is Cinderella? Well it is and since the one year old cant talk we are having everything Cinderella. I'm sorry if you were looking for all the princesses but this stuff was super easy to create in GIMP. Tonight I created a Sign for the gate, our party is going to be in the garden, I know we are crazy considering we live in Dallas but on the plus side its supposed to cool off to a cool 88F tomorrow only creeping back up to a cool 91F by Saturday! I also created water bottle labels and candy bar labels, here is hoping the chocolate doesn't melt in the 91F :)

Blogger wont allow me to upload the XCF files so you get to see them here but not edit. If anyone wants the XCF files so you can change the names or dates email me alisha@homemakinghoneys.com

Tomorrow I'm going to attempt paper pompoms, I know you've all seen and love them from Pintrest, and flags to go across my back fence. YAY I get to sew. Ive not done that in a while. Better dust off the ol' machine. 

Until tomorrow!

Princess Party

My sweet babies have birthday parties two weeks apart. One will be turning 3 tomorrow and the other will be 1 on the 26th. My three year old is obsessed with the Disney princesses. So we are having a princess themed party.

Over the past few weeks I have scoured Pintrest for anything Princess Party. There are loads of things there...... to buy. I didn't find anything free. So over the next few days I'm going to be making a bunch of stuff myself and I'm going to share it with you, my lovely friends. Hopefully you will be able to make use of my daughter deep desire for everything Princess. 

Tonight I decided to make photo booth props. Of course I made some mustaches, thanks to my silhouette. But I also found these absolutely ADORABLE princess hair designs when I clicked on the Pintrest link, as you do, it took me to an Etsy shop where one lovely lady was selling them for $45 buck a roos! Ummm no thank you. I got out some scrap paper drew up some templates and then transferred them over to some foam. It did take about 2 hours but man I man was it worth it! They turned out adorable! 

So, here are the templates for you so you can make them yourself. Please ignore all the scribbles it was a rough drawing. Also please only use these for Personal / Private use! If you make them or better them I'd love to see what you do!! 

Enjoy!

Love,

April Book Club Book - The Rent Collector

Sorry this post is a little late but as they say, better late than never.

This month my book club is reading The Rent Collector by Camron Wright. I have started it and am about 6 chapters in and so far I am really enjoying it. I will let you know my final thoughts when I am done.

If any of you have read this please feel free to post your thoughts in the comments. I would love to know what you think about this book.

Oreo Pudding Poke Cake

It's Friday night. At my home we will all need to unwind and why not do it whilst enjoying chocolate cake. We love us a good chocolate cake but when you poke holes all over that cake and then cover it with two boxes of Oreo cookie pudding and crushed Oreos on too of that well then we REALLY like chocolate cake 😊

Ingredients:
1 box chocolate cake and ingredients to make as directed
2 boxes instant Oreo pudding mix
4 cups milk
Crushed up Oreos

Directions:
Make cake according to directions on back of the box. Bake according to those same directions. Once completely cooked use the handle of a wooden spoon to poke holes all over your cake. And set aside.

Mix the Oreo pudding with 4 cups of cold milk until it sets up. Pour over the top of you cake making sure to cover every hole. Then cover with crushed up Oreo cookies. Serve straight away or if you can control the urge to eat it then you can refrigerate it until your ready to eat.

Enjoy!

February Book Club Book

 Well book club has come and gone and yet again we have decided on another wonderful book..... and the winner for February is...

How to Talk so Kids Will Listen and Listen So Kids Will Talk

I know right sounds like an awesome read. Im already two chapters in and am really enjoying it. Along with the fact that I am catching myself doing so many of the things it says not to.... Whoops. 

If you read along I hope you enjoy. Let me know what you think. I would love to hear your thoughts.

Need a Good Book to Read?

Is it just me or is it getting harder and harder to find a decent book to read these days? I find most adult books are filled with profanity, sex and violence. Not really things I'm wanting to read.

I started a book club here in TX (OK I've really started three book clubs the one here as well as one in Chorley, England and one in Tamworth, England too what can I say? I enjoy book clubs :) and we have really read some amazing books. I thought that I would share a list of some of the books we have read. Then each month I will post the book we are currently reading in case any of you wish to read along.

So here are some of my favorite reads:

The Summer House By: Jude Deveraux
Memory Keepers Daughter By: Kim Edwards
Christmas Jars By: Jason Wright
Wednesday Letters By: Jason Wright
The Hunger Games Trilogy By: Suzanne Collins
Divergent By: Veronica Roth
Inkheart By: Cornelia Funke
Jane Eyre By: Charlotte Bronte
Heaven is Here By: Stephanie Nielson
Clockwork Angel By: Cassandra Clare
The Goose Girl By: Shannon Hays
The Beginning of better Days Divine Instruction From the Prophet Joseph Smith By: Sheri Dew
The Life and Adventures of Santa Claus By: L. Frank Baum
Major Pettigrews Last Stand By: Helen Simonson
Old Maid of Honor By: Heather Horrocks
The Last Lecture By: Randy Pausch
The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society By: Mary Ann Shafer and Annie Barrows

Let me know of any good books you have ready we are always looking for a great read. Or if you have any comments about these books I would love to hear them.

Almost 200 followers

When we reach 200 followers on here we will do a give away. How about a Gift card to Amazon? Sounds great to me. Gotta love give aways!

New Project

I'm starting a few new projects and this material is the victim of the next Extreme Fabric Make Over :)

Prayer Blocks

I decided to get extra crafty this week and on Tuesday I did two crafts. Here is the first.... Prayer Blocks.

I bought this dresser the other day for CHEAP!! It was ugh!! Cracks in the paint chips in the wood, but it had potential. So I refinished it and then needed something to go on top. I bought a few things but it didn't feel quiet complete so I made these prayer blocks.

The top block is a 5"x5" square and the bottom are 5"x7" I just covered them with scrap booking paper, sanded it all down and then cute the words out on my silhouette. I really love it. I love the saying especially.

If anyone is looking for some this saying in Vinyl I would be happy to cut it for you just email me alisha@homemakinghoneys.com and we can sort something out.

Chicken Enchilada Soup

The other day I found myself talking to a few friends about dinners. You know the general "what are you making" conversation, when two of my friends stated their husbands don't consider soup as a dinner. I was kinda like wha...? How could you go a whole winter without making a single soup? In our home we have soup at least one a week in the winter. Today was one of those days. Tonight we had Chicken Enchilada soup for dinner. Lucky for me my wonderful hubby doesn't mind soup.

While at Target looking for a few ingredients I knew I was missing for tonight's dinner I decided to look up the recipe here just to make sure I knew what I was looking for. I couldn't find it and thought have I really not posted this recipe? So I could be completely mistaken and might someday find it on here twice, but in case it really isn't on here I'm sharing it. It's so simple. A throw everything in the crockpot recipe. Those are definitely my favorite. Enjoy!!

Ingredients:

1 15-ounce can black beans, rinsed and drained

1 14.5-ounce can diced tomatoes

1 10-ounce package frozen whole kernel corn

1 chopped onion

1chopped yellow, green, or red bell pepper

1 10-ounce can enchilada sauce

1 10.75-ounce can condensed cream of chicken soup

1½ cups milk

1 cup shredded Pepper jack cheese

2 chicken breasts

Instructions:

In a 3½ to 5 quart slow cooker, combine drained beans, tomatoes, corn, onion, and bell pepper. Place 2 chicken breasts on top of mixture.

In a large bowl, whisk together enchilada sauce and soup. Gradually whisk in milk until smooth. Pour sauce mixture over ingredients in cooker.Cover; cook on low heat for 6 to 8 hours or on high for 3 to 4 hours.

Remove chicken and cut or shred into bite sized pieces. Add chicken back into soup.
Top with pepper jack cheese and serve.

Can also be topped with avocado, sour cream, or crushed tortilla chips.

Valentines Day Board

Valentines Day is quickly approaching and as I took my Christmas decorations down I realized that I had no Valentines Day decorations. So I decided to invite some friends around and start crafting. Today I made this Valentines Board. All I did was buy a board at Lowes, cut it to the size I wanted, sanded it down and then painted it a deep red. Finally I cut the words I wanted out on my silhouette and put them in the board. Easy peasy! And so much fun. If you have questions left me know. I would say this cost me about $6 for everything.