DIY Candy Cane Vodka - Christmas Gift

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The Christmas season is upon us! I am very into giving gifts and I put a lot of thought and time into getting the right gift for each person.

Recently, one of my girlfriends and her husband had a Christmas-themed housewarming party. I had already been over there for a wine night and gave her a one of a kind Japanese tea set, but I knew I wanted to bring a little something over to her house for her Christmas party. She and her husband are sort of wine aficionados, so I considered gifting her some nice wine, but ultimately decided to go a completely different - yet still boozy - route: homemade candy cane vodka.

To be honest, this started out as kind of a science experiment. I had no idea if the candy canes would fully dissolve, or if anything would even happen. I was truly surprised and loved the result. It is delicious, perfectly minty and sweet, and very bright red in color, which is fun!

This is a great treat to add to hot chocolate or coffee! As always, drink responsibly ;-)!

DIY Candy Cane Hot Chocolate

Ingredients:

• 1 mason jar
• 4 candy canes
• Vodka

Directions:

1. Break candy canes in half (you don't need tiny pieces, they just have to be small enough to fit in the mason jar). Place in mason jar.
2. Pour vodka into mason jar until it reaches the top. Put the cap on and give it a good shake.
3. Check on it the next day! It should be bright red and the candy cane should be entirely dissolved. 

DIY Cranberry Delight White Chocolate Bark

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Happy November, one and all! Now that Halloween is done and dusted, my mind is already focused on the holidays. I've done a number of healthy holiday recipes (which you really should try, just sayin'), but today I'm kicking off the first month of the holiday season with a not-so-healthy recipe!

I made these "Cranberry Delight" white chocolate bars to emulate Starbucks' even less healthy version. This recipe is extremely easy to make and is not very time consuming, and it keeps quite well in a glass jar, so it is a great gift idea for friends and family. Going to your in-laws for Thanksgiving? This will make a wonderful host gift!

Cranberry Delight White Chocolate Bark

Ingredients:

• 2 cups white chocolate chips (white chocolate bars or white almond bark will also work)
• 1 tsp olive oil (optional)
• 1/2 cup dried cranberries (this would also be delicious with dried cherries)
• 1/2 cup sliced almonds

Directions:

1. Line a pan (preferably a deeper pan, like a cake pan) with parchment paper. If possible, try to make sure the paper lines the sides as well. If you need to use multiple sheets to do this, go ahead.
2. Melt chocolate in a medium or large bowl. Put the bowl in the microwave for 90 seconds, then stir before putting it back in the microwave for 15 second intervals (only do one or two of these 15 second intervals, and be sure to stir well in between). Once most of the lumps are gone after stirring, stop microwave intervals and stir until the lumps dissolve.
3. Pour melted chocolate onto the parchment paper. Spread and even out the chocolate using a large spoon.
4. Sprinkle cranberries and almonds on top.
5. Place in the freezer to cool until hardened. Remove from the freezer and wait an hour before breaking into small pieces.

Engagement Coasters - DIY Photo to Tile Coasters

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**Don't Forget!  I'm giving FOUR winners a set of NuNaturals, calorie-free flavor and sweetener drops, so don't forget to enter the Giveaway! It ends tomorrow at noon, CST!**

Happy Thursday, friends! It's been a while since I posted something DIY (though most of it seems to relate to weddings, nowadays...), so I wanted to pop in on this wonderful, warm Thursday morning and show you something fun and fancy.

I wanted to share with you an awesome gift I got from my cousin, Clara. She gave this to me after I got engaged, and it has been such a fun and exciting thing to have in my home.

On the day of our engagement, we had a bunch of pictures taken. I gave Clara access to the images online, and she surprised me by transferring the images onto a set of coasters.

One of my favorite things about these coasters is that they are lined on the bottom with felt. My fiance and I have a few furniture pieces that are mid century modern (not just the style - they're actually vintage), so we try to be very careful about not scratching the wood.

Another tip from Clara: The "tile sealer" mentioned in the tutorial below is not cheap (it will run you around $30). Instead of buying that for one project, she just bought clear waterproof rustoleum, and they're holding up perfectly.

Ready to make your own? Here's the tutorial she used!

QUESTIONS:

• What was the cutest hand-made gift you've ever received?

GRATITUDE: 
Dear Chicago,
Thank you for finally being kind of warm. And thanks for doing it on a Thursday, so that Friday Eve can already feel like the beginning of the weekend. You're so sneaky, Chicago.
Love,
Carly

Basil, Ginger, and Cinnamon Cranberry Jam

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Happy Monday, friends! Or, for those of you who are stumbling upon this recipe on a different day of the week, Happy ______day! I hope you're having a wonderful day and week. 

I had a totally relaxed weekend that consisted almost exclusively of "dating" my fiance. Instead of making plans with other friends and couples (which I have a tendency to fill up our calendar with), we spent the weekend together. And, instead of bumming around in sweats during the entire weekend, we made it a point to go on meaningful dates and explore a bit more of our wonderful city. We kicked off the weekend with our "old favorites," stopping by a local pub for dinner on Friday and going to our neighborhood "Breakfast Club" for breakfast on Saturday. After a relaxing day, we then tried out West Town Tavern (seriously to die for) for dinner on Saturday, and Meli for brunch on Sunday. 

In the middle of all of this relaxing, I have to admit I got sucked into wedding planning. Sometimes, when you've got something exciting on the books, it's hard to not revolve around it. It's like everything I see reminds me of it. Cool candles on our dinner tables at West Town Tavern? Sends my mind to wedding mode.

You may not be planning a wedding (if you are, let me know!), but there's probably something you're obsessing over lately. Just admit it. Your mind is spending too much time running on that wheel.

Sometimes, we just need a welcome distraction. Something we can put our effort into that will have more short term rewards, to remind us that we are creative and inspired and competent in this moment. Something to snag our mind off of the obsessing-over-this-or-that path.

That's where this recipe comes in. It's a fairly quick recipe, so it won't eat up your entire day or leave you feeling guilty for spending too much time on a jar of jam. But, it is homemade, and it will give you a break from your stressful or monotonous day.

Not to mention how darn proud you'll feel as you share with friends or take a bite yourself!

I made this jam to give as part of a Christmas gift for my soon-to-be in-laws. But, it was so delicious, that I made some for my own fridge as well.

Basil, Ginger, and Cinnamon Cranberry Jam
Ingredients:

• 1 bag whole/fresh Cranberries (A 4 cup, 12-oz package. Do not use dried cranberries)
• 1/2 cup Water
• 1/3 cup Sugar
• 2/3 cup Stevia Powder
• 1 tablespoon Basil, finely chopped (fresh or dried)
• 1 tablespoon fresh Ginger, finely chopped
• 1 teaspoon Cinnamon
• 1 tablespoon Honey

Directions:

1. Rinse the cranberries and place in a medium to large sauce pot with water, sugar, and stevia powder. Bring to a boil, stirring frequently. 
2. Once the water reaches a boil, reduce to a simmer and simmer for approximately 10-14 minutes, or until all the cranberries seem to have burst.
3. Stir in basil, ginger, cinnamon, and honey and stir well. On the lowest heat, continue to stir very frequently for an additional 2-4 minutes.
4. Test for sweetness and drizzle additional honey (or add sugar) to increase sweetness level.
5. If you'd like to can your jam so that it will last longer, follow these directions: Be sure that your glass jar and top are all clean (I boiled everything in a separate pot to ensure they were all clean). Then, place jam in a jar, filling almost all the way to the top but leaving about 1/4-1/2 an inch of air. Seal well and place in a pot filled with enough boiling water to cover the top of the jam jar. Boil the jam in the water for about 10 minutes (I did 15 to be safe). Remove and let cool.

Notes:

• If you "can" it properly, it will stay good for a full year before being opened... but once you open it, it is just like any other jar of jam and will need to be refrigerated.
• This is a low sugar recipe. I didn't cut out sugar entirely, but I did replace some of it with stevia powder, so that it's not too high sugar (which is a common culprit when it comes to jams). If this swap isn't your thing, feel free to replace stevia powder with sugar.

DIY Dark Chocolate Peppermint Bark

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A no-nonsense way to cure your cravings. Go ahead. Indulge yourself.

Years ago, I babysat for a family that seemed to always have a tin of chocolate bark sitting out. In between playing with the kids and loading the dishwasher, it was part of my tradition to sneak a piece. It made my night.

From the initial snap as you break off a morsel to the melting sensation as the chocolate dissolves in your mouth... sometimes something simple is hard to beat.

Especially when you add crushed peppermint on top. Which I obviously had to do.

I know what you're thinking. And no, this won't ruin your new years resolution diet. At least, not if you have self control and use the right ingredients. Here's why:

First, dark chocolate is good for you. It can cure your sweet tooth without causing a spike in your blood sugar -- which means it won't leave you high and dry thirty minutes later, which would cause you to eat more. Add to that the powerful antioxidant qualities of dark chocolate (and a laundry list of other benefits which you can read about here) and you've got yourself a good deal.

The key? Make sure you're finding dark chocolate. Most store bought barks don't use dark chocolate, and frequently companies add oils to the mixture to help keep the melted chocolate texture consistent. Those changes degrade the health benefits while adding extra calories. So, take it from me: find some dark chocolate to melt!

If you don't eat it all, this is a great treat to share. Bring it into the office and leave it out for your coworkers, or place it in a beautiful glass jar to give as a gift.

Dark Chocolate Peppermint Bark

Recipe Size: Fills one pan
Serving Size: ~2 pieces
Ingredients:

• 3 cups dark chocolate morsels (or chopped up)
• 1 cup soft peppermint - Peppermint can be in stick or small candy form, and can use soft or hard peppermint. soft peppermint is easier to break, so if you can find it, I suggest that.
• Parchment paper

Directions:

1. Line a pan (preferably a deeper pan, like a cake pan) with parchment paper. If possible, try to make sure the paper lines the sides as well. If you need to use multiple sheets to do this, go ahead.
2. Break peppermint into small, crumble size pieces. To do this, I used sticks of softer peppermint and put them inside three layers of plastic bags. Then, I placed them on a wood cutting board and used a mallet (a blunt meat tenderizer would also work) to hammer the pieces until they break into small pieces.
3. Melt chocolate in a medium or large bowl. Put the bowl in the microwave for 90 seconds, then stir before putting it back in the microwave for 15 second intervals (only do one or two of these 15 second intervals, and be sure to stir well in between). Once most of the lumps are gone after stirring, stop microwave intervals and stir until the lumps dissolve.
4. Pour melted chocolate onto the parchment paper. Spread and even out the chocolate using a large spoon.
5. Sprinkle peppermint pieces on top. If you want the pieces to be deeper in the bark, feel free to press them down with clean fingers.
6. Place in the freezer to cool until hardened. Remove from the freezer and wait an hour before breaking into small pieces.

Enjoy!
P.S. What's your favorite wintertime snack?

DIY | How To Make Silhouette Art (+ Umbrella and Rain)

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For those of you who stop by regularly, you might remember my Photoshopped Wall Art that I gave Justin for Valentine's Day. I used real photographs of us together to create silhouette art and graphic backgrounds. Check out the images of the photoshop art here.

Anyway, I've had a lot of questions and requests about how I made the art. Today's post is a step by step tutorial for how to cut out and create the silhouettes. It also includes a tutorial for adding the umbrella and rain found in this particular piece of art:

How To Cut Out A Silhouette For Photoshop Art

DIY | Photoshop Art

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The more time I spend in Photoshop, the more I learn how to do. I'm trying to share the knowledge here by showing you a few of my projects :)

A few weeks ago, for Valentines Day, I gave Justin four pieces of art. Each one includes a silhouette of us from actual photos against textured backgrounds. Here are the final pieces, which I just sent to the printer this week...


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You Can Stand Under My Umbrella...
The above image was the first in this series. I had to add the umbrella in Photoshop (I'll post a tutorial later this week). If you enlarge the image (click the image to enlarge), you'll notice the texture of the rain. My favorite part of the image? Underneath our umbrella, there is sunlight. Hmm. How would that ever happen in real life? I love the contrast. In college, I truly think I could have written an entire paper out of that right there (Liberal Arts students out there, can I gettan AAAmen?).

There are three more! :) Check them out!

DIY Decor | Leather Coasters

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After overhauling my bedroom headboard using a thick leather-esque fabric, we had a whoolleeeelotta leftovers. It ended up in bow bracelets and cuff bracelets (and leather coasters, oh my!)...

Then, one fateful night, I stayed up for far too long making a camera bag for my mom. Somehow, that small exposure to a sewing machine gave me confidence in my sewing abilities, leading me to stay up even longer to make Justin these leather coasters for his apartment.

These are pretty easy. Of all things craft-and-food related, I am especially unskilled when it comes to sewing (something about fine motor skills and patience... not a good combination for this gal). And so, my friends, as they say in Kindergarten... If I can do it, you can do it! (They do say that... right?)

I started by deciding how large to make the coasters. I decided to go with 3.5in by 3.5in. Larger coasters would work but I wouldn't go much smaller than that.

The lines in this fabric made cutting fairly simple, but make sure that all your pieces are the same size. Don't get too overwhelmed by this detail, though -- you can always trim them after sewing.

I was worried that the two pieces would slip-and-slide while I sewed them together so I decided to start with a bit of super glue. I gave them a healthy dose of glue in the middle and then dotted a bit on the outside. Be careful not to go too overboard with superglue on the outside edges or you may end up trying to sew through super-dried-and-hard-glue.

Once the glue dried, I went around all 4 corners with white thread.

And the finished product was quite pretty..

Am I totally crazy or are these actually fairly manly? I'm sensing a fabulous man-gift movement right here. Valentine's Day? Birthday? Christmas?

Psst! If you're digging these coasters, you might also dig these Scrabble Coasters. Check them out! :)

Recipe | Valentines Cookies (Turn Any Cookie Into Valentines Day)

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In true Valentines Day spirit, I'm covering things in pink, red, and glitter dust. Half of you are smiling (and oo-ing and awww-ing). The other half are cringing.

Maybe that means you think I'm tacky. But tacky is as tacky does and tacky does make cookies.

This is truly less of a 'recipe' and more of a trick to turn-any-cookie-into-a-Valentines-Day-Cookie (or, truly, to turn any dessert into a Valentines Day Dessert). Some ideas?

• Try it with Chickpea Chocolate Chip Cookies 
• Use the glitter-fied candy coating on the ever-popular (and quickly disappearing) Oreo Truffles
• Drizzle the pink glitter mixture (see below) on the outside frosting of Chocolate Cream Cheese Whoopie Pies
• Sprinkle on top of chocolate mousse-filled yellow cupcakes

For this recipe, I used a pre-packaged box of Snickerdoodle mix found in my mother's pantry... and some awesomely pink and shiny edible glitter dust made by Wilton, purchased from Hobby Lobby via a gift card from Heidi. I also grabbed a can of sparkly white larger-grain edible glitter.

Snicker doodle cookies are pretty much your regular old cookie, coated in a cinnamon sugar dusting. For these, I went ahead and mixed half of the cinnamon sugar bag in with the dough. Then, instead of coating them in the brown cinnamon sugar mix, I combined the glitter ingredients, along with organic white sugar, and rolled the cookie dough balls in there.

But surrsly. Aren't they cute?

P.S. Check out my Pink Hands. What can I say? You caught me pink-handed...

Ingredients:

• 1 bag Snickerdoodle mix
• Accompanying box ingredients (though I did cut the butter in half)
• 1/2 Cup Organic (or regular) granulated sugar
• 1/4 Cup Glitter Crystals (find glitter crystals via Hobby Lobby here)
  
  
• 1 Teaspoon Wilton Pearl Dust in Pink (not available via Hobby Lobby's website, but was available in-store)
  

Directions:

1. Combine Snickerdoodle ingredients as instructed on your chosen box mix. 
2. Instead of rolling the dough in cinnamon and sugar, add half of the instructed cinnamon sugar mixture into the dough and combine until well mixed (that means that, if your box provided a packet, use only half... but if you were instructed to make it yourself, cut the ingredients in that recipe in half).
3. In a shallow bowl, combine granulated sugar, glitter crystals, and Wilton pearl dust. Mix well with fingers or a fork.
4. Roll balls of cookie dough, then roll them in the sugar/glitter/pearl dust mixture until covered and place on a greased cookie sheet. Continue with the rest of the dough.
5. Bake for the prescribed time on the box (I baked mine for 10 minutes) and remove.

8 Last Minute Christmas Gifts

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Christmas Eve is upon us. Were you too busy to finish finding gifts for your loved ones? Maybe you're too terrified of getting trampled to actually spent the entire day waiting in line at the mall (I don't blame ya). Fret not, my friends. Here's a list of 8 last minute Christmas gifts you can make when you're low on time or money.

1. These scrabble coasters
   Need: Scrabble tiles, super glue
   Time: 20 minutes
   
2. This leather bow cuff bracelet
   Need: Leather or other thick/leather-like material, scissors, and superglue
   Time: 10 minutes
   
3. This scrabble art
   Need: Frame, background paper, scrabble tiles
   Time: 30 minutes
   
4. This braided cuff bracelet
   Need: Bracelet material, buttons, scissors, needle/thread or sewing machine, optional leather
   Time: 30 minutes
   
5. This easy fringe scarf
   Need: Old t-shirt, scissors
   Time: 5 minutes
   
6. This lyric wall art
   Need: Wood board, wood stain (optional), white paint and paint brush
   Time: 3 hours
   
7. These white chocolate peanut clusters
   Need: Almond bark, peanut clusters, tupperware or tin to 'gift' them in
   Time: 15 minutes
   
8. These pumpkin cheesecake truffles
   Need: Spice Cake mix or Yellow Cake mix, Pumpkin Puree (or canned pumpkin), Cream cheese, Almond Bark, and tupperware or a tin to 'gift' them in
   Time: 1 hour 30 minutes
   

Prayer Jar: Hungry? Grab a Snickers -- I mean, Bible Verse.

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We've all seen the Snickers commercials (this is my most recent favorite).  "Hungry? Grab a snickers."  "You're not you when you're hungry."

What about when we are hungry for a pick-me-up?  Or hungry for inspiration?  Or hungry for comfort?  Once in a while, we all need a little bit of truth.

A few weeks ago, I was inspired me to share that soul-hunger-quenching happiness with a friend.  (Wait.  Do you quench hunger?  Or is that just thirst?).

My awesome, beautiful, lovey girlfriend (Hi, Kelsey!) lives in Texas.  Texas = far from Chicagoland.  As you might know, I have a habit of suddenly desiring to make things for people who live far away (Don't believe me? See here).  I should get a frequent buyer card with the Post Office.

I wanted to make her a collection of Bible verses that (1) were exciting to open -- aka pretty -- and (2) would last for a long time.  Hmm.  In order to make the gift last for a while, I wanted her to be able to read one at a time if she wanted to - so that it could be a quick thing at any hour of the day.  Solution?  She has to open each verse from a prayer jar.  

She got it in the mail last night - along with Claude 2.0!

So now, whether it's during her morning cup of coffee or her way out the door, girlfriend can reach in and grab a Bible verse for a little moment with God.  

BONUS POINTS: It's pretty, too!  This baby could sit on your dresser as decoration - and since it took me so freaking long to get to the post office, it actually did sit on my dresser for a week or so...

How did I make it (aka how can YOU)?

1. Collect Bible verses.  When I come across a verse that impacts my heart, I bookmark it on my iPhone with YouVerse (Bible App) or write it down on a notecard and put it on a board in my room...  --->
   So, when I began this project, I went back through those verses and picked out verses that would be generally applicable to daily life.  If you don't have a collection started but want to make something similar, I've attached the verses I used at the bottom of this post.
2. Handwrite the verses onto small sheets of paper.  Using patterned paper from an old note pad found in my basement, I wrote one verse on each small page (about 4x3).
3. Roll and tie.  I rolled each page up and tied a small little bow with twine.  
4. Make it pretty.  I put the little scrolls into a $4.99 jar from TJ Maxx.  Woah.  Me talking about TJ Maxx?  How unusual...

Best part about it?  They're super easy to roll back up and push back through the twine bow -- so if you're like me and would hesitate to unravel something pretty, no worries!  It's an easy fix

***If you're thinking of making something similar -- or just want to read what I put inside Kelsey's jar -- read on for the Bible verses I included.***

Kelsey, that means you have to stop reading this post now.  Use that gift of self control.