DIY 3 Votive 4x4 Wooden Candle Holder

Hello,  happy Tuesday after a Monday holiday!  I always love a short work week!  I had a fantastic long weekend.  I got some fun Valentine's projects started and also played with some mixed media for Art to the 5th's "Documented Life Project 2015".  It's a mixed media journaling project. Last year, I joined but silently (and probably creepily!) watched rather than participated.  This year I decided to jump in and participate, which has really put me out of my artistic comfort zone and pushed me to try and learn lots of new techniques.  I'm LOVING it!  I plan on sharing some of my journal pages later. Anywho, yesterday Hubs and I went on a road trip to the beautiful Park City Utah and had a wonderful day.  I love weekends where I get to be creative, make cute things and get some quality family time in!

Today I am sharing the votive holder that Hubs and I made for family for Christmas gifts.  It was super easy and I just adore how it turned out:

We used 4x4's, sized and drilled the holes for the votive's then sanded, painted, and stained the wood.  Added the cute twine wrap, candles and burlap flower.  That's it!  So stinking easy!

It looks darling on my table as a center piece.  I get happy every time I look at it!

Snowman Candle Holder

Happy New Year!  I hope that your 2014 was fantastic and that your 2015 brings you much happiness!   I had a wonderful 2014 and 2015 has started out incredible as well.  I'm excited to see what the year brings!


One of my latest crafties is this wood snowman candle holder:

I had Hubs cut me a piece of 4x4 and a nose.  We drilled a  hole deep and wide enough for the candle to fit nicely into and then I painted and sanded him and then we attached the nose and scarf.  So easy!

He is perfect to leave up all winter long!

Joy Block Christmas Gift & Decoration

Each year Hubs and I put a lot of thought into what to make for our friend and coworker gifts for Christmas.  We love, love, love making things and try really hard to come up with a product that is well done and that everyone will love as much as we do.

Last year we made these Joy blocks:

We used 2x6 blocks, Mod Podged scrapbook paper on, then added the 3x3 thin wood squares for the center.  We purchased the cute vinyl "Joy" pattern from the Silhouette website.  To finish them off, we couldn't find any pre-made toppers that we loved, so we just made our own using burlap, berries, pine cones, tree garland and leaves:

They were a hit, everyone seemed to really like them!  Mine looks darling in my hutch:

This is my Christmas Hutch for 2014:

I just adore this time of year!!!

Reversible Santa & Snowman Sign

Hello!  I hope you had as wonderful of a Thanksgiving as I did!  I can't believe how quickly 2014 has gone by.  I definitely haven't blogged nearly as much as I had planned, but it's okay because as I've looked back at my pictures from the last 11 months, I can honestly say that this year has been fantastic.  My arm issues and surgery were not at all fun and although it prevented me from crafting and blogging, I was still able to make some incredible memories with my family and see some beautiful parts of our country.  Soooo, hopefully 2015 can be about balance and blogging more!

Anyhow,  I've done a little bit of crafting and needed something "Christmasy" for my porch. This is what I came up with:

It stands about 4 feet tall.  The best part about it is that I made it reversible, so when Christmas is over, I can just turn it around, add a hat and scarf and I will have this for my winter porch:

He is covered in a an adorable coat of glitter paint, which my camera never shows very well, but he truly is darling and sparkly!

Thanksgiving Sharpie Craft

I've had three small white plates that I've been debating on what to do with forever.  I found them at
Walmart for a dollar or so each.  They are about 5x5 in size. I decided to doodle on them with Sharpie's.  This is what I came up with:

The nice thing about Sharpie art on ceramic, is that if you make a mistake, you can just wipe it off with rubbing alcohol!  I drew the outlines of my designs with a fine black sharpie first, then colored them and then re-outlined them with the sharpie again.  Once I had everything done, I put them in an unheated oven and then set the temperature to 350 degrees and baked them for 40 minutes.

My Pilgrims:

 My Turkey:

And, my Native American's:

Super easy and fun!

Fluster's Creative Muster Linky Party

I am so excited to be joining the fabulous Robin from Fluster Buster as a co-host to this week's Fluster's Creative Muster Linky Party!  After being out of my crafting zone for the last few months, I was so honored when Robin informed me that my Halloween Trio is this week's feature.  Thanks so much for such a wonderful welcome back, I truly appreciate it.  Head on over and share your latest projects, crafts, recipe's, etc. I can't wait to see everyone's link ups!




 

Fluster's Creative Muster Linky Party #92

Halloween Drink: Bloody Eyeball Juice

I think it is fun to add a little "holiday" into our meals.  I always do a Halloween themed dinner for the actual holiday, but it's also fun to do it throughout the entire month.  I make lots of yummy stuff out of pumpkin, but drinks are another easy way to add some of that holiday fun into dinnertime.

Yesterday I made two big pots of stroganoff, one with beef for my family of carnivores, and one vegetarian friendly mushroom for me.  I also made the family's favorite pumpkin cake for dessert but thought it would be fun to add a fun drink to the menu. I decided on "Bloody Eyeball Juice":
The ingredients:

 I had found these awesome eyeballs at the Dollar Tree:

To make, just add ice, an eyeball (make sure to wash them first!), Sprite and as much grenadine as you want to make it "bloody":

Super easy, tastes great, and the kiddo's think it is so much fun!