Showing posts with label Christmas. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Christmas. Show all posts

Wednesday, December 21, 2011

12 Projects of Christmas: Window Decoration

I love to decorate for Christmas. I love the colors, the lights, and all the beautiful ways you can dress up your home! We do our house in mostly red and gold, which you can see in our tree:


Normally, we just hang garland and lights in the windows, but this year I wanted something a little more.  I'd had an idea for this for a while, but the 12 Projects of Christmas finally gave me a reason to sit down and make it.  I have to say, it turned out beautifully (the picture doesn't do it justice--it looks so beautiful at night with the lights around it!) and I'm loving the look of it.


First, lets get our materials:


2 styles of Christmas balls
1 1/2" thick wired ribbon
Hot glue gun (not pictured)
Scissors (not pictured)

You're also going to need a window.  Here's mine!


I love the garland and lights, but I felt like it needed something else.


Start by determining how many pieces or ribbon you would want to hang across the window.  I decided 5 was a good number.  I didn't want them all hanging the same length, so I cut each one a little shorter than the last.

Then I arranged them so they varied a little--didn't want them hanging all in order!  Gotta mix it up a little! :)


Then, I laid out the Christmas balls.  See how the ribbon lengths and ball styles are varied?

Now it's time to make the bows!


Cut 5 pieces of ribbon about 12 inches long each.  Then cut 5 more pieces of ribbon about 3 inches long each.

Take one of the 12-inch ribbons and fold it into thirds.  You want it to look like an untied bow (see my pic)


Next, take one of the 3-inch ribbons and wrap it around the middle of the folded 12-inch ribbon.


Twist the 3-inch ribbon ends around the back of the folded 12-inch ribbon so it creates a bow shape with the tied part in the back.  Fluff your bow up a bit, until it looks how you want.  


Then, thread the ends of the 3-inch ribbon through the look on the ball and twist to secure it.  Turn it around and play with the ribbon until it looks how you want it to.  This is exactly why you need wired ribbon.


Use the hot glue gun to attach one ball to the end of each ribbon strip.
Here are mine!  Don't they look lovely!  :)


Cut a long piece of ribbon that will span the length of your window with a couple inches extra on each side.  Lay it out across the top of your ribbon strips and space out your ribbon strips so they are all equally spaced across the long ribbon.  The long ribbon is what will hang with the garland across the top of the window.  Use the hot glue gun to attach the non-ball end of the ribbons to the window-length ribbon.

Once it's completely set, you can hang it up across your window with the garland!


I love the look that this adds to the window--whimsical and fun, yet classic!

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xoxo, Melissa

Sunday, December 11, 2011

12 Projects of Christmas: Button Tree Pillow

You know what really gets me out of the Christmas spirit? Computer viruses. On the 11th day of Christmas, my husband gave to me: a computer that's (almost) virus free! After spending most of the day trying to get the viruses and malware off my computer, I'm almost cleaned up. But I made him take a break and let me upload 2 projects because I'm slacking!

The first project I'm posting is my button tree pillow. This turned out super cute, although I think if I make it again I'll get more buttons and make my tree a little larger, or make multiple trees. But for my first version, I have to say--I LOVE how cute this turned out!! It was so simple, and it took me less than 30 minutes to make.


Look at how stinkin' cute this is!

Okay, time to get our materials:


Misc. sizes/shades of green buttons (I used about 30 to make my tree)
Very small multicolored buttons
Identical brown buttons to create the trunk (I used 4)
Yellow button for the star on the tree
1/2 yard of material for pillow case
No-Sew
Hot glue gun
Iron and ironing board (not pictured)


You need to start by determining how large of a pillow case you will make.  I laid my pillow onto the material while the material was still folded (the way you get it from the store when you purchase it off the bolt).  I left about a 2 to 2 1/2 inch border around the edges to account for the hem and for actually being filled by the pillow.


 Next, I turned the material inside out and used No-Sew to "sew" 3 of the edges of the material together (including the side that is folded).


On the final edge (the non-"sewed" one) I turned down about an inch and No-Sewed around the edge to create a finished hem.  I don't want to permanently keep the pillow inside so I wanted a nice hem on my pillow case.


Once your pillow case is done, you want to turn it right-side-out and go over it quickly with the iron.  Then fold the pillowcase in half length-wise (or hot-dog style as my preschoolers call it!) and crease it with your fingers.  You don't want to iron the crease in, but you'll want it as a reference to the middle of the pillowcase for laying out your button tree.  Now that you have the middle, lay out your buttons to create the tree shape.


After you have the general layout of the tree, use your glue gun to attach your green tree buttons and your brown trunk buttons.  



Then you can use your glue gun to attach your small multicolored buttons to create lights on your tree, and attach your yellow button as the star at the top.


Here's my pillow completed.  Please ignore the wrinkles in the pillow case--I was in a hurry to iron it!  I love how simple and festive this pillow case is, and I want to make a couple more, especially with how unattractive our couch pillows are!

Cost breakdown:
Material:  $3
No-Sew:  Had it
Buttons:  $7


Total cost:  $10
Not too bad for a super cute pillow case!

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xoxo, Melissa

Saturday, December 3, 2011

12 Projects of Christmas: Holiday Rolls

I don't know about you, but one of my favorite parts of the holidays is the food.  Not just the yummy desserts (well hello there, Christmas cookies...) but all the food in general: mashed potatoes, Mom's green bean casserole, turkeys and hams, all of it!  My favorites are usually the ones high in carbs--which is definitely no bueno for my waistline.  But here's my excuse:  if it's only one small period each year, then it's okay to indulge a little, right?  :)

Today's project is one of my favorite parts of the meal--the rolls!  I know, I know...with all the other delicious food, why in the world do I go for the rolls?  Maybe it's the carbs, or the fact, that it's a total comfort food for me, or maybe it's just because I can't resist a warm roll or piece of bread straight out of the oven.  But either way, I look forward to a warm gooey piece at the beginning of each meal.  So here's one of my favorite recipes.  I do mine in the breadmaker because I have no patience for the kneading and rising, but this can be done the traditional way, too.

First, the ingredients:

1 1/4c of milk
1/2c sugar
1 1/2tsp of salt
4Tbs butter
1/4c warm water
4 1/2c bread flour
1 packet (or 2 1/4tsp) active dry yeast
1 egg (not shown)


Whether you're doing this in a breadmaker or not, the first step is to make our warm milk mixture.  Over medium heat, warm your milk until it gets a skin on the top that wrinkles when you wiggle the pan.  Don't boil the milk, though!!  Add the butter, sugar, and salt, turn off the heat, and stir until it's all dissolved.


Set it aside until it's cooled to lukewarm.
Breadmaker: Put the warm water and lukewarm milk mixture in the bottom of your breadmaker inner chamber, then add all of the flour, and finally put the yeast on top.  Set your breadmaker to the DOUGH setting (you don't want to bake it in the breadmaker, just let it mix, knead, and rise in there)



Traditional: Combine lukewarm milk mix and warm water in a large mixing bowl and stir in about 4 cups of the flour to begin your dough.  Put the remaining flour on the board and knead it into the dough.  You should knead until the dough looks like satin--if it's a little too sticky, you can knead more flour into the dough about 1Tbl at a time, but don't add too much flour or your dough will break and not stick to itself.  When it's ready, put back in the mixing bowl, cover with a damp cloth and let rise in a warm place (I like to use the stovetop oven vent while it preheats) until it doubles--usually 45-50 minutes.

Turn out onto floured countertop.  If you are doing this in a breadmaker, do not punch the dough down.  If you are doing it traditionally, punch the dough down slightly, but not so that it's flat.


One recipe will make about 20 rolls, so divide your dough into 20 pieces.  I do this by cutting the main dough ball in half, then halving each section until I have 20 equal-sized pieces.

Take each piece and roll until each one is about a 7 inch snake.  Take each snake and tie a knot in the middle of the dough, then fold the extra ends over itself and tie in a second not.  Place each dough knot in a lightly greased muffin tin cup.


Bake for 10 minutes at 350*, then brush the top of each with an eggwash (1 egg and about 2Tbls of water whisked together) and bake for another 10-12 minutes.  The tops should be shiny, golden yellow/brown.


These rolls are slightly sweet and very dense, but so delicious!  They go great with my homemade apple butter :)  Hope these bring a new flavor to your holiday meals and that your family enjoys them (carb-load and all! haha)

Happy holidays!
xoxo, Melissa

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Thursday, December 1, 2011

12 Projects of Christmas: Joy Door Decoration

It's December 1st!  You know what that means... Christmas music playing in the kitchen while I bake cookies for our first holiday party this weekend!  I'm so excited for the holiday season, I seriously could barely control myself today--I got 3 of the 12 Projects of Christmas done today.  No joke!  Which is honestly kind of a good thing because we've got a very busy weekend ahead--including driving halfway home to meet my dad so he can give me our Christmas tree and ornaments.  Somehow I managed to grab the box with the branches and stand, but not the box with the pole and the ornaments...oops.

So here's the first of the 12 Projects of Christmas!
I'm really excited about this one.  I came up with the idea while walking around Hobby Lobby (easily my favorite store ever) and not being able to find a door decoration that I loved.  In their defense, the selection was pretty picked-over after the big 50%-off sale.  So I decided to come up with a plan to make my own, and it turned out absolutely beautifully!



"Why not a wreath?" you ask?  Well, we have a wreath that hangs on the wall in the livingroom that I love and want to see more than just when I'm coming and going from the apartment.  But mainly because our peephole is placed in just the spot where it will be covered by a wreath hanger no matter what I try...boo stupid apartment building.

So anyway, here is the tutorial for my Joy Door Decoration (ps. You can use any word, but JOY is perfect for the holidays and isn't so big that it overpowers the door or the decoration.  Feel free to use any word you like.)

First grab your materials:
2 complimentary colors of paint (I used the red and gold that matches our house and our Christmas tree)
1 1/2" wide ribbon in a complimentary color
20 inches of garland (I cut mine off of a 7' piece that was too long to use around our window)
4" wooden letters
Glue gun (not pictured)

Start by painting your letters.  I used 2 coats of the red paint as the base color...



and used the gold paint to do a faux plaid.  Please don't judge how unstraight my lines are--I know I need some practice, but you get the idea :)


Next, cut 3 strips of ribbon, 15 inches each.  The letters won't hang 15 inches down, don't worry--you need that extra length later on.  Use the hot glue gun to attached one of each strip to the back of each letter.



Once the glue is dry, space out your ribbons about 3 inches apart from each other and tie them on to the garland's main wire.  Make sure to leave about a 4 inch tail.


Next, cut 3 more pieces of ribbon, about 12" each.  Fold the ribbon to create a "faux bow" like you see in the picture.  You don't want to actually tie it, just fold it over.


Next, lay your faux bow on top of the knot where you tied the letter ribbon onto the garland.


Fold the extra tail of the ribbon over the faux bow (see, told you you'd need that extra!)


And tie the tail to the main part of the letter ribbon.


Repeat the faux bow with all three letters.  It should look like this:


Next, cut a small piece of ribbon (about 3 inches) and create a loop, then hot glue it to the back of the garland where the middle letter is tied.  This will give you a way to hang it.


Here's the final project, all hung up on our (ugly) apartment door!


I know it looks like the "Y" is hanging lower, but I think that's because I was on the stairs looking up at an angle.  When you look at it head on, all the letters hang evenly, but you can play around with bending the garland and the length of the ribbon to make it work for you.

Here's the money breakdown:
Garland: (already had it)
Ribbon: $2
Letters: $3 ($1/each)
Paint: (already had)

Total cost: $5 (this will be more if you need to purchase the garland or the paint, of course)

I also recommend if you're going to hang it outside to spray the letters with a sealant to make sure it doesn't get any weather damage.

Happy Holidays!  Stay tuned for 11 more Christmas projects to come!  :)

xoxo, Melissa

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Tuesday, November 29, 2011

12 Projects of Christmas!

Hi friends!

Gosh, I can't believe it's almost December!  Where has this year gone?  I'm excited, though--I LOVE Christmas!  The decorations, the baking, the music, getting together with family and friends, and of course I love to give gifts to those I love.  This year, with the economy being so tight, I've decided to go more of the homemade route for gifting, which got me thinking...

What can I do on my blog to promote all the goodies I"m going to be showcasing and tutorialing?
::lightbulb::
This year will be the first annual 
"12 Projects of Christmas"!



Between December 1 and December 24, I will feature 12 different projects that are Christmas/Winter-themed.  Some might be decorations for the house, some might be for gifts, and some might be for plain, ol' delicious Christmas cookies.  In theory, I'll post 1 project every other day, but let's be honest---there might be one day with 3 projects and a few days with none, but I'm going to be as consistent as possible.

I'm really excited!  A good friend of mine commissioned me to do a big project for her boyfriend's present, so that'll be a big project on here, plus I have a few more up my sleeves...so excited!

Please make sure to click the little blue "join this site" button on the side so you can get all the wonderful projects between now and Christmas (and feel free to Pin any project you see!)

Happy Holidays and Merry Christmas (okay, I know...still a little early...c'mon, I'm gettin' excited here!) :)

Monday, December 27, 2010

Christmas

Well, Christmas was simply perfect this year. H came home and stayed at my parents' house and got to experience all of our Christmas traditions. We went to church Christmas Eve to hear Mindy and my mom sing in the choir, opened presents together Christmas morning, and spend a lot of quality family time together. Christmas day we went to H's mom's house to do presents with her and have dinner. It was a wonderful Christmas-- there was snow, traditions, and family time! My sister didn't go into labor like we'd hoped, but there's still time before New Years! All in all, probably one of the best Christmases I've had.

Got some pretty sweet stuff, too. Mom and Dad got us new knives, a hand mixer, and a rolling pin for our kitchen, among a bunch of other stuff. Mindy got H a wine kit and got me a bunch of cute decorative stuff for the apartment, H's mom got us some body products (Olay for me and Axe for him) and gift cards, and my best friend and her boyfriend got us amazing candles from Bath and Body Works for the apartment. Christmas is definitely not about the gifts for us, but I LOVE to see people's faces when they open the presents that I got them! :) It just makes me happy to see people enjoy what I get for them. Hahaha it's one of my favorite parts of Christmas get-togethers!

So now I get to enjoy having no work all week. Thank gosh, too, because I desperately needed a break. This year is so incredibly overwhelming with work and all the "experiences" I'm having there, and we're only halfway through with it. I thought I was desperate for summer vacation when I was a student, but being a teacher and craving summer vacation is way more intense!!! So tonight I'm enjoying staying up late on a Monday night since I don't have to be up tomorrow. I just have this horrible feeling that this week is going to go by way too fast, though.

Less than 100 teaching days left this year!
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Monday, December 13, 2010

Snow day!

Presents all wrapped and under the tree!


Got my first official teacher snowday today, so I spent it wrapping the last of the presents and making cookies (those pics will be posted in a bit). Now if only it could blizzards for just ONE more day...!

Saturday, December 4, 2010

Christmas shopping...

is done 3 weeks before Christmas! Here's hoping it all ships in time for Christmas!
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Christmas Prepping!

Spent the day doing Christmas prep: buying gifts, wrapping presents, and making/decorating cookies! It was perfect :)

Making cookies

Being silly while we decorate  :) (He makes me smile)

Decorated cookies!

Presents!  Love my penguin wrapping paper

Our family Christmas picture <3

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