Aebleskiver Dinner

Over the weekend we had our family's annual aebleskiver dinner at my parents house. Don't know what an aebleskiver is? Well, it's a Danish ball-shaped pancake, and the kids all have a yearly contest to see who can eat the most. There's no trophy, just bragging rights for a year! This years winner is my 19 yr. old nephew Adam who wolfed down 40 aebleskivers, followed by my 16 yr. old son Kyle who managed to eat 34. WHEW!!! My mom, sister & I all have the special aebleskiver pan, and we slaved over a hot stove for atleast 2 hours. Here are some pictures showing my sister and my niece taking their turn at the stove. We use crochet hooks or nut picks to turn the aebleskivers as they cook. We put out all kinds of toppings/dips such as honey, powdered sugar, brown sugar, jellies, cinnamon sugar, applesauce, syrup, & peanut butter and then eat away! Is your mouth watering yet?

Sweetheart Milk Cartons

Here are my samples for an upcoming Milk Carton Class and my friend Marie helped me get them made. Paper selection was easy because I have this scrumpious new Raspberry Tart DSP, and I knew that it would be perfect for this project. The cartons open from the bottom and we'll be filling them with Valentine candy.

Aren't they cute? We used the new Sweet Stems & Love You Much stamp sets along with a wheelbarrow full of punches and multiple attempts at scoring. I'm trying to figure out my new Scor-Pal which my DH got me for Christmas. It doesn't have the 1/4" or 3/4" markings, so I was kind of lost. But...thanks to the wonderful gals on SCS, I was directed to a most helpful resource which explains how to get any measurement you want. Thanks to Becky for sharing her milk carton idea!

Saturday Stampin'

I've had a few quiet days since Christmas to read, rest and spend with the family but now I'm ready to get back to a normal schedule! Today I ventured back out to my stampin' room and played with the new Sweet Stems stamp set which will be in the Stampin' Up 2009 Spring/Summer Catalog. Take a look and see what you think. I used some of the new Raspberry Tart DSP and a few felt flowers.

Supplies: Stamps- Sweet Stems, Best Yet; Cardstock-Old Olive, Rose Red, Pink Pirouette, Whisper White; Ink- Black StazOn, Rose Red; Other supplies used- Square & Rectangle Nestabilities, Square Scallop Punch, Silver Brad, White gel pen, ribbon from Michael's, black journaling pen, aqua painter

Almost Christmas

I'm still trying to figure out how to blog so bear with me! Today I made my DH some Christmas fudge, both chocolate and chocolate/peanut butter. He could care less about the cookies, but don't forget the fudge! Micah and I made our traditional cookie press cookies on Saturday, using my grandmother's recipe and he did all the sprinkles. After the second batch he was growing weary (it's a tough job but someone's gotta do it!) and asked "how many more are you going to make?". I told him I could finish up if he was tired of sprinkling, and he gladly accepted. He was more than willing to sample the broken cookies, which are the only ones that don't have calories (wink, wink), so I had to sample a few too!

So this afternoon I went to lunch with a friend at Red Robin's and boy was the restaurant packed and NOISY! Not to mention the traffic getting there and back. I'll happily stay home and avoid the rat race. No more shopping for me...except to get some potatoes since the grocery store was sold out yesterday. Gotta have mashed potatoes with our Christmas dinner.

I've been finding some personal stamping time the past two days and will post some pictures for you. The new Love You Much Bundle promotion started today so I'm trying to get some samples made so that you'll see what a great bundle it is. It includes an adorable stamp set, designer paper and a triple-heart punch.

I hope you are ready for Christmas and that your friends and family are near and able to celebrate with you. We will experience our first Christmas without our DS who is in the Marines and stationed in North Carolina. Thank goodness for cell phones and email! It'll make the separation a little bit easier I suppose.

Just getting started....

Okay, so I've been enjoying so many other blogs from fellow crafters, that I decided it's time to venture into the blogging arena myself. So here I am, looking at a blank page and wondering where to start...check back in a week and see what progress I'll have made!