Friday Favorites – Week 298 – With Christmas Wreaths

Seasons Greetings!  Welcome to this week’s Friday Favorites party!  For this week’s party, I’m featuring one of my favorite types of decor:  the wreath!

This group of wreaths are all especially for the holiday season, and they are all do it yourself crafts!  Hope you enjoy!

After you link up your posts, I’d also love to invite you to enter these great giveaways: Vera Dog Treat Giveaway  and the $10 Paypal Giveaway.

 

Friday Favorites Link Party

Hosted by:

Simply Sweet Home
Twitter | Facebook | Google + | Pinterest | Instagram

MustLoveHome

Twitter | Facebook | Google + | Pinterest | Instagram

The Chunky Chef

Twitter | Facebook | Google + | Pinterest

DIY Christmas Wreath

DIY Christmas Wreath from The Beautydojo

 

Felt Wreath

Easy Felt Wreath from Across the Blvd

Snow Wreath

Snow Wreath from The Country Chic Cottage

Thanks for partying with us each week. Please link up below!



Photobucket

Making A Men’s Essentials Stocking for Your Teen and Spouse

This shop has been compensated by Collective Bias, Inc. and its advertiser. All opinions are mine alone. #GiftOfPhilips #CollectiveBias
Mens Essentials Stocking

Christmas is just around the corner!  Have you done all your holiday shopping yet?  Our son is 15, and believe it or not, we’ve not only bought almost all of his presents, but we’ve actually already given him most of his gifts.  I think it started back in October; our Etsy shop had a huge order, and we decided to splurge on a few things.

In that whole process, we decided to go ahead and buy him a computer desk that he’s been begging us for.  Then his computer chair needed replacing….next we took advantage of some Black Friday clothing sales and decided to let him go ahead and have those items so that he could wear them to school, and I guess you could say that it then spiraled out of control with a video game here and a video game there, etc.

But we’re still going to get him one or two “fun gifts” and some essentials so that he will have something to open for Christmas! [Read more…]

Caramel Pecan Tassies and a Giveaway!

Betty Crocker Disclosure

Caramel Tassies

There’s nothing like a delicious platter of cookies and holiday sweets to get me in the Christmas spirit!  And I love baking my own, just as much as I love trying everyone else’s!  Betty Crocker has a whole host of products that make it easy for anyone to make “semi-homemade” desserts.

I’ve always loved baking with Betty Crocker cake mixes, but most recently I decided to get creative with their cookie mixes!  Today I’m going to share how I used Betty Crocker Sugar Cookie Mix to make some delicious Caramel Pecan Tassies! [Read more…]

A Coca-Cola Holiday and 2 DIY Coke Bottle Christmas Ornament Tutorials

This shop has been compensated by Collective Bias, Inc. and its advertiser. All opinions are mine alone. #SipsOfJoy #CollectiveBias

Coca-Cola Holiday

With Christmas and holiday parties right around the corner, it’s time to stock up on drinks!  This year Coca-Cola has added even more fun to the festivities with their special holiday inspired Share a Coke bottles!  These 8.5 inch aluminum bottles are the perfect size for parties.  They also have little Coca-Cola Christmas balls on them, and they feature cute message like, “Share a Coke with Santa.”  How fun!  With cute bottles like this, who needs fancy glassware?

Coca-Cola is also helping us celebrate the season with a #SipsofJoy Twitter Party on Tuesday, December 8, 2015 at 1:00 pm EST. RSVP here.

I got my Coca-Cola products through a special Cartwheel offer at Target.  Just visit this Share a Coke page and enter the Twitter id of a friend or family member. When you do, they will get a 20% off Coca-Cola Cartwheel offer, and YOU will get a 20% off Cartwheel offer! [Read more…]

Peanut Butter Cookies + SPLENDA® SWEET SWAPS™ and a Giveaway!

This shop has been compensated by Collective Bias, Inc. and its advertiser. All opinions are mine alone. #SplendaHoliday #CollectiveBias

Peanut Butter Cookies

The holiday baking season has officially begun at my house!  I love baking everything from cakes and pies to cookies and candies, and I get a lot of enjoyment out of sharing these treats with others.  But over the years, I’ve found that more and more people in my family have diets that require them to lower their sugar intake, which means they can’t partake in all the holiday goodies.  And still others are skipping out on the dessert, because they don’t want to put on “the extra pounds.”

Since I can’t eat all the desserts all by myself,  I’ve decided to try a few recipes with SPLENDA®.

[Read more…]

Making Holiday Memories with Hallmark and Peanut Butter Oatmeal Drop Cookies

This shop has been compensated by Collective Bias, Inc. and its advertiser. All opinions are mine alone. #SendHallmark #CollectiveBias

Making Holiday Memories with Hallmar and Peanut Butter Oatmeal Drop Cookies

We all have our favorite childhood memories and traditions, and so many of these revolve around the holiday season.  One of my favorite memories and traditions has always been decorating our Christmas tree and collecting decorative ornaments.  My mom and I started collecting Hallmark ornaments about 20 years ago.  My mom has always been a huge collector of everything from antiques to Barbie dolls.

Most of her Hallmark ornaments are either Barbie (especially Holiday Barbie and any retro Barbie) and she also loves anything with Mickey Mouse!  In fact, I often get her a Hallmark ornament for Christmas, because I know she loves them, and it’s the best gift I can get for a collector who seems to have anything. [Read more…]

Gingerbread Cookie Milkshake

Gingerbread Cookie Milkshake

I’m an absolute FIEND when it comes to frozen treats.  I especially love ICEES and milkshakes.  Chocolate has always been a classic favorite of mine, but I never pass up the chance to try a new flavor.  A few years ago around Christmas time, Burger King had a Gingerbread Cookie Milkshake.  Oh my goodness!  That thing was SO good!  Every fall and holiday season I hope they will bring this yummy treat back, but so far I’ve been out of luck!

Finally I did some searching and found a few different recipes for gingerbread shakes and other treats.  And I finally made my own Gingerbread Cookie Milkshake at home!  The secret ingredient (besides these adorable little Pepperidge Farm Gingerbread Cookies) is a little molasses!  I have to admit, when I first looked at all the different cookie and shake recipes calling for molasses, I was really thrown!  Even as I was making the milkshake, I tasted a tiny bit of molasses and thought, “Ugh! How is THIS going to taste good?”

But amazingly it totally WORKS!  The shake turned out absolutely perfect!  It met my expectations and so much more!  So if you like gingerbread cookies and you like milkshakes, you simply have to try this recipe! [Read more…]

Hot Cocoa Muddy Mix

Hot Cocoa Muddy Mix

I’ve never been a “go out on New Year’s Eve” kind of person. I’d much rather than stay home. It’s way less crowded!  But what I do love, is to have plenty of appetizers and snacks to help celebrate the occasion.  The night wouldn’t be the same without them!  This year for the sweet side, I made this Hot Cocoa Muddy Mix.

I’ve made a few different Muddy Mix recipes (or Puppy Chow if you will): Peppermint MuddiesCheesecake Muddy Mix. and Strawberry Cheesecake Muddy Mix.

I love this stuff because I can make it in about 10 minutes or less!  It is also a very festive snack that you can change up with just an ingredient or two (like my linked examples above).

I’ve enjoy each muddy mix I’ve tried, but I think this my new favorite!  I looked at a few recipes for inspiration, and then I threw this together….I called myself making a “half batch” since a lot of recipes instruct you to use 6 or 7 cups of Chex Cereal (basically the entire box), but even my half batch made a pretty big bowl of stuff; I’d say it’s enough for 2 to 4 people.  It’s definitely enough if it’s just you, your spouse, and a couple of kids.  (Then again, this stuff DOES stay good for a few days, so even if you’re not having a party and just want a little extra for you and your family, by all means, feel free to double the recipe!) [Read more…]

Sweet & Salty Popcorn Bark + G.H. Cretors Popcorn

GH Cretors Sampler Pack

From popcorn balls and snack mix, to a simple bowl of popcorn, G.H. Creators popcorn is a must have item for holiday snacking!  If you’ve never tried their popcorn, I highly recommend it.  I absolutely LOVE their Just the Cheese Popcorn.  It’s amazing!  And I recently tried their Simply Salted variety, and I found it just as yummy.   Made in old fashioned copper kettles, G.H. Cretors popcorn always comes out perfectly fluffy!

Today I have a great recipe, featuring G.H. Cretors Simply Salted Popcorn: Sweet & Salty Popcorn Bar. Check it out! [Read more…]

Saltine Cracker Toffee from Tanya at My Fruitful Home

I can’t believe Christmas is this week, and I’ve barely had time to post any of my Christmas content.  Thank goodness we have guest bloggers!  Today Tanya from  My Fruitful Home is here to a share simple and delicious treat, Saltine Cracker Toffee.

facebook profile pic

Who doesn’t love toffee? My favorite candy bar is the Heath bar. I love that toffee and chocolate combination. When I found a simple recipe for Saltine Cracker Toffee I was thrilled! It is so easy, but tastes like you spent a lot of time on it. There are only four ingredients. The recipe follows.

 cracker toffee

Ingredients:

* 40 saltine crackers

* 1 cup (2 sticks) butter

* 1 cup light brown sugar

* 2 cups of semisweet chocolate chips or 1, 12 ounce bag

Directions:

 Preheat oven to 400 F

1 Line cookie sheet with saltine crackers in a single layer.

2 In a saucepan combine sugar, butter. Bring to a boil and boil for 3 minutes.

DSC_0124

3 Pour over crackers right away and spread to cover completely.

cracker toffee

4 Bake at 400 F for 5 to 6 minutes.

cracker toffee

5 Remove from oven and sprinkle chocolate chips over top of crackers and leave for five minutes.

cracker toffee

6 Spread melted chocolate and let cool completely.

7 Break into pieces

Tanya is from the blog My Fruitful Home where she blogs about recipes, home, crafts, and living the abundant life with a chronic illness.