I love the smell of cinnamon and applesauce ornaments at Christmas time. And a like a little sparkle. So why not put the two togehter?!
I found several basic ornament recipes Continue reading
I love the smell of cinnamon and applesauce ornaments at Christmas time. And a like a little sparkle. So why not put the two togehter?!
I found several basic ornament recipes Continue reading
If you’re anything like me, then you still have Christmas shopping to do. Actually you’ve barely done any shopping thus far, so you’ll have to do it once you get to your final Christmas destination…. and so you may be wondering how you can make your gifts pretty without spending a fortune on new supplies while you’re out of town for the Holidays. Well, I have planned ahead for just this situation, and Continue reading
Happy Monday everyone! Here are a few snapshots of what I’ve been up to….
I’ve had a busy month thus far, and am finally getting around to gift wrapping. Once I got started, the first thing I did was take a good look around the house for items I could reuse. I ended up with some leftover gift boxes and a few empty brie containers. With a little paint and a few embellishments, I completely transformed Continue reading
Good morning! I am excited today is day one of the Coca-Cola Balanced Living Workshop! I’m looking forward to a day jam packed with healthy information! While I’m off learning with other Chicago moms, please enjoy some thank you gift cards I wrapped Continue reading
Happy Friday! I hope everyone had a great week. Today I am making my Christmas gift list, and thinking of some creative diy ideas. While I do that, I wanted to share a few great ones I came across this week. Enjoy!
I love this embellished pencil block spotted on Design Sponge. What a great idea, and a fairly easy diy.
These diy stick horses from A Beautiful Mess Continue reading
These borax crystal snowballs are a fun and festive science experiment, plus they make for beautiful decorations and gift toppers. To make the snowballs you need white craft pom poms in various sizes. Tie one or two pom poms to a string. Continue reading
Last week Sydney and I got messy and had fun with shaving, cream, glitter, and construction paper. Shaving cream can be used for all sorts of fun learning and art with toddlers & preschoolers. We decided to be festive and make some snowmen and snowy scenes. Enjoy! Continue reading
I recently started decorating our buffet, which acts as my mantel since we don’t have a fireplace, and I am excited to add my snowy scene apothecary jars to it! They have a pretty vintage feel, and are super easy and inexpensive to make. I picked up the trees and street lamps from the dollar store, and the fake snow was a couple bucks at the craft store. The apothecary jars are from Home Goods, and were a great deal.
Today Sydney and I have an assembly line of handprint christmas ornaments going. I remember making one when I was a kid, and it still goes up on my mom’s tree every year. Now, we’ll have one to put on our tree every year!
We made a dough using 2 c. flour, 1 c. fine sea salt, and 1 c. water. Mix all ingredients together and knead for about 5 min. Then roll the dough out, about 1/2″ thick, and use a cup or bowl to cut out circles. Continue reading
I am in full force holiday decorating mode over here, and I’m excited to finally put up some garland I made awhile back when Syd and I were working on bowtie pasta hair bows, artwork, and father’s day cards. It’s a super easy project, and even fun for the kids!
You need bowtie pasta, white glue, paint brush, string, and glitter.
First, brush the pasta with glue, giving it a nice thick coat.
Cover the pasta with glitter. Allow to dry, and repeat on the backside.
After your glittered bows have dried completely, simply tie them onto string or yarn.
Repeat with as many bows as you’d like, making sure to secure each one with a double knot.
We also made a red version. These were done the same way, with just one added step. We first dyed the bows red using food coloring and rubbing alcohol. You can find the tutorial for coloring pasta here.
Have fun and get creative with your colors and string. We enjoyed using a red and white striped string, and even mixed the solid red and red glittered bows.
Happy Monday! As we travel back home, enjoy a little Insta-peek into our holiday weekend full of food, family, friends, traditions, nostalgia, and of course… traffic.
And as always you can follow me here on Instagram.
Just in time to add a last min dessert to your Thanksgiving menu, here is the recipe for the Chocolate Whiskey Cream Pie I made for my husbands birthday, which is today. Happy Birthday my love!
The recipe is adapted from one I saw in the latest Donna Hay magazine.
Ingredients:
12 oz crunchy chocolate cookies (I used these, you can also make your own)
1 stick unsalted butter, melted
1 2/3 c. milk
1 c. light cream (18%)
7oz 70% dark chocolate, chopped (I bought 2 3.5oz Lindt bars)
7oz dark chocolate chips
1/3 c. light brown sugar
1/3 c. pure cane sugar, fine ground
1/4 c. cornstarch
1/3c. Jameson Irish Whiskey
4 large egg yolks
2 additional c. light cream (18%)
1/2 c. sour cream
unsweetened cocoa for dusting
Finely crush all cookies. Transfer to a large bowl and slowly pour in melted butter while mixing to incorporate. (You can also use a food processor for this step.) Lightly grease a ceramic pie dish, and press cookie mixture over the bottom and up the sides to create the crust. Refrigerate for at least 30 min.
In a medium saucepan, combine milk, cream, and both chocolates. Cook over medium heat, stirring until mixture just comes to a boil.
In a large bowl, whisk both sugars, cornstarch, egg yolks and whiskey until well combined. Whisk in chocolate mixture. Transfer to a clean saucepan and cook over medium heat whiling continuing to whisk, until mixture comes to a boil. Whisk for an additional 2 min or until thickened. Set aside to cool slightly.
Pour chocolate custard into pie crust, and place back in the fridge for about 3 hours. Shortly before serving, place the additional cream and sour cream in a medium bowl and whisk until soft peaks form. Spoon over pie, and dust with cocoa. This is supposed to serve 8, but I found it to serve 12.
Enjoy!
Happy Monday! I hope everyone had a wonderful weekend. Here’s a little glimpse into what we’ve been up to….
1. I went through 6 boxes last week, I’m so over this cold!
2. Counting gold horses in Sydney’s room
3. Mouse trap!
4. Leftover Chocolate Whiskey Cream Pie… recipe coming soon!
Have a great day! You can follow me on Instagram here
This week I saw lots of diy christmas ornaments, and here are just a few of my favs. Enjoy!
I just adore these cute bell jar ornaments. Genius and easy diy from My So Called Crafty Life. We will for sure be making some!
These little acorns are glitzed up with glitter. You can buy them on Etsy, or just be inspired to make your own! Continue reading
Good Afternoon! Today I finally got around to a project that has been on my list for some time now. Painting a couple of plain old cork coasters. Before they were boring and drab, and now they’re pretty and compliment our table nicely! Here’s how you can make your own: Continue reading
We have been working on making snow flake window clings for about 4 days now, and finally put them up yesterday. Perfect timing since we had our first snow of the season last night! As soon as we noticed the wintry scene outside, my husband and I ran to Sydney’s room to wake her up. We found her already sitting in her window, watching with excitement. It was so sweet!
Happy Monday! We had a fabulous weekend full of relaxing, celebrating, and a little holiday cheer. Here is a glimpse into our weekend via Instagram. Enjoy!
1. Last week my friend and I enjoyed ourselves at the Real Simple Nights in Chicago. She was even the lucky winner of the Real Simple’s Celebrations Book!
2. A sneak peak at some snowflake decorations Sydney and I are working on…
3. Yummy cupcakes from Bake to celebrate the birthday of one of my favorite ladies!
4. Sydney’s baby Christmas tree. She picked out all the ornaments and decorated it herself! It may be too early for the family tree to go up, but it’s never too soon for a baby Christmas tree!
You can follow me on Instagram here