3 Easy Holiday Crafts With Hersheys Chocolate kisses

Every once in a while I get the opportunity to try out products for various companies. Mostly for the craft industry but lately I have had other types of companies and products come my way. My life (although full of crafting) has so many aspects to it... all of which I love to share here on my blog, Twitter, facebook or instagram.

It's me. It's my family. It's my life. It is probably very similar to yours too. And that's why I share, because chances are we all are going through similar things, like similar things and well if I can share something helpful, I will.

This summer I started receiving Voxboxes from Influenster to try out various products. I receive these products complimentary with no compensation other than the products themselves. I get the products, test them out and share my experiences with them. Pretty simple and it helps to break up the monotony of contract work with this little sprinkle of fun. It is a lot of fun to get a mystery box of goodies to play with.
 

This seasons Voxbox was for Hershey's Kisses (#merrykissmas). This makes sense for our family since we bake and craft a whole lot of stuff for the holidays and Hershey's are really easy to add into the mix.

Kids Craft- Puffy Candy Garland

This craft is perfect to do with kids, even younger kids. Using broader point needle helps to teach kids some good hand eye coordination, but also give them the basic skills of sewing. I recommend supervising kids as they create this even though it is such a simple craft.

Supplies:
dental floss
tapestry needle or other broad needle
puffy craft balls
Hershey Kisses
cute crafty kids :)

To begin simply take a string of dental floss and thread your needle. I only have the thread pass through once to keep the thread thin. tie the end to help prevent your garland from falling apart. Proceed to thread sequences of kisses and puffy balls. We did 3 puffy balls to 1 kiss. This can also be a great time for kids to work on color pattern sequences as well. You can structure this as a learning tool for kids or you can just let them have at it and create. Your choice, either way its fun, easy and something they accomplish which is always a win. When you are done tie off the end. Kids can gift wrap this and give it to friends, this can be a candy/craft garland that they share with a friend as a part of a crafty gift basket... truly the possibilities are endless with this. After the gift is given, the kisses can be eaten and the puffy balls can be used to help learn counting, or for older kids they can be used for crafts. In our family when our children were younger, these puffy balls were used as currency in our home... so seriously the sky is the limit with this craft and the creative ways you can integrate it into your home or gifts.

In Case of Emergency "Relax" Kit

My first craft I made with my Hershey Kisses was some hostess style gifts. I gave these to the brave moms who helped me wrangle 15 girls for my daughters 9th birthday party last week. It didn't take long, but it was a nice way to share a treat with my friends who helped me so very much.


supplies:

string or twine
2x2 white cardstock
ink
stamp- Collage of Digits- Unity Stamp Company (Liz Hicks Studios)
scissors
washi tape
bottled drink
hersheys kisses

To create these is super simple. I made the 2x2 cards by stamping the cardstock, adding some white washi tape and then writing on the card my sentiment "hugs and kisses". From here I tied the card around the neck of my soft drink and tied the string into a bow. I simply added the kisses with washi tape to add some chocolate to my gift because seriously... after 2 hours with (15) 8-9  year old girls... who wouldn't need a little chocolate?

Peanut Butter Blossom Cookies

Every year our neighborhood gals get together for a cookie exchange. It is by far my favorite time we get together because well, we eat... we chat and we all leave with a bunch of cookies... It's like an Oprah's favorite things moment for me :)

This year my neighbor made my kids favorites- Peanut Butter Blossom Cookies


If you really want to make something quick and easy... these are them. You can pick up the two ingredients (peanut butter cookie dough and hershey kisses) that you need at the store. If you have a little more time you could use this recipe here.



But seriously if you are in a pinch... all it takes is just these two ingredients to make these cookies happen. Super easy.

If you are interested in learning more about the Influenster program click here.

Hopefully this gives you some quick and easy ideas for some homemade treats.

Enjoy your weekend!

~Liz Hicks ♥

Chocolate Covered Caramel Wrapped Marshmallows- AKA The Scotchmallows

When I was younger my aunt worked for See's Candies. This meant every Christmas there would be some sort of sweet treat for each family and one of those tasty lollipops or a small assortment of candy sticks for each of us children. Even Easters would involve some of the dotted gum drops and of course... those lollipops.

With every mall visit, I was always so happy to stop by the See's shop and get my free piece of candy, as I grew older I still made it a point to drop by See's with every shopping trip, only this time to purchase candy out of guilt for all the free candy I had eaten through the years.

 From Apricot Delights, to Mint Truffles to Marsh Mints to well... just about any other candy they had there... my favorites changed just about every season :)

One of my consistent favorites has been the Scotchmallows. I mean who doesn't love butter caramel, wrapped around a sweet marshmallow and then dipped in dark chocolate?

Once in a while I will get a craving for something and I just have to make it. A few weeks ago it was for These Scotchmallows in which resulted in an in depth research project via the internet to find just the right recipe.

This recipe is a hack in order to make these beauties quicker and easier. Of course the original is much more flavorful, but momma doesn't have time for that.... so this recipe offers the flavor of homemade with the convenience of store bought for a few steps.

DIY Scotchmallows 

Ingredients:

1 cup- Ghirardelli's semi-sweet chocolate morsels

1 bag- mini marshmallows

PLUS

Caramel: (Recipe found at Not So Humble Pie)

2 cups granulated sugar
2 cups heavy cream

1 cup light corn syrup

1/2 teaspoons salt
4 1/2 tablespoons unsalted butter
generous pinch salt

Find full recipe for caramel here.

TIPS: The recipe is really easy to follow although time consuming. I recommend following the recipe and timing as recommended as it really does take some time to let the caramel slowly cook. Also you will want a clean, flat area to let your caramel rest. A marble slab or greased pan are recommended in the recipe. Since I don't make enough candy to justify a marble slab I used some plates that were greased and still had some issues with the caramel sticking. Even if the caramel sticks, you can still pull most of it off and use it. You might want to heat the dish up a bit to help release your caramel. Just don't heat it to much as you want your caramel to be firm yet pliable when you are working with it.

Once you complete the caramel, it has cooled and is ready to be worked with it is now time to wrap your marshmallows. This is where store bought comes in great. The original recipe (above) has some great homemade marshmallows that would be HEAVEN in your candy... I just don't have the time or patience right now to add it to my recipe and found that in a pinch... the mini marshmallows (if fresh) worked well and were very well received.

After you have wrapped your caramel around your marshmallows. prepare your chocolate by melting it according to the directions on the bag. I would start with 45 seconds in a microwave and progressively add more time in 15 second increments as needed. If you are using more than 1 cup of chocolate than you might want to double the initial time.

To dip your caramel wrapped marshmallows use two tooth picks to help you roll and stabilize your bon bon as you cover it with chocolate. 

Allow your chocolate covered caramel marshmallow dry on wax paper and cool at room temperature. If your chocolate is not setting correctly, you can move it to a cool refrigerator but make sure to allow your candies to settle at room temperature before serving them. The caramel will harden when cooled and will not be fun for guests to take a bite out of (ouch!).

This may seem like a time consuming recipe but it is actually pretty easy and super yummy. I hope you'll give it a try... it truly is worth it!

In case you missed past years recipes.... Find them here.

Dark Chocolate Ganache Truffles

Peppermint Cookie Crunch Bark  

Oreo Mint Truffle Cake Pops

Apple Crumble Pie

These recipes are some of the most pinned and viewed posts on my site PLUS a favorite for our family and friends too...

Wishing you some wonderful baking fun this season!

~Liz ♥

 

How to Make a Sweet Garland in just 3 Easy Steps

I am a HUGE fan of my projects serving a purpose in my home. I love when something I have creating can serve multiple purposes, it is kind of like multiple projects all wrapped into one! This tree garland is one of those projects... After the holidays this can easily be used in my daughters room decor all year long.

SUGAR PLUM TREE GARLAND

SUPPLIES:

Smoothfoam 1.5 inch balls
scraps of fabric in 1/8th to 1/4 INCH strips (these will be super thin)
glue gun for foam
scraps of lace, tulle and muslin for the spacers
optional: Clear thread

TIP: For this project, I used scraps of clearance fabric. This fabric was on clearance for $4 a yard at my local craft store, I maybe needed 1/8th of a yard so that puts each cut at about $0.50 each.

Step 1 Create Fabric Balls: (This is super duper easy...)
take your fabric and cut it into 1/8 to 1/4 strips. You can traditional cut with scissors or rip it for frayed edges. NOTE: try and keep your fabric strips thin as this will wrap easier.

 

Glue one end of your fabric to your foam ball. I used a foam hot glue gun to prevent melting. This works great to keep the fabric secured your your foam.

Wrap fabric around your foam ball until covered. You can cut and reposition your fabric and can glue down any rough edges as you go. This is why having thin pieces of fabric works best. the thicker the width, the more likely you are to get puckers of fabric you will have to glue down.

 Here is what the fabric looks like if it is too wide, I had to glue down the right side pucker.

Here is what it looks like when the fabric strips are thinner, creating a smoother application.

Step 2 Add filler fabric

For this I simple took 1x12 inch strips of white lace, muslin and sparkly glittered tulle and created "swags" in between each of the fabric covered balls.

TIP: Glue all three fabric edges together before attaching them to your balls.

You have two options on how to attach your fabric you your balls.

1. You can sew them with a tapestry needle and transparent thread
   
   
   
2. You can hot glue gun them together

Once you have one end of your fabric trio glued to your first ball, lightly braid or twist your fabric allowing all of the fabrics to show.

Continue this till you have one continuous strand of garland (make sure to add fabric to both ends anchoring your garland with fabric to hang if needed).

Step 3 EMBELLISH!

This is my favorite step! Add scraps of tulle, netting, sequin fabric or any colorful fun trim you can find. I used scraps that I have had in my stash for a while. The basic idea is that you want to add depth and texture to your garland through different types of fabric.

I LOVE the way this turned out and I extremely LOVE the fact that it can be used year round since I didn't use traditional holiday colors. The nice thing is that as you go to create your own garland you can add WHATEVER you want in WHATEVER color you want. This project is totally versatile and customizable to YOUR needs :)

The Smoothfoam balls I used were nice and light weight, didn't shed and kept their shape well during construction.

Thanks for stopping by!

~Liz Hicks ♥

Shining a little JOY on recycled crafting

I kind of have a thing for turning trash into treasure. I guess it comes from my environmentalist mom but every time I look at a jar, a lid or even a plastic yogurt container I often think of things I can reuse them for around the house...give them a second life.

Of course these ambitious ideas never really seem to fit time wise into my life so through the year I tend to grow a collection of items... well today I am putting them to work!

JOY Luminaire Home Decor

Step 1- Frost the Glass

To begin these re-purposed luminaire, grab 3 spaghetti sauce jars clean and label free.

Using vinyl, cut out your designs. I used my ScanNCut and some of the built in snowflake and letter designs for this project. My machine settings were blade depth 2, preasure 2 and cut speed 1. Place the designs onto your clean glass surface. Contact paper offers the cleanest application.

Add a generous layer of etching cream to your glass and allow to process according to directions. I let it process for 15 minutes and used Etch-All etching creme.

Step 2: Colorize your jars

I use a turquoise permanent ink from Clearsnap to add some texture and color to the frosted glass. This helps to make the frosted glass pop with color and you can vary the saturation of the color just by adding more ink.

Step 3: Decorate and Display!


Add a little garland or tinsle to the top of your jars to cover up the lip of the jar and then display your jars with white tulle in them for day display.

Or instead of tulle, add some tealights for the dark to use these jars as luminaires.

These little recycled beauties are great night or day and can be created to be used all year around. These have a holiday twist but you can easily change the designs and make these work for any season. Its a great way to repurpose those jars and add a little style to your yard or home.

Thanks for stopping by today, I hope you will continue on the hop and use the link below to check out some more fun ideas to get creative during the holiday season.

Designer Craft Connection
[ Hop back ] [ Hop forward ]

Thanks again!

~ Liz Hicks ♥

Creative DIY- Handmade Holidays

I want to take a moment to share with you one of my FAVORITE recipes for the holidays. Now for those of you who have followed my blog for a while may recognize it, but I just want to take a moment to re-share it since it is the perfect time of year. This recipe really works great for all of the holidays but with Thanksgiving rounding the corner this is a sure hit.

Apple Crumble

You can find the recipe on the link but here is a great picture of the pies before they went into the oven to give you an idea of just how amazing they all are ♥

I have teamed up with some of my creative friends to collaborate on a new project. We will be sharing some Creative DIY inspirations on a regular basis as a group...

So make sure to check out the Creative DIY teams sites:

Eileen Hull
Jonathan Fong
Tanner Bob Bell
Jennifer Priest
Norma Rapko
Jen Cushman

Since we all have a different type of craft or industry, this makes for a very versatile group. And I have to say... talented too! I am very blessed to be able to work with these crafters.

If you have a chance, check out their blogs and share some love... I would love to hear your thoughts on what we are up to!

~Liz ♥

Handmade Holidays hoppin' GIVEAWAY

With Halloween done, I am excited to get into the holiday season. When I was younger, Thanksgiving was always a time that my family would drive into Los Angeles to see my grandparents. MY mother's family would all gather together, and I would have a chance to see them all and catch up with my cousins. I have fond memories of spending Thanksgiving night with my grandfather passing out our leftovers families less fortunate than ours and that maybe didn't have a whole lot of family in the area to celebrate with. I can still remember the grateful happy faces each year as we brought our meager offerings that meant so much to these families.

What I love about Thanksgiving is the beautiful memories that I have of my family spending time together. It fills my heart each year. This year we will not be able to go home for the holidays so we will be on our own for Thanksgiving in Colorado. Although it does make me a bit sad, my hope is that I can help to create new memories for our family and make the best of it. Nothing beats family, but even just a little family of five getting together is enough to be thankful for.

This year I am making custom name tags for the five of us. It isn't much but it will help to give our kids a little something personal to have on their seat when we sit down for dinner.

 Leather and Wood ScanNCut holiday Place cards

supplies: ScanNCut electronic cutting machine by Brother International (TM) , Wood veneer paper by Splash of Color, Cardstock by Die Cuts with a View, Leather (found at local craft store) button from Little Yellow Bicycle, Ink from Clearsnap ink and stamps are Liz Hicks artisan designs for Unity Stamp Co.

For this project I started off with a few simple items. I had a left over leather flower that I had cut out with my ScanNCut by Brother International (TM) so I knew I wanted to add it in some how.

I picked colors of cardstock and a wood veneer paper to create a warm color concept with some text.

 

 First start by cutting 5x5 squares out of your base cardstock. For your next piece (the wood veneer paper) cut it 1/2 inch smaller than half of your card (so when the card is folded, cut your second piece a 1/2 inch small then the front of your folded card)

Proceed to adhere your wood veneer paper to our card.

Next, take your off white paper and cut it 1/2 in smaller than your wood veneer paper. Use your favorite stamp to add accents to your white on the right side. For this project I used my licensed  stamps set from Unity Stamp Co.

Next take some foam squares and crafty power tape and put your name card together.

 Here is the card blank, You can add names and stitching if you'd like to make it more decorative.

I have added my name to this one... I think I will make a different one for each of us based on what we all like, or it might even be fun to have a member of the family decorate each others...  overall the basis of the name cards is to have something special at your dinner and to provide some family fun time.

Here is a bit of detail of the leather I cut in my ScanNCut. I used my deep blade at a 12 setting and cut it twice to make sure it cut all the way through. Now this may be to deep for your settings, so always make sure that you start low and and work your way up.

So here is a list of the other blogs that are participating in today's hop but I want to make sure that you head on over to Denise Hahn's blog as she is next on the list from here... Check out her AMAZING work here: Denise Hahn- http://inmyblueroom.blogspot.com/

And if you want to pop around to the other participants here you go!

November 3:

Clearsnap http://blog.clearsnap.com

Craft Attitude  http://www.jonathanfongstyle.com/blog/

Smoothfoam http://www.smoothfoam.com/blog/

Donna Salazar Designs  http://donnasalazardesigns.blogspot.com/

Walnut Hollow http://walnuthollowcrafts.wordpress.com/

100 Proof Press http://www.100proofpress.com/_blog/Blog

Graphic45 http://g45papers.typepad.com/

ICE Resin http://iceresin.com/icequeen/

Stampendous http://stampendousblog.wordpress.com/

Sizzix – Eileen Hull Designs http://eileenhull.blogspot.com/

Jamie Dougherty http://www.jamiedoughertydesigns.com/#!blogger-feed/c12za

Nathalie Kalbach www.nathaliesstudio.com

Jen Goode http://www.100directions.com/

Kathy Cano-Murillo http://www.craftychica.com/site/

Tanner Bell   http://www.craftteen.com

Jennifer Priest http://hydrangeahippo.com

Jen Cushman http://jencushman.wordpress.com/

Adrienne Ford http://bry-and-i.blogspot.com/

Joanne Fink http://www.zenspirations.com/home/

Vicki O'Dell http://vickiodell.com/

Liz Hicks http://blogerisms.blogspot.com/   (YOU ARE HERE, Yay!)

Denise Hahn http://inmyblueroom.blogspot.com/

Courtney Chambers http://www.alittlecraftinyourday.com

Tami Mayberry http://tamimayberry.blogspot.com/

Norma Rapko http://normarapko.blogspot.com/

I love this time of year and that I get to work with some amazing designers... It really starts to feel like the holidays when you can get together with friends and feel festive in a fun and crafty way. It is a warm welcome to some family time and I love it so much ♥

I hope this project encourages you to take even just a quick minute to create a custom and personal feel to your holiday... there are so many ways to do this, I would love to hear what you are planning.

Thanks for stopping my today!

xoxo,

Liz Hicks

Dark Chocolate Ganache Truffles Recipe

Within my down time, I have had some fun experimenting with some recipes. Tonight we have a Cookie Exchange in our neighborhood and although it is cookies that are exchanged... I have yet to make a cookie. Last year I made these Oreo Mint Truffle Cake Pops and the year before it was my Peppermint Cookie Crunch Bark. I guess I am just a rebel like that. This year I decided to create this recipe for Chocolate Truffles by Food Networks Ina Garten. Although that was the plan... I ended up changing things up a bit and adding my own twist.

Dark Chocolate (Chili) Ganache Truffles

yields about 4 dozen

Let me start off by prefacing this recipe as the combination of a few different obsessions that I have found myself guilty of.

1. I love chocolate. Period.
2. I watched Chocolat once about 10 years ago and became OBSESSED with the idea of chili chocolate... So much that when I was pregnant with our second son I craved it and unfortunately it was not popular then and I couldn't find it anywhere (this was in my pre-make-it-myself days).
3. Ganache. I finally learned what this creamy goodness was called a few years ago (after eating a box of truffles one Christmas with my Mother in Law, pretty sure I ate more than her, lol). 

So with these few details swirling in my head it was just a matter of time that they all surfaced at once in the form of a new obsession... to create a truffle that was sweet with a mild spicy kick.

Ingredients

• Lindt Chili Bar (3.5 oz package) *Optional flavor, if chili is not your thing, sub in one of the other chocolate flavors mentioned, or any other that fancies you)
• Lindt 90% Cocoa Bar (3.5 oz package)
• Lindt Sweet Dark Bar (3.5 oz package) 
• One bag (10 oz.) Semi-Sweet Dark Chocolate Chips
• 16oz. Heavy Whipping Cream (the little guy carton)
• 1 tsp. Vanilla Extract
• 1/2 cup Cocoa Powder
• 1/2 cup Confectioner's (powdered) sugar

Instructions

Chop Chocolate bars and Chocolate chips so that it can easily melt. I recommend using a food processor if possible, if not pieces like the size shown below are easy to cut with a knife. Place all chocolate in a heat proof bowl.

Heat the cream in saucepan just until it boils. Turn off the heat and allow the cream to sit for 20 seconds. Pour the cream through a fine-meshed sieve into the bowl with chocolate. With a wire whisk, slowly stir the cream and chocolates together until the chocolate is completely melted. Mix in vanilla. Set aside at room temperature for 1 hour.

This is where I had a little trouble, and well I think it had something to do with the fact that I was creating a double batch of the original recipe, so I gauged my wait time until my ganache had settled up a bit. By this I mean that it had been allowed to solidify a bit and become maliable with your hands to shape. I recommend starting by allowing your chocolate to sit at room temperature until you can scoop your ganache and not have the remaining ganache fall within where you scooped (so it is just a little solid). Take a regular table spoon and scoop out enough ganache to form your truffle, about enough to make a truffle about the size of a grape. Place spoon fulls on to a cookie sheet covered in parchment paper. Allow to harden in the fridge for about 30 minutes.

From here take the 1/2 cup of cocoa and powdered sugar and mix thoroughly together in a bowl. Take each spoon full of ganache and place it in the powdered mixture one at a time, first coating them pressing ganache into a circle. Once formed, coat again with powdered mixture. Place on a new piece of parchment paper on your cookie sheet. Once all truffles are rolled. Place your treats into your refrigerator and allow them to harden. I recommend allowing the truffles to set overnight or at least until they are firm. The original recipe states to serve at room temperature, but I would serve them fresh out of the refrigerator. I kind of like them a little more firm.


I hope that this recipe finds you well and hungry... Let me know if you try it out, it is messy, tempting and addictive... but a worth while recipe to spend some time and have fun with. I am using this as my gift giving recipe for the year. I think that these will bring a lot of smiles this Christmas :) If you have ANY questions... feel free to email me and I would be happy to help :)

Thanks for stopping by,

~Liz Hicks ♥