Advent Calendar

I painted this for my granddaughter, Bentlee.   I thought I would paint one for each grandchild as they came along.  Au contraire!  Took me forever to paint the insides of each little cubby.  The first grandchild has several of these types of "I will never do that again!" projects.  I guess that is a benefit of being the first!

Emily

This is our new pup, Emily.  She is extremely smart.  Her grandmother mailed presents to all of us, which I dutifully placed around the Christmas tree.  I went about my chores and as I was walking through the living room Emily had opened a present.  Not just any present but HER present.  She has not bothered the remainder of the presents at all.  How she knew which one was hers and to find it under the other presents was amazing  She is truly a genius.  

She does have the shame dog face though.  Adorable.

Cute & Easy Homemade Christmas Cards

I've see so many adorable ideas for Christmas cards on Pinterest and I always think I could do that. Then November rolls around, and before long it's Thanksgiving and I never started on making my Christmas cards.

Let's face it crafting takes time. No matter the project it seems to always take longer than you think it should. This year I was determined to do something I made myself. And while I think sending Christmas cards seems to be a thing of the past, I decided I would surprise all my friends and family with a cutesy Christmas card.

This has got to be one of the simplest project I've ever done! You don't have to worry about precision and the washi tape is really easy to use. You could cut the ends to make it look neater but I really like the ripped, tapered effect for the Christmas tree.

I bought everything I needed at Michael's Crafts. The washi tape is really inexpensive and after making 50 cards I still have enough for probably 200 more cards. The cards and envelopes were the biggest cost at $9.99, but you can use a 40% off coupon.

I hand stamped the inside with a simple Merry Christmas stamp, and called it good! Simple but yet really cute. It would even be a terrific project to do with your kids.

My only suggestion is do them early and avoid the stress of getting your cards out at the last minute. Merry Christmas!

Low Fat Pumpkin Dessert

Several years back I remember my mom was on a diet around the holidays. Well, really it could have been any year, because aren't we all dieting around the holidays? Or trying to at least! 

At any rate, she wanted to come up with a dessert that wasn't loaded with fat or carbs and because she loves pumpkin, and frankly who doesn't, she experimented and came up with a terrific pumpkin dessert that has become a family favorite, especially around the holidays!

Low Fat Pumpkin Dessert

Ingredients:
4 lg eggs or equivalent of egg substitute
1 29 oz can of 100% pumpkin puree
1 1/2 cup splenda or similar sugar substitute

1 tsp salt

3 tsp pumpkin pie spice 

1/2 tsp vanilla

1 and 3/4 can of skim evaporated milk

Directions:

Preheat your oven to 425°.

Beat eggs; then add pumpkin and sugar and spices.  Stir well.  Stir in evaporated milk.

Bake in 2.5 qt casserole dish that has been sprayed with cooking spray at 425° for 15 mins and then reduce to 350° for an about 70-90 mins or until knife comes clean from the center. Be sure to check frequently near the end of the cooking time, depending on the deepness of your dish it may cook faster.

You could also use a 9x13 baking pan and cook for about an hour.

Cool for a couple hours and then refrigerate. Serve with whipped topping.

Welcome!

This blog is definitely a family affair. We are all pretty crafty and fairly handy in the kitchen (I'm sure we get that from mom). We'll be posting crafts, some recipes and whatever else we can think of!

The Oldest thought a blog would be a good place to show off our skills - mostly good, but probably occasionally there will be complete failures. So stay tuned.

Here's a little more about us:

Kathy Hatton
The Mom. Has three wonderful, talented daughters and three great grandkids. Loves to cook and create various crafty things....is known to have too many projects going at once!

Michele Brochu
The Longtime Family Friend. Retired do-it-yourselfer. She has her own crafting palace and can often be caught knee-deep in painting frenzy. And she has one adorable new pup!

Marcee Miller
The Oldest. A newlywed who loves to craft and cook and has a knack for design. She is known to leave the cupboard doors wide open and create quite the mess.

Mandee Anderson

The Middle Child. A busy mother of two little girls. A beauty guru by day but a clever crafter after hours. Has been known to run with scissors on occasion. 

Mollee Roesler

The Baby. The bubbly, outgoing one. She has lots of ideas but rarely has time since becoming a mom to an active, adorable, crawling baby boy.