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