i should be mopping the floor: Hot Glue Hotties
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Showing posts with label Hot Glue Hotties. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Hot Glue Hotties. Show all posts

Friday's Freebie: Valentine Mini-Banner

I guess I'm on a Valentine banner kick! I'm justifying it by making this one a mini banner.

Monday night, I went to my friend Carrie's house for our monthly craft night.
You can read more about my craft group {we're the Hot Glue Hotties, babyhere and here.
She showed us how to make an awesome burlap wreath!

We had so much fun and came home with adorable wreaths.
{The tutorial Carrie gave for our burlap wreaths was very similar to the one I found here.}
Several of the girls were super organized and came prepared with embellishments for their wreaths. I, of course, being constantly in "scattered" mode couldn't get it together to bring things ahead of time! But, after chatting with my hotties, I thought it would be fun to make a mini banner for the wreath. I think I may make one for each season!

The banner is just pinned to the back of the wreath.
I printed it on cardstock.

What do you use mini banners for?

To download, please click on the image below {print as many pennants as you like} :
{kindly give a blog follow before downloading any of my free printables...please and thank you}
To see all of my free printables, click here.



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How to Host a Holiday Cookie Swap

Here's my guide to planning, preparing for and hosting your own cookie swap. 
Lots of great ideas, tips and tricks for a fabulous evening of YUM! 

A really thorough guide to planning, preparing for and hosting your own cookie swap. Lots of great ideas, tips and tricks for a fabulous evening of YUM! Includes a link to the winning recipe from this cookie swap!
We had a fun cookie swap over here with my craft group, The Hot Glue Hotties
There's lots and lots of ways to do a cookie swap...this is our version.

To begin, each participant was asked to bring THREE dozen cookies of one variety to the evening {we were all thrilled that Pinterest recently added the "secret boards" feature...this came in handy since we all follow each other on Pinterest and didn't want everyone seeing our cookie ideas}. One dozen of the cookies was for tasting, the other two were for "taking".  We had about a dozen participants, so this meant everyone would go home with two dozen cookies...two of each variety. 

A previous cookie swap I participated in involved bringing TWELVE dozen cookies...which was a bit of an undertaking. We did, however, take home a HUGE pile of cookies that I used for Christmas gifts that year. But, I truly spent two lonnnnng days in the kitchen preparing for that one...and I wasn't even the hostess that time!

To see all of the cookie recipes from our fun night {along with printable recipe cards}, click here.

A really thorough guide to planning, preparing for and hosting your own cookie swap. Lots of great ideas, tips and tricks for a fabulous evening of YUM! Includes a link to the winning recipe from this cookie swap!
This was our "taking" table, where everyone laid out the two dozen cookies that others would be pulling cookies out of to package up and take home with them. 

A really thorough guide to planning, preparing for and hosting your own cookie swap. Lots of great ideas, tips and tricks for a fabulous evening of YUM! Includes a link to the winning recipe from this cookie swap!
I purchased some holiday goodie buckets for each cookie baker. I laid out a bunch of wax paper sheets, too...to divide cookie layers {that's what's in the silver basket}. The markers were available to label our buckets with our names.

A really thorough guide to planning, preparing for and hosting your own cookie swap. Lots of great ideas, tips and tricks for a fabulous evening of YUM! Includes a link to the winning recipe from this cookie swap!
This was our tasting table. One thing I may have done differently here would have been to precut cookies in half...nobody could actually sit down and eat twelve entire cookies in one sitting {okay, maybe I could on a really bad day when I have my fat & fluffy jeans on...but certainly not at a party in front of other people. Our little secret, k?}.

We basically just took a little nibble of each cookie in order to judge it for our competition. After tasting all of the cookies, we wrote down our top three favorites and then tallied the votes...to name our cookie queen {her majesty is featured later in this post}.

I also served a tried & true Coffee Punch recipe that you see up there. The perfect dunking drink.


A really thorough guide to planning, preparing for and hosting your own cookie swap. Lots of great ideas, tips and tricks for a fabulous evening of YUM! Includes a link to the winning recipe from this cookie swap!
One major plateful of cookies to taste. Cutting them in half {or thirds or fourths} next year.
We have a member of our group who owns her own cupcake business, so she joked and said no way could a cupcake baker show up with a cookie! They were YUMMY, too!

A really thorough guide to planning, preparing for and hosting your own cookie swap. Lots of great ideas, tips and tricks for a fabulous evening of YUM! Includes a link to the winning recipe from this cookie swap!
I did separate the tasting and taking cookies for logistical reasons. It was easier to allow for plenty of room around the tables as gals wanted to fill their buckets or maybe go back for another taste test.

 We had a great time chatting and catching up.

Such a fun group!

Getting out of order a bit...
we did do our usual appetizer spread for a little savory meal before our cookie tasting.

We had a delicious homemade broccoli soup and this fabulous cream cheese dip...both of which I still need to track down the recipes for. {Coming soon}.

My very good friend, Danielle, always dazzles us with her yummy creations.
She brought these delicious Cranberry Feta Pinwheels.
The recipe can be found here.

I made what I commonly refer to as, the Weight-Watcher-diet-buster-fiasco-of-2009,
 {it was all downhill from there}...it's the best sandwich, ever, y'all.
You can find the recipe for these here. 

We also enjoyed this delightful Holiday Apple Drink,
{a glorified version of Martinelli's, if you ask me}.

A really thorough guide to planning, preparing for and hosting your own cookie swap. Lots of great ideas, tips and tricks for a fabulous evening of YUM! Includes a link to the winning recipe from this cookie swap!
One of my favorite aspects of our cookie swap was "crowning" the cookie winner with a bag chock-full of cookie cutters. Each cookie participant brought a new cutter and we all piled them into a bag.
Our winner, Suzanne, took home this bag of cookie-making loot!

And the winning cookie was....
Chocolate & Peanut Butter Chip Pretzel Cookies.
To see this recipe, along with a printable recipe card, click here. 

Again, to see all of the cookie recipes {along with printable recipe cards}, click here.

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Winning Cookie Swap Recipe: Chocolate & Peanut Butter Chip Pretzel Cookies {with printable recipe card}

Last night we had our monthly Hot Glue Hotties get together {to find out more about my craft group, click here}. Instead of crafting, we did a super fun cookie swap. We each brought one type of cookie, but left with a bucket-full of 13 cookie varieties {and one cupcake, too}!

I'll be posting later this week with our cookie swap details, including recipes for all 13 cookies as well as our appetizers for that night.

But for now, I wanted to share with you the winning recipe of the night.
We each tasted all of the cookies and then voted on our favorite
{this is a tasting plate pictured above...wow, right? Diet=Blown}.

Our cookie winner was from Hot Glue Hottie Suzanne.
Suzanne brought Chocolate & Peanut Butter Chip Pretzel Cookies.
The combination of sweet and savory was remarkable. And the pretzel bits added such a fantastic texture to an already beautiful cookie. Suzanne will hold the Cookie Queen title and reserve all bragging rights for an entire year...until we battle in December 2013 with more cookie craziness.

 
One requirement for the evening was to {in addition to your cookies} bring a new cookie cutter. We placed all of the cutters in a bag and awarded our winner with it.
{For those of you non-Texans, that's a straight-up Longhorn cookie cutter...Hook 'Em Horns}.

 To download this printable recipe card {in both 4x6 and 3x5 sizes}, click on the above image.

Suzanne found the original recipe for this winning cookie over at
Sugar Cooking.

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Crowd-Pleasing Party Food {Seven Fabulous Recipes}


As promised, below are all of the recipes that were brought to our Girls' Craft Night this month. 
The Hot Glue Hotties certainly know how to cook up some fun! 
If you'd like to read about our monthly craft group, click here.


For drinks we had iced tea, water and this little gem I like to call
"The Perfect Thanksgiving Drink".
I posted the recipe here earlier this week.   

Hot Glue Hottie Carrie brought a fantastic Broccoli Salad.
The recipe for this can be found here. 

Hot Glue Hottie Danielle brought a delicious Spinach Dip with bread for dipping.
The recipe for this can be found here.  

Hot Glue Hottie Gina whipped up this fantastic little number for our night:
Crescent Jalapeno Poppers
The recipe for these can be found here.  

Hot Glue Hottie Suzanne brought Avocado Salsa Cups {A Pampered Chef Recipe}

One of the most loved {and requested} recipes of the evening was also brought by Danielle.
These are Bacon Wrapped Water Chestnuts.



I put together my Easy Tortilla Roll-Ups for our get-together.




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Meet the Hot Glue Hotties! {Tips on Organizing a Craft Night with Friends}

So excited to introduce you to some sweet friends of mine...The Hot Glue Hotties (that's just four of us up there...there's about a dozen total)! We are a monthly craft group that meets the second Monday evening of each month to craft, eat and have a fabulous time. If you've ever thought about starting a group like this, it's a lot of fun. It's a great way to meet new friends, visit with old ones and get a cool project out of it twelve times a year.

Here's a few tips to help you organize a fun craft group of your own:



One thing our group does is communicate via a private page on Facebook. {I've blocked out profile pics since lots of them contain little ones!} This has been an easy and helpful tool to get info out. Within the page, we can create our monthly events, keep track of RSVPs, send out directions to host's house and ask others to bring food or other items {like those hot glue guns}.

We also have our own Pinterest group board that we each are able to pin ideas to. This can be super helpful when choosing a craft each month. 


Having one person purchase supplies is also helpful within a craft group. The host can choose the craft, purchase supplies and have group members reimburse the night of. It's easy to leave an envelope with change on a countertop and a list to mark names off of when paid. 


It's also helpful to have the hostess set up supplies ahead of time. That way your crafting time isn't used up by handing out items to everyone and making sure you have everything you need. 

Also make note of any electrical needs you may have for the evening...setting up extension cords at tables is helpful for each crafter to have their own glue guns, etc. at their disposal. 

Serving snacks is also a part of the fun! But stress isn't. Dividing food "duties" is helpful. We have four people bring snacks for the evening. Then the next month, another four can have a turn. Even with four people bringing food, leftovers are always plentiful. To see all of the recipes everyone brought for this craft night, click here

All of the recipes served were amazing and delicious.
{Again, feel free to check out the recipes, located here.}

And what's a party without cheesecake...made by the husband of one of our group members! 
How awesome is that? And it was FABULOUS!

After eating and visiting, we head to our spots and get to work on the craft. It's helpful for the hostess to give a run-down or explanation of the craft. As this month's hostess, I completed two example crafts...one for each table. During the craft time, I tried to float around to help anyone who needed it...or just gab with my friends! 

November's craft was table top Christmas trees. Choosing an appropriate craft is also super important. Originally, I had chosen an adorable wooden snowman made out of 2x4s and 4x4s...painted and weathered to perfection. Once I started on that one, I realized that painting and dry time {not to mention saw issues} weren't going to work for an {approximate} two hours of craft time.   

Busy little Hot Glue Hotties!

It was super fun to see how they all turned out! While I purchased the red and green papers, a lot of crafters brought their own scrap book papers...this made for a super fun variety! And LOVE that a few of the girls added bows to the tops of theirs...so cute! A tutorial is coming for these later this week!

Cute as a button!

These girls have plans to go home and make even more trees! 
Yay for a craft that was a HIT!

Love it!

Proof that I was actually there {that's me on the left}...along with three of my sweet friends. <3

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