MERRY CHRISTMAS

Merry Christmas everyone. I just love this time of year! The weather gets colder and maybe if were lucky we get snow. Today Im going to show you how to make this wonderful Candy cane wreath by WhipperBerry This wreath is amazing. I am goinig to make it tonight! Any way let me wipe my drool off the computer screan and let you see the wreath...

It is soooo easy to make, anyone can do it. Plus it really makes a statement.


Here is what you will need…

~ One foam wreath form {mine is about 13 inches across}
~1/2 yard of muslin
~ 3/4 yard of red canvas fabric
~3/4 yard of white canvas fabric
~ 250 straight pins
~ Black ribbon

To begin, tear your muslin into long 4 inch wide strips and then wrap your foam wreath form.

Secure the muslin to the foam form with straight pins(or hot glue). Next, you need to cut your canvas into ROUGHLY 4×4 inch squares. Don’t worry about exact measurements pretty close works perfect for this project.

Once you have your squares cut, start with the red and take one square and fold in half and then fold in half again. Take a straight pin and pin it to the wreath form like this…

Continue to fill in a row of red, working them close together to give it a nice full effect. Wimpy wreaths look sad, so don’t be stingy!! Alternate one row of red followed by two rows of white until the entire wreath is filled in. Tie your black ribbon into a bow and affix the bow to the wreath with a couple of pins. Voila, you’re finished!!

Ring Base

Tired of buying pre made ring bases? I was but not anymore. I found this awesome tutoral on pintrest.
Sarah over at Carft Snob made theese awesome bases. Here is what she did.

Materials:

-Wire (between 18 and 20 gauge) – I bought this wire from JoAnn's in the jewelry making section. It comes in several colors.
-Pliers
-Wire cutters

Cut a piece of wire 6 inches long. Fold one end over as shown above. Continue to fold the wire around, creating a spiral. The spiral will act as the base and needs to be large enough to accommodate the item you want to attach to the top if it. Once the spiral is complete, bend the remaining wire around a hi-liter. When the wire meets back at the spiral (step 3), bend and double back to the starting point (step 4). Cut the remaining wire off.

Once the base is made, use E6000 glue or a brad to attach a fabric flower, button, or other fanciful item to the top of the spiral.

The Real Deal: It costs less than $0.25 to make one ring base.

So thats it! Really simple but so cute. So far I have made about 10 of theese. I love it! For more information visit Sarah's site www.craftsnob.com

Salted Chewy Carmel

For my first blog post I thought I would give you a yummy recipe. Now I can not take credit for this. I found this while looking for some great holiday gifts. I love making baked goods for peopel during the holiday season. Diana over at The Chic Life made theese here is her recipe...
These chewy caramels are easy and a great first-candy-making experience. They also make a great gift. Wow your friends by using a fancy salt and labeling your candy so it sounds extra chic.

Ingredients:

2 cups heavy cream
1 cup sugar
1 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup corn syrup
1/2 cup butter (1 stick) cut into 1 tbsp pieces
1/4 tsp table salt
1/2 tsp vanilla
coarse salt like pink salt or fleur-de-sel for topping caramels
Directions:

Prepare an 8×8 casserole dish with parchment paper, ensuring to cover up the sides of all 4 sides (see photo above), using 2 sheets of parchment paper criss-crossed.
Combine the first 7 ingredients (heavy cream through table salt) in a medium pot (should be about 2 to 3 times as large as your total ingredients because the mixture will grow as you cook it). Insert candy thermometer into mixture (I believe you want to avoid allowing the tip of the thermometer from touching the bottom of the pot). Turn heat to medium high and bring to a boil, stirring frequently to ensure sugar crystals dissolve completely.
Once mixture reaches a boil, turn heat down to medium and do not stir any further. Instead, use handle to gently swirl mixture in pot occasionally. Cook mixture until it reaches 245 degrees F (roughly 20-30 minutes, but it will depend on your stove heat and vary quite a bit). Monitor your temperature closely, especially towards the end of cooking.
Once the mixture reaches 245 degrees F, remove the pot from heat, gently stir in the vanilla and then pour mixture into your prepared baking dish.
Cool at room temperature for 3 hours or until set.
Cut into small pieces (I cut mine into just under 1 inch pieces, about 2/3 inch – I eye-balled the sizes).
Sprinkle tops of caramels with pink salt of fleur de sel. Gently press salt into the tops of the caramels.
Place candies into individual paper cups or wrap in small pieces of wax paper.
Enjoy!

Thanks for stopping by to see what I up to. Don't forget to check back for more fun and yummy recipe's

Jessica