Santa Door Hanger

Hubs cut the wood out for this door hanger about 4 years ago!  I finally got around to painting him:

I don't know why it took me so long, but I love him!  He looks darling on my porch with my other decorations:

I hope you all had a very Merry Christmas!

Nativity Scene Plate

This is what we gave as neighbor gifts this year:

Super cute and super easy!

More Easy Friend or Neighbor Gifts...

I'm always stressed about what to do for neighbors and my kiddo's friends for gifts.  Here are a few recent and relatively easy & inexpensive) DIY gifts that I made:


Noel Block:

Decorated Wood Letters that are also picture holders (perfect for girls!):

Another example:

Twine Wrapped Star hanger, made from gluing paint sticks into a star shape (this can also be done on a much smaller scale to make ornaments by using Popsicle sticks):

Ice Cream Basket:

And finally, for your dog loving friends/neighbors:

Linked to:
mad-skills-party
give-goods-link-party
coastalcharm./christmas-home-tour-party
time-sparkle-link-party
too-cute-tuesday
take-look-tuesday
flusters-creative-muster
wow-me-wednesday

Christmas Countdown

I love, love, love, Christmas decorations!  I was so excited for Christmas this year that I made this Christmas countdown back in October:

It was super easy!  I used a board that I already had and painted the edges white. Then, I Mod Podged the chevron paper to the back of the board, cut my vinyl from my Silhouette Cameo, painted a square piece of wood with chalkboard paint and then added all of the embellishments.  I also antiqued around the edge of the board.

The chalkboard makes it easy to change the days without having to find the right numbers:

The cute little Santa is just a 3D sticker and the Believe is actually a Christmas ornament:

I liked it so much that I even made one for my sister!

Linking to:
craft-o-maniac-monday
made-by-you-monday-
mad-skills-party
give-goods-link-party
nifty-thrifty-tuesday
time-sparkle
too-cute-tuesday
show-ya-got
take-look-tuesday
flusters-creative-muster
whatever-goes-wednesday
dandelion-wishes-wednesday
wow-me-wednesday

Thankful Banner

I adore banners.  I decorate my hutch for every season and holiday and banners just seem to complete it, so I try and make one for every holiday.  This is my Thanksgiving banner:

I used chipboard triangles for the backing and then picked out 8 different Fall/Thanksgiving related scrapbook papers to use for each triangle and letter.  I then embellished each with cute leaf, acorn, pine cone stickers, burlap flowers, rhinestones, jute and ribbons.

The T:

The H:

The A:

The N:

The K:

The F:

The U:

And, the L:

I sanded and inked the edges and tied them together with jute.  Easy as can be and I love the way it ties in with my Thanksgiving Hutch:

Linking to:
craft-o-maniac-monday

2 Ways To Decorate Ceramic Pumpkins

Hello there!  Happy Monday!  My life has been crazy lately but I was finally able to get some Thanksgiving crafting done over the weekend.   I had these two ceramic pumpkins:

I decided to cover one in orange glitter and the other in orange burlap.  Here is how they turned out:

I painted both orange and the stems green.  Then for the glitter one, I covered it in Mod Podge and sprinkled glitter all over it, then used aerosol hairspray to seal it.  I have found that this works wonders at sealing the glitter on and still allowing the glitter to sparkle. I then topped it with an orange bow and a gold strand to finish it off.:

I cut strips of orange burlap to fit into the grooves of the pumpkin and then Mod Podged them onto it.  From there, I glued jute down each groove and then finished it off with a material bow, some jute and raffia:

They look darling on my antique dresser!:

Easy as pie!

Linking to:
craft-o-maniac-monday
made-by-you-monday

Spider Cider (Kid Friendly)

Hello!  I am back from the most fantastic vacation to sunny Florida and Walt Disney World!  Halloween this year is going to be kind of a bummer at my house because we will be childless and my sweet hubs has surgery on Nov. 1st that will require us to drive an hour and a half from home very early in the morning.

Anyways, normally I love to go all out for Halloween and if we are lucky enough for it to fall on a weekend, then  I make every meal "Halloween-ish" from breakfast through dinner.  One of my favorite idea's is what I call "Spider Cider":

Just use your favorite hot cider recipe, I have a couple that I like to use.  One of them that's super easy is:

Ingredients:
1 c. water
2 quarts apple juice
1 c. orange juice
1/4 c. lemon juice
5 or 6 cinnamon sticks
2 tsp ground cinnamon
2 T. brown sugar
2 tsp whole cloves
2 or 3 diced apples
Big plastic spiders (make sure that they float so that no one will choke on one!)

In a pot, combine the first 8 ingredients and bring to a boil, reduce heat and let simmer for 20 minutes.  Strain out the cinnamon sticks and cloves and then pour into individual cups (I like to use clear ones). Toss in some chopped apples and drop in a plastic spider.

This one is always a hit with kids and is great for either breakfast or after trick or treating when everyone is chilly and needs to warm up!

*This could also very easily be turned into an adult drink by adding Spiced Rum...

Linking to:
craft-o-maniac-monday
made-by-you-monday
nifty-thrifty-tuesday
time-sparkle
tell-us-tuesday
all-my-bloggy-friends

Dish Towel Trick or Treat Bag...

I actually made this in 2010 but only posted it on my personal blog.  I'm not sure why I never posted it on here, but decided that I would now!

I found a Halloween dish towel at the Dollar Store and thought it would make a cute Trick or Treat bag.  Anyone who knows me, knows that I have ZERO tolerance for sewing.  I really want to love it, and I have major sewing envy when I see all the cute things that can be made but it always turns into a major hassle.  Typically, I get this big idea for an awesome sewing project so I go and spend lots of money on supplies, then I pull out my brand new almost never used, really nice sewing machine that my awesome parents bought me and I attempt to wind the bobbin.  I always run into major problems and spend about an hour fighting with the bobbin before I get so frustrated that I pack it all up and vow to NEVER sew again!  This time, I was determined to make it work and I figured that I couldn't have chosen an easier project. When I successfully wound the bobbin without a single problem, I knew that I was headed in the right direction!  I used the machine to sew the edges together and also to sew on the ribbon handles, then I cut and hand sewed on the felt letters with blanket stitch.  I'm well aware of how amateur it looks, but for me this HUGE!  Give me a paint brush, paint and sander and I can do about anything but this is about the extent of my sewing successes haha!

A close up of the letters:

Hunter loved it and used it the last couple of years that he went Trick or Treating and I'm just patting myself on the back for getting that dang bobbin wound!

Linked to:
craft-o-maniac-monday 
made-by-you-monday 
mad-skills-party 

Old Wood Scarecrow...

I love old wood, I tend to hoard it and therefore I have a huge stack of it.  I haven't used any of it to make Fall decorations so I decided that I needed to!  Here is what I came up with:

I adore scarecrows!  For me, they totally symbolize Fall and everything about it.  I painted the top part of the board brown as well as an old plank for the hat and hat brim, the rest white for his face, then I painted his cute face on.  Then I glued raffia on the hat brim and stapled it to the hat.  Finally, I added the sunflower, leaves and bow and that was it.  The entire decoration took less than 40 minutes and most of that was drying time for the paint.

I love him!

Linking to the following fabulous parties:
nifty-thrifty-tuesday
craft-o-maniac-monday
give-goods
made-by-you-monday
mad-skills-party
time-sparkle
tell-us-tuesday
all-my-bloggy-friends
too-cute-tuesday
show-me-what-ya-got
take-look-tuesday
whatever-goes-wednesday
dandelion-wishes-wednesday
wow-me-wednesday
flusters-creative-muster

Halloween Mini Pallets...

I made these mini pallets a couple of weekends ago and I'm just loving them. Instead of being huge full size pallets, they are only about 12x12 size which makes them much easier to decorate with:

The spider:

The Ghost:

The owl:

I made them by gluing wood shims together. I used my Silhouette to cut out the images.  I just can't wait to make some for other holidays as well!

Linked up to these awesome parties:


Let's Get Social Sunday"
whatever-goes-wednesday
creative-bloggers-party-hop
nifty-thrifty-tuesday
craft-o-maniac-monday
give-goods
made-by-you-monday
time-sparkle-link-party
tell-us-tuesday
all-my-bloggy-friends
too-cute-tuesday-linky-par-tay
show-me-what-ya-got
take-look-tuesday
pinterest-power-party
dandelion-wishes-wednesday
wow-me-wednesday

FYI:

UGH!  I went to verify my blog with Pinterest and somehow it deleted every single one of my pictures!  It even deleted my Picasa Web Albums that the pictures where housed in, so now I have to go back and track down every picture for all 211 posts :(  I'm so not happy about it, but will do it, and will get the pictures back up.  Looks like instead of crafting this weekend, I will be uploading pictures.  Boo!!!  Please bear with me!

Burlap Fall Wreath...

Hello there!  I'm back after a much needed blogging/crafting break.  I've found that sometimes working a stressful full time job, being a mom and wife, daughter, sister, aunt, friend can get in the way of crafting which stinks, but I know what my priorities are! I have missed creating cute crafts and have also missed blogging, so here I am with my latest;

I wrapped a Styrofoam wreath with burlap. I adore the rolls of wire burlap, they make working with burlap so easy!

I made a few cute material flowers and ribbon leaves for the side.

 I stenciled the Fall banner and sewed it to the lace and attached that to the wreath.  Finally, I made a ribbon hanger and I was done.  So easy!

Linked to:
creative-bloggers-party-hop
& craft-o-maniac
& give-me-the-goods-26
& mad-skills-party
& made-by-you-monday
& Work It Wednesday
& all-my-bloggy-friends
& too-cute-tuesday-linky-par-tay
& show-me-what-ya-got
& take-look-tuesday
& time-to-sparkle-link-party
& tell-us-tuesday
& flusters-creative-muster-party
& pinterest-power-party
& wonderful-wednesday-blog-hop
& creative-inspirations
& show-off-your-stuff-party 

Rustic Flag...

My rustic flag made from old wood:

Perfect for my porch for the month of July.  I hope you have a wonderful 4th of July!

Hello Summer Plaque...

I made this cute summer plaque using my Silhouette:

I love the bright colors. So simple!