Delcious Cinnamon Bread - Neighbor Gifts

We're down to crunch time people!! 5 DAYS 'TIL CHRISTMAS!! I'm so excited! Anyway, I found this DELICIOUS cinnamon bread on Rae Gun Ramblings about a month ago.  It claimed it was the same as Great Harvest's Cinnaburst bread.  Since my family loves their cinnamon bread I decided this was the perfect thing for my family and to take to friends and neighbors.  So I gave it a try and it was just as good as Great Harvest's!  So I went crazy and made 12 loaves in one afternoon/evening and 4 more last night.  I bagged them all up and put them in the freezer so they will be nice and fresh when we deliver this week.

Great Harvest Cinnaburst Copycat Bread

1 cup warm water
1 cup warm milk
1/3 cup sugar
2 1/4 teaspoon yeast (1 pack)
1/3 cup oil (I used veggie oil)
1/2 T salt
1 egg
4 1/2 to 5 1/2 cups all purpose flour
1 cup cinnamon chips

• In mixer combine yeast, sugar, and warm water and milk; let bubble for about 5 minutes.
• Add in oil and egg.
• Slowly add 2 cups flour, mix and then add salt.
• Add 1/2 cup flour at a time until it comes away from side of bowl. Add the cinnamon chips when it gets close to the right consistency. The dough will be very sticky but the softer the dough the lighter the bread. So use the least amount of flour you can handle.
• Let rise in mixing bowl for about 30 minutes.
• Form into loaf (or whatever shape you want).
• Let rise and additional 30 minutes.
• Bake at 350 degrees for 30-45 minutes.

Makes 2 loaves

Tips I learned:  This dough is really like making rolls, it's sticky.  I used powdered milk instead of regular, worked great and cheaper.  My loaf pans are a little smaller, but perfect size for nice, big, full loaves - 4 1/2" x 8 x 2 1/2" deep.  I also used mini cinnamon chips which gave it more cinnamon swirl.  If the bread browns up too fast, put a piece of tin foil over top for the last 10 min. or so.

This bread would make wonderful french toast on Christmas morning, too.  Yum!

I found these really cute tags that I printed out and tied one with cute ribbon I found in the dollar section at Target.  I love Target! TaDa! Cute, yummy neighbor gifts!

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Party Week Giveaway Winners

Thank you all for helping me celebrate reaching my goal of 100 followers. It's been a fun week! So without further ado . . . here are the winners . . . drum roll please . . .

Giveaway #1 - Watch

Briana Richardson

Giveaway #2 - Yellow Headband

Melinda

Giveaway #3 - Bead Necklace

Rachel

Giveaway #4 - Hat

Brossettelewis

Giveaway #5 Zuzu Dress

MaryBeth

Giveaway #6 Ring

Alicia

Giveaway #7 White Headband

Alissa

Congratulations to all the winners! I'll be emailing you to get your information.

Party Week - Giveaway #7

This giveaway is now closed.



Well, we've come to end of our week of giveaways.  Wow, it's been fun!! I made some new friends, found some old ones, actually, and have loved reading all your comments.  Thank you all for helping me celebrate reaching my goal of 100 followers.  Remember, you have until Saturday to spread the word and enter all the giveaways.

Without further ado, here's today's giveaway:  Another knitted headband, this time in cream or let's call it winter white. :)  That's more fun.

So if you want to win this here's what you have to do:

1. Be a follower! Sometimes it's good to follow. :) Leave me a comment and let me know you are following. If you are already a follower, leave me a comment and tell me.

Extra entries:

2. Like The Brown Eyes Have It on Facebook.
Spread the word about my giveaway week:
3. Post about it on your blog, link to your blog in a comment.
4. Tweet it
5. Post it on Facebook using @The Brown Eyes Have It so I'll see it, too.

Please leave a separate comment for each entry letting me know what you've done.

Five chances to win! Giveaway will end Saturday, Dec.17 and winners will be announced Monday, Dec 19.

Other giveaways this week:

Giveaway #1
Giveaway #2
Giveaway #3
Giveaway #4
Giveaway #5
Giveaway #6

Teacher and Neighbor Gift Ideas

Here is my sister, Leslie, again with some cute, simple, easy gift ideas:

Are you still looking for inexpensive gift ideas for teachers or neighbors?  These are some of the things I am going to give this year:

These word art picture frames are fun and super "cost effective" (that sounds so much better than cheap).  I bought used picture frames from D.I. ($1-2 each) and gave them I fresh coat of paint.  Then I printed the free prints found here and here. 

Next up, neighbor gifts:

I've seen lots of cute ideas out there for reusing glass jars.   I reused spaghetti sauce and pickle jars, and spray painted the lids black.  The bases are Dollar Store candlesticks that I also painted black.  You could fill them with all kinds of things.  Pencils or crayons for teachers?

And one more idea to go along with a gift for my children's teachers, these initial notepads, journals and cards from the dollar section of Target:

I couldn't find a whole set for each initial I need, but I think they would be cute to add to one of the ideas above. 


Hope your shopping is almost finished!  Once I find Neil Diamond's Greatest Hits, I think I will have everything I need (Mom, don't tell Dad!)

Thank you, Leslie, fantastic ideas as usual!  I'm going to start saving my glass jars now so I can do this next year (we don't use those very often, lol.)  I'm so excited that Leslie and family is coming up to visit for Christmas! Yeah!! You're still coming right, Les? Tell Luke I published it so it's fact now. :)

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Party Week - Giveaway #6

This giveaway is now closed.

I forgot all about the giveaway today.  Oops!  This posting everyday thing is work. lol 

Today's giveaway - a super cute (I think, anyway) ring.  The face is slightly bigger than a quarter, and it's on an adjustable ring base, so you can fit it to your size.

 

So if you want this fun ring here's what you have to do:

1. Be a follower! Sometimes it's good to follow. :) Leave me a comment and let me know you are following. If you are already a follower, leave me a comment and tell me.

Extra entries:

2. Like The Brown Eyes Have It on Facebook.

Spread the word about my giveaway week:

3. Post about it on your blog, link to your blog in a comment.

4. Tweet it

5. Post it on Facebook using @The Brown Eyes Have It so I'll see it, too.

Please leave a separate comment for each entry letting me know what you've done.

Five chances to win! Giveaway will end Saturday, Dec.17 and winners will be announced Monday, Dec 19.

Thanks everyone, I really appreciate each and every one of my readers! Come back tomorrow for another great freebie.

Other giveaways this week:

Giveaway #1

Giveaway #2

Giveaway #3

Giveaway #4

Giveaway #5 

Giveaway #7

Party Week - Giveaway #5

This giveaway is now closed.

I have a super cute giveaway today!  My sister, Leslie, has a great little shop called Cornflower Attic, and she has generously donated one of her super cute Zuzu dresses for me to giveaway today.  This is the exact dress YOU can win!

Isn't it SO cute!!  For the colder months now, pair it with a long sleeve shirt or cardigan.  This will fit from about 1 year to around 6 years old, transforming from cute little dress to a tunic top.  Now that's getting your money's worth!

Here's my little girls in their cute tunics a couple years ago.  Thanks, Leslie!

So if you want this hot pink and green damask dress here's what you have to do:

1. Be a follower! Sometimes it's good to follow. :) Leave me a comment and let me know you are following. If you are already a follower, leave me a comment and tell me.

Extra entries:

2. Like The Brown Eyes Have It on Facebook.

Spread the word about my giveaway week:

3. Post about it on your blog, link to your blog in a comment.

4. Tweet it

5. Post it on Facebook using @The Brown Eyes Have It so I'll see it, too.

Please leave a separate comment for each entry letting me know what you've done.

Five chances to win! Giveaway will end Saturday, Dec.17 and winners will be announced Monday, Dec 19.

Thanks everyone, I really appreciate each and every one of my readers! Come back tomorrow for another great freebie.

Other giveaways this week:

Giveaway #1

Giveaway #2

Giveaway #3

Giveaway #4

Giveaway #6
Giveaway #7

Fun Twist on a Journal

Last week when I showed you my Christmas Planner, I told you I'd show you a few variations on this idea.  Here are a couple of journals, an adult version and a teen/tween version, and also a cookbook, all out of the same basic supplies.

A couple years ago in the October 2007 conference session of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, Elder Henry B. Eyring gave a wonderful talk about journal keeping called "O Remember, Remember".  I LOVED this talk, maybe because I'm not a very good journal writer and this is really something I need to work on.  Anyway, shortly after this, my sister-in-law, Alana, brought a cute journal for us to make at our traditional Thanksgiving craft fest.  So I decided to combine the two and add Elder Eyring's talk to these fun, twist on a journals to make a cute gift.

The basic "how-to" is the same as the Christmas Planner.  However, the tabs for these journals are as follows:  Goals, Accomplishments, Adventures and Travels, Books I've Read, Favorite Scriptures and Quotes, and Blessings.  As I said, I made a Teen version, too. For those tabs I used: Goals, Favorite Songs and Artists (since this changes week to week, it's fun to remember), Books I've Read, Friends Info., Travels and Adventures, and Blessings.  I also dressed these up a bit more than the Christmas book by adding quotes to each title page and matting each title and quote with either one or two layers of cardstock and/or scrapbook paper.

On the left is the front title (pocket) page.  On the right is a sample section title page.

For each tab, I sectioned off about 5 pages and then left the rest of the tablet for the Blessings section.  In the front pocket (inside page) I added a shortened version of Elder Eyring's talk.  In this talk, he speaks about every day writing down "how I had seen the hand of God blessing our family." And as you pay more attention, you'll notice more blessings - even if it's little things like a neighbor helping out or someone letting you go in front of them at the grocery store.  If you would like to make your own, you can download them all here:
Titles and Quotes
Titles and Quotes - Teens
O Remember, Remember
This is two pages, that I print back to back, cut down to size, and then fold it backwards so the title is on the front.


In the picture at the top, you'll also see a Recipe book.  Cheyenne made that for Natalie a year or so ago for Christmas.  This is a place Natalie can jot down her favorite recipes she got from 4-H, or while she's cooking at home.  It has the sections of Breads, Meats & Main Dishes, Cakes & Desserts, Cookies, Candy, and Misc.  Cheyenne also found some cute food quotes to go with a couple of them:  "Man cannot live by bread alone...he needs peanut butter and jelly to go with it"; "You do not like them, so you say. Try them, try them, and you may. Try them and you may, I say."; "You get what you get, so don't throw a fit!"; and "The problem - how to get 2 lbs. of chocolate home in a hot car. The solution - eat it in the parking lot."  She also decorated it with cute cooking stickers.

These make great (thrifty) gifts.  I made the journals for my friends, ladies I visit for church, my girls made them for their friends, and I made them for my children's teachers.  I got rave reviews from them!  I even had the mom of one of my daughter's friends (who I didn't know at the time) call and tell me how much she loved it. Really! That made me feel happy.  The best was when I actually saw them using them.  Quite a few of those who received them would take them to church meetings to take notes in.  I have loved mine to keep track of all the books I've read - found out that I read about 2 books every month. :)  I also used the Quotes section to keep track of my favorite scriptures, but also the funny things my kids would say. It's fun to look back on that now.  If you decide to try this, I love to hear about and see your version.  Let me know!

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