Hello! I can't believe it's already almost half way through January, but I'm finally back. I hope you all had a happy Christmas, and that your new year is off to a bang!

I wanted to share a bit of a cheat from my 26 before 26 list today. I say a bit of a cheat, because I wanted to make some almond roca candy at Christmas but I was too busy. It has always been one of my favorites, and my mom makes it every year!

Dane however, has always asked me to make soda cracker candy, which is very similar, and as I found out this year, SO much easier!


Since I was short on time, I opted to make soda cracker candy instead, and maybe next Christmas I will do the almond roca. I'm counting it on my list though, since I've never made either of them before. And it's my list, I can do what I want I guess ;)

So today I thought I'd share how easy this soda cracker candy is! Like stupid easy. And quick! Once you find out how simple it is, you won't be able to NOT make it. Plus it's that salty/sweet combo that is so addicting, so if you like those kinds of things, you will love this stuff!

For this recipe you'll need:

• A cookie sheet
• Foil
• A spatula
• Baking spray or oil
• Approx. 1 tube of saltines
• 1 cup (2 cubes) of butter
• 1 cup +2 Tbsp of brown sugar
• 1 bag (2 cups) of chocolate chips
• 1/2 cup of sliced or slivered almonds

First, preheat your oven to 350 F.

Next, you'll start by laying foil over your cookie sheet, and greasing it, either with spray or a little bit of oil on a paper towel. Then lay out all of your crackers in one layer to fill the sheet. You can break some in half if you need to, to fill all the space.


Next, melt your butter, add your brown sugar, and bring to a boil on the stove, stirring with your spatula the whole time. Boil for 2 to 3 minutes (I did about 2 1/2) still stirring, and then pour over your crackers on the sheet. Spread to distribute evenly, and don't worry if some gets underneath the crackers. Just try to keep them as flat as possible.


Put your cookie sheet in the oven for about 5 minutes, or until the top looks all bubbly. Remove from the oven, and sprinkle your chocolate chips on top. Cover with foil and let sit for 3 minutes. Then, remove the foil and use a clean spatula to spread the melted chocolate around evenly.




Next, sprinkle on your nuts, and then re-cover with foil. Put in your freezer for 20-30 minutes until the chocolate is hardened.


Pull it out and break into pieces and serve them up!

It goes so fast, and half of the time it takes to make is just freezer time! This makes a great dessert if you're having friends over, or you could take it as a hostess gift if you're the guest.

Now that I know how simple it is, I'll probably make it regularly, and maybe more often than just Christmas.

Do you ever make candy around the holidays? Or any other time of the year? Let me know! I'd love to know what your favorites are (and if there's anything else I should try!).

Thanks for stopping by!

This Christmas season is FLYNG by! But it may be that it already feels like Christmas has come and gone (even though it hasn't).

I started working on my Christmas card line in September, and that meant listening to Christmas carols and all around getting into the Christmas mood. So it's been a few months, and I can say that I do eventually get tired of hearing those songs over and over ;)

Then, we celebrated with my side of the family this past weekend and so it already seems like we're done! I'm still looking forward to Christmas day, but it will be the first year we are traveling for the actual holiday, and it feels different.

Since we already had one celebration, that means I already got some gifts! Yay for art supplies! I shared Saturday's haul on instagram, and one of the gifts I was most excited for was In Progress by Jessica Hische!


I've had it on my wish list since it was on pre-order, and my sister got it for me. To say it's inspiring seems like a disservice! That lady is so ridiculously talented, it makes me want to cry ;) but she also works so, so hard! It's very encouraging to see how far someone can get with a whole lot of hard work.

Aside from some great technical info and a step by step of Jessica's work-flow, there are a ton of beautiful pictures of art and advertising work. Some of them were ones I had seen, but didn't know she had done!


I definitely recommend it to any other letterers or designers out there. Even though the type of work we do is a little different (I'm not a freelancer), it helped me realize where some of the holes are in my own process!

But even if you're not a designer, it's still nice to have a book around that's filled with great examples of beautiful type! You can find it here on Amazon.

In other news, I rolled out some new (and one re-vamped) designs at the Hip Holiday Craft Market a couple weeks ago, and I will be listing them in the shop after the new year! I'm super excited about these, and I have a feeling the bacon one will be a good seller for Valentine's day ;)



Well, that's all of my exciting news for around here. I hope you all have very happy and safe holiday weekend, and spend lots of time with loved ones! Thanks for stopping by!

Is it just me, or does it seem like November has just flown by??

It seems like Christmas is around the corner, but it's nice to take a minute and think about all of the things I'm thankful for as we come up to this holiday weekend.

I'm thankful for my sweet, caring husband, a roof over our heads, family (and vehicles to take us to visit!), friends, and that most of those close to us have good health and happiness! I know that we are very, very blessed.

And thank you to each and every one of you who take the time to read my little ol' blog and support my little business. I really and truly appreciate it!

I hope you all have a very wonderful Thanksgiving, and a great weekend to follow! Eat tons of food, take long naps, and have a safe and happy time shopping too, if that's what you end up doing :)

We will be spending time with all of our family this weekend, and so I won't be around too much. If you want to, you can catch me over on Instagram for the next week. There's a pretty big chance I'll be sharing some sweet deals for stuff in the shop ;)

And don't forget, if you want to order anything, use the code THANKFUL15 from Friday through Monday to get free shipping on everything in the shop.

Again, I hope everyone has a great weekend, and thanks for stopping by!

A couple weeks ago, my niece and nephew celebrated their birthdays, and in true Amy-fashion, their gifts were super late!

Luckily for me, the kids enjoyed them more for the fact that they didn't expect them, and it was more of a surprise ;)

The cause for late-ness was the fact that I decided to make my niece a hop-scotch, and I should know better by now than to think I can make a gift in any decent amount of time! I was so stressed last Christmas because I wanted all of my gifts to be home made, and I should have learned my lesson.

Oh well, they always get done eventually....

Anyway, here are some pictures of the hop-scotch!



Their cards I just slapped together, but I had a little bit of fun playing around with gouache and Photoshop to make them. I wasn't thrilled enough with them to offer them in the shop, but I thought they turned out pretty cute.


What do you do for your kids/nieces and nephews? Would they appreciate a home-made gift, or is it store bought all the way?

Thanks for stopping by!