Now that you’ve made jars upon jars of tasty jam, you may want to dress some up to give away to friends and family as gifts, and you’ll definitely want to label them so you’ll know whether you’re opening a jar of strawberry jam or raspberry jam.

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B asked for chocolate bark for Christmas, but he specifically said that he wanted cashews and not almonds or peppermint. Unfortunately, or fortunately if they happen to be your favorites, almond bark and peppermint bark have edged out all other barks for shelf space in the chocolate bark section of the store. In other words, I couldn’t find cashew bark in any of my regular haunts.

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Irish or not, everyone deserves some love on St. Patrick’s Day! Be sure and get a kiss when you give these mini “Kiss Me, I Might Be Irish” cards, which can also be used as gift tags. I designed the cards to fit my favorite little envelopes at Paper Source, but envelopes aren’t necessary. Happy St. Patty’s Day, and hope you get lots of smooches, preferably not the slobbery, drunken kind (unless you like that sort of thing).

Download the St. Patrick’s Day Mini Cards (141 Kb PDF)

You will need the Adobe Acrobat Reader to download and use this file. Download the reader for free here. These templates are for personal, non-commercial use only.

Hi, everyone! I know it’s been a little while, and I have recipes piling up that I want to post here, but time has not been on my side lately. It does seem to be that way during this time of the year, doesn’t it?

If you bake on a regular basis — gluten free or not — then you know how quickly ingredients can fill up your cabinets and pantry. And if you bake gluten and sugar free, then you might find yourself in my situation, with over a dozen different types of flour plus several sweeteners stuffing your shelves.

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Since I posted it last October, my little pom pom flower tutorial has been one of the most popular posts on the site. I’ve been so happy to see all of the different things that people have done with the “flowers”, from incorporating them into wedding decorations to making a bunch and placing them in pretty vases for a home accent. You guys are so creative!

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Hi, everyone! Yes, I’m still here. I’ve been in the midst of a huge new project for the past few months, and the long hours have meant little time left for posting here. But I want to let you know how grateful I am for all of the linkage and comments about crafts and recipes featured on this site over the past couple of months. It makes my day when someone tries something and lets me know about their results, and I’ve loved what so many of you have done with the ruffle wreath, especially. You gals and guys kick butt! I can’t get over how fast you are at cutting those circles, and thanks to those of you have shared your tips for making the process faster.

I’ve been meaning to post a little roundup of the crafts that I made over the holidays. Hey, it may almost be Valentine’s Day, but at least I know that no one on my gift list is going to have their Christmas surprise foiled by seeing what I made for them.

From top to bottom:

* Snow Babies project by Jenn Docherty, from  Holiday Crafts by Better Homes and Gardens. This special interest mag had a lot of great crafts this past holiday season, and as soon as I saw these snowpeople I knew I had to make them for my mum for Christmas. I turned them into ornaments so she can hang them on her tree. Next year, I definitely have to make some for myself. So cute!

* Peppermint Swirl Pincushion project, from Moda Bake Shop. I made these for all of the seamstresses in my life, and I think that they turned out really well, especially since I’m not a pro with the sewing machine. The result of my first attempt was not good, but after that I got the hang of it.

* I broke out the candle making supplies for the first time in a while and whipped up lots of candles and scent melts. Our apartment smelled fantastic, like a mix of Christmas trees, roasted chestnuts, and pumpkin bread. Yum!

I hope to be back with more recipes and crafts soon, and I’ll let you know when the new project launches!