Week 19: Mobile Hot Chocolate Bar

It was unseasonably warm in Kansas City the weeks leading up to Christmas. Like many people that
want to get in the holiday spirit, they go around with friends and family looking at Christmas lights. With the warm temps and ample holiday spirit lighting our neighborhood, we decided to walk around our neighborhood one Saturday night to look at the lights.

My son is two years old, not yet capable of walking long distance so we put him in a wagon snuggled with blankets next to a (nearly industrial sized) thermos of hot chocolate. The biggest we could find was at Target (Dick's didn't have anything big enough - or on the cheap!)

Next I went about organizing a container to put our hot chocolate accouterments in. First, I added some cups for our hot chocolate accessories. The call for marshmallows was heard very loud and clear so I had two cups filled with those. I covered them with press and seal so they wouldn't get contaminated. Second, I added a cup with candy canes. Third, was the Bailey's in the glass container in the middle of the picture. It's actually a barbecue recipe container. Last, I curled up some Christmas-themed napkins in case there were any spills. Make sure you use Styrofoam based cups. Our Christmas ones were thin Styrofoam, but okay for hot beverages.

I can't wait to make this an annual tradition and do it again next year!

Week 18: Christmas Card Tree

I've always had a difficult time figuring out how to display the holiday cards my family receives
nicely in our entry way. This is where we keep all of our Christmas decorations, but finding a place for the cards we received gradually throughout the month of December (and into January - you procrastinators know who you are) was a challenge.

This year, I decided to tape them to the inside of our front door, in the hopes of creating a Christmas tree outline. I started with the middle of the tree first as the first cards we received were vertical in orientation. Then I tried to keep things symmetrical as the cards started rolling in.

By Christmas Eve, we had a nice looking tree. Success!

Week 17: Football Snack Stadium

Making this snack stadium was so quick and easy! Although it would be great for a super bowl party or for any tailgate, I made this one for our Fantasy Football Draft in August. Start with two sheets of foil wherever you're going to want people to enjoy the snacks. Make sure that you have two smaller rectangular containers (your end zones) and one larger rectangular container (your field).

Once you get the containers set, you can begin your stadium perimeter with rice krispie treats. We needed around 50 pieces for a two-level perimeter - Costco has pre-made rice krispie treats. They are sticky enough to connect together. Then fill in the chips slots on either side of the larger rectangular container. After you fill in your containers with dips, I created lines and our KC Chiefs decoration with plain greek yogurt. You can use sour cream, but nobody knew any different.

Week 16: Christmas Pine Cone Basket

I've seen these pine cone baskets on Pinterest around the holidays (see photo at right), but my mom has been making them since I can remember. These baskets are great additional light pieces around mantles or next to trees to help decorate.

To make something like this, you need a basket, pine cones, holiday ribbon, clear lights, additional holiday decoration, newspaper (for filler). Note that there's no right or wrong ingredient for your basket. If you want to use multi-colored lights, go for it.

First, use the newspaper or cloth filler in the bottom of the basket to line it. This way, you won't have to use pine cones underneath where people won't see anyways.

Begin filling your basket with pine cones and holiday decorations. You'll use a hot glue gun to secure the pine cones, decorations, ribbon, and lights so they don't move around. I chose silver balls and red flowers with green leaves for my decorations.

You'll continue to fill up the basket until you can't see the filler (newspaper or cloth) anymore. Once your basket is full, it's time to add ribbon, securing with hot glue. You can add ribbon however you'd like to the basket. In the Pinterest example above, they laid the ribbon on the outside. I chose to cover my handle with the ribbon and make a bow on the outside.

After the bow is in place, it's time for the lights. I like a lot of light so I glued the lights in very densely and around the handle. You can see the finished product in the example on the left.

One way to add another dimension to your basket is to add smell. You can get scented pine cones, or my mom always glued cinnamon sticks into the baskets. Whatever smell reminds you of Christmas can be integrated into the basket by purchasing scented things or scenting them yourself with oils.

Week 15: Personalized Baby Poster for Nursery

My husband and I chose to not to share the name we had chosen for our son until he was born. But to
tease the masses, we did share the initials with them and told them they had to guess. I collected all of the name suggestions from when we found out we were having a boy until we revealed the name. Some of the names were real suggestions and some were funny, but we kept them all!

I listed them vertically on a page, next to a photo of our newborn, his name and stats. I chose the bright green color because it matched in with the bright color of the Angry Bird nursery. I had it printed using a Groupon for Vistaprint and received an 11x17 glossy print. What I didn't anticipate was the limited frames available with a mat and opening for 11x17. I decided to find a deal on a larger frame (about $20) and had a custom mat made for about $16 with a 60% coupon at Joann's.

All-in-all, I'm really happy with how everything turned out. Love to hear your comments or if you've done something similar. 

Week 14: Holiday Step and Repeat Banner

We're back on with celebrating the holidays with an annual ugly sweater party. This year with all of my Pinspiration, I wanted to make sure our home was all decked out as well. In addition to plastic candy canes lining the driveway, the pictures of ugly sweaters in our entryway and a hot chocolate bar, I wanted to make an area that we could immortalize our ugly sweaters in a photobooth-type fashion.

Our large windows in our dining room provided the area and some wrapping paper taped together provided the backdrop. First, I measured the width and height of the window, planning on being able to tape the final product on the window frame. Then I placed various pieces of wrapping paper on the floor, attaching them together with blue tape. I took a plain piece of brown paper and wrote "Happy Holidays 2012" at the top so when we took pictures, it said that at the top. The final touch was the bows that taped up after I taped my creation to the window frame.

For the party, we had a camera with a tripod set-up so we could take individual and group pictures. It's definitely something we'll do again for next year's party.

Next year I'll have to challenge myself to find uglier Christmas wrapping paper and make the "Happy Holidays" part a lot bigger.

(Thanks to my model, Schooner, in the photo!)

Week 13: Angry Birds Pumpkin for Halloween

It's been many years since I've carved a pumpkin so I wanted to make sure that the pumpkin my husband and I carved was awesome. Since we're still on an angry birds kick, we decided on that. It was a last minute decision so I pulled up what I could on Pinterest and found a picture with an angry bird outline photoshopped on a pumpkin. Shouldn't be too hard to freehand, I thought. And it wasn't!!

I had this picture displayed on my phone and sketched with a pencil first. Next came the punching to outline cuts and then came the actual cutting. The hardest part was cutting the lines thick enough that we could see light from a candle inside the pumpkin. That's where my husband's expertise came in. I think it turned out pretty well considering it was freehanded. It definitely made me miss carving pumpkins - I'm looking forward to next Halloween!