Hobby Lobby Wrapping Paper= Love

Just thought I'd mention how much I LOVE the wrapping paper at Hobby Lobby.  It is thick, beautiful, and comes in HUGE quantities (seriously, I only purchased two rolls of wrapping paper this year and unless we give each child an elephant we'll have TONS of extra paper).

They print up coordinating sets of cute paper.  So, you don't even have to think.  You just pick out your favorite and one or two of its partners.  They also offer matching tags, ribbons and bows.  They put it on sale half off almost every week in the month before Christmas- it is the best priced paper I've seen- much better than dollar tree because you get SO MUCH paper.

But my very favorite part- there are faint cutting lines on the back of the paper so that your scissors have a path to follow :o)

Dreamy.

Making Easy Filigree Earrings

Ever get in the mood for a new accessory?  I was on Tuesday.  Here is what I came up with.

Directions:

Buy some cute jewelry findings from Hobby Lobby on clearance or print yourself a 40% off coupon.

Attach a jump ring and an earring clasp through one of the loops on the outer edge of the filigree pattern.

Wear

Don't try to take pictures of yourself wearing them- you'll get lots of fuzzy, hairline, blurry, craziness ;o)

Homemade Bread and Milk Chocolate Fudge

But not together.  I spent yesterday making milk chocolate fudge and peanut butter fudge.  Then I spent some time wrapping it up for gift giving.  I used small tins from Target and some gift boxes that I had on hand.

Here are the packaging directions that I followed:

• Wrap the fudge in saran wrap- to keep it clean and fresh
• Wrap the fudge in the saran into parchment paper to make it pretty
• Tie that bundle up with cute baker's twine- instead of buying the baker's twine in the candy section go to the crochet yarn and thread section- our craft store carries crochet thread that is identical to the baker's twine but TONS cheaper!
• Make little decorative doodads out of polymer clay and tiny stamps to jazz them up a bit ahead of time and then tie these on-  here is a tutorial that is similar to what I did- I just used stamps instead of nature-
• Add a tiny jingle bell- if you so desire

My husband spent the evening making his delicious bread.  He makes me 100% whole wheat no sugar (just honey) bread- for my healthy eating kick. Then he makes some that is half white flour and half wheat with some sugar in it for himself. Yep, I'm spoiled!  Both kinds of bread are super yummy and with the cold weather we've been having I've been making and enjoying lots and lots of toast.

December Activity Day

For Activity Day (girl's church group ages 8-11) we made these cute snowman treats that I learned about on pinterest (picture from pinterest).  The girls struggled  some because a few of the heads fell apart when they tried to push in the nose- but they had a blast and they turned out pretty cute!

We also made these adorable little baby Jesus ornaments.  I couldn't find any small wreaths at our craft store so I substituted little birds nests that I found in the floral section of Hobby Lobby.  The store was also out of wooden stars so I substituted "metal" star buttons.  Sweet!

Making a Forever/ Infinity Scarf

I didn't used to be much of a scarf person- but I'm changing my ways.  I made a quick forever scarf using this tutorial and my serger.  While I was at it I made two more scarves and feel so "put together" when I wear them.

If you want to avoid seams showing where you attach your pieces of fabric together- you'll need about two yards of fabric- You need that much fabric so that you can wrap the scarf around your neck twice and only have one seam that you place in the center back of your neck- not seams going every which way!  Having this much length has a perk because you will end up with enough fabric left over (from the width) to make at least two extra scarves.  So, find a couple of friends and start sewing :o)

Mini Frames for Home Decor and Ornaments

I took some time to play with these adorable picture frames yesterday.

 They are so cute and can be used as ornaments or just around the house.... fun!

I especially liked the idea of putting pictures of the Savior on the formal tree in the front room.  I found the  pictures in an old 8 inch calendar by Simon Dewey purchased on clearance from Deseret Book.

 My daughter said that in Arizona at the temple visitor's center there is a tree covered with pictures of temples- that would be beautiful as well.  Dear daughter suggested making all of your frames a rustic antiqued cream and using sepia tinted photographs.....

Can't decide what to make for dinner- try Holiday Chicken Salad- yummy- even better with an added bit of mustard.  This is one of my favorite meals to take to families with a new baby or other need.  I just send over a package of croissants from the bakery and a disposable food container filled with the chicken salad and a head of lettuce.  Nothing fancy but it tastes good!  They can grab the meal out of the fridge anytime they want to eat- no prep- and they can throw away the containers when they are done- so, no dishes!

Paper Medallion and Gift Tag Christmas Ornaments

Hope your Thanksgiving was fabulous!  On our way home from our trip to be with family we stopped in Durango, Colorado and sweet hubby chopped down a beautiful Christmas tree for us (after obtaining the proper permit). As we continued our road trip- and had traveled several miles down the road he caught his first glimpse of a cougar in the wild- as it climbed over a ten foot deer fence on the side of the highway.... I was reading in the back seat and missed the whole thing!

In other news- I made some paper medallion ornaments using gift tags from Hobby Lobby-50% off so they were $1.

And yes, it's weird but our ornaments are going to perfectly coordinate with the gift wrap on the presents under the tree this year....   we haven't really decorated this tree yet- I just stuck on a few ornaments for the pix.  However, the three trees in the bedrooms and the formal tree in the front room are decorated and stylin'!