Christmas

Holiday Nog Panna Cotta Topped with Bischoff Cookie Crumbles

23 · Nov 29, 2015 · Leave a Comment

+ This Holiday Nog Panna Cotta Recipe Post brought to you by the folk at Silk +

It’s here, it’s HERE!

The Holiday Season is in full swing and that means it’s…

Our family ADORES Egg Nog, I mean really, who doesn’t? It’s rich and creamy and has all of the flavors of the season. The thing is… with all of the other goodies of the season, traditional Egg Nog may not be the best choice. A few years back I was introduced to the Silk Holiday Nog and our family hasn’t ever looked back!

With Silk Holiday Nog you can ring in the season with notes of nutmeg and cinnamon, and a smooth velvety flavor. You can raise a festive glass or two without feeling naughty because it’s made without eggs, dairy or saturated fat. This year they have a few additions to the Holiday Nog family, Almond Holiday Nog & Almond Holiday Nog Pumpkin Spice Flavor.

I’ve loved creating all kinds of Holiday Nog goodies throughout the years. Here are a couple of my favorites… Spice Cookies with Holiday Nog Glaze & Holiday Nog Pull-Apart Bread.

Today, I’m sharing my Holiday Nog Panna Cotta recipe. Holiday Nog is perfect for Panna Cotta because traditionally Panna Cotta is a rich creamy eggless custard. If you were making this with regular Egg Nog, you would be introducing eggs into the mix. With Holiday Nog, you can have all the flavor without the addition of eggs.

This recipe is PERFECT for the busy Holiday Season. It’s a cinch to make and it really has a huge bang for your buck. Forget slaving over a pie or cookies… Take a few minutes to whip-up a Holiday Nog Panna Cotta Recipe and you’re GOLDEN!

Holiday Nog Panna Cotta Recipe

2 cups Silk Holiday Nog

2 cups heavy cream

1 cup sugar

2 teaspoons vanilla extract – Homemade is the BEST!

1/4 teaspoon fresh ground nutmeg

2 packets of Knox Gelatin (aff link)

4 Bischoff Cookies (aff link)

In a medium sauce pan add your sugar,

Cream,

Holiday Nog,

vanilla,

and nutmeg.

Place over medium heat and bring to a light simmer. Once it starts to simmer, remove from heat and whisk in your gelatin. Pour into small 1 cup serving bowls and place in the refrigerator for at least three hours to set. Once the Panna Cotta is set, top with whipped cream and crushed Bischoff Cookies.

This recipe serves four.

It really can’t get any easier that that!!

Give it a try, your friends and family will LOVE YOU!!

For more Holiday Nog ideas and coupons visit the Silk Holiday Headquarters!

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

Simple Kid Friendly DIY Christmas Village

3 · Nov 28, 2015 · Leave a Comment

Who’s looking for something fun & simple to do this Christmas? Something even the kiddos will love!

This year, I’m looking to simplify. I want to simplify everything, the gift giving, the message, the decor. I want the Holidays to be more about the family and the true meaning of Christmas. Several years ago my family spent a month in Germany in December and we had a chance to enjoy a European Christmas that was simply magical. For the Germans the holiday is all about nature, simplicity & family. We fell in love! Ever since then I have wanted to create more of an old-world Christmas experience and this year is finally the year… I’m so excited!!

It’s all starting with my simple kid-friendly DIY Christmas Village. I wish I could take all of the credit for this, but I can’t. I was inspired by a friend of mine here in Lincoln from Little Red Cabin. She has this beautiful shop where she sells simple, yet stunning decor items for the home. She used to sell these Christmas Villages in her shop but she no longer carries them, therefore I had to make one of my own and of course put my WhipperBerry spin on them. It’s really quite simple, you only need a few items.

Christmas Village Supplies

2×2 Select Pine Board

BB Frösch Chalk Paint Powder

Behr Premium Plus Sample Pots FLAT – Mink & Decorator White

Krylon Premium Metallic Spray Paint – Copper Foil

DIY Christmas Village Instructions

The trickiest thing with this project is getting access to a saw. If you don’t have a saw, hit up your neighbors or family members. I’m sure someone has something you can use. I have a Rigid 10 inch Sliding Compound Miter Saw and it works like a dream for this project, but it isn’t the only saw that will work.

All you need is to be able to cut at an angle for this little village. There is no rhyme or reason when you’re cutting the little buildings. I made the little buildings roughly 3-4 inches tall, with all different types of angles for their roofs. I mostly used a 30-40˚ angle when cutting to tops of my buildings.

The only one that needs to be exact is the larger building in the center that you place your stencil on. For that one I used a 35˚ cut and made sure both sides of the building were the same hight.

Sand your blocks if needed. My wood cut so nice that I didn’t really need to sand them at all.

Now it’s time to paint your village. I knew that I wanted to keep some natural wood, Faux Stain some building with BB Frösch & then spray some of the buildings with copper spray paint for a metallic accent. I’ve see others use puffy paint for these kinds of projects but I liked the spray paint instead. If you have kids creating these then you can use puffy paint instead because they love it. I wrote a post about how to make your own puffy paint too!

Faux Staining & Painting with BB Frösch Chalk Paint Powder

This to me is my favorite part… I LOVE working with Chalk Paint! I use BB Frösch Chalk Paint Powder when I’m crafting. Typically Chalk Paint is too expensive for crafting, but not when you use BB Frösch. I mix the chalk paint powder with a sample pot of Behr Premium Plus Flat paint from Home Depot. The BB Frösch turns the regular paint into CHALK PAINT for a fraction of the cost.

It’s so easy to mix-up your chalk paint, here’s a quick video showing you how to do it.

For the White buildings, I just brush on the Decorator White BB Frösch Chalk Paint and because it’s has the all-natural mineral additives, it dries super quick! I don’t really bother to wax these guys, they don’t really need it. Plus, I like the look of the flat finish.

Now for the Faux Stain… You use this technique that I created when you want to see the natural wood come through. Traditionally people would use Stain for this, but I use BB Frösch because it’s so much easier. You can visit this post on WhipperBerry to learn how to Faux Stain.

I love how the faux stain turns out for this Christmas Village. I use the color MINK from Benjamin Moore for most of my Faux Staining. YES, I use the sample pots of Behr at Home Depot, but they have the color recipe for the Benjamin Moore colors in their computer. Just ask for Benjamin Moore Mink and they will be able to look it up.

Copper Buildings

Now for the copper, I use Krylon’s Premium Metallic Spray Paint in Copper Foil. It’s super simple and adds that little pop of copper that is so hot right now.

Just spray paint a couple of your buildings for that accent color.

Stencil

Now for the stencil…I’ve used a Swiss Cross, but you can use whatever you like. A star, snowflake, heart… Whatever you come-up with really. I cut my stencil out of vinyl on my Silhouette CAMEO but you can either buy a pre-made stencil or create one of your own.

I put the two pieces of cut wood together and then place the stencil on top.

Then paint with your desired color. ALSO, don’t forget that you can use both the positive and negative parts of the stencil. That way you don’t have to waste anything!

Peel-off the vinyl once it is dry and voilá… You have a stylish decorated building for your set.

You can also drill a hole into one of your buildings and add a star. I just glued a star ornament from Michaels to the top of a dowel and it fit perfect with the village.

I love this simple decor that is kid friendly. So many Holiday decorations are breakable and we’re constantly following the kiddos around telling them not to touch… With this simple Christmas Village they can touch and play with it all they want!

+ This was originally a guest post on 30 Handmade Days +

Better Than Sex Chex Mix Neighbor Gift

1 · Nov 16, 2015 · 1 Comment

+ This Chex Mix Neighbor Gift is brought to you by Chex™ +

Oh it’s that time of the year again! One of my favorites for sure. I LOVE creating fun new ideas for neighbor gifts.

There is just something magical about getting together with your kiddos and putting together some gifts to give to those you love. They don’t need to be expensive or time consuming at all. It’s really a chance to take something simple to a friend, neighbor or even Bob (the mail man) to let them know that you care. To let them know that you notice all of the little things they do day-in and day-out to make your life a little better.

My first offering for this year is a sinfully scrumptious treat…

BETTER THAN SEX CHEX MIX!!

Yea, I didn’t come-up with the name or the recipe, this amazing concoction is directly from the folks at Chex! That means it going to be fantastic.

Look at that crazy pile of yumminess!

It’s super simple to make and it’s packed full of all the goodies that everyone loves… caramel, brown sugar, chocolate, butter, Chex cereal, mini-marshmallows, mini-Reese’s cups. Yea, it’s kinda amazing, here’s a link to the RECIPE.

Now, once you have it all mixed up and ready to give to your friends and neighbors and Bob (the mail man), it’s time to package the goodies up. I’m going to share THREE easy ways to share this amazing treat.

First, I found a nice basket at Target, but I’m sure we all have some type of basket laying around that would work. I lined the basket with parchment paper and then filled it with the Better Than Sex Chex Mix. To decorate the basket, I used a metal Christmas ornament that I found at Rod Works. The ornament made the perfect decor for the basket. It has a metal hanger that I folded over the top of the basket and it secured it nicely in place. My lucky friends will not only receive and yummy treat, they will receive a cute basket and a Christmas ornament as well. Triple win!

Next idea, I filled a large half-gallon Ball Jar with our sinful concoction and then tied a bow (ribbon is from Michaels) around the middle for a simple yet scrumptious gift.

Want to make it even easier? Grab a large cellophane bag from Michaels and fill your bag with the Chex Mix and and tie it off with a bow and bam, your done! It couldn’t be any easier!

There you have it… One amazing Chex Mix recipe that your friends will be raving about, packaged three different ways. Time to add some Chex Cereal to your shopping list and start making some Holiday goodies. Visit Chex.com for even more fantastic Chex Mix ideas perfect for Holiday gift giving.

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

Old World Charm Christmas Tree

2 · Nov 1, 2015 · 3 Comments

+ This Old World Charm Christmas Tree post is brought to you by Michaels +

A few years ago my family was lucky enough to spend the month of December in Germany and France. We fell in love with the way they celebrate Christmas in Europe. They keep it simple, natural and all about family. I was enchanted with all of the simple decor that our friends in Germany used to decorate their homes.

Every year when the kiddos and I bring out the Christmas decorations we’ve always felt a little let-down, it just didn’t have that magical old world feel. It has been my dream to bring that same feeling to our home here in Lincoln. This year is the year! I have been working on all kinds of fun simple projects to bring that old world charm to our home for the holidays.

The very first project and the heart of the Holiday home is the Christmas Tree.

I started with the 7.5 ft Hartford Pine Christmas Tree from Michaels and then I found some fantastic natural wood elements that are perfect to create that rustic European look.

I added all kinds of texture with sprigs of berries and pine cones, perfect for that old world look. Michaels has these fun metal ornaments that you can decorate with all kinds of goodies. I wanted to keep the natural feel so I glued some wooden snowflakes in some and added some buffalo check ribbon to a few and it looked perfect.

I even drilled some holes in some candles from Michaels and fed some floral wire through the hole and wired them onto the tree to get that true old world feel. We won’t light them of course, they are just there for the effect.

I LOVE how this simple tree turned out. At the base of the tree I added a sign that I had painted to add a little pizzaz before the tree gets filled with presents.

So what’s your dream Christmas? Do you like old and rustic or are you all glitter and glam?

Inspired to start decorating your own tree? Make sure you visit Michaels’ blog, The Glue String, to see the other 49 Michaels Makers’ dream holiday trees that were created this year.

From now until November 14, you can get FREE shippingon all Christmas trees that are 6ft or taller on Michaels.com!
If you’re just getting started on your holiday decor, you can also check out some of the ornament projects and tutorials available on Michaels.com.

Disclaimer // This post is brought to you by Michaels however, all thoughts and ideas are my very own.

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