Holiday Garland Card Holder

I found a holiday card tree holder that I absolutely loved but I was not paying the crazy price that the store wanted.  I thought I would make my own tree but ended up deciding to pin them to the garland I already had up on the railing in the foyer. 

I started with a random assortment of old Christmas cards that I have been saving.  Every Christmas it kills me to throw them away because some of them are so pretty. I try to save them and use them for my Christmas scrapbooking pages.  If you don't have any old Christmas card, you could use scraps of wrapping paper or scrapbook paper. 

I cut the first piece to fit the clothes pin and then used it as a pattern to cut out the rest. 

  

One of the old cards had letters that spelled Merry Christmas so I cut those out and glued them to the top of the clothes pins. 

 I glued on little mini Christmas light bulbs that I had left over from last year onto the top of the pins that didn't have letters on them. 

I clipped the cards on in a line following the top of the handrail.

 Then I used the branches that hung below the first row of cards to clip on another row. 

 Then each day when we anxiously check the mail, we will add new cards on. 

I love that I can display the cards without taking up valuable table and shelf space so that I can save that space for other Christmas decor!  One dollar for the clothes pins (and recycling old cards) beats $50 for a store bought card holder tree any day! 

Yummy Mexican Restaurant Rice

At last I can get back to blogging!  I have done so many projects and cooked so many recipes but haven't had time to sit down and write everything up!  This semester I had 5 classes as well as student teaching 3 days a week so all of my computer time was used for writing lesson plans and papers!  I'm looking forward to getting back into blogging and finally getting into PINTEREST! 

 I thought I'd start back up with this yummy mexican restaurant style rice.  My boyfriend and I love to go out to Mexican and the rice has to be my favrotie thing (as well as a Margarita). Everytime we make taco salad or enchaladas at home, we would buy that spanish rice in a box or microwavable pouch and in my opinion that rice terrible!  I was determined to figure out how the mexican restaurants do it.  I found a recipe tweeked it a little and it is worth it! 

The only bad thing about this rice is that it is takes 25- 30 minutes so I often get impatient and have to resist the urge to stir it.  I usually make a double or triple batch and freeze it so that when we are in a hurry I can just reheat it.  It freezes pretty well and tastes pretty good the second time around. 

Ingredients:

3 tablespoons of vegetable oil

1 cup uncooked long-grain rice

1 teaspoon garlic salt

1/2 teaspoon ground cumin

1/4 cup chopped onion (I usually add a little extra)

1/2 cup tomato sauce

2 cups chicken broth

 Saute the chopped onions in vegetable oil over medium heat for a few minutes to soften them. 

 Add in the rice and stir.

 

Then add in the garlic salt and cumin.

Constantly stir over medium heat until the rice puffs and is golden brown.   

  I usually do mine over low to medium because this burns very easy.  Don't stop stiring!

Stir in the chicken broth and tomato sauce. 

 Bring it to a boil. 

 Reduce heat and cover.  Simmer for 20-25 minutes. Don't stir it, just let it simmer and absorb the liquid. Don't get impatient or the rice will be hard. 

 When it is done, remove from heat and lightly fluff with a fork. 

Serve and enjoy!  I served mine with enchaladias and beans. 

I also froze half of our enchaladias and half the rice for another meal.  Make sure to remove all the air from your bags to prevent freezer burn.