CHRISTMAS RECIPES AND TRADITIONS - A CHOCOLATE CHRISTMAS

A Chocolate Christmas

If you asked 100 people what their favorite holiday was, Christmas would be one of their first choices. Ask them what their favorite sweet was, and chocolate would be the winner. I say Christmas and chocolate makes the perfect pairing when it comes to holiday entertaining.

Let's start with holiday decorating. We're using chocolate bars to make a holiday wreath. Gather up all that leftover Halloween candy you put into the freezer because you didn't want to gain 20 pounds in November. All you need is a Styrofoam wreath and a hot glue gun and one or two pieces of ribbon.

Glue those yummy chocolate candies onto the wreath until there's no room left on the wreath. Finish it off with red, gold or green bows made with your ribbon and hang it inside your house. For those of you who don't want to gain 20 pounds in December, that's why we use hot glue!

Oops, you will need to add a loop of string, yarn or ribbon from which to hang your sweet decoration. I've made this wreath twice. The first time, I forgot to give my kids the "rules" and the wreath was missing quite a lot of candy by the time the Christmas guests came through my door, hot glue notwithstanding. The second time, I threatened the kids,  I told the kids, "hands off the wreath until the day after Christmas". On that day, I knew I'd be out shopping for discounted Christmas paper goods and such while hubby could handle the sugar highs. (photo credit: Diply.com)

Next let's make gifts and goody bags. Who doesn't like chocolate when it comes from Santa? When I worked at a school, the teachers and staff participated in a grab bag exchange. We limited the amount of the gifts to $5 each, and made the theme food.

Kisses are an all-time favorite, but put them in a tall glass jar and decorate it to look like Santa and you now have "Kisses from Santa." You'll need a small Santa hat and a strip of black cardstock. I happen to have a few crafting belt buckles, but you can make one from gold paper.

During the exchange game, I've seen teachers put the candy on the floor and place their feet in front of the jar, but there's always someone who looks around and says, "Hmm, where did that jar of Kisses go?" (photo credit:Country Chic Cottage)

 I love to distribute ornaments to neighbors and friends, especially these: 
1. Fill empty glass globe ornaments with hot cocoa mix and mini-marshmallows, cover and tie on a candy cane with red ribbon. (photo credit: Bubbly Nature Creations)

2. Use smaller globe ornaments and fill them with green and red M&Ms for the kiddies.

3. Another fun ornament to give out for the holidays uses metal cookie cutters and melting chocolate. I use white chocolate for snowmen and snowflakes, and regular or dark chocolate for gingerbread boys and reindeer. 

If I had more time and energy, I could color the melted white chocolate before pouring it into other holiday cookie molds. Make sure you place wax paper down on a cookie sheet before placing your cookie cutters on it and pouring in your chocolate. Cut a short piece of drinking straw and stand it up toward the top when you pour your chocolate. This will give you somewhere to string your ribbon so the ornament can hang on the tree.
When the chocolate's set, carefully twist out the straw piece and wrap the sweet ornament in a clear bag, tie a pretty ribbon on it and you have have a delicious gift to give out. 

Along with the idea for the chocolate-filled cookie cutters, you can find an excellent hot fudge sauce recipe at Hoosier Homemade. Pour it over ice cream or cheese cake. Dip the tops of your waffle cones into the sauce. Or just stick a spoon into it and put it in your mou... no, no, no, you probably shouldn't do that. 

Chocolate also makes the best hostess gifts as well (okay, wine is right up there, too). You can make peppermint bark by melting chocolate and adding crushed candy canes once the chocolate is poured out in a flat pan. At Chocolate, Chocolate & More, you can find a recipe for another holiday treat - Mint Chocolate Bark. Make a batch of each and pair them up for the "best neighbor during the holidays" award.   

Question, crafters? Fruitcake: love or hate? You won't have to worry about answering that question if you bake a batch of Chocolate Peppermint Bread. That's right, I said chocolate bread! Crumbs and Chaos has cooked up the perfect recipe that will wow your guests and leave them begging for the recipe. The real question is: Will you tell them where you got it?

I think I gained a few pounds just writing this post (but that didn't stop me from trying a few of the recipes out). But don't you agree that Christmas and chocolate are the perfect pairing for both parties and presents? 

Check out these delicious recipes if you want to "chocolatize" your holidays this year:

Homemade Peanut Butter Cups 

Peanut Butter Xmas Trees 

Frosty Hats 

Christmas Chocolate Spoons 

Chocolate Peppermint Pie:  

Challenge #35 Midway: Optional Theme...Star Struck

Hello and happy Wednesday folks! I hope that you are all having a great week so far. 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 items from Décosse's Dynamite Doodles, our guest sponsor this month!

In addition to paper(s) from the Starry Sky Mini Kit, which is this month's paper set and can be seen a bit farther down, all but one team member also used one of my sentiments. Below you will find the previews for the different sets they've worked with, linked to their respective store locations.  Please note that the image and sentiment used on Helen's card are from different designers. Please check out each of the DT Member's posts for further details.

 Holiday Hoopla Word Art set is one of six sets available in The Holiday
Hoopla Bundle which can be purchased in the Scribbles Designs store. 

You can find it HERE.

Sharing Part of Giving Set can be found

in the Imagine That Digistamp store HERE.

Christmas Time Set 1 can be found

in the Imagine That Digistamp store HERE.
 

Christmas Time Set 1 & Sharing Part of Giving Set can both also be 

purchased in a bundle with two additional sets for $5.00 HERE.

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

 

Everyone who links up a minimum of two cards during the month of November 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 November. Poll will be open until November 30th, 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. Clicking on the names will take you to the individual blogs where you can check out the details for all these wonderful cards.

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 November. 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 #35

Optional Theme: Star Struck

"The stars in the sky shone down where He lay."

                           ~lyrics from Away in the Manger

I don't know about you, but for me, the stars seem extra bright during the holiday season. Not only the stars in the sky, but all those beautiful star decorations glittering about us. The star even sits prominently on the tops of many a Christmas tree. Of course, for the Christian community, the star plays heavily in the Christmas story guiding the wise men to witness the birth of Jesus. Since we're getting close to that big day, we want you to get a little star struck this month!

In order to have a chance to win the prize from our guest sponsor this month, be sure to have one or more stars featured prominently on your card. It can be the image itself, or an important part of the image, or in the paper(s) you use but it must be featured prominently. 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. You only need to follow the theme if you want a chance to win this month's sponsored prize of EITHER the Holiday Hoopla Digital Scrapbooking Kit OR five different mini kits (of six papers each) from the Christmas and/or Winter section from Décosse's Dynamite Doodles.

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 #35 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. 
• Our new challenge will start on December 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 #31 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 #31. As usual, I'm still rather behind, so I do continue to appreciate your patience.

We had 56 entries in our July challenge which was a little up from the previous month. Eight of those entries stated that they followed the theme. Please remember to add FT after your name if you have followed the theme. It would be a shame for those actually following the theme to lose out on the chance for the prize simply for forgetting to add the initials.

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

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

EDWINA

Edwina, you are the winner of a $12 gift certificate to the Bugaboo Stamps store, our guest sponsor for July (chosen by miniwebtool.com based on all eligible entries).

Edwina, 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 #31 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 #31:

AJ

HAZEL

JANICE

Congrats to our top three Stocking Stuffers! AJ,  Hazel and Janice, 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 June 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 fourteen individuals who linked up a minimum of two cards each during the month of JULY, qualifying them to receive the digital paper from that month, will receive the Blue & Grey Stripes paper which received the majority of the votes! I have included the watermark of it, below...

 

To all of you who linked up during July, 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 continue to work on your stash for 2017!!! There isn't much time left so get as many as you can done!!!

Papers will be sent to the email address that qualifying participants used when they added their cards to the Link Up as soon as I can manage.

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 Deer Oh Deer Mini Kit is 

MARGREET

(chosen by random.org)

 
Margreet, as you earned the free paper of the month by submitting more than two cards, I will send you out the paper set when I send out the individual paper to our players. If it happens that I forget and send you just the one paper itself, please do not hesitate to remind me that you won the full set.

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

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,

Challenge #35: Optional Theme...Star Struck

Hello crafters! Welcome to The 12 Months of Christmas Link Up. It is the first day of November  and that means it is time for our next challenge to get under way! There are just two months left to add to the Christmas and other December Holidays Card Pile for 2017 so let us continue with that quest and get all those last minute cards done!

It is time to get down to the business of our latest challenge. Here is what you need to know...

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.
• ALL entries adhering to our basic rules also have the opportunity to win a mini pack of digi papers each month as well.
• 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 #35.

Challenge #35

Optional Theme: Star Struck

"The stars in the sky shone down where He lay."

                           ~lyrics from Away in the Manger

I don't know about you, but for me, the stars seem extra bright during the holiday season. Not only the stars in the sky, but all those beautiful star decorations glittering about us. The star even sits prominently on the tops of many a Christmas tree. Of course, for the Christian community, the star plays heavily in the Christmas story guiding the wise men to witness the birth of Jesus. Since we're getting close to that big day, we want you to get a little star struck this month!

In order to have a chance to win the prize from our guest sponsor this month, be sure to have one or more stars featured prominently on your card. It can be the image itself, or an important part of the image, or in the paper(s) you use but it must be featured prominently. 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. You only need to follow the theme if you want a chance to win this month's sponsored prize of EITHER the Holiday Hoopla Digital Scrapbooking Kit OR five different mini kits (of six papers each) from the Christmas and/or Winter section from Décosse's Dynamite Doodles.

Now some of you may have recognized the name of the sponsor--Décosse's Dynamite Doodles. For those of you who don't know, Décosse's Dynamite Doodles is the label that I design under. Once a year I like to provide both the alternate prize and the main prize for the challenge. And on that note, for those of you who are unfamiliar, it is time to learn a little bit more about my brand...

Are you interested in digital sentiments, papers and other embellishments? How about a badge made especially for your blog? If these are items you are interested in, you are going to want to check out Décosse's Dynamite Doodles.  My name is Lisa and with over 200+ posts of freebies to choose from, and new ones added often, I just might have what you are looking for. Along with the freebies I offer, I also create blog badges and digital kits for sale. Additionally, I have also been excited to have been able to sponsor a number of giveaways and challenges at other blogs.

So, if you have the time, come and take a look. There is always inspiration to be found among my many different features.  I'd love for you to pop by and visit me. I hope you have a blast!

Main Blog: http://decossesdynamitedoodles.blogspot.ca/                                   some designs can be purchased at: http://buyscribblesdesigns.blogspot.ca/                                           some sentiment sets along with a special Breast Cancer Awareness digi paper pack can be purchased at: http://www.imaginethatdigistamp.com/store/c331/DD_Doodles.html

Team members worked with a number of different sentiments and papers. Other than the Starry Sky Mini Kit, which is this month's paper set and can be seen a bit farther down, below you will find the previews for the different sets they've worked with. I've linked those sets that are available for sale to their respective store locations. If a set isn't currently in a store, I've merely linked it to the design previews page of my personal blog. If you are interested in purchasing a set that isn't currently available for sale, just let me know and I'll get it uploaded. Please check out the DT Member's post for further details.

A Grungy Christmas

Glitterati Set 1

Nature of Christmas

Happy Holidays can be found in the Imagine That Digistamp store HERE.

This set can also be purchased in a bundle with 3 other sets for $5.00 HERE.

 Holiday Hoopla Word Art set is one of six sets available in The Holiday
Hoopla Bundle which can be purchased in the Scribbles Designs store. 

You can find it HERE.

The sentiment used on Pat's card, Believe in the Magic of the Season, 

is a freebie available on my personal blog HERE.

You'll get to see more images used from this company during our midway so be sure to come back again at that time!

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

 

Everyone who links up a minimum of two cards during the month of November 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 November. Poll will be open until November 30th, 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 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 November!

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, Pat and I and the rest of the gang hope to see you back with us soon!

• We hope to publish the names of the winners and top picks from Challenge #31 ASAP. 
• Then, be sure to join us again on October 15th, for our midway post where you'll get to see cards created by the Merry Maidens!
• 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), November 1st until 11:59 p.m. (23:59 hrs), November 30th, 2017.  All times listed are in EST (Eastern Standard Time).
  
• 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.
• Only a maximum of three (3) entries will qualify for the draw for this month's prize prize of EITHER the Holiday Hoopla Digital Scrapbooking Kit OR five different mini kits (of six papers each) from the Christmas and/or Winter section (winner's choice) from Décosse's Dynamite Doodles.
• 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.

We look forward to seeing you participate!

Link Up Below:
If you have any problems linking up, please be sure to leave a comment.

The 12 Months of Christmas Link Up Challenge #35
Please link up your Anything Goes Christmas and/or December holiday themed CARDS with the optional theme of Star Struck, below. Please see above for all the rules and details.