DIY: Teacup Pin Cushion

For Christmas, I made my grandma a Teacup Pin Cushion.

She loves tea and she is always sewing,

so it seemed pretty fitting that I make this for her.

This DIY project was incredibly easy,

and once I had everything ready to go,

really only took a few minutes to complete!

Take a look at how simple it is!

 

The Goods:

Teacup

12x12 Square Fabric

Poly Stuffing

Thread

Needle

Hot Glue Gun

Hot Glue

Fabric Scissors

 Add Poly Stuffing to middle of fabric,

enough to fill up teacup plus more to overflow.

 Push needle and thread through gathered fabric one time...

 Making sure there's a knot at the end...

 Then wrap the thread around a few times.

Make sure to pull tight so it's secure.

 Trim off the excess fabric.

 Place dome side up in teacup and hot glue all over to secure.

The more glue the better in my opinion!!!

 Lastly, place some pins in the new pin cushion!!!

Homemade Hot Chocolate Sticks!

I knew I wanted to make some kind of treat for my co-workers for the holidays

and when I was looking at numerous ideas online, I came up with the idea to make 

HOT CHOCOLATE STICKS!!!

Now you're probably thinking,

Hot Chocolate Sticks? What's that?!?!

Well keep reading and I'll show you!

The Goods:

Dark Chocolate

Lollipop Sticks

Silicone Mold

Milk (For Making Hot Chocolate)

Mini Marshmallows (Optional)

Candy Canes (Optional)

Melt your chocolate and fill silicone mold. 

Once chocolate is set enough, add sticks

and the topping of your choice.

I decided to use only mini marshmallows.

Once completely set, remove from the silicone mold.

Package up into individual baggies.

And because I was giving them as gifts,

I added a mason jar, straw and candy cane too!

One dozen Hot Chocolate Stick treat bags!

These would make a great treat for any holiday.

I'm thinking New Years, Valentine's Day, Birthdays, etc.

Hope you all have a fun and safe New Year's Eve!

Here's to an amazing 2015 my friends!!!

Last Minute Gift: DIY Fingerprint Snowmen Ornaments!

With only two days left until Christmas,

I'm done buying and wrapping all my gifts,

but I know there are people that wait until the last minute!

And if that's you, I have a super easy and fun idea for you.

Last year, I started a tradition of making homemade ornaments.

I made Thumbprint Reindeer Ornaments to give as gifts.

I liked the idea and decided I would do it each year!

So I knew this year I had to do something equally as cute,

and after looking online for ideas, I decided to do

FINGERPRINT SNOWMEN ORNAMENTS!!!

And this year, I personalized them depending on who I was giving it to.

For example, friends with a new baby got one with three snowmen - one tiny of course!

I've been a busy little elf this December, doing lots of crafts and baking,

and when making these I forgot to take a picture of "The Goods"

I'm sorry. Please forgive me! 

Just know you'll need the following supplies...

Clear Ornaments - I use glass, but plastic is probably more safe.

White Paint - any kind will do and I just used what I had.

Paint Pens/Markers - used for all the snowmen details.

White/Iridescent Crinkle Filler - optional, but I ended up using.

Now keep reading to see how I made all six of them!!

You can make your snowmen one of two ways.

You can paint your fingers and place them on the ornament,

or you can be a little more OCD (ahem - like me!) 

and use just your fingertips to make your snowmen.

Either way - make your snowmen and let dry completely.

Once dried, add your eyes, nose and buttons.

And then get creative adding accessories however you'd like!

This one is for the family mentioned above.

All six decorated and ready to be given as gifts!!!

Now that you see how simple it is,

get to work and make some of your own!!!

And since I've decided to make this a tradition,

I'd love some suggestions on ideas for next year's DIY ornaments!

I like the thumbprint/fingerprint them so I'd love to stick with that.

Friday Link Ups Galore!!!

After THREE weeks of Linking Up with three different blogs,

I'm back again for another fun Friday Link UP, 

but this time I'm linking up with ALL three at once!!

And with Christmas being less than a week away,
I thought it was the perfect time for this post
because it's all about preparations for the big day!

If you're not done yet shopping, wrapping, etc. just yet,
hopefully some of the below will help you!

Keep reading to find out about my
Christmas Day Preparations!

Gift Giving!

I love to see people happy with gifts I give.

And I make myself happy by not dealing with crowds!

I didn't go to the mall ONCE this season.

Every year I've done more and more online shopping.

And last year got smart when I started using Ebates!

Who doesn't want to get money back after shopping for others?

Sign up here if you haven't yet!!!

Fun Wrapping!
Even if the gift doesn't cost a lot or is homemade,
I enjoy wrapping and ribboning each gift that I give.
(Yes, I just said ribboning...)

I love all the fun paper, ribbons and bows
and have a hard time not buying more than I need.
I want it ALLLLLLLLL!

DIY Decorations!

I LOVE Christmas Decorations.

See evidence here, here and here!

But I love them even more when they're DIY.

I was inspired by Karli when she posted this.

So what'd I do? I did one myself this year!

But changed a few things to make it my own!!!
A detailed post on the process can be found here.

Christmas Goodies!
I make some type of Christmas goody every year.
Some years more than others and I think this year takes the cake!

I spent ten, yes TEN, hours baking away this past Saturday.
I ended up with hundreds of goodies in six different varieties.
My coworkers, neighbors and local firemen were the lucky recipients!

Christmas Dinner Planning!

Last year I made the entire meal for 13 people!

You can read ALL about the deliciousness here.

We're doing a much more simple dinner this year,
but I'm still in charge of most of the cooking!

What are some of your must have's on the Christmas table?

Now for more Friday Link Up Fun, check out the blogs below!
Andrea and Erika's blogs from Friday Favorites.
 April and Christina's blogs from 5 on Friday.
Karli and Amy's blogs from oh hey friday!

Happy Friday and Happy Holiday All!!!

Well HELLO Garden!

A few posts ago, I said I may blog about the garden soon, but that I wouldn't hold your breath.

Well - for those of you who did hold your breath, the time is FINALLY here!

It's nothing big, it's nothing too exciting, but I thought it was about time I gave you a little look into what's going on in my balcony garden!

The poor little lime tree.

It's doing well, but looks so bare since it's lost all it's leave and I went crazy pruning it!

And holy wow - look at the Christmas tree!

This thing just keeps growing and growing and growingggggggg.

Oh and lookie there - the raspberry plant may very well come back this year!

I'd love to get some actual raspberries this year though...

My fresh herbs are doing SO well.

I can't believe it either because I sorta neglected them the last few months

I know I've said it before, and I'll say it a million more times, 

but I LOVE having fresh herbs to cook with.

The newest additions - two hanging planters with ranunculus.

Keep your eye out for updates on these AND hopefully more new additions to the garden soon! 

The geranium that just keeps growing. 

I neglect this baby like crazy over the last year or so, but I still haven't killed it!

And my poinsettia from Christmas time is doing great too!

I don't know if I've ever had one this long and I'm excited to see how long I am able to keep it living. 

While this isn't a very exciting update, I have hopes for the future!

My parents got me all new window box liners and I cannot wait to put them in and get some flowers growing. I could easily buy some flowers because the weather is already nice enough, but I am actually attempting to grow my own using a seedling kit my brother gave me a few years back. So far, I have a few sprouts but nothing worth photographing just yet. Stay tuned though!!

Flower Bouquets in Mini Pumpkins!

I know this post is a little late for you to do this yourself this year, but keep the idea in the back of your head and make use of it in aboooooooooout 11 months! :)

I love having fresh flowers around, and I love decorating for the holidays so having fresh flowers IN a mini pumpkin vase totally works for me. If fact, thinking about it now, I wish I had made one for my Thanksgiving with Girlfriends!  I figured the idea would make a great hostess gift for Thanksgiving so I went to town creating one...

or maybe two...

okay I made THREE!

This wasn't super easy to do, but wasn't hard by any means either. It just took time to cut and clean out the pumpkins, cut the floral foam and place the flowers so the bouquet looks full! Check out the process below. 

Now try to remember to make these beauties next year. 

I sure hope I remember myself... HAHA!

Congratulating Adam and Elina!

Two of my friends got married over Labor Day Weekend. It was a wonderful ceremony followed by a VERY fun reception!

Mine and a friend's gifts.

I LOVEEEEE wrapping presents and doing bows! :)

Here are a few shots from the amazing night. 

And here are some photo booth pics!

Congrats to two amazing people! Wishing you a forever of happiness with each other. 

XOXO