Holiday Time Recipes - Gingerbread Boys

One of my favorite holiday traditions when my son was little was when his Grandma would come over and put together a Gingerbread house. The house would stay up all Christmas Season long and while we would pick at the candy decorations through the Season, we were not allowed to eat the house itself.

Grandma took care of this and also baked up little Gingerbread people and this is the recipe I want to share this month.

Ingredients:

• 1/2 Cup butter or margarine, softened
• 1 zvup firmly packed brown sugar
• 1 1/2 Cups light molasses
• 2/3 Cup water or apple juice
• 6 1/2 Cups all-purpose flour
• 2 tsp each baking soda and salt
• 1 tsp each ground cinnamon, ginger, cloves and all spice
• 1 egg white, lightly beaten

In large bowl of an electric mixer, beat butter and sugar until creamy. Add molasses and beat until blended, then mix in water.  In another bowl, stir together flour, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, ginger, cloves and allspice. Gradually add to butter mixture, blending to form a stiff dough.  Cover tightly with plastic wrap and refrigerate for several hours or overnight.

On a floured board, roll out dough, a portion at a time, to a thickness of 3/16 inch. cut out using ginger bread cutter. With cutter still in place, transfer cookie and cutter with a wide spatula to a lightly greased baking sheet.  Lift off cutter and repeat.  

Bake in a 350 degrees oven for 10 to 15 minutes or until lighly browned.  Transfer cookies to racks and let cool completely.  Decorate as desired. 

This recipe will yield about 4 dozen, but I promise they will not last long!

Challenge #16 Midway: Optional Theme--Gifts Galore

We have reached the midway point of Challenge #16.  Now, while I did manage to get the winner announcement posted for Challenge #14, regrettably I haven't been able to send out the paper yet to those who earned it.  I got slammed down with a really bad virus on the 5th of April and yesterday was the first day that I've been back on-line.  That is also the reason why this post is a little bit late going out this evening--apologies to my team.

Speaking of the team, it is time to see what the Merry Maidens have been up to with their images from Sami Stamps, our guest sponsor for this month!

Check out the lovely images that the team worked with this month for the midway of the challenge.  Clicking on the watermarks will take you to the Christmas and Gifts page in the Sami Stamps store where each of these images can be found.

While team members had the option of working with any of my Décosse's Dynamite Doodles papers, I did create a special set aptly called Gifts Galore.  Check out the preview...

 Everyone who links up a minimum of two cards during the month of April will earn ONE of the digital papers from this set. The specific paper up for grabs will be shown during the winner announcement post. Additionally, one random winner will earn the full set of papers.

Have your say in determining which paper will be offered to those who link up a minimum of two cards this month by completing the poll in the sidebar on the top right hand side.

 Now check out what the Merry Maidens came up with to inspire you.  Monica is also here with a card and I'll be along with one shortly I hope too--darn it, I hate when sickness interferes with my crafting!  Clicking on the names will take you to the individual blogs where you can check out the details for all these wonderful cards.

 <<<coming soon>>>

So if you haven't entered already, what are you waiting for?   It is time to link up your Christmas and other holiday cards for April.  Whether you choose to link up two Anything Goes themed cards simply to earn your free paper this month, or you choose to also follow the optional theme to have a chance at the sponsor's prize, it is completely up to you! 

Here is a refresher of the details for this challenge...

Please remember that this is a CARDS ONLY link up.  While we've had some lovely tag entries in the past, we've sadly had to disqualify them.

Challenge #16

Optional Theme:  Gifts Galore

Gift giving is a fun part of Christmas and something we all look forward. Whether we are giving or receiving, it is always fun to watch the surprised faces on Christmas morning when opening up our packages. While it may be a bit early for gift giving, let's add some presents to our cards this month.

In order to have a chance to win the prize from our wonderful guest sponsor this month, make sure that your card has an example of a gift or present on it.  Th gift can be part of the image, in your papers or even as a prominently featured embellishment.  If you do follow the optional theme, be sure to add FT after your name so that we include you in the draw for the prize.

Remember, you don't need to follow the theme to link up your cards and earn a free paper each month, and have your name thrown into the year end draw for some extra digital goodies.  You only need to follow the theme if you want a chance to win this month's sponsored prize of a $12.00 gift certificate from Sami Stamps.

If you are new to this unique challenge, you can find out the impetus behind why I started it under the 'Introductions' tab.  As this is a unique kind of link up where we have both an anything goes Christmas option and an optional theme to follow, be sure to read all the details and rules you need to know in order to participate, by checking out the 'Challenge Details' tab (both tabs located at the top of the blog).

You can find the Challenge Details Summary along with the link up for Challenge #16 by clicking HERE.

 Don't Forget, if everything goes according to plan...

• Be sure to join us next week when Monica will be here to share a Christmas recipe with you all.
• Then hopefully I will get the winner announcement for Challenge #15 posted.
• Next up it will be time for our new challenge to start on May 1st.
• Pat will be back in May to share a tradition with all of you.
• Then, the winners from Challenge #16 will hopefully be posted on May 8th.
• Other special posts may be published throughout the month.  Be sure to sign up to have our posts delivered by email or follow us through Bloglovin' so you don't miss a thing!

We look forward to seeing you participate!

Challenge #14 Winners Announcement

It is time to announce the winners and our top three Stocking Stuffers from Challenge #14.  Are you one of those lucky peeps?!  Let's find out!

EEMELI

Eemili, you are the winner of a $10 gift certificate to Scribbles Designs, our guest sponsor for February (chosen by Mini Web Tool), based on all eligible participants (i.e., those entrants who followed the optional theme).

Eemili, please send an email to the_12_moc_linkup {at} outlook {dot} com (or click HERE to bring the address up in your email program), with the subject, "12MoC Challenge #14 WINNER" to make arrangements to receive your prize.  Please note that it may take me several days to get back to you.  Thank you for your patience.  In the interim, please grab a copy of the winner badge below for your blog.

Next, it is time to get on with showcasing the top three.  With so many wonderful entries to choose from, this was once again a difficult task for the design team.  We did however settle on three awesome creations.  So, without further ado, here are our Stocking Stuffers for Challenge #14:

FIT KITTY

ROSINA

FIT KITTY

Congrats to our top three Stocking Stuffers!  Rosina and Fit Kitty, please grab a copy of the badge below for your blog.

Everyone who links up two cards each month is eligible to receive a free digital paper.  All those who linked up two cards during the month of January were mailed their paper.  If you thought that you had linked two, but did not receive it, please contact us and let us know and we'll look into it for you.

The individuals who linked up a minimum of two cards each this month, qualifying them to receive the digital paper from February will receive the paper with the white snowflakes on the purple background which garnered 55% of the votes.   I have included the watermark of it, below...

To all of you who linked up during February, thanks ever so much!  We are so happy to have all of you with us and hope that you'll continue to link up your holiday cards throughout 2016!!!

Papers will be sent to the email address that qualifying participants used when they added their cards to the Link Up.  I hope to get them mailed by the 15th but there is no guarantee since I'm battling a rather nasty virus at the moment.

Once again, we are going to have a random draw from all the entries and give out the set of six papers to one lucky individual.  The papers are all made so why not have an extra prize!  Here is the watermark for the full set..

The winner of the That's SnowBiz! Mini Kit is (chosen by random.org)...

EMMA R.

Emma, please send an email to the_12_moc_linkup {at} outlook {dot} com (or click HERE to bring the address up in your email program), with the subject, "That's SnowBiz Set Winner" to make arrangements to receive your prize.  Please note that it may take me several days to get back to you.  Thank you for your patience.

Well folks, that is it for today.  While you are here, please be sure to check out the details for our current challenge going on now (if you haven't already), with the Optional Theme this month of  "Gifts Galore".  You can find out all the details along with the link up, by clicking HERE.

Also, be sure to join us on April 15th, for our midway post where you'll get to see cards created by the Merry Maidens!  Then during the third week of the month, Monica will hopefully be here to share a holiday recipe with you all.  Other special posts may be published throughout the month.  Be sure to sign up to have our posts delivered by email or follow us through Bloglovin' so you don't miss a thing!

Until next time,

Holiday Tradition: A Christmas Collection

Hello everyone!  I'm popping in today to share a Holiday Tradition from Pat, one of our Merry Maidens! This time around Pat is sharing something more intimate--a special tradition she shares with her husband.  I'm sure that many of us have special traditions we share with our loved ones.  I hope that you enjoy reading about Pat's special tradition as much as I did!

A Christmas Collection

For our first Christmas together as a married couple, my husband and I were dirt-poor broke. That year we bought each other our first record together (vinyl, kiddies), a Goodyear promotion full of traditional Christmas songs from classic artists (kind of like “Now That’s What I Call Christmas”). We listened to it non-stop throughout Christmas until the New Year started.

So began our first Christmas tradition. Every year since then (and we’ve been married almost 40 years now) we have added to our growing collection of Christmas music. Cassettes replaced vinyl for a short time, and now we have a stack of CD’s to play as well. We have the original Chipmunk’s Christmas album mixed in with the Rod Stewart Christmas CD. My favorite? The Carpenter’s Christmas Album. This year we got A Jolly Christmas with Frank Sinatra. The cassettes? Well, they’re old school, but unlike 8-track tapes, I can still play them on an old but still-functioning tape player.

Who knows what the future will hold? Maybe next year we’ll get an iTunes gift card and pick and choose our fave singles. One thing I know for sure—we will never run out of Christmas music for the holidays!! And it is one tradition we are happy to have started so long ago.

Challenge #16: Optional Theme--Gifts Galore

Hello and welcome to The 12 Months of Christmas Link Up.  It is a brand new month and time for our next challenge to get under way!  Sadly, while I did manage to get the winner announcement for #13 posted, I still haven't been able to catch up with #14.  I have a feeling that I'm going to be perpetually behind one now unless a little fairy who can grant me the wish of stopping the clock for awhile shows up.  However, since we know the odds of that aren't good...well, I can only thank you ahead of time for your patience.

Now let's get on with the new challenge...

The Basics

While you can find out ALL the information you need to know in order to participate in the challenge by checking out the 'Challenge Details' tab at the top of the page (or by clicking HERE), here is a refresher of the basics.

• Anyone can link up as many Christmas and/or December holiday themed cards (including Happy New Year's cards) throughout the month with an ANYTHING GOES theme.
• Every person who has linked up a MINIMUM of two (2) cards will be eligible to receive a specially designed Christmas themed digital paper.
• Each month there will be an OPTIONAL theme to follow.  Anyone who submits a card adhering to the monthly theme, will have the chance to win a prize from that month's guest sponsor.
• Every holiday card you submit to the link up, earns you one chance to win a special digital Christmas kit that will be offered up after the year is complete.

Now that the basics are out of the way, how about we get on with the details of Challenge #16.

Challenge #16

Optional Theme:  Gifts Galore

Gift giving is a fun part of Christmas and something we all look forward. Whether we are giving or receiving, it is always fun to watch the surprised faces on Christmas morning when opening up our packages. While it may be a bit early for gift giving, let's add some presents to our cards this month.

In order to have a chance to win the prize from our wonderful guest sponsor this month, make sure that your card has an example of a gift or present on it.  Th gift can be part of the image, in your papers or even as a prominently featured embellishment.  If you do follow the optional theme, be sure to add FT after your name so that we include you in the draw for the prize.

Remember, you don't need to follow the theme to link up your cards and earn a free paper each month, and have your name thrown into the year end draw for some extra digital goodies.  You only need to follow the theme if you want a chance to win this month's sponsored prize of a $12.00 gift certificate from Sami Stamps.

Talking about Sami Stamps, how about a refresher on what the company is all about...

Hello! I'm so happy to be here as a Sponsor for the 12 Months of Christmas! Sami Stamps provides a variety of high quality Digital Stamps in both JPEG and PNG formats. I hope you enjoy crafting with Sami Stamps images as much as I enjoy illustrating them!

If you're having fun here, please feel free to come check us out!

Click HERE to go to the Main Blog, click HERE to go to the Blog Shop, and HERE to go to Sami's Etsy Shop.

Check out the sweet images that the team worked with this month for the start of the challenge. Clicking on the first two image watermarks will take you to the Christmas and Gifts page in the Sami Stamps store where each of these images can be found.  The third image can be found in the Winter section.

While team members had the option of working with any of my Décosse's Dynamite Doodles papers, I did create a special set aptly called Gifts Galore.  Check out the preview...

 Everyone who links up a minimum of two cards during the month of April will earn ONE of the digital papers from this set. The specific paper up for grabs will be shown during the winner announcement post. Additionally, one random winner will earn the full set of papers.

Have your say in determining which paper will be offered to those who link up a minimum of two cards this month by completing the poll in the sidebar on the top right hand side.

Now check out what the Sleigh Belles came up with to inspire you.   Clicking on the names will take you to the individual blogs where you can check out the details for all these wonderful cards...

 So what are you waiting for?  It is time to link up your Christmas and other holiday cards for April!  Whether you choose to link up two Anything Goes themed cards simply to earn your free paper this month, or you choose to also follow the optional theme to have a chance at the sponsor's prize, it is completely up to you!

If you are new to this unique challenge, you can find out the impetus behind why I started it under the 'Introductions' tab and all the details you need to know in order to participate, in the 'Challenge Details' tab (both tabs located at the top of the blog).

We have a packed month as usual; so, Monica and I and the rest of the gang hope to see you back with us soon!

• Join us on April 4th when Pat will be here to share a holiday tradition with us all.
• Then on April 8th, we hope to publish the names of the winners and top picks from one of our previous challenges.  While I can't make any promises I will try to work on the second one as well.
• Be sure to join us again on April 15th, for our midway post where you'll get to see cards created by the Merry Maidens!
• Then during the third week of April, Monica should be here to share a Christmas recipe with us all.
• Other special posts may be published throughout the month.  Be sure to sign up to have our posts delivered by email or follow us through Bloglovin' so you don't miss a thing!

CHALLENGE DETAILS SUMMARY
Each month we'll include a summary of details for the particular challenge taking place.  If you are new, please be sure to familiarize yourself with all the details and rules in the 'Challenge Details' tab at the top of the page.  Please note that dates and times listed below are for this particular challenge only:

• Cards for this challenge will be accepted from 6:00 p.m. (18:00 hrs), April 1st - 11:55 p.m. (23:55 hrs), April 30th, 2016.  
• If you wish to receive the free digi paper being offered up for this month, you need to link up a minimum of two (2) Christmas or holiday themed cards. 
• This is NOT a progressive challenge.  You can jump in at any time.
• You can link up as many holiday themed cards as you want as long as each entry is with a new project.  HOWEVER, if you decide to follow the optional theme of Gifts Galore (see specific details above), only a maximum of three (3) entries will qualify for the draw for this month's prize of  a $12.00 gift certificate from Sami Stamps.  You must add 'FT' after you name so we know which cards to add to the random draw for the sponsor's prize.
• No backlinking.
• Make sure when entering your project that you mention The 12 Months of Christmas Link Up in your post with a link back to this blog.
• Please remember to link directly to your blog post where we can see your creation, and not just the generic link to your blog. Only permalinks are accepted.
• The winners and top picks for this challenge (#16) will hopefully be announced on May 8th in a special post.

We look forward to seeing you participate!

Link Up Below:

An InLinkz Link-up