Christmas crafts!!

It's finally December and I can't wait to try some of these crafts!  They are festive, cute and most of them require things I already have at home.  There are so many great ideas, I'm not sure which one to make first!!

You can never have enough wreaths!! You can hang them on your front door, slider door, hallway or bathroom mirrors, above the fireplace... pretty much anywhere!

Felt Flower Christmas Wreath

LOVE the snowman!  

Plus I don't have to worry about this one melting here in sunny San Diego!

Felt Poinsettia Wreath

I always have a hard time finding a place to display all my xmas cards, where everyone can see them.  This is a great solution!  Plus it would fit perfectly on my entry table :)

Christmas Card Tree

I'm always looking for cute ways to spruce up things I already have at home.  I always have a TON of candles and a wine bottle or two :)

Cinnamon Stick Candle

Wine Bottle Display

Here are some more fun decorating ideas :)

Santa Belly Ornaments

These Santa ornaments are so cute!  They are made with glass balls, but I was thinking about buying some clear plastic ones...  that way I could put them on the tree in my daughters room and not worry about her breaking them.  Plus, her tree is HOT PINK, so I can fill them with all sorts of fun bright colors to match her tree & room!  (who says Santa doesn't wear a HOT PINK suit once and awhile - haha)

Bows by Silhouette

Ruffle Christmas Tree

I think one of my FAVORITE things to do when it gets cold (which doesn't happen too much here), is to sit in front of the fireplace and drink some Hot Cocoa!  Can you imagine a better way to start off Christmas morning?? Family visiting, presents getting opened and a cup of Hot Cocoa with all the fixings!! YUMMMM!

Hot Cocoa Party

Like I said, there are sooo many more ideas that I want to make, so keep checking back to see what fun crafts I was able to accomplish :)

HAPPY HOLIDAYS & HAPPY CRAFTING!

Turkey Name Cards

I found all these great ideas for Thanksgiving crafts, but this was the only one I could finish in time (combine being sick while pregnant AND having a sick daughter... not much got done around here).  Anyhow, after we both started feeling better, I was able to get my turkey project completed! 

I got the template and instructions from Martha Stewart's Turkey Place Cards, but there pictures weren't very good and the instructions were a little vague.  So here is how I made all the turkeys:

There was A LOT of tracing

Then A LOT of cutting (I wish my Cameo had shown up 1 day earlier!! - haha)

 Finally it was time to start the assembly

I glued the beak onto the head, then glued the head onto the body

Time for the feathers (yarn)
The instructions say to use craft glue, but I used by glue gun instead.  I found that it dried much faster which made the yarn easier to wrap.

Now that all the turkeys are done, time to glue on the base

All done!

 

Don't they look pretty?

Fast forward to Thanksgiving day...

I wrote all the guests name on the base and placed them on the table

My mom and grandma set the table - doesn't it look beautiful?

Hope everyone had a happy and safe Thanksgiving!  GOBBLE GOBBLE!

who loves flowers?

Who doesn't LOVE getting flowers?

I love flowers and I love taking pictures of them

I'm not really sure why...

I take so many photos and then never do anything with them

I guess I'm just trying to capture the beauty... in a photo

love me some roses!

okay, I'm mesmerized....

where was I?  Oh yea, my love of flowers...

I wanted to share these pictures because every time I see them I SMILE :)

Maybe it's because I remember the occasion and why I got the flowers, but I think it's because flowers make me smile and hopefully these pictures made you smile too!

Turkey Day Craft Ideas

I know I should have started this earlier... but I want to make some Thanksgiving decorations!  Since we are having Thanksgiving at my mom's this year, I thought I could make a few of these things for the dinner party.

Here are a few things I found and they look easy, inexpesive (my favorite) and super cute!

Courtesy of Miranda Made

Now, since I didn't start this in Oct (for November) I thought I'd have all the dinner guests write down what they are thankful for, and then we can hang it above the fireplace, for everyone to see!

Courtesy of Martha Stewart

With 20+ people at the dinner, I thought these would be perfect!

Courtesy of Martha Stewart

Now everyone will know where they sit :)

Courtesy of Martha Stewart

When I saw these, I knew that I had to make them!  They are so cute and could work for any holiday, just switch out the color of the candle to match the decor.

As long as I can track down some Beeswax sheets (without having to order online and have them shipped) I think I can get these done before Turkey day!

Courtesy of Martha Stewart

There are so many more fun ideas I want to do, but I'm only one person and I only have a few hours a day to get things done (aka, when my munchkin is napping!).  So check back over the next few weeks to see what crafts I was able to complete!

Happy Turkey Day!

Giant Flower Cupcake

My little girl turned 1 and I wanted to go all out!  Since her party was a Butterfly and Flower theme, I decided to make both Butterfly cupcakes AND a giant Flower cupcake.  I found this picture online and knew that I had to make this.  Since it was just a picture, I didn't have much to go on, but I think it turned out pretty darn cute!

 For those of you who are curious, here is how I made the Giant Flower cupcake :)

1. Bake 24 cupcakes (any flavor)
2. Once cooled, place cupcakes in groups of 7, then shape them into 3 separate flower petals, use 2 cupcakes for the leaves (1 cupcake will be left over - aka the one you get to eat right now)
3. Frost all the cupcakes with one layer of white frosting (I used a basic Cream Cheese Frosting).  Place the cupcakes in a cool place (or refrigerator) to let the frosting set/harden a bit.
4. While frosting is setting, take additional frosting and start mixing your colors.  You'll need 4 colors, I used Green, Brown, Light Pink and Dark Pink, but feel free to use any color combination you wish!
5. Using an offset spatula or fondant spreader, carefully spread out the frosting on the OUTER 6 cupcakes - make sure to leave the middle cupcake alone!!  Evenly distribute the frosting along all the cupcakes, so that it looks like 1 cupcake instead of six. Repeat with the other 2 flowers.
6. Once the frosting has hardened a bit, outline the flowers with another color frosting and add little dots near the center (I used white frosting for that part).
7. Frost the middle of each flower with your brown/chocolate frosting.
8. Frost the remaining 2 cupcakes with the green frosting.
9. For the petals I used fondant that I colored green and then cut out into the shape of a leaf.  However, if you don't have fondant on hand you could use: green fruit roll up, apple Airheads rolled out flat, or any sort of gummy candy that can be rolled out flat and cut out with scissors or a knife.
10. Use left over frosting to spread down between the leaves - acting as the flower stem.
11. Sit back and enjoy your beautiful work of art!

ENJOY!!!! 

(to see where I link up - click here!!)   

Butterfly Birthday Cupcakes

Remember these?? I thought I could do better, so I gave it a 2nd try!

 Recipe and Idea from Hello Cupcake

Recently my daughter turned 1 and her party had a Flower/Butterfly theme, so I thought it would be fun to make these cupcakes again, plus this time I had the correct melting chocolates.  While the 2nd time went much smoother, I did make a few changes from last time... I decided that outlining the Butterflies in white chocolate (instead of regular chocolate) would look softer and girlie; I also used pastel colors for the wings.  The cupcakes turned out much cuter the 2nd time around!

As I mentioned, my daughters party was Butterfly and Flower themed, so of course I had to also make a Giant Flower cupcake!  What colors would you make your butterflies?  

Do you like the White or Dark chocolate better?

Bee Keeper

This year for Halloween I gave my husband the task of coming up with matching costumes for the 3 of us.  Well he came up with the perfect costumes - The BEE Family!

14mo old = little baby bee

Mommy = Queen bee

Daddy = Bee Keeper!

I decided that I was going to make the Bee Keeper costume, (because to be honest - the one online was a little pricey... if you ask me!).  Anyhow, after doing some research, I found some great instructions on how to DIY, from the one and only... Martha Stewart!  Her instructions (see here) were super easy and it took no time at all!

While I followed most of the instructions, I did make a few changes.  Here is how mine turned out!

Here were my materials

 

I attached the ribbon to the Tulle with the hot glue gun

 then I attached the tulle to my hat, with the hot glue gun

gotta love my glue gun!

Tulle is attached!

Now time for the bees!

Again, I took my handy dandy glue gun and glued the bees right to the tulle

The bees I used were actually found in the button section of my craft store.  The pack had 3 different sizes and they looked more animated, exactly what I wanted!

my handsome model

We finished off the costume with my husband wearing painters coveralls and a sign/name tag that said BEE KEEPER (which was also covered in little bees)

Here is the my little bee with her favorite Bee Keeper!