My Peppermint Concoctions...and a little card I designed.

 I have a secret....I am NOT a baker.  I have tried, and really wish I was, but I burn the easiest cookies.  It is actually a blessing during the rest of the year because  this girl loves to EAT bake goods!  Anyway, this time of year makes me uber stressed, b/c I think I SHOULD bake, but it always turns into a disaster....disappointment, and a mad dash to the store!  You see I am not a rule follower, and for those that know how to bake, know it is a science and you MUST follow the rules.  Oh, and baking takes planning, and I am not really good at that either!

Sooooooo, instead of my dreams of baked goods filling up my kitchen during the holidays. I resort to the old standby of peppermint bark.  I twisted the recipe up a bit and made some fun peppermint treats for neighbors, friends, and family.  (as you could see from my last post, I had an abundance of peppermints, candycanes, etc.)  So this is what I did this afternoon, for an Christmas Neighborhood Playdate....  Nothing like a little bit of last minute!

Easy Peasy Peppermint Bark.
A package (or 2 or 3 or 5) of White Chocolate Melted
crushed Peppermint
Spread on a sheet pan, pop in the freezer.

Variations on the Ol' Standby

Dip these in a bit of white chocolate...or dark, or green, blue would have been pretty too!

Dip the melt in your mouth mints in green chocolate....

what to do with left over green chocolate....DRIZZLE of course!

Cellophane bags
twine

Voila!

Merry Christmas to All!

nothing like a candy bar by the front door:)

Sorry for the lack of posting this week...I am "IN" the holidays and enjoying my family and friends....and all of the Holiday music that comes with it.  Hard Candy Christmas is one of my favorite songs...I love a good Dolly Parton tune.  So when we had our Christmas Party on Saturday (did I mention that??) We (my husband and I and my Best Friend and her sister) had a big Oyster Roast/Cocktail Party!  It was a ton of fun.  One of the things that we did for the shindig was to have a Candy Bar at the front door.  When everyone departed they could fill little celophane bags (or their pockets) with candy canes and chocolate.  I have enjoyed having it at the front door for the past few days...it came in handy when the carolers stopped by to "wish us a Merry Christmas" and for the neighbors that have dropped in.  I have now proclaimed that this is now a tradition (I tend to do lots of tradition proclamations around this time of year:)...maybe if I SEE all of the candy and chocolate in plain site it will keep me from eating it (it is a theory anyway:)

(As I write this, my daughter is saying she wants something "christmassy" for breakfast ie. candy... that it is the only thing that "gets her in the spirit".)  Does yogurt with candy on top count as a good breakfast???...

Tis the season:)

My posting is going to be spotty over the next week, I am just enjoying my family (school vacation is awesome, we slept in the past 2 days!)


PS...I am joining in a linky party today for Christmas Decor over at Cottage and Vine...there is lots of Great Christmas Eye Candy over there:)


Merry Christmas Everyone:)

My version of the fabric coverd ornament. (actually it is Martha's, but with my twist)

 One day last week, a friend of mine mentioned she saw "that guy" that you went shopping with in Charlotte on HGTV, decorating Kathy Lee Gifford's home for the holidays.   "that Guy" just might be "THE EDDIE ROSS!" I said!"  Anyway, she started talking about the Fabric covered balls that he did with Plaid shirts.



I have created these ornaments before, and now that my color scheme has changed in the new house, they were due for an update.  (the rusty red, and gold weren't going to cut it!)  My version is slightly different.  But has a similar effect.  Mine might be a little bit more taylored, but I love the way his turned out as well.  It actually would be nice to mix the two techniques.  I had learned mine years ago, from this tutorial by Martha Stewart how to create them.

So, I decided to update my ornaments.  My friend brought her kids over, and while all the kids created salt dough ornaments, out of dough that wasn't made correctly...woops:) (for another post) we created our fabric covered ornaments.  (muli-tasking at its best!)  AND everyone was happy!

The Materials for this project are simple.

2 or 3 inch styrofoam balls.  (I actually had a few of the 3 inch lying around)

6 strips of fabric cut on the bias, using this template.  I like to use dupioni silk and cotton.


The directions are simple.

1) Stretch your first piece of fabric from the top to the bottom (since it is cut on the bias it lays flat) Securing with your push pins. Continue around the ball until fully covered.

2) Then cut 6 pieces of ribbon and/or trim to cover the raw edges.

3) the top and bottom will be covered with pins, so it is nice to cover it up with some sort of embellishment.  I created a small bow with a vintage button attached and then looped a piece of ribbon around it to hang.  Martha has all sorts of other ideas from pretty pins to tassels.  OR if you just plan to put stack them in a decorative dish, just try to hide the imperfections:)




There you have it, really pretty ornaments.  I had fun updating my old ones and my friend used the Eddie version with scraps of fabric she had of clothes she had sewed for her 3 girls (very talented girl!)

We were joking that not only does she feel a little closer to Eddie, she feels a little closer to Martha, thru Eddie, thru me...Oh and to Kathy Lee.  You know 6 degrees of seperation:)

(and if my tutorial wasn't clear enough, I am sure that Martha's will be:)

Happy Monday!

looks real doesn't it...????

Yesterday I set out to finish my wreaths...I finished my front door with REAL boxwoods....and then moved onto the window wreaths.

After the first one, it was becoming incredibly apparent that I was a) not going to have enough boxwoods b) that it was going to take forever c) that they were probably going to die before Christsmas...sooooooo, I went back to the drawing board.  I really absolutely, do not care for the Faux wreaths on the front of the house, it just isn't my style...what to do? What to do?  Well, I hit the internet of course and came across an idea....from the Suzie Harris Blog.    They seemed real looking without feeling "faux". And off to Hobby Lobby I went...

Her tutorial  became the basis for my wreath, with a little tweaking.  I pulled all of the stems off, and put more around the sides of the wreath....just depends on the look you are going for.

Materials:
14" Grapevine Wreath (3.99)
1 1/2 Faux Boxwood branches (7.99 (3.99 each 50% off )
Total for project: @$8.00 ($40 for 5 wreaths)
(Way less expensive than the other faux wreaths, and WAY better looking!)

a VERY "real" looking wreath that I can use year after year.  And it only cost @ 9.00 for each wreath! WOOT!

Off to finish the other 4...and my dear Husband will be hanging them outside this weekend...I will be sure to show you all the finished product!

Happy Friday..with lots of holiday decorating in my future!

via Eddie Ross...he moved yesterday so I thought it was a good starting point.

 So yesterday, my post got deleted by my husband...he didn't mean to, but still!!!!!...it was my "It's Official" post because it was December 1...well now it is December 2 and I guess it is just one day more "official" than it was before.   So I am going to try to recreate what I had written...

via southern living

via Cottage and Vine

I am the kind of person that really can't get into Christmas until the Calendar turns to December....well now I am IN it....knee deep in boxwood cuttings for my wreaths and ribbon...I went on shopping spree at Hobby Lobby everything was 50% off!  If I don't use the ribbon this year...weeeelll there is always next year, right?  You see, this year I am going to put wreaths on my windows, something I have always wanted to do.  I think I will put most on the outside front, but there is a part of me that wants them inside too.

via country living

via country living (isn't that pinecone topiary nice...)

via country living (I like the idea of a wreath NOT on a window)

via coastal living (Do you decorate your bedroom?)

via Sunshine and Wine (just so pretty)

source unknown  (I could eat here)

Since this is our first Christmas in this home, it is really exciting to see what it will look like all prettied up for the holidays....I have ideas... BIG ideas....HUGE ideas....now if I could just get my fingers to work faster....

which brings me to this question...Do you prefer Artificial vs. Real for exterior wreaths??? There is a part of me that is thinking I will just make my front door wreath out of real cuttings,(which is the tradition in our family) and then buy the others.  Why do I always feel I must make everything with my own hands????  Or maybe I will buy artificial cuttings and make my own artificial wreaths...that might be the ticket.


Now if we could only agree on where to put the tree.......hmmmm for another post I suppose.

Happy 2nd day of December!