On the Ninth Day of Christmas...

My true love gave to me Nine Ladies Dancing

Tickets to a dance show. A ballet, hip hop show, whatever your flavor is.

Of course the NYC Ballet gives you extra brownie points!

Eight maids-a-milking,
Seven swans-a-swimming,

Six geese-a-laying,

Five gold rings,

Four calling birds
Three french hens,
Two turtle doves,
and a partridge in a pear tree!

diy Paper Stockings

In getting gifts for some extended family that I don't know very well and not having a huge amount of money to spend, I ended up with simple, useful gifts. I wanted to spruce up the wrapping and presentation to make them a little more fun so I came up with the idea of paper stockings. They are simple to make and, I think, turned out just adorable!

I got this craft paper from World Market and used an oversized needle with some deep red yarn to see them together.

You will need:
Heavy weight paper for a stocking template of your desired size & shape
Craft paper
Yarn for sewing and to make pom poms
Large needle
Scissors
Patience

Step 1:
Cut a template from the heavy weight paper of the desired size and stocking shape. Make sure you have plenty of room for the things you will be putting inside without stressing the seams and ripping the paper of your completed stocking.

Step 2:
Trace stocking shape onto craft paper, twice. If using pattered paper, be sure that once you put the two halves together, the pattern will be the right direction and facing out. Cut out.

Step 3:
Sew craft paper stocking together (with pattern facing out) with the yarn and needle.

Step 4:
Make pom pom and gift tag.
Here's a great tutorial for making several pom poms at a time: Making Pom Poms In Bulk

I'm excited about giving these out!

Merry Christmas!

On the Eighth Day of Christmas...

My true love gave to me Eight Maids-a-Milking

Buy your love a milk body product like the Au Lait line by The Scottish Fine Soaps Co.

$21.78 Au Lait Milk Bath Powder

Seven swans-a-swimming,

Six geese-a-laying,

Five gold rings,

Four calling birds
Three french hens,
Two turtle doves,
and a partridge in a pear tree!

Gluten Free Cinnamon Roll Coffee Cake

This cake is so easy and the payoff is amazing. Of everything that I have baked since I have been married, my husband loved this the most.

I love cinnamon and, since I had to go gluten free, I don't think I have had one cinnamon roll. I haven't put out the effort to attempt to perfect a GF cinnamon roll recipe so, in the mean time, I'll make this! It's not quite the same but it's a darn good coffee cake and it'll give you your cinnamon fix.
It has a cinnamon sugar layer on top and swirled inside and it gets a lovely crackled top with nice dimension.

I found it here and it's originally from here.

Gluten Free Cinnamon Roll Coffee Cake

Ingredients

Cake

• ¼ c butter, softened
• ¾ c sugar
• ¾ c sour cream (The first time I made it I didn't have any sour cream so I made my own with heavy cream and lemon juice. Recipe in this video)
• 2 eggs ( I made it once with only 1 egg and it turned out… just in case you're low on eggs :})
• 2 T oil (I used coconut)
• 1½ t vanilla extract
• 1½ t cinnamon
• 1½ c all-purpose Gluten Free flour (I used Jules. If you don't have all purpose GF flour, you can use rice flour or a combo of your favorite GF flours but be sure to add 3/4 t xanthan or guar gum)
• ½ t baking soda
• ¼ t salt

Filling-Topping

• ½ c unsalted butter, almost melted
• 1 c brown sugar, packed
• 2 t cinnamon

Glaze

The original recipe uses a cream cheese glaze but I wanted a more basic glaze. I used Paula Dean's Glaze recipe.

• 4 T butter
• 2 c powdered sugar
• 1 t vanilla extract
• 3-6 T hot water (It really does make a difference in the consistency that the water is hot)

Instructions

Cake

Pre-heat the oven to 350 degrees.

Oil an 8 or 9 inch spring form pan. (If you don't have one, use a regular cake pan with parchment paper. No need to oil it.)

In a mixer add the butter and sugar and mix together until creamy. In a small bowl mix sour cream, eggs, oil, and vanilla and slowly add to butter and sugar mixture and beat for 3 minutes. In a small bowl combine flour, cinnamon, baking soda and salt and slowly add flour mixture to the butter mixture and beat until smooth. Pour into to pan

Filling-Topping

Almost totally melt butter and add brown sugar and cinnamon to butter and stir until combined. Spread the topping over top of the cake mixture similar to frosting a cake using a knife to drag back and forth and up and down to make sure that the topping is moved into the cake and marbled. Place pan on a baking sheet and place into the oven and bake for 40-45 minutes. Remove from oven and allow to cool in pan. Once cooled remove to serving plate (If a regular cake pan with parchment was used, remove it from the pan by picking it up in the parchment paper, being careful not to break the cake. Place it on desired serving plate and rip the parchment away from the sides and pull it out from under the cake.)

Glaze

Mix butter, powdered sugar, and vanilla. Add hot water 1 T at a time until the glaze reaches desired consistency.

Drizzle Glaze over top of cooled cake. Enjoy!

Baking in a regular cake pan with parchment

On the Seventh Day of Christmas...

My true love gave to me Seven Swans-a-Swimming

I found a swim suit with swans on it that is perfect!!! Unfortunately it's a discontinued item. Disappointment aside, there are some really great swan print fashion items. Way too many to only have one in this post! Do a google search and you'll find more than you thought you would!

$21.99 Park to Park Scarf from Modcloth
Or these items:
Dress from Modcloth                            Dress from ASOS                     Lingerie Set from Modcloth

Or go the decor route with a print like this:

$20 via Leahduncan on Etsy

Six geese-a-laying,

Five gold rings,

Four calling birds
Three french hens,
Two turtle doves,
and a partridge in a pear tree!

On the Sixth Day of Christmas...

My true love gave to me Six Geese-a-Laying

Get your love some cozy goose down. You can get a small down travel pillow or splurge on a goose down throw.

$39.99 Travel Pillow from Bed, Bath & Beyond

$169-$269 Goose Down Blanket from The Company Store 
or $80 Oversized Down Throw from Eddie Bauer

Five gold rings,

Four calling birds
Three french hens,
Two turtle doves,
and a partridge in a pear tree!

On the Fifth Day of Christmas...

My true love gave to me Five Gold Rings

Gold stacking rings of course!

$49 via ForkWhisperer on Etsy

Or if your budget is bigger there's this collection of yellow, white, and rose gold rings.

$502 vis Seababejewelry on Etsy

Four calling birds
Three french hens,
Two turtle doves,
and a partridge in a pear tree!