New Years Eve Poppers

I can't believe this year is almost over!  It has been such a great one for my family and me with our new little addtion!

Now to the crafts! I hope you kept those left over wrapping paper rolls like I mentioned before!  (You could also use toilet paper rolls if you have those handy.)  So, as you can see here, I made some homemade poppers for New Years Eve.  All you need are some rolls, tissue paper, candy or confetti, twine, paper and embellishments!

I started out by cutting the rolls to the size I wanted them to be, they can be as long or as short as you want them.  Next, fill them with candy and/or confetti, roll them up in the tissue paper, and tie off the ends with some WeR Glitter Sew Easy Glitter Floss.

Now for the fun part...decorating!  For this project I chose the Authentique Peaceful paper line.  I just love the old fashioned look of it, and the golds in it are perfect for New Years Eve.  I also used Doodle Bugs Glitter paper – you can never have enough glitter when it comes to New Years!  For some embellishments, I used Martha Stewart's Layered Doilies, Teresa Collins Everyday Moments Trinkets, and made some of my own Rosettes with our Epic Tool.

Helpful hint: If you are using glitter paper to wrap around you will probably need to use some tacky glue to keep it together.  After putting on tacky glue cut another roll and put it around it and secure it with a rubber band to dry!

You could also use these cute poppers just as decoration to use year after year, because they are just so pretty! I've also made a cute popcorn style box for a treat/candy box. I used the Epic Tool again to make some Mini Popcorn Boxes and put all sorts of candy in them to munch on all night. 

I hope you enjoy making this project as much as I did and I hope everyone has the best of New Years!! See you NEXT YEAR!









Happy Crafting!

Last Minute Christmas Ideas

Merry Christmas everyone! Today's post is going to be a long one since there are just too many little holiday ideas!  These are last minute Christmas ideas, so hopefully you can take advantage of them before it's too late.  I have to say, getting back to work while being a new mother is a little harder than I expected it to be ;).

So, to start, I made some decorative Christmas tree cones. They are extremely simple.  I used the Echo Park Dots and Stripes Christmas paper, wrapped it around foam cones, and embellished! Some of the embellishments were the Pebbles Welcome Home Flourishes, Teresa Collins Christmas Cottage Decorative Brads, Teresa Collins Christmas Cottage Medallion, and Teresa Collins Christmas Cottage Faceted Rhinestones.  On the little green tree, I punched holes in the paper and folded them so they would pop up. Then, I added the Decorative brads in the center of each circle and pushed them into the tree.

Hint: If you push a hole through the paper and tree first with a pin the brads will go in easier.

Next, we have some adorable tree ornaments.  With this we used the Echo Park Dots and Stripes Christmas paper again.  They are so cute and so simple to make! All you need do is cut out four triangles of the same size, fold each triangle down the middle, and adhere one half of the triangle to the half of another triangle until all sides are adhered together and make a cute little tree.  Want to add even more to this cute ornament? Before you are done adhering all the sides together cut a peace of our Doodlebug Bakers Twine, put a bell on it, loop it through, tie a knot at the top, and finish putting paper together. These are some of the CUTEST ornaments hanging on my tree!!

And for my final last minute Christmas idea, a last minute neighbor or coworker gift idea.  Probably the simplest yet, just punch tiny holes out of your favorite Christmas paper, adhere them to the bottom of Hersey Kisses. Then put them in a jar, a cellophane bag, or whatever cute presentation suits your fancy.  I added a little note with each one that says "Merry Kissmas".  Easy as that!!

I hope you enjoyed our last minute Christmas ideas during this busy time of year!! Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays Everyone!!

Tasty Tuesday

Hello everyone and Happy Tuesday!

This week for Tasty Tuesday I decided to make my favorite treat, cupcakes!  This idea that I had would work for Christmas or New Years Eve.  I'll be honest, I was going for a New Years Eve look with a firework on top, but it ended up looking more like a snow flake, so either holiday would work! You could also get crafty with this and make fireworks using paper and sticks placed in the cupcake, or even use a sparkler.  Just have fun with it!

For this recipe, I used a box mix and made according to directions on the box.  I do however have my own buttercream frosting recipe that I will share :)

1 c. Butter
1/2 c. Shortening
2 1/2 c. Powder sugar
1 egg white
1/2 tsp lemon juice
1 tsp Vanilla extract

-Using the paddle attachment, cream together butter, shortening, and powder sugar until well blended
-Add the rest of the ingredients and mix until light and fluffy

Make sure your cupcakes are cool before frosting, then you can either pipe on the frosting like I did, or you can spread it on.  Add whatever color sprinkles you would like.

Next melt some chocolate, and put it in a zip lock to pipe out.  Lay out a piece of parchment and make some firework design, or snowflakes ;), and add sprinkles before they set up.  Let them harden and carefully remove and add them to your cupcakes!
Note: Make a lot of snowflakes/fireworks, some will break when you try to get them off the parchment.

This also works great for birthdays, or any other themed party, by simply changing with you make out of the chocolate. I hope you enjoy these, and I hope you like my frosting recipe.

Happy Crafting!!

Oh Rice Krispie Tree, Oh Rice Krispie Tree

Hello Friends, it's time for Tasty Tuesday!

This week I made a delicious christmas tree out of Rice Krispie Treats.  It is super easy to make and super yummy!

Just make the Rice Krispie Treats according to the directions, and while the marshmallows are melting add green food coloring.  Press into a 13x9 pan and let it cool for 15 minutes. Then cut into 2x3 squares and make a tree!  I gradually cut the squares a little smaller for each layer and cut the top into a triangle.  Next, add whatever candy you would like to make it festive and your own! I made the star out of Starbursts, and also piled them under the tree for presents.  It was really fun to decorate and came together so fast! This is one of those ideal treat crafts that is perfect for you to let your kids help!

I hope you enjoy making your own Rice Krispie Treat tree, it was sure a hit at my husbands work!



Happy Crafting!

Gift Wrapping Ideas

Happy Monday everyone!

Today I thought I would share some crafty gift wrapping ideas with you.  Years and years ago my sister, Shayna, and I would sit together in the basement on Christmas Eve and wrap all of the gifts to go under the tree.  We became quite good at it, and gift wrapping became somewhat of an art form to us.  I miss those nights together wrapping all of the gifts now that we have all grown up and have our own families, but I LOVE that I still get to wrap all the gifts to go under my tree!

I usually wrap my gifts with Christmas wrapping paper and shiny ribbon and bows, but this year I wanted to try something different and make each gift its own! So here are three different ideas I had for more personalized gift wrapping.  They are all wrapped in craft paper, but each has its own personality! :)

First, we have our winter scene gift.  For this we tore white card stock paper to make snowy hills, and used Echo Park's Winter Park Element Sticker to make this adorable winter scene.  We also used pop dots to make some of the stickers pop out to give it some more dimension.  Then, we used Stickles Glitter Glue on the snowy hills to give them Sparkle.  We topped it off with some sparkly American Crafts Christmas Ribbon.  I love how this turned out! It is such kid friendly idea so you can let your kiddos decorate it and make their own Christmas scene!

Next we have a polka dot package.  This one was very simple!  All I did was punch some circles of our Doodle Bug Sugar Coated Card stock and tape it to the package.  Then, wrapped some Doodle Bug Bakers Twine around the package and tied a bow. I added a tag from our Echo Park Dots and Stripes Christmas line, and finished it off with a letter initial for who the present is for using our Fancy Pants Home for Christmas Glitter Chipboard Stickers! (P.S. Our Entire Fancy Pants Section is 50% Off on Tuesday!)

For our last package I used some more Bakers Twine and wrapped it around the package.  I added a Felt Poinsettia found in Pebbles Welcome Christmas.  And again, finished it off with a glitter letter initial from Fancy Pants Home for Christmas Glitter Chipboard Stickers.






I hope you enjoyed these ideas. I sure had fun making them! As you get yourselves ready for Christmas, be sure to save all those wrapping paper tubes. We will be using them for some New Year's Eve crafts soon.  See you all back here tomorrow for Tasty Tuesday!!

Happy Crafting!

Winners!

And the Winners ARE........
                 DENISEP, JANET, AND DEBRA!  Congrats ladies!  Please email me your addresses so that we can send out your Christmas Prize ASAP :)  My email is chefsinda@hotmail.com.  The sooner you get me your address the sooner you get your package. We are so appreciative of all the comments we received, I think it was our best turn out yet!  I love everyone's Christmas spirit and really enjoyed reading what everyone's favorite part of this special time of year is.  Again, thank you so much for all the comments and make sure to check back for more Christmas craft ideas and Tasty Treats next week!

Happy Crafting
   

December Giveaway

It's Friday everyone and that means that you only have a few short hours left to enter our December Giveaway!!  You have until 5:00pm MST to enter.  All you have to do is leave a comment telling me what your favorite part of Christmas is on our Advent Calendar Blog post!  Hurry up and spread the word time is running out!!

I'm bringing Tasty back!

It's Tuesday and you know what that means, it's Tasty Tuesday!  I really love to bake, cook, and make special treats, so every Tuesday I will be sharing a special recipe or a fun treat to make.  This week I made cookies and cream pin wheels for a Christmas treat!

This was so simple to make and they are very cute!
What you will need:
          Parchment paper
          Cookie sheet
          Oreos (I got the ones with red filling to be festive)
          White dipping chocolate
          Lollypop sticks
          Red Sprinkles
          TC Christmas Cottage Trim

-Place parchment on cookie sheet
-Carefully push the sticks through the oreos until almost all the way through
-Melt chocolate in a bowl
-Dip the oreos in the chocolate and lay on the parchment
-Put it in the fridge to harden

-Put the chocolate in a zip lock baggy for piping
-Once the chocolate is hard, remove from fridge and pipe a swirl of chocolate on the oreo
-Sprinkle with red sprinkles, shake off excess sprinkles
-Tie the Trim around the stick

It's as simple as that!!

These were very fun to make and I love how they turned out.  Hope you enjoy them too, Happy Crafting!
 

Teresa Collins: Christmas Cottage Advent Calendar

Hey y'all, Sinda here!  It has been quite a long time since I last posted and I will now be taking over our Blog!  Be sure to stay tuned for fun crafts, good steals, and a special Tasty Tuesday every week!

We have a new Teresa Collins Christmas line this year called Christmas Cottage, it is fantastic!  I just can't get enough of Teresa Collins product, I love everything she designs.  This year I decided to make an advent calender to count down to Christmas and make sure I stay in the Christmas spirit all season long.  Each day my husband and I will read a scripture passage about Christ, and on a few days through the month we will do a fun Christmas activity.  Some of the activities we will be doing are making treats for our neighbors, watching Christmas movies, making coco and sleeping under the stars (the Christmas tree), going to Temple square to see the lights and on Christmas day going to see Les Miserables!

For this project I used the TC Christmas Cottage Collection Pack, Trim, and Buttons.  I loved all the paper and embellishments and how well it all went together.  I cut various size cards out of the paper and layered it with bits and pieces of the rest of the paper.  I then embellished it with the buttons and the accessory sheet from the pack.  I really like to use pop dots to get things stand out and catch your eye and I finished up with some DB Lilly White Bling.  So simple and it all came together in about an hour.

I sure love this time of year and the kind spirit that is all around, and of course all of the fun crafts! I hope you find inspiration in the projects that I share with you and that you will keep checking back for more.  Happy Crafting!

Photo Freedom will set you Free!

OK, so it's officially December and that means it's time to prep for the upcoming holidays! I know that I have mentioned it before but there is still plenty of time to create gifts for family and friends. I am all about simplicity and Echo Park's Photo Freedom is so simple and on sale now!

With Photo Freedom the Paper kits include coordinating paper and embellishments and photo sleeves. All you need to do is add your photos! It's so fast and if you need some ideas on layouts, Echo Park provides you with a free downloadable idea book! How much easier could it be? We have the kits and extra photo sleeves available to ship now. I have posted our website link to purchase the Photo Freedom system and I have also posted a link to the Photo Freedom page to download the free idea book.

www.allscrapbooksteals.com

http://www.echoparkpaper.com/collections/photo-freedom/