Everyday Celebrating

Easy Cherry Tarts

From this...

to this....

Step by step instructions on how to pull off these EASY tarts can be found at The Art of Doing Stuff.

DIY: Heart filled cupcakes!

A love filled surprise inside an unsuspecting cupcake!

Room mothers - this would make a great classroom treat!

Learn the how to, complete with printable recipe, at Alison's Wonder Scraporium! 

Amazing cake how to!

Have you ever seen amazing cakes like these, wanted to make them for your children, but had no idea or the creativity to pull it off?

Parenting magazine has a great gallery on their site that shows you amazing cakes and then points out all the details, the recipe and how to cut the cakes to make the pieces.  See how they point out what to use to make the details?

Great inspiration for your next birthday party!

Valentine's Day trinkets for GIRLS!

I've over at Nashville Parent magazine talking about these.....

Find out what they are, where to get them and how to use them for an inexpensive Valentine's Day treat for classroom girls.  C'mon over!

I'm over HERE!

Today, I'm over at Nashville Parent magazine sharing a super easy Valentine's Day dinner idea!

C'mon over and visit!

DIY: Cake/dessert stands

I love these amazing cake/dessert stands by the ladies of Bee in our Bonnet!

Made with wooden candlesticks and dowels, plus squares of solid wood and doll house trim, they are sturdy!  

Visit their site for the full photo tutorial.  If you're willing to tackle a wood project, these would make a great gift for entertaining friends. 

DIY: Snow drift candle holders

I love these snow drift candle holders from Living with Lindsay! 

So easy to make with mod podge, epsom salts and glitter!

Remember, you can get plenty of extra vases at Goodwill!  Even mason jars would be cute or small votive holders! Add in some red and pink glitter for a nice Valentine's Day vase!

Visit Lindsay's site for a full tutorial with photos!

Last minute gifts!

So Christmas is THIS WEEK!  Have you heard?  As with every year, the time between Thanksgiving and Christmas seems to roll like a runaway train and before you know it, you're smack dab in the middle of Christmas week and may have forgotten a gift or two.

And who doesn't like to receive something fabulous delivered right to their door?

Recently, I was sent some fabulous gifts by the lovely team over at 1-800-Flowers and I want to share with you that these gifts are not your everyday fruitcake.  These are amazing gifts that not only make an impression... they are amazing in taste as well!

First up, Cheryl's cookies.  Yes, they are a box of cookies, BUT... they come beautifully wrapped and taste wonderful.

I opened the box to find the cookies presented in this.  Beautiful, right?  A sparkly box.  I guarantee you will want to keep the box, even.  It's THAT beautiful up close.

Open up the box... each cookie is wrapped individually!    Buttercream frosted! yum!

Cheryl's cookies are a perfect and affordable gift.  And, Cheryl's has a cookie club!  Send someone the gift of cookies all year!

The next item I received was the sleigh gift basket.  I wanted to show you how this arrives because don't you always wonder when you order a gift, how it's presented and if they take enough care in packaging it?  

The sleigh basket is rather large.  And the above picture is what it looked like when I received it.  It came in a large box and inside the box, the basket was braced with dividers. This basket wasn't going anywhere!  (Just how you want it!)  The basket itself was shrink wrapped and draped with a beautiful gold and red bow.  It literally looked JUST like the photo on the website:

The sleigh is beautiful and can be reused as hoilday decor for years to come. It would make a great serving piece!  Drap a beautiful napkin inside and serve holiday rolls or Christmas morning cinnamon rolls out of?   Or reuse it for a wonderful holiday centerpiece!

If you're stumped over what to buy someone, feel like you're running out of time but want something special and beautiful?  Just hop over to 1-800-Flowers or 1-800-Baskets.  They will be shipping even on December 23 to get them to your loved ones on for the holiday.  Below are the order deadlines.  Make it easy on yourself and order NOW and know that something beautiful will be delivered straight to their door!

And guess what?  MyDaily.com is offering 25% off code that can be used before December 31. Just use the code "Daily25deal" for 25% off your order.

1-800-BASKETS.COM (Christmas delivery on orders placed by 1 p.m. EST Dec. 23)

 

Fannie May Fine Chocolates (Christmas delivery on orders placed by 11 a.m. EST Dec. 23)

 

Cheryl’s Baked Goods (Christmas delivery on orders placed by 3 p.m. EST Dec. 23)

 

The Popcorn Factory (Christmas delivery on orders placed by 3 p.m. EST Dec. 23)

 

DIY: Ribbon Wall

This year, in one room of my house, I constructed a ribbon wall to use as a backdrop for Candy Cane Christmas.

The frame was built out of 1/2 inch pvc.  After measuring the area I wanted to cover, I ended up with 4  10 ft pvc pieces.  I cut them to roughly 6 ft.  And made a square by using the coordinating T joints. 

From there, just hot glue strips of ribbon onto the top pole.

I'll warn you, you're going to go through quite a bit of ribbon, especially for a 6 ft wall like this was.  I stockpiled ribbon for some time to use for this project - finding ribbon on sale and even scoring big rolls of red velvet ribbon at Goodwill.  Tip:  if you're making one last minute for Christmas or you want to make one for next year, Michaels has their hoilday ribbon 60% off right now!  Plus a 20% off coupon here.

The ribbon lays flat.  Unfortunately, in taking these photos, the heat was blowing and the ribbon is moving. 

Make sure to trim the bottom of the ribbon to the length you need. You want the ribbon to lay flat and straight and not buckle at the bottom.

This ribbon wall concept would work great for other occasions as well, backdrops for birthday parties, showers and weddings.  They would be beautiful outside with the ribbons blowing in the breeze!  This red and white one would even be great for Valentine's Day!

Ribbon walls create a great dimension and texture to a focal point!  Try one!

 

DIY: Birthday Countdown

December is a BUSY month for my family.  In ONE WEEK we have

• my son's birthday
• my birthday
• my wedding anniversary

Because of the cluster of celebrations, we really try to make my son's birthday special.  December is a hard time to have a birthday.  Christmas is flooding the stores and people have a tendency to clump your birthday and Christmas together as one - if they don't overlook it totally.

This year, I've started a new tradition with my son's birthday by making him a birthday countdown calendar.  Similar to an advent calendar, this countdown will feature a small trinket every day for one week before his birthday.

This is an adaptation of an holiday countdown seen by Family Fun magazine.  Here's how I did it:

First, you should decide on how big your number will be.  This will depend on how many trinkets you're trying to include.  Mine was over 2 feet.

I started with 2 pieces of felt.  With one large piece, I cut out the number.  My son is turning 4!

Next, I edged the 4 in rainbow ribbon.  Important:  No Christmas related ribbon.

I had these cardboard house letters I had scored at Goodwill.  They were about 2 inches long.  I had no idea what I'd use them when I bought them, but liked how they looked.  They were perfect for this project!  You can use puffy paint, letters from a Cricut, stickers, etc.

Next, cut a strip to tape the toys onto.  I wanted the numbers to run down the middle of the 4, so I cut a strip of felt to fit on top of the 4, but between the striped ribbon.  After you're sure it fits, hot glue numbers onto the strip.  Make sure you space them out because one trinket will be taped behind each number.  You want to give enough room between numbers.

When it's dry, flip the strip over and tape trinkets behind each number.  I used items from the dollar store.  A yo yo, a truck, a ring pop, a top, etc. You can use packaging tape or painters tape.

Next, hot glue the top of the strip to the felt number.  Only glue the top down.  You want it to hang and be easily accessible.  For each day, you cut that day off and give the toy to the child. So make sure the bottom is left hanging.

To hang it, I created a loop out of scrap felt. You'll also have to tape the sides to get it to lay flat against the wall.

In the end... here it is!  Ready to go!