Saturday Stampin'

Saturday I had a great group of some of my favorite stampin' gals over for a Christmas Gifts & Decorations Stamp Camp. We made 6 incredibly cute projects together, ate some scrumptious food and had a wonderful time chatting and laughing!











We started out with these adorable wine-glass lampshades. Using just a template, vellum cardstock and embossing powders along with snowflake stamps, we ended up with some adorable winter decorations.



Next we created these adorable Santa wrappers for candy bars - super simple but dresses up a little treat for holiday fun!



And - perfect for Christmas - candy cane holders! Love 'em!



Our big art piece was this gorgeous framed art piece using stamps, ink and an ornament-shaped punch!



I'm always looking for fun ways to jazz up gift-card giving so we decorated these great gift card boxes! Love the big snowflakes!



Lastly, everyone loves to give home-made goodies at Christmas, so we added some quick-easy accents to a jar of homemade cocoa; perfect for gifting!!



The snacks I fixed were delicious, too - if I say so myself! Recipes, as requested, for my Caramel Apple Dessert, Caramel Corn and Cocoa Mix are below.

I had a wonderful time and hope everyone else did, too!

Next Stamping Opportunity - Friday, December 10 - Christmas Tag Stamp-a-Stack. Details coming soon!

Hot Cocoa Mix

2 cups nonfat dry milk powder
3/4 cup powdered sugar
1/2 cup cocoa
1/2 cup powdered non-dairy creamer
1 dash salt

Single serving - combine 1/4 cup mix and 3/4 cup boiling water in mug.

Cranberry-Orange Caramel Corn

12 cups popped popcorn
1 cup dried cranberries
1/2 cup whole almonds
1/2 cup butter
1/2 cup packed brown sugar
1/4 cup light-color corn syrup
2 T orange juice
2 t vanilla
1/2 t baking soda

1. Preheat oven to 275. In a very large bowl, combine the popped popcorn, cranberries and almonds; set aside.
2. In a 2-quart saucepan cook and stir the butter, brown sugar and corn syrup over medium heat until butter is melted. Stir in orange juice. Bring to boiling over medium heat. Boil at a moderate, steady rate for 2 minutes. Remove from heat. Stir in vanilla and baking soda (mixture will foam up).
3. Pour the syrup mixture over the popcorn mixture in bowl, stir to coat well. Transfer to a 15x10x1 inch baking pan or a shallow roasting pan. Bake for 30 minutes, stirring twice. Transfer caramel corn to a large sheet of greased heavy foil; cool. Makes 20 servings.

Caramel Apple Dessert

60 Vanilla Wafers, finely crushed (about 2 cups)
1/3 cup butter, melted
1 package cream cheese, softened
1/4 cup sugar
3 1/4 cups milk, divided
8 oz Cool Whip, thawed, divided
2 package (3.4 oz each) vanilla instant pudding
1/2 cup caramel ice cream topping; divided
1 each red and green apple, chopped
1/4 cup salted peanuts, chopped

1. Mix wafer crumbs and butter; press onto bottom of 13x9 pan
2. Beat cream cheese, sugar and 1/4 cup milk with mixer until well blended. Stir in 1 cup Cool Whip; spread over crust.
3. Beat pudding mixes and remaining milk with whisk for 2 minutes. Stir in 1/4 cup caramel topping. Spoon over cream cheese layer. Top with remaining Cool Whip.
4. Refrigerate for 5 hours or until firm. Top with apples, nuts and remaining caramel topping just before serving.