Christmas Recipes and Traditions

Oh, Deer, You Look Delicious 

There are dozens of iconic symbols that represent the holidays - Santa, pine trees, angels, Nativity scenes, and of course, REINDEER. Since the optional theme this month is all about the DEER, let's check out all the wonderful foods that can be transformed into Christmas goodies!

Cupcakes are easy to bake and just as easy to decorate. Some broken pretzels, M&Ms, jelly beans,  etc., will work their holiday magic, like the sweet reindeer below from  One Little Project :

as well as Bakerella (comes w/free antler template)

and lots more on Pinterest

At Like Mother, Like Daughter, you can find the recipe for these Oreo cookie balls 

while Hungry Happenings 

offers a variety of deer-ly delectable holiday treats:

Want to know how to decorate a reindeer cake? Check out the recipe and instructions at Hobby Craft 

At Thrifty Jinxy, see how to turn your peanut butter cookies into Santa's leading reindeer

and while you're there, make up a few of these sweet little gifts for your deer friends (comes with free printable tags)  

If you're watching your sweets over the holidays, discover other ways to magically transform breakfast and lunch foods into 

 I took inspiration from this photo from Kitchen Fun with My Three Sons and thought of several different kinds of sandwiches that would serve as reindeer food, like sloppy joes, mini hamburgers, pulled pork, etc.

If you don't mind your food watching while you eat, corn dogs make very cute reindeer, too. 

What breakfast would be complete without pancakes and bacon, a la Rudolph?

Finally, here's my recipe for Santa's Sleigh Mix, which you can pour into sugar cones like the ones pictured below and either wrap up for gifts, or serve at your next holiday party:

Santa's SleighMix
1 box Crispix cereal (or Chex-like cereals)
1 bag Pretzels, broken
1 bag M&Ms
1 bag mini marshmallows
1 jar/can dry roasted peanuts (optional)

Place all ingredients above in VERY large bowl.

Melt one package Vanilla Almond Bark (or white chocolate for melting) and pour over mix.

Use large spoon/spatula and stir until all pieces are coated with melted chocolate.

Place wax paper or aluminum foil on table and pour out your sticky mix, trying to get it all into a single layer.

Break up into pieces when dry and cool and pack into reindeer cones (or disposable containers)  for sharing (or just sit in front of the TV, watching your favorite Christmas movie and munch down...

Challenge #31 Midway: Opt Theme...Oh DEER!

It is the 15th of the month, and that means it is time to see what the Merry Maidens have been up to with their adorable images from Bugaboo Stamps, our guest sponsor this month!

Clicking on any of the image watermarks will take you to their page in the Bugaboo Stamps store where each of these images can be found.

 BUGRBLOCKS

 Snowflake Reindeer Silhouette

 Make it Snappy - Reindeer Trio

Rudolph presents Digi Stamp

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

Everyone who links up a minimum of two cards during the month of July 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 below.

DIGI PAPER POLL
Please click "like" to choose the ONE paper that you would like offered up to participants who link up a minimum of two cards during the month of July. Poll will be open until July 31st, 11:59 p.m. EST. Please note that you can get a better idea of what the actual paper looks like by bringing the preview ABOVE up in the lightbox.

Now check out what the Merry Maidens came up with to inspire you. If you are looking for creations from Diane Louise, she is on a leave of absence for the next three months but she'll be back with us hopefully in October. Pat is also unable to join us this month but will be back to participate when she is able to. Suze finished the inside of her card so we're showing it as well. Clicking on the names will take you to the individual blogs where you can check out the details for all these wonderful cards. All except for my own that is. Unfortunately, I just haven't had a chance to add it to my own blog yet. Hopefully, it will be added 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 July. 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 #31

Optional Theme: Oh DEER!

Oh DEER! It has already been half a year! 

Before we know it, the day we've been planning for will soon be here!

Are you getting any closer to getting your Christmas Card Stash completed? This month we thought it would be fun to add a deer or reindeer image, even a reindeer wannabe image would be okay; you know, the images where kids or dogs don a set of antlers and pretend to be a reindeer?!

In order to have a chance to win the prize from our wonderful guest sponsor this month, make sure that your Christmas card has an IMAGE of a DEER or REINDEER (or reindeer wannabe). IMPORTANT: 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, have a chance to win a special mini kit of digi papers 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 gift certificate to the Bugaboo Stamps store.

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 different 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 #31 by clicking HERE.

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

• If I can pull it off, I'll try and get another winner announcement done. 
• Pat will be here on the 23rd with a special post for you all.
• Our new challenge will start on August 1st.
• 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 #28 Winner Announcement

Hello to all our Christmas crafting friends! I'm popping in to announce the winners and our top three Stocking Stuffers from Challenge #28. We had a mere 20 entries in our April challenge which was way down from the previous month. With just six months left until the big event, I am hoping that we'll start to see more entries. Given that the challenge is anything goes with an optional theme, I would have thought more people would be joining us!

Also, please don't forget that if you do follow the theme, make sure that you add FT after your name. I found a few entries this month that qualified by making a card with vintage elements but didn't add the initials when entering. I don't always have a chance to check so please get in the habit of making sure you let us know when you have followed the theme.

Anyway, it is time to get on with the finding out who our winners are for the month of April.

Are you one of those lucky peeps?! Let's find out!

ANS

Ans, you are the winner of a $15.00 gift certificate from Lunagirl, our guest sponsor for April (chosen by miniwebtool.com based on all eligible entries).

Ans, 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 #28 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, it is always such 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 #28:

ANS

TERESA

HAZEL

Congrats to our top three Stocking Stuffers! Ans, Teresa and Hazel, 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 March have previously been mailed their paper. If you thought that you had linked two, but did not receive a free paper, please contact us and let us know and we'll look into it for you.

The four individuals who linked up a minimum of two cards each during the month of APRIL, qualifying them to receive the digital paper from that month, will receive the Vintage Damask Green paper which received the majority of the votes! I have included the watermark of it, below...

To all of you who linked up during April, 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 as you work on your stash for 2017!!!

Papers will be sent to the email address that qualifying participants used when they added their cards to the Link Up. I'm hoping to get them sent by the middle of this month.

As always, we are going to have a random draw from all the entries and give out a set of six digital 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 Vintage Damask 1: Rich Colours Mini Kit is 

CHRIS

(chosen by random.org)

 
Chris, 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 #28 PAPER KIT WINNER" to make arrangements to receive your prize.

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 "Oh DEER". You can find out all the details along with the link up, by clicking HERE.

Please join us again on July 15th when the Merry Maidens will be here showcasing their cards for our current challenge. Also, Pat will be back with a special traditions post on the 23rd as well. Other special posts may be published throughout the month; so, 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,