Food Fun Family

The Ornament Tree – An Easy Christmas Craft

Lolli — Thu, 15 Dec 2016 16:07:20 +0000

When I was growing up, my Grandma Betty had a jewelry tree in her living room. It looked like a Christmas tree, but she kept it up year round. I loved that tree and spent many hours gazing at it.

Grandma’s Jewelry Tree

When my Grandma passed away, my mom inherited the jewelry tree, and it now lives in my mom’s piano and dining room. I love that it is still part of my life.

I don’t know why I hadn’t thought of making my own tree before, but this year was finally time. Because I don’t have a collection of fancy jewelry like Grandma did, I opted to make my tree from small ornaments, both ornaments I’ve collected over the years and a handful of ornaments that I gathered during my Christmas shopping.

I was pleased with how easily my ornament tree came together, and even more pleased with how happy it makes me to see the tree hanging in my family room this Christmas. Whenever I see it, I think of Grandma and Grandpa. I can’t wait for it to become one of our new Christmas traditions.

Note: this post is not sponsored in any way, but I have included some Amazon affiliate links to some of the products I used.

How to make an Ornament Tree Christmas Wall Hanging

The wonderful thing about this craft is that you can make it any size, color, or style you want.

Supplies Needed:

Small ornaments of different colors and shapes (they’re easy to find at the Dollar Store, Walmart or on Amazon), plus a star for the top, if desired
Large frame (old frames and thrift store finds work great for this. Any size works!)
Large piece of felt, big enough to cover the inside of your frame
Hot glue + glue gun (I used Gorilla Hot Glue Sticks and loved how well it worked!)
Optional extras: cardboard the size of your frame, pieces of wood for the tree trunk, cheap beaded necklace to outline the tree

How to Make an Ornament Tree

1. Take the glass out of your frame and set aside. If your frame has a sturdy piece of cardboard already, taken that out to cover with felt. Otherwise, use the removed piece of glass to cut a piece of cardboard to fit the frame.

2. Use hot glue to solidly attach felt to the cardboard; make sure you leave extra felt to stretch around the back of the cardboard. Glue flaps securely to the back of the cardboard, as well.

3. Place the felt-covered cardboard back into the frame and replace the frame backing and attachments so that the felt is solidly in place.

4. If you’d like your tree to have a border, use a beaded necklace (the MardiGras necklaces at the Dollar Store worked great for this purpose!) to outline the shape of your tree. Use hot glue to glue the beads in place.

5. Glue down the tree trunk and star. Note: some thin plastic may melt when it comes in contact with hot glue. I had to try again with a second star.

6. Starting at any of the corners of the tree, start gluing down one ornament at a time. I used small silver bells to fill in gaps between larger ornaments. Keep going until the entire tree surface is filled.

That’s it! Hang your ornament tree and enjoy a beautiful Christmas decoration all season long and for years to come.

Simple Christmas Cloche Candle Holder

Lolli — Fri, 02 Dec 2016 17:45:30 +0000

This is a sponsored post written by me on behalf of The Gorilla Glue Company for IZEA. All opinions are 100% mine.

I love this time of year! Although this native California girl would be happy to live in a warmer, snow-free state the rest of her life, I admit that I love the way fresh-fallen snow looks. Snow is pretty inevitable in Maryland during the winter, so I should probably just embrace it.

I DID have a lot of fun creating these little wintery scene Christmas cloche candle holders this week. They are the perfect reminder to me that snow can be beautiful and peaceful and festive (and not only cold, messy, and slippery!).

I couldn’t have made these easy Christmas cloche candle holders without the help of Gorilla hot glue sticks! They were the perfect tool to create my fun little craft. We use hot glue for lots of projects around the house, but I must say that I was surprised at how quickly and easily these cloches came together. Each cloche took about 10 minutes to create, start to finish! I was thrilled with how the finished Christmas cloche candle holders turned out.

You’ll be amazed at how easy these were to make! I picked up some cheap stemmed glasses and a few other supplies, and my project was done in about 30 minutes, start to finish!

Supplies Needed:

3 stemmed glasses of varying sizes
3 short and wide candles
Small trees and other figures that will fit inside the glasses
Fake snow (small styrofoam balls)
Firm cardboard
Gorilla Hot Glue Sticks
Hot glue gun
Scissors, pencil

Instructions:

1. Turn each glass upside down and trace the shape with a pencil on your piece of cardboard; cut out the circles. Lay out “winter scenes” with trees and figures to see what will fit best inside each over-turned glass.

2. Use Gorilla hot glue sticks and your hot glue gun to attach your trees and figures to the cardboard circles.

3. Fill each upturned glass with a small amount of fake snow.

4. With the “scenes” sitting on a flat surface very close to the corresponding glass, run a consistent bead of hot glue along the entire circle. Quickly and carefully turn it upside down and place on top of the matching glass, Press gently but firmly so that cardboard circle adheres to the glass. Run another bead of hot glue around the outside of the glass where the cardboard and the lip of the glass meet. Let dry upside down.

5. Repeat for the remaining glasses. Allow the glue to cool completely before turning the glasses upside down (your cute winter scene will now be right side up!). Shake gently so that the fake snow falls to the “ground” of your cloche.

6. Place a candle on the base of each overturned glass. Enjoy!

What makes Gorilla Hot Glue so Amazing:

5X MORE DURABLE – For projects that last
WEATHER RESISTANT – For indoor and outdoor use
ALL TEMPERATURE- Safe for both high and low temperature glue guns
HIGH TEMPERATURE FOR STRONG BONDING: Wood, Plastic, Metal, Glass and More!
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45 SECOND EXTENDED WORKING TIME
VERSATILE – Works on hard to bond surfaces like metal and glass.
IMPACT TOUGH®

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Hashtags: #GorillaTough and #GorillaOfCourse

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DIY Peppermint Bath Bomb Ornaments

Lolli — Tue, 15 Nov 2016 06:00:30 +0000

I love making my own bath and beauty products, not only for my own benefit, but to give as gifts to friends and family. I use my DIY sugar scrubs every single day in the shower (they are amazing for cleaning and moisturizing my face, and my homemade sugar scrub makes the best shaving “cream” ever!).

My youngest son, even though he’s 11 now, still prefers taking baths, and I admit that I do love a nice relaxing bath (especially when I’ve got the house to myself and I can relax and soak for as long as I’d like!). There’s nothing more soothing that a hot bath and a fizzing bath bomb.

This week, I made some peppermint bath bombs, and because they holidays are coming up soon, I decided to form them in some fun and festive clear ball ornaments. Not only do the pop-together ornament balls make an ideal mold for bath bombs, but the ornaments themselves make an adorable gift “package.”

If you’ve never made fizzy bath bombs before, here’s what you need to know: when baking soda and citric acid are mixed together and then added to water, a chemical reaction occurs. As the bath bomb dissolves, the reaction between the baking soda, citric acid, and water creates carbon dioxide, which results in lots of bubbles. Those bubbles not only make the water feel fizzy, but they release the soothing scent of the peppermint essential oils into the air, too.

Peppermint is not only one of my favorite scents of the holidays, but it is one of my favorite scents year-round. I especially love peppermint essential oils for soothing a headache or helping clear or calm my sinuses, which is a constant problem for me during the winter months. If peppermint is not your thing, or you’d just like to shake things up a bit and make a different scent, you can use any essential oils or leave them out altogether.

Recommended: for an even more festive scent, try Candy Cane essential oil blend, which combines peppermint, lavender, orange, and vanilla. It’s heavenly!

Ready to see how to make your own bath bombs?

Yum

DIY Peppermint Bath Bomb Ornaments

Ingredients

1 cup baking soda
1/2 cup citric acid (where to buy)
1/2 cup cornstarch
1/2 Tbsp almond oil (you can use coconut oil as well)
15 drops peppermint essential oil (where to buy)
Spray bottle with water
Plastic snap-together ornaments (where to buy)

Instructions

Combine dry ingredients in a small mixing bowl; mix well. Add almond oil and essential and stir. Spray a small amount of water (4-5 squirts) on the surface of the dry mixture. Stir. Keep adding a few quirts and mixing until you have a consistency that sticks together (kind of like moon sand) when you pinch the powder together. You only need to use a small amount of water total (about a half teaspoon or less).
Scoop mixed bath bomb ingredients into both sides of the plastic ornament and pack down. Leave a little extra scooped on top so that when you carefully fit both sides of the ball together, the bath bomb is packed in tightly. The more tightly packed your ingredients are, the better your ornament balls will stay together once you open you bath bomb.
Let bath bombs dry for several hours or overnight before opening. Store bath bombs inside ornaments in a cool, dry place until ready to use.
To use: drop a bath bomb into your hot bath water and enjoy the fizz and the scent!

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A couple of helpful notes:

Bath bombs will stick together when they’re packed tightly enough together, but be warned: they are VERY delicate! It’s best to store them inside the plastic ornaments until ready to use.
You can use half of a bath bomb by carefully sliding the two halves apart and setting one aside to use later. Again, bath bombs tend to be delicate so it’s fairly easy to break them apart at the half mark. Half a bath bomb was plenty for my youngest son.

Peppermint essential oil is a “hot” oil, and I would highly recommend avoiding getting any of the oils in your eyes (and that includes rubbing your eyes with your hand safter soaking them in the bath).
Citric acid can be found in the canning section at many grocery stores and Walmart. However, it’s hard to find in stores in the winter. I highly recommend ordering some on Amazon and save yourself a trip around town.

Be sure to check out these other great Christmas themed DIY projects, too! Be sure to search the #DIYDivas hashtag to see past projects.

Views from the Ville – Mini Clay Pot DIY Reindeer
Style on Main – Kiss Me Under the Mistletoe Printable
Upstate Ramblings – Grape Pie
Busy Creating Memories – Easy Snowman Ornaments
How Was Your Day? – Be In Good Cheer Christmas Printable
Mommy Snippets – Festive Travel-Sized Calm Down Bottle for Kids

Woodland Christmas Crackers: Easy DIY Craft

Jody — Thu, 17 Dec 2015 15:33:13 +0000

Christmas Crackers are a fun, simple, and inexpensive way to add a little treat to your kids’ table, Christmas Tree, or Christmas packages.

Now, if you have never heard of Christmas Crackers, here is a quick lesson for you – They were invented in the UK in the mid 1800’s by Tom Smith, a London Sweet Maker. Today, a Christmas Cracker is traditionally given next to your Christmas dinner plate. While they used to be quite fancy and much larger, these simple tissue paper ones are easier to put together but just as cute.

You need just a few craft supplies that are probably already laying around your house and of course some small candy and trinkets to fill them with. These can be made for children but easily modified for a fun adult party favor too.

5.0 from 2 reviews

Woodland Christmas Crackers: Easy DIY Craft

Author: Lolli

Ingredients

Empty toilet paper rolls
Tissue paper (you can also use wrapping paper)
Ribbon or twine
Stickers
Small items for filing, such as individually wrapped candy, glitter, confetti, small toys, jokes, quotes, barrettes or fortunes on slips of paper

Instructions

Carefully cut empty paper rolls in half.
Cut tissue paper to 8”- 10”, I like leave a generous amount of paper on each end for tying off.
Hold paper rolls together and place on one end of 2 layers of tissue paper.
Fill rolls with trinkets, candy, glitter,etc..
Roll away from you, tightly.
Tie off each end with curling ribbon or twine.
To make it a bit easier to break open the cracker take something with a very small point like the end of a metal coat hanger, or this scrapbook piercing tool like I used and poke small holes all around the center where your two halves join.
Decorate with stickers, drawings, or glitter glue.

Our Christmas tree and home decor is woodsy so I thought it would be fun to make them match with our theme. You could make yours with any theme or color scheme. And since they are so simple to make, they would be a perfect kid’s craft – let the kids put together their own Christmas crackers for friends or siblings.

Here are the visual steps:

Cut paper rolls in half

Fill with goodies and wrap in tissue paper

Tie the ends with ribbon or twine

Decorate crackers and then carefully poke holes in the paper where the 2 halves meet to make it easier to break apart

That’s it! How easy is that?

DIY Holiday Teacher Wreath #HandmadeHolidays

Lolli — Wed, 17 Dec 2014 16:00:26 +0000

I struggle each year to find an original holiday gift for my kids’ teachers that they will appreciate and be able to use. This year, I had the opportunity to create a fun holiday wreath for my youngest son’s elementary school teacher with supplies from Staples, and I am so excited to share it with you before we share it with his teacher. This post is sponsored by Staples but all thoughts and opinions are my own.

Around this time of year, I hear from a lot of teachers that their classroom supplies are running low. At the start of the school year, classroom donations are on everyone’s minds, but by the time winter break rolls around, a lot of those supplies have been used up…and no one is thinking about restocking them. While gifting a teacher a package of pencils and dry erase markers is not the most exciting holiday present, I know that supplies for the classroom are appreciated.

I decided to create a wreath filled with teacher supplies, based loosely on the “diaper cake” idea. Ordinary gift. Fun presentation. And if it’s given early enough in the season, it can be a fun classroom decoration to ring in the holiday spirit. What’s better than a handmade gift that’s useful, too?

DIY Holiday Teacher Wreath

Supplies Needed:

The greatest thing about a DIY gift like this is that you can customize it for the needs and style of your teacher. Staples has just about everything you could ever dream of for a classroom, so there’s plenty to choose from.

Wreath (you can make your own fresh pine wreath with clippings from your Christmas tree or pick up a fake wreath at the store)
Red and green binder clips, medium size
Twine or ribbon
Large bow
Paper clips (I used red, green, and white for a festive look)
Assorted classroom supplies
Chalkboard tape (optional)
Chalkboard pens (optional)

How To Make a Holiday Teacher Wreath:

1 – Gather school supplies. Tie a piece of twine on each item so that they can be easily attached to the wreath with the binder clips.

2 – Optional: I covered packaged of sticky note pads with chalkboard tape and drew holiday messages and designs on them to decorate the wreath.

3 – Attach items around your wreath using binder clips.
4 – String a “garland” of paper clips and weave it around the wreath.
5 – Finish off with a large bow, handmade or purchased at Staples.

I am so happy with how our wreath turned out, and I can’t wait for AJ to give it to his teacher! Check out more fun DIY holiday ideas for decorating, gifting, and more by searching hashtag #HandmadeHolidays on social media and by checking out Staples’ DIY Holiday Pinterest board.

DIY Reusable Fabric Gift Bags

Lolli — Tue, 02 Dec 2014 17:46:57 +0000

Several years ago, I got some reusable fabric gift bags, and every holiday and birthday since then I’ve wished that I had more of them. I spend so much time – hours – every Christmas wrapping dozens (hundreds?) of presents for family and friends. I waste so much wrapping paper that ends up being ripped up and thrown out on Christmas morning. It’s a waste and an unnecessary cost.

This holiday season, I decided to bite the bullet and make myself a set of fabric gift bags. I’m not an accomplished seamstress (truthfully, sewing machines stress me out a little) but these gift bags are simple enough for even the novice sewer. Believe me – if I can handle them, anyone can. I would recommend this project to those who have at least a basic familiarity with a sewing machine.

How to make Fabric Gift Bags

I started out by buying 4 yards of fabric (1 yard each of 4 Christmasy fabrics) and lots and lots of coordinating ribbon (one 9-yard spool of ribbon makes 4-5 ribbon-ties). Then I whipped out my sewing machine and spent a Saturday hard at work.

1. CUT – Cut fabric for your bags. I tried a variety of sizes from each yard of material. I always started off with one large bag and then cut a set of smaller bags with the remaining fabric. TIP: use a rotary cutter and a fabric cutting mat to make this process easiest.

Sample sizes (in inches) using one yard of fabric –
15×20, 10×20 (2), 9×20 (2), 6 1/2 x22 (2)
15×30, 14×15, 9×14 (3), 12 1/2×22
16×22 (2), 12×22, 11×12 (2), 8 1/4×28, 8 1/4×16
15×22 (2), 10×21 (2), 12×18, 12/12×24

Note: the longer side is the side that will be folded and sewn together to make the bag, so a 15×20 inch piece of fabric will make a 15×10 inch bag (minus some space for the seams).

2. IRON – Decide which side of the fabric will be the top/open part of your bag. Fold over about 1/2 an inch and iron the seam down so that it’s easier to sew.

3. SEW – Sew the top seam down, then, with wrong side of fabric facing out, sew the remaining two sides together to form a bag. Turn right side out.

4. RIBBON – Cut length of ribbon (between 22 and 28 inches, depending on how long you like your bows), and tack one ribbon on to each bag. This can be done with a quick back and forth on the sewing machine or by hand with a few quick stitches.

That’s it! Each yard of fabric (which was under $5) yielded 6-7 gift bags. Not only are the a great “green” alternative to wrapping paper, but they are perfect for those awkwardly-shaped gifts that are hard to figure out how to wrap. Plus, the fabric makes for a very cute stand-out present under the tree.

Another tip: make reusable gift tags to attach to the ribbons to let people know who gifts are for and from. I’ll be adding a fun gift tag tutorial soon!

NOEL Blocks Christmas Craft

Lolli — Mon, 24 Nov 2014 14:53:57 +0000

Earlier this month, my daughter and I joined a few friends for a Christmas craft night and had an absolute blast crafting together (I don’t do it often enough!). Last week, I shared the super-easy Christmas Countdown Whiteboard craft and today I’m excited to share how we made these cute Noel blocks.

How to make Christmas Noel Blocks:

Supplies:

4 pieces of 2×4 wood blocks of various heights (mine were 4 1/2 inches, 5 1/2 inches, and two 6 1/4 inches), sanded
4 pieces of festive scrapbook paper, cut slightly smaller than the wood blocks

Acrylic paint
2 foam craft brushes
Die cut letters: NOEL
Buttons (I used 8)
Ribbon (cut to fit your blocks)
Mod podge
Hot glue gun and glue

Instructions:

Paint all sides of your blocks and allow to dry.

Using a fresh brush, paint one side of each painted block with a thin layer of mod podge. Place scrapbook paper on top of wet mod podge and press down to smooth. Paint more mod podge onto the back side of each of the letters and adhere to the scrapbook paper.

Cover the entire block front with more mod podge to seal the paper and letter to the block, making sure to smooth out any bubbles or bumps that may appear. It is not necessary to cover the rest of the block with mod podge, but you may want to paint a single layer over the entire block for an even finish.

When the mod podge is dry, add buttons using a hot glue gun. Tie ribbons on the tops of the tallest blocks and trim the edges.

That’s it! It’s so easy! Your blocks can be any size you like (I just added the size I used above), any color (or colors) you like to match your decor. Heck, you could even add more blocks to create different word combinations.

Enjoy….and Merry Christmas!

Easy Christmas Countdown Frame Craft

Lolli — Tue, 18 Nov 2014 15:16:16 +0000

The other night, my daughter and I got together with a group of “crafty ladies” (how Reese described us) to make a few Christmas crafts. Crafting with friends has got to be one of the best ways to spend an evening (especially when that evening also includes home baked goodies). I love making crafts, but I’m not very creative when it comes to figuring out what to do. But give me an idea and some supplies and I’ll go to town.

The first craft that I made during our Christmas craft night was just about as easy as a craft can get. What’s better…it can be customized for any time of year by simply swapping out the scrapbook paper behind the glass.

Here’s what you need to make this Christmas Countdown Frame:

A frame (any size, any color. Dollar store frames work great!)
One 8×10 piece of scrapbook paper (choose color and design to go with your decor)
One piece of ribbon (4-6 inches long)
Flowers (I used spiraled twine “flowers”)
Buttons
Dry erase marker
One pair of self-sticking velcro dots
Hot glue

How to make an Easy Christmas Countdown Frame:

Using a hot glue gun, attach your flowers and buttons to the front of the frame.
Remove the back of the frame and attach the ribbon to the inside-top of the back with a small amount of hot glue. Press and let set. Secure the ribbon with criss-crossed staples.

Place the scrapbook paper in the frame and replace the backing.
Place one velcro dot in the middle of the top of the frame and place the matching half on the dry erase marker.

Use the marker to write your Christmas Countdown (or any fun message you choose) on the glass. Wipe clean with a dry napkin, paper towel, or cloth and start over as often as you like!

That’s it! Easy peasy!

Now…can you believe we’re a little over a month away from Christmas? I need much more time than that to get ready!