T&T Compacts off to Cracker Barrel

Phew! This was a big job to do, but it’s finally done and out the door!

We just made about 13,000 pieces ALL BY HAND HERE IN CONNECTICUT. These are our gorgeous compact mirrors for our college line of gifts and accessories. They are available exclusively through Cracker Barrel for 35 colleges! We added each logo insert (also made here in the US) to a high quality, stainless steel plated compact with two mirrors, along with their appropriate holographic logos of authenticity and sku numbers. The compacts are 2 1/2″ in diameter, and they look so great! Now they’re on the truck and off to your local Cracker Barrel store for this year’s tailgating season!

It pretty much took a village to do all this work in the USA instead of overseas, but one of our goals this year is to do more work locally. In addition to our regular staff we brought in our sister, friends, spouses, our sons and daughters and even their dates! Even Jen’s new baby, Sawyer, came in to look on. She’s only 8 weeks old and she’s so cute!

So be sure to check these out at Cracker Barrel this fall!

T & T loves Harry’s Place, a family tradition

If you are from Connecticut especially the area off of Route 2 you probably have visited or at least heard of Harry’s Place.  this is another of  T & T Designs favorite places. Located in Colchester at 104 Broadway (this runs right into Main St),  it has some of the best burgers you will ever taste.  Many of us locals have an emotional attachment to Harry’s because most of us grew up eating at Harry’s.  It was where you went to kick off the warm weather finely arriving after our long winters and it was a rite of passage as a teenager when you stopped at Harry’s sunburned and sandy on the way home from the beach with your friends for the first time.  Harry’s is where your parent’s brought you for a summer treat and where you then bring your children and then your grandchildren.   Waiting in line to order and get your burger, you are sure to run into someone you know or make a new friend while the smell of the burgers travels through the air.

Ice cream, milk shakes, hot dogs with chili, fries and many more treats are available at Harry’s but of course it is the burger they are famous for.  Harry’s is open for the season, and so I promise this means that Spring is here and the warm weather is coming!  So you will definitely find the T & T Designs staff at Harry’s Place, we will be there when we are not busy designing our new angel jewelry and college jewelry for the summer collections.  Eating a burger on a warm spring night can be so inspiring – hmmm think tailgating, summer themed jewelry, guardian angel jewelry, college jewelry…..

At T & T Designs we are so ready for March Madness….

A sure sign of the approach of spring is March Madness, and it can’t come soon enough! Here at               T & T Designs we are so sick of the snow & cold. So with the beginning of Spring upon us and the start of the March Madness games it is time to get out all your team t-shirts, college jewelry, accessories, sweatshirts, hats and get ready to pile it all on to support your favorite team. 

Did you know that it is the 75^th anniversary of March Madness, and what better way to celebrate this anniversary then to have some friends over to watch the games, create your brackets and cheer on your favorite teams.  The NCAA website is perfect to get the low down on the upcoming games, find out about players, and check the schedules.  Also a great site is Madness of March, lots of good information and you can download & print the brackets form so you can fill yours out.  You can find it here:  http://www.madnessofmarch.com/bracket  Good Luck!

March Madness Schedule 2013 

First Four – Mar 19^th – Mar 20^th

Second Round – Mar 21^st – Mar 22^nd

Third Round – Mar 23^rd – Mar 24^th

Sweet 16 Mar 28^th – Mar 29^th

Elite 8 – Mar 30^th – Mar 31^st

Final Four – Apr 6^th

National Championship – Apr 8^th

Here at T & T Designs we will be filling out our brackets and cheering on our favorite teams.  If you need some team accessories & college jewelry to wear for the games and to support your team you can find it on our website: www.TandTdesignsllc.com.  Send a friend one of our Good Luck or Guardian Angel College Pocket Tokens with their team logo – great gift for the men in your life!

T & T staff’s favorite Christmas recipe

Anna our graphic artist recently found this blog and shared it with us today.  It is called “Cooking Classy” . Here are two of her favorite recipes that she found from the blog for the Holidays.  I think that one of them is even easy enough for me to do.  Happy Cooking!

Pretzel M&M Hugs
Yields 70

 Ingredients:

70 square pretzels (do NOT use butter snaps)

70 Hershey’s Hugs chocolates (from nearly 1 full 12 oz package), unwrapped

70 Milk Chocolate M&M’s, I used the red and green Christmas package

 

Directions:

Preheat oven to 200 degrees. Line a cookie sheet with a Silpat or parchment paper. Align pretzels on cookie sheet in a single layer then top each pretzel with one Hershey’s Hug chocolate. Bake in preheated oven for 4 – 5 minutes, until the chocolate is shiny and soft (but NOT melting, the chocolates should still hold their shape).

Remove from oven and carefully place one M&M in the center of each soft Hug and press down on M&M to spread the chocolate. Place in refrigerator and allow to rest until chocolate has set, about 5 minutes. Store in an airtight container.

 

Santa Hat White Chocolate Cheesecake Bites
Yields about 25Ingredients:
18 Oreos finely crushed to about 1 3/4 cups*
2 1/2 Tbsp butter, melted and divided
2 (8 oz) pkg cream cheese, softened
1/4 cup + 2 Tbsp granulated sugar
2 large eggs
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
1 1/3 cups white chocolate chips
1/2 cup + 1/3 cup heavy cream, divided
25 fairly small, fresh strawberries (or more if cutting more squares)
2 Tbsp powdered sugarDirections:
Preheat oven to 325 degrees. Line an 8 by 8-inch baking dish with two large sheets of tinfoil (one going horizontally and one over the top of the other vertically. Make sure your sheets are long enough that you’ll have an overhang of foil over the edges of the pan. Also, be sure to mold it well to the pan). Brush foil with 1/2 tbsp melted butter. In a mixing bowl, using a fork blend together crushed Oreos and 2 Tbsp melted butter until mixture is well combined and evenly moistened. Press mixture firmly into the bottom of the prepared baking dish (the bottom of a flat measuring cup or glass works well for pressing crust), set aside.
In a large mixing bowl, using an electric hand mixer set on medium-low speed, blend together cream cheese and granulated sugar until mixture is smooth, about 30 seconds. Add in eggs and vanilla extract and mix until well blended. In a separate microwave safe bowl, heat white chocolate chips with 1/3 cup heavy cream on 50% power in 30 second intervals, stirring after each interval until melted and smooth. Pour melted white chocolate mixture into cream cheese mixture and blend on low speed until combined. Tap bowl against counter top about 30 times to release some of the air bubbles then pour mixture over prepared crust in baking dish.
Bake in preheated oven for 40 minutes then turn oven off and without opening oven door allow cheesecake to rest in warm oven for 15 minutes. Remove from oven and let rest at room temperature for 30 minutes, then cover with plastic wrap and freeze for 3 hours or refrigerate for 6 hours.
Once cheesecake is fully chilled and set, remove from freezer or refrigerator and lift cheesecake out of pan using the foil overhang. Cut cheesecake into squares (I’d recommend cutting them just a bit larger the width of your strawberries. Also it’s nice to keep some clean paper towels close by to clean your knife while cutting squares).
In a mixing bowl, using an electric hand mixer set on high-speed, whip remaining 1/2 cup heavy cream until soft peaks form, then add powdered sugar and mix until stiff peaks form.
To assemble: cut a flat top off of each strawberry and lay flat side down over top of cheesecake. Fill a pastry bag (or Ziploc bag and cut a small tip of corner) with sweetened whipped cream and pipe around strawberry then finish with a small amount over the top of the “hat”. Serve immediately (for do ahead you can make cheesecake the day before then assemble within an hour of serving the following day). Store in refrigerator in an airtight container.*Don’t use Doublestuff Oreos. I processed the Oreos in a food processor but if you don’t have one you can place them in a large Ziploc bag, seal bag and finely crush with a rolling-pin .

 

Now that you have 2 fun recipes for the Holidays, check your shopping list.  Do you have some last-minute shopping? Let us help, check out our Gift Wrap option at T & T Designs it is only $3.00 and a fun way to give or send a gift.  There are Dammit Dolls, Guardian Angel jewelry for the person who is the inspiration in your life, college licensed jewelry for the sports fan and fun bracelets & necklaces.

Significant Weekend for NCAA football

Wally’s Collegiate Corner

As the regular NCAA College Football Season winds down we have quite a few games that are being played this weekend that have great significance, nationally and locally for bowl bids or for BCS promenade.

I will begin with the national game of the week and my pick as the most important game, we will have the #2 Alabama Crimson Tide (11-1, 7-1 SEC) going to the Georgia Dome to play the #3 Georgia Bulldogs (11-1, 7-1 SEC). This game is very big as it has national implications and is the SEC Championship game for both teams. If we all might recall 4 years ago (2008) was the last time that both of these teams played in a big clash, the Crimson Tide held onto a 31-0 lead going into half time, before winning 41 – 30. This game sent the Bulldogs in a slight tailspin for the rest of the season, finishing 8-3, when they held the #1 ranking in the nation before that game. There are many 5th year seniors that opted not to go to the NFL to get another chance to play for the BCS Championship and another chance to play Alabama.This game will be a game that will develop as the quarterbacks lead, QB Aaron Murray will lead his Bulldogs, and if his OL can give him proper protection he will pick apart the Crimson Tide defense, the Alabama Front 7 MUST get to Murray or the Bulldogs will score, and score a lot! Alabama can score, and can score a lot, but the defense will be the key to this game. Georgia Coach Mark Richt took 3 years to right the ship after that devastating game, but I really think that Bulldog QB Murray will outplay the Tide and QB A.J. McCarron; I predict this game will favor Georgia 24-20.

Locally, we have our Huskies playing at the Rent on Senior Day, the last game for 16 seniors on that special day. The UConn Huskies (5-6, 2-4 Big East) will be playing the Cincinnati Bearcats (8-3, 4-2 Big East), this game has possible bowl implications for our Huskies, as they could end up 6-6 for the season and would be bowl eligible. All the seniors want to make this a victory, so they can extend the season and end the year winning 3 games in a row, but it will depend on another very strong effort by a very good defense and a solid effort by our offense. At this time we still do not know if UConn QB Chandler Whitmer will be medically cleared to play in this game and if not it will be up to backup QB Johnny McEntee to lead the team in this game, with a solid roll by wildcat QB Scott McCummings.

All week in practice we have seen QB Scott McEntee take most of the snaps getting ready to run the offense in this critical game, I personally think that Coach P. has not made any kind of announcement on who will be the starting QB in order to keep the Bearcats off balance

I have been following this team all season, and finally in the past 2-3 games I have noticed that they have finally started to gel, maybe, just maybe they could be starting to peak as a team, and maybe at the right time.  The defense was the backbone and strength of the team, but cant do it by themselves, and finally the offense has started to show it can be a force. I know that we have 16 seniors out there that will be playing their hearts out this Saturday, but I would love to see my dark horse TE Sean McQuillan come into the game in the wildcat situation, and surprise that Bearcat defense with his ability.

The Crimson Tide plays the Aggies in NCAA football

Wally’s Collegiate Corner

Hello Fellow Collegiate Fans,

I am sorry I missed posting a blog this past week, but I was in need of some quiet time and went away with my best friend for our wedding anniversary. OK, here goes, first I will be writing on the National Football scene and about the (9-0) #1 Alabama Crimson Tide who will be playing the (7-2) #15 Texas A&M Aggies.

What can we say about the Crimson Tide, they have been unstoppable, they have the #1 ranked defense in the nation, only allowing an avg. of 9 points per game, and only 10 touchdowns all season. They also have a very good offense, led by QB A.J. McCarron they have scored, and scored often against everyone they play, they limit mistakes and pass the ball very well. I will say the LSU game was the closest game that was played, and LSU had opportunities to take away a victory, as they only lost by 1 touchdown and had a chance to win in the last few minutes of the game. The Aggies will be coming into this game with a sensational QB in Johnny Manzel, this guy can run, pass and is the best QB that Alabama will face because of his ability to do everything very well, the offense is on pace to break the single season total offense per game avg., they already have a per game avg. of over 534.4 yards per game. They might have a good opportunity to upset the Crimson Tide if they can limit turnovers, and follow a strict game plan, they like to blitz and use 4 man rushes to get to the QB, if they are successful with that and the defense can control the Crimson Tide WR’ers we might see an upset.

On the local sense, I am saddened to be writing about the UConn Husky Football team who again lost this past weekend to Florida 13-6, another game where the stats indicated they should have won, but they could not get ball into the end zone!!!

This week the (3-6) (0-4 Big East) UConn Huskies will be facing the (4-5) (1-3 Big East) Pitt Panthers, Pitt comes in with a great RB in Ray Graham, he is very explosive and it showed when they played nationally ranked Notre Dame and he ran for over 172 yards. QB Tino Sunseri has been doing a great job the past 7 games only throwing 1 interception and 12 TD passes, with his favorite target in WR Devin Street, who is the #1 receiver in the Big East, averaging 81+ yards per game, and over 5+ receptions per game.. The Panthers will be facing the #1 defense in the Big East, 9th nationally, only allowing an avg. of 290 yards per game, so we know the UConn defense will do their job, but the Husky offense needs to run the ball which will open up the passing game and take pressure off QB Chad Whitmer to pass.

In the 1st  3 games the running game avg. 144+ per game, but in the last 6 games they only have been able to muster up less than 100 yards per game, and no victories!!! All the teams that have played UConn have stopped worrying about the run and our focusing on the pass by blitzing and getting to the QB often, causing rushed passes,

I have been saying all season, this team must play with UNITY, and that means the whole team offense and defense, I still see an offensive line that is not working together, yes they are working hard, but not together> Offensive line opens holes for the running game and protects the QB, that is not happening, We have 4 games left and they MUST win this game and the rest of the season to maybe be bowl eligible. Come on Huskies!

I want to also start writing about the UConn Huskies Basketball programs, this week I will write little about the Men’s program, who will be playing in Ramstein Germany this Friday evening against the #14 pre-season ranked Michigan State Spartans. This Izzo lead team will be ready to play our Huskies, but I know that our team will be ready to prove themselves. Our Huskies will be beginning a new era with its 1st new coach in 26 years in Kevin Ollie; I expect a hard played game and expect us to be victorious.

I guess I was a bit long winded this week, but I had a lot to say, see you all next week! I guess I need to rub my lucky UCONN pocket token and hope for better luck with Basketball season!

Wally’s Away so heres the shortened version…

Since Wally is on vacation this week and not able to do his weekly college sports blog, I am stepping in.  So here is my Short & Sweet – simple version.  T & T Designs wishes all our college teams, that we are  licensed for, GOOD LUCK at their games this week-end.  Play hard and play well!  We will be watching!  Win, Win, Win!!!!!

Our local team the UCONN Huskies travel to Tampa to take on the University of Southern Florida Bulls.  We are pulling for you UCONN – take the BULL by the horns and WIN this GAME! We will be carrying our Lucky UConn pocket tokens,wearing our College Jewelry and Cheering you on – GO HUSKIES!

T&T’s Wally looks at KSU vs Texas Tech in College Football

Wally’s Collegiate Corner:

I begin my blog talking about my favorite college team, the UConn Huskies, and this past week. They looked totally inept on both offense and defense; it was a shame to watch that game and see this team that had so much opportunity just fall apart… This team goes into a bye week, totally emotionally and physically bruised. They have lost touch and are looking for some answers, to see where the running game has gone. Our Huskies are at the mid point of the season and everyone including myself expected them to be in a better position with hopes of a bowl bid. Instead we are all still waiting for their 1st Big East win.
Having a bye this week will allow the team to heal, get everyone healthily, but most important it will give the coaching staff time to evaluate themselves as well as the team. In my opinion I feel the coaching staff has made some errors in the play calling. I do see vast improvement in their passing game, and feel Chad continues to improve. Last week he was the only slight bright spot in a game that saw them fall apart. This team needs a jump start to get them back on track.

On the national front, this week in the AP Top 25 Poll the 1st thru 6th positions have not changed, but from there we have seem some shifting. This week we have a Big 12 game coming that pits the # 4 Kansas State Wildcats (7-0, 4-0 in conference) playing against the # 15 Texas Tech Red Raiders (6-1, 3-1 in conference). The Red Raiders are a team that really has been overlooked most of the season, but all of the sudden you have QB Seth Doege leading the nation in touchdown passes, in the last two games he has thrown 6 touchdown passes in each game, and he has the highest avg. passing percentage in nation. To assist him in getting where he is, he has a very good TE in Jace Amaro coming out of the backfield and is very effective. I don’t want to forget his very good running back Kery Willaims because he has made many big 3rd down plays for the team As I talk about the Texas Tech QB, it is important to mention that this game has Heisman implications because we have Kansas State QB Collin Klein playing his best season and he too has some great players to assist him in RB John Hurbet (114 attempts and 658 yards rushing), that is a staggering 90+ per game and WR Tyler Becket who is flying past his defenders.

This game is being played in Kansas which will be a factor for the Red Raiders, I think this game is too close to call, but I favor the strength of the Wildcat defense to take control of this game.

This is a couch potato game not to be missed starting at 3:30 this Saturday, and I will watch this game from beginning to end. At least it will give me a break from hand stringing T&T’s college necklaces and bracelets; now that we can sell some schools retail, I’m spinning my little fingers to the bone!

Cotton Bowl = Big Rivalry Game

Wally’s Collegiate Corner

UCONN! Well what can I say, this team still has not defined itself and after six games they sometimes look like they are playing their first game. I cannot understand why they make so many mental mistakes and allow themselves to be controlled, manhandled by teams they are fully capable of beating. All season I have been saying that the Huskies have the tools to win, but they must have the total effort on both sided of the line. They need the desire to win!!!! This week could define their season as their 3-3 overall and 0-1 Big East UConn Huskies will be playing the 2-2 overall, 1-0 Big East Temple Owls.
QB Chad Whitner has had 10 interceptions already this season, with 4 in the last game against Rutgers. Granted the Scarlet Knights did a great deal of blitzing forcing Chad to hurry his throws, but smart play and maturity would tell him to throw it out of bounds instead of into the hands of the other team!! Both Offense and Defense looked very bad. Even with poor play they still could have pulled off an upset, but even when they could score they did not fully execute the plays. I will not discuss the Lyle McCoombs situation except to simply say, you need to FOCUS, FOCUS.

The Temple Owls come into the game after beating a good South Florida team; they have a very good running game with Matt Brown, and Montel Harris, which opens up the passing game for QB Chris Coyer. He has been very consistent and in his last game paaed for 167 yds on 16-20 attempts to 7 different receivers. Coach Pasqualoni had his work cut out to get them ready for this very critical game, I know he can get them ready, but will they come out ready to play UConn Football on both sides of the ball .

On the national collegiate front, I really think one of the best games this week will be played in the Cotton Bowl, pitting #15 Texas Longhorns against #13 Oklahoma Sooners, this is a big rivalry game for both teams (Golden Hat Trophy Game), which goes back 107 years.. Longhorn Coach Mack Brown has two very good QB in Case McCoy and David Ash, with the latter 3rd in passing effenciey in the Big 12., passing for 11 touchdowns and only 1 interception so far this season.

Sooner QB Landry Jones brings in 3 very effective WR, in Mike Davis, Jaxon Shipley, and Marquise Goodwin. I feel they will define the game for Oklahoma; if they can get free in the Longhorn backfield watch out. The bad news for the Sooners; they have a very weak front line due to injury, will they be able to protect Landry Jones and give him time to pass????  Or will the passing of Texas QB David Ash give the victory to Texas???

A bit of incentive for Texas; OU beat them last year 55-17; this will be a very good game.

Hell yeah it’s American…..

Buy American, made in America, made in USA, American made.  We are hearing these phrases more and more these days, but no matter how you say it, bottom line is that buying products made in America makes a difference.   It’s a movement, or at least it is picking up momentum and it is more than likely you will be hearing more about this.  The more American wholesale & manufacturing companies that strive towards this the stronger our country will be.  The better we educate ourselves, family and friends about buying and supporting companies with American Made product the stronger & more effective this “movement” will be.

Our family owned and run business, T & T Designs, is making more and more of our product right here in house.  I am not going to tell you that everything we do is made here in our facility, a large percentage of it is, but if it is not made here entirely it is assembled or has a logo applied here.  There are still certain things that we have to do overseas, but there is a lot that we can do here and there is a lot more that we can do here in the future – and we will.  The fact is that we have always continued to do casting in house which makes it easier for us to increase the amount of product in our line that is made in the USA.  Most other jewelry companies have to rely on other factories to make their jewelry for them.  The sad thing is that many of the companies that manufactured jewelry, or did a part of the process are no longer around, which makes it difficult to find someone to assemble, make models, apply epoxy or hand set stones.  So if you want to make your product in the USA you have to do it yourself, or have a good network of outside vendors (not always easy to find) and you have to get creative.

So at T & T Designs we have become very creative in our quest to make more and more of our college jewelry, inspirational jewelry, trend jewelry and pocket tokens in our facility right here in the USA.  Hell yeah we’re American and we are going to continue to strive to make as much of our products in the USA as possible so next time someone asks, “is that bracelet made in America?” We can say, “Hell yeah it’s American!”