Easy Sand Dough Ornaments

I think we've found our new Christmas tradition!

Best shot I have -- the kiddos haven't painted theirs yet!

Sand dough ornaments!

A friend of mine gave me the recipe, and honestly? This was one of the easiest and most well-received crafts I've done with the kiddos. They think they're cookies, but the dough comes together MUCH quicker than any cookie recipe I've ever used. Plus, it was really two crafts in one -- first, making, cutting the dough, then painting/coloring after they've dried.

Ready for the step-by-step? You got it.

1. Mix together 2 cups flour, 1 cup salt and 1 cup warm water until the dough looks like a pie crust.
2. Place the dough on a well-floured surface and roll out to 1/4" thick. If you do it too thin, it may break easier once dry and will also NOT hold up to a handprint.
3. Cut out whatever shapes you have on hand with cookie cutters and place the shapes on a Pammed (I verbed Pam) cookie sheet.
4. Use a straw to poke a hole through each ornament and remove the center. This is where the ribbon will go after you paint to hang on the tree.
5. Bake for 6 hours at 200 degrees. Let cool overnight, then paint, marker, color away!

If you want these to last years, clear coat them with polyurethane.

Fun! 

Wax-Dipped Pine Cones

Remember when I said I had a special idea in mind for these?

Well, I finally got around to finishing the craft. Over the summer, my family and my husband's mom/brother/grandmother/aunts/cousins/foreverandeveramen went to the lake.

It was a bittersweet trip, as it ended up being the last that we'd spend with my husband's Aunt Lori.

Because we knew at the time that things weren't going the way we'd hoped they would for her, I wanted to do something special to remember the trip. While we were there, I spent quite a while scouring the ground for perfectly shaped pine cones. I had an idea for small gifts for the family.

Originally, I thought these would make great additions to Christmas presents, but I decided to make them as "Just Because" presents instead.

My mom died when I was 20. I was a sophomore in college and it blindsided me. We didn't have a fantastic relationship -- we hardly had one at all. But it was still really hard. Unexpectedly hard.

My mom & dad in the late 1970s.

Two months before she died was the last time I saw her. It was Christmas and she gave me two dollar store candles. I remember being mad that she gave me cheap candles -- especially because they weren't scents I liked (Apple Pie and Cinnamon Spice). How horrible of me. Absolutely horrid, childish behavior.

When she died, I kept the candles on my desk. Each time I moved after that -- from a dorm to an apartment, to my next apartment with fewer roommates, to my own apartment in Oklahoma, to this house where I've started my family -- I've kept the candles out.

I burn them whenever the loss is particularly acute. When my kids have a new adventure and I wish I could tell her about it. When I dream of her and wake up lonely.

I wanted to do the same for her family with these tokens from the lake trip. I melted scented tea candles (Apple Pie and Cinnamon Spice) on a double boiler over high heat, then dipped the pine cones in the wax and sprinkled them with sugar.

Whenever the mood strikes, you just throw one of these in the fireplace. The wax will melt and smell wonderful and the sugar will spark around the pine cones until it burns off.

I hope these pine cones are, in a small way, the same comfort for everyone this first Christmas without Lori as the candles have been for me.

Santa! I know him!

The kids got their wish today -- we visited Santa in the mall.

They've been talking for weeks about what they were going to ask him for Christmas. A morphin, a doll crib, a light up light saber, a doll chair.

Fancy stuff.

When the moment came, and Santa asked them to tell him ONE thing they wanted, the pressure was on.

My boy asked for a teddy bear. My girl? A ball.

It's like the 1930s  up here.

Merry Christmas!

Christmas Ornament Wreath

So, we had the crafting day yesterday and it was a lot of fun! I meant to take pictures while I was there, but it didn't happen ... too much chicken salad dip and chickpeas.

My favorite thing we made was this:

A Christmas ornament wreath! I know technically I should have filled in the gaps with smaller ornaments, but I got frustrated with the glue gun and just stopped.

All you do is take a wire hanger and form it into a circle, then string the balls along the hanger until it's full and pretty -- and oh, so festive!

Also, I made a few more makeup bags:

So excited for Christmas!

Zippered Makeup Bag

Zippered makeup bags. Love. I first saw this here.These are so easy, and I'm obsessed with making them. Hello, Christmas presents.

Want to see?

Of course you do.

She made them with the intention of using them as pencil bags. Not being a student, I immediately saw travel makeup bag.

I talk so much about HobLob, you'd think I owned the place. If I did, I'd have a much bigger house.

BUT -- I got everything I needed for these gems at HobLob. I bought a $.25, 9"x12" piece of brown felt, and a 1/4 yard of this fabric (on sale for $1.22), which gave me enough for two of these bags with scraps left over. You could certainly use any scrap you have laying around in that size. Or patched pieces of scraps. Or an old skirt. These are just my ideas ... :)

For $1.99, I bought the zipper, and the charms came in a 2-pk for $1.47. Basically, these are cheap. Less than $5 for each one.

Hello, Tarte powder. I love you. Never leave me, OK?

Really, really easy. Check out her site for the full tutorial. I'm a fan.

Today I'm having a craft night with some of my favorite friends. We've got a whole host of ideas of things to make.

Wait until you see what I do with these beauties I picked up from our summer lake trip to eastern Oklahoma.

Get excited!

Christmas Ornaments!

So I posted this earlier, and promised to have more. Honestly? There isn't much more to tell!

I went to HobLob and bought a 9-pk of pink mini-tree ornaments for $2 (their Christmas decorations are discounted 50% off!). I found the candy cane and candy piece for $2/ea at Target. They have a lot of colors, so you can mix and match. I loved the blue and pink, though, so I went for it.

To the back of each of these ornaments, I hot glued one round (strength level 6) magnet I bought for $1.99 at HobLob. The pack had 8 magnets. I only ended up using 6 of the pink balls, so I'd have enough for the candy pieces.

I love them. They're really cute and strong, so they can actually hold things on the fridge. The kiddos loved helping me, and are both so excited to already have Christmas flair hanging up :)

Fridge Magnet Teaser ...

This is what the kiddos and I have been up to this weekend.

Just a cellphone shot. More to come!

Glitter-Painted Vase!

Hello, Christmas planning!

I'm pinning things like crazy in preparation for Christmas. I'm hoping to get together with a few of my crafty friends to make a ton of excellent presents for the holiday, and am PUMPED!

I was a little too excited ... and started testing out a few ideas.

Here's one :)

I started with a $2 vase I bought from Goodwill. It was already painted white, but had several scratches.

From HobLob, I used a 40% off coupon to get this silver glitter spray paint for 1.99.

Then I took some yarn I had lying around the house and swirled it around the vase, and tucked/tied it in to secure it. Next time, I'm going to use rubber bands instead in varying thicknesses.

After it was wrapped, I spray painted it and set it outside to dry.

It's kind of hard to tell (excellent camera alert!), but the effect is really pretty. It looks frosted and snowy and perfect for winter!

Whee!