Easy Lighted Garland

December 19, 2012 by 2 Comments
Easy Lighted Garland made with felt strips and Christmas lights

This adorable and easy lighted garland is quick to make and beautiful to hang.  The lighted garland uses a simple strand of lights and strips of fleece to create a cozy garland perfect for your mantle, staircase or tree. I saw this garland on my friend Wendy's blog, Wendy's Hat and I fell in love!  I had been eyeing her Christmas wreath made with fleece strips but when I saw the garland, I knew I had to make it.   I have a banister that runs up my staircase and it was feeling a little lonely without any Christmas decorations and I knew that this lighted garland would be perfect for it.  I was thinking of doing a red and green garland, but then I dug through my fabric stash and found a small strip of ivory fleece.   So that was that! I found lights on white cords at Target for $2.49 and picked up another 1/2 yard of ivory fleece. I began by using my Christmas gift from my husband - a brand new rotary cutter and board! It's my first rotary cutter and I love it!  I cut my ... [read more]

Filed Under: Christmas, Crafts, Uncategorized Tagged With: , , ,

Nutella Banana Bread

December 18, 2012 by 3 Comments
Nutella Banana Bread

Nutella and Banana bread? I was a bit skeptical, but oh my goodness -- this is amazing!  This simple quick recipe takes only a few minutes to whip together and makes amazing gifts for friends and family.   Every year for the past six years, a group of friends of mine has gotten together for a cookie exchange in early December.  I usually bring a sweet treat. Last year I made some chocolate dipped pretzels but this year I packaged up some Slow Cooker Chex Mix for something different. One of my friends, Kim, always brings mini-loaves of banana bread (<-- that's her recipe!).   She makes the best banana bread!  This year she told she was going to bring Nutella Banana Bread.  I pretty much dismissed the idea because it just didn't sound good to me. I like Nutella and I like banana bread, but together?  No thanks!  Then Kim texted me that this was the best banana bread she'd ever made.  I still had my doubts ... until I tasted the Nutella Banana Bread. This bread is ... [read more]

Filed Under: Bread, Christmas, Recipe, Uncategorized Tagged With: , , ,

Homemade Clay Christmas Ornaments: Star Wars Style #ChooseSmart

December 13, 2012 by 11 Comments
Homemade Star Wars Christmas Ornaments

Homemade Christmas ornaments are a fun family activity that kids love!  Just a few basic ingredients are combined to make a homemade clay that is then rolled out, cut and baked.  Decorate the way you like for personal homemade Christmas ornaments. I love homemade Christmas ornaments!  In fact, we put up two trees every year - one for the kids to decorate with our family ornament collection and one for me to decorate with my handmade treasures.  I especially love making dough ornaments with kids and then letting them go crazy with the paint and glitter. Over the years we've made several different kinds of dough ornaments including salt dough and applesauce cinnamon dough.  Recently I ran across a new kind of dough ornament that used corn starch and baking powder. I really liked how smooth and white the ornaments turned out. I wanted to make sure to have a large amount of ingredients on hand because once I pull out the paint and glitter glue, the kids want to make ... [read more]

Filed Under: Christmas, Crafts, Homemaking, Uncategorized Tagged With: , , , , ,

Handmade Christmas: Knit Christmas Ornaments

December 11, 2012 by Leave a Comment
Knit Christmas Tree Ornament

I love to make knitted Christmas ornaments with leftover yarn from other projects.  This knit mini Santa hat and knit Christmas tree ornament are quick and easy to make.  The knitted Christmas ornaments can also be used to add a personal touch Christmas gift wrapping. Every year my friend hosts a Christmas Ornament Exchange party just a few days before Christmas.  A few years ago I decided to knit an ornament instead of buying one and I've been making them ever since!  Knitted Christmas ornaments are great ways to use up bits and pieces of yarn. Everyone loves receiving them and they make beautiful decorations on gifts. I used this mini Santa hat ornament pattern to make this little guy.  It's one of my favorites.  Just use whatever red and white yarn scraps you have and any size needle.  Or you could make different colored ones, too!   I really love this knit Christmas tree ornament pattern with all the sequins on it! You could use beads or any other ... [read more]

Filed Under: Christmas, Crafts, Knitting, Uncategorized

Chocolate Mint Brownies

December 3, 2012 by 10 Comments
Chocolate Mint Brownies

Chocolate mint brownies are a decadent treat anytime of year, but I particularly love them during the holiday season.  A layer of cake brownies is topped with a mint cream layer.  After a brief chill in the refrigerator, the entire dessert is covered in chocolate for a truly delicious dessert. Chocolate and mint is one of those classic combinations that is always a big hit.  Well, unless your husband doesn't like mint and then you have to eat the entire pan yourself. Yeah, it's tough.  Chocolate mint brownies are my classic holiday treat and I pretty much only make one pan a year around Christmas.  This dessert is super decadent a small piece goes a long way so go ahead and cut this in to a lot of tiny pieces to make it go a long way. There are a few steps involved in this recipe, but nothing hard.  Just plan ahead to allow time for the brownie layer to cool and chilling the other layers in the fridge.   You can make the mint cream filling while the brownies are baking and ... [read more]

Filed Under: Christmas, Desserts, Recipe Tagged With: , , , ,
«Older Posts