(Does This Count For ) Christmas in July ~ Homemade Lemonade?!

I made some yummy, sweet and tart lemonade, y'all!

I always make a "Christmas in July" treat, so I'm making lemonade in my festive snowman jar to make this one count! 😜 

When life gives you lemons, 🍋🍋🍋

make lemonade!

Can't you just almost taste it!?

It just practically sings,🎵 Summertime, Summertime,

🎵Fa la la la la la la la la 🎵🎵

What could taste better while wrapping those Christmas gifts and singing Christmas carols than good old fashion homemade lemonade..unless some maybe hot cocoa?! 🎅😛

Hope everyone is having a great summer! Let's go soak up those last sunny beach days before school begins again!

Thanks for stopping by!

John 3:16

'til we sweet again, Karen 💗

Christmas in July Circus Peanuts Reindeer!

 Hmm..what to make on National Milk Chocolate Day when it's also Christmas in July?

Well, how about a reindeer that's been dipped in milk chocolate with chocolate dipped antler pretzels!

I'm a certified circus peanuts NUT!

But I have to say I've never even thought about dipping them in chocolate..'til today!

And I do think these turned out to be quite the Christmas cuties! 

If you wanna make some too, you'll need:

Circus peanuts-chocolate dipped pretzels-candy eyes-m&ms-dipping chocolate-lollipop sticks

 Press lollipop sticks into candy peanuts and cut pretzels in half.

Using a lollipop stick, I made indentions in the top on both sides of the peanuts.

I placed all candy pieces on parchment paper..

 ..dipped the circus peanut in chocolate and placed on the parchment paper.

Attach all candy pieces and let set.

Wishing you all a 

Merry Christmas in July!

'til we sweet again, Karen💗

Christmas In July Chocolate Gingerbread House Cookies with Rudolph!

 Merry Christmas In July!

It's been a fun month! My daughter, grandmother, granddaughter, sister, and nephew were all born in July! Hallmark has been playing Christmas movies all month. I have been reading the Christmas story of the birth of Christ! My hubby and I have just completed plans for a trip to Disney World in December when everything will be decked out in beautiful Christmas decorations! And I just finished decorating these festive Christmas cookies!

July is nearly through, but not to worry, Christmastime will be here before we know it!🎄

For my cookies, I used Lila Loa's amazing chocolate cookie recipe! They smell of brownies and are so yummy!

Roll out dough and use your favorite house and reindeer cutters. I rolled my dough to 1/4 inch thick, but should have made the reindeer a little thinner. By the time I dipped and added decorations, they got a little too weighty. I had a couple to lose their heads!

Also, don't try-as I did- to bake Rudolph's "sprinkles" noses into the cookies. They will melt. Instead, use mini M&Ms after they bake!

To decorate my cookies I used, jumbo rainbow nonpareils, black sugar pearls, chocolate jimmies, mini M&Ms, Christmas tree sprinkles, chocolate wafers, ready-made vanilla frosting, and yellow and red fondant.

I also used a fondant roller, a flat edged spatula to cut my fondant, a large tip to cut the circle window, and a star and round tip to pipe frosting.

 Let's pipe some snow up on the rooftop!

 Wouldn't it be great if putting Christmas lights on the house were this easy?! 

Cut out round window and door as pictured above.

 Attach candies and decorations using a little melted chocolate.

I rolled out red fondant and cut small strips to use as Rudolph's collar.

I dipped the tips of reindeer feet in chocolate to resemble hooves.

 I then dipped the reindeer antler tips in melted chocolate and sprinkled on some jimmies.  I let set to harden and added black pearl eyes, the collar and "jingle bell" sprinkles!

Fly, Rudy!!

 And lastly, after attaching Rudy to the rooftop with melted chocolate, I propped a couple of spoons under his head until chocolate hardened just to keep him level headed! 🤣

Don't forget to be nice! Wanna make sure we make Santa's Nice List!

Thanks for dropping by!
'til we sweet again, Karen😊

3D Candy Christmas Trees For Christmas in July!

Merry Christmas in July!

Today is my granddaughter, Princess Lydia's 4th birthday and it's been a great day of celebrating the blessing that she is to our family!

But I didn't want the day to get away before sharing my annual Christmas in July treat with you!

My favorite thing about these trees is..they stand up! You can easily make your own Christmas Tree Farm holiday platter with these holiday cuties. Or you could place them at each setting as party favors!

I've made so many different candy bar crafts in the past several months that I think I'll just dub this, "The Year of The Kit Kat".😉

So last month I found the cutest little popsicle Christmas tree crafts online and thought they would be so sweet made out of candy. What do you think?!

I was so happy with the way these turned out. When my granddaughter saw them, she declared, "Oh, those are nice"!

I used: Kit Kat bars, mini Kit Kat bars, green candy melts, sixlets, yellow fondant, and yellow pearl dust.

Tools I used were: small star cutter, food grade paintbrushes, and fondant roller.

Roll out fondant and cut stars.

In honor of Miss Lydia who loves all things sparkly, to the stars I added this pretty, yellow, pearl dust! Perfect! 

Assembling these candy trees is so easy!

Cut or break, (i suggest cutting them to minimize breakage) Kit Kats into 4 sections.

You will need 3 regular strips and one mini bar for each tree. 

Melt candy melts in the microwave.
If they are too hot, wait a couple of minutes before applying to candy bars as they will melt the chocolate.

 Using the paintbrush, apply melted candy to attach each section at the corners. Let set till hardened.

Let's "perty up them trees"!

Y'all do know I'm a city and a country girl!😛

Paint the Kit Kat sections with green candy melts and place the sixlets candy Christmas tree lights.

Attach mini candy bar trunk and fondant stars with a dab of melted candy.

I love these festive colors!

I have loved every minute of the Hallmark Christmas movies.
I am not ready to let them go yet!

But thankfully, the Christmas season is less than 4 months away!

Thanks for stopping by and I wish you all a Happy July!

Life is sweet, Karen

Santa Starfish on the Beach~Christmas in July!

Two of my most favoritest things!

Christmas and the Beach.

I have several friends that are enjoying those wonderful sea breezes and oceans waves as we speak..err..read. As for myself, I am preparing this post with the holiday movie, "A Dream of Christmas" 

playing in the background with dreams of our own beach trip next month!

Thinking to myself..toes in sand..toes in sand..

Anyways, several years ago, my sister-in-law brought me back a Santa starfish Christmas ornament from her trip to the Caribbean. I thought it was thoroughly adorable and have thought many times to make it into a craft.

I have also recently seen the cutest Santa starfish images on google and since it is "Christmas in July", now is the time!  

 Here are the items I used to make my starfish treats.

Graham crackers, Bugels, black and white fondant and white petal dust. Also, red, blue and peanut butter flavored candy melts.

 The list of tools I used are: fondant roller, sharp knife, food use only paintbrush, Wilton sea life fondant mold, starfish candy mold (not pictured here) and a tiny little sunglasses cutter.

I have not been able to find a link to the set of cutters my sunglasses came with, but there is a photo of the package they came in from an earlier post if you click on this link. 

A couple of years ago, I made my first Santa hats using Bugels and Sixlets for my Grinch Candy Spoons.

Today, I'm using white fondant rolled into tiny balls for the hat topper as I didn't realize I was out of Sixlets. I mean, how does that happen? 😜

Dip Bugels into melted red candy melts and attach fondant toppers. Let candy set. Then attach cut strips of white fondant for the hat cuff.

Are you feeling jolly yet?

Ho! Ho! Ho! Hats off to Christmas!

I must say, I'm really happy with how these starfish turned out. The peanut butter candy melts are the perfect color for these sweet sea creatures. I think the salted caramel melts would work great as well.

Melt candy in 30 second intervals at 50% power, stirring each time till melted smooth.

Fill each well and gently tap mold on counter.

Place into freezer for 10 to 15 minutes.

Turn mold upside down and gently pop out finished candies.

I'm outfitting my Santas with sunglasses. If you don't have the cutter, I think your craft will be cute even without them.

But if you do, just roll out the black fondant and press cutter through.

Now here is my all-time favorite mold. The Wilton fondant sea life mold.

To make the seashells, roll white fondant into a ball, press into mold, then gently pull back on mold and lift the shell out.

I applied dry white petal dust with a dry brush to give my shells a pretty sheen.

For the beach background, I covered the graham crackers in blue candy melts and dipped the bottoms into crushed grahams.

I can almost smell the salty air!

If you are reading this and you live by the sea, you are Blessed! Living the dream! 🌊🌊

Let's get these guys dressed!

Using melted candy, place hats onto starfish and attach fondant pieces and let candy set to dry.

If you want another Christmas in July treat, click here for my Snowcapped Lollipops.

We wish you a Merry Christmas in July!🎜🎜🎝

Enjoy the rest of your summer!

Have a sweet day, Karen