Review/ Twas The Night Before Christmas at Michael’s House

IMG_0025I am once again thrilled to be working with Put Me In The Story to feature their newest Christmas book, Twas The Night Before Christmas by Daniel Kirk.

It’s the night before Christmas and Father Mouse is stirring in YOUR house to the sound of Santa Claus and eight tiny reindeer! Cozy up as Father Mouse shares his story of what happens next. You’ll get a peek at Santa and a glimpse of your gifts under the tree, too. With illustrations that began as original ink drawings, this new spin on a classic Christmas tale is sure to be a hit for the holidays!

For some reason I thought we had a copy of Twas The Night Before Christmas but it seems like we don’t so I thought this would be the perfect thing to add to our Christmas book collection and I want to graciously thank Sourcebooks and Put Me In The Story for providing me with a code so that I could order a personalized copy to read this holiday season.

Twas The Night Before Christmas retails for $29.99 US and you can see the title is ever personalized right away with the addition of at Michael’s House and the tags on the gifts. The whole process literally took me less then 5 minutes and the book was in my cart ready to be made and shipped. Shipping was once again super fast and I had my book within in a week.

The book is beautifully bound like a regular hard cover picture book and it arrived in perfect condition.

The story is the same original story with a few added details and the personalized items blended in with the book and you couldn’t tell the difference. Instead of the dad being awaken by Santa’s arrival its the little mouse that lives in the walls of our house.

The illustrations are beautiful. They are bright and colorful and they almost look like the original illustrations. We were looking all over the pages as we were reading it.

This is a super cute book and I think this would make the perfect addition to your Christmas book collection.

Recipe/ Easy Fudge

This is one of those recipes that I always make at Christmas time. I have to admit I use to make fudge in the past and for some reason it never came out right and I almost given up on making it until I discovered this recipe.
Its super easy and quick. I hope you Enjoy it.
The 5 minute Fudge Recipe:
Ingredients:
1 2/3 cup of sugar
2/3 cup of evaporated milk
2 tablespoons butter
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 cups of mini marshmallows
1 1/2 – 2 cups semi sweet chocolate chips
1/2 cup chopped walnuts
1 teaspoon vanilla
(You can omit the walnuts if you don’t want them in your fudge. I have made them both ways and they have turned out fine.)
Directions:
-Combine sugar, milk, butter, and salt in a saucepan.
-Stir over med heat until a full boil and then boil for 5 minutes after it comes to full boil.
-Stir constantly.
-Remove from heat
-Stir in marshmallows, vanilla and chocolate chips and walnut if you are using them.
-Stir until marshmallows are melted and blended.
-Pour into a foiled line pan and chill until set.
(I use a the regular square pan)

Advent Calendars 2015

Its really hard to believe that tomorrow will be December, where did the year go?

Since tomorrow is December 1st I thought I would share with you all the advent calendars we are using this year.

Before I get into what physical calendars we are using this year I thought I would share with you one that on I saw on the Book Riot facebook page and its A Literary Advent Calendar and behind each day you could find a holiday poem, essay or short story and its all online. To go to A Literary Advent Calendar all you have to do is click here.

The first one is going to be one I spoke about in a earlier post today and its the Christmas Book Advent Calendar.

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The second one is my favorite 24 Days of Tea by David’s Tea. I really love the idea behind the box this year as the whole kit can be reused again for next year. I love the drawers and the little gold colored tins.

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The third one is for Michael of course and its the Lego advent calendar. He is really exited to start opening this up. He loves lego. Once our basement is complete I will have to show you a picture of his lego table. Its massive.

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The fourth one is the Starbucks one. I picked this up at Costco a few months ago and this one seems like there is a lot of different items in it. Unlike the one you actually buy in a Starbucks from what I heard.

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Finally the last one is the Lindt one. Can you tell which one is Michael’s? This will be the perfect after school one to open. Who doesn’t love a little piece of chocolate after a long day at school.

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Do you do advent calendars? If so what are your favorites?

Holiday Gift Guide Day 9/ Suggestions for the Make Up Lover

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Good Morning. Today I am featuring the final way you can use the  New York Liberty Handmade Pouch.  The pouch is all hand stitched and made with 100% cotton. It measures 9.5 x 5 x 1.5 inches. Its available in New York Liberty, Paris Eiffel Tower, London Big Ben (this is the one I plan on ordering) and San Francisco Golden Gate. It retails for $11.99 US

The final way you can use this is to make it into a make up bag. Everything that I am showing actually fits into the pouch. This would be perfect for a weekend away and you want just the basics with you. This is pretty much what I use on a daily bases and it includes the Neutrogena healthy skin primer, the Maybelline perfect skin foundation, the Maybelline Healthy Skin concealer, the Rimmel brow This Way, a NYC lipstick, NYC eyeshadow compact, Essence 24 hour mascara, NYX wonder pencil and a blush. You can also throw in a few brushes to complete the kit.

The ideas are endless.

Please note that I have included affiliated links to the products on Amazon to make your shopping easier.

I just want to thank Galison/Mudpuppy/Chronicle Books for reaching out to me asking if I would be interested in partnering up with them this holiday season to show case some awesome Christmas gift ideas.

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Holiday Gift Guide Day 8/ Suggestions for the Book Worm

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I have been told that I am the hardest person to shop for being a book lover and all but in all honesty with a little imagination you can come up with the perfect gift for a book lover in your life or the person who loves to keep track of things with this Christmas suggestion I have for you today.

As a book lover and blogger I am always making notes so I thought this would be the perfect gift for a fellow book blogger. You could also throw in a gift card to a bookstore.

The first thing you need is the a  New York Liberty Handmade Pouch to hold most of the items I am showing you . The pouch is all hand stitched and made with 100% cotton. It measures 9.5 x 5 x 1.5 inches. Its available in New York Liberty, Paris Eiffel Tower, London Big Ben (this is the one I plan on ordering) and San Francisco Golden Gate. It retails for $11.99 US.

As you can see I am carrying over my love for New York City in this holiday suggestion gift guide. You could use any city that you think the person would like.

The next thing you will need is The New York Times pen set. It includes a pen and mechanical pencil. They are a matching set. The barrel of the set includes iconic black and white photos of NYC. This retails for $24.99 and comes in a beautiful box to hold them both in. If you like the pens you can also pair this up with a really nice journal and give that as a gift.

As a book blogger I go through a lot of sticky notes so adding the New York City Taxi Shaped Cover Sticky Notes is a must. This is a die-cut cover with cute illustrations that will make  the New York City Taxi Shaped Cover Sticky Notes a cute addition to the book lovers collections. The classic yellow taxi features windows that reveal some of the adorable designs on the sticky pads, while the Big Apple skyline stands tall in the background. It measures roughly 4.44 x 6.75 inches and comes with a total of 240 stickies. There is four pads total (2 large: 2.25 x 2.3 inches / 2 flags: 2.25 x 0.65 inches). It sells for $8.99 US. Its available in Paris Scooter, London Bus, Christmas Train and San Francisco Cable Car.

You can also add a pack of The Big Apple Mini Sticky Notes. This is perfect for annotating your books or brightening up your book/agendas/journals etc  with images from New York City! There is 300 stickies in each package with 5 decorative sticky pads in two sizes. It measures 4-3/4 x 2-2/3 x 3/8″. It sells for $5.99 US. It comes in London Town, Paris, Vintage Telephone and Kate Sutton Note & Flag.

Finally the last item you can include is the New York Shaped Memo Pad. This is perfect for taking notes and slipping it into the book or for any notes you need to take. The top of the pad shows an image of a big apple, Statue of Liberty, Empire State Building, Chrysler Building, Brooklyn Bridge, and iconic yellow cab. This sales for $8.99 US. Its available in Cat, Paris, Avian Friends Birdhouse, Dachshund, Mr Fox, Vintage Clock, Vintage Telephone and Travel. Its one memo pad with two shapes with a total of 250 pages.

If you were looking for stocking stuffers to give someone this would also make a great idea as well.

Please note that I have included affiliated links to the products on Amazon to make your shopping easier.

I just want to thank Galison/Mudpuppy/Chronicle Books for reaching out to me asking if I would be interested in partnering up with them this holiday season to show case some awesome Christmas gift ideas.

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