A Crafty Soiree #16

Can you believe Christmas is NEXT week?! Honestly, this month has been the fast December to whip by ever! Luckily for me, my kiddo had all this week off too, so we've finally gotten a chance to do some Christmas crafting of our own. I can't wait to see all the ideas you share! For my feature this week, there really isn't a rhyme or a reason. Although I usually try to tie them together with some kind of theme, this time it's a bit more random:) Guess I'm just in that kinda mood!
Kristie at OCD: Obessive Crafting Disorder made the cutest embroidery hoop project. I love how it ties in with their family tradition of getting a freshly cut tree each year. Make sure you go see all the detail pictures of the tree, complete with a bow tying it to the roof of the car!

Craftberry Bush has made waddle of penguins so adorable you will squeal when you see them! And yes "waddle" is what you call a group of penguins, I looked it up;) I can't believe what they started out as! Seriously, these qualify as SO SO stinkin' cute!

Vintage Wanna Bee made this elegant handband, {sigh} doesn't it just make you think of romance? The pearls are my favorite part.

<a href="http://www.katiesnestingspot.com/" target="_blank"><img width="150" border="0" alt="A Crafty Soiree" src="http://i679.photobucket.com/albums/vv157/KTnestingspot/Blog%20Buttons/FeaturedOnBlueButtoncopy.jpg" /></a>Ladies, for being our features this week, we're happy to offer you our special Crafty Soiree Ribbon! It's yours to proudly display! Don't forget to check out today's Crafty Soiree post at Yesterday on Tuesday, we both pick three participants to feature each week so you might have been featured by Malia. But you'll have to visit her to find out!

<a href="http://www.katiesnestingspot.blogspot.com" target="_blank"><img width="150" border="0" alt="Katie's Nesting Spot" src="http://i679.photobucket.com/albums/vv157/KTnestingspot/Blog%20Buttons/KatiesNestingSpotButtoncopy.jpg" /></a>Now it's your turn to link up! The linky will be open for a week, so you have plenty of time to join us! Here are some guidelines for our guests:

• Link up your creative projects! Crafts, Decor, Recipes, Sewing and Organizing tips are are welcome. Kids crafts are welcome too, we want to see how you're encouraging the next generation of artists!
• Add your links to the specific posts and not your blog's homepage. Please make sure you post is NEW to A Crafty Soiree, it can be from your archives but should not be something you linked up to our soiree before. We've had a few repeats and we'd like to avoid that.
• Add my Crafty Soiree button above or link back to me in your posts, so others can find us and join in!
• Please comment on the post linked up in front of you. All partygoers love meeting new friends... don't just stop there...if you see something that catches your fancy-- stop by and say hi!
• Please consider following the hostesses, me and Malia, we want to get to know our guests
• Most importantly... enjoy yourself and have fun!

Don't forget, A Crafty Soiree is hosted on two blogs, so when you link up on one your link will automatically show up on the other one too! Please note, by linking up to A Crafty Soiree, you're giving permission to feature your project and photos in the future, with proper credit of course☺

Giveaway with 3 Winners: Johnsonville “Pastaville” Recipe Contest, Featuring Johnsonville's Ground Sausage

Today I have a super quick giveaway with THREE WINNERS!!! Each one will win TWO coupons good for a FREE PACKAGE of Johsonville Fresh Bratwurst! I'll tell you how to enter, after I share with you a bit about Johnsonville's Italian Ground Sausage line.

Did you even know they made a ground sausage line? I didn't, until recently, and was glad to hear about it! We already love Johnsonville sausages; they're my husband's favorite thing to grill on the summer or enjoy for a quick dinner. It was great to find out about their Italian Ground Sausage, it has the perfect blend of spices and works wonderfully in adding a unique Italian twist to your favorite dishes.

I wanted to let you all know about the Johnsonville “Pastaville” recipe contest, going on until the end of the year, December 31st. You'll have a chance to win a $10,000 cash Grand Prize! You can enter the Johnsonville “Pastaville” Recipe Contest at http://Johnsonville.com/Pastaville. Your entry must be submitted by December 31st, 2010 and needs to highlight Johnsonville Italian Ground Sausage. I hope you'll enter! Here is how we like to enjoy ours!Vegetable Saute with Sausage

1 pkge Johsonville Ground Italian Sausage
1 pint grape tomatoes
2 bell peppers chopped: any combination of red, yellow, and/or orange
2 zucchini or 1 medium egg plant, chopped
1/2 medium red onion, chopped
Freshly grated Parmesan cheese

Cooked pasta or rice, optional

Directions:

Cook Johnsonville Ground Italian Sausage in a skillet, breaking up with a spoon into bite sized chunks, until no longer pink. Remove from skillet, reserve two tablespoons drippings, wipe skillet clean.

Return drippings to the pan. Add tomatoes, peppers, onion, zucchini or eggplant, and onion to skillet. Cook until vegetables tender-crisp or tender, depending on preference, about 8-10 minutes. Add cooked sausage back into pan for the last two minutes and cook thoroughly.

Sprinkle with grated cheese. Can be served over noodle or rice.

Giveaway!

THREE readers will win TWO coupons each good for ONE FREE PACKAGE of Johnsonville Fresh Bratwurst.

This is going to super short and ends this SATURDAY! I'll contact the winners and get the coupons in the mail the following Monday. They expire on December 31st, so you'll need to hurry out to the store and redeem them right away!

Please Note: Even though this post is to promote Johnsonville Ground Italian Sausage, these coupons are for Fresh Bratwurst.

To Enter:

Leave me a comment on this post, I'd love to know your favorite way to eat Johnsonville Sausage.

Extra Entries:

You can also earn more entries to this giveaway by following me via Google Friends Connect, email, Facebook, or Twitter so you'll be the first to know about giveaway opportunities in the future! Spreading the word is also appreciated. Just let me know what you do in a separate comment for each extra method you do.

Giveaway open now through Saturday December 18th Midnight EST, winner chosen via Random.org and will have 48 hours to respond to my email. Open to US residents.



Disclosure: Thank you to Johsonville for providing the free product coupons for me and my readers. The opinions expressed are my own personal and unbiased impressions and were not influenced by the sponsor in any way.

Snow Play

After our first big snowfall of the season last weekend, Brad and ER got right out to make this huge snowman.Shoveling has become ER's favorite thing to do. She uses her little sand shovel to fill her pail and puts it in the garage. Every day she checks on it. I was kind of surprised to see how much it had decreased in volume. Then she adds more snow on top of what's melted. Funny what kid's like to do!

We also have to make lots of snow balls and...Play time is never over without a snow angel or two. I have to drag her in, even if she's shivering and her cheeks are bright red!
Part of Wordless Wednesday at Five Minutes for Mom, Go Graham Go, Two of a Kind Working on a Full House, and Wordful Wednesday at Parenting by Dummies.