Happy New Year!

I know I already said that, but I found this image from Emma Clements and wanted to post it:

I have two more hours, but depending where you are it may already be here, so for those of you that just celebrated midnight, HAPPY NEW YEAR!!

I am sitting watching fireworks form my bedroom window.  So fun!  I love it! 

I hope you are having a really great night!!

Favorite Post of 2010 - Link Party

This week a lot of bloggers have been posting their top 10 favorite posts.  I thought this was such a fun idea, but instead of showing you my favorite posts, I want to know what YOUR favorite post is of 2010!

Link up your favorite post from 2010 so we can get on last look at it before we head into the new year!!

Resolution Cookies

Kim from Party Frosting featured these resolution cookies from The Sweet Adventurs of Sugar Belle:

I am not sure this cookie is a good idea though:

New Year's Eve Cupcakes

If you are going to watch the ball drop in Times Square this New Year's, than you might need to make these cupcakes from Confessions of a Cookbook Queen:

And you could even get away with making just one and surrounding it with regular sprinkled cupcakes!

Cupcake Wrapper Fortune Cookies

Tatertots and Jello posted about these cute cupcake wrapper fortune cookies from Family Fun:

If you don't want to make your own homemade fortune cookies, these would be a fun substitute, and you still get to write your own fortunes.

Heart Candy Wreath

When I walked into the store yesterday and saw them putting up their Valentine's displays, I got really excited!!  I love Valentine's Day and can't wait for the blogoshpere to jump on the love bandwagon. 

Craft-o-maniac is already on board.  She made this cute heart candy wreath:

for her cute foyer:

I need to get home and start planning our red and green dinner!

Tin Star Light

Amy from Whispering Woods Cottage turned a tin star into this gorgeous glowing star light:

And you can head over to the DIY Club to see how a set of mini Christmas lights and some electrical tape made this vintage star shine.

Cupcake Poppers

These macaron look a likes I fount over at Edible Crafts are actually mini cupcake poppers:

They are just as easy to make as a cupcake, but even more fun.  They even use boxed cake mix!  You can check out the recipe over at Tablespoon.

Champagne Glass Mousse

Another fun New Year's Eve idea using champagne glasses:

These glasses are filled with white chocolate mouse and cute tags from Anders Ruff.  You could use pudding or any other creamy treat.  You can check out the rest of this New Year's Eve party over on Amy Atlas.

Crescent Jam and Cheese Cookies

I love Smitten Kitchen, so when she says that these crescent jam and cheese cookies are some of the best cookies she has ever made, they have to go on the must try list for 2011:

I am sure if you are having a New Year's Eve party, they would make a pretty yummy party snack.  You can get the recipe HERE.

Champagne Glass Cookies

I am not a champagne drinker, but I am a cookie eater, so this idea from The Decorated Cookie is perfect for me:

Instead of bubbles, the champagne flutes are filled with tiny, shimmery cookies.  Festive and kid friendly.

New Year's Eve Sparkler Cupcakes

Amanda made these cute cupcakes for New Year's Eve:

I love that the firework design looks like sparklers!  You can see a tutorial on how to make the firework and the recipe for those yummy looking chocolate cupcakes over at I Am Baker.

More New Year's Eve Printables

I found some more printables for New Year's Eve:

These ones are from Anna and Blue Paperie:

And she also has a lot of fun uses for them:

You can get them HERE.

Navy and Gold New Year's Eve Pary

I love these gorgeous pictures from Pizzazzerie:

A beautiful navy and gold New Year's Eve party:

 

complete with sparklers:

and you can see more HERE.

Hot Chocolate Bar

Cottage Elements has a hot chocolate stand instead of a bar in her house:

pretty fun:

Even if you aren't going to keep it out all of the time, it is fun for when you have guest over:

image from The Bride and Groom

You can have traditional cocoa toppings like marshmallows and peppermint candies, and some not so traditional ones like candied ginger, caramel squares, and orange rinds.  Even flavored syrups, cinnamon sticks, candy bars or chocolate chips.

Homemade Fortune Cookies

Alisa Burke made homemade fortune cookies:

And the best part are the homemade fortunes:

They would be fun to personalize for your New Year's Eve guests.  You can see her tutorial HERE.

New Year's Brunch

If you aren't up for a late night New Year's Eve party, why not invite everyone over for brunch on New Year's Day:

All You has some great brunch recipes you can use like these baked eggs in bread bowls:

and a citrus and pomegranate salad:

All of the recipes look yummy and won't break the bank, even if you invite a couple dozen people!

New Year's Eve Appetizers

From Glitter to Gumdrops is doing a week of New Year's Eve Ideas and even if you aren't having a party you might want to try these Parmesan Bites she made:

and if you are having a party you will want to check out her countdown glasses:

and her champagne cupcakes:

New Year Wreath

Can't Stop Making things has a free download for this Happy New Year clock face:

she then printed it out, taped it to the back of a paper plate, and used it to switch out one of her Christmas wreaths to a New Year's Eve wreath that you can see HERE.

In the Wall Spice Rack

Check out this gorgeous spice rack from Tidits from the Tremaynes:

It is installed right into the kitchen wall (where they cut out a big old whole) and then framed out with some gorgeous molding.

She has used that molding in her house before:

A pretty clever shoe rack if your heels are high enough.

You need to check out the pictures of the spice rack installation and see all of the other places she has used that gorgeous moulding in her house!

Felt Party Hats

Felt So Cute has a tutorial to make these cute felt party hats:

These same hats could easily be decorated by the kiddos for New Year's Eve.  You can see her tutorial HERE.

Gold S'mores

Gordon Gossip featured these s'mores from Amber Carson Events:

image from Amber Carson Events

These golden s'mores were part of a New Year's Eve Wedding, but are simple enough to a great treat for your New Year's Eve party.  You just need to pick up some gold luster dust.

Donate Your Christmas Cards

Before you toss your  Christmas cards, head over to St. Judes Ranch for Children's

They also have a need for Thank You cards and Birthday Cards, so if you have a birthday close to Christmas toss those in too.  And hopefully you will get a thank you card or too for the gifts you gave and you can send them along to St. Jude's Ranch as well.

Salted Caramel Pecan Bars

This would have been a fun treat to share with friends for the holidays, but it will also be a great party snack for the new year:

A Small Snippet shared this recipe for salted caramel pecan bars from Southern Living.   It looks gorgeous and it ingredient list is so easy!  Pecans, graham crackers, brown sugar, butter, whipping cream, vanilla and salt!  All stuff you will probably have in the cupboard after your holiday baking.

Show and Tell .... Sunday!

I am sort of still in vacation mode.  Actually it is more like Christmas hangover mode.  And I feel WAY out of the blogging loop, even though it has only been like one day of not reading blogs.

So to make me feel more in the loop and to give me another day to shake of the Christmas vacation mode, I thought we would have an impromptu make up Show and Tell Saturday Sunday!!

Lets pretend that I crossed out the Saturday and put Sunday on the button too.  I would have if I was at home on my computer that has photoshop, but I just can't pull off that kind of magic from my phone.

<a target="_blank" href="http://www.bedifferentactnormal.com/search/label/show%20and%20tell"><br /><img border="0" width="180" src="http://www.rememberthemoments.com/images/blog/satbutton.gif" height="180" /></a>

It is anything goes, so show me your favorite post from the week...or even from last year for that matter! (Which reminds me that next week, we will have an extended Show and Tell Saturday and it will be your favorite post from 2010!  There might even be a fun little contest!

So add a link to your favorite post of the week below.  

Please link directly to your post not just the homepage of your blog. 

Please be a friendly participant and check out some of the other projects that have been shared.  It is more fun when people are listening when you get up for show and tell!

A Great Deal and Silhouette Giveaways

If  you wanted a Silhouette for Christmas, but didn't find one under your tree, now is a great time to pick one up for youself!  You can get a Silhouette for $175 with the purchase of a 1 year basic subscription to the Silhouette Store.  The subscriptions start at $9.99 and you get $25 worth of downloads each month.

Use the code BeDifferent at check out to get this great discount.  But hurry, because you only have until January 1st to get this great deal.

 

If you want to try your luck at winning a Silhouette, you can  head over  The Stories of A to Z and enter to win one!  Room to Inspire is also giving one away right now on her blog too!  And so is Brown Paper Packages, and Honey We're Home, and Little Miss Momma too!

If I find out about more I will update this post to let you know, so check back!



Link Party is Fixed

So last night when I scheduled the post, I accidentally scheduled the link party to start on Dec 26 of 2011.

I am sure you all would have waited patiently for the next year, but I decided to fix it.

I would love to have you link up and will extend the party through tomorrow to give you time!!

Merry Christmas

I hope you and your family are having a wonderful Christmas. 

Candy Cane Popcorn

If you are looking for a really easy last minute gift or snack for a party, Candy Cane popcorn might be just the thing.

You can get the recipe for the popcorn over at Skip To My Lou and the cute labels over at Lost Button Studio.

Cupcake Liner Bow

Another fun idea for wrapping presents, this time from Sweet Paul:

A great way to use up some of your unused holiday cupcake liners.  And an idea that can be used long after Christmas.

Gift Card Holders

I should have know that Martha would have cute holders for gift cards (and they would work for cold hard cash too):

My desire to use one of these cute ideas is battling with my lack of will to head out to the store today.  If I were at home I could probably whip one of these up with stuff I have in my craft closet though, so hopefully you won't have to go out shopping on Christmas Eve unless you want to!

Christmas Tree Mobile

I absolutely love this idea from Not Martha:

I saw the Christmas Tree Mobiles over at Craft and fell in love.  It is a great substitute for a real tree or a really great decoration you could hang inside or out.

I am going to have to figure out where to put on next year and pick up some ornaments on clearance after Christmas.

Christmas Tree Mashed Potatoes

If you are planning on serving mashed potatoes as part of your Christmas dinner you have to see these beauties from The Kitchn:

I love the yellow bell pepper stars on the top.  If you have a piping bag you really need to consider this!

Polka Dot Christmas Tree Printable

At this point I am pretty much only posting things that are pretty to look at or ideas that I want to remember for next year, because if you are organized enough that you are all done with your baking and wrapping and looking for something else to do before tomorrow than you probably are way too productive to even read my blog.

But this cute polka dot Christmas tree from Ollie Graphic falls under both categories, cute to look at and something fun for next year:

You can download this cute tree over at Oh My Handmade.

Ugly Sweater Cookies

Amanda made these cookies as prizes for an Ugly Sweater party bake off:

They may be ugly sweaters, but they sure do make some really cute cookies!  You can check out all of her ugly sweater inspiration over at I Am Baker.