Cookies for Santa Blog Hop

Welcome to the Cookies For Santa Blog Hop.

This a one day hop with 10 stops along the way that will be filled with all different kinds of cookie projects. You will see cards, layouts, altered art, recipes and all kinds of amazing wonderful projects. Remember this is the time of year when the gloves come off in the kitchen, no low-cal nothing, no skimping on the sugar or the sprinkles. It's the best kind of baking, high test, holiday baking. So be sure to grab your favorite cookie and beverage and hop through this yummy tasty blog hop with us. And now on to my project... Or not... 
Whelp... If you know me... then you know this was no small production and something may (or may not) have gone wrong. Let's start at the beginning...

My friend saw these really REALLY cute cocoa-mug-hot-chocolate-packet-holder-card-thingies. Yeah... It can hold tea bags or hot cider packets or.. or... but who the heck thinks of all that when you see a mug and a snowman? She wanted to give them for gifts to ladies of her Bible study. They were kind of expensive ($3.00 each and you had to put the thing together yourself!). And if you know me, like she does... I'm super cheap, thrifty, frugal, whatever you wanna call it. I can replicate almost anything. *Disclaimer* We were/are not going to sell these... They are for personal use only! And since I recently got the Brother Scan-n-Cut2, I thought my job would be easier.

It wasn't. And that's NOT the end of the story.

It'd be great if I plugged it in first...

First off... Somehow, somewhere, in the transition and re-organization of the new craftroom, I lost the examples or I left them in my car and my husband cleaned it out or I left them in her car or I put them in a safe place and can't remember where that might possibly be because it's so safe. So I looked for a wonderful specimen throughout the internet to cut on my Cricut Explore Air. Don't worry... the BSNC2 story isn't over yet either! And I got THIS:

It's way too fat and too big, and I could only squeeze one out per 12x12" paper. Ugh. What a waste and not so cheap.

So I searched more... and found THIS:

Love it. But... it prints on the cardstock. So obviously, you'd have to cut it by hand, and we all know I'm way too lazy to cut out 8-10 of these by hand. Ugh. Ugh. And if you think YOU would do it, don't you know how busy people are with the holidays all upon us?

So I thought I'd scan it with my new Brother Scan N Cut 2 (BSNC2 for now on... because I'm way too lazy to keep typing all that out) and got THIS:

But I went through all of THIS:

to even get there.  And it cut out the mug like THIS:

Hahaha! How flippin' funny. It's still in one piece with sporadic cuts all around. So... I recalled how Julie Fei-Fan Belzer (Scrapbook Soup, people! Get a clue!) had used a dark black pen and re-traced some lines of things she wanted cut out. And I did the same (on a new WHITE sheet, this time... Oh. And I cut the printing off, since the machine had chosen to cut some of the type on the other try...) And re-scanned it in and pressed cut... Success!

So then, I began putting my Cricut elements together because I still couldn't find those examples and looked every flippin' where and with all that I just went through with the BSNC2, I wasn't about to be doing all that. I'm on a busy schedule, ya know?

I picked out a cute Santa (via Subscription), an Angel (via Subscription), and a Snowman (via Subscription). Can you tell the Subscription is an awesome thing to have? So... this is the way Santa's beard and stuff comes out to cut. I am cheap, remember? not a paper-waster. So... before you click "GO", you can use the mouse (or your finger, if you're on the app) to move items closer or rearrange, so you're actually paper-saving. Trust me... every little bit helps when you make cards or scrap or do any type of paper "work".

And you end up with THIS:

The face I stamped with a Peachy Keenstamp (so adorable... I just love those guys!) and rouged his cheeks with a Baby Pink ink don't tell me you can see my fingerprint in there... I'm in total denial as I was too lazy to open a new pack of blenders.

I applied Frosted Lace Stickles to the whole beard and 'stache... and let it dry a bit...

Then covered up half of the stamped face...   Put on the beard and 'stache...

ended up trimming the face underneath, because I had a duh moment and realized I'd stickled the wrong side of the beard... reversing it? um... doesn't quite match up with the facial base. Ok then... fudge it and trim. We are good.



Added a "che[e]rry" nose, a hat and the white trimmings... And it all ends up looking like THIS:

And my Santa requested THESE:

My Santa loves cinnamon roll (cookies!)!!!

Hope you have a sweet, sweet Saturday! Next up... Barbara, with all her tasty treats!

Here's the lineup... In case you get lost... or wanna start over, or missed someone, or... or...
 1. Lisa ~ http://honeybearzdesigns2011.blogspot.com
  2. Theresa ~ http://scrapsbygracie.blogspot.com
  3. Haidee -http://created2bunique.blogspot.com...
  4. Charmagne ~ http://sanurascraps.blogspot.com
  5. Anna ~ http://grumpygrandmacreations.blogspot.com
  6. Lisa F. ~ http://lisaslittlerascals.blogspot.com (You are HERE.)
  7. Barbara http://barbarab3.blogspot.com            (Next stop on the Tasting Train!)
  8. Jessica - http://www.craftinandstampin.blogspot.com
  9. Rhonda - http://craftingwithblue.blogspot.com

The After-Christmas Cookie Affair

Today... was a good day. I did those things that I put off yesterday. And it was good.

I had Rey bake sugar cookies from a Krusteaz bag...

The "Un-Dipped" Truffle Balls

And I made cookies, too! These cookies (Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Truffles) just sounded divine, and I couldn't do without them! And so... they ended up in my cookie lineup. (Please note: I did not use Wilton Candy Melts, but instead melted Nestle Toll House Morsels in a double-boiler, dipped chilled dough balls, then drizzled melted white chocolate [Nestle] and refrigerated.) Yum-O and a total keeper!

The Cookie Dough Truffle Bowl...

Another note about those Cookie Dough Truffles - If you haven't checked out the link for the recipe, because you are afraid... Don't be! They may taste like raw cookie dough (inside), but they have NO EGGS included and are absolutely safe (and super duper easy, too!). This is definitely a recipe to put in your repertoire for holidays in the future! It was SO good... see the bowl? Licked clean!

And I also made one of my faves... Butter Spritz. Classic Recipe. Something similar can be found HERE. I did a simple poinsettia-style flower and sprinkled with red colored sugar before baking. Simple, because... you know... I procrastinated and was running out of time AND forgot that I had to allow time for the dough to chill... oops!

And so... I had the older girls help set up tables, chairs, food ware, and crafts. Overall, I think it was a success. It was a little unorderly, but the kids appeared to be having fun.

They decorated cookies with homemade butter cream (made with real butter) icing and sprinkles, made a snowman craft, put Nativity stickers on paper and ate pizza (YES! I made that!) and salad... And then they played Just Dance Kids on the Wii and fought over the remote. (Note to self: You seriously need to purchase another Wii remote, so there is more than just ONE!)

The "Blue" Cookie

The "Perfect" Cookie

The Overly Sprinkled Cookie

Thank you ladies for a big success!

Us ladies chatted and ignored the screaming meemies in the other room. We swapped cookies... And it was good.

So, as I sit down and snuggle with my coffee (and cookies, too!) before I go to bed, I think to myself... "Yes... I think we might do it again next year, only not so "after" Christmas... Because it was good..."