Weekend Football Dip

Football season is in full swing and as the weather gets cooler, my husband spends many a weekend afternoon watching "the big game" with friends or with our puppy... : ) This is a fast, super-easy dip to throw together for a half-time snack that's a surefire crowd pleaser!

Ingredients:

Tortilla chips (for dipping)
1 block cream cheese
1 can hormel chili - no beans
shredded cheese

Melt cream cheese in the microwave until soft and gooey.

Add chili and mix together.

Sprinkle liberally with shredded cheese.

Bake at 350 degrees until the cheese is melted and bubbly. Serve hot with tortilla chips for dipping. ENJOY!

I am so close to being done with graduate school for the semester - I'm finishing up a 20 page paper that I'll present in class on Monday and then I'm FINISHED! Woo hoo! That means that starting next week you'll be seeing a lot more of me around here - so check back often for a whole lot of holiday crafty goodness!

I hope you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving!

November Cupkins - Extra Helping!

The first Monday of the month has long since passed but Meg and I couldn't resist adding an "extra helping" of November Cupkins in honor of Thanksgiving. To see Meg's Leftover Cranberry Sauce Muffins, just click on the Cupkins logo above and hope over to her place. Yum!

For my cupcake, I made Sweet Potato Cupcakes with Cream Cheese Frosting!


Cupcake Ingredients
- 1 2lb can of sweet potatoes in syrup
- 1 cups flour
- 2 tsp baking powder
- 1 tsp coarse salt
- 2 tsp cinnamon
- 1/2 tsp nutmeg
- 1 cup unsalted butter
- 1 cup sugar
- 1 cup dark brown sugar
- 4 large eggs
- 2 tsp vanilla extract

Directions
- Drain sweet potatoes and rinse with water. Mash in bowl. Measure two cups worth and set aside for cupcakes.



- Whisk dry ingredients and set aside. Cream butter and both sugars until pale and fluffy. Add eggs, one at a time, then beat in the 2 cups of mashed sweet potato and the vanilla. Reduce mixer speed and add flour mixture in small batches, beat until incorporated.





- Fill cupcake liners 3/4 full and bake for approx 24-26 minutes at 400 degrees.



- Cool completely before frosting.

Frosting Ingredients
- 1 cup unsalted butter
- 12 oz cream cheese
- 3/4 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 4 cups powdered sugar (thanks for catching this omission in the original post, Lindsey!)

Directions
- Beat butter and cream cheese about 2-3 minutes until light and fluffy. Reduce speed to low and add sugar, one cup at a time. Add vanilla. Mix until smooth. Refrigerate before piping.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Holiday Invitations 1

One thing I love about the Holidays is that they give me lots of opportunities to play host. I LOVE to play host! Travis and I are hosting a Holiday get together for his team at work, so I whipped up some invitations for him to pass out.



Instead of handwriting the text, I printed it up on my computer real quick, then used Stampin' Up! products to embellish it.



Stampin' Up! Products Used: Merry Moments Designer Series Paper, Chocolate Chip Cardstock, Real Red Cardstock, Old Olive Cardstock, Real Red Polka-Dot Grosgrain Ribbon 1/2 inch, 1 1/4 inch striped Grosgrain Ribbon Old Olive.

I hope you're all having a lovely weekend!

Last Minute Make Up Bag...

Today is my good friend Kelly's 27th birthday. Happy Birthday, Kel!

I made last minute plans to take her to breakfast this morning (YUM!) and wanted a little gift to wish her a happy day. I was inspired by this makeup bag tutorial over at Scribbled Sentences and figured I had most of the supplies needed in my stash to whip up something similar.

Using the tutorial above as a guide, I sized my bag nine inches long by six inches tall. Everything was going really smoothly until I got to the part where I needed to add the zipper.

I've never done ANYTHING involving sewing in a zipper before! The first time I did it the zipper ended up upside down - oops! Eventually, after several pinpricks, and much use of my stitch ripper, I got the zipper in. I wish I could tell you how I did it - but I'm still not sure...

I think it turned out pretty well for my first time out. It's not perfect by any means... the zipper is not in perfectly even, and the bag itself is just a teeny bit lop sided... but I think with a couple more attempts I can get it just right. I've got a couple of ideas up my sleeve to change up the pattern a little bit.

Sorry the photos are dark... it was, ahem, 11:30pm or so when I got it finished (I didn't start until after I got back from class around 10:15pm!) and obviously the light wasn't too great! : )

Getting in the GROOVE...

Can you feel those holidays just creeping up on us? I have waaaay too many projects going at once and I'm starting to worry a little bit that I won't be able to get it all done! What I keep telling myself, though, is that once classes are over in two weeks - I'll have free days and nights to work at my leisure. It'll all get done, right?

I had an hour to spare this afternoon so I headed down to the craft studio for some pre-holiday project organization...

I hung a dry erase board and listed all of my projects with their due dates. Phew! A little overwhelming - but it feels good to have them all visually in front of me every time I walk into the studio.


I got out all of the holiday wrapping paper, gift bags, and tissue I had to see how much I had and what else I needed to get. I put it all in a box for easy access so I can grab as needed.


I've been purchasing gifts here and there since the summertime, and it's easy to forget what I bought and for who! So I labeled some paper bags with index cards and the person's name on it. I placed the appropriate gifts in bags - and will continue to add to them. I left them in plain view for easy access - and covered hubby's bag contents elaborately with tissue paper so he can't peek...


Now it's off to class - and then home to do some late night crafting... if you're paying attention you can see that two items are due TOMORROW - November 17th! Yikes! Nothing like waiting until the last minute!

How do you keep organized during the Holidays??