Jennifer Schaerer
Holiday Cards & More Week is a little slice of early holiday heaven for me.
I’m the one who keeps my Christmas playlist on my iPod all year long (I’ve also been overheard humming carols in May). I also just bought two new ornaments last weekend for our Christmas tree. And it’s only August, but I’m already working on a few ideas for neighborhood and teacher gifts for Christmas.
Seriously, I think there must be at least one branch of elf DNA in my family tree.
Holiday Cards & More, Vol. 4 has an entire section of handmade gifts, and the elf in me wants to make cookies for this canister by Wendy Sue Anderson for my daughter’s teacher:
Mmmmm...some holiday cookies and peppermint wishes!
Alicia Thelin came up with the perfect combination of fun, cute and simple for my neighbor gifts this year:
Whip these up assembly-line style and you'll have neighbor gifts in no time at all!
But vintage (especially the retro-ish 50s era) always gets me, so I’ve got to jump right into this adorable tin by Anabelle O’Malley:
A retro Santa with vintage style makes this tin something extra special.
If vintage is your thing too, you need to know that Cath is having some vintage fun (with shabby chic thrown in for good measure) over at Moxie Fab World today. Stop in and say hi, maybe even take on her vintage/shabby chic design challenge. Tell her I sent you!
Yep, thanks to the Holiday Cards & More Week celebration here at Paper Crafts Connection, I’m totally in the early holiday spirit. If you’re like me and want to get a jump start on inspiration for the holidays, hop on over to our online store HERE and get your very own copy of Holiday Cards & More, Vol. 4 because it goes on sale TODAY…for 10% off! All this week! REALLY!
Or, if you’re feeling especially lucky, go ahead and leave a comment and let me know what kind of cookies you make around the holidays. I’ll pick three random winners to receive a copy of Holiday Cards & More, Vol. 4 PLUS a great prize package from Stampin’ Up! that you can use to make Alicia’s cute project shown above.
Hearing sleigh bells already,
Jennifer
P.S. Need some inspiration? Check out the CREATE gallery at the World Card Making Day web site. It’s growing by leaps and bounds, and October 3 will be here before you know it!
My favorite christmas cookies are the peanut butter cookies with the hershey’s kiss in the middle. YUMMY!
Sadly I don’t make any cookies at Christmas time. Every year I think I should and then i just run out of time. I do enjoy eating the ones others make though!
I usually stick to about 3 cookies. Spritz, oatmeal carmelitas and sugar cookies.
These gifts ideas are AMAZING. All of them —total perfection! My fav cookies to make any time of the year is Scor Bit Cookies. The best. YUM.
LOVE those candy bars — and in cookies? NIRVANA. –Jennifer
The only cookies I ever bake are chocolate chip. YUM!
What cookies I bake varies from year to year, but the one that’s almost always on the list is a chocolate cookie flavored with crushed peppermint sticks. I am already getting in the mood!
my favorite are sugar cookies with butterscotch chips! yuuuuum
Kisha
making Christmas cookies is one of my favorite traditions… we make classic nestle tollhouse choc chip, the supposed neiman marcus cookie recipe (choc chip-oatmeal w/ nuts), family recipe for german jelly filled butter cookies called spitzbuben, pecan tassies and whatever fabulous recipe we find….always looking for new great cookies!
Oh! Spitzbuben! My mother-in-law is Swiss…this recipe is one of five cookie recipes I got from her! Thanks for that, Michelle! –Jennifer
Around the holidays I like to bake sugar cookies in holiday shapes, gingerbread men. Thanks for the chance to win!
my mom and I always make lots of cookies for our families for the holidays. I think my favorite would have to be magic bars (okay, not really a cookie…). coconut, chocolate…yum!!
Magic, coconut, and chocolate in one sentence. Should be illegal. –Jennifer
Great projects. My favorite thing to make are thumbprint cookies with my girls…filling their thumbprints with jelly and jam is so very much fun!
Awww, Lynda. Yes! They are better when the thumbprints belong to the kiddos! –Jennifer
I can’t believe its time to think about Christmas (and Christmas cards)already – yikes! Well, they’re not very Christmas-y but since I don’t make actual cookies very often, I LOVE homemade chocolate chips! We are also big fans of peanut butter blossoms (with the hershey’s kiss in the center).
I love to make spritz – they go down so easy and are yummy!
Mmmmmm…Christmas cookies. I like to make peanut butter cookies with a Hershey’s Kiss pushed down into to the center (not sure what they’re actually called, but we call them Kiss Cookies)!!
Well, according to Tara two comments above, they are called Peanut Butter Blossoms! I like it! –Jennifer
Still love the Great chocolate chip yum yum!
When it comes to cookies the traditional sugar cookie gets the nod around here. However there are a few other treats we like to splurge on as well such as the peanut butter fudge that has been a secret recipe in our family for generations……
And now I can’t wait for the holidays to get even closer so I have an excuse to start baking all those wonderful goodies….
I went out today to buy the magazine and checked two places and it wasn’t there. I was so bummed because I can’t wait to see it. I love all of the sneak peeks you are showing. My favorite cookie to make are my snowballs. Butter, crushed pecans, andconfectionary sugar are a few of the ingredients. Yum, Yum. I just might need to make them a little earlier this year. Can’t wait to get my hands on that magazine. I love all of your special issues so much.
xoxo, Christine
Sorry you had trouble finding the issue — maybe you’ll be one of our lucky winners! –Jennifer
I really like to make a lot of fudge for Christmas. It is good to put into homemade containers. I cannot wait until I get the new magazine to get more ideas for homemade items.
A staple cookie in my house is the good ol’ Snickerdoodle. I always try to make these for the holidays. Also, the stand-by oldie, but goody sugar cookie! If I am in a pinch, I get the slice and bake(Yes, I admit it here and now! Horrors!) cut them and throw some sprinkles on them and bake. Cookies in less than 30 min. Done! Thanks for the chance to win, too. ;D
Did you see the comment above about putting red and green sprinkles to make the good ol’ Snickerdoodle a bit more festive? –Jennifer
I’m not sure why, but I love to make russian tea cookies around the holidays…. We’ll often do the butter cookies that are decorated too – but they take a long time. The russian tea cookies go pretty quick.
beautiful projects!! lots of cookies and goodies get made by me and my kids every year…faves are whipped shortbread, soft gingerbread cookies, sugar cookies (the kids love to decorate them!), and a variety of candies (tiger butter, peanut butter bars etc)
I absolutely love the projects you’ve shown. It really gets me in the mood for the holidays!! My children are gluten free and the cookies we love to make are a sugar cookie dipped in chocolate and then rainbow nonpariels. Thanks for the chance to win!!!
Good to know that gluten free can also be yummy! –Jennifer
I love Russian tea cookies! They are my favorite holiday treat. Thanks for the chance to win!
I like to make a small variety of Christmas cookies and then I do a cookie swap with a couple of other people. It’s fun and you get to try a wider variety of cookies that you didn’t have to make yourself. A couple of my favorites are chocolate mint wafers, pecan & brown sugar rugelach and coconut macaroons.
Oooooh! What about a combination cookie swap and holiday card swap? I’m on it! –Jennifer
I tend to make about 8 – 12 different kinds of cookies at Christmas, but one of my favorites is Pecan Tassies. yum!
A couple of friends and I make a couple different types of cookies and then share them all so we can cut some of the work, but give our neighbors and friends nice little plates of cookies. I usually make the peanut butter cookies and peppermint bark, yum!
Peppermint bark is so holiday-ish! –Jennifer
I like to make several different kinds of cookies for Christmas but my own favorite and must have for my family is decorated sugar cookies. Wouldn’t be Christmas without them. Thanks for a chance to win–can’t wait to get my hands on your magazine for some unique holiday ideas.
I make about 30 cookie trays every year as gifts from our business to other local businesses. Everyone always looks forward to their tray of homemade cookies and has their own favorites that they request. I think I make about 20 different kinds of cookies for the trays in about 4 days time. What craziness but it’s tradition.
Amy, craziness is an UNDERSTATEMENT. You go, girl! –Jennifer
There are two kinds of cookies I always make for holiday cookie swaps. The first are called Butter Cookies, and they are a soft sugar cookie with a yummy glaze. We always manage to collect a few more cookie cutters at each holiday, so these are a perfect choice. The second recipe is called “Kim’s Country Cookies”, which are an old-fashioned molasses cookie rolled in sugar. The recipe came with a set of paper dolls I had when I was little! And it’s an appropriate recipe to share here, with all the Kims at and around Papercrafts!
No kidding, Sherri — we’ve cornered the market on Kims around here! –Jennifer
I LOVE this kind of inspiration! I would fill a “dolled up” container with one my favorites – PRIZE Cookies.
~Shari R.
Great projects!! My favorite cookies to make around the holidays are peanut butter blossoms (with hershey’s kisses) They are so easy and so yummy!!
I made a lot of cookies at the holidays. I made chocolate meringues ( they taste just like gooey brownie), jam thumbprint cookies, biscotti, gingerbread cookies, sour cream cookies (my mom’s aunt always gave them to us when she saw us, sugar cookies, and I sure i forgot to name some. I also make candies.
Sounds like your kitchen is busy, busy, busy around the holidays with all that baking! –Jennifer
Love to make kolacky cookies! yummmmm!
I guess I have to go with spritz…they are so cute and festive! Love this magazine for all the inspiration!
I love making EVERY kind of cookie and eating them ALL!!
My son and I love to bake chocolate chip cookies, peanut butter cookies (that’s because they are both his favorites, of course!), and sugar cookies, the kind you cut out with cute cookie cutters and decorate. Oh, and sometimes we’ll make those choc chip kind where you use M & M’s instead, and we’ll get the red and green M & M’s. But, we still have to make regular choc chip cookies, too, for my son (who wants them still warm from the oven!)
My favorite holiday cookies are large and thin sugar cookies my mom rolls out and we cut and decorate together. Last year was the first year my daughter was old enough to join in the tradition.
Every year I make several cookies but a family favorite is Butter Toffee Sugar cookies – Yummy
I usually make an assortment of different cookies at Christmas time. My favorites are Swedish cookies, gingersnaps and mudballs.
Now you’ve got me in the mood for Christmas cookies! I make gingerbread people, sugar cookie cutouts, tea time tassies, spritz and mint stick brownies. Sometimes a few others too, but those are the mainstays!
Making gingerbread cookies is a must! I also make my Oma’s peppermint cookies every year.
Love the tall tin and your idea for filling it with cookies. I’m a tag girl and this one is a keeper.
That tin is awesome!!! I always make ranger cookies (some people do a variation called cowboy cookies) for the holidays – everyone loves them and they go fast! I make sugar cookies too – they are rolled in colored chunky sugar. Yummy! I can taste them now!
Love the tin! Sugar cookies are always a staple in my house.
I used to make tons of cookies to share with extended family, but now we usually just spend the holidays with ds and dd’s families so have reduced it to just old-fashioned frosted sugar cookies and frosted soft gingerbread cookies. Can’t seem to get enough of those, as I only make them at Christmas now! ~Bev~
I love to make lots of different kinds of cookies
especially oatmeal–yum!
SUPER CUTE GOODIES! Can’t wait to get my hands on this mag!
I make the best chocolate cherry cookies. THE. BEST. My husband and kids look forward to them all year!
i get out my Christmas magazine collection (i buy about 3 or 4 a year) and select a bunch of cookies to try out. So each year, they are different. i DO however make Mint chocolate chip (made with Andes mint chocolates) every year. they are refreshing! (recipe found online). We always make a gingerbread recipe for gingerbread houses and gingerbread people. My daughter LOVES decorating them, as for eating them, she prefers them with no icing.
Some of my favorite cookies are good ol’ fashioned sugar cookies. I crush up starlight mints and mix them into the dough and add peppermint icing after they are baked…so yummy and so simple!