Whatever Girlfriends

Great gift!  This was made by Tia Franklin and given to Holly Price. Is it not adorable?  Love it!  Good job, Tia!  Hope you don't mind me sharing your talent with my girlfriends!

This was Mark's birthday cake.   Yep, Mark is 17 TODAY!  The cheesecake turned out very yummy.  Even our waitresses wanted some - so we shared!  Here is the recipe: White Chocolate Peppermint Cheesecake 12 oz. Oreos 3 TBSP butter, melted 3 (8 oz EACH) cream cheese 3 eggs 4 oz. white baking chocolate 3/4 cup sugar 1/2 cup crushed candy cane Directions: Crush oreos in food processor.  Add melted butter, stir then pat on bottom of 10 - inch springform pan.  Bake crust for 10 minutes.  Cool. Mix cream cheese and 3/4 cup sugar until just blended.  Add eggs, one at a time, mixing after each. Melt white chocolate and stir into cream cheese mixture.  Gently fold crushed candy cane into cream cheese mixture and pour over crust.  Bake 45 - 50 minutes at 350 until center is almost set.  Completely cool then refrigerate at least 4 hours. When ready to serve, spread a thin layer of whipped topping on top of cheesecake...

This Santa is really so cute!  If you want the pattern, just let me know!  I made about 5 of them at one sitting.  Once they were cut out and sanded it was fast because most of the detail is really easy to do. I bought the little wreaths at Hobby Lobby, added some moss.  I cut the red bird and the Give Love sign out of thin scrap wood I had.  And the mustache!  I painted Santa's outfit with stars for something different. I like stars. Is he not adorable!?  See the warning...no pouting!    Look at the  burlap bags of toys! My sister painted this and put it together for me.  I love it! This is one of my favorite Santa's. If you have some Santa's you love and want to share, I would love to see them!

This is so fun!  Cuteness galore......and yummy!  This is what you need: Sprinkles (I used white nonparells - little white balls and I used red sprinkles) Caramel Bugles mini marshmallows white chocolate or white candy bark mini pretzels craisins salted peanuts Rice Chex cereal holiday M&M's Put in a large bowl: 3 cups pretzels 1/2 cup craisins 1 cup peanuts 2 cups Rice Chex Melt 8 oz. white chocolate and drizzle over mix and toss until coated.  Then spread out on wax paper to set. To make bugles into Santa Hats: Dip tip of bugle in melted white chocolate and put mini marshmallow on.  Then dip other end of bugle in white chocolate and then dip into sprinkles.  Lay the bugles out on wax paper until set. Once the white chocolate has hardened kinda break up the coated mix then add 2 cups of M&M's and the Santa Hats.  Keep in sealed container.  I used two cups of the holiday shaped pretzels and one cup of the stick pretzel. ...

I love to paint Christmas!  I have some great nativity sets I plan to paint.  But right now I want to show you my snowman! And here are two of his little friends...... The big guy is a combination of wood and fabric.  See the little snow baby in his overall pocket?!!!! I have to share......Mark was in his high school drama class play.  They did "Charlie Brown Christmas."  The kids all did really good.  Mark was Linus!!!!  He did awesome.  And his friend, Trent, was the Crooked Elf in another skit.  Excellent!  This is a picture of Mark in a little skit about returning gifts.  Seems this gift was way too big.  This is the Crooked Elf and his band as they perform.  The Crooked Elf and a couple of the other acts that performed.  Charlie Brown and Linus (Mark Elliott Melton)  Charlie and Linus  Charlie and Linus  Charlie and Lucy  Charlie and Linus and tree... OK, I am a proud mom. ...

This is a great tasting cookie!  Hank was the Master Baker this time!  I'm so proud!  Look at the yumminess of these cookies, then go make your own! Ingredients: 1 package of Duncan Hines Red Velvet Cake Mix 1 package of Jell-O Instant Vanilla Pudding 1/2 cup of liquid egg whites 1 cup of sour cream 1 package of semi-sweet chocolate chips Duncan Hines Cream Cheese Frosting Directions: 1. Preheat oven to 350. Line cookie sheet with aluminum foil. Spray foil with cooking spray. 2. Pour 1 pkg of cake mix, 1 pkg of vanilla pudding, 1/2 cup of liquid egg whites, and 1 cup of sour cream into large bowl. Stir until well blended. 3. Stir in bag of chocolate chips. 4. Scoop about 1 teaspoon of dough onto foil about 1 inch apart. 5.  Bake for 7 minutes. 6. While cookies are baking, open container of cream cheese frosting and use a spoon to transfer the icing to a plastic storage bag and seal. 7. At 7 minutes, remove cookie tray and check to see if cookies are do...

 Mark and Kevin are playing Uno! Please pray for our friend, Kevin.  He was in a bad accident back the first of October.  He was in a coma for a couple of weeks.  He is improving each day.  God has given him a miracle, for sure.  We are hoping he will be coming home soon.  He will still have a lot of work to do, but he is strong and determined kid.

OK, girlfriends, I'm ready to show you what I have been working on for weeks and weeks.  I told you I was working on something for two special people - it is done!  Let me tell you who, what, when, where, and why.  For as long as I can remember I have given my girls a "Happy December" present.  I just love the Christmas season so much that I am ready to begin the celebration.  So on December 1 I would have a gift for my kids.  They might come home from school and find a Christmas shirt on their bed or I would present them with Christmas socks or a Christmas trinket, maybe cookie cutters or sticker book.  Just something.   For fun!  This year I made: Grapevine Christmas trees!!!!  I had lots of help!  My sister, Nancy, Mark, and Hank all helped me gather the vines.  Poor Hank got poison twice from helping me find vines!  Then I wrapped the vines around a tomato cage using the vines and thin wire. ...

I will try to show you the decorations, foods, and activities we did.  My camera was dying - sad me - so I didn't get a lot of good pictures taken, but you can get the idea. This is the ceramic jack-o-lantern that my mom painted back when we were kids.  I remember it at our house each fall season.  So when she gave it to me I loved bringing it out each year.  I will turn it around so you don't see the face during the Thanksgiving season so we can enjoy it even longer.           My BFF made us this dirt cake - yum!  And Mark added the bones.  :)  All the food was delicious! This is a ghost made of a tomato plant thingy and white sheet!  Instead of bobbing for apples, they were on a string and you had to "catch" them with your mouth - no hands! We had a fire outside to hang around so we could keep warm. A surprise for Trent - he just turned 17!  The cake was a fire breathing pokemon!  We served cold orange pun...