Elf on the Shelf in my Classroom (and other Christmas stuff)!!! :)

Hello everyone and Merry Christmas (well, almost)!  I am so excited to be posting on my blog again!  It's been far too long...  But, I have been super busy and having a great time!  Haven't been in my craft room AT ALL lately, however I have been making some things for my classroom.  This summer, my parents and I went on an Alaskan cruise!  It was AMAZING!!!!!  I will post more about the cruise and classroom projects later...  For now, I wanted to show you some cute things that my Elf on the Shelf was up to in my classroom.  I had been seeing a lot about the Elf on the Shelf, and it intrigued me...  I wanted to get an Elf and have it pulling fun little shenanigans, but I don't have kids at home.  Then I started seeing the idea of using the Elf in the classroom and I just had to have one!  Here's what mine did over the two weeks leading up to Christmas break...

 

My classroom tree!

  The elf makes his first appearance.  The kids were so excited!  Oh, and we named him Buddy...

Buddy drew on our white board!

Buddy built himself a chair and Christmas tree out of linking cubes.

 Hanging in the Christmas tree.

Climbed into the tissue box and tucked himself in.  It was pretty cold in the classroom!

Ate some of our Sour Patch candies!  I told the kids that elves love sugar, so it does make sense...

Made a snow angel on our reading table.

Buddy brought us a candy cane growing kit from the North Pole.  So, we planted the seeds and...

The seeds grew into candy canes!!!!!!  We couldn't believe that this happened while we were at lunch!

 

He colored a picture of himself.

 He sharpened some pencils.

He brought us some brand new pencils!

He read a story to our "Furry Friends" (we have Build a Bear animals in our room).

He sat in our marble jar.

He brought us hot cocoa to drink on the last day before vacation.  There was also a note from Santa telling us to watch The Polar Express while we drank it!

Hanging from our flag pole.

Santa came and filled up our bags with presents!!!!

Buddy's farewell.  He watched guard over our gifts from Santa, and he left us a goodbye note.  The kids were sad to see him go back to the North Pole, and so was I!

 

This was just too cute!  My boyfriend came to help me in my classroom on the last day, and he brought me these flowers!  He said that Buddy had called him and told him to bring these to the teacher...  Awww...  Needless to say, I melted like a snowman on a hot summer's day!  :)

These are the ornaments my kids made for their gift to take home.  I let them choose what colors they wanted for the pipe cleaners and fuzzies, and I had to hot glue them on.  The inside is filled with fake snow, and they drew on the eyes, nose, and mouth with Sharpie paint pens.  Saw this idea on Pinterest!  Worked out awesome!

At home my niece and I made homemade Gak!  The directions are right here.  I added dry grape Kool-Aid mix to my Gak.  It gave it color (without staining our hands) AND it made it smell amazing!

We also made homemade Butterfingers.  These were so delicious!  Recipe is here.  They are dairy free, so I had to make them for my little Chloe!  She really enjoyed them, and so did everyone else!  :)

Thanks for stopping by!  Hope you are all doing great, and I hope to be back soon with another post.  See you soon!  :)

Dinosaur Card & Party for Chloe

Hello everyone!  I can't believe this is the first post I have done in February!!!!!  Oh my goodness!  There has been a lot going on for me, including the worst flu ever!!!!  I have not been this sick since high school!  My students are also dropping like flies, so I am disinfecting my room every chance I get...  Unfortunately the flu meant that I didn't have a very exciting birthday either, and my poor little niece was sick on her birthday too.  We did have her awesome dinosaur birthday party today, so we made up for being sick on our actual birthdays!  :)  One good thing that happened on my birthday was that my boyfriend sent me roses!  They were delivered to my school, and it was sweet, adorable, and completely unexpected!  :)  Anywho, here is the card that I made for my niece, and because I've been missing for so long, I will also show you pictures of her party (there's some cute ideas there), and I'll share a recipe for the punch that we made... 

Frosted Designs- use bold colors or patterns
Paper Playtime- use a sentiment stamp
Go Fish Challenge Blog-  photo inspiration (bright colors and circles)
Craft Your Passion- use glitter

Birthday Bash- number 7 cut at 5.94"
Create a Critter- T-Rex cut at 3.59", other dinosaur cut at 3.47"
Sweet Treats- gift cut at 1.35", party hat cut at 1.35"
Cuttlebug- circle pattern (Papertrey Ink)
My Creative Time Stamps- Wow! So Many Candles
Stickles- star dust, yellow, magenta, lime green

Okay, here are some pictures from my niece's dinosaur themed birthday party!  A lot of these ideas are things my sister found on Pinterest...  The party was an absolute hit, and I think all of the kids AND adults had fun!!!!  :)

 

  We made the spewing lava by pouring melted sugar over ice cubes.  It created those really cool twisted looking pieces!

 

These were the "goodie bags".  Each kid took home a dinosaur egg (paper mache), then cracked it open when they got home.  Parents were texting pictures of their kid opening up the egg (so exciting)!  :)

 Here's the birthday weirdo, I mean kid...  She loves T-Rex!  The kids also got to do a really cool dinosaur fossil hunt at night.  My sister made fossils out of dough, then we hid them all over the yard.  When it got dark, we had the kids look for fossils using flashlights.  Everyone really loved that activity!  :)

Here's the recipe for the Luscious Slush Punch.  Now, in the picture it doesn't look very "luscious" or "slushy", but trust me, it was really good!

Luscious Slush Punch

(Recipe from allrecipes.com)

*We only used 1 cup of white sugar (it was still sweet enough), and we froze the mixture in gallon Ziploc bags.

Ingredients  

2 1/2 cups white sugar
6 cups water
2 (3 ounce) packages strawberry flavored Jell-O® mix
1 (46 fluid ounce) can pineapple juice 
2/3 cup lemon juice
1 quart orange juice
2 (2 liter) bottles lemon-lime flavored carbonated beverage

Directions

1. Bring the sugar, water, and strawberry flavored gelatin to a boil in a large saucepan; boil for 3 minutes. Stir in the pineapple juice, lemon juice, and orange juice. Divide mixture into 2 separate containers and freeze.
2. Combine the contents of 1 container with 1 bottle of the lemon-lime flavored carbonated beverage in a punch bowl; stir until slushy. Repeat with remaining portions as needed. 

 
 
Okay everyone...  Thanks for stopping by, and I'm sorry it's been so long!

Treat Box & Caramel Recipe!!!

Hello!!!  I'm telling you that it is a dangerous thing for me to have sweets in the house!  I made cookies for yesterday's post and caramels for today's post, so I am surrounded by delicious things and my will-power is weak!  :)  I am taking the leftovers to work tomorrow, and hopefully they will be completely devoured so I don't have to bring them back home!  I froze some of the shortbread cookies, and they are so yummy out of the freezer...  Anywho, for today's Joy's Life DT project, we were asked to make a food project.  I love making sweets, so I decided to make a little treat box and fill it with homemade caramels!  Let me tell you folks, I do not like caramels from the store, but these little beauties are so delicious!!!!!  At the bottom of this post I will share the recipe with you!!!!  YUM!

 

Winter Frolic- Santa cut at 2.88", tree cut at 3.71"
Sweet Tooth Boxes- treat box/lid cut at 6.41"
Cuttlebug- snowflakes
Joy's Life Stamps- Oh Christmas Puns
Transparency film
Caramels

Okay, here's the recipe....  Soooooo good!  Thanks for stopping by!!!  :)

Chewy Caramels

Recipe from allrecipes.com

• 1 cup butter or margarine
• 1 pound light brown sugar (about 2 1/2 cups)
• 1 (14 ounce) can sweetened condensed milk
• 1 cup light corn syrup
• 1 pinch salt
• 1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract

Directions

1. In a heavy bottomed saucepan over medium heat, combine the butter, brown sugar, sweetened condensed milk, corn syrup and salt. Bring to a boil, stirring constantly. Heat to between 234 and 240 degrees F (112 to 116 degrees C), or until a small amount of syrup dropped into cold water forms a soft ball that flattens when removed from the water and placed on a flat surface. Cook for 2 minutes at that temperature. Remove from the heat and stir in vanilla.
2. Meanwhile, butter a 9x13 inch baking pan. When the caramel is ready, pour into the buttered pan. Allow to cool completely at room temperature. Remove from the pan and cut into squares using scissors. Wrap individual pieces in waxed paper or cellophane.

Happy Holidays Blog Hop!!!!

 

Hello everyone, and welcome to the Joy's Life DT Happy Holidays Blog Hop!!!!  If you just hopped here from the very talented Staci, you're in the right place.  To start from the beginning click HERE.

Oh, I am so excited that the holidays are here, and that Christmas is right around the corner!  One thing that I love to do around Christmas is bake!  The cookies that I used in this project are soooo delicious, and I will share the recipe for them at the bottom of this post!  I thought it would be cute to stack the cookies in a jar to give as a gift.  I love using jars!  On this project I used both of Joy's Christmas stamp sets:  Wintery Puns & Oh Christmas Puns!

Storybook- label cut at 1.82", 2.29"

Joy's of the Season- holly branch cut at 2.53"

Joy's Life Stamps- Wintery Puns on label, Oh Christmas Puns on the lid

1.5" circle punch

Ribbon

Jar

You're next stop on this awesome hop is Laura!  Thanks for stopping by and Happy Holidays!  :)

Here's the recipe for the cookies I used in this project!  YUMMO!  :)

White-Chocolate Cherry Shortbread Cookies

Recipe from Better Homes & Gardens

Ingredients:

• 1/2 cup maraschino cherries, drained and finely chopped
• 2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 1 cup cold butter
• 12 ounces white chocolate baking squares with cocoa butter, finely chopped
• 1/2 teaspoon almond extract
• 2 drops red food coloring (optional)
• 2 teaspoons shortening
• White nonpareils and/or red edible glitter (optional)

Directions:
 

1. Preheat oven to 325 degrees F. Spread cherries on paper towels to drain well.

2. In a large bowl, combine flour and sugar. Using a pastry blender, cut in the butter until mixture resembles fine crumbs. Stir in drained cherries and 4 ounces (2/3 cup) of the chopped chocolate. Stir in almond extract and, if desired, food coloring. Knead mixture until it forms a smooth ball.

3. Shape dough into 3/4-inch balls. Place balls 2 inches apart on an ungreased cookie sheet. Using the bottom of a drinking glass dipped in sugar, flatten balls to 1-1/2-inch rounds.

4. Bake in preheated oven for 10 to 12 minutes or until centers are set. Cool for 1 minute on cookie sheet. Transfer cookies to a wire rack and let cool.

5. In a small saucepan, combine remaining 8 ounces white chocolate and the shortening. Cook and stir over low heat until melted. Dip half of each cookie into chocolate, allowing excess to drip off. If desired, roll dipped edge in nonpareils and/or edible glitter. Place cookies on waxed paper until chocolate is set. Makes about 60.

Joy: http://joyslife.com
Stacey: http://staceyscreativecorner.blogspot.com
Jennie: http://earthyscrap.blogspot.com
Lori: http://got2bcrafting.blogspot.com
Debbie: http://bugjuiced.blogspot.com
Sarabeth: http://www.chroniclesofsarita.blogspot.com
Jenny: http://jennyplace26.blogspot.ca
Patty: http://craftykitten1.blogspot.com
Kimberly: http://hellocutiecrafts.blogspot.com
Megan: http://thoughtsoftraveling.blogspot.com
June: http://simplyelegantpapercrafts.blogspot.com      
Staci: http://preciousmem.blogspot.com
Amy: http://redheadedcrafter.blogspot.com  
Laura: http://www.laurascraftsandmore.com
Cyndy: http://arcyscraps.blogspot.com           

 Maria: http://joyfulstamper.blogspot.com

Exciting News & a Recipe!!! :)

Hello everyone!  I do not have a project for you today, but I wanted to announce that my niece, Sophie, has finally arrived!!!!  :)  She was born on 11/12/12 and she is the cutest little thing!!!  I figured since today marks her being one week old, it was time to post a pic or two...  My niece, Chloe, is adjusting really well and she LOVES her baby sister (and she thinks it's pretty cool being a big sis)!

I am the proudest Aunt in the world!  :)

I love this picture!  So cute that big sis is already looking after little sis...

Awwwww!

Okay, since Thanksgiving is this week I figured I would share one of my favorite pie recipes with you!  I love baking, and I have been designated the "family baker", so my job is to bring desserts to our holiday celebrations.  This pie is always a hit, so enjoy!!!

Irresistible Pecan Pie

**from allrecipes.com

Original recipe makes 1 - 9 inch pie

1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour

1/2 teaspoon salt

2 tablespoons white sugar

1/2 cup butter, chilled

4 tablespoons ice water

3 eggs, beaten

3/4 cup light corn syrup

2 tablespoons dark corn syrup

3/4 cup light brown sugar

3 tablespoons butter, melted

1 pinch salt

1/2 cup pecans, finely crushed

1 cup pecans, quartered

1 cup pecan halves

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C).
2. To Make Crust: In a medium bowl, combine flour, salt and white sugar. Cut butter into flour mixture until it resembles coarse crumbs. Gradually sprinkle the water over the dry mixture, stirring until dough comes together enough to form a ball.
3. On a floured surface flatten dough ball with rolling pin. Roll out into a circle that is one inch larger than pie dish. Place pie shell into dish and refrigerate until pie filling is complete.
4. To Make Pie Filling: In a medium bowl, mix together eggs, light and dark corn syrups, brown sugar, butter, salt and finely crushed pecans. Spread quartered pecans over bottom of refrigerated pie crust. Pour syrup mixture over top of pecans, then arrange pecan halves on top of pie.
5. Bake in a preheated 350 degrees F (175 degrees C) oven for one hour or until firm; let cool for one hour before serving.

Have a wonderful Thanksgiving!!!  :)

Homemade Frozen Cookie Dough


Hello everyone and welcome to the Joy's Life Recipe for Fun Blog Hop!!!!  :)  If you just hopped here from the very talented Patty, you're in the right place!  To start at the beginning click HERE.

I have been so excited for this hop!  I LOVE cooking, and I love collecting recipes...  I have a ton of recipes that I keep in binders, and I also have a collection of cookbooks!  After I show you my project I will share with you my ALL TIME FAVORITE recipe for chocolate chip cookies!  I never use any other chocolate chip cookie recipe now that I have found this one!  I think you will also find that they are the best!

I found this idea for making frozen cookie dough on Pinterest...  During the holidays (for example) we are being given so many cookie platters, candies, etc., etc....  So, someone had the idea of making cookie dough and freezing it to give as a gift to someone.  Then, your friends and family can make the cookies when they are ready to eat them!  What an awesome idea!  This is what I did with my frozen dough...

From My Kitchen- recipe card cut at 3.71", oven mitt cut at 3", wooden spoon cut at 3.47"
Doodletype- "Chocolate Chip Cookies" cut at .61"
Cuttlebug- Argyle
Joy's Life Stamps- Yummy Puns
Twine 
Blue paper measures 5 3/4 x 5 3/4", and I rounded it with my Crop A Dile using the 1/2" side

Award Winning Soft Chocolate Chip Cookies

(This recipe is from allrecipes.com)

Ingredients

• 4 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
• 2 teaspoons baking soda
• 2 cups butter, softened
• 1 1/2 cups packed brown sugar
• 1/2 cup white sugar
• 2 (3.4 ounce) packages instant vanilla pudding mix
• 4 eggs
• 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
• 4 cups semisweet chocolate chips
• 2 cups chopped walnuts (optional)

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Sift together the flour and baking soda, set aside.
2. In a large bowl, cream together the butter, brown sugar, and white sugar. Beat in the instant pudding mix until blended. Stir in the eggs and vanilla. Blend in the flour mixture. Finally, stir in the chocolate chips and nuts. Drop cookies by rounded spoonfuls onto ungreased cookie sheets.
3. Bake for 10 to 12 minutes in the preheated oven. Edges should be golden brown.

Thanks for stopping by and I hope you are enjoying all of our tasty treats!  You're next stop on this yummy hop is Jeannie! 

Here's the order, if you need it:
Joy: http://joyslife.com
Stacey: http://staceyscreativecorner.blogspot.com
Megan: http://thoughtsoftraveling.blogspot.com
Cyndy: http://arcyscraps.blogspot.com
Ashley: http://marklandandmain.blogspot.com
Maria: http://joyfulstamper.blogspot.com
Patty: http://craftykitten1.blogspot.com
Amy: http://redheadedcrafter.blogspot.com
Jeannie: http://www.polkacabana.wordpress.com
Nina: http://waffleflower.com
Lori: http://got2bcrafting.blogspot.com
Sarabeth: http://www.chroniclesofsarita.blogspot.com
Laura: http://www.laurascraftsandmore.com
Jennie: http://earthyscrap.blogspot.com