living artfully

good tidings to you

 

However you're celebrating the season, I'm wishing that it's very merry! I'm taking the next few days to focus on family and the Christmas holiday. I'll be back next week with more pages from my December album.

For family, for friends, for peace without end
We wish you a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year

december daily - journal your christmas: 12-16

Between the baking and holiday parties this weekend, I found a little time for my December album. The more I add to this album, the more I love it. I love flipping through the pages and seeing what they make as a whole. 

Here are my pages for December 12th through the 16th...

 

 

 

 

 
 
click on any image for full-size
to see the full album, visit "dec daily / jyc: 2010"

Fingers crossed that I can get in a little more crafting time tonight and tomorrow night!

 

candy cane cupcakes

It's just a few days before the Christmas holiday and hopefully your to-do list isn't too long. If holiday baking is still on your list and you need a last-minute idea, these peppermint cupcakes are delish and festive.

 

Mint has been my flavor of the season. So I knew I couldn't make eggnog cupcakes without also making something inspired by candy canes. These are a dark chocolate minty cake, filled with a white chocolate candy cane ganache, and topped with mint buttercream (and crushed candy cane and dark chocolate drizzle, too!). Sounds a little crazy and complicated, but they're not terribly difficult to make and they're super yummy.

 
Makes approximately 24 cupcakes

for the cupcakes
2 cups all-purpose flour
3/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
2 cups sugar
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons baking soda
1 teaspoon baking powder
2 eggs
1 cup strongly brewed coffee, cooled
1 cup buttermilk
1/2 cup vegetable oil
1 teaspoon peppermint extract

for the ganache
14 ounce bag white chocolate chips
2/3 cup heavy cream
7 full-size candy canes, crushed

for the frosting
1/2 cup unsalted butter, room temperature
2-1/2 to 3-1/2 cups confectioner's sugar
2 tablespoons heavy cream
1 teaspoon peppermint extract

 
to make the cupcakes
1. Preheat the oven to 375 °F and line 24 cupcake cups with liners.
2. In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, cocoa powder, sugar, salt, baking soda, and baking powder.
3. In a separate bowl, combine the eggs, coffee, buttermilk, vegetable oil, and peppermint extract.
4. Create a well in the center of the dry ingredients and pour the wet ingredients into the well. Stir just until combined.
5. Fill the cupcake liners. Fill about 2/3 of the way if you want flat cupcakes and 3/4 of the way if you want rounded tops.
6. Bake for about 25 minutes, until toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean. Remove from oven and allow to cool completely.

to make the ganache
1. Pour white chocolate chips into a heat-proof bowl.
2. Heat heavy cream on the stove-top in a small pot. Heat until just before it reaches a boil; do not allow to boil.
3. Pour the heated heavy cream into the bowl with the white chocolate chips and allow to rest for five minutes.
4. Stir until smooth.
5. Allow to cool and once cooled, stir in the crushed candy cane pieces.

to fill the cupcakes
1. Using an apple-corer or 1-inch cookie cutter, cut the centers out of the cooled cupcakes. Cut approximately 2/3 of the way down. Twisting the apple corer before removing it from the cupcake helped to extract the centers. You could also try using a small knife or spoon.
2. Place ganache in a piping bag or plastic bag and cut a wide tip.
3. Pipe the ganache into the holes, filling each cupcake to the top.

to make the frosting
1. In a large bowl, using a stand or electric mixer, whip the butter for a minute or two until light and fluffy.
2. Slowly add the confectioner's sugar, mixing as you add the sugar.
3. Continue adding sugar until the mixture becomes stiff.
4. Add the heavy cream and peppermint extract, and whip until combined.
5. Frost cupcakes as desired.
6. Garnish as desired. I melted dark chocolate chips, letting them cool slightly before piping over the frosting. I also crushed 2 candy canes and sprinkled atop the frosting.

 

There's just something about chocolate and mint together -- don't you think?

 

december daily - journal your christmas: 07-11

Can you believe next Saturday is Christmas?! We're staying calm and festive around here. And I'm still very much enjoying my December album. This weekend I'm working on the pages from the past week. In the meantime, here are a few more completed pages...

 

 

 

 

 

click on any image for full-size
to see the full album, visit "dec daily / jyc: 2010"

Tonight, we are off to a party at one of my dear friend's houses. Each year she hosts an "ugly sweater party." It's always an excellent time and it's become a favorite tradition to find the ugliest Christmas sweater possible. Here's a little sneak at what I'll be wearing tonight ;)

 

Hope you are enjoying your pre-Christmas festivities!

 

happy anniversary

 

Oh how time flies when you're having fun... Happy three years, my love!!

 

eggnog cupcakes

I think I have a new favorite holiday recipe! I don't normally like eggnog, and I'm the girl who picks the frosting off my cake. But these cupcakes have converted me on both. These eggnog cupcakes are super yummy.

 

This recipe for eggnog cupcakes is suprisingly easy and came together in just a few minutes. My only complaint is that it doesn't make more!

 
Makes 12 cupcakes

for the cupcakes
1-1/3 cups all purpose flour
1 cup sugar
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1/4 cup rum
1 cup low-fat eggnog
1/4 cup vegetable oil
1 tablespoon apple cider vinegar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

for the frosting
1/4 cup unsalted butter, room temperature
2 to 2-1/2 cups confectioner's sugar 
3 tablespoons low-fat eggnog
1/2 tablespoon rum
1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
ground cinnamon and cinnamon sticks for garnish, if desired

 
to make the cupcakes
1. Preheat oven to 350°F and line 12 cupcake cups with liners. 
2. In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, sugar, salt, baking soda, baking powder, and nutmeg.
3. In a separate bowl, combine the rum, eggnog, vegetable oil, apple cider vinegar and vanilla extract together.
4. Add the flour mixture to the wet ingredients and beat just to combine.
5. Fill the cupcake liners. Fill about 2/3 of the way if you want flat cupcakes and 3/4 of the way if you want rounded tops.
6. Bake for about 18 minutes, until toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean. Remove from oven and allow to cool completely.

to make the frosting
1. In a large bowl, using a stand or electric mixer, whip the butter for a minute or two, until light and fluffy.
2. Slowly add the confectioners sugar, mixing as you add the sugar.
3. Continue adding sugar until the mixture becomes stiff.
4. Add the eggnog, rum and nutmeg, and whip until combined.
5. Frost cupcakes as desired.
6. To garnish, sprinkle with ground cinnamon and half a cinnamon stick, if desired.

 

I think I'll be baking these at least two more times this season!

 

camera app obsession: infinicam

My love for hipstamatic is no secret. And six months ago, I honestly felt like nothing could ever be better. Well, I was wrong. Meet Infinicam.

 

For you iPhone, Touch and iPad users, the Infinicam app could easily become your newest obsession. It's definitely mine!

This app is designed to help you take your standard photos and transform them into endless combinations of picture styles and frames. You can take pictures while directly in the app, or you can load existing photos from your device into the app. From there, the magic happens. From this...

 

To this...

 
 
The Infinicam app offers 17 camera styles and 18 frame styles, which you can put together in whatever combination you like with just a click. You can custom design the combination or press the camera button to have the app generate a random new style. The app also crops, saves and emails your photos. And the most amazing part... it's only 99 cents.  

Right now, my favorite style is to combine the Grain picture style with the Safety frame, which is the style you see above. And for everyone who asked about the pictures from my minty love post, that's the Golden Hour picture style with the Infini 50 frame. Love!!

 

I will always love hipstamatic and the funky square photos. But Infinicam has so many more unique possibilities, the app runs faster on my phone, and I find it way more intuitive when it comes to selecting different styles. And because you can use it to alter existing photos, you know the photo is going to turn out - it's just a matter of finding a style you like. Whereas with hipstamatic and having to take the photo through its camera, the downside is that nervous wait while the photo develops, as you wonder if the photo is going to turn out.

Some Infinicam photos have already made their way into my JYC / December Daily album. And I see some scrapbook pages in the future, too! Have you tried Infinicam? What do you think of this app??

 

minty love

 

My flavor this Christmas is mint. It's official: I'm in love! I just can't get enough of all things minty. My husband, on the other hand, has an obsession for anything eggnog flavored. As we get into the Christmas spirit, smells and treats are just another way for us to feel festive and to enjoy the season. So my minty love is showing up all over the house!


We're all stocked up on Twisted Peppermint lotion and hand soap from Bath and Body Work. It has a minty smell without being overpowering. And there's a sweetness to the scent that comes from vanilla and white sugar. If Bath and Body Works weren't so expensive, I'd probably have Twisted Peppermint three-wick candles in every room, too! 

And I'm getting my mint fix with my coffee every morning, too. With my cup at home, I'm enjoying a splash of CoffeeMate's peppermint mocha creamer. This is my first season buying this flavor; for past Christmases, I always bought the gingerbread creamer. This has been a yummy change!

 
 
And if I want to splurge, my drink of the moment at Starbucks is their peppermint mocha. Sometimes with white chocolate instead of milk chocolate :)  It's a rich drink, even without whip, so it's a nice treat to have every once in a while.

 

And for a minty treat to go with my coffee: Trader Joe's Candy Cane Joe Joe's. Seriously, they are unbelievably yummy. They look like an Oreo, but somehow manage to be so much better. If you are anywhere near a Trader Joe's, try these cookies!

 

And just a few treats, doubling as Christmas decor. Green candy canes, mint mini Hershey bars, and mint truffle Hershey kisses (which are also our advent calendar treat). The mint truffle Kisses are my favorite!

 

And verging on obsessed, even candy canes seem extra cute to me lately. And paired with the Starbucks logo = irresistable. Love drinking out of my new Christmas mug!

Okay cleary there is more than enough mint around here! And my poor husband, hardly anything eggnog flavored except actual eggnog. I fixed that by baking eggnog cupcakes... recipe to come soon!

What's your favorite flavor to enjoy this season?

 

december daily - journal your christmas: 02-06

Can I just say how much fun I'm having with Journal your Christmas?! I love how the prompts are helping me to approach each day in a new way. Don't get me wrong; I also love December Daily. I think the combo of the two has been the perfect blend of themes and daily memories. At first, I wasn't sure if I should sign up for JYC but I'm so glad I did.

Here are my latest pages for my album, December 2nd-6th. It's fun having a few pages already done to flip through...

 

 

 
 
 

 

click on any image for full-size
to see the full album, visit "dec daily / jyc: 2010"

How are things coming along with your December album? I hope that you've been enjoying the process so far!

 

christmas manifesto

I love the Christmas season; it's truly my favorite time of the year. The past few holiday seasons have been some of the best ever and I attribute that to a few things. Of course, being a newlywed at Christmas 2007 was huge! But I also think that my Christmas scrapbooks have honestly played a big part in my enjoyment of the season.

Instead of thinking of them as one more thing to "get done," my December albums have allowed me to slow down a little each day and reflect on what makes this time of year so special. They've also helped me to remember what makes each particular Christmas season unique from other years. This year, I intend to take the same approach as in years past. To focus on the joy and excitement. To record a little bit each day. This is my Christmas manifesto...

 

Looking forward to all that this month has to bring! And wishing you a beautiful season!