Feeling Festive
Hey Kris, WTF is that on your door? It really clashes with the maroon and beige color scheme.
Oh, I was feeling a little festive today and made a spring wreath for the front door. Here’s a closer look.
Yes, those are marshmallow peeps. Anna and I went to Michael’s today to pick up some egg decorating stuff and I thought it would be fun to make a spring wreath for the door. After being inspired by this wreath, I decided to come up with my own interpretation. So while Anna napped, I slapped this bad boy together. Doesn’t it look like it took hours to make? hahaha… I’m not sure how long it will last, it might be coming down when my husband gets home. Something tells me he’s not going to be a fan of today’s creative burst of energy.
I think I like the one that I was inspired by better, but I didn’t have enough peeps to go that route unless I opened up the bunny ones. And you never want to mix your peep creatures. God only knows what sort of unholy union will become of that.
I bet this little guy had no idea of what his fate was going to be when he left Wegman’s today.
Read MoreFinal Christmas Project Roundup
Ok, let this be the last of the Christmas posts. According to my updated project to-do list, these were the projects I needed to finish before Christmas morning.
First on the list: Stockings.
Status: DONE!
After creating a pattern out of a brown paper bag, I used the felted wool I made from thrift store sweaters to sew these bad boys up. I even added an inside liner to all three.
They aren’t really totally done, I want to add some sort of finishing to the top and embroider our names on them. But hey, I have almost a year to do it…
Second on the list: Play Kitchen.
Status = DONE!
Check out yesterday’s post for the picture proof. This was mostly my husband’s skill. I mostly provided critique and beers.
Third on the list: Husband’s present.
Status = DONE!
I ended up making my husband a bucky for Christmas. Using this tutorial, I whipped one up pretty quickly. It came out pretty well, I want to make one for myself after borrowing it for a migraine. The buckwheat groats inside the bag keep the heat for about 20-30 minutes. It’s nice.
I caught a little flak from some people (message board friends, some grumpy scrooges who shall not be named), saying that this was a lame gift to give to my husband. I was worried a little about that, but my husband said he loves it and I’ve even seen him use it so I’m going to go with he’s happy with my gift.
Last on the list: Consumable Gifts
Status: DIDN’T HAPPEN
Yeah, I was sick the day before and on Christmas Eve. I’m lucky I got the other stuff done. No bourbon balls, no chocolate pretzels, no chai tea loaves. I felt a little bad about it, but got over it pretty quickly. There’s always next year.
Bonus Project
There was one bonus project that I did one night while watching tv. I saw these wreaths and thought they were just so festive and pretty. And more importantly, easy to do. My wreath came together fairly quickly using some extra ornaments I had lying around, the one wire hanger left in the house and my trusty glue gun. Unfortunately, I didn’t have enough ornaments to make a full sized wreath, so mine is a little smaller than and not quite as lush as the one I linked to. And I didn’t cut off the extra wire hanger, so that looks a little ghetto, but hey, the extra bit gave me the opportunity to hang it off one of the rocks in our fireplace.
Here’s the entire mantel with stockings, wreath and of course, the Christmas Trout.
And with this post, we’re done with Christmas stuff until next November. Ho ho ho…
Read MoreThe New Kitchen!
One of the Christmas projects on my list was to complete Anna’s play kitchen before Christmas morning. I am happy to report that it was finished a couple of hours before midnight on Christmas Eve. Whew! My husband did such a fantastic job, I wish I could take credit for more of it.
Here is the finished kitchen!
And the other side:
The sink and the fabulously adorable apron that my mom made for Anna:
So, I bet you are wondering what my contribution was? I made the curtain below the sink.
An interesting bit of trivia about the fabric I used, at least interesting to Project Runway dorks like myself, is that the fabric was designed by Jay McCarroll, the winner of season one of Project Runway. I really loved the colors and how fun the design was.
I am so happy with the way the kitchen turned out and more importantly, Anna totally loves it and has been happily playing with it since Christmas morning. I’d say it was her favorite present. Although the Elmo book with the CD player is giving the kitchen a run for its money.
Read MoreUpdated Project To-Do List
Turns out that I need to update my previous Christmas Project To-Do List. With Christmas less than two weeks away, I definitely need to trim it back and do some revising.
Presenting the updated list:
- Advent Calendar
Going on next year’s list. - Stockings
Still hoping to make some before xmas eve. - Felt Food
Off the list. I still want to make some, but not for xmas. - Play kitchen
Holy crap is this kitchen is going well, but that’s probably because it’s my husband’s project now. Seriously, it’s all kinds of awesome. He’s the man. - Presents for my husband
Had to rethink this since someone ended up buying the thing I was going to make. Hrmph. Back to the drawing board. - Consumable Gifts
Still happening, but not until a couple of days before. - Anna crafts
Off the list. Next year we’ll do the salt dough ornaments.
I wish I had a more exciting reason for not being able to do all this. But it all pretty much comes down to a serious lack of motivation. I do have a stack of Krissimas CDs to send out. Hopefully they will go out tomorrow.
Read MoreConsumable Christmas
Last year we did family gift baskets of treats for our extended family. It does two things for me, makes shopping a lot easier since everyone gets pretty much the same thing and it lets me have fun with the packaging. I have a pretty good time doing that. So the basket last year included tins of sugared cranberries, cherry bourbon balls and reindeer food.
I’m going to make the balls and reindeer food again, but the sugared cranberries are getting das boot. They were really pretty, but didn’t travel well. Here are a some things that I’m considering replacing the cranberries with.
What sounds good to you? I’m leaning towards the tea loaf and the chocolate pretzels. I love the idea of the jar pie, but I don’t think it will travel well. And the caramel corn sounds really tasty, but I’m still all corned out from the popcorn ball making frenzy back in October.
And I’m considering bringing the sweet spicy nuts back into the rotation. Decisions, decisions…
Read MoreIn the Advent of an Emergency
I’ve always wanted to make an Advent calendar to countdown to Christmas. I sort of did one last year with an advent wreath I bought at Target. But I went about it sort of half-ass (What? That doesn’t sound like me…) and just put some candy in it and never really hung it up so it was just sort of in the way on the kitchen table. Anna was too young to really understand the idea and my husband just stole all the candy out of it anyway. So, calendar = FAIL.
This year, I want to do one that I can hang off the fireplace mantel. Instead of just filling it with candy, I thought it would be fun to fill it with a combination of candy, small trinkets and family Christmas activities. There are 24 days to fill, so I’m splitting it up, 12 for me to figure out, 12 for my husband to come up with. Look, it’s fun for the whole family. That’s the plan anyway.
Now I just need to create something to hang. There are so many good ideas out there. Here are some of my favorites so far.
This is just a small sample of what is out there for inspiration. No wonder I can’t seem to narrow it down. I have a feeling that if I end up doing an advent calendar, it will be more of a “12 Days of Christmas” theme rather than the full 24 day countdown.
Read More
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