Best Christmas Present!

This year I decided to make the kids a play kitchen for Christmas.  Here's what I started with...

$10 Craigslist cabinet

Night table rescued from the dumpster

...and here's what the kids woke up to on Christmas morning!

It was touch and go there for a few days before Christmas.  I was so worried the kitchen wouldn't be ready for Christmas morning.  We had a "situation" with the fridge door and I was under the gun to get the kitchen polyed and dried.  More on that in another post.  

For right now I am just thrilled with how the kitchen turned out!  We have been enjoying tea parties and "baking" cakes every day!

Thanks for visiting!

Ending on a Sweet Note

I've still got a lot to do to prepare for Christmas but I've managed to squeeze in some holiday baking darn it!  My son swears these are the only cookies you should leave out for Santa on Christmas Eve so you better whip up a batch if you want to be on Saint Nick's nice list this year.

Candy Cane Cookies

Dough:

1 cup sugar

1 cup butter or margarine, softened

1/2 cup milk

1 teaspoon vanilla

1 teaspoon peppermint extract (use more if you like em MINTY)

1 egg

3 1/2 cups flour

1 teaspoon baking powder

1/4 teaspoon salt

1/2 teaspoon red food color

Topping:

2 tablespoons finely crushed peppermint candies

2 tablespoons sugar

1. Beat together sugar, butter, milk, vanilla, peppermint extract and egg in large bowl.
2. Add flour, baking powder and salt and mix till combined.
3. Divide dough in half.
4. Stir food color into 1 half of the dough.
5. Refrigerate at least 4 hours.
6. Heat oven to 375ºF.
7. For each cookie, roll 1 rounded teaspoon dough of each color into a 4-inch rope. Place red and white ropes side by side, press together lightly and twist. Place on ungreased cookie sheet and curve top of cookie down to form candy cane shape.
8. Bake cookies 9 to 12 minutes or until edges are lightly browned
9. While cookies are baking, stir together peppermint candy and 2 tablespoon sugar.
10. Sprinkle candy mixture over cookies as soon as they are done baking. 

Hope you enjoy the cookies and have a Merry Christmas!  I'll see you on the other side!

Merry Christmas & thanks for visiting!

Polly Want a Crafter?

Hey guys I'm excited to tell you that my Christmas tree skirt tutorial is featured on Poly Want a Crafter? today!  Poly Want a Crafter? is the sister site to Remodelaholic and was created to specifically feature craft projects.  Click over there to check it out and be sure to browse the archives for all the recently featured Christmas craft ideas.

Thanks for visiting!

Vintage Ornament Wreath

These ornament wreaths are popular - You have probably seen them all over the blogosphere.  This is my version!

I made this pink & turquoise wreath as a Christmas present for my sister.  She has a very whimsical Christmas theme with butterflies and peacocks in bright colors and a fluffy hot pink tree skirt.

How I made my vintage ornament wreath:

 Gather your supplies: vintage ornaments, $ store wreath, ribbon and hot glue.

 Wrap the foam wreath with ribbon that matches your color scheme.

Start gluing ornaments to the wreath (and each other) making sure to fill in the empty spot with smaller ornaments.  

 Continue gluing ornaments until the wreath has a full, round look.

Add a ribbon loop for hanging and any finishing details.  I finished mine off with a $1 pink glitter butterfly from Christmas Tree Shop!

Have you made an ornament wreath yet?

Thanks for visiting!

DIY Ornaments to Make with the Kids

 

These snowy pinecone ornaments are so easy to make with the kids and beautiful to boot!  Oh and let's not forget cheeeeap!

I made these with my little one and my girlfriend's daughters the other day.  (The kids ranged in age from 23 months to 4)  The girls had a great time "painting" with glue and shaking the glitter on.  

Supplies:

• Pinecones (Ours came from my craft stash and our backyard)
• Glue (I used Elmer's)
• Paint brush
• Glitter of your choice
• Zippered food storage bag
• Hot glue
• Wired silver twine or ribbon

Let the kids paint the 'cones with craft glue.  Then place them in the zippered baggies.  Add glitter, zip the bag and shake!  The kids loved shaking the bag but the sparkly mess was kept to a minimum.

Lay the glittered pinecones out to dry.  When the glue is set dab hot glue on one end and add a loop of ribbon or twine to make the ornament holder.  Enjoy a little handmade sparkle on your tree!

These would also be great with different colors (blue? green?) or german glass glitter!

Have you made any ornaments with the kiddos this year?

Thanks for visiting!

 

Shutter Ornament Display

Recently I put out the call on Freecycle for wood shutters.  I love the idea of using shutters for indoor decorating and wanted to find one to display our Christmas cards this year.  I was envisioning something like this:

Source

A fellow freecycler was kind enough to offer me a whole bunch of wood shutters that she no longer needed!  Among them were two hinged sets of shutters with a cut out for fabric that I thought were perfect for displaying ornaments.

I simply tied ribbon to each ornament in varying lengths and then used duct tape to secure the ribbon to the back of the shutter.  Easy.  The shutters are great for the top of the entertainment center where a display with both height and width looks best.

I love how this vignette turned out and best of all it was FREE!  I also see a lot of decorating potential for these shutters after the holidays!

What everyday items are you re-imaging for your holiday decorating?

Thanks for visiting!

Make a Tree Skirt from a Tablecloth

Because I changed up my Christmas color scheme this year I had to buy new stockings for the whole family.  Yeah...not so thrifty huh?  

But cute right?

I found these snowflake stockings at Target for $13 each which was not too bad.  However, the matching tree skirt? $40!  That was so not happening.  But never fear!  While I was perusing the holiday table linens I noticed a tablecloth that coordinates perfectly with our new stockings.  I grabbed a 70" round one for just $11.

With a few tweaks I now have a new coordinating tree skirt and saved $29!

To make a tree skirt from a tablecloth:

1. Lay out your tablecloth and find the center.  Cut a slit (as straight as possible) from the outer edge to the center.  This was pretty easy to do since the tablecloth had fairly accurate creases on it from the packaging to use as guide lines.

2. Hot glue ribbon of your choice to both sides of the slit to create a finished edge.  I chose green ribbon to go with my color scheme.  (You could also use hem tape  or a sewing machine for this step and the next.)

 3. Cut four equal size pieces of ribbon to use as the ties and attach them to the either side of the slit (on the under side of the tablecloth) with hot glue. 

 (Your little helper may want to be thisclose to you and end up with her little foot in your photos.)

4.  Give the tablecloth a good ironing and then wrap around the tree, using the ribbons to secure the tree skirt.  Some "Tszujing" may be required to get the desired full, soft look.

Here are a few more great Target Christmas decor money saving ideas.  Check 'em out!

• Sunny's Placemat Pillow Tutorial
• Jelly Bean Junkyard's Placemat Pillows

Thanks for visiting!

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