Christmas Golden Book Album

I made this golden book album for a friend of mine.  I did a full video on youtube walking through the whole thing.  You can find it here.  

 I borrowed the photos of her boys sitting with Santa for the last 16 years and made pages with tags she can write on embedded in an book I cut off the binding and rebound after decorating.

 She loves vintage things too, so I think this should be a hit!

Yes, I know it's August, but Christmas is always in season....just go to any craft store right now and you will see.  ;o)   I saw a onsie kind of like this a few years ago.  If you have a Cricut or some sort of cutting machine, you can use a reindeer die cut, but you can also just print off a reindeer outline online and use it to cut the shape out of iron on vinyl the old fashion way....scissors.

 I found this vinyl with sparkles at Hobby Lobby.  I used a coupon, so it was about 8 dollars for four sheets, which is more than I usually would spent, BUT....I can get two deer out of it, and then I'll definitely find a use for the other pieces.

 I cut out the shape of the deer, and used the shape to cut out a circle for the nose.

 You put it on your shirt/onsie and then put a towel over it and press down with a heated iron to adhere it.

A deer that sparkles....be still my heart!

Last Minute Christmas Dinner Ideas

 Last year, the Texas family was blessed with some little California visitors under the age of five.  I knew they'd enjoy a few extra details on the table to keep things merry.  For Christmas even I filled mini stockings I grabbed at Hobby Lobby with napkins, silverware, and Santa Chocolates.  It was a big enough crowd that I had to pull out the long tables formerly used for crafts, and the fancy plastic table clothes.

 I was exhausted by the time Christmas rolled around, so I bought some cupcakes from Gigi's.  THESE were a huge hit.

 Maybe someday I'll try my hand at piping this, but....for this year....I'm glad someone else did the work.  Worth.  Every.  Penny.  These also doubled as my breakfast on Christmas morning.

 And then I put together a little hot chocolate bar.  Instead of marshmallows, I snagged some reindeer peeps....and some of my favorite accessories-whipped cream, chocolate mints, and some Santa straws (from the dollar store) and these little deer cups (from Meri Meri).

Reindeer Noses

 I made these last year for some of my friends who like cake balls.  I decided the egg carton was the perfect deliver system for my reindeer noses.  There are 12 holes, and everybody knows there are only 9 reindeer, so I filled the other holes with bells.  I could have looked for some cute reindeer candy or don't some Santa belly cake balls, but I was iced in on the days I put these together, so....I'm pleased with this. I made cake balls using these simple instructions.  I did 8 chocolate with chocolate, and one red.  Simple and super fun.

Reindeer Gift Pack

 I have been super obsessed with themed Christmas gifts for my friend's kiddos.  I mail them out, and with so many aunts and uncles present on Christmas day, I've been sending packages the kids can open in advance to enjoy throughout the holidays.  A few years ago I did the twelve days of Christmas, which was a hit.  Last year I did themes like the above gift-reindeers.  I included shirts, a few of my favorite books, movies, and lots of goodies like blinking noses, reindeer food, antlers, and make your own nose.

 I made reindeer food a few years ago and blogged about it here.  I found a free printable on Amanda's blog when I made it this year.
I blogged about the shirt and reindeer nose with free printables/sources etc a few days ago.

I've already mailed off this year's themed gifts I'll blog about in the future.  It may be more fun for me as the giver than the gift-ed.  

Reindeer Shirt

 I put together a whole reindeer games gift set for my friend's little boys last year.  More on that soon.  Here is the shirt I put together.  I googled a bunch of shirts and created some pieces.  You can download those for free here.  I used the double sided magic sizing.  The instructions are on the package.  Basically, you cut the same shapes out, pull one paper off the back, press it stick side to the back of the fabric.  Iron.

 Peel off the other side of the paper and press the sticky side to your shirt.  Iron again.

 I could only find one of the sizes in brown, so I bought some dye and dyed a white shirt.  In the future, I'd probably grab all white and dye them all so there wasn't so much variation, but the kiddos are still working on their alphabet, there are a few years yet before they are critical about the shades of brown in my projects.

Reindeer Noses

I put together a reindeer themed gift box last year for one of my friend's little boys.  I had a few glow bracelets left over from Halloween, and saw the idea for making a Rudolph nose on alittlelearnings blog.  I knew it was the perfect addition.  She had a printable that explains how to,  slip the glow stick into the balloon.  I used the original case the bracelet came in to slip the balloon and instructions in/on.  Super easy and fun.  :O)

Packaging for Edible Presents

 I'm headed to Good Morning, Texas on Monday morning.  I'll be doing two live segments, so here is half of one of those...the outer layer at least...with a few more ideas I'll share on the show along with the insides.  I'm using a bunch of things you'd normally toss to deliver edible gifts this year...I'll be sharing those edible gifts after the segment.  I'll link up that video to facebook on Monday.  Both.  I'm also doing a post tape for a show to run on Thursday.
First up, my friend Kelly shared this idea with me.  You can fill these little cardboard canisters with cookies and then wrap the outside.  It's the perfect size to slip cookies inside.  Subtract the bow, adding some mailing tape and a label and you can mail these through the mail in the can as well-fun!

 Next up, one of my favorite things-filling egg cartons with mini muffins, or in this case...cake balls.  There will be a theme...more to come soon, but here is the outside.

 Last, I made some wax paper a few years ago via a tutorial I had seen (all linked here).  I decided I could use this same concept to create Christmas themed wax paper.  Gingerbread men!

 I cut out the shape of gingerbread men out of tissue paper.  I just found a template online for the outline.

 Scatter them around a piece of wax paper.

 Cover the wax paper with a second sheet of wax paper.

 Use a heated iron and slide it all around the paper it makes them stick together.  I did several shapes.

 I wrap up bread for a fun and (practically) free delivery.

Now....I'm off to make the innards for these packages!  

Christmas Photo Props

 I'm putting together quite a few crafts for a few segments coming up on GMT.  So many that I'll be posting a lot more than usual (and usual is at least five times a week) to get them all up with tutorials etc.  This project is a little extra something I put together.  Photo props are super popular right now at Christmas parties, so I decided to put together a few of my own for some fun photo opportunities for upcoming Christmas parties.  I saw some items like this for sale and I thought....uh....I'm pretty sure I can make that.  There aren't many things I can say I do well without a lot of practice, but I've always loved cutting randoms shapes with a pair of scissors.  I cut these shapes out and hot glued them to bamboo sticks to be used a photo booth.

 Mix and match.  And...I made a template to cut your own if you to want to have fun with photos at your Christmas party.  You can download them for free here.

Photos to follow soon.  

Reindeer: Mail Rudolf's Nose

This is a super easy idea I adapted from the 3,245 versions floating around the net.  I found some little red candies (pretzel M&M's in this case), slipped them inside one of these tubes (they sell them on Etsy) and mailed them off to some of my favorite little munckins as little Christmas surprises.  Who doesn't want a jar of rudolf noses?  It would be cut with all brown and 1 red as well, but.....I'll save that for next year.  I fixed the address to the front, and stamps along the back, and added some additional tape to the lid to hold it into place as Rudolf's noses make their journey west. 

Reindeer Noses

 I know this isn't rocket science, and this is all over the net right now, but this little idea has launched a whole series of plans for next year's blogging 'week of's.'  I was able to find all the fixing for my bags o' reindeer noses in the loose candy bins as some of the local grocery stores (Sprouts/Central Market).  Whoppers would also work along with a red gumball.  Pretty easy little goodies to pass out to the little ones this year.  Already planning a whole series of fun gifts for next year along this same line.  :O) 

Reindeer: Cinnamon Sugar Reindeer Pretzel Mix

 I found these little reindeer buckets at Target and I decided to make a mix that looked like deer antlers and red noses for some of the staff members at my work....if you are creative....and being creative is a good thing you can imagine this is reindeer trail mix. 
For the Cinnamon Pretzel Mix....
1/2 c. sugar (divided), 2 t. cinnamon, 1 stick butter (melted), 16 oz pretzels, red M&Ms. 
 Preheat oven to 250. In a large bowl whisk half the sugar, all the cinnamon, and the melted butter.
 Add the pretzels and toss.

 Put the pretzels in a single layer on a lightly oiled cookie sheet and sprinkle with the remaining half of the sugar. Bake for 10 minutes.

 Cool. Add red M&M's and enjoy.