peppermint bark

Happy Monday!

It's Christmas week and if you're anything like me, you've got a billion things left to do before the big holiday weekend.  Because I want to be sure to have enough time to enjoy this special time with my family, my posting will probably be on the light side through the end of the year.  However, I thought I'd start off your week with a fun and tasty little DiY project.

No party is complete without a sweet little trinket your guests can take home, enjoy, and remember (hopefully) the wonderful time they had.  For my little candy-cane themed shindig yesterday, I made peppermint bark favors.  It amazes me that they sell this stuff for $30 a box at specialty stores when it is SO easy and so inexpensive to make!  Packaged up nicely in cellophane bags, it makes a lovely (and much appreciated) gift.

Start by unwrapping a pile of candy canes (I used about 25).  Place them in a large ziplock bag.

Put that ziplock bag within a second ziplock bag (broken candy canes are sharp), then break the candy canes into small pieces.  I used a rolling pin to smash them.

christmas party planning: candy cane arrangement

For our Christmas party last year, I bought several Christmasy flower arrangements, carefully arranged them in vases, and placed them around the house.  Classy, perhaps, but completely unimaginative.  I'm pretty sure no one even noticed them.  Not exactly money well spent.

So this year I decided to get a little more creative (and thrifty) with my flower arrangement, with the idea to create something similar to this:

(image courtesy of MarthaStewart.com)

I grabbed Husband's hot glue gun, an empty can, & a box of candy canes & started gluing.

christmas card garland craft

Thank goodness it's Friday.  This has been a very long and stressful week, and I am a little ashamed to admit that I have not been overly full of holiday cheer.  After a wonderful & festive weekend, we were thrown for a loop early in the week and I spent a lot of time being grumpy & miserable, and even more time feeling very sorry for myself while I stressed about things I couldn't change and all the "super important" things I had to do.

Luckily at some point yesterday, after a long and much-needed chat with my sister, I realized that most of the the things I spend so much time worrying about aren't really all that important in the grand scheme of things.  All I really needed was a little perspective.   I finally ended my pity party, stopped worrying about the gazillion things I hadn't yet checked off my list, turned on some Christmas music and sat down with the girls to do a craft.

The supplies:  old Christmas cards, ribbon, scissors, hole punch

homemade gifts: embellished picture frame (& nursery love giveaway)

When we lived in Seattle, one of our favorite family outings was feeding the giraffes at the Woodland Park Zoo.  It began for Princess a serious love of all things giraffe.  Books, toys, clothing, stuffed animals--if it is related to giraffes in any way, she is all over it.

So when I came across an adorable giraffe alphabet print on an Etsy shop called Nursery Love, I knew it would be the perfect accent piece for her room (and a great Christmas gift!)  Knowing I already had a matted frame that I had found on clearance a few months ago stashed away in the closet, I ordered the 4x6 print and checked that one off my list.  Until, of course, the print arrived in the mail and I pulled out the frame, only to discover the frame was matted to fit a 5x7 print.  Oops.

I had two choices.  I could a.) buy a new frame or b.) get creative.

Guess which one I chose?  (hint: buying a new frame wouldn't be a very interesting blog post.)

homemade gifts: star-shaped crayon craft

I love giving gifts.  Much to my husband's chagrin, my generous spirit has often outweighed my budget.  A long time ago, long before I was married and had kids of my own, I started giving gifts to all the children in my life.  It started with just my nieces and nephews, and then, as a few of my friends started having children, the tradition started to spread.  Before I knew it, the list was very, very long.  This year I finally had to face the hard truth: it is simply too expensive to buy and send gifts to 30+ kids each year.

But I couldn't bear the thought of doing nothing.

I decided to get crafty.

master bedroom remodel: DiY thrifty wall art

I am so excited to show you the "after" pictures of my master bedroom remodel.  I am still just waiting on one final little detail to be completed (it is out of my control--so frustrating!), and then I will do my big online reveal.  To tide you over, I thought I'd share my DiY tutorial for a thrifty wall art project.

In case you've forgotten, this was my inspiration board for my "5 star Caribbean beach resort" bedroom:

Photo credits:  potterybarn.com, housebeautiful.com, HGTV.com, kohls.com, AllPosters.com, evadesigns.com, realsimple.com, allthingslovely.typepad.com, florida-beach-photography.com.)

Our master bedroom is gigantic, with a super-high ceiling and LOTS of wall space.  And unfortunately for me (and my budget), original artwork is expensive.  I did find some cute frames and prints on clearance at Target & Marshall's a couple of months ago, but I still had one space left on the wall that I had to fill.

I don't really consider myself that creative or original.  I am good at finding inspiration from other people and places (or the Pottery Barn catalog), and then finding a way to copy or recreate a look.  I am in awe of people like Ashley Ann of Under the Sycamore or Meg of Whatever who come up with the most original, creative, and downright gorgeous ideas every single day, seemingly without even batting an eye.  That's just not me.  I bat frequently and tend to overthink everything.  So while I would like to say I'm crafty, the truth is that I'm just a wannabe crafter, a copycat.

master bedroom remodel: beachy crafts

A few weeks ago I told you all about my plans for my fabulous new master-bedroom-on-a-budget.  My goal is to have my room completed by the end of the month.  It will be a push, but I've been trying to work on it a little at a time, and I'm really hoping to hit my deadline.  In case you've forgotten (or in case you're new to my blog, in which case, welcome!), the look I'm going for is what I like to call "5 Star Caribbean Beach Resort," and in case you missed it, here is my inspiration:

disney weekend halloween craft

There are a lot of good things about living in Florida.  It is almost always sunny.  It doesn't snow.  There are palm trees and flamingos and alligators.  There are about 150 amazing beaches within driving distance. There is no state income tax.  Half the population doesn't live here most of the time.  I could go on and on.

But the best thing about living in Florida has got to be Walt Disney World.

I'll admit it:  I'm a Disney Dork.  I love it.  I love everything about it.  If it were up to me, we'd be there every weekend.

I know this will probably come as a shock, given our history of always agreeing on everything (note heavy sarcasm here), but my sweet husband is not really that into WDW.  He is, however, a fabulous daddy (and husband), so he humors my obsession, knowing it will make ALL of his girls happy.  He even consented to my [brilliant] idea of purchasing a Florida Residents Annual Pass this year, despite the fact that it cut a significant chunk out of our annual vacation budget AND knowing full well it would mean far more Disney trips than he could stand.  What a guy.

So this weekend we are off to WDW for Mickey's Not-so-Scary Halloween Bash.  I can't wait!  Last October, when we were still living in Seattle, I took the girls to Disneyland for a few days at Halloween time.  M., who is obsessed with all things Halloween, hasn't stopped talking about it since.  It will be fun to get into the spirit a little early this year (not to mention to beat the crowds!)

I wanted something cute & festive (but also comfortable) for the girls to wear, so I decided to attempt 2 different craft projects I've been wanting to try for some time:  freezer paper stencils and tulle tutus.  The girls were very excited about their new "Hallorina" (halloween ballerina) outfits and happily modeled them for me!

They were very easy and the total cost for the whole project--shirts, leggings, & tutus--was less than $25.

Supplies Used:
(purchased)
-2 T-shirts, $3.99 each (Old Navy)
-2 pairs of leggings, $4 each (Old Navy)
-3 rolls of tulle (used 3 40% off coupons), $5.40 (Jo-Ann's)
-1 package 1/4" black elastic, $1.14 (Wal-Mart)

I also used black paint, freezer paper, & orange dye that I already had on hand.

Total cost: $22.52 ($11.26 per daughter)

Instructions:

For the shirt:

1. Tie-dye a white shirt with orange dye, (I used a kit I had leftover from a summer tie-dye project.), following instructions on kit.  Wash and dry shirt.
2. Trace your chosen design onto a piece of freezer paper (waxy on one side only!) I did a Google search for "mickey mouse bat" and found this design.
3. Using an Exacto knife and a self-healing cutting mat, cut out design.
4. Lightly iron freezer paper onto shirt.
5. Blot black paint onto shirt using stencil brush.  (I used black acrylic paint.)
6. Carefully peel back paper; let dry.

For the skirt:

1. Cut a piece of elastic to fit around your child's waist.
2. Place elastic around a large book or cutting board.
3. Cut 2 16" pieces of tulle from a 6" wide role.
4. Tie onto elastic.  Repeat, spacing knots 1-2" apart until skirt is complete.

Have a great weekend!

a little crafty

I've been feeling a little crafty lately.  I think my 4 year old is starting to rub off on me.  Or maybe my type-A-never-slow-down personality is still looking for a new hobby to fill the shopping void.  In any case, I've been on a mission this month to stock up on some new craft supplies.

I am a huge fan of Ashley Ann Campbell's blog "Under the Sycamore."  If you haven't checked it out before, I highly recommend it.  She does some really amazing craft projects.  A few weeks ago I read a DiY post on her blog about making bud vases out of bottles using Japanese masking tape.  I was intrigued. I decided I had to have some of this elusive tape.

So I splurged.  I shopped around online, and sadly realized that there were no good deals to be had.  I bit the bullet and paid $32 + $5.70 shipping for 12 rolls of this now very precious tape.

I hope it was worth it.

I never realized before how expensive all this crafty stuff can be.  In my pre-thrifty days, if I wanted to do a craft I would just head to Michael's and buy my supplies.  Okay, so what if my homemade cigar box purse cost me $95 in supplies?  I had fun making it, and that's all that mattered.  Or so I thought.

I don't want to be so consumed with saving money that I abandon the things that bring me joy.  But I do want to try to save where I can.  So I splurged on the tape, but I tried very hard to save everywhere else.  Each week when I get my newspapers, I make sure to clip the 40% off craft store coupons and slip them in my wallet.  That way if I am out and about and happen to pass a craft store, I can pop in and buy one of the items on my list for 40% off.  Sure it's not quite as convenient as simply going to the craft store and stocking up, but starting to realize that life is a work in progress and it doesn't have to happen all at once.  In addition, I started shopping around online for some alternative craft store options.  I found a great deal on ribbon remnants on ebay, and I found a huge bag of buttons on Amazon.com for only a few dollars (with free shipping!).   And I even started becoming more conscious of the things we throw away, saving instead of tossing those items that have craft potential.

And so this evening, when my crafty Princess wanted to do something new, I actually had something new to offer.  We spread out our new crafting treasures and got to work making our own Japanese tape bottles.