{Valentine's Wreath}

I found this grapevine wreath at Goodwill for $1.99! I remembered some sparkly red heart ornaments I bought a few years ago (Christmas clearance at IKEA) and knew just what I wanted to do with them.

I used the ruffler foot on my sewing machine to ruffle some white grosgrain ribbon, and then I sewed that onto some red lacy-edged ribbon (another Christmas clearance bargain) and added it to the bottom.

Happy Valentine's Day!

--Tammy

*Please check our Linky Party tab or our sidebar for the weekly parties we participate in*

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{Fudge Brownie Layered Ice Cream Cake}

A few years ago my niece was in town during someone's birthday and she offered to make the world's best ice cream cake...

UM...YEAH!

Go right ahead.

Turns out she was right. This cake rivals Baskin Robbins or Cold Stone any day.

Now this cake has become our family's tradition for birthdays. There just aren't enough birthdays in the year though. I could eat this every day!

The part that is the most fun is coming up with your favorite combination.

Ours is mint chocolate chip ice cream with oreos. But you could also use Grasshopper cookies...they are good, too. You can also do a chocolate-based ice cream and use Nutter Butters. The possibilities are endless with this cake!

You'll need:

1 box family size brownie mix

1/2 gallon ice cream

1 package oreos

1 bottle hot fudge (premium thick stuff)

Prepare brownie mix according to package directions, and pour batter into a greased springform pan. Bake for about 20 minutes (you'll want to underbake these a bit.. You won't be able to chew frozen, fully-cooked bites of brownie!). Cool completely.

Line the outside of the pan with whole oreos, pushing them down into the brownies a bit so they stay in place.

Spread half of the ice cream on top of the brownies:

Crush up the remaining oreos and sprinkle half of them on top of the ice cream:

Now it's time for the fudge. I like this Smuckers brand or Ms. Richardson's. But make sure it's the thick stuff that comes in the bigger bottle.

It's easiest to dollop it all over evenly and then start spreading it around.

This is the trickiest part...just spread it as evenly as you can.

Next, layer the rest of the ice cream on top of the fudge. This is a little tricky, too...I always have to use my finger to help, but then you can spread it smoothly and evenly with a hot spatula or something when you are done to make it nice and even.

 Finally, sprinkle the rest of the oreo crumbles on the top. Wrap it up in foil and freeze for several hours or overnight.

When you are ready to serve, remove the foil and undo the springform pan. You will be left with this beautiful masterpiece:

 Slice it, plate it, and ENJOY the heaven that is this cake!

-Tammy

*Please check our Linky Party tab or our sidebar for the weekly parties we participate in*

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{Revisiting Christmas Favorites}

We thought we would share some of our favorite Christmas posts from last year that might be just the idea you are looking for this year.

Simply click on the descriptions below the photos to be taken to the original posts where you can find all of the details, tutorials and recipes.

We hope we can inspire you in some way to make this holiday season one of the best!

{Garnished Gift Box}

{Pinecone Cheeseball}

{we WHISK you a BERRY KISSMAS}

{Butter Toffee}

{Handmade English Crackers}

{Peppermint Pretzel Kisses}

Enjoy!

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{Gingerbread Cupcakes}

My mother-in-law gave me these cute gingerbread man cupcake liners for my birthday last month. 

I knew that I couldn't bake just any old cupcakes in them...they were deserving of something special.

 They needed to GINGERBREAD CUPCAKES, of course!

Topped with these cute little gingerbread man sprinkles I found last year? Definitely.

Here is what the bottom of the liners look like. Cute, huh?

I scoured the internet for a great gingerbread recipe, and decided upon this one for old-fashioned sticky gingerbread, made with boiling water just like our great-great grandmas would have used. Or at least I imagine mine did ;)

And let me tell you...this recipe did not disappoint! It's just the texture and taste I was envisioning. Super yummy! And topped with some extra special cinnamon lemon cream cheese frosting?

Yuh. Uhh. Mmm.

{Old Fashioned Gingerbread}

Preheat oven to 325*.

In a large bowl, mix:

1 cup oil
1 cup sugar
1 cup dark molasses

Add:

2 large eggs

In a separate bowl, mix the dry ingredients thoroughly:

3 cups flour
1 tablespoon ground ginger
2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon ground cloves

Add to wet mixture.

Boil (in microwave):

1 cup boiling water

Add to water:

1 tablespoon baking soda

Once dissolved, add water (SLOWLY) to batter and mix until just combined.

Bake for about 25 minutes, until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.

{Cinnamon Lemon Cream Cheese Frosting}

1 cube butter (room temp)

8 oz light cream cheese (room temp)

1 tsp vanilla

2 tsp lemon juice

1/4 tsp cinnamon

Beat together until smooth, then add:

5-7 cups powdered sugar

depending on the consistency you want.

Enjoy!

-Tammy

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WINNERS - {Holiday Tags Giveaway}

It's time to announce our two lucky Blogiversary Giveaway WINNERS!

They are:

Congratulations, ladies!

Please email us at PeppermintPlum{at}Hotmail{dot}com with your full name and address and your tags will get shipped right out to you.

Thanks to everyone who entered!

Stay tuned for some more {yummy} holiday goodness...

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One Year Blogiversary {HOLIDAY TAG GIVEAWAY}

In honor of our ONE YEAR BLOGIVERSARY coming up this Tuesday, we wanted to have another GIVEAWAY to say thank you to all of our readers, old and new.

We have two sets of 5 distressed angel holiday tags to give away, which means there will be TWO lucky winners!

Each tag measures 4 in x 2 in.

The perfect addition to any holiday gift!

WOULD YOU LIKE TO WIN?

There won't be any jumping through hoops here.

Just LEAVE A COMMENT letting us know that you would like to win!

Comment entries will be accepted until midnight (MST) on TUESDAY, DECEMBER 6th.

Winners will be announced here on the blog on Wednesday, December 7th, so keep a close watch!

This giveaway is open to anyone, anywhere, as long as you can receive mail.  Just keep in mind that if you live outside of the United States, you may not receive the tags in time for Christmas this year, but you can always save them for next year!

(Please note:  These tags are for personal use only. Please do not sell or copy these tags exactly for your own monitary gain. Thank you.)

Thanks, again, to all of our loyal readers.

We couldn't (and wouldn't) have done it without you!

- Annie + Tammy -

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{A Gingerbread Christmas}

'Tis the season for holiday decorating...and my house is finally--after several days of boxes and messes and chaos--looking like it's Christmas Season. I love it!

 I have an obsession with gingerbread. Real, fake, anything gingerbread. I love the taste and the playfulness of the candy decor. I love the colors of the candy and white icing against the dark brown of the gingerbread.

I have dreams of living in the witch's house from Hansel and Gretel.

Wouldn't that be awesome?!

But if I lived there I wouldn't trick children into thinking I was a sweet little old lady and then try to fatten them up to eat them.

Here is a glimpse of my gingerbread collection:

I'm not usually one who likes "cutesy" decor, but when it comes to gingerbread decor, the cuter the better!

I've also collected gingerbread ornaments for years...and I have enough that I think I can title my 9-foot tree a "Gingerbread Tree."

Well, I figured it was high-time that my gingerbread tree had a tree topper that matched it's decor...so I made my own gingerbread star topper!

I bought some brown felt and white rick-rack and whipped this up in about 20 minutes.

I printed out a large star (using the basic shapes in MSword) for a pattern, cut out two layers of felt, sewed them right-sides-together, leaving a couple inches at the bottom open, turned it right-sides-out, stuffed it with batting and a wire coil (stolen from my old tree topper), and then whip-stitched the opening by hand, reinforcing the area around the wire coil to hold it in place.

I think my gingerbread tree is now, officially, properly topped.

Happy Holidays!

--Tammy

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{Benefit For Becca}

Hello, everyone!
We've been swamped lately (again) with life and family and work and vacations and holidays, but we wanted to make a quick post on behalf of our cousin, Becca.

"Becca was recently diagnosed with Myasthenia Gravis.

She is a wonderful wife and mother to 6 children, three under the age of 5 and two with autism. Needless to say, her hands were already very full before this debilitating disease hit.

Myasthenia Gravis is a chronic condition that causes muscles to tire and weaken easily. Common muscle groups that are affected may make it difficult to chew, swallow, smile, shrug, lift your arm up, grip, rise to a stand, or walk up stairs.

When the muscles necessary for breathing are affected, a patient is said to be in myasthenic crisis.

This is a life-threatening situation.

Currently she is taking a large dosage of Prednisone to avoid any breathing difficulties.

She is scheduled to get her thymus removed (thymectomy) on Nov 10, 2011. Thymectomy seems to improve symptoms of Myasthenia Gravis patients. Typically this is an "open chest" procedure, however, she has located a doctor in Texas that is able to do it laproscopically (which will have a much faster recovery time).

As you can imagine, this unexpected family crisis will take quite a toll on Becca, emotionally and financially. She also will not have full insurance coverage since the surgery will be out of state  and she does not qualify for any programs (such as disability) as of now.

Any funds raised will be used for medical and travel expenses (from Utah to Texas) to assist her during her fight against MG."

* * * * *

Our family has set up a fundraiser site for anyone who can help out.  If you, or anyone you know, can spare even small amount of money to help Becca and her family get through this, it will be very much appreciated.

You can access her fundraiser page by clicking the following link:

{BENEFIT for BECCA}

(http://www.giveforward.com/benefitforbecca)

THANK YOU!

If we can answer any questions for you, please don't hesitate to email us at PeppermintPlum[at]Hotmail[dot]com.

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{Minnie Mouse Party!}

My baby turned three this past week, and we decided to celebrate by honoring one of our favorite Disney characters...

M I N N I E  M O U S E !

Thanks to pinterest, I found some really cute cupcake ideas. I found these polka-dot wrappers at Michaels. The ears are mini Oreos, and the bows are fashioned with Fruit by the Foot.

I made Mickey and Minnie ears for our guests. I bought cheap headbands at Dollar Tree and wrapped them with black ribbon (hot glued the ends). The ears are made out of fun foam.

It was so fun to see everyone wearing them...even the big tough men kept their Mickey ears on all night!

:)

I'd share pictures, but I'm pretty sure I'd regret it.

 

I used some big hurricanes and apothecary jars to decorate the table. One was filled with red Dollar Tree Christmas ornaments, and the others were filled with red licorice and marshmallows.

 

And....here is the Birthday Girl herself!

It was a fun night!

--Tammy

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{Magic PB Cookies}

One of my favorite freshman-year memories is coming home from a hard day of classes and finding my roomate, Saralyn, donning her apron. That meant cookies were coming our way! These were some of our favorites.

The best part about these cookies is that they only have

.

..get ready for it...

THREE

ingredients.

For reals.

They are also GLUTEN-FREE for all my GF friends out there.

{Magic PB Cookies}

1 cup peanut butter

1 cup sugar

1 egg

18 Hershey's Kisses for tops

Preheat oven to 350. Combine sugar, peanut butter, and egg.  Shape into 1 inch balls and place on ungreased cookie sheet. {I usually use a small cookie dough scoop, which leaves them with a rougher texture but is much quicker!} Bake for 10 minutes.

While baking, unwrap 18 Hershey's Kisses and set aside. When you remove cookies from oven, immediately press a Kiss into the center of each warm cookie.

Wait about 10 minutes for the chocolate to melt, and then pop one of these babies into your mouth whole. I promise you won't regret it.

Enjoy!

-Tammy

*Please check our Linky Party tab or our sidebar for the weekly parties we participate in*

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