Holiday DIY Decorations

I meant to post this earlier, but better late than never!  I've had such fun this month making Christmas crafts.  My friends Shannon, Adita, and Jessica all have young children - all at the age where they still enjoy making fun handmade crafts, especially those that involve paint!

The first craft that we did was one that a friend shared with me from Pinterest.  We made these adorable Christmas wish list spool ornaments - here is the direct link if you want to view the instructions:  http://pinterest.com/pin/184295809720847674/.  The spools were bought at Michael's for 99 cents apiece, the ribbon, paint, and accessories were things that I already had, but could be found at any craft store.

Each kid picked a color and painted their own spool.  Then we had each one make up their own wish list - we of course wrote the list down for the ones who were too little to write their own.  Ribbon was then strung through the spool, the wish list was taped and wound around it, and then scrapbooking scissors were used to cut the bottom of the list.  To fancy our spools up a bit we added a strand of shiny ribbon strung with miniature ball ornaments and a candy cane.  Then we added each child's name and the year. 

The kids who were old enough wrote out their own wish lists.  I thought it would be cute for them to see their handwriting years from now.

The next Christmas craft that we did was salt dough ornaments.  Below is a list of ingredients:

4 cups of flour

1 cup of salt

1 cup of water

The trick to these ornaments is to add the water a little bit at a time while mixing.  If you add too much too soon your dough will be gooey and you'll end up using more flour.  If the opposite happens and your dough is a bit dry then I found out that you can cheat and spray on a bit of non-stick cooking spray.  Once all of the ingredients are mixed you kneed the dough for about 20 minutes.

We used flour and cooking spray to prevent the dough from sticking to the counter and the rolling pin.  The next step is simple - just roll the dough out exactly like you would if you were making cookies.

We used Christmas cookie cutters and made lots of fun shapes.  The round ornaments you see on the right were made using a round jar lid.  Each little one pressed their thumbs into the dough and we used a skewer to write their names as well.  We also used the skewer to make a hole in the top of each ornament so that it could be strung later.  The ornaments bake anywhere from 20 to 30 minutes depending on thickness in a 325 degree preheated oven.  The salt dough will turn white on top and will curl up slightly at the edges.  Allow them to cool completely.

And now comes the fun part - the kids love painting!  I gave them lots of colors and brushes and just turned them loose :)  You can also use glue and glitter if you want.  We let them dry for about 24 hours and then I used a spray sealant to coat the ornaments so hopefully they will last longer.

I already have a list of Christmas crafts that I want to try out next year!  But until then Merry Christmas everyone!

Merry Christmas!!!

Things have been mad busy around my way (excuses, excuses, I know!), but I thought I'd try to get a couple of holiday post in before the end of the year.  This first one is just some fun festive pictures to show off my holiday decorations.

This is a pic of my Mother's trio of Christmas trees.  She did a very nice job of decorating as usual :)

All lit up!

This is my $2 holiday special.  I bought a tube of red ball ornaments and a tube of gold ball ornaments both from the Dollar Tree.  Then I filled two mason jars, alternating red and gold, and used them as bookends for my fireplace mantle.

This is the first year that David and I have set up a tree.  I wanted a real one, but that may have to wait until we move out of this apartment.  My Mom let me borrow this 4-1/2 foot tree with a bunch of red and gold bows.  Five strands of lights and our oddball collection of ornaments later and I think it turned out nice.

This is an ornament given to me by Kim from Flowers and Art so I had to find a special place for it on my tree :)

And one final pic of my mantle with David's handmade (by me!) stocking, my mason jars filled with ball ornaments, a Santa hat, and all of our great Christmas cards from family and friends!

Merry Christmas everyone!

Food for Thought Friday

Taco Ring

Ingredients:

1 pound ground beef

1 packet of taco seasoning

1 onion

2 eight ounce cans refrigerated crescent rolls

1-1/2 cups shredded cheddar cheese

2-3 cups shredded lettuce

1/2 cup diced tomato

1/4 cup sliced jalapeno peppers

Ranch dressing, hot sauce, salsa, sour cream, or any other preferred toppings

1.  Preheat your oven to 375 degrees.

2.  Fully brown the ground beef and then drain.

3.  While the ground beef is browning go ahead and chop up your onion.  Use as little or as much as you like.

4.  Add the taco seasoning to the ground beef according to the directions on the packet.  The original recipe calls for making your own taco seasoning - you can do this by combining 1 tablespoon mild chili powder, 1/2 teaspoon ground cumin, and salt and pepper to taste.

5.  I add my onion in when I add the seasoning packet because I like for my onions to still be a little crunchy.  If you prefer you could add them in earlier while still browning the ground beef.

6.  Now for the crescent rolls - I hate opening these things, don't you?

First spray your pizza pan with nonstick cooking spray.  Arrange the crescent rolls in a circle with the tops of the triangles hanging off of the pan and the bottoms of the triangles pressed together to make a smooth circle. I call this the "crescent sun" step.

7.  Spoon the ground beef over the widest part of the dough circle.  The original recipe calls for adding the shredded cheese on top of the ground beef before it goes in to the oven.  You can do this if you so choose, but since not everyone in my household prefers cheese I leave it off for them to add themselves.

8.  Fold the tops of the triangles over the ground beef and tuck the tips underneath.

9.  Put the pan in the oven and bake 20-22 minutes or until the crescent rolls are golden brown.  My oven always seems to run hot so I only cooked mine for 15 minutes.

10.  While the taco ring is baking I put the rest of my ingredients together.

11.  This isn't really a step, I just wanted to show you how tasty the baked ring looks.

We made a pot of yummy Mexican rice as a side dish.

12.  I put all of my topping in bowls in the middle of the ring so that everyone can just pick out what they want.  The original recipe calls for you to put the shredded lettuce and other toppings directly in the middle of the pan.  If I had a nice pan that I could put on the table instead of a hot metal pizza pan then I probably would have made it all pretty too.  The taco ring will easily pull apart in little triangle sections.

13.  Enjoy!

Food for Thought Friday

Trick-or-Treat Brownie Cupcakes

Ingredients:

1 box fudge brownie mix

1/2 cup vegetable oil

2 tablespoons water

2 eggs

1 cup white vanilla baking chips

1-3/4 cups powdered sugar

6 tablespoons butter or margarine softened

3 tablespoons milk

6-8 drops red food color

6-8 drops yellow food color

24 miniature candy bars

1.  Preheat your oven to 350 degrees.

2.  Spray your muffin pans with cooking spray to prevent sticking.

3.  In a mixing bowl combine the brownie mix, oil, water, and eggs.

4.  Mix well - duh.

5.  Divide the batter among the muffin cups and bake them 13 to 18 minutes.  Test with a toothpick to be sure they are set.

6.  And now for what I like to call the crucial step - lick the whisk, spatula, and any other utensil that touched the mixing bowl (including the bowl itself!) completely clean.  None of the yummy brownie batter should be wasted!

7.  Allow your brownie cupcakes to cool for 30 minutes.

8.  Microwave the vanilla chips on medium heat (50%) for 30 to 45 seconds.  Be sure to stir every 15 seconds or so.

9.  While the vanilla chips are cooling combine the powdered sugar, butter, milk, and food colors in another bowl.  Beat with a mixer on medium speed until fluffy.  Fair warning - the first time I made this recipe I added the milk right away and ended up with the runniest icing ever.  As with most recipes it is best to add your dry ingredients first and then add the wet ones a little at a time as needed.  You may find that you don't even need the entire 3 tablespoons of milk.  Also as far as the food coloring goes - use however many drops it takes to get a color that you like.

10.  Stir in the melted vanilla chips.  As you can see from the below picture I don't actually own a mixer so everything has to be done by hand.  It's a bit messier and much more time consuming, but I eventually get the job done :)

11.  Spoon the frosting over your cooled brownies.  If you want you could always use an icing bag and tip and pipe the icing in pretty designs onto the brownies.

12.  Top each brownie cupcake with a miniature candy bar.  I used Snickers because they are David's favorite, but you could use whatever you like.

13.  Enjoy!  The rich fudgey brownie taste mixed with the sweet creaminess of the vanilla in the icing is wonderful and makes for a perfect Halloween treat :)

Spooky Halloween Silhouettes Part III

I wanted to share the rest of my Halloween silhouettes today.  I used the Frankenstein's Monster template from Mr. Rudell's book to make a silhouette for one of my kitchen windows.   As I said yesterday I had to shrink him quite a bit in order to make him fit.  We named him Frankie, but since he came out a bit short and skinny, maybe he should be Frankie Jr.?

Above is a view of Frankie from the side of the house.

And a close-up.  As you can tell Frankie really needed a double set of windows because he should be a bit wider and you should be able to see both of his outstretched arms for his classic mummy walk.

This is another shot of my camera trying but failing to take a picture at night.  I even changed the settings so that the lens stayed open longer in order to let in more light.  I really want a fancy new camera!!!  And if you can't tell from the pictures itself, this is a vulture from Mr. Rudell's book perched on the balcony door.

Mr. Rudell's book also included a witch template and while she was especially wicked looking (Wicked Witch from The Wizard of Oz wicked looking) she was also enormous.  Attempting to blow the template up to size and then shrink her to the window would have put her totally out of proportion.

So I started searching online for free printable clipart and I found this lovely lady.

I opened the clipart file in paint and erased all of the middle section so that all I had to print out was the outline.  I then used the Posteriza program that I mentioned on Monday to blow her up to size.

David said that we should name her after the Looney Tunes witch so now we have Witch Hazel.  Above is a picture of Hazel from inside.  I added one of the clawed hands from Mr. Rudell's book into her cauldron.  Below is Hazel from the outside.

Well I hope that everyone enjoyed the silhouettes.  I highly recommend Jeffrey Rudell's book.  I already have so many plans for next Halloween!

I've also got a Food for Thought post that I meant to share last Friday (but I forgot!) so I am going to post it later today.  We made some festive Halloween cupcake brownies that were super yummy!

After that I probably won't be posting again until next week so I want to wish everyone a safe and happy Halloween!

Spooky Halloween Silhouettes Part II

Today's post is a continuation of Monday's one about Halloween window silhouettes.  Basically I had so much fun with Mr. Rudell's blog post that I went out and bought his book.  The book is oversized and  contains 28 different silhouettes that are ready to use.  Each page inside of the book is like black construction paper and already perforated so you just punch it out, hang it on your window, and voila - a spooky Halloween silhouette!

I checked at my local Books-A-Million and they didn't have the book in stock, but it was available to order online.  Boo.  So I called Barnes & Noble who fortunately had plenty in stock, but were a 30 minute drive away.  As you may have already guessed, I made the drive.

The first inside cover shows all of the different silhouettes.  The cat as you can see comes in two pieces so it had to be taped together and the vulture is so large that it folds out onto an extra page.

The back inside cover included more silhouettes that could be used as templates and blown up to scale.  I was very pleased to see that these weren't the same ones used in the blog post, which made buying the book even more worthwhile.  The only problem that I had with these is that when blown up to scale they are absolutely enormous.  They would probably work perfectly for someone who has a house with large picture windows though.  To give you some perspective, although my windows are very tall (floor to ceiling) they are only about three standard sheets of printer paper wide.

I did use these templates to make Frankenstein's Monster, but I had to squish him so much that you'd almost think the poor guy was starving himself.  I will have pictures to share of him later this week.

You can't see it very well in this picture, but the last page of the book is a red see-through plastic page to be used with the silhouettes that have open spaces.

The first silhouette that I did from the book was the cat.  Besides the zombie he is probably the one that I have gotten the most compliments about.  I named him Salem and here he is perched on the window sill above my computer.

 My camera doesn't take very good pictures at night so most of the pictures of the smaller silhouettes had to be taken from the inside in order for you guys to see them.  This is after I added a couple of spooky bats to the window.  You can't see it from this angle, but standing outside of the house you can see a witch's hat sitting on the lower window sill.

And now you can see where the red plastic page comes in.  Creepy cat when you see him up close, huh?

These next two windows also had to photographed from the inside in order for them to show up well enough to post on the blog.  They do look awesome from the outside though - I promise!

Above we have an owl with lovely red eyes and a crescent shaped moon in the corner.

Below you'll see the bottom of the window with a tombstone and two hands reaching skyward.

(I promise that you can't see the crazy stars on my window sheers from outside of the house either!  The sheers do have to be up though or you don't get the spooky effect from the outside.)

And here we have two crows - one looks like he just landed on the top window sill while the other is perched on a group of pumpkins.

Two of the pumpkins in the book were already carved as jack-o-lanterns and two were left plain in case you wanted to cut them out yourself.  I used the one that was already decorated and put more of the red plastic page behind it in order to "light" it up.

So what do you think?