Creative Share Blog Hop

Don't forget to take a moment to enter my two giveaways...Click on the links below to enter!
Brassy Apple - Ends 12/16Christmas Applique's from Trendy Treehouse - Ends 12/19
Don't forget to grab one of our {BUTTONS}

I always look forward to this day of the week. It's fun to go through all the fabulous link ups.

I decided to start featuring some of my favorite link ups again. There are just so many that inspire me and I wanted to help them get seen a bit more.

So if you see that you have been featured, go by and grab a "Featured Button"

{Here are a few of my favorites that linked up last week}
Click on Photos to view these great posts

          

          

Link Up As Many of Your Fabulous Projects Below. I can't wait to get inspired!

If you want to share this fun blog hop, just grab the code below.

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Shutter Love Tuesdays - Dreaming

We have been loving hosting {Shutter} Love every week and wanted to thank you all for participating each week. You have all made it so fun. We enjoy looking at each of your photos every week.

This weeks theme is {DREAMING}

To see all the rules for this fun party, please go HERE.

And don't forget to tell your friends that you entered your photo so they can come by and vote for you!

VOTING... We will not be voting anymore if we don't get more votes. So if you enter a photo, share that you need a vote. We have been not getting many votes lately. ;-)

VOTING CAN BE DONE IN THE COMMENT SECTION BELOW - THANK YOU!

COMMENT as much as you like. Everyone loves FEEDBACK!

Go HERE to grab one of our Buttons

Tara's "DREAMING" Photo

I took this photo of my youngest a few weeks ago. She was picked in her K-1 class to bring Bubba Bear home for the weekend. They had a long day of playing and I just know they are dreaming about all their fun. Knew I had to share it for this weeks theme. Can't wait to see yours!

DON'T FORGET TO GRAB THE CODE BELOW TO SHARE THIS FUN PARTY

AND REMEMBER NO ANONYMOUS VOTING... THANK YOU

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Personal Post

This last week my kids had their Christmas Program at school. Every year is so cute and this year was fun. They dressed up in flannel shirts and boots for a cowboy Christmas. Well my flannel shirts I chose aren't exactly cowboy. LOL But they were cute and I took advantage and snapped a quick shot of the kids. I love it so much because of all the colors. They are matching, but their not. 

So I thought I would write a little personal post today so I could share a couple of the pics. I didn't have the correct lighting set up, so these are what you would call candid shots that I cropped and enhanced a bit. But I am for sure saving these shirts for a future photo shoot. I love them so much.

Here is a quick group shot. My kids are so good at posing nice for me so it doesn't take hours to get the best shot. LOL Thank you kiddos. Love you for that!

Don't you just love all those colors? LOL And of course I had to make matching flowers for their hair. I used the method of removable clips on headbands like in the tutorial I did a while back. You can see it HERE. I really like it because I can change them easily with other outfits.

Here are some pics of the kids.

It was very exciting for us this year as Cordell was now old enough to be in Beginners Band. He played the Sax in the Christmas Program and was really GREAT! His teacher even came over to tell us that he knew his songs so quickly and was very proud of him. Here is a picture of him and his teacher.

And my girls standing in line with their friends, waiting to see Santa Claus. Every year Santa makes an appearance after the show. The kids of course love this!

It was a very fun night and we look forward to it every year. Hope you enjoyed out photos.

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Shutter Love Winners - Zoom Zoom

Zoom Zoom was our theme last week.

There were some great entries. This theme could have been interpreted in a few different ways. And seeing all the entries was really fun. Thanks for joining in.

Here are our TOP 10 photos and Favorites as well.

#1 Photo goes to - the Andie Zimmerman Blog

#2 - 6 Cherrie's On Top

#3 - Being What I Want To Be

#4 - Loving My Life

#5 - Zoom Zoom on Tractor

#6 - Photographic data

#7 - Just the Two of Us

#8 - Sheri

#9 - Captivus

#10 - Dash Photography

Viewer Favorite - Zoom Zoom on a Tractor

Some of Tara & Jamie's Favorites - In No Particular Order

Thank you to everyone who entered into this past weeks "ZOOM ZOOM" theme. 

If you see your photo above, please stop by our BUTTONS page to pick up your winners button.

WE HAVE NEW BUTTONS ~ GO UPDATE YOURS NOW!

Get your photos ready for the next theme {DREAMING}

Share with everyone, so they can link up their photos too!

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Salted Caramel Brownie Bites

I'm great at blog surfing,
but not great at blog bookmarking.
The idea for these salted caramel brownie bites is not my own.
If it is your idea, please let me know so I can give you props!



I volunteered to bring 3 dozen cookies to church
for after our advent service this past week.
I was so excited to have a reason to make these
salted caramel brownie bites
(other than to just eat them all myself).

I posted on facebook that I snuck one of the
"salted caramel brownie bites"
and my comments went crazy with people asking for the recipe.

It's a really simple thing to make,
but tastes divine and looks very high class.

You really only need four things
(plus water, eggs and oil for the brownies)
1. Box brownie mix
2. Caramel filled chocolates (I used the new hershey kisses)
(the person whom I got the idea from used rolos
but she said they were a little too hard and chewy)
3. Melting chocolate
4. Sea salt


Bake the brownies according to the box directions.
A 9x13 pan should give you approx 3 dozen brownie bites
Bake the brownies till the early time on the box
thus making them really moist, gooey, mold able.
Let the brownies cool completely.


Cut the brownies into pieces but really you just need to be
able to get at the brownie so it doesn't matter what the pieces look like
or how many pieces you actually cut.

Then wrap a brownie (or stick pieces together) around a
caramel filled chocolate piece of candy. Roll it into a ball.
Put the brownie bites into the fridge to set for a while.


Then melt your melting chocolates according to the package directions.
Cover the brownie bites in the chocolate and set on waxed paper to cool.
Before the chocolate is completely cooled sprinkle with sea salt.
It would probably be better to use the big sea salt pieces
but I only had fine salt on hand so that's what I used.

After the chocolate hardened I used my spoon and just
drizzled some more chocolate over the top to give it a
really cool finished look...couldn't let the chocolate go to waste!
Put in the fridge to completely set up and you're done!

yummm....now I want some more...

These things got RAVE reviews!
I took these to church and the elders were cooking dinner that night.
They got a hold of these and they were half gone before the
church service was even over...
so the men enjoyed them and the few people
who got out of church right away.
I'm glad I snuck one at home or I never would've gotten one!

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Christmas Gift Idea

A few weeks back I shared my families favorite Granola Mix. Well for the holidays you can add in some m&m's for color and place them in jars to hand out to family and friends.

So grab a kid to help you mix up this yummy treat....

You will also need...

Festive fabric and ribbons

&

Canning Jars

And you have a nice treat to hand out to family, friends and even teachers!

Add cute festive tags to make them more personal.

My family is addicted to this mix and begs for more. So I pretty much have this on hand daily at my house. It's so easy to make. Go HERE to see what you need in this mix. But don't forget to add in your favorites too. Like we did with the m&m's in this post.

ENJOY! 

and please link up your granola mix ideas below in the comment section!

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Polish Sausage & Sauerkraut Stew

This is one of the most delicious stews I have tasted and I just had to share it with you. It's a slow cooker favorite.

What you will need...

• 20 oz. Chicken Broth
• 1 can of Cream of Mushroom Soup (do not add water)
• 10 oz. of Sauerkraut (well rinsed & drained)
• 1 package of Polish Sausage (sliced or diced)
• 3 Celery Stalks sliced
• 2 cups broccoli
• 1 package of sliced mushrooms
• 3 medium red potatoes sliced
• Small bag of baby carrots (chop)
• 1 large yellow squash sliced
• 1 small onion diced
• Minced Garlic to taste
• 2 tbsp. vinegar
• 1 tsp. Dill weed
• 1 tsp. Sugar
• Pepper to taste

This Stew is so easy to prepare. Just get out the slow cooker and add all the ingredients. Set the cooker to low and cook fro 6-8 hours. Set it in the morning and dinner is ready when you get home. You home will smell yummy too!

Hope you enjoy it. If you try this recipe, please let us know what you thought by coming back here and leaving a comment.

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