Foodie Penpals - Jan 2013

My foodie penpal package was filled with lots of goodirs...several naturebox

bags...LOVED the dried mangos....wild berry granola chips that

were addictive...n the chocolate tea was so good. 

This was only my second time participating but have really

enjoyed this.

If you wish to participate or want more information you
can visit here....
give it a try....its fun.


Here is the link to my penpal that I sent goodies to.

Here is a bit  of information about the PenPals....

• On the 5th of every month, you will receive your penpal pairing via email. It will be your responsibility to contact your penpal and get their mailing address and any other information you might need like allergies or dietary restrictions.
• You will have until the 15th of the month to put your box of goodies in the mail. On the last day of the month, you will post about the goodies you received from your penpal!
• The boxes are to be filled with fun foodie things, local food items or even homemade treats! The spending limit is $15. The box must also include something written. This can be anything from a note explaining what’s in the box, to a fun recipe…use your imagination!
• You are responsible for figuring out the best way to ship your items depending on their size and how fragile they are. (Don’t forget about flat rate boxes!)
• Foodie Penpals is open to blog readers as well as bloggers. If you’re a reader and you get paired with a blogger, you are to write a short guest post for your penpal to post on their blog about what you received. If two readers are paired together, neither needs to worry about writing a post for that month.
• Foodie Penplas is open to US, Canadian & European residents. Please note, Canadian Residents will be paired with other Canadians only. Same with Europeans. We’ve determined things might get too slow and backed up if we’re trying to send foods through customs across the border from US to Canada and vice versa.

Life -- Jan 2013

 New Boots

 Organized fridge.....Used plastic placemats from Target...cut to fit.....now....easy cleanup.

Red baskets from dollar bins ar Target.

 My Hunter

 First attempt at B aklava....Soooooooooo  good. Will have to

share receipe sometime when wrist is better.

 Need  to move to warmer place!

 We butchered this past week....mom n dad came in....wrappin the scrapple n cracklins

My poooooooor wrist.....feel on ice. 

Doc says its crushed like an eggshell.....surgery this friday...

putting a plate in.

"Journal Your Christmas" Album

This is my second year to create my Christmas album with shimelle.com,

I love her prompts and forum that she shares with us.  Through doing this I found

Purple Mailbox who has shared her album....she has inspired me so much and I have

used her ideas in many of my pages. 

Christmas Joy

Our Christmas was spent in South Carolina with my parents, and was able

to see my brother & his family as well.  Tons of food.....which did

NOT do my diet ANY good!!! And nice weather - no coats....however,

on the way back to Pa we ran into snow and today we are having a snow storm. 

Now, I MUST admit that I do not really enjoy the cold and snow, but it does seemto make things feel a little more like Christmas (maybe its just because I am use to that...orthat all the photos and movies depict Christmas with snow....hummmmm)

The fireplace -- gift from my honey

 

 Gotta have the red velvet cake

 

 

 Tracking Santas progres

 Picking up pecans from mom and dads tree

Lyssa made this beautiful blanket for mom & dad



No Place Like Home

 We have been enjoying many wonderful times just close to home

this year...plan to visit my parents soon but for now, just content

to enjoy family at home.  We have been doing a countdown...and enjoying fun

activities every day....above....we enjoyed red velvet hot chocolate with cream cheese

whipped topping.

 Visiting the ChristKindle Market.....good and cold but so many pretty

sights....and LOTS of food.

 Love visiting Country Cupboard and looking at

all the wonderful things there.

The elf has been getting into trouble.

 Fit some time in to scrabpook with my wonderful friend Sue...

she is such a honey.

 Getting gifts together for neighbors.

And sealing up some deer jerky that the great

white hunter got for us!!

Gingerbread House

This is our second year to do gingerbread houses....believe it is a  new tradition in the Stahl household.  Last  year I purchased the houses at our local Mennonite store.....And this year I did

the same for the kids but wanted to give a shot at making my own...and decided that if it works, we would do this in the future.  So, I went searching on a site that I find to be drool worthy!!!

PINTREST!!  Found this site....Sweetopia, on this site you will find a short video with tips on making your own creation.....gingerbread recipe and frosting AND a gingerbread

house template!!!!!

Here are a couple other templates I found if you are
interested.....here

 These are the little teacup houses we did up....Clay & Leen

decorated these....they have doors cut on either side so you

can sit them on the rim of your cup.

 

 

 

 

 My Gingerbread house.....can you tell what my favorite

color is?

 

Our countdown for the day....melted snowman ornament.

VERY ,VERY easy project and I think it is just

too cute!!!

Clear ornament, add some seasalt (or you could use epson salt),

2 peppercorns (or cloves) for the eyeballs....and make a little nose rolled

up from orange cardstock. 

I have a very small funnel I use in the kitchen so we used that and

the process went very quickly.  You could probably make a funnel with

paper rolled up as well to make life easier.

(I do have to admit that I found this cute idea on pintrest!!!  I LOVE pintrest!)