Showing posts with label Christmas. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Christmas. Show all posts
Monday in Wonderland: Blessed
Happy Monday! Sorry this is super late—Christmas crafts
are calling me!
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| Click to download |
There something about this time of year that never fails
to remind me just how blessed I am. I love being surrounded by family, hanging
out with friends, and laughing all the way! The holidays are just simply
magical and beautiful and full to the brim with love.
I encourage you to count your blessings this holiday
season and never forget the reason we are all here—because of love and family!
I as much as anyone tend to forget this simple truth and get caught up in finding/making the perfect gift for all those I love and whether I'm spending
enough time and money on people! But as my parents pointed out recently, the
most fun I have had recently is hanging ornaments on the tree, blasting
Christmas music, and eating all the M&M’s (as our family tradition goes)! It
really is the little things, isn’t it?
I pray that your Christmas is truly blessed, and that you take a minute along with me to see those blessings in your life.
Because cheesy as it sounds, the best gifts have absolutely no monetary value
at all! Merry Christmas, babes!
Stay lovely,
More DIY Ornaments!
Hello once again, my friends! Today I thought I’d share a
collection of a few more very simple and inexpensive ornament ideas that are
currently in use on our tree. It’s not necessarily anything super fancy or
original, but simple things that you can make inexpensively and that still look
really cute! I am loving the way our tree is coming together so simply,
whimsically and somehow gracefully! Also, there is nothing breakable up there
yet! So for cats, dogs, small children and klutzy adults, these ornaments are
totally safe! (I’m… dreaming… of a non-flammable and non-threatening Christmas...
Catchy new song in my opinion.)
Jingle bells
Large jingle bells of your desired color scheme (so gold for us—duh!) and coordinating ribbon will quickly have you jingling to a visibly decorated tree!
Origami ornament friends!
We found some GORGEOUS gold-foiled Christmas scrapbook
paper and had to use it. And from there, YouTube and Pinterest supplied all the
origami tutorials you could ever need! I struggled through an elephant and
Sammy made a T-Rex, then I gave up and made seven swans a-swimming with my
middle-school origami expertise! And then stars and hearts and things :)
Simple is better for these, because scrapbook paper is
heavier weight than origami paper, and therefore can start to tear if you get
too complicated! If you want to avoid this though, you can also find Christmas patterned
origami paper! Which would’ve been way way smarter—but not as sparkly!
Golden feathers
I didn’t get these up on the tree before taking photos,
but I think they are both eccentric and adorable! I added 2 coats of liquid
leaf* to stiff craft feathers and a sprinkle of fine gold glitter on top. Insert the stems of the feathers into a Styrofoam block to dry. Then thread a
needle, stitch through the stem of the feather, and knot it off into a loop!
*This product has heavy fumes and requires paint thinner
to get off your brushes, so you may want to opt for gold acrylic or spray paint
instead!
Gilded baking soda ornaments
Just use this
recipe, cookie cutters, random textured objects, and a little gold acrylic
paint to highlight your textures! You can also sprinkle glitter on the
ornaments before they dry or use Mod Podge to add glitter afterward! Super cute, fun, and easy!
Everything else you see was either included with our $20
Craigslist Christmas tree, or purchased at Hobby Lobby when it was half off.
Well except for the water color paper ornaments and flower garland!
Homemade ornaments really do warm my heart, and adding a
few to our tree brought some bittersweet nostalgia for sure. How’s your holiday
decorating coming along?
Stay lovely,
DIY Christmas Flower Garland
I gotta say, although my childhood home is nice and my future
dream house is tempting, the little place I share with my sister at the moment
certainly has its perks. For starters, I have a live-in editor and sometimes
photographer, and can eat way too much mac and cheese and drink my weight in
chocolate milk. And whether it’s my pink bedroom or the bright, mint green
kitchen and metallic artwork in the living room, this college residence can be
as obnoxiously girly as we want to make it! And so I kind of ran with that this
year, and decided that our sweet little Christmas tree definitely needed some flower
garlands!
And yes, I know you can just buy flower garlands, but I wanted
the blossoms closer than they come on any store bought piece I could locate, and
my lighted fall floral garland wasn’t going to fit that bill either. Plus,
stringing all these white flowers was kind of my nod to the classic popcorn
garlands, which I have never been lucky to spend hours constructing!
You will need:
Small white faux flowers (I used various bunches and flowers off of less
superior store-bought garlands :P)
Little green leaves, also fake (And again, from bouquets or
garlands)
Dark green string
Large needle
Scissors
Remove the flowers and leaves from the bunch or garland by
gently pulling them off the stem. You may need to cut them depending on the flowers
you buy. Then, if you used a couple different bunches, divide them into type
and count how many of each blossom you have so you can establish some kind of
pattern as you string them on. You can see this alternation in the strand
depicted above. (I am a little bit of a crafting control freak, I know.)
Then just string them on as you would popcorn on a
garland, alternating buds with leaves folded in half as shown. How you do this
will depend on the flowers you purchased. Some of mine were strung on through the
plastic piece at the bottom of the flower bud, while others I just went through
the petals near the base.
Tie knots on the ends of the garland if desired, and
leave a tail on each end. I used this extra string at the ends to loop around branches on the tree and secure the garland in place.
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| Click here for the DIY Watercolor Paper Ornaments |
I know this project looks a little time consuming, but it
actually went very quickly for me and was a great way to stay creative while
studying for finals! Ok, and watching Parks and Recreation. (I recently got so hooked
on the show!) However, this would also be fun to do with some food, friends,
and holiday music in the background!! And if you could swing it for fresh
flowers—oh my goodness that would be just lovely! I digress.
I actually used three shorter garland pieces instead
of one long one that would wrap all the way around the tree. Because our tree
is pushed into a corner where no one can see the back, this saved me time,
money, and the excitement of being a contortionist trying to get behind the
tree to string up flowers! If you are feelin’ it though, why not make a super
long string of wintery flowers?!
What quirky ways have you embellished your tree this year?
I don’t think that this tree would mind a few more embellishments of that sort!
Stay lovely,
My Christmas Gift to You (and a DIY too!)
Christmas is almost here!!! I am so so so excited! And in honor of that
excitement and the Christmas magic and Jesus (for reals though), my Monday in
Wonderland this week isn’t the usual doodle and rant. In fact, all I promised
you on Mondays was some doodling and typing and both those things are here,
right now.
My little, early Christmas gift to you is some fun, free downloadables
to make gift tags and cards! It really is as easy as print on cardstock and cut
out, thanks to my tech-savvy sister!
Then again, could I really make things that easy? The
downloads are just black and white, and I like to throw the kitchen sink at my
crafts around here (definitely an expression, not literally…), so I also
included a couple fun ways to embellish said gift tags and cards! Really, this
is like a collaboration between me and any of you lovely souls who want to use
my doodles to dress up your gifts!
Watercolor (because, watercolor!!)
I have been obsessed with watercoloring things since I
made some watercolor paper Christmas ornaments a couple weeks ago. (My last Monday in Wonderland actually had watercolor also.) So these gift tags got a fun
treatment too! To make sure the colors blend together well, you will need to add
water to all the wells of color you want to use before starting. Then work
really fast and with lots of water! It’s also helpful to kind of wash your
lightest shade over the whole thing as the last step! A little messy, but so
pretty!
A Touch of Gold (this shouldn’t even kind of surprise you by now)
All I used for these was an extra-fine tip sharpie oil
based paint marker in gold. Because even though I am proud of my little
drawings, I think a little metallic embellishment makes them even better!
And finally, after all my rambling, here are the actual
links to download!
I hope y'all enjoy my little holiday gift to you guys! Have the merriest and brightest next few weeks!
Stay lovely,
PS: If you use these guys, tag me in a pic! It would make
my heart so happy!
15 Fun Gift Ideas Under $15
Hey guys! It seems like most of my holiday get-togethers
this time of year involve some sort of gift swap! It’s an easy way for everyone
to get a little something without everyone spending a fortune, and can be
pretty dang entertaining. And while gag gifts can be super hilarious, I’m the "lame" kid who usually puts something good in. (If anything, my presents tend to
be a little whimsical rather than totally silly or cheap!) And I really enjoy
these “good gifts” because I just love shopping for them! I also have a fun
time picking up cute little things for my friends this time a year! (Or expressing
my love with literally all the cookies.)
So in case you need an idea for a cute, small gift that’s
maybe just a little on the quirky side, here are some gifts I’ve been giving,
receiving, or desiring!
1. A classy cosmetic pouch, and sweet smelling lotion and soap! Or crazy nail polish or sparkly eyeliners or luxurious lipstick (red obviously)—oh my!
2. Jenga and a chocolate bar
(everyone loves a usable gender neutral gift!)
3. A Ninjabread
cookie making kit and perhaps extra gingerbread cookie mix
4. A chocolate milk kit: patterned
straws, a bottle of chocolate syrup, and a cute glass! (I thrifted mine for $1!)
5. Cookies for Santa kit: A cute
plate (you could easily DIY your own), sugar cookie mix, and a cute cookie
cutter!
6. A mini Christmas tree with
unconventional ornaments
7. Nerf guns! (Or a cheaper knock-off
version. Because seriously, what children, or childish adults, don’t love shooting each other with
foam bullets?)
8. A dorm-room photo kit: cute washi
tape, colorful push pins, and an inexpensive picture frame (Maybe even a
printed photo or two if it’s for a particular friend!)
9. Adult coloring book and colored
pencils (I NEED this Alisa Burke coloring book in my life.)
10. 1. Torani holiday syrups sampler and a festive mug
11. For your single friends: “The
Perfect Man” cookie
cutter and ice
cube tray (A perfect man frozen in time?! My bae, Steve Rogers?!)
12. Letter writing kit: Colorful pens,
cards and envelopes, and maybe even a few stamps! And a request that they write to you first.
13. Fun food socks and a corresponding
gift card! So for donut socks, throw in a Dunkin’ card! (Target and Forever 21
are great places to get these cheap. Also, I really want a donut now…)
14. Brownie in a mug kit: a few
baggies with brownie in a mug mix, a tablespoon, a small bottle of canola oil, written instructions,
and a mug of course!
15. A DIY ugly sweater kit: include a basic sweatshirt ($3-5)
or thrifted sweater, a mini hot glue gun ($3-6), some felt, a bit of tinsel, pompoms,
or whatever other crazy supplies you want to throw in!
What are some go-to gifts you fall back on for friends and get-togethers?
DIY Watercolor Paper Ornaments
At home, it was always a tradition to decorate the tree while
eating M&Ms and listening to Christmas music. And with tons of ornaments
gathered over the years, it usually took a few hours! From gifted ornaments to
first Christmas teddy bears, and the precious little homemade trinkets my
parents got far too many of, there was seldom empty space on our Christmas
tree. There were popsicle stick reindeer, and rice wreaths, and handprints
galore! And NOW, since me and my
roommate/sister have our own tree (snagged on Craigslist for quite a discount
by the way), the ornament making has commenced once again! As cheaply and
simply as possible…
This first DIY is pretty basic, but could be adapted in so
many ways! I think it would be totally great for kids too, because they
probably have just about as much fun experimenting as I do! There are a few fun
techniques we used, but you could do anything you’d like!
You will need:
Watercolor paper (we used this 9 x 12, 140 lb weight
Canson brand)
Watercolor paints
Paintbrushes
A ruler
A circular object roughly 2.5-3” in diameter
Gold curling ribbon and scissors
Creativity and whatever other supplies your heart
desires! (Our additional supplies were gold acrylic paint and cookie cutters.)
The basic process:
Measure and divide your watercolor paper into twelve 3”
squares, paint the paper, trace your circles on the back, and cut out the circles.
Punch a hole near the top. Fold a 7” piece of ribbon in half, and feed through
the hole. Then feed the loose ends of the ribbon through the loop created by
the fold, to make a somewhat flat knot resembling an ornament hanger. Tie
another basic knot at the top of the ribbon so that your ornament can be hung
from the tree! If your ribbon is only shiny on one side, follow the pictures
above to keep the shiny side facing outward.
Now here are a few painting techniques we used:
Pick 4 simple patterns, and using a very small brush,
paint each in 3 different shades, as shown above. This is obviously up to your
discretion, but I really loved the cohesion continuing patterns and colors
brought to our little tree!
Create an ombre wash by using more saturated paint
at the bottom, and adding water as you move upward. This may take a little
practice but never fear, you can always go solid or embrace the messy. I used
the same technique of the three different colors, because I wasn’t sure I could
extend the ombre across the width of the page! Then add patterns similar to
those above with gold acrylic paint or liquid leaf! (The patterns also hide the
fact that my ombre is pretty subpar ha!)
Or experiment with other gradients by mixing paint colors!
This is actually way easier than the ombre and almost always comes out really
pretty!
Last but not least, we used the initial painting
techniques then cut out different fun Christmas shapes! Make sure the size of
you initial squares (and therefore areas of pattern) are still big enough,
paint, then trace your shapes on the back using Christmas cookie cutters! Cut
from the paper, punch, and tie in the original manner!
As you can see, these ornaments come out a little crafty
and definitely homemade, but they totally work for our simple, whimsical, and
surprisingly coordinated approach to our tree! Plus talk about an inexpensive
project and easy storage! (I’d rather spend my money on all the cute gifts I
plan on making my sisters!) If you try this DIY out, tag me on Instagram or
leave a link so I can see what painting techniques you experimented with! :D
What traditions do you have for decorating the tree?
Stay lovely,
Monday in Wonderland: December To Do List
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| Download here |
Hellooooooo! Happy Monday!
So I try to keep these Monday in Wonderlands somewhat relatable
to the general population, but let’s face it: I am a college student and the
central conflict in my life right now is a handful of hard tests. Actually, I
feel like high schoolers and even middle schoolers from my hometown are feeling
the pressure of finals too. And even if you’re past those “hectic years” (yeah,
I know, adulting is way harder) then maybe replace “finals” with “Christmas
shopping,” “a visit from the in-laws,” or “white elephant gift exchanges.”
(Obviously the bootie-kicking you need to do regarding gift swaps involves getting
the most random, awesome gift out there.)
However you spin it though, December has the potential to
be simultaneously the most stressful and most wonderful time of the year. (See
what I did there?) And with the month starting tomorrow (crazy, right?!) this
year I’m hoping to fight this stress with the Christmas spirit! At the end of
the day, the holidays are supposed to be a lovely and relaxing time, no matter
what Grinch-y professors or TV ads tell you. So here’s to a magical month full
of cheer!
Now if you’ll excuse me, I have a few things on my to-do
list to attend to. I’m thinking that numbers 1-3 look pretty appealing at this
moment. (Or any moment of December really.)
Stay lovely,