Gracie's Christmas Outfit...made with love by Aunt Cara

Before... $5.00 long sleeve t-shirt from Target & $2.00 cropped jeans from Goodwill

After... with the help of some fabric, ribbon, ric rac and a sewing machine

I love to buy cute clothes for my niece, Gracie, but they are way out of my budget so I had to get a little creative this Christmas. I sewed some presents out of fabric in 3 different patterns and attached coordinating bows and ribbon. Next time I think I will make the presents a little smaller! :) For the pants, I simply sewed on some eyelet lace trim and some ribbon. The whole project cost me about $15.00! She has already worn it to school for a Christmas field trip and I can't wait to see her wearing it on Christmas Day! :)

Easy Vegetable Soup & Cheese Biscuits...perfect for those cold nights!

Easy Vegetable Soup

1 can corn
1 can green beans
1 can sliced carrots
1 can lima beans
1 large onion
1 can of chicken (12oz.) or leftover cooked chicken
1 container of chicken stock (32oz.)
4 or 5 large potatoes peeled and cubed
salt and pepper to taste

Chop onion and saute in a little olive oil in soup pot. Add chicken and saute together for one min just to break up the chicken. Sprinkle with salt and pepper. Pour in container of chicken stock and bring to a boil. Add your cans of vegetables(do not drain).  Add potatoes and continue a low boil until potatoes are cooked. Add more salt/pepper if needed. I like to add some vinegar to mine, too.

Cheese Biscuits

2 1/4 cups bisquick
2/3 cup milk
1 T sour cream
1 cup shredded cheese
seasoned salt
1 T melted butter

Stir together bisquick and milk. Add sour cream and cheese. Sprinkle with a little seasoned salt. Drop biscuits by spoonfulls onto greased baking sheet. You can choose what size you want, just make sure they are all the same size. Bake at 350 degrees for 10 min or until slightly golden on top and cooked throughout. After removing from oven, spoon a little melted butter over each biscuit and sprinkle with a little more seasoned salt.

Eight Dollar Idea

Who says cute Christmas decorations have to be expensive? Not me...and thats why I love a dollar store. I found these adorable stockings and stocking holders for only $1.00 a piece, of course! I love doing things for my niece and nephews, so when I saw these I knew I had to get them each their own.  The only thing I added was a hairbow and curly ribbon to the reindeer stocking so it would look more like a girl for my niece. The whole thing (stockings and holders) cost me only $8.00!

Apple Pecan Cheesecake

1 1/2 cups graham cracker crumbs
1/4 cup melted butter
1 1/2 cups plus 2 T packed brown sugar
4 pkg (8 oz. each) softened cream cheese
1 tsp vanilla
1 cup sour cream
4 eggs
4 cups chopped peeled apples (about 3)
3/4 cup chopped pecans
1 tsp ground cinnamon

Heat oven to 325 degrees. Line a 13x9 pan with foil. Mix crumbs, butter and 2 T brown sugar, press into bottom of pan; bake for 10 min then let it cool.
Beat cream cheese, 1 cup brown sugar and vanilla until blended. Add sour cream; blend. Add eggs one at the time. Pour over crust.
Mix remaining 1/2 cup brown sugar, apples pecans and cinnamon and spoon over batter.
Bake 1 hr to 1 hr 5 min. Cool. Refrigerate 4 hours. Use foil to lift cheesecake from pan before cutting to serve. Makes 16 servings.

They call me "Aunt Cara"...

I don't have any children of my own so I get to spoil my niece and my three nephews. Gracie Jayde age 4, Enzo William 18 mos, Jacob Larry 9 mos, and Gabriel Elliot 4 mos.  Being an aunt is something that I love! I can spoil them and then send them home...payback to their parents!  I love to shop for them, but as they began to come along a lot more frequently I had to scale back my shopping. Luckily, the three boys can now share among themselves and pass the clothes on to the next cousin. When everyone gets together at the house now it can be a little chaotic. The living room becomes an obstacle course amid the bouncy seats, play pens and toy boxes...but thats OK. I am thankful I have these children in my life and for now I am content to simply be "Aunt Cara".

Sweet Potato Cupcakes

I made these cupcakes for Thanksgiving and they seemed to be a big hit!

2 cups all purpose flour

2 tsp baking powder

1 tsp ground cinnamon

1/2 tsp baking soda

1/4 tsp salt

1 cup softened butter

1 1/2 cups sugar

3 eggs

1 ~ 17.2 oz can sweet potatoes (mashed)

1/2 tsp vanilla

orange zest

Cream cheese icing recipe

8 oz. pkg softened cream cheese

2/3 cup butter

2 T milk

8 cups powdered sugar

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Line cupcake pan with 24 paper liners.

2. Stir together flour, baking powder, cinnamon, baking soda and salt then set aside.

3. Beat butter with an electric mixer for 30 seconds, add sugar and beat until fluffy. Add eggs 1 at the time. Then add sweet potatoes and vanilla. Add flour mixture a little at the time until combined.

4. Divide batter into cupcake liners. I found that an ice cream scoop works great.

5. Bake 20 minutes or until toothpick comes out clean. Let cupcakes cool completely.

6. Pipe cream cheese icing on top and sprinkle with orange zest. I also topped my cupcakes with a pecan.

My nephew, Enzo sure seemed to enjoy his cupcake!

Jewelry/Purse Organizer

I was always looking for an organized way to keep my jewelry and purses and I finally found one. I bought 2 inexpensive, wooden expandable racks (can be purchased at Walmart or Lowe's, Home Depot etc.) I spray painted them black to match the rest of my bedroom furniture and hung them on an empty wall. The racks already come with brackets on the back so they can be easily hung on the wall.  You can expand them to what ever size you want. No more searching through a jewelry box to find a neckalce or bracelet and no more searching through your closet to find a purse! The whole project cost me less than $5.00!

Trick or Treat Buckets

Above are buckets I painted for my niece and nephew for Halloween. The buckets were purchased from the dollar store and I painted them with inexpensive acrylic paint.  After the paint dried, I sprayed them with a clear finish to keep the paint from chipping.  I finished them by adding black, purple and orange ribbon to the handles...super easy and very inexpensive! :)

Baby Gift Basket

Make your own personalized gift basket for any shower and you will be sure to impress.
-Basket (Dollar Store or just one you have lying around the house) try to choose one the new mom could use for other purposes later.
- Choose an outfit/pajamas or onesie and stuff it with tissue paper. This gives a unique look to the basket...and it looks like a little baby is sitting in the basket :) Just be creative! Add some coordinating tissue paper and a ribbon.
-Items that you could include:
diapers
washcloths
blankets
bibs
baby shampoo
baby booties
socks
lullaby cd

Popcorn n S'mores Gift Basket

This one makes a great gift for a family. You could customize it to include whatever items you like. Jazz it up with some cute tissue paper or ribbon and you've got a great gift!
-Plastic Popcorn Box (Dollar Store)
-S'mores ingredients (marshmallows, graham crackers, Hershey bars)
-Hot chocolate packets
-Microwave Popcorn

2 New Recipes

I like easy recipes with few ingredients and here are two that I tried this week and really liked!

BBQ Chicken Pizza

1 - Ready made pizza crust
3/4 cup BBQ sauce (you can add more or less depending on your tastes)
1/4 cup minced red onion
1/4 cup sliced jalapeno peppers
1 1/2 cups shredded sharp cheddar cheese
1- 6oz can of chunk white chicken (or you could use leftover chicken)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Spread BBQ sauce onto crust. Sprinkle chicken, onion and peppers next, then top with the cheese. Bake for 15 min or until cheese is melted.  Serves 8


Easy Baked Chicken with Bacon

3 large or 6 small boneless, skinless chicken breast
Slices of bacon (one for each chicken breast)
8 oz. sour cream
1 can cream of mushroom soup
Salt and pepper to taste

Wrap chicken breast with bacon. Combine sour cream, soup and salt and pepper. Pour over the chicken breast and bake at 375 degrees for 1 hour.  If chicken is large, you will need to add additional cook time.

Polka Dot Pumpkins

Add POLKA DOTS to your pumpkins to dress them up a bit! Using acrylic paint and a round sponge brush, (can be purchased at the local craft store) simply paint round dots on any size pumpkin. Next, add your favorite fall ribbon or coordinating color ribbon. My favorite are the black and white polka dot ones. The acrylic paint dries fast and will even withstand rain if you decide to put these on your front porch.

Birthday Tablescape

Recently, my family celebrated my mom and sister's birthdays. I have a 4 year old niece that loves a party and so I wanted the decorations to be fun and exciting for her as well as my mom and sister. My inspiration piece was the brown/teal/pink and purple placemats that I purchsed from a local discount store for $5.00 (total).  My next stop was the local dollar store where I purchased  the plates, cups, napkins and other table decorations. I created a simple centerpiece of  varying shades of pink and purple artificial flowers that I found lying around in the garage (leftovers from other projects). For the two side centerpieces I purchased to glasses from the dollar store and filled them with gumballs and pixie sticks. The teal stones and pink gems scattered around are also from the local dollar store.

I wanted the cake to complement my decorations so I purchased a ready made, chocolate layer cake from the local bakery.  I placed the cake on a large round platter (dollar store) and placed some ready made teal cookies around it. The cake is embellished with pink gemstones purchased from the dollar store. Make sure you remove these before serving! :) The top ribbon is part of the three pack of ribbons purchased at the dollar store. The other two ribbons were used to decorate the bottom of the glasses with the gumballs and pixie sticks.

If I can do this, then ANYONE can do it too. All it takes is a few dollars and some creativity!

Thanks for taking a look. This is my first post and I hope there will be many more to come!