Holidays

Christmas Village Tree – Michaels Dream Tree Challenge

5 · Nov 14, 2016 · Leave a Comment

It’s my favorite time of the year… It’s time to starting thinking about CHRISTMAS!

Don’t you just love going to your friend’s homes to check out their Christmas tree every year? I know I do!

It’s so fun to see everyone’s creativity and their take on this time honored tradition. Thanks to Michaels, we get to do that on a much bigger scale. Every year the Michaels Makers are challenged to create their own dream tree and you get to join in on all of the fun and take a peek at all of these fun creative trees.

First off, let’s talk trees… Michaels has their largest tree assortment this year, including colored and flocked trees. Check out all of their trees, ornaments and coordinating holiday décor on Michaels.com.

I have the 7.5 ft. Pre-Lit Jasper Cashmere Tree and we are in LOVE with it. It uses the innovate Quick Set™ technology that makes assembly SUPER EASY!

This year, I decided to go with a Christmas village theme for our tree…

I picture this as a little alpine village on the side of a mountain all snowy and white. Each little home lights up to give the village that cozy feeling of home.

Instead of going with traditional Christmas colors, I opted for more of a wine and pink for the accent colors, sticking mainly with snowy white as the primary color.

In the background of the tree, my talented daughter drew more of the village on our blackboard wall and topped that with the Christmas Star as a reminder of the true meaning of Christmas. I LOVE how it turned out.

{Ignore the weird honey oak trim in the back, we’re still in a rental… Boo!}

Little Alpine towns also have little woodland creatures that are hidden among the forrest and I made sure to include our little friends.

I tucked them more inside the tree to add a little extra charm to the scene. We all know that they like to stay hidden away from the hustle and bustle of town. That’s our family’s favorite part, all of the hidden animals peeking through.

I found these gorgeous light-up stars and the marquee snowflake to add to the scene.

One little trick that I have is to hot glue your basic ball ornaments to gather into clusters. That gives your tree a more polished, professional look.

Another thing I did was to take a great, large basket/chest from Michaels and cover it with yarn pom-poms.

I had so much fun sitting with my girls, watching The Holiday making poms together!

Inspired to start decorating your own tree? Make sure you visit Michaels’ blog, The Glue String, to see the rest of the Michaels Makers’ dream holiday trees that were created this year.

An InLinkz Link-up

No-Bake Pumpkin Cheesecake Recipe

12 · Oct 20, 2016 · Leave a Comment

Love it or hate it, pumpkin is the flavor of Fall and no-bake pumpkin cheesecake is the way to enjoy the season. Give your oven a break and make cheesecake!

The minute the air has a slight chill it time to whip out the boots, scarves and all things pumpkin spice. From lattes to muffins pumpkin has become the official flavor of Fall. Our family is rather ambivalent on the subject. We don’t run out mid August and start stalking the Starbucks guy asking when the PSL (Pumpkin Spice Latte) release date will be, but we do enjoy a good pumpkin muffin or dessert. We especially LOVE pumpkin pie around Thanksgiving.

I have been hosting our family’s Thanksgiving for several years now and yes, we love pumpkin pie but… I don’t love the pies taking up precious oven space on that all important day. I wanted to come up with something just as tasty, but easier to make. Preferably, I would rather not have to bake it at all! That’s when I came up with this SCRUMPTIOUS no-bake pumpkin cheesecake using my favorite International Delight Simply Pure Vanilla Creamer as a base for the cheesecake.

If you haven’t tried it yet, Simply Pure is just that… Simply milk, cream & sugar. Here are the ingredients.

INGREDIENTS: SKIM MILK, CANE SUGAR, CREAM, CONTAINS 2% OR LESS OF: NATURAL FLAVOR, GUAR GUM.

What’s Guar Gum you ask? Well, it’s a natural food additive produced from the Guar Beans that helps to make Simply Pure nice and creamy. It stabilizes the other ingredients, acts as a thickening agent and doesn’t allow ice crystals to form. You eat it every time you eat ice cream too.

I chose Simply Pure Vanilla for the no-bake cheese cake but, if you’re head-over-heels for all things pumpkin and want to amp up the pumpkin game, you can always use International Delight Pumpkin Pie Spice Creamer. International Delight has all kinds of fun ideas that you can use their tasty creamers with. You know… Creamer isn’t just for coffee! Follow them on Instagram, Facebook or Pinterest to find all kinds of fun recipes.

This no-bake cheese cake is so easy to whip-up that you might even find yourself whipping it up for an everyday treat, not just a holiday one. I put together a quick video to show how easy it is to make this tasty dessert.

No-Bake Pumpkin Cheesecake Recipe

No-Bake Pumpkin Cheesecake

Save Print

Prep time

20 mins

Cook time

4 hours

Total time

4 hours 20 mins

This new take on pumpkin pie will win the day and save the oven! You might even find that you make it for a special treat anytime, not just the holidays.

Author: Heather // WhipperBerry

Recipe type: Dessert

Serves: 6-8

Ingredients

50 ginger snap cookies
5 tablespoons melted butter
2 cups Simply Pure Vanilla Creamer
2 packets unflavored gelatin
2 - 8 oz. packages room temperature cream cheese
15 oz. can pumpkin puree
3-4 tablespoons sugar
1 teaspoon pumpkin pie spice
1 teaspoon vanilla
a pinch of salt
Whipped cream

Instructions

Place 40 ginger snap cookies into a large Ziplock bag or the food processor. Using a meat mallet or rolling pin, crush the cookies into a sand like consistency. If using a food processor, pulse a few times to get the consistency of sand.
Place crushed cookies into a large bowl and combine with melted butter. If using the food processor, add the butter and pulse to combine the butter.
Spray a spring form pan with cooking spray and pour the cookie mixture into the pan. Using the bottom of a measuring cup, pack the cookie mixture into a nice layer of crust. Set the crust aside.
In a small bowl, pour ½ a cup of Simply Pure Vanilla Creamer and whisk in the gelatin packets. Set aside and allow the gelatin to bloom.
In a medium sauce pan, pour the remainder of the Simply Pure Vanilla Creamer and place over medium heat. Add the room temperature cream cheese and gently stir to combine the two ingredients.
Once the cream cheese has melted into the creamer add the pumpkin, pumpkin pie spice, sugar vanilla and salt. Whisk together and let come just to a light boil and then remove from the heat. Make sure to continue to stir occasionally.
Remove from heat and taste the mixture to make sure you have the right flavors. If you prefer your cheesecake a little sweeter, add more sugar. If you like it with a little more spice, add more pumpkin pie spice.
Pour the cheescake mixture into the spring form pan and place in the refrigerator for at least 4 hours.
When ready to serve, make up some more cookie crumbs with the ginger snap cookies reserving 6-8 for garnish. Sprinkle the crumbs onto of the no-bake cheesecake and then decorate with whipped cream clouds topped with cookies.

This is a sponsored conversation written by me on behalf of International Delight. The opinions and text are all mine.

Share a Little Scare with Free Printable Halloween Tags

11 · Oct 10, 2016 · Leave a Comment

I’ve partnered with NESTLE® PURE LIFE® to create this post! Enjoy!

You guys… Halloween is right around the corner!

Have you started making plans for the family? Have all the kiddos figured out what costume they want to wear? Have you figured out what treats you’ll handout? Classroom goodies… The list goes on and on!

I was at the store the other day and happened to wander into the Halloween section. As I walked up and down the isles I started to have a bit of a sugar overload and I hadn’t even had a piece of candy. So much candy sitting right there and the worst thing… It was on SALE!!!

There’s a minefield for ya!

It got me thinking though… Now don’t get me wrong, I’m not a candy hater, I just know that there are other options that might come in quite handy on Halloween. Like, how about little bottles of water? Now before you label me as the lame Mom who hands out year-old pretzels to the trick-or-treaters, hear me out.

I can’t even tell you how many times we have been out on our trick-or-treating trek around the neighborhood when one or ALL of the kiddos start to complain of being thirsty. I know you’ve been there. You’re at the furthest point of the neighborhood and all of a sudden, the kiddos are in total meltdown because they are parched!

Cue the Heavenly angel music… No worries, you’ve been to MY house and this is what we were giving out this year.

The cutest little water bottles EVER! They are from Nestlé and they are super cute for Halloween!

They are NESTLE® PURE LIFE® “Share-A-Scare™” Halloween Bottles and we LOVE them around here!

With these cute water bottles, that dreaded crisis will be a thing of the past. Plus, I don’t know about you guys, but my kiddos are drawn to water bottles like moths to a flame.

I don’t know what it is but they love their bottles of water and when they are fun and geared towards kids, they love them even more. Now these NESTLE® PURE LIFE® “Share-A-Scare™” Halloween Bottles are cute on their own, but I thought they could be extra cute if I created a fun little Halloween tag to go along with them to make them extra cute!

I had a little fun with the first one, Crystal Blood. How many of you remember Crystal Pepsi? If you don’t remember, it was clear Pepsi. Looked like 7-up, but tasted like Pepsi. Crazy huh?! I had this cute little vampire graphic and I wanted to make a label for the water bottle and the first thing I thought of was Crystal Pepsi (because it’s a bottle of water) Therefore, Crystal Blood was born. I may be the only one to get it, but it tickles my funny bone!

Now every good Halloween always has a cute little devil, right? I thought this one looked super cute holding a straw…

We can’t forget everyone’s favorite Jack ‘o Lantern. For this one, I thought it would be perfect to have a label for “Jack ‘o Lantern Tears… Drink them & Weep!” That there is PERFECT for a bottle of water!

These label are easy to download and print on card stock paper and then cut out with either scissors or a paper cutter.

Punch a whole in the top left corner and then tie them onto the bottle with some ribbon or twine and you’re in business!

They look so cute with the fancy bottles. Visit the NESTLE® PURE LIFE® “Share-A-Scare™” HERE to see where you can find these cute little water bottles in your area.

Then click HERE to download the printable Halloween tags and you’re in business! All those cute little trick-or-treaters will thank you as they hike around the neighborhood this Halloween!

Boo to You Free Halloween Printable

8 · Oct 5, 2016 · Leave a Comment

Eeeek! It’s that time of year again!

HALLOWEEN TIME!!!

We love all the fun stuff that comes with Halloween (not so much the scary stuff.) Getting to dress-up, decorate the house & all kinds of tasty treats!

Today, I’ve teamed up with my favorite friends at Jane.com for a fun Trick-or-Treat with Jane event.

I’ve been paired-up with a good bloggy friend of mine, Over the Big Moon to share some fun tricks and treats. I’ve been assigned the trick… I guess a fun way to “trick” out your house. I thought I would share a fun free printable that you could use to add to your Halloween decor…

It’s simple, but can look great on a mantel or gallery wall.

You can download it here

Make sure you’re following Jane on Instagram for all the other Tricks & Treats from other creative friends!

Holidays

No-Bake Pumpkin Cheesecake Recipe

You can download it here

HAPPY HALLOWEEN!

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