Favorite Christmas Quote

I LOVE this quote.  Our home is decorated in Nativity and advent calendars for Christmas and this quote fits right in.  And in all honesty the only hints of Santa are a few ornaments on the tree and my baking apron.  This year has been SLAMMED with so much happening that the only thing I could do was print it off and put it in a frame.  I do however have plans to cut this out in vinyl, put it on a board and hang it up in my home.  I may even leave it up all year as it really is my favorite quote and every time I read it, it helps me put my life back into perspective.

Press & Seal Life Hack

This is in no way a craft.  In fact, it's not even cute.  But it IS creative and in all honesty, I don't want to forget it, so I'll post it on here for future reference.  It's one of those "duh" things that my husband came up with.  

We are currently living in an apartment in Colorado.  And this particular apartment door is a disaster.  Seriously the door is practically useless when it comes to keeping our "bought" air inside the apartment.  When it's sunny you can see right through the cracks to the outside world.  After talking to the complex about this problem, they informed us they couldnt' do anything and good luck. 

So after re-weather stripping the door (which didn't seem to help at all), my husband came up with this GENIUS idea.  Ok so it's ugly, but holy guacamole does it work!  

We press and seal our door.  Thin strips of press and seal around the edges when it's closed and suddenly my heater is only working half as much!  Seriously, it was amazing how quickly my home became warm when that door was sealed up.  During the days, when we go out, we just pull the press and seal off, attach it to the middle of the door and reuse it again when it's closed.  Thus far we've been using the same strips of press & seal for a week and they are still going strong.

This was CHEAP, practical and has made a HUGE difference for us when it comes to keeping my home warm.  I can't wait to see the difference on my heating bill.  Since it has worked so well for the winter, I know it will work just a great in the summer when we are trying to keep the AC inside!  

Altered Recipe Tin

My friend Tanya made one of these for a co-worker of mine (before I knew her) years ago.  I fell absolutely in love with it and BEGGED her to make me one too.  I LOVE LOVE LOVE it.  Seriously, probably one of my favorite things I've ever gotten.  Every time I look at it a huge smile comes across my face.  I've loaded it full of my favorite recipes (pre Pinterest) and it looks so cute on my counter.  I especially love all the tiny details she put into it.  

Each divider is unique, cute and ageless.  (And yes we know Desserts is spelled wrong).

The top has a crackle finish, the ribbons are all color coordinating and there is even a charm hidden in there.  Seriously, what is there NOT to love about this?!

I've made several recipe boxes based on this example.  This works great as a card box too as it's the perfect size for most cards!

Items Needed:

Tin Box

LOTS of ribbon

Coordinating paper

Embellishments

Letters

Computer/Printer

Paint

Crafting tools - paper cutter, modpodge, scissors

Ink

Directions:

Use your imagination and design and create fun boxes filled with recipes, cards or even photos!  The ideas are endless.  If you can't find this kind of tin, then use another.  Just remember to have fun!

Baking Soda & Vinegar

Remember how cool those volcano science experiments were?  I do.  Not only were they cool, but they were also super fun!  And my 2 year old also thought it was pretty fun too. In fact, it's one of her most requested activities for rainy/snowy days.  

Our fun has two parts.  1) Pouring small amounts of the vinegar into the baking soda and watching it bubble and 2) Once all the baking soda is covered with vinegar and no longer bubbles, it's super fun to squish with your fingers and feel the goo as it slips right through.  This activity will literally keep my toddler busy for 30 minutes to an hour each time.

Oh and don't forget to color the vinegar with food coloring so they can see better where it's been.

Items Needed:

Baking Soda

Vinegar

2 Dishes (I use a pie dish & Tupperware bowl)

Spoon (I use a tablespoon)

Directions:

1.  Pour vinegar into bowl (I use Tupperware)

2.  Put a few drops of food coloring.  One or two will do.

3.  Pour baking soda into the other dish (I use pie dish)

4.  Show child what to do.  Strongly emphasize that they should NOT put baking soda INTO the vinegar.  ONLY vinegar into baking soda.  If they do put baking soda into the vinegar mixture, then the entire bowl will bubble over and the vinegar will no longer be active.  

Bath tub painting

I discovered very quickly, that when it came to my daughters love of painting, it also came with an the expense of a LOT of paper.   So instead of endless reams of paper, I'd pop her into our tub with some watercolors and a paintbrush.  And sure enough, she loved it.  So much so that we did it a LOT.

It's CHEAP, clean up is a breeze and kept my daughter busy for a very long time.  

Few things to note:  Porcelain (or non porous) tubs are best for this.  The paint literally washes right off.  It also easily comes off of non porous tile as well.

I've also done this in plastic tubs.  The plastic though sucks in the paint and holds onto it.  It will come out with some elbow grease and magic erasers.  Just be prepared to work for it.  

Oreo Turkeys

I have been making Oreo Turkeys for 11 years now.  This year, I got my 3 year old daughter involved in making them too.  She loved it, I loved doing a craft with her and we both loved sharing them with our neighbors afterwards!  Here's how I make mine!

Items Needed:

Oreos Regular Stuffed

Icing and an Icing bag (I use a ziploc with the tip snipped)

Cordial Cherries (I like to ensure every turkey comes with a heart)

Red Hots (the ones in the baking isle are smaller and work better - 

my store was out of them so I used the boxed candy kind which are much larger)

Candy Corn

Directions:

Before you begin, cut/break off the white tip of a candy corn to be used as a beak.  

Cut off two yellow ends of candy corns to be used as feet.

Red Hots will become eyes

Cordial Cherry will be a nice plump body 

1.  Twist open your Oreo! 

2.  Eat the broken ones!

3.  Put a medium dollop of icing in the center of the half with the most cream.  

4.  Put a small dollop of icing on the side of the half with the least amount of cream. 

5.  On the small dollop (less cream) side, gently squish down your cordial cherry.

6.  On the side with the medium dollop, squish down 5 candy corns in a fan shape.  

White tip down, yellow tip out.

7.  On the back of the cordial cherry, put a thick layer of icing down on the 

Oreo and up the back of the cherry.  

8.  Squish feather oreo side to back of cherry side.

9.  Put a 3 small dollops of icing on the cherry as shown below.

10.  Place red hot eyes onto cherry.

11.  Place Beak on cherry between the red hot eyes.

12.  Put icing on the yellow candy corn feet.

13.  Attach feet to turkey.

Ta Dah!  A cute little turkey that even the littlest ones will love eating!

Mummy Jars

I love quick and easy crafts.  I received these from my friend Jennifer and as soon as I opened the box I was so excited at how cute and easy these were.  These can be made in a matter of minutes and will jazz up any home.  I used mine as candy jars, though I think a candle inside would look super cute too!  

Items Needed:

Quart Jar (or any size really)

Gauze

Googly eyes

Adhesive such as Mod Podge

Directions:

1.  Clean & dry jars thoroughly.

2.  Glue end of gauze to to top of jar (under rim).  

3.  Wrap gauze around jar up and down to give mummy criss cross pattern.

4.  Glue tail end to jar/gauze.

5.  Glue googly eyes to car.

That's it.  How easy was that and how CUTE are these?!