Christmas Time (a tad bit late!)

Christmas will always be one of my favorite holidays. My mom instilled the magic of Christmas in me from a young age. These past few years I have not been able to get into much of a Christmas spirit. I really hate it for my kids. I want them to feel and enjoy the magic for years to come.

That being said I am trying harder this year. It's hard...this year is really hard on me. But my kids make it worth it! So I will pull myself out of this funk and continue on!!

So we have been having fun the past week or so!

We baked cookies!!

We made Gingerbread Houses!

We have this silly elf that has been running around the house!

All in all we have had a good Christmas thus far! We are beginning new traditions!

I hope everyone of you all is enjoying this time of year!

Candy plates

So, as many of you already know, I am an avid fan of Pinterest ( I know most of you are too!)! I have found so many helpful recipes and ideas on there, I will be busy for quite awhile! One that I found a while back was for these really cute Serving trays! You make them out of Starlight Mints. The original Blog can be found here DIY Serving Tray.

I found the mints at the Dollar store!! (Score for cheapness in case it's a bust! ) So I bought 2 bags of red and 2 bags of green. The plan was for the girls to make trays for their teachers. This project was fun and fairly easy!!
 So we laid out the mints out in the desired patterns!!

 Here is the first one!! We immediately fell in love with it!

 And here is the Pattern Taylor ended up coming up with!

The girls had a great time and the trays turned out really good! Too bad neither one of their teachers will be getting them this year!

First warning, they break very easily! Madison was so excited about her's she had to pick it up while I was out of the room. When she 'set' it back down on the granite counter top....'CRACK' it broke... (and her's was my favorite!)

I received several questions asking if they were sticky! Honestly they were a little bit (2 out of 3). Not sticky sticky, but a little tacky to the touch! So...I read somewhere about sealing them! (Second warning!) I also thought I remembered someone saying you could possibly use Mod Podge.......Do Not, I repeat....DO NOT use Mod Podge!! Here is what will happen!!

 I will say that it is no longer sticky!! :) So next time I will use a spray sealant!

I also tried to make a Christmas Tree! As you can see I had the right idea, the mints on the edges just melted a little too much! I will try again! I have some ideas to stop/contain the melting. Don't worry I will share once I figure it out!!

This was a wonderful and fun project for me and the girls! We will definitely be working on perfecting it and next year it's on!!

Oh No, It's almost here!

Well it's almost that time of year again! You know the one! Halloween was yesterday, so Christmas is around the corner!

I will admit that I do think it's a little early to start think about it, I have realized in a family our size I should have started months ago!! Now I have picked up a few odds and ends here and there, but nothing major. Money has been super tight this year! We are pinching pennies every which way we can, but I want my kids to have a wonderful Christmas (especially since mommy will have to work this one!)

I guess what I'm hinting at.....is I need help!! No I'm not asking for money!! ;) I would like help from you all in how you stretch your dollar. I am thinking that for extended family, it will be an art and craft year! I have several ideas (but appreciate any you may add!).

I can always make personalized jewelry, but even my family probably only wants so much of that. I have a few canvases I'm going to play with and see what happens. Who knows.....

So I would like as many ideas, as you all can come up with! We are working on our couponing skills and I am hoping this will help, but there are just somethings you can't find coupons for! But if you know of good coupons....please share that as well!

I will also take ideas on making extra money during the holidays!

Don't be shy...