Monday, December 27, 2010

Santa's Not Done Yet! Silhouette Giveaway At Brown Paper Packages

 brown paper packages
Woo hoo!!! If you didn't get one of these under your tree there's another chance to get one! Kierste over at Brown Paper Packages has a Silhouette giveaway going on right now!!!

This giveaway includes:

The Silhouette SD machine
Software for Windows XP/Vista or Mac
Power cable and USB cable
2 cutting mats (1 for thick media and one for thin media)
1 cutting blade
1 $10 gift certificate to the Silhouette download store

So head on over to Brown Paper Packages and find out how you can enter to win!

Wednesday, December 22, 2010

Wishing You All A Very Merry Christmas

I've been busy enjoying time w/ my mom, making a few last minute secret presents , wrapping, and tomorrow is full on baking day all day! Before time slips further away, I want to wish you all :



May you gather with those you love to celebrate the love this season represents, and may your stockings be filled with lots and lots of chocolate!

Monday, December 20, 2010

December Open House Wrap Up and Features

The only thing I hate about hosting a link party is trying to choose things to feature because everyone always links up such wonderful things! This month is no exception, so while I love everything ( and this month saw the most linkups since I started doing this!!) here are some "featured features" because I consider everything linked up a feature:

I absolutely love this idea for a teacher gift from Attempting Aloha and if its too late to make for Christmas, it would make a perfect year end gift:
Who doesn't need an extra gift box this time of year? Kim Castillon shows us  how to whip one up and make it look as good as the gift inside!

I love this DIY picture holder from Meg at A Little Knick Knack, perfect for your family Christmas photo or even to display a favorite card, or to whip up as a last minute gift. Meg tells you how to make it!

And how cute is this from Dream Home DIY:
Make your own Sleigh Bells from a package of jungle bells and a repurposed belt!
Thanks for making this such a fun party and please come back again next year which is just next month, for January's Open House on  January 21!

Saturday, December 18, 2010

Big Kids Need Treats Too

I love that one of my son's HS teachers recognizes that kids in general and especially at his super competitive HS are under a lot of stress these days. Heavy course loads, college applications, pressure on grades etc are world's away from what I remember. So she ensures that they get to be "kids" from time to time and has a regular snack day so that they can think back to when things were less stressful. Friday was my son's turn to bring snack and since it was their last day before break I wanted to make it special.
One batch of cookies and creme bark ( melted white chocolate and broken up sandwich cookies...easy peasy)
Ginger crinkles dipped in powdered sugar

Chocolate chip cookies that I've made for something in every grade of his school career. I put all of these in treat bags that also included a hot chocolate packet, candy cane and mini marshmallows:
I started off trying to be simple and ended up being simple minded. Brown paper lunch bags. Oh but they were plain. So cut 26 tree borders on my Cricut and stuck them to the bags. But they were plain. So dotted some of the trees with gold paint pen but the others were lonely. Punched out gold paper stars to stick to them. Then each bag was finished with an icicle ( iridescent chenille stem) and a snowman (tag). Ta da....Winter Break survival kit.
Snowman tag from Cricut Doodlecharms cartridge, silver Stickles on the nose , black on the eyes, and clear self adhesive rhinestone buttons
Then I figured since I was doing these for my son's class, I could do something for my husband's team at work. They got a batch of Grandma Utahna's toffee and "Hot Cocoa Kits":

Cello bag, Christmas paper scrap, medallion cut on Cricut, sticker. The bag toppers I made from leftover card stock, folded in half , punched and tied w/ a ribbon.

Thursday, December 16, 2010

December Open House Link Party!

Time to get your Christmas party on! There's hot chocolate ( of course!) for everyone so have a cup and let's see the latest and greatest productions from all of you lovely chocoholics! Decor, gift ideas, cards, jewelry, treats and tasties ( the more chocolate the better but doesn't have to be) you name it. Just no advertising or etsy stores pretty please? And please link to your specific post, not your main blog.  OK let the fun begin!



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Reminder: December Open House Link Party Tomorrow

Woo hoo, tomorrow is the December Open House Link Party here at The Answer Is Chocolate! Looking forward to seeing all the fabulous things you've been working on....cards, gifts, treats, decorations, tags, jewelry,everything. Feel free to bring friends :)



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See you tomorrow!

Wednesday, December 15, 2010

Oh. My. YUM! Toffee!!!

Confession time. Candy thermometers scare me! Why? I don't know but anything that requires one just seems so hard. I mean it's a tool like many others in my kitchen. I have gadgets. I've asked for things as gifts that Mr. Chocolate swears I've made up until he goes to the store to ask for them and they're real. But I've always wanted to make the kinds of delectable candies you see this time of year that require this frightening tool and so I clip recipes and tuck them away. Like toffee for example.

Enter Jacqueline from her absolutely stunning and elegant blog Purple Chocolat Home who posted yesterday about a friend's family toffee recipe that DOESN'T REQUIRE A CANDY THERMOMETER! ( Caps to indicate my total giddiness...not shouting at you). And like the title of this post says: Oh. My. YUM! I just had to try this last night because, well, I did.  And if you're like me and hide in the corner at the thought of having to use a candy thermometer, come on out of the dark and try this recipe!  
I'm not going to post the recipe here  so you'll just have to go on over to get it ( and you'll stay and look around I promise you because she is AMAZING) . I didn't take step by step pics because I didn't want any evidece of failure. I watch CSI...no evidence, no failure! But I am pleased to say it worked just like the recipe said and I didn't mess it up!

Here it is all ready for cooling:
Do you know how hard it was not to stick my face in this?

I'm out of parchment paper so I used waxed paper which worked in a pinch but I think I'd rather use parchment paper. "Grandma's" recipe called for pecans but I didn't have those so used almonds. Here's the final product:
A little goes a long way so I cut these into smaller pieces
And most important of all....it earned the Mr. Chocolate double thumbs up seal of approval :)