When we lived in California we dreamed of a typical white Christmas. But the only white Christmas we got was sand. I didn't complain and we still got some type of "snow" when we made our own snowballs for an indoor snowball fight. They were a "hit" if you know what I mean.

I posted the instructions on how to make these snowballs years ago. I am posting them again for you now.




This is a great game for preschool, play dates, Christmas parties, birthday parties, office parties, or at home with your own family.

What's Christmas without cookies and treats? We do a lot of holiday baking. My kids love to decorate sugar cookies. It is a two-day process for us. I make the dough on one day and let it chill overnight. The next day we actually bake and decorate the cookies.


I love this recipe for sugar cookies because they are soft and remind me of the Lofthouse sugar cookies. My kids will eat any frosting but I prefer to use butter over shortening. This recipe originally called for shortening in the frosting but I changed it to butter for personal preference.


This year my daughter is on a gluten-free diet. We made 2 batches- one with gluten-free flour and another with regular all-purpose flour. Both batches turned out great. Our candy selection was scarce (and gluten-free) but we still had fun. Can't go wrong with cookies, right?

Click HERE to download and print our Christmas Sugar Cookie and Frosting recipes.

So, I know it's WAAAY past Thanksgiving but I thought I'd post this cute little turkey place setting buddy.

I painted a little wooden peg (meant to be a baby or bee shape), sprayed it with some glossy finish, and added some raffia "feathers" on the back. I thought he was a cute little guy so I thought I'd share.

July is the time to think about Christmas gifts IF you are planning on making them. This year I am!


I decided to make some cute wooden peg people for my siblings and their cute families. I may just turn them into ornaments to hang on the tree, or display them on a wooden plaque with the family name. We'll see. 


Grab some tiny paint brushes and some acrylic paints and transform these unfinished wood pieces into masterpieces! They do take a while to paint but they are WAY cute.


A friend of mine is a pro crafter. She taught me a few tips.


TIPS:


*Paint the head FIRST! Paint the whole head the skin color you want. Let it dry. You will be holding onto the head while you paint the body so do this part first. Don't add any features quite yet.




*Paint the body. These are really cute when you can add detail. Take your time, and go slowly. 


*Paint the arms. Make little sausage-like shapes for the arms. Try to move your arms a little closer together than on complete opposite sides of the peg. If you move the arms a little closer, you don't have to turn the peg to see both arms. It won't look funny, I promise.


*Paint the hair and face. Once the body is dry, paint the hair first. Add the eyes, and mouth last.


*Spray with a finishing gloss. This will prevent the paint from chipping or scratching and will add a nice professional-looking shine. 


WOOD SOURCE:


Casey's Wood Products has the cheapest wooden peg people I have seen. They have a great selection and are extremely helpful and nice. They ship on the same day for most orders.

My daughter's birthday is coming up and she wants a flower-themed party. (I'm sure the boys are going to love it.) Anyway, I tinkered around with making paper flowers and came up with this bloom. I think I like it. 


If you like it, you can make it too! Click HERE to find out how to make a simple paper flower. 


You're going to do the same thing with the tissue paper flowers but using 6-8 full sheets of tissue paper. I also stapled the middle instead of using a pipe cleaner (of course). I fastened a balloon to the center and then tied on a couple of tissue paper "leaves." Voila! 


TIP: Dollar Tree has tissue paper in packs of pink or blue along with multi-color packs. All the tissue paper seen here is from Dollar Tree.

This weekend was nice and relaxing. I even got in some sewing! Clare's Craftroom posted some super darling carrots and I wanted to try them. Her carrots are much cuter than mine but they were just so fun to make, I couldn't help myself. 


I had a hard time finding the right color of orange and green so all my carrots turned out the same. However, I did add 2 other sizes because I like a variety.




I created a pattern of the 3 sizes that you can download and print at the end of this post. Visit Clare's Craftroom for complete instructions. She's awesome.

I've been wanting to make chalkboard placemats for months now. I finally did it. I decided that I would follow the directions from Sew 4 Home. However, I wanted to have waterproof fabric on the back instead of regular fabric so I grabbed some oil cloth. When it came time to put the placemat together, I couldn't press anything with an iron or use too many pins. I didn't want to melt my fabric and once the fabric is punctured with pins, the hole stays there.


I decided to do this thing a super basic way using bias tape.


What you'll need:

• Chalkboard cloth (found in the "utility fabric" section of your fabric store)


• Oil cloth (also a "utility fabric")


• Bias tape (extra wide, double fold bias tape- 3 yd. Plan on one package per placemat just in case)


• Jean needle (strong needle to sew your fabrics)


• Scissors


• Sewing machine (with jean needle)

What you'll do:


1) Cut one piece of chalkboard fabric and one piece of oil cloth the same size. Cut it to the size you'd like your placemat to be.


2) With wrong sides together, line up your bias tape on one edge of the chalkboard side! This is important! I found that the chalkboard fabric is quite slick and thick and doesn't grab onto the feed dogs well. So, having the oil cloth on the bottom allows for easier and nicer sewing.


3) Sew your bias tape on. See the following tutorial.

















I followed the instructions in the video almost exactly. The only change I made was that I lined up the edge of my bias tape with the edge of my fabric. The woman in the video, Amy, lines up her bias tape a little below the edge of the fabric but, don't do it! You need that space when you're using the thicker fabrics.


So, unfold your bias tape, with the thinner edge up. Sew along that first fold. I tucked in my sides like Amy did too.