day 198: old fashioned honey glaze for the ham

yummo ... talking about the ham but the man is not too bad
either!

day 198 and i am beyond excited ... steve's parents have arrived safely and we are having the best day relaxing, just being together enjoying each other's company.  part of our christmas traditions is to serve up hot glazed ham for dinner on christmas eve with fresh home baked bread, it's something i really look forward to.

today i wanted to find a glaze for the ham on pinterest and try something new ... we usually just glaze it with apricot jam :)  i found this recipe that looked ideal, an old fashioned honey glaze, the pictures from what's cookin chicago looked divine so it was pinned to my christmas is coming board.

we had everything bar the apple juice, so we substituted that for cranberry juice instead.  apart from the juice replacement the rest we did according to the recipe.  it was them into the pizza oven for 2 hours to do its thing.

the mustards (we mised two together to make a dijon whole
grain mustard

rubbed the mustards over the scored ham and then added
the other parts

into the pizza oven it went ...

... we lifted it off the floor so the bottom doesn't burn

the beautifully glazed ham ... honestly it was
soo gooood!

outcome: AMAZING, oh my gosh it was so good i ate too much!  yip christmas has definitely started and i had better start that treadmilling tomorrow if my hot ham eating was anything to go by :)  the glaze was beautiful and i absolutely loved the warmth the mustard provided, so very very good :)

many thank you's to what's cookin chicago, totally inspired recipe they have highlighted from bon appetit :)

see you all tomorrow for the big day, can't wait but that's it for now as i have some serious business to attend to ;)

day 197: hot chocolate spoons

hot chocolate spoons :)

day 197 and it's time to relax a little so today's creation is a nice simple one you can do with the peeps :)  these hot chocolate spoons are such a great idea and a really nice gift you can give to friends with a box of hot chocolate i reckon.

this idea is pinned to my christmas is coming board and comes from make'n mold, a great website for making ALL sorts of treats, especially their christmas treats!

all you need are some spoons, chocolate melts, and goodies to add to the melted chocolate.  if you are gifting these it's also a good idea to have some cellophane bags to wrap them in.  once collected melt the chocolate, dip the spoon in, twirl, place on parchment paper, and add some goodies (eg: marshmallows) to the top, and wait for them to set.

what you need for a christmas cocoa night!

swirl spoons in melted chocolate, add marshmallows, let
dry on baking paper :)

happy spoons drying

the finished spoons bar the wrapping :)

outcome:  such a cool gift idea to get the peeps involved in making.  we had heaps of fun making these and they were nice and easy to do this close to christmas when we are all a bit tired ;)

my sincere thanks to make'n mold for inspiring us to make our own hot chocolate spoons, they turned out great and will hopefully be ideal for family to use during a good movie at christmas time!

day 196: christmas baking

delish cookies and the recipe makes plenty ... lots to love
about this recipe!

day 196 and it was a day spent in the kitchen making all sorts of yummy things for my sweet mum and husband to take to their works for morning tea tomorrow .... and hopefully a bit leftover for my helpers :)  included in the baking were these delicious looking cookies from baked to perfection, what's not to love about the name of these cookies, white chocolate and cranberry oatmeal cookies.  they were immediately pinned to my christmas is coming board when i saw them on pinterest.

as it was christmas i had all the heavy machinery out and this recipe does require the mixer, so no one bowl wonder here but it is the festive season so i was happy to make the effort!  apart for the beating requirement, this recipe is really straight forward.

ready for the oven

baked and ready to EAT!

outcome: awesome :)  REALLY yummy, totally up my alley as they have my two favourite baking ingredients ... white chocolate and cranberries!  these are the bomb as my peeps keep saying, love when new recipes are a big hit.

thank you to risa for this wonderful recipe, definitely adding this to our yearly christmas baking!

day 195: little stockings for the kittens

the completed kitten stockings

day 195 and we need some little stockings for our kittens ;)  the peeps are very keen for their kittens to have stockings so today i set aside some time to help them with this project.  i found some really easy stockings that had an A4 pattern you could download on pinterest and pinned the image to my 2011 advent crafts board.  the tutorial for the stockings comes from amy at diary of a quilter, who was guest posting on ucreate.

i absolutely loved that amy provided an A4 template for the stocking shape and then provides really detailed instructions on how to make these fully lined cuties.

the template and fabric i used

half way their ... love that it is sewn all in one!

the finished stockings all ready for the peeps to decorate :)

outcome:  a real pleasure to help the peeps make these.  i did the cutting and sewing, the peeps did the ironing and decorating (we were all a bit tired today to further their sewing lessons).

sincere thanks to amy at diary of a quilter for providing a simple, but totally lined stocking that is the PURRFECT size for our kittens and the goodies santa may fill them with ;)

christmas must be fast approaching, my posts are getting shorter!

day 194: terracotta pot reindeer

our latest christmas decoration, so sweet!

day 194 and we are crafting with the peeps for today's creation.  these terracotta pot reindeer are so cute and a great idea for making with the peeps.  the idea comes from rhonda at dollar store crafts and is pinned to my 2011 advent crafts board.

you need some terracotta pots, googly eyes, pompom noses, brown pipe cleaners, a sharpie, ribbon, and a hot glue gun or craft glue.  we didn't end up painting them or putting the bells underneath to make them ring because the peeps didn't want to wait for the paint to dry (see, totally buzzed about christmas!)

what you need :)

glue on some eyes and a nose

add ribbon for hanging

finally add a brown pipe cleaner fashioned
into some antlers :)

our set of reindeer is growing!!

outcome:  these were lots of fun for the peeps to make and not too taxing which is good for over excited little ones who are madly counting down the days to christmas!

a big thank you to rhonda at dollar store crafts, what a great website, plenty of inspiration for budget crafting and the terracotta reindeer is just one of the cool ideas they have for christmas :)

day 193: gift wrapping

sweet, right ... these gifts are for my mum :)

day 193 and i DESPERATELY need to do some gift wrapping ... desperately!  so off to pinterest i went in search of ideas to make my presents look pretty :)  these gift wrapping ideas from design aglow were so gorgeous i pinned them to my gift wrapping and gift ideas board, found the brown paper and my ribbon box then set to work.

the collection of bits and bobs

the first one done ... love the brown paper :)

so pleased ... all are going to be wrapped in brown paper
next year!

outcome: i am still going ... hence this short post.  however, the progress is great and i am loving the brown paper, especially with the lace, so cute and who knew!  this is why i love my life so much, pinterest makes me do things SO much better than i used to :)

thanks so much to design aglow for all the inspiration and if you want to take it a step further, the website has wonderful instructions on how to use gift tags in photoshop :)

these are the presents that need sending tomorrow ... not as pretty as the brown paper ones, i am now a brown paper convert ;)

day 192: reindeer bottles

the completed reindeer, aren't they cute!

day 192 and i am adding a little decoration to a gift for the peeps grandpa today.  i loved these reindeer bottles of beer and thought that grandpa would appreciate a gift like this from under the christmas tree ;)  this idea is from kim at life of a modern mom and is pinned to my christmas is coming board on pinterest.

for this creation you need some form of beverage (mines beer!) in bottles, some brown pipe cleaners, red pompoms, some googly eyes, and a hot glue gun.

the bits and pieces required for this project :)

what do you call a deer with no eyes?
no idea!
my husband made me put that in...

my happy little reindeer bottles :)

outcome: perfect for a little something extra to put under the tree, especially if that person likes this type of beverage, which grandpa does!  they look really cute, and very festive, an ideal addition to under our tree.

my thanks to kim for making something everyday be fabulous for the festive season ... totally love projects like this, when the ordinary turns into awesome :)