December Blog GiveAway!! Merry Christmas!!

Merry Christmas Everyone! Today I'd like to announce my second AMcInnis Artworks blog giveaway. I promised one every six weeks or so and it's high time! This is a 7x7 inch mixed media piece using paper, beads, acrylics and pen and ink.

If you haven't joined the blog yet, please do so. You will then be eligible for our drawings. It's simple to do, just click on Follow and follow the directions. Let me know if you have any problem, and I will try to help you figure things out.




The crazy blog poster is acting up tonight...excuse the messiness of this post...ugh :(

I love this time of year and hope to add a little cheerfulness to your surroundings by doing some legwork for you and giving you ideas and fun projects for the holiday season. This little giveaway piece would be cute placed on a small easel and displayed somewhere in your home that needs a little (dare I say it!??) WHIMSY! I greatly dislike that word...so trite and overused. Anyhoooo, it will add a fun note to your already wonderfully decorated homes.

I am helping host a Cookie/Candy Swap next week and thought I'd give you a few ideas for that ubiquitous undertaking. I KNOW everyone either attends or hosts one of these every year, but this year we are taking it in a different direction...one that doesn't require quite so much time and effort. Working women and busy or young mothers don't have all night to spend in the kitchen, so we cut the work down to size.

We have 12 women attending and each woman will bring enough cookies or candy to give each attendee 4 pieces (or cookies). That amounts to 48 cookies and as most recipes make 3-4 dozen, we are in good shape there. They are to bring their offerings on a platter and the hostesses are "springing" for inexpensive platters from "you know where" for each lady. All treats will be set out on the perimeter of a large table and each lady will be given her "gift" platter and the guests will make their way around the table picking up 4 cookies per platter as they pass. At the end (and this may sound a little chintzy to some but it's a real time and money saver) each lady will reuse the aluminum foil that they brought to cover their original treats to wrap up their swapped treats.

NOW, I know this is a streamlined version of the baking all day, putting a dozen cookies in a cute container for every lady and enclosing a recipe card for each container, but frankly, I am more into taste testing than I am into cute for the sake of being cute. Beside that, money is tight this year and this is a fun way to have a little spiced cider, coffee and visit while still leaving with something different for your family to try.

You could take this one step further by asking everyone to bring one notecard with the recipe typed or printed on the front only. Then the hostess could artfully place the cards on a copy machine and not have to print but 2 pages maximum for each attendee. Make sure they sign their names on their cards. What a fun little reminder of a relaxing few hours spent with good friends.

A McInnis' Spiced Cider (my very own recipe)

1 gallon Apple Juice (sweeter than cider) A handful or two of cinnamon Red Hots candies
1 large navel orange (washed & sliced) 2 cinnamon sticks

Put the orange slices (3 or 4 thick slices), Red Hots and cinnamon sticks in the top of a large coffee percolator. Pour Apple Juice in and close top. Let perk....yummy and simple.
My family even likes it cold.

Now, go make a fire in the fireplace, have a little cider and figure out where you want to put that art piece when it arrives in a few days. Let's set the drawing for December 18th!!