Candy Cane Kisses Cookie

I love Christmas!
I especially love the food,
one perfect combination is mint and chocolate, yummy.

I found this wonderful recipe on Our Best Bites,
Candy Cane Kisses Cookies.
I love this site and it has never steered me wrong.
I did tweaked the recipe a little bit for my personal tastes.
Give it a try, I dare you to eat just one!

Candy Cane Kiss Cookies
Recipe adapted from Our Best Bites

1/2 c. butter-flavored shortening
1/2 c. real butter
1 c. brown sugar
1 c. white sugar
2 eggs
1 1/2 tsp. vanilla
1 tsp. baking powder
1 tsp. baking soda
1/2 tsp. salt
2 1/2 c. flour, lightly spooned into measuring cups and leveled with a knife
1/4 c. + 2 Tbsp. unsweetened cocoa powder
3/4c. milk chocolate chips
48 Hershey's Candy Cane Kisses, unwrapped

Preheat oven to 350.

Cream together softened butter, shortening, brown sugar, and white sugar for 1-2 minutes on medium-high speed or until light and fluffy. Add the eggs and vanilla. Meanwhile, combine the baking powder, baking soda, salt, flour, and cocoa powder. Add to the butter/sugar mixture and mix until combined. Mix in the chocolate chips.

Drop the dough by the tablespoonful onto an ungreased baking sheet. Bake for 8-10 minutes or until the centers are set but still soft. Remove from oven and allow to cool for 1-2 minutes. Top each cookie with an unwrapped Candy Cane Kiss. Allow to cool completely, long enough for the Kiss to harden. If necessary, after the cookies have cooled, they can be placed in the refrigerator or freezer to re-solidify the Kiss.

Please Mom, can I have just one?

Oh yes yes yes, YUMMY!

How could I resist those blue eyes?

Etsy Sale

Time to kick off Cyber Monday here on Everyday Heaven!

I am having a sale in my Etsy Store!

Snicklefritz Shoppe

Custom applique t-shirts, and you can personalize them with your child's name!
SO FUN!

Now you can see what has been keeping me so busy,
besides my husband, 1 year old, being pregnant, church, and family.

Enter the code:
CHRISTMAS2010

and get 15% off!

If you don't see exactly what you are looking for drop me a line and I will whip it up for you.

Taco Soup

I have found the time to once again grace you with my presence
and recipes!

The rainy season has started here in Seattle,
so that means I will be depressed and gloomy until May.

To help combat the winter blues I needed a little comfort food.
I tried a new recipe from my friend Margaret.
I have always planned on trying taco soup sometime, but never have before.

It was really yummy and even Eli loved it.I loved that we all got to top with with whatever we want.
I put everything in the crockpot and forgot about it, love it!
Give it a try, I know you will love it!

Taco Soup

1 can black beans
1 can kidney beans
1 can corn
1 lb. ground beef or turkey
1 pkg. dry ranch dressing
1 pkg. taco seasoning
1 (28 ounce) can crushed tomatoes-(I used (2) 14 oz cans of diced tomatoes)

1. Brown meat and add 1/2 taco seasoning to meat.
2. Add all ingredients into crockpot, including second half of taco seasoning.
3. Heat on high for 4 hours.
4. Top with sour cream, grated cheese, lime, avocado, green onions, cilantro, whatever!

Christ Tile

Happy Friday!
It has been a emotional and exhausting week our house.
I will get more into it next week, but today I want to celebrate
that we made it through the week.

Last Sunday I was in charge of teaching the lesson for the
12-18 year old girls at church.
My lesson was on the Last Supper and the Sacrament.

I wanted to do something really special, so they will always
remember how important the Sacrament is.

I got in touch with one of my favorite people ever,
Karen, and happens to have a wonderful business,
Karen's Vinyl Village

I emailed Karen about possibly getting a vinyl image of Christ.
After I typed the words in the email I wondered if it would even look like Christ.
When she emailed me back she showed me a picture, and it was perfect.

Karen did the Christ picture,
and I did the words with my Cricut.
The tile is 4 x 4.

I think it turned out really well,
and all the girls really appreciated it.

My latest Cricut obession- T-shirt vinyl

You know I love anything that I can do with my Cricut.

Now there is something new and exciting to get my creative juices flowing.

It you haven't heard of t-shirt vinyl you are missing out.
You cut it out like regular vinyl,
but then you iron it on to your t-shirt,
amazing!

Check out this video from my favorite place to buy vinyl,
Expressions Vinyl



So much fun!!!!!

Dirt and Worm's cupcakes

There has been a total lack of blogging around here,
and I am totally guilty.

Summer has taken a hold of me!
My husband was taking a summer chemistry class.
The semester was only 6 weeks, so it was 3 nights a week, and very intense.
Now that the class is over, I feel free!!!!

We are trying to cram as much fun into the few weeks of freedom that we have.

Here are the cupcakes that I made for Cupcake Sunday, for my girls at church.
I had some left over gummy worms from our weekend camp out.

I was inspired my the dirt and worms desert.
It is a chocolate cup cake, filled with vanilla cream.
Topped with chocolate buttercream frosting, crushed oreo's and gummy worms.

If you want instructions on how to fill your cupcake, head over to.
Our Best Bites for a little tutorial.

Craft Room part 1

Hello everyone-
My name is Kami, and I have a problem

My problem started a little over a month ago,
and now it is completely out of control.
I have decided the best way to get it under of control is to talk about it and share it with the world.

So no judging,
I am going to share with you a deep, dark secret.

My craft room is a mess!

Prepare yourself, I am going to show you a picture.

I know, you can't even see the floor.
And isn't the color beautiful?
We have paint to paint it, but I can't even get in there to paint right now.

My biggest problem is that I have no storage and no table,
so everything is in boxes and on the floor.

Here is the closet, it doesn't look too bad right?
Until you look at the floor.


Oh wait, the floor is missing again.

I am going to tackle this room this week!
I am free of some extra responsibilities this week, and I am going to use this time wisely.

I don't want to be 6 months down the road and say,
oh I have a craft room, but I have never used it.

So this is the last time you are going to see this disaster!
Goodbye mess,
Hello floor!

Etsy

We are all kinds of exciting around here.
We could just throw our hands up and
shout hooray!

Today I opened my own Etsy store!
It is something I have been thinking about for a while,
and I finally got brave and took the plunge.

I posted some onesies and t-shirts that I made, including the Elmo shirt Eli is wearing.
I will be posting more things through out the day.
Head on over and check it out...

Snicklefritz Shoppe

Now drop and give me 20!

Family Established Sign

Here is another quick and easy vinyl project.

I had wanted one of these signs since we got married,
and since I can now cut vinyl I did it myself.

When I was looking online for tutorials about cutting vinyl I came across a great idea about how to make sure that the lines are straight.

Use the paper that comes in the frame, measure and draw the lines on that paper.
Then you put the paper back in the frame.
When you place the vinyl on the glass just put it on the line.
So easy, and then if you are like me and constantly worry about it being straight,
you know it is already perfect.

Swiffer Sweeper Vac

Why didn't anyone tell me this would change my life?

When we moved we got hardwood floors!
I was so excited to not have carpet in the dinning room.
And now that we have hardwood and I see how much food ends up under our table,
I don't want to know what use to end up in our carpet.

But no one ever told me how hard it was to sweep hardwood, and so much of it.

So I have been eying this on the commercials and finally broke down and got one.
$40, and totally worth it!

No more dust pan!
Quick and easy.
I can sweep the kitchen in 30 seconds!

Why didn't anyone tell me that this would save me oodles of time.
And now I can sweep more often, and I wont have to worry about stuff stuck on the bottom of my feet!

Exhausted!

We spent a quick weekend in Utah.
We were there less than 48 hours.
We have been home almost as long as we were there,
and I still can't get it together.

I promise I will be back to normal tomorrow,
I hope!

She hit the nail on the head!

Some day's are better than others.
Some day's I have ton's of patience, others not so much.
Some nights I prepare wonderful meals, some times we go to Taco Bell.
Some day's I am very productive, other day's I don't get out of my PJ's until after 2:00PM.

I love Beckie at Infarrantly Creative.
He blog was one of the first that I read.
Yesterday she had an amazing post.
No craft or furniture transformation, but some good honest truth.

She is dead on.
Read it, it will make your day, and change how you feel about yourself.

Infarrantly Creative

Peach Cobbler

I love fresh fruit dessert!
Oh Yum Yum Yum
When we were first married I wanted my Husband to know I really was a good cook,
and that I hadn't just tempted with my skills to get a ring.

That first summer we were married peaches were really cheap.
And what is the best thing you can do with peaches?
Peach Cobbler

I stumbled across this recipe and it was an instant hit.
We had my friend Julie over once so she could see how great it really was.
Her response was,
"I just want to jump in the pan and roll all over in it!"

Now every time I make it we joke about rolling all over in it.

I think my favorite part is that the peaches go on top of the cobbler,
so as it bakes the juices from the peaches coats the cobbler crust,
making it have a nice crisp and sweet crust.

Is anyone drooling yet?

Okay, I wont hold out any longer.
Here is the recipe, now run to the store and buy those peaches.

Peach Cobbler

4 large fresh peaches, peeled and sliced
1 - 1 1/2 cups sugar, for peaches
1 1/2 cup sugar, for batter
1 cup butter, melted
2 cups flour
4 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 dashes nutmeg, 1 for batter and 1 for peaches
2 dashes cinnamon, 1 for batter and 1 for peaches
1 1/2 cup milk

Mix peach slices with 1 to 1 1/2 cups sugar, 1 dash cinnamon and 1 dash nutmeg, set aside.

Pour melted butter over bottom of 9 X 13 baking dish.

Mix flour, baking powder, salt, nutmeg, and sugar; stir in milk, until just combined.

Pour over mixture over butter.

Top with peaches.

Bake at 375* for 45 minutes. (In our new house with the gas oven, we have found that it is more like 60 minutes. You want to crust to me nicely browned and crunch, or the inside will be gooey.

Enjoy the amazing smell to fill your house, and try not to roll all over in it.

I made this last week and forgot and forgot the baking powder,
it was not good!

Don't forget the baking powder!

FAMILY wall hanging

I actually started this project a few months ago, and like many projects I start,
I never quite finished it.

I am determined to be better at completing projects, not just doing projects.
So no better place to start than something I never finished!

It is hard to believe that this cute sign was once this....

A little too country for my taste, but great potential.
I got it at Goodwill for something like $2.00.

Let me tell you those red apples were a chore to cover up, but I am strong believer that spray paint can fix just about anything.

I painted the underside aqua, and then decided I wanted it red, so I painted over it.
Then I decided to try and see if I could gently sand off the red on the border, so the aqua would peek through.

Success!

Then I used my Cricut to cut out "Family" with different coordinating red and aqua papers.
Then I used turquoise vinyl for the saying at the bottom.

I was all done and ready to hang it up when I turned it over and ran into a problem.

Oops!
The hangers are on the bottom!

That is why I never finished this project.
So today I glued a ribbon to the back so I could finally hang it.

Project complete, finally!
A prefect home about the pantry door.
More aqua and red, I am addicted to that color combination

A special thanks to my cute assistant who was "helping" by turning the lights off and on when I was trying to take pictures.

The Red Hutch

Let me take you back to when my Husband and I were first married.
We were young college students, in love and completely broke!

One day I found this AMAZING store called Real Deal's on Home Decor, oh be still my heart!
I would go there and just drool over everything.

Enter the Red Hutch.
One day I was wandering around the store when my gaze came upon something so beautiful that I could not take my eyes off of it.
It was the red hutch.
It was a beautiful corner hutch, with shelves and lights.

I had to have it!I looked at the price, hoping for some miracle that maybe I could afford it.
It was not.
It was $350!
But it was 50% off, so it was a great deal, I can't turn down a deal.

I went home without the hutch, but determined to find a way to be able to afford it.
We could eat ramen every night for the rest of the semester.
I could sell my plasma twice a week.
I was desperate, I was willing to do anything.

I went back to the store the next day determined to buy my hutch and figure out how to pay for it later. When I went back, my hutch was gone.
It was for the best.My Husband would have killed me and I like ramen, but not that much.

Since that day I have been on a quest to have my own red hutch.
Since we moved into our new house, I now have a garage to work in.
I had been searching Craigslist for one that will do, and finally found it.

Here she is!
$75 dollars, and in need of a bit of a face lift.

First I sanded and primed.

Then I pained it red. This is when I knew something had gone wrong. It wasn't quite right, the red was off.

So I got some antiquing glazed and slathered it on.

It still wasn't right. Then as I went to get more paint. I realized I was using the wrong color paint.
Oh snap!

I decided that my hutch had to be just right, so I painted it again.
It turned out great with the antiquing poking through in spots.

Notice how the picture above is a lot more of an orange red, so glad I painted over.

A new set of knobs and it is prefect!

Still a little more decorating to go, but I am completely in love with my red hutch.
And now i have a home for my place mats and serving dishes.

I am going to be linking this post to-

Angel Food Cake

My friend Natalie loves her Angel Food Cake.
I have heard a lot about it, and she promised once I tried it I would never go back to boxed,
she was right!

Super yummy, and delicious with some strawberries!
Check out Natalie's food blog, she has a ton of great recipes.

Angel Food Cake

Note-assemble all the ingredients before beginning, have all the flour and sugar measured and ready to be added before beginning

1 cup cake flour, sifted
¼ cup sugar

Sift flour and sugar together

1 ¾ cup egg whites, room temperature (about 13 eggs)
2 tsp cream of tartar
1 tsp vanilla
½ tsp almond flavoring
¾ tsp salt

Beat egg whites until foamy, add cream of tartar one teaspoon at a time. Add vanilla, almond flavoring and salt, and continue beating.

1 ¼ cup sugar

Beat and add 2 Tbs sugar until 1 ¼ cup sugar has been added. Continue beating until stiff. It must hold a peak when beater is lifted.

Fold in flour and sugar mixture. Add half the flour and sugar, fold in. Then add the rest of the flour/sugar and fold in. (Continue to fold until there are no lumps-almost 100 folds, do by hand-no beaters)

Gently put into ungreased angel food cake pan. Put in half the batter and gently remove air bubbles by running a knife through batter. Put in rest of batter and again remove air bubbles.

Bake at 350 for 45 minutes on lowest rack of oven. Remove from oven and immediately turn pan upside down. Don’t remove cake from pan until cake is completely cool. It takes about an hour.

Loosen cake around inner and outer edges with a knife. Give cake one hard knock to remove from pan.

Vinyl Labeled Canisters

Completely unnecessary, but so completely adorable.
My husband joked that he often gets the flour and sugar mixed up,
thank goodness I labeled them for him.

I got these canisters when we were first married, and I L-O-V-E them.
But they were in need of a little face lift.
Our newest move gave me the opportunity to empty and wash them.

Once again I used my Cricut to cut the letters, and in 5 minutes my kitchen is
a whole lot cuter!

Decorating in 3's!

Sorry I didn't get this posted yesterday like I wanted.

Our whole day was thrown out of whack,
and off schedule.

I love the grouping of three.
I am an extremely symmetrical kind of girl.
When I was a teenage I put up glow in the dark stars all over my room.
I was determined to be random and just throw caution to the wind and put them where ever.
I thought I had been successful, until it was time to go to bed and I turned off the lights.
All of my stars were in straight lines on a diagonal.
Symmetry is in my genetics, it is part of who I am.
My Dad was a draftsman, and he was exactly the same way.

This grouping works great for me.
It is an odd number of items, which I love.
And it doesn't look like a triangle, thank goodness.
Originally I was going to put the picture of my sweet boy directly on top of the "S",
but then it did look like a triangle.

Don't mind the empty apothecary jar,
I haven't figure out what to put in it for summer

The shelf is still in need of a little love, but I think it is a great start.

Framed Monogram

I am quickly making our little townhouse a home.
I love the extra space, hardwood floors and extra bedroom.

I am starting a new series called
From House to Home

I will show you every step that I am taking to make this house our home.

I have started several things, but the first thing I have actually finished is this
framed monogram.
It was inspired by a post at Whats Allie's Making Now
She was talking about decorating in 3's, and I spotted this cute little number.
I decided to give it my own little spin, and this is what I ended up with.


First I painted the edges of the paper mache' letter I got at JoAnn's.
Traced my "S" onto the paper, cut it out them Mod Podged it to the "S".
Looped the ribbon around the frame and the "S" and hot glued it.
I was lucky enough to already have a frame that didn't have glass,
thanks to a husband or toddler who broke it.

I think it is so cute, and it totally reminds me of my friend Kristin,
who is moving to Iowa, today-tear tear!
She loves herself a good monogram!

Come back on Monday and see how I decorate in 3's, just like Allie suggested.

Memphis-Style Coleslaw

Summer has finally arrived here in Seattle, Hallelujah!
I am ready to slather on sunscreen and sit by our little pool.
Some foods just scream summer, and coleslaw is one of them.
This recipe from Our Best Bites for coleslaw is spot on.
It has just the right taste, I think it is the celery seed, perfect.


It even looks so pretty before you mix it together!

Memphis-Style Coleslaw
recipe from Ourbestbites.com

1 c. mayonnaise
2 Tbsp. Dijon or whole-grain mustard
2 Tbsp. apple cider vinegar
2 Tbsp. sugar
1/2 heaping tsp. Kosher salt (or an even 1/2 tsp. of table salt)
1 Tbsp. grated onion
2-2 1/2 tsp. celery seed (absolutely essential for classic coleslaw flavor)
1 16-oz. bag shredded cabbage with carrots (stay away from the very fine shreds because they'll get too soggy)
1/2 minced green bell pepper
1 carrot, peeled and grated

Okay, peeps, this is rocket science. Combine mayo, mustard, vinegar, sugar, salt, onion, and celery seed. In a large bowl, combine shredded cabbage, carrots, and green pepper.

Toss with dressing and refrigerate for at least 2-3 hours and up to about 3 days (or when it's unjustifiably soggy).