Peppermint Fail

I've seen this all over the Pinterest. Everyone makes these cutesy peppermint trays to display their cutesy holiday baked goods. Yeh yeh. How hard can it be? Fail. So I read a ton of tutorials and the basic idea is, use a pan with borders so you will have nice edges, use parchment paper, and space evenly. I think I went wrong in two ways: 1. I had too many peppermints and it was too thick. 2. I baked too long and it bubbled up.

oops!

 

I did a retake and it didn't turn out too bad. It was mostly just underwhelming, as were the snickerdoodle cookies sitting on it. ;)

Very Grinchy Christmas

 This was a crazy idea... it might work as a whole. I traced a picture of the Grinch on plain white paper then tore tiny pieces of paper, tissue paper, and cotton balls to cover it. I made a frame using an old cardboard box and covered it in green duct tape. I need a little work on my scissor skills. lol Must fix that straight edge, now!

Recycled Reindeer

I saw this Reindeer on BHG and fell in love...only I needed mine to be on drugs or something. I feel really bad when I buy new decorations because I have...so...much...stuff. But making them from items I already have is totally acceptable. The tutorial is on BHG.com so I won't reinvent the wheel. It's perfect. Cut, decorate, glue.

 

I cut too many of the U shaped pieces (only need one).

A little scrapbook paper and modge podge. 

The original:

State Pin Art

 There you have it, I'm an Arkansan. To be honest, I absolutely love Arkansas. I was talking with some people this weekend who are transports to the state who can't find anything to love here. I think it is what you make it. I can't seem to find enough time to do all of the things I want to do. I've been hoarding this idea that I saw here months ago. I purchased the supplies but never found time to complete it. It requires a lot of hammering of nails, and once you get those nails hammered, it loosens up all of the nails that you've already hammered...and once you wrap those nails, they get looser...and then you re-hammer those nails again. Endless loop of getting angry/getting your anger out. ha. It was definitely a fun project. I think my little one will be able to make one of these with some help. My wife talks about all of the cool things her dad taught her to do when she was little and I joke that my dad gave me a hammer, a board, and a hand full of nails and told me to keep busy. ;) I can't tell you why I chose these colors, looking at the photo all I can think is "why did I choose those colors?" I guess they just spoke to me. I printed an outline of the state and cut it out and then hammered my nails around the perimeter. I free-handed the heart, which is never a good idea. The tutorial I read said to be sure and use as many nails as possible for the heart, I didn't. It would have looked a lot better if I did. Note to self, listen. I think that's about it. Not bad for a quick gift.

DIY Felt Heart Hand Warmies

How cute are these? I love to keep these handy in the mornings for the little one. They are so quick and easy to make. I'm always looking for beginner sewing projects to do. I don't think I mentioned before but I'm an Occupational Therapist. Last year I had some of my older students working on fine motor skills with stitching these warmers up. I found this idea on Etsy. I decided to make mine bright fun colors with wool felt. They don't stay warm for too long but definitely long enough to get to school. I chose to fill mine with rice and little lavender petals for a little scent.

Fall Yarn Letters

 

 I'm almost too embarrassed to post these on here because they were so simple (and free!). Everyone has those wooden letters from craft stores and you could spend a small fortune buying up the alphabet. It dawned on me one day that I can make my own. I have yarn out the wahzoo (Did I spell that right? Is it even a word?) I cut letters out of amazon boxes at 12" tall and covered one side with glue. Then I wrapped yarn back and forth until the entire letter was covered. To keep the yarn in place while drying, I attached a paper clip. And that's it! Next time I'll aim for cutting straighter lines. ;) I consider these to be very abstract or freeform.