Hot Apple Crisp

I was craving something sweet the other night (what else is new??!!) and didn't have anything made or ready to eat in the house. So I decided to scour the cabinets to see if I could find something to tame the beast otherwise known as my insatiable sweet tooth! The only thing I had on hand even remotely sweet was a can of apple pie filling. So I grabbed a favorite old church cookbook (aren't those the best??) and got to looking! Here's what I found:

Apple Crisp

1 can apple pie filling
1 cup sugar
1 cup flour
1 egg
cinnamon
1 stick margarine

Grease 9 X 9 baking dish. Mix sugar, flour, and egg to resemble crumbled texture. Pour pie filling into dish and sprinkle with cinnamon. Crumble sugar, flour, and egg mixture over the top. Dot the top with the margarine. Bake at 400 degrees until brown (about 30 minutes or so).

Here it is, fresh from the oven:



Well, needless to say, I just couldn't wait for it to cool. So I scooped me some out and got ready to chow down!



The only bad thing about this apple crisp was the fact that I didn't have any vanilla bean ice cream to top it off with. Next time I will definitely be getting some of that! But it must of been o.k. even without the ice cream, because my 17 year old came back for seconds and he usually doesn't eat sweet treats! Hubby enjoyed it too, but he said next time he would rather have peach. That sounds good to me too!

I have been blog browsing a lot lately and I am so impressed and amazed at how beautifully decorated every one's homes are for Christmas! Sometimes I think I'm silly for posting some of the things that I create when I look at all the wonderful things everyone else creates. Now I know it's not a contest or anything like that and hubby loves the way I decorate our home, but I sometimes think I shouldn't even bother, that I have no talent compared to so many of you. Does anyone else ever think things like that or is it just me??

Well, I've got to get off here. I have a million things to do around the house this evening and some crafting I need to finish up for a swap I'm participating in over on the Prim Pals Forum. You know, when you work full time outside the home, there's never enough hours in the day to get the things you want and need to do, done. Add that to the fact that my Vitamin D levels are currently in the toilet, and you can imagine why I have absolutely no energy these days! Oh well, I guess I'll just keep plugging along! I hope everyone has a wonderful Wednesday tomorrow!

Until next time. . .

My Christmas trees

Yep, I said trees. As in plural. But, I only really have one Christmas tree. The other is a small primitive paper tree I made this weekend. I'll show you some pics of both of them.

Here's my small prim paper tree:



Isn't that cute??? I purchased a small cone shaped styrofoam base and used some brown packaging paper and a few pieces of cream colored paper that I cut into strips to make my "branches". I rolled them around a pencil to make them curl up on the ends. I then glued them on randomly all over my styrofoam base and then added some rusty bells and a rusty star on top as my decorations. A perfect tiny "tree" for my kitchen counter! Easy peasy! And the possiblities for this one are endless! Imagine tiny candy canes made from pipe cleaners or some teeny tiny salt dough ornies would be cute as well for decorations. Ooo, maybe some tiny little homespun bows. O.k., I'll stop now! But you get the idea!!



Now, here's my "real" Christmas tree. I am not extremely pleased with how it turned out. I think I should have added a few more strands of lights. I made the lights blink instead of burn solid and I couldn't get a good picture with the lights on because of this. I made about ninety percent of my ornaments this year. I made some dried orange slices and I really like how they turned out. When they are backlit by the blinking lights, they almost look like stained glass! I will definitely be making more of these next year!



I also did some cinnamon salt dough ornies. I did trees, gingerbread men, and stars. These turned out pretty good as well!




I had some plain jane red ball ornaments that I must have bought at an after Christmas sale in years past, because when I "discovered" them in my storage closet, I had no idea where they came from! I figured what the heck, and decided to cover them with strips of homespun fabric. They turned out pretty good, I must say! Looks almost like a rag ball, don't ya think??



I love a draped garland on a tree but couldn't find anything to buy that I liked. So I again used homespun fabric that I cut down into stips and hot glued the strips together to make a "chain" garland. I am tickled with it! Here's a pic that shows a little bit of it:



Finally, here's a picture of the entire tree. I tried to get one with it lit, but every one I took turned out blurry. So ya just have to see it not lit. I have a bow as a topper in this picture but have since changed it out for a wire angel that I bought at Big Lots. She was a glittery gold but a little bit of burgundy spray paint fixed her right up. I don't have a picture of her but will try to get one downloaded soon. I like her, but I really wanted a prim star topper so I can't say that I am one hundred percent satisified. I used two yards of a burgundy check homespun as my tree skirt. Just gathered it up around the base of the tree, and voila, instant tree skirt! Hey, don't laugh, it's supposed to be simple and primitive!!



Well, that's it for now. I hope everyone has a wonderful week! I'm off to make cookies since I've got a killer sweet tooth right now and nothing in the house to satisfy it!!

Until next time. . .

Happy Thanksgiving!!

May your turkey be moist,
And your gravy lump free.
May your troubles be gone,
And your heart be happy!!

Until next time. . .

Homemade Christmas Ornies

Happy Wednesday!! I am super excited because my Mom and brothers will be here tomorrow to celebrate an early Thanksgiving with us! They will be staying until Sunday. In anticipation of their arrival, I put my Christmas tree up this past Sunday. I usually don't put it up until the weekend after Thanksgiving but wanted it up for their visit. With the economy the way it is and money being tight this year, I made about 90% of the ornaments on my tree this year. I'm gonna share a few of them with y'all today. Please be gentle with me, this is the first time I've attempted homemade ornies!

The first one is my take on a homespun primitive candy cane. I purchased these candy canes from the Dollar Tree. They came six to a package.



Cute, but not very prim. So I decided to take some of the left over homespun strips that I used on my wreath I showed y'all on Monday and tie them onto the candy cane. I hot glued a strip to each end so that none of them would fall off. Then I took scissors and gave them a hair cut. I cut off all the excess fabric which left it looking like a fuzzy candy cane.



Ah, so much better don't ya think?

I also made some cinnamon stick Christmas trees. I took a cinnamon stick that was about six inches long and cut three graduated sizes of homespun strips (are you sensing a theme here??). I pleated each strip like an accordion and secured with a bit of brown floral wire. Then I hot glued these onto the cinnamon stick. I covered the wire with a rusty jingle bell. Then I hot glued a rusty star to the top. Voila, a perfectly prim Christmas tree ornie!



I also made a love knot ornie out of rope, some pip berries, a rusty star and a strip of homespun (of course!). They turned out really cute!



I also made some cinnamon salt dough ornies. I dipped some of them into wax and some I left plain. I think I like the plain ones better. To me they just look more prim. A first for me this year was dried orange slices. I love how these look on the tree, especially when they are back lit by the twinkling Christmas lights! I will post some pics of my tree later in the week so y'all can see how these ornies turned out.

I'm linking up to these parties this week:






Well, gotta run for now. I've got pumpkin rolls to make and laundry to fold. Hope y'all have a great day and thanks for checking in with me today!

Until next time. . .

Lemon Snowflake Cookies

Here's a quick and yummy recipe for cookies that would be a great alternative to the traditional cookies many make for Christmas cookie exchanges. I like this recipe because it only has four ingredients! Now, I will warn ya, it's VERY messy! But that just adds to the "yumminess" of this simple cookie.




Lemon Snowflake Cookies

1 box lemon cake mix (pudding in the mix kind works best)
1 egg
1 8 oz. tub Cool Whip
Powdered sugar

Combine cake mix, egg and Cool Whip in bowl. Beat with mixer until well blended. Dough will be VERY sticky. Put powdered sugar in smaller separate bowl. Drop dough by rounded teaspoonful into powdered sugar. Roll to cover. Place on ungreased cookie sheet and bake at 350 degrees for ten minutes. Do not flatten dough! The balls will flatten as they bake, leaving a "snowflake" design of powdered sugar on top of the cookies. Yield: 5 to 6 dozen cookies if ya make 'em small!

These are sooooo good!!! I'm not a big lemon fan, but even I like these. They are soft and chewy and the powdered sugar provides just the right amount of sweetness. They are delicious. I'm sure you could substitute any flavor of cake mix and they would be just as good. I can picture these used at baby showers or wedding showers as well. The possibilities are endless!

Well, that's gonna do it for me today. I hope everyone has a great day!

Until next time. . .

Made for Monday!

Hi all! Hope everyone has had a great Monday. Mine was good. Monday is usually my most hectic day during the work week, but today wasn't too bad. Thank goodness!

For today's Made for Monday, I am sharing a wreath I made out of a wire coat hanger. I'm sure most (if not all) of y'all have seen this done before, but I was tickled with the way it turned out so I thought I'd share my version with y'all.

The first thing I did was take a wire coat hanger and bend it into sort of a circle shape:



Then I took some homespun fabric and tore it into long strips which I then cut down to about 6 inch lengths:



Then I simply tied them onto my wire circle form:



I continued with tying the fabric strips on my wreath form until it was full. Then I took some cinnamon salt dough gingerbread men and hot glued them onto my wreath:



The last thing I did was to add a small strand of white lights and tied a pretty little bow out of ribbon and attached it to the top of my wreath. Here is my wreath all finished:



And here it is hanging on the wall, all lit up:



This was so simple and turned out really cute! I made one for a friend at work and added some rusty tin stars along with the gingerbread men to hers. She loved it! I'm sure I will be making a lot more of these. They would make perfect Christmas gifts for co-workers or neighbors.

I'm thinking of having another giveaway soon. I'm almost at 300 followers and that just tickles me to death! It hasn't been quite a year yet since I started blogging and even though I've let it fall by the wayside every now and then, I really enjoy doing it and I love having giveaways. I thinking of a Christmas giveaway and as soon as I decide what I'll be making to give away, I'll let y'all know. I want it to be the best one yet so I'll have to really think about what to make!

Well, that's it for me today. I'm tired and ready for bed! I hope everyone has a blessed Tuesday!

Until next time. . .

Where have I been?????

Hi everyone! Is it just me or does time just seem to get away from everyone else at this time of the year too??? I didn't realize that it has been two weeks since I've posted!

My Mom and brothers are coming in this Thursday for an early Thanksgiving so I've been super busy trying to get ready for their visit. We are having our Thanksgiving dinner on Saturday and then they will be going back home on Sunday. So I have a LOT of shopping and cooking to do in the next few days. Add to that all the house cleaning chores, working a full time job outside of the home, and trying to get my Christmas tree up and all my other decorations up in time for their visit, and you can understand why I've been absent for so long!

I am attempting to make most of the ornaments for my Christmas tree this year. I want a simple, primitive look and I am really excited to see how it's going to turn out. I will post some pics when I get it all done.

One of my best girlfriends and I enjoyed a "girl's day out" a couple of Saturdays ago. We went to a local Women's Expo which was nice but very crowded. Then we enjoyed a wonderful lunch at Cracker Barrel and stopped by a few prim shops. I picked up some cute snowmen ornies, some wooden star ornies, and a cute little metal sign that I have hanging in my office at work to help me remember not to stress over the little things! Here's a pic:



Well, that's about it for today. I have an awesome cookie recipe I will be sharing with y'all this week. It's so simple and great for Christmas Cookie Exchanges. Also, I have a Christmas wreath I'll be sharing with y'all that I've made for a friend at work. It's made using a wire coat hanger and some scrap fabric. A nice, simple gift that's quick to make up and cute too! I'll also be sharing a couple of ornies I've made for my Christmas tree as well as some pics of the finished tree! I'm excited!!

I hope everyone has a fantastic week! Don't forget to be thankful for all the little things!

Until next time. . .