I.heart.PB&J.

I saw this recipe for PB&J heart cookies on MarthaStewart.com and had to share. If you are following my previous post on healthy snacking, you can make a few substitutions to the ingredients below but let's be real honest with each other...these treats will be tastiest when left in their original state. Butter, sugar and all. It's ok to make exceptions for a sweet valentines PB&J, right!? ;) I think yes. Life is short :)

How cute would these be in your kiddo's (or husbands:)) lunch?!

Recipe: 

Makes about 2 dozen 1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour


1 1/2 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
1 stick unsalted butter, room temperature
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1/2 cup packed light-brown sugar
1 cup creamy peanut butter
1 large egg
1/3 cup raspberry jam, stirred to loosen

Whisk together flour, baking powder, and 1/4 teaspoon salt. Beat butter and sugars with a mixer on medium speed until pale and fluffy. Beat in peanut butter, then egg. Reduce speed to low, and beat in flour mixture until dough forms. If dough is sticky, refrigerate for 5 to 10 minutes. 

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Roll dough into 1 1/2-inch balls (about 2 tablespoons each). Arrange on parchment-lined baking sheets, spacing 1 1/2 inches apart. Press into 1 3/4-inch rounds. Press hearts into centers using your fingertips. Refrigerate for 20 minutes.

Bake for 12 minutes. Remove from oven, and reshape hearts using your fingertips or the handle of a wooden spoon. Fill indentation of each with a generous 1/2 teaspoon jam to form a heart. Bake until cookies are firm, 6 to 7 minutes more.

Today is a good day for crafting, not working :)

Brrrr....it's too cold to be out pushing drugs today! (Not to worry...I push legal ones :)) I want to be at home doing some little projects that I have had in my head for a while but until I can, here are just a few little things I worked on over the holidays. 

 Some more Table Toppers for a Holiday sale.

 A little 'hodge-podge' canvas for my parents :)

After the messes that I make while doing these things...it is truly a miracle that our apartment is still in the condition that it is in....especially the carpet. Justin is a trooper in dealing with my piles of paper, trim, glitter, paint, etc. because it is usually spread out everywhere! I definitely look forward to having a "craft room" one day ;) 


Enjoy your cold day, today. If you do not have one of those amazing heated throw blankets that I have talked about and love so, so dearly...today might be a great day to invest in one. I know mine will be put to use this evening ;)

One man's trash...another man's treasure

If you've never bought a real Christmas tree before, part of the process is getting a fresh cut on the end, so it will be able to absorb water when you set it in the base. They can either cut it for you when you pick out your tree or you can DIY. Since Mainstay Farm is about 45 minutes from our apartment and the cut is only good for about 30 minutes before you need to place the tree in water, we decided to DIY and headed to my parents house for the saw! 

When my dad finished cutting the end of the tree (on top of Justin's truck...scary!), the sentimental side of me kicked in full-swing and I decided I wanted to save the part he cut off. My dad and Justin laughed at me a little because the piece was all sappy and just didn't look pretty. BUT I was determined to keep a part of our first tree make something out of it. So, I had my dad cut it down smaller and let it dry out for a few days. I'm glad these guys put up with me, because I think we got a pretty cute little ornament out of it that we'll be able to keep forever! ;) 

The tool man, himself, hard at work. 

The fresh cut!

I guess the blog 'thing' to do now is to post the instructions on how I made this, so here you go:

1. Buy a tree. Cut bottom of tree.

2. Sand sides of stump so it's smooth.

3. Grab a sharpie and go to town! I wanted it fairly simple.

3. Decorate sides how you wish. I just added a pic printed on computer

paper, antiqued the edges, and added the gold numbers. Fancy! Ha. Not much to it :)

A few more Christmas details :)

O Tannenbaum.

Because it is our first Christmas as a married couple, when we talked about our Christmas tree for this year, we decided we had to buy a real one. It just seemed most appropriate and festive. And, we didn't want a Walmart, pick-it-out-in-five-minutes tree. We wanted to do this thing the right way: an all-out Griswold, Christmas Vacation, chop down our own tree adventure we were envisioning. So, to the Christmas tree farm we went! 


One of my dad's very best friends and some good family friends of ours own Mainstay Farm in Burleson, TX. It....is the coolest!! If you have not been, you NEED to go! They are a wonderful family and it is a neat experience. We are going to make it a family tradition to go every year, for sure!

Our parents and Hailey were there with us on Saturday and we had such a great time picking out our tree. We rode around on a tractor, scouring the land for the finest and grandest tree for our lil' apartment. Our 3rd floor ceilings are very tall, so we have the room for the height but seeing as how we had very minimal ornaments (as in....a grand total of 4!), we decided that going for a smaller tree would be more economical for our wallets. Paying rent and buying groceries this month are probably more important than me buying sparkly ornaments to adorn a 15 foot tree ;) So, we decided a sweet little 7 footer suited us better. Also, many of the 'traditional' Christmas pine trees do not have great branches for hanging ornaments, which led us to our Fraser Fir aka "Fairytale" tree, below, that is just perfect for decorating (which, we all know is super important, right!!!)

After picking out our tree and a quick stop for ornaments at Walmart (budget decorating this year!!), we came back home, lit a fire, set up our tree and began transforming the apartment into a winter wonderland. Ok, so...what this really looked like was me decorating and Justin beginning his second batch of homebrew! But, we had a great time and I am finished decorating. I think! (I'm sure there are a few things I will be adding here and there!!)  

Here's a little preview of our place all jazzed for the Holidays. It's only 24 days away, so if you don't have yours up yet....do it! Before you know it, it'll be time to take them down (I get sad!!!). 

Those sparkly pinecones are cinnamon scented....YUM! $4.00 @ Walmart :)

Love it, Mom!!!!! Mean it, girl ;)

Justin is already getting tired of me asking to have a fire. I want one EVERY night - even if it is 70 degrees outside!!!! I love them :) I really must have a circulation problem, I'm thinking!!

Still need to jazz this lil' guy up :)

Thanks, Mom, for the beautiful arrangements and wreath. They are all just the perfect touches to our apartment and I am so thankful for your talent! :) 

Functionally fun table-toppers!

I definitely went overkill on my adjectives in titling this post :) but this morning I wanted to show some new little gift creations I have been working on (and my mom as well!)

The pictures will do most of the talking but I am really loving making these little table-toppers (that's my temporary name for them until I come up with something more 'snazzy'). I could think of a spot for one in every room of our apartment because they seem to be just the perfect size for a desk, bathroom vanity,  bookshelf, etc. 

I really enjoy making each of them unique and my mom has been adorning some with florals - so cute! :) Here are a few snapshots. Some still need a few finishing touches and the photos didn't turn out thaaaat well, but it gives you an idea of some of the functionally fun ways they can be used! Enjoy :)

With a feaux floral

Pen & pencil holder (this will be my fav!)

Backside of above table-topper

You can't really tell, but this one has some *sparkle!* 

If you don't know that I love a little sparkle.....well, you just don't know me ;)

Table-topper from above, without floral

I am thinking this in a bathroom would look so cute holding 

makeup brushes or even toothbrushes!

They hold candles (a special votive can be found), too! (I didn't 

have any for photos)

In other news, my mom's blog is back up and running. I am proud of her for doing it and can't wait to read what she has to blog about...yahoo! Go Tambreeee (as Justin calls her ;))