Christmas

Find the Gifts you know they’ll Love on eBay this Season

12 · Dec 8, 2016 · Leave a Comment

This holiday season, I’m swapping gifts with another blogger who loves to entertain for eBay’s holiday gift exchange. I’ve partnered with eBay to create this post! Enjoy!

Gift giving is my love language! I adore giving and yes, receiving gifts. Naturally, Christmas is one of my favorite times of the year. I remember the first Christmas that my husband and I shared. I spent months searching for the “perfect” gifts for him. Gifts that I knew that he would love and gifts that he didn’t even know he wanted.

As a person who loves to sit and try to figure out all of the clues when watching “Sherlock,” the concept of a “perfect” gift is a mystery I love to solve. As far as I am concerned… The Christmas game is afoot!

It’s no fun to just go and buy a generic gift that anyone with a pulse would mildly appreciate. The challenge is to know your friends and loved ones so well, that you can find something truly thoughtful that they will adore.

This holiday season I was invited to participate in eBay’s holiday gift exchange.

Did you know that eBay has all kinds of fabulous items direct from the manufacturer that are brand new and they have that lovely “Buy it Now” button that makes things so handy. It’s quick and easy and there is no bidding required. Did you also know that the world’s top brands sell new items directly on eBay at some of the best deals?

But, back to the gift exchange… I was invited to be a part of a secret gift exchange this season. I’ve been paired up with another blogger whose identity is under wraps. All I know is that they love to entertain. My challenge was to visit eBay and find some items that this hostess might love when she is hosting some of her fun gatherings. Now, this challenge wasn’t that hard because I love to entertain as well. I knew without a doubt that the gift they are waiting for was on eBay.

Since this is a blind gift exchange, I had to rely on my experience as a hostess. I know that some of my key ingredients for the perfect event are to have the right tools, the right decor & the right mood. I found items that would be perfect for all three areas on eBay!

Generally when I’m entertaining I am doing the majority of the cooking. I make sure to have some great recipes on hand and one of my favorite cookbooks is by Ina Garten, “Make it Ahead.” A staple in the entertainers tool kit in my opinion. Found it on eBay. Another one of my favorite kitchen tools when I’m prepping for a party is my KitchenAid Mixer. I honestly don’t know what I would do without that perfect tool in my kitchen. In my opinion, every good hostess needs to have one in their party tool kit.

You also need to have the right dishes & serving platters. That’s the fun part, making your party look beautiful. I found all kinds of fun serving items on eBay that any entertainer would love to have in their pantry. Not only do they serve a purpose for serving the food, they can be part of the all important decor for the event. The serving utensils are just as important as the cute gems you can set on the table to dress things up.

Next, you have the mood… No one wants to walk into a party and feel like they are waiting at the dentist for a filling! You need to turn down the lights, have beautiful candles to fill the room with soft light and a heavenly scent. You need to have the perfect music playing in the background on a stylish Bluetooth speaker. I found all of that on eBay as well. It’s perfect!

Now that I’ve found all of these great gift items for the entertainer, I have to pick one for my mystery hostess. I decided that…

No entertainer who loves to plan and prepare for parties should be without a KitchenAid Mixer! Shortly, my mystery gift exchange partner will receive a new KitchenAid Mixer on her doorstep from eBay and I can’t wait to see what she has picked out for me!! Stay tuned, I’ll be sharing what I receive on Facebook & Instagram.

What are you on the hunt for? Who do you need to find the perfect gift for this year? Find the gifts you know they’ll love on eBay this gift-giving season.

Cinnamon Roll House Centerpiece

11 · Dec 5, 2016 · 1 Comment

There is something truly magical about baking during the Christmas season. I have very fond memories in the kitchen with my family during the holidays making all kinds of goodies. Cookies, fudge, peanut brittle, my favorite cinnamon roll and all kinds of candies and goodies to pass out to friends and family. I loved to watch my parents in the kitchen working on these projects together. When I was little, my Dad never really spent a whole lot of time in the kitchen except for Christmas. That was the time of year he would join my Mom in the kitchen helping her make up the magical Christmas goodies and making up the scrumptious plates that would be whisked off to our loved ones.

The years we made cinnamon rolls were some of my favorite. As I thought back on those memories, I thought it would be fun to make a centerpiece for our Christmas table out of cinnamon rolls. I mean really, that’s a perfect holiday centerpiece!

I headed off to Walmart to get some inspiration and boy did I find it. I found this fun Gingerbread House Bundt Pan and thought it would be great to make the house out of CINNAMON ROLLS!

It would bring back those memories in the Christmas kitchen with my parents along with bringing in a new tradition with my kiddos. To make it even easier, I decided to make our cinnamon roll house with Pillsbury Grand Cinnamon Rolls. Super easy & tasty as well.

You know when you dream up an idea and then cross your fingers and toes in hopes that it will work? Well, I was beyond thrilled with how this one turned out and it hardly took any of our precious holiday time to make the magic happen. Here’s a quick little video to show you how to make one as well…

I’m mean really, how fun is that?

All you really need to do is…

Spray your pan with non-stick cooking spray.

Layer your Pillsbury Grands Cinnamon Rolls in the gingerbread house pan. I used three cans of Pillsbury Grands Cinnamon Rolls Make sure to press it a bit into the nooks and crannies.

Bake at 350˚ for 50-60 minutes.

You may need to cover it with foil after about 30 minutes to avoid over browning on the bottom.

Once it is baked all the way through (make sure to test with a cake tester), remove from the oven and let sit for 5 minutes and then turn out onto a cooling rack.

I dressed mine up with holiday greenery, some cranberries, powdered sugar and then at the last minute thought I would try it with a drizzle of the icing on top.

First, I laid down some of the greenery on a cake plate.

Then I placed my cinnamon roll house on top and dusted it with powdered sugar and placed a few cranberries and a festive sprig of holly at the door…

Then I thought, you could either leave it like this with the powdered sugar, you could even decorate it with Royal Icing just like a gingerbread house OR, you could drizzle the icing that comes with the Pillsbury Grands Cinnamon Rolls on top of the roof.

I love it BOTH ways! I decided it didn’t need the full Royal Icing treatment. I love the rustic look of the powdered sugar and/or the Pillsbury icing. PLUS, it makes it so much easier to make and extra tasty as well.

So, what do you think? Are you inspired to make a Cinnamon Roll House for your Christmas table?

Disclaimer // This is a Pillsbury sponsored post. All thoughts, ideas and opinions are my very own. Rest assured, I will never promote a brand that I don’t truly love and use in my every day life.

Peppermint Mocha White Chocolate Steamer

11 · Nov 22, 2016 · Leave a Comment

As much as I adore pumpkin, I get even more excited about PEPPERMINT season! I totally remember the first time I had peppermint ice cream as a kid. It was back in the day when peppermint ice cream was only around during the Christmas season. I would save all of the little peppermint pieces in my bowl and savor them for hours after that little bowl of ice cream was long gone. It’s because of that love that I decided to try out a fun new flavor combination for this winter. Peppermint Mocha White Chocolate Steamer… Yep, YUM!

It’s not really a full hot chocolate, it’s more of a steamer (flavored hot milk) with a little bit of white chocolate. Yep, once again… YUM!

I used my favorite International Delight Peppermint Mocha Creamer for this steamer, but you can also create a scrumptious Sugar Cookie steamer with the International Delight Sugar Cookie Creamer. Another perfect pairing with some warm milk!

For the peppermint mocha white chocolate steamer, I placed a few pieces of white chocolate in the bottom of my mug…

I just happened to find some white chocolate with some peppermint in it, so that was perfect. I added the milk and let the chocolate melt a little bit before I added the creamer.

Then I added a splash of the creamer and stirred it with a peppermint stick or peppermint lolly.

The peppermint melts in the the hot milk and creates a scrumptious holiday treat! Your family and friends are going to LOVE it, it’s like Christmas in a cup!

Looking for more ways to create special holiday memories with International Delight? You can sign-up for their newsletter for great tips, recipes and I’m sure a coupon or two! You can also follow ID on Facebook, Instagram & Pinterest.

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

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

Christmas

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