Christmas Bell Door Hanger

My friend Janis came over for crafting at Day Camp and we made these cute door hangers out of a bell and a bird...

I found large bells at the craft store, not as big as I was hoping but they're pretty large. We ran a ribbon thru the loop on the top of the bell and tied a knot, leaving long tails - I had this bright green on hand, you could use narrower ribbon or patterned ribbon or twine...use your imagination and whatever you have on hand. 

 Then we raided the Christmas decorating box and came up with some pieces of wired garland, berry picks, cardinals (cardinals just seem like Christmas to me - did you notice my Thanksmas/Christmas tree was decorated with cardinals and poinsettias?), silver leaves...just use whatever you can find. Little pine cones or shells would be cute - whatever will fit on the top of the bell.

After tying on the ribbon, just build up what's going on the bell, hot gluing different things until you like how it looks. For this one I used a berry pick, a 4" piece of garland, a couple silver leaves, and the bird on top. That's about it for directions haha, just hot glue things to the top of the bell and hang it up!

I used one of the dollar store wine glasses
on my craft table as a holder for the bell
 so it stayed put while I hot glued stuff to it,
hands free while hot gluing is always a
good thing...

Cinnamon Roll Sugar Cookies

I wanted to make some cookies for a guy that works at our local photography store who helped me a ton with a project - he definitely deserves a sugary treat (I don't know him very well, hopefully he doesn't have dietary restrictions!). The weather is kinda crappy here today and I didn't want to go to the grocery store so was looking for a recipe that I had all the ingredients for already...and then this recipe popped up in an email. Yes, the 'what should I make' problem was solved. This is sugar cookie dough rolled out, spread with butter/cinnamon sugar,  rolled up and sliced (just like cinnamon rolls)...really, do I need to say more? It's a sugar cookie cinnamon roll!! YUM!

after making the dough, wrap it in plastic wrap and chill for an hour

roll dough out to about 15"x 6"

spread with butter/cinnamon sugar mixture,
roll up starting with a long edge

cut into 1" slices with a sharp knife

Click here for the recipe from mel's kitchen cafe. They are a little more work than my usual drop cookies, but worth it. I had to bake them for a couple minutes longer than the recipe says, and I frosted with powdered sugar glaze (I made it by mixing 1/2 cup powdered sugar with a tablespoon italian sweet cream coffee creamer) instead of cream cheese - you guessed it, I didn't have cream cheese so substituted!

Cookies:

• ¾ cup (170 g) butter, softened to cool room temperature
• ¾ cup (159 g) granulated sugar
• ¼ cup (29 g) powdered sugar
• 2 large eggs
• ½ teaspoon vanilla
• 2 ½ cups (355 g) all-purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• ½ teaspoon salt

Filling:

• 4 tablespoons (57 g) butter, softened
• ½ cup (106 g) packed light brown sugar
• 1 teaspoon cinnamon

Glaze:

• 4 ounces (113 g) cream cheese, softened to room temperature
• ⅓ cup (38 g) powdered sugar
• ½ teaspoon vanilla
• 1-2 tablespoons milk

INSTRUCTIONS 

• For the cookies, in a large bowl, cream together the 3/4 cup butter and granulated and powdered sugar for 3-4 minutes, until the mixture is light and fluffy. Add the eggs one at a time, mixing well after each addition. Add vanilla extract and mix. Add one cup flour, baking powder and salt. Mix. Add remaining flour and mix just until flour is incorporated and the dough is smooth and soft. 
• Flatten the dough into a thick disk and cover in plastic wrap. Refrigerate for at least an hour.
• For the filling, combine the brown sugar and cinnamon in a small bowl. Separate the dough into two pieces working with one half at a time, roll it out to about 1/4-inch thick and about 15-inches by 4-inches or so. Gently spread 2 tablespoons of butter on top of the dough. Sprinkle with 1/2 of the cinnamon sugar mixture and lightly press the sugar mixture into the dough. Starting with one long edge, roll the dough into a tight log. Using a sharp knife (I found a serrated knife worked best), slice the dough into 1-inch pieces, making about 15 cookies per log. Place the cookies 2 inches apart on lined (with silpat or parchment) baking sheets. Repeat with the second half of the dough and the remaining butter and cinnamon/sugar mixture.
• Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Bake the cookies for 9-11 minutes until set but not overbaked. Let the cookies cool for 1-2 minutes on the baking sheet before transferring to a wire rack to cool completely. 
• Prepare the glaze by mixing together the cream cheese and powdered sugar until thick and smooth. You can do this with an electric mixer or use a blender. Add the vanilla and 1 tablespoon milk. Continue adding milk, 1/2 tablespoon at a time, until the glaze is thick but pourable. Pour the glaze into the corner of a ziplic bag (placing the bag inside a large glass helps as you fill it). Snip off the tip of the corner and drizzle the glaze over the cooled cookies. Store covered in the refrigerator.

Fireball Hot Toddy

Haha, like my including alcoholic beverages in a cozy winter scene? I've never had a hot toddy before so not sure how this stacks up, but I'm cold and feeling like a warm drink and saw this recipe...cinnamon whiskey mixed with honey, lemon, and hot water. Very easy and it's just a little glass so I thought I'd try it. I read that hot toddy's are good for the common cold - excellent, I can now honestly say my drinking is medicinal!

1 shot Fireball Whiskey (I used 1 ounce, Dave says a shot is more like 1 1/4 ounce)
1 T. honey
2 teaspoons lemon juice
1/4 cup boiling water

Stir all ingredients into a mug until the honey melts. Garnish with a lemon slice or cinnamon stick (I had neither and it looks just fine without!).

I only have giant mugs so I poured it into this cute little glass instead - plus it doesn't seem so much like drinking whiskey this way :). Medicine that tastes good, nice!

DIY Christmas Tree

My friend Scott sent me this idea and I had to try it...genius really. I don't know where he got this idea but I'm totally stealing it from him. It's garland wrapped around a tomato cage - totally made my own Christmas tree!

Supplies:
- round tomato cage (or in my case 2 cages!)
- 45' standard soft garland
- 18' wired garland (mine has lights in it, Scott's doesn't)
- a planter or not, depending on where you are going to put it
- pine cones, berries, bulbs, lights...whatever  you want
- a bunch of 4" zip ties
- tape to shape the tip of the tree

All the instructions I needed apparently :)

Scott's tree with the wired garland, bulbs,
berries, and cones. He made two of these. 

Since he is a guy he just sent me these two pictures without any instructions - so of course I blew up his phone texting him a ton of questions... I think I was just supposed to figure it out from the picture haha. After he gave me detailed info I was able to build my own tree, and so can you. Not hard at all once I got going - the worst thing was trying to find the wired garland, every place I checked was out of it. I was going to give up and scrap this idea but then decided to just modify the project and do it with what I could still find, and it turned out great. Different from Scott's of course, but that's the beauty of DIY! He found all of his supplies at Lowes, and made two trees for $50 total (instead of paying $100 each at the store for them!). Mine cost more because I used two cages for one tree and 18' pre-lit garland instead of wired.

Start by putting the cage upside down either in a planter or just flat on the ground. Scott used one cage per tree but I found after wrapping soft garland over one cage without the wired garland to fill it out it made a more triangle shape tree instead of round - so I ended up using two cages to give it more shape. I bent one to fit inside the planter and then put one over the planter for stability. Wrap tape (I used electrical tape) around the 3 legs to make a cone shape on the top. Using the zip ties to hold the garland in place, wind the 45' of standard garland around and around the cage. When it's completely covered add the 18' of wired garland overtop - this makes it fuller and fills in the gaps. I used additional standard garland that had lights in it instead since I couldn't find the wired kind and it turned out good - "make it work" is the motto here. Add whatever decorations you want, I just did a few cones and berries.


I wasn't loving the bottom of the cage being exposed so wrapped an additional string of lights around the the planter - more lights always helps :) Thanks Scott, this was a good one!

Wine Glass Snow Globes

I had my doubts about this one, turning upside down wine glasses into snow globes seemed a little cheesy homemade in my head - but they actually turned out super cute and were very easy to put together. I picked up some different shaped wine glasses and fake snow at the dollar store, and little things to put inside the "globes" from the craft store - right now all the Christmas stuff is on sale so I got things pretty cheap.

I used the lid to a mason jar for the stemmed glass, and found a jar lid that fit the stemless glass. You could also cut a cardboard circle to use for the base. Play with how you want the figurines, trees, etc. to fit on the lid (make sure the wine glass will fit over top of them) and when you are happy with the arrangement hot glue them in place.

Put some snow in the upright glass - you don't need very much, my first one looked like the church had been in an avalanche! Run a bead of hot glue around the lid where it will fit on the glass and then turn the lid upside down and fit it into the glass. After the glue dries turn the glass over and shake the snow into place.

I think these turned out cute and will be on the lookout for small figurines, etc for future wine glass snow globe projects!

You can also put a candle on top of the stemmed glass (see my top picture) - I think a few of these in different shapes and heights with candles on them would be a very pretty table, mantle, or coffee table decoration.

Paper Christmas Lights Garland

Shout out to my friend LeDonna for this cute idea - she saw it and sent a picture to me, and I agree with her that it's a fun easy Christmas craft for young and old alike :). Thanks L!

Because I'm a little bit of a perfectionist I didn't want to just wing it if there was someone who had actually figured out exactly how to make these somewhere online, so of course I googled and found a few different ones. I followed these directions and they worked perfectly.

Supplies are few:
- cardstock in a few different colors for the lights, and gray for the tops
- hole punch
-ruler and scorer (scoring isn't necessary but it did make the tops fold easily and look neat)
-glue stick or adhesive of your choice (I used my Stampin' Up rolling glue thingy)
- thick twine to string the lights on, I used about 48"

Directions:
Cut gray cardstock into 1 1/4"x  4" strips
Cut colored cardstock into 1" x 8 1/2" strips
(note I made 15 lights, so I cut 15 gray strips and 15 assorted colors strips).

Score the gray cardstock every 1/2". You could also just fold it neatly every 1/2" and run your fingernail along the edge to give it a sharp crease if you don't have a scorer. 

Make a dot at 1 1/4" and 2 3/4" in (that turns out to be in the middle of the 3rd space and the 6th space, see my picture - I stopped making a dot after the first couple and just eyeballed it). Hole punch on the marks. Fold the paper on the score lines, glue both ends 1/2" flap to each other making a circle.

To make the bulb: fold a colored strip in half. Pinch the two ends together and push on your palm or table to get a slight bend in the sides of the bulb. Holding the ends together hole punch thru both layers about 1/4" down in the center.

To string them into garland, put the top of a colored strip into a gray circle matching up the holes. Run twine thru all 4 holes. Then continuing adding the lights until you have it as long as you want, making sure to line up the bulbs with the glued gray part all facing the same way. Spread them evenly on the twine.

One thing I did I have a second of trouble with is the twine fraying and becoming hard to fit thru the holes - I wrapped a small piece of tape around the end and that solved the problem. 

Glitter Words

Glitter and glue. Glitter and glue. I do love those words :). I also love this very simple decorating idea of tracing on some letters and glittering them up! You can obviously use whatever word you want (as long as you can fit it on your paper), choose your color, font and frame - totally up to you.

I did "NOEL", mostly because it's short and less work haha. I guess JOY might have been even easier...I also played with "MERRY" but didn't like how I traced the letters on the paper so didn't finish that one. Am using it though to show you some of the process.

Supplies needed:
- frame
- 1 piece of letter size cardstock, cut to fit in the frame
- chunky glitter, craft paint, marker (I did the same color for all of those)
- foam or small paintbrush
- craft glue (I used white glue that dries clear)

Print out the word you want to display using a bold font, size them to fit on the paper (mine is 8x10). Cut out the letters, play with them on the cardstock to see how they look best then trace around the letters with a marker. Either lightly paint in the letters (don't make it too thick or the paper will buckle) or color in with a marker. Spread glue very thinly over all of the letters, all the way to the edge trying not to leave any gaps - then sprinkle on the coarse glitter. If you do have any gaps in the glitter just dab in more glue and sprinkle some more. I sprinkled it on very thickly then tapped it off into a pie pan to catch and reuse the glitter that didn't stick.

Let it dry and place carefully in your frame, try not to move it too much before getting the frame together because the glitter will spread around on the picture - I tried for no glitter anywhere except in the letters to give it a clean look.








For "MERRY" I traced the letters with a green marker and planned to fill in with green and green glitter but then decided I didn't love my placement....

"NOEL" turned out good all silver though!

Play around with this idea - I chose words to glitter and frame but you could do a symbol (star, candle, tree...), handprints for baby's first Christmas, paw print for puppy's first Christmas haha, use your imagination!

I am working on a little Christmas arrangement on a table
placed behind our couch. I like it so far...

Snowman Gift Box

This is another of the "make and takes" I got from my friend Ronda at a Stampin'Up meeting, remember I made the jack o'lantern one for Halloween? This snowman is SO cute, here he is on a pillow box but you could put him on lots of different things. This would make a cute gift card enclosure, or decorate a larger box/package, or on a card...very easy and fun. 

To make him you need 2 larger punched circles for eyes and 5 smaller punched circles for mouth from black card stock, 2 black rectangles to make his hat, an orange triangle, a piece of thin ribbon, and something to decorate his hat (here we used a punched flower with a crystal glued on). Oh, and some sort of adhesive to put it all in place - I used my Stampin' Up rolling adhesive thing and it worked perfect for this project. Adjust the size of these pieces for the size of what you are putting him on.

Arrange all of the pieces on a white base of your choosing and stick them down to make a snowman. That's it! Pretty self explanatory where everything goes...

Rocky Road Cookies

I saw this recipe in a magazine - it's actually one dough that they made into 3 different cookies, what's not to like about a one dough with multiple options recipe? Well I was curious and wanted to try it...I had the ingredients on hand for the rocky road version so that's the only one of the 3 I tried - it's a basic dough so not much to talk about there, but after baking one sheet and taste testing (someone has to be the taste taster!) I thought they didn't have much flavor so decided to doctor the rest of the batch. 

I added a very big scoop of peanut butter,  a pinch of coarse salt, more marshmallows, and more chocolate chips. Oh, I should say that I didn't use chopped up dark chocolate - I had milk chocolate chips in the pantry so that's what I used, and I left out the nuts because I don't like nuts in cookies. Maybe the cookies would have been better with the ingredients called for instead of my substitution haha!! Anyway...adding the peanut butter to the batter made them taste much better.

 I drizzled them with chocolate chips melted with a tablespoon of shortening. You can drizzle by dunking a fork in the melted chocolate and flicking over the cookies, but I put it in a small ziplock baggie and cut a small corner off the tip and drizzled that way - much less messy and you can control the amount on each cookie easier I think.  They turned out really good - I will make these again with my changes for sure.  Note that on the website they aren't showing these as one dough for three cookies like they did in the magazine, the other 2 options are bourbon cranberry walnut, and caramel popcorn - both can be found on the website.

the batter is very crumbly but after scooping into balls it comes together and holds its shape... 

put the melted chocolate in a small baggie and snip a small corner off

then drizzle over cookies

2/2024 UPDATE: going back thru some of my old posts and when I click the link for the recipe it isn't found anymore. I hate that I didn't provide the recipes sometimes back in my olden days, this has happened to me before - only providing the link to the recipe was an oversight on my part. I can't find the original recipe, here is one from Wilton that seems pretty basic and looks similar to my finished cookie. Read the notes up top though that I really doctored the basic recipe - chances are I'd do the same with this recipe haha! 

• 2-1/4 cups all-purpose flour

• 3/4 teaspoon baking soda

• 1/2 teaspoon salt

• 1 cup butter, softened

• 1/2 cup granulated sugar

• 1 egg

• 1 teaspoon Clear Imitation Vanilla Extract, 2 oz.

• 1/2 cup firmly packed dark brown sugar

• 1 cup semi-sweet chocolate chunks

• 1 cup almonds

• 1 cup mini marshmallows

  
  

• Preheat oven to 350ºF.
• 
  
• In medium bowl, combine flour, baking soda, and salt. In large bowl, beat butter and sugars with electric mixer until light and fluffy. Add egg and vanilla; mix well. Add flour mixture to butter mixture; mix well. Stir in chocolate chunks, almonds and mini mallow bits. Drop by rounded tablespoonfuls onto ungreased cookie pan.
• 
  
• Bake 11-13 minutes or until edges are golden brown. Cool 3 minutes on pan; remove and cool completely on cooling grid.

Hand Painted Wine Glasses

My niece Macey painted these wine glasses for me and I love them! This is a cute creative gift you can personalize for anyone one your list - she made me a set of 4 but you could make as many or few as you want.

She found stemless glasses at a dollar store, you could do it with any type of clear glass (doesn't have to be a wine glass!). Since she knows me so well she designed them with a dog theme - each one is different ("walk with a friend", "learn new tricks", "wag more bark less", and a paw). Paint your design on clean glasses using glass paint; when you are happy with how they look let the glasses air dry for 24 hours and then bake according to the directions on the paint to fully cure them.

The directions say they are dishwasher safe on the top rack but I don't want to risk it and just wash them by hand. Aren't they cute? She did good :)