Fabric Wrapped Holiday Letters

I had a blank spot on the wall above my mantle that was super bugging me. The space seemed just right for a little holiday word.

Since I didn't have a holiday word just laying around, I figured I should probably either make one or come to terms with going crazy over the blank spot on the wall.

I have enough crazy, so I decided to make the decoration I needed.

I gathered some yarn and material that would coordinate with the rest of my decorations.

Are you shocked that it is black? It may not scream Merry Christmas, but it totally goes with all my holiday fun, including my Christmas Vintage Book Poster.

I also didn't want to spend the money on blank letters, so I grabbed some left over foam core to make my own.

I printed off my letter, J-O-Y in the font ChunkyRomanFive at 600. Then I cut them out and traced them onto foam core.  I used a exacto knife and cut the letters from the foam core.

I wrapped each letter in either strips of fabric or yarn, held in place with some hot glue.

Now my little holiday letters just had to be hung up and fulfill their destiny above my mantle.

I have intentions of showing you my mantle. I think it is rather quaint and vintagy looking, but alas I just can't get a good picture. So fingers crossed maybe soon.

Brightside Prints: Beautiful Holiday Cards

It is the most wonderful time of the year...

Time to send out Christmas cards!

This year I am super excited about our family Christmas cards for a couple of reasons.

First, we have some pretty legit family photos for the first time in over three years.

Second, the most exciting reason, is that my Christmas cards came from the very awesome shop Brightside Prints.

They have the most beautiful and unique holiday cards. Seriously they are breathtaking. I was about as giddy as giddy can be when they offered to let me choose a card I love and to put my cute family on it for our 2012 Christmas card.

I poured over their website.

Then I poured over it some more.

and suh'more...

There were oh-so-many lovely options.

I mean take a look, here are just a few of my favorites.

Chalkboard Lettering,  Silent Night

 Snowflake Wreath

Elf Says, Believe

I may have said this before, but I had the hardest time choosing.

Ultimately I decided to go with something simple and elegant to showcase off those photos I have been blathering on about.

I love the handwriting font. I love the whimsical snowflakes.

The other thing I love, love, love about these cards is that the awesome holiday-ness (totally just made up my own word) doesn't stop with the front of the card.

They also personalize the back either with text or with MORE pictures (yes I am aware I need help with my family photo obsession).

When I couldn't decide what picture to use for the front, Brightside Prints helped a sister out by collaging up my favorite photos on the back.

The perfectly coordinating text box completed the card.

They were such a delight to work with. They completely catered to me and produced a Christmas card that I couldn't be happier with.

I actually clapped and giggled when I got and opened my stack of family Christmas cards.

They came super fast.

Now all I have to do is address them and send them out to friends and family.

I am probably going to admire them just a bit longer first.

After all this going on about the cards at Brightside Prints, you know you want to go and check out all their lovely cards for yourself.

You have plenty of time to go and drool over their cards and then order up some to send out this holiday season. You will die over the variety, and you will love how great they are to work with.

The GOOD NEWS is that Brightside Prints is giving Just Another Day in Paradise readers 10% of their order. Simply use the code "paradise" and the discount is yours my friends.

I know you will love them...'cause I sure love mine.

Happy Holidays!

Halloween Ghoulie Printables

Happy Halloween everyone.

We are now a good week into October. Only three weeks left until Halloween. AHHHH! Costumes not even close to being done...

Don't think about, just don't think about it.

Currently, our house doesn't even look too spooky or festive or scary or trick-or-treaty. This last week I have had the constant internal conversation with myself,

"To decorate, or not to decorate??"

I don't always decorate for Halloween. GASP.

I know, are you disappointed in me?

I mean I do proclaim to be a DIY, crafty, holiday-lovin' blogger. SO it is quite shocking that I don't decorate for every single ever-lovin' holiday. Shocking indeed.

I have had the intention of decorating this year. I do have a couple of ideas in my head about some simple decorations. However, as of now they are still just ideas knocking around in my head with all the other crazy going on in there.

I may even pull off a mantle decoration by October 30th...we shall see, we shall see.

I have been playing around with an idea for a big graphic print for the mantle. Recently, I was messing around in PicMonkey, taking advantage of all of their awesome Halloween photo editing options.

While I am still working on the print for my mantle,  I veered off what I was doing and started creating these fun, traditional, and ghoulie graphics instead.

They would be really great printed off and framed. They would also be great printed off as posters and hung.

I love the simple fun silhouettes of the traditional Halloween Ghouls. I added their "sound" of choice at the bottom to complete the print. The quintessential green, purple, and orange help add to the Halloween mood.

I also made the individual graphics available in collage style. 

In order to add these to your Halloween decorations, all you have to do is right click on the image and save as a photo on your computer. After you have saved them to your computer simply print them off at your favorite photo place.

Costco and Sam's Club has great prices on printing off photos in poster size.

Happy Halloween Friends!

Valentine's Day Projects

Okay, so disclaimer...this Valentine's Day set up is at our old house. I do have our new house all Love-Day-ed up but, I have yet to have good enough light to take a picture around here. Also, with the hustle and bustle of everything going on around here I haven't added any new decorations...so nothing really new to share with you.

However, I thought I would share with you guys my previous Valentine's Day projects and the links to some of the tutorials. It is crazy to think that some of these tutorials were the very first ones I ever put on the old blog. CRAZY.

Valentine's is a fun and somewhat easy holiday to decorate for. I don't decorate for every holiday, but for some reason I do enjoy Valentine's Day decorating.

Okay so here is my Valentine's Day Past decorating  recap...ENJOY!

FIRST--Here is the tutorial that I did for the L.O.V.E Banner pictured above.

I have sewed a bunch of Valentine's Day Pillows. I used part fabric and part felt. Felt is SO easy to sew with. Pillows are an easy way to add a hint of whatever holiday you are celebrating.

 

Tutorial for Polka-Dot Pillow and XOXO Pillows.

Last year I add this sweet guy to my Valentine's Day decor. I am in love with this Hoot Owl.

Hoo Loves Ya Baby Tutorial

I am also a big believer in decorating with candy...partly because I am a big believer in eating candy...

It is so easy to find glass containers you already have and to simply fill it with cheap red Valentine's Day candy. Boom, instant decorations plus then you have a pretty handy midnight snack.

A decorating post can be found HERE.

Last year I also whipped out this little pennant banner to hang up. Last year I put them on my cabinets in the kitchen. This year they are hanging in front of our living room mantel...again, sorry there are no pictures of that.

I LOVE this wreath. In this new house, wreaths don't stand a chance against the wind. I found that out the hard way at Thanksgiving. So this pretty little wreath is hanging up over the mantel. I do love how it looks on a front door though...hmmm should I give the wind another fight?

Felt Heart Wreath post HERE.

I hope that this post has given you some Valentine's Day inspiration. 

Writing this post has reminded me that all of these decorations have evolved because of our annual Valentine's Day party. However, this is the first year in quite awhile that I am not planning a Valentine's party for my Little Men. I am a little sad, but I am not going to lie, I am not sure where I would fit in the planning and throwing of that party right now. I mostly realize what I am missing are all those Ohio friends who would join in the party with us. Ahhhh the memories!

Happy Valentine's Day decorating!

Dark Chocolate Cookies

Do you still need a delightful cookie recipe for your neighbors? Maybe you are still in need of a yummy cookie to entice Santa to leave you the bestest present ever.

Well friends, these cookies are delightful. They are slightly crispy on the outside but soft and ooey gooey on the inside. They are dark chocolate. They are delightful. They are especially good warm...what cookie isn't?

Plus they are pretty!

Dark Chocolate Cookies 
adapted from Divine Baking


Ingredients:

1 1/2 cups dark chocolate chips (I used Hershey's Special Dark), divided
3 large egg whites, room temp
2 cups powdered sugar, divided plus 1/2 cup for rolling dough in
1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
1 tablespoon cornstarch
1/4 teaspoon salt

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Spray 2 baking sheets with nonstick spray. Melt 1 cup of chocolate chips in a glass container in the microwave for 30 seconds at a time. Stir in between each 30 seconds. Should take between 1 1/2 minutes and 2 minutes. Cool slightly.

Using mixer, beat egg whites with whisk attachment until soft peaks form. Gradually beat in 1 cup of sugar. Continue beating until mixture looks like soft marshmallow cream.

Whisk 1 cup sugar, cocoa, cornstarch, and salt together in a separate bowl. On low speed, mix in the dry ingredients into the wet mixture.

Then stir in warm chocolate and 1/2 cup of chips. The dough will be pretty stiff.

Place 1/2 cup powdered sugar in a bowl. Roll 1 tablespoon of dough into a ball. Roll each ball into the powdered sugar, making sure to cover liberally. Then place each dough ball onto the prepared baking sheet about 2 inches a part from each other.

Baked until puffed and top just starts to crack. This can take anywhere from 8-10 minutes depending on your oven, so make sure to keep your peepers on those cookies. Cool on the cookie sheets for about 10 minutes and then transfer most to a cooling rack...some maybe to your mouth. Just sayin'.

Yummy, yummy!

Happy Holidays!

Candy Cane Num Num Mix

I am almost recovered from last week...almost...

This week I am a flurry of baking, sewing, and getting ready for a houseful of guests.

My handmade gifts are still in the process of being completed...remember how I said I was going to try and get done early so I didn't have to sew the week before Christmas? Ha! Hahaha! Ehem...ha.

Anywho...I have a couple of projects to show you this week. I know I am probably the only person still sewing Christmas presents but I figure if there is anyone out there still looking for a quick present idea you might get it here or hey, with the glory of pinterest you can keep it in your idea file.

I have also been baking over several days in order to compile a plate of delectable goodies to hand out to all our new neighbors. So don't be surprised if I share all of them with you this week too. After all it is never too late to do some holiday eating baking, right?

Today I am sharing a holiday remake of our family favorite Num Num Chex Mix. I know I have gone on and on about our family favorite treat, but it seriously is heavenly! The other day as I was looking for another quick and easy treat to add to our neighbor goody plates and I had a sudden epiphany. Why not add some candy canes and a little peppermint extract to the Num Num Mix?

So I gathered up the ingredients from my pantry and whipped out a batch. The peppermint and candy canes totally dressed up this mix in true holiday fashion.

So if you are looking for a quick and easy treat to make for your friends, family, neighbors, mailman, teacher, or for you...hop on this recipe!

Candy Cane Num Num Mix


Ingredients:


1 box rice Chex cereal
3 sticks of butter (I know GASP...remember you are giving it away/sharing)
1/2 cups sugar
1/2 cups light Karo syrup
1/2-1 teaspoon of peppermint extract (depending on your love of peppermint)
6-7 candy canes, smashed up

First get some little elf in your house to smash up your candy canes. I am pretty sure they will love it as much as my destructive elf did.

Pour the entire cereal box into a large bowl and set aside.

Next you will combine the sugar, syrup, and butter in a large saucepan. Heat over medium high heat until boiling, stirring often. Once it starts boiling, let it boil, stirring constantly, for 3 minutes. After 3 minutes, remove from heat and stir in your extract. It will pop, fizz, and maybe foam a little. Oh and the intense smell of the peppermint might burn your eyes and nose. Don't be scared, just keep stirring. It will all calm down.

Pour the mixture over the cereal in the bowl. Scrap out as much of the mixture as you can using a spatula. Then with a more sturdy spoon, stir the cereal to evenly coat with the syrup mixture.

Once it is evenly coated, pour the cereal out onto two baking sheets. Spread out the cereal. Then sprinkle the crushed candy canes over the top of the cereal.

The cereal will need to be stirred/tossed/moved around every couple of minutes to ensure that as it cools it doesn't stay in large clumps. You can use your hands for this. Just kind of move all the cereal around and break up any big clumps. You want the cereal to stay in small or individual pieces.

Once the mixture has completely cooled you can store in a gallon Ziploc bag or other airtight container. You can package it to give out or keep it on hand for holiday snacking.

Merry Christmas everyone!

Deck the Halls

It is beginning to look a lot like Christmas around here.

I love decorating for Christmas. Even when it is just one room, I love bringing in the cheer and joy of the Christmas season. I love the excitement of the boys just at the mere mention of putting up the tree, let alone actually putting it up. I love the patience of Hubby and the boys as I crazily orchestrate the perfect placement of each ornament.

I even love it when Oldest annoyed declares, "Why do you have to have everything match so much?"


Insert Hubby chuckling under his breath now. 

"Oh son...I just do!"

This year I added in some classic green and a dark blue. Thank you to The Mart for selling cheap ornaments.

I added the new ornaments in with the old red and white ones.

Remember these silhouette ones from last year? I will be making a new one for next year.

The new Christmas look is due to the fact that we can hang our stockings in the main room in this house. These stockings were made by my Grandma. She has made every single stocking in my family. Parents, siblings, and now siblings spouses and each new great-grandchild. They are so classically lovely. My boys LOVE them. Mine is over 30 years old. So great!

My Christmas place mats turned into throw pillows sit cozily on the sofa. A little bling on the lamps carried over from last year too.

I also added a strip of gingham fabric for a runner on our coffee table. Then I added our stack of Christmas books. Our boys get a new one every Christmas Eve morning. It's Christmas, David! was our book last year. Pretty sure it describes our boys exactly!

I added my new Cone Christmas trees into the adjoining kitchen.

I have a couple of other projects, but I am not stressing if they do not get done this year. I do not want to spend my whole Christmas season sitting at a sewing machine...

When it is so much better to have a cup of hot chocolate in my hands, snuggling next to Hubby sitting here...

Seriously I just love this time of year. Merry Christmas!