Candied Bacon Wrapped Crackers

Today I am presenting you with Candied Bacon Wrapped Crackers.  I don't know how many of you like bacon, but my family loves it.  It is a recipe that originally came from my grandfather's wife, and I don't make them a lot, but I made them for Easter.  They were a big hit.  

They are pretty simple to make and not very time consuming.  Maybe about 30 minutes from start to finish.  So give them a try.

Candied Bacon Wrapped Crackers

Ingredients:

1 packet of Club Crackers (the box has 4)

2 lbs bacon (each strip cut in half)

1 cup brown sugar

1/4 cup water

Directions:

1.  Preheat your oven to 400 degrees and line a baking sheet or cookie sheet with sides with foil and  spray with nonstick cooking spray.

2.  Put the brown sugar in a bowl and add the water.  Stir.  (It should be very thick)

3.   Next, you will wrap 1/2 of a strip of bacon around a Club Cracker.

4.  Then dredge the cracker and in the brown sugar/water mixture and lay on your baking sheet.

5.  Repeat this until you have used all of your bacon.

6.  If you run out of the sugar/water make a little more,  if you have some left you can brush it over the bacon and crackers on the baking sheet.

7.  Bake in oven for 20 to 25 minutes or until the bacon is browned and crispy around the crackers.

8.  Remove from the oven and let cool for a few minutes and then serve.

I hope you like my Candied Bacon Wrapped Crackers.  They are a really fun appetizer to serve and definitely unusual.  Your friends and family will love them.

I always love hearing from you.  Have a great week.

Enjoy!!!

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Wednesday's Adorned From Above Blog Hop 47

We want to thank everyone who shared with last week's Wednesday's Adorned From Above Blog Hop 46.  We love seeing all of your posts.

Welcome to Wednesday's Adorned From Above Blog Hop 47.  We will be doing a giveaway for a $50 Visa Gift Card once we reach 500 GFC Followers, so if you're not following on GFC, it would be great if you would follow us on GFC.

I will be featuring the bloggers from last weeks party and the next two parties in two weeks.  I'm with family for the next 10 days.  I am looking at everyone's posts and love seeing them.

So on to this weeks party.

We hope you have fun at this week's party.  We all love hearing from you, so we love your comments.

Now let's party

Have a great week.

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Turquoise Ring Tutorial

I made this cute Turquoise Ring for Charly last week and I thought that it would make a great tutorial.  It was pretty easy to do and I think it came out really cute.  This is the first piece of metal jewelry that I have made since college and that was a very long time ago.  This was a really fun project.

Turquoise Ring Tutorial

Supplies:

needle nose pliers

Aluminum Ring Stick marked with sizes

Individual finger gauges for ring sizes

Jewelry pliers for bending wire

14 gauge silver tarnish free wire

1 turquoise bead

handheld reamer

wire cutters

Directions:

First I want to apologize for not having more pictures.  I didn't have my memory card in my camera, so these are the only ones I got.

1. Cut an 8 inch piece of wire.

2.  If the hole in the bead is not big enough to put the wire through, then you will need to need to make the whole bigger with the reamer.

3.  Then put the bead on the wire.

4.  Find the ring size that you want and then start wrapping your wire around the Ring stick to shape the ring.

5.  Wrap the wire around the gauge a second time.

6.  I then took the wire over the top of the bead on one side and then did it the other way to hold the bead in place.

6.  Next,  I squeezed the wires at the side of the ring together.

7.  Then I wrapped the wire at the side of the ring around the two wires to hold them together and look decorative.

I love the way this Turquoise Ring came out and so did Charly.  She put it on as soon as I gave it to her. I hope that you like it also.  If you have any questions please feel free to contact me.  I always love hearing from you.

Have a great week.

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Faith and Healing in Matthew 8

I love the stories in Matthew 8.  I love hearing stories about Jesus healing people.   I especially love Matthew 8:10 about the Centurion's Faith.  He believed that  if Jesus just spoke the words, it would be done.  Now that is faith!!!

(Mat 8:1)  When he was come down from the mountain, great multitudes followed him.

(Mat 8:2)  And, behold, there came a leper and worshipped him, saying, Lord, if thou wilt, thou canst make me clean.

(Mat 8:3)  And Jesus put forth his hand, and touched him, saying, I will; be thou clean. And immediately his leprosy was cleansed.

(Mat 8:4)  And Jesus saith unto him, See thou tell no man; but go thy way, shew thyself to the priest, and offer the gift that Moses commanded, for a testimony unto them.

(Mat 8:5)  And when Jesus was entered into Capernaum, there came unto him a centurion, beseeching him,

(Mat 8:6)  And saying, Lord, my servant lieth at home sick of the palsy, grievously tormented.

(Mat 8:7)  And Jesus saith unto him, I will come and heal him.

(Mat 8:8)  The centurion answered and said, Lord, I am not worthy that thou shouldest come under my roof: but speak the word only, and my servant shall be healed.

(Mat 8:9)  For I am a man under authority, having soldiers under me: and I say to this man, Go, and he goeth; and to another, Come, and he cometh; and to my servant, Do this, and he doeth it.

(Mat 8:10)  When Jesus heard it, he marvelled, and said to them that followed, Verily I say unto you, I have not found so great faith, no, not in Israel.

(Mat 8:11)  And I say unto you, That many shall come from the east and west, and shall sit down with Abraham, and Isaac, and Jacob, in the kingdom of heaven.

(Mat 8:12)  But the children of the kingdom shall be cast out into outer darkness: there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth.

(Mat 8:13)  And Jesus said unto the centurion, Go thy way; and as thou hast believed, so be it done unto thee. And his servant was healed in the selfsame hour.

(Mat 8:14)  And when Jesus was come into Peter's house, he saw his wife's mother laid, and sick of a fever.

(Mat 8:15)  And he touched her hand, and the fever left her: and she arose, and ministered unto them.

(Mat 8:16)  When the even was come, they brought unto him many that were possessed with devils: and he cast out the spirits with his word, and healed all that were sick:

(Mat 8:17)  That it might be fulfilled which was spoken by Esaias the prophet, saying, Himself took our infirmities, and bare our sicknesses.

(Mat 8:18)  Now when Jesus saw great multitudes about him, he gave commandment to depart unto the other side.

(Mat 8:19)  And a certain scribe came, and said unto him, Master, I will follow thee whithersoever thou goest.

(Mat 8:20)  And Jesus saith unto him, The foxes have holes, and the birds of the air have nests; but the Son of man hath not where to lay his head.

(Mat 8:21)  And another of his disciples said unto him, Lord, suffer me first to go and bury my father.

(Mat 8:22)  But Jesus said unto him, Follow me; and let the dead bury their dead.

(Mat 8:23)  And when he was entered into a ship, his disciples followed him.

(Mat 8:24)  And, behold, there arose a great tempest in the sea, insomuch that the ship was covered with the waves: but he was asleep.

(Mat 8:25)  And his disciples came to him, and awoke him, saying, Lord, save us: we perish.

(Mat 8:26)  And he saith unto them, Why are ye fearful, O ye of little faith? Then he arose, and rebuked the winds and the sea; and there was a great calm.

(Mat 8:27)  But the men marvelled, saying, What manner of man is this, that even the winds and the sea obey him!

(Mat 8:28)  And when he was come to the other side into the country of the Gergesenes, there met him two possessed with devils, coming out of the tombs, exceeding fierce, so that no man might pass by that way.

(Mat 8:29)  And, behold, they cried out, saying, What have we to do with thee, Jesus, thou Son of God? art thou come hither to torment us before the time?

(Mat 8:30)  And there was a good way off from them an herd of many swine feeding.

(Mat 8:31)  So the devils besought him, saying, If thou cast us out, suffer us to go away into the herd of swine.

(Mat 8:32)  And he said unto them, Go. And when they were come out, they went into the herd of swine: and, behold, the whole herd of swine ran violently down a steep place into the sea, and perished in the waters.

(Mat 8:33)  And they that kept them fled, and went their ways into the city, and told every thing, and what was befallen to the possessed of the devils.

(Mat 8:34)  And, behold, the whole city came out to meet Jesus: and when they saw him, they besought him that he would depart out of their coasts.

I hope that you have enjoyed today's verses.  I always love hearing from you.

Have a blessed day.

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Rosary Necklace Tutorial

I made this Rosary Necklace for Charly for her birthday.  It was my Great Grandmother's Rosary, and she had been asking for it since she was a little girl.  She would go through my jewelry box and ask for different pieces and try it all on.  The rosary was one of her favorite pieces.  Something she always loved.  So for her birthday I turned it into a necklace and it came out so pretty.  It has wooden beads and the cross is made of wood and silver.  It is a simple project and one that would be easy for you to do. 

Rosary Necklace

Supplies:

Rosary

1 clasp

2 jump rings

needle nose pliers

Directions

1.  Find the center of the back of the Rosary.  This is where you will place the clasp and jump ring.

2.  Use your needle nose pliers to open up the link between two beads.

3.  Separate the links



4.  On the right side you will need to place a jump ring into the link and then the clasp onto the jump ring and then use your pliers to close the jump ring.

5.  On the other side I had to remove 1 bead, because I did not have enough room to place my jump ring.  So remove the bead.

6.  Form a loop with your needle nose pliers, but do not close it.

7.  Then place your jump ring in the loop and close your loop with your pliers.

8.  You are done.  Just insert the jump ring into the clasp and you have a Rosary Necklace.

Now, I am not trying to put anyone's religion down, but turning my great grandmother's rosary into a necklace, we are not Catholic, and it was a shame to have it just sitting in a drawer.  So this was a way to pass a little bit of family history down to my daughter.  I hope this helps you with a necklace project.  I always love hearing from you.

Have a great day!!!

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Churros

Today we are sharing a recipe for Churros with you.  I made these also for Charly's birthday and they came out so good.  Danny was my taste tester.  I think he ate about the first 10 that I made, giving feedback.  He felt like this was a really tough job.  It was so hard he had to go take a nap after he finished eating these great Churros.  We ended up getting them just right.  So today we present you with a recipe for Churros that I found at Laurie in the Kitchen

Churros

Ingredients:

1 cup water
1 cup flour
3 TB unsalted butter
1 TB vegetable oil
4 eggs
1 TB sugar
1/4 tsp salt
1 tsp vanilla extract
vegetable oil for frying
1/2 cup sugar
1 tsp cinnamon

Directions:

Fill a dutch oven 1/2 full with oil and heat over medium heat to 375 degrees.

In a large saucepan add water, butter, vegetable oil, 1 TB sugar, vanilla, and salt and bring to a boil.

Turn the Heat down to low and add the flour, stirring constantly, until the mixture turns into a ball.  Cook for 1 about 1 minute, still stirring constantly.

Add dough to a mixing bowl and add 1 egg at a time, mixing well in between each addition.

Add the dough to a piping bag fitted with a large star tip.

Pipe 5 inch ropes into the hot oil, making sure to keep the oil at 375 degrees while cooking.

Cook for 2 minutes each side and remove from the oil.

Drain on a paper towel

Mix cinnamon and sugar and role in the cinnamon and sugar mixture.

Repeat this process, cooking all of the dough.

We hope that you like this recipe for Churros.  We always love hearing from you.

Enjoy!!!

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Aquatinis for Friday's Happy Hour

Today we have Aquatinis for Friday's Happy Hour and they are delicious.  I got the recipe from the bottle of DeKuyper's Island Punch.  It is a simple recipe and really good.  I also love the color.

Aquatinis

Ingredients:

4 oz citron vodka
4 oz Dekuyper's Island Punch
splash of sweet and sour

Directions:

Pour vodka, Island Punch, and sweet and sour over ice in a martini shaker.

Let sit for a few minutes to get really cold, and then shake well.

Pour into two chilled martini glasses.

Serves 2 Aquatinis

This drink came out really good.  I hope you like it also.  I always love hearing from you.

Enjoy!!!

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Proscuitto and Brie Empanadas

My friend Wanda and I made these delicious and simple Prosciutto and Brie Empanadas.  It's always fun cooking with Wanda and it had been a while, so it was a great day.



(She looks so pretty when she cooks, I of course probably had no makeup and was wearing jeans and a t-shirt.  She always looks great like this. Perfectly put together,  I need some lessons.)

While David and I were in Argentina, we went to a restaurant that had tons of different empanadas, so when we got home from our cruise, I, of course wanted to make some too.  This week we have the Prosciutto and Brie Empanadas, next week I will give you a recipe for Beef Empanadas, and the following week I will share my Chorizo Empanadas.  So I hope you are ready to go on a taste tour of Argentinian Empanadas.

Proscuitto and Brie Empanadas

Ingredients:

2 cans Pillsbury Thin Crust Pizza Dough
8 slices Proscuitto
1 wedge brie cut into 8 pieces
fig preserves or jam

Directions:

Preheat oven to 400 degrees and spray a baking sheet with non stick cooking spray.

Unroll your pizza dough on a large cutting board.

I used a small 5 1/2 to 6 inch saucepan lid to cut circles of dough for the empanadas   I got 4 circles of dough from each pizza crust.  (There is quite a bit of waste, you could probably rework the dough and get more circles)

Next put a slice of prosciutto,  brie, and 1 TB fig preserves on 1 half of each circle of dough.

Then fold the other half of dough over the prosciutto and brie and roll the edges so that they are sealed. (Make sure they are sealed, the fig preserves will leak out, it's okay, but nicer if it doesn't)

Bake in oven for 10 to 12 minutes or until lightly browned.

Serve immediately or remove from pan and place on racks to cool

Makes 8 mid size empanadas.

I hope that you like these delicious Prosciutto and Brie Empanadas.  They are so good and so easy to make.  You could also cut smaller circles and serve them as appetizers.  I always love hearing from you.

Have fun cooking.


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Wednesday's Adorned From Above Blog Hop 46

We want to thank everyone who shared with last week's Wednesday's Adorned From Above Blog Hop 45.  We love seeing all of your posts.  You are all truly amazing.  We also want to thank everyone who participated in the giveaway for the $50.00 Target Gift Card.  We can not tell you how much we appreciate your participation.

Welcome to Wednesday's Adorned From Above Blog Hop 46.   There are not Co-Hosts this week or a giveaway, it's just Charly and me.

Congratulations!!! The winner for last weeks $50.00 Target Gift Card giveaway is Jenny Ham.  Please send me your address and phone number in an email so that we can send you the gift cards.

Now onto the featured bloggers from last weeks party.  Please take a look at their posts.  They are truly amazing and all of you picked them.  These are the most viewed posts from last weeks party.

Featured Bloggers - Adorned From Above Blog Hop 45

1.  Festival of Flowers from Hope at Fairhope Supply Co.

2.  Angel Cake and Jello from Linda at Crafts ala Mode

3.  Scrap Knitting from Katie at Horrific Knits

4.  Whipped Mounds Bar Body Butter from Marilyn at 4 You With Love

5.  Gel Stained Bookshelf from Leigh and Jeanette at Crafty in Crosby

6.  Linky Party Directory from Deby at Mom's Make Money

7.  Killer Chocolate Peanut Butter Brownies from Marlo at Repurpose My Life

8.  How to Make Seaglass With A Rock Tumber from Mandy at The Comfy Crafter

Congratulations to all of this weeks featured bloggers.  Grab a button from the Side Bar.

So on to this weeks party.  The rules are easy.

1.  Follow all hosts in some way (GFC, Facebook, Google+, Pinterest, Twitter, or Linky Followers)

2.  Anything goes with posts. (recipes, parties, etsy shops, crafts, inspirational writing, absolutely anything.  Just make it family friendly)

3.  Comment on other posts.  It is a party.  Get to know your fellow bloggers.  I have met some of the nicest people at the parties, including some of my co-hosts.

4.  All featured posts will be pinned on Pinterest, so by linking with this party you are giving me permission to pin your projects.

5.  Also the party now runs from 9:00PM on Tuesdays through 11:59PM on Sundays.

We hope you have fun at this week's party.  We all love hearing from you, so we love your comments.

Now let's party

Have a great week.
Debi and Charly

This is where we party. Click to see all the parties.

Tips for Making Money Blogging

Today's post is a departure from my normal posts. You have seen many changes on my blog over the last month, and there are more to come.  I have been working on getting more followers, adding ads, and trying to make money.  some of these things have worked, some have had mediocre results, and some have made me decide to reevaluate what direction I want to take Adorned From Above in the future.

I love all of you, and you are the reason I write Adorned From Above.  When I started blogging, it was not to make money, but to share my recipes and ideas with other like minded bloggers.  I love connecting with all of you.  Over the next few weeks, I will be deciding on the direction that I want to take Adorned From Above, and I am going to keep all of you informed.

I have already made some changes.  I will not longer work on Sunday's, and I am not sure about Saturday's yet.  I will not longer stay up until 2AM working on the blog.  That decision was made while on was on my cruise in February.  All of you know that blogging can take over your life, but I feel that we are writing to improve our lives, and working 20 hours a day, is not improving anyone's life.

Now about making money blogging.  Here is what I have learned during the grand experiment over the last month about making money blogging.  (even harder work)

1.  Adding ads -  I have started with many different affiliates.  Some work better then others.    Sign up for these different affiliates, and then it is trial and error, for what works.

2.  Promoting your ads -  Some ads you can just put on your blog and people with click on them, but I have found that I must promote them.  Which means writing posts and then promoting them on social media.  ( Hard work and not always enjoyable)

3.  Evaluating your ads - Once you have your ads up you will need to check them and evaluate how they are doing on your blog.  I normally check daily, and move them around or remove them if they are not getting any clicks or conversions.

Now for the different affiliates that I have signed up with and what I have made.  It's not a lot, but it is a starting point and I did better then I have done with Google's Adsense (February 5.44), but they all paid about the same this month.

Earnings for Month of March
You can sign up with each of these affiliates from their links below.

1.  Integrate -  $10.73

Has ads and giveaways.  I enjoy working with them, and pick products that I think you might like.  You do have to write and use social media to get people to some of their ads, but some sell themselves.

2. Escalate Network - $10.05

They do ads, coupons, giveaways and lots more.  I like working with them also.  Most of these just sell themselves.

3. Viralati - $4.82

This is super easy.  You just pin the ads and giveaways.  I check to see what they have each morning and pin away on my giveaway board.  They don't always have a lot, but it's pretty easy to do, and if I spend 5 minutes a day, that would be a lot.

4. Join shareasale.com, Earn Cash!  $11.72

I really like Share A Sale.  The ads are easy to put on your blog, but I have found that I need to really try to send people to them.   I love the Craftsy classes.  I am getting ready to take a few.

5.  Craftsy - part of my Share A Sale earnings

Is part of share a sale.  You have to sign up for share A Sale first and then sign up for Craftsy.  I love the Craftsy classes, I'm taking some this week.

6. Sponsored Tweets - $1.26

This is really easy.  They give you the tweet, sometimes you have to change it a little, but simple to do.  They don't have a lot, and they send you the offers.  You can take them or not.  This is for just 7 tweets and they take just a few seconds to do.

7.  Google Adsense - $9.54

You can sign up for Adsense.  They are easy to use, it is only Pay Per Click.  You can add on the other  part which is a Pay Per Conversion.  It may pay more.  I did it for a while, but had problems with my feeds, so I took the ad's out.  I may retry them in the future.

Six Sisters Affliiates Sales $2.70
Just display their books and earn commissions.  These are great books.  I have learned a lot from them.

Total March Earnings $50.72

This is not great, but better then February's $5.44.  I'll will give updates once a month on how different affiliates are doing.  There are some other affiliates that I have signed up for, but not added yet.  I will let you know how they do.

If you decide that you want to sign up for some of these affiliate programs, you can follow the links.  If you have any questions please feel free to contact me.  I had some difficulties with some of the forms and you may also, just let me know and I can send your information to my account managers, so that they can help you.

I hope this helps.  I always love hearing from you.

Have a great week.
Debi

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Easter - Matthew 28

Happy Easter Everyone!!!

What Christ did for us is so beautiful!!!

We are so very grateful.

Have a wonderful day with your families and friends.

Debi and Charly

28:1  In the end of the sabbath, as it began to dawn toward the first day of the week, came Mary Magdalene and the other Mary to see the sepulchre.

28:2  And, behold, there was a great earthquake: for the angel of the Lord descended from heaven, and came and rolled back the stone from the door, and sat upon it.

28:3  His countenance was like lightning, and his raiment white as snow:

28:4  And for fear of him the keepers did shake, and became as dead men.

28:5  And the angel answered and said unto the women, Fear not ye: for I know that ye seek Jesus, which was crucified.

Mat 28:6  He is not here: for he is risen, as he said. Come, see the place where the Lord lay.

28:7  And go quickly, and tell his disciples that he is risen from the dead; and, behold, he goeth before you into Galilee; there shall ye see him: lo, I have told you.

28:8  And they departed quickly from the sepulchre with fear and great joy; and did run to bring his disciples word.

28:9  And as they went to tell his disciples, behold, Jesus met them, saying, All hail. And they came and held him by the feet, and worshipped him.

28:10  Then said Jesus unto them, Be not afraid: go tell my brethren that they go into Galilee, and there shall they see me.

28:11  Now when they were going, behold, some of the watch came into the city, and shewed unto the chief priests all the things that were done.

28:12  And when they were assembled with the elders, and had taken counsel, they gave large money unto the soldiers,

28:13  Saying, Say ye, His disciples came by night, and stole him away while we slept.

28:14  And if this come to the governor's ears, we will persuade him, and secure you.

28:15  So they took the money, and did as they were taught: and this saying is commonly reported among the Jews until this day.

28:16  Then the eleven disciples went away into Galilee, into a mountain where Jesus had appointed them.

28:17  And when they saw him, they worshipped him: but some doubted.

28:18  And Jesus came and spake unto them, saying, All power is given unto me in heaven and in earth.

Mat 28:19  Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost:

28:20  Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you: and, lo, I am with you alway, even unto the end of the world. Amen.

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