BFF Open House Two Week Edition

 

EEEK! (Wrong holiday, I know). It's CRUNCH time, and I'm not talking about Nestle's. We have one week until Christmas! Insert Buddy the Elf scream here. Everyone ready? HA!

To simplify, since Christmas falls on the day of the week my weekly party starts, I'm leaving this party open for two weeks, and we'll start 2026 with a new party. Sound good? 

For my last projects of 2025, this week I shared: 

Cardmaking: Hanukkah Cards

Winter Decor: Woodland Wall Hanging

Elfing Around Town: Local Gifts

Now, let's take a look at some of the wonderful ideas shared at last week's party with a focus on those there's still time to do! 

Pettikoat Junction is back with thoughtful and festive Nursing Home Staff Gifts. My mom spent 10 days in a physical therapy rehab facility that also has a nursing home wing and these are the hardest working people. #kindness

Darcy and Brian shared these Coffee Filter Angel Ornaments. If you've got littles at home for break, these could be a great way to keep them occupied. Likewise they make great package toppers, or to set at place settings, a garland... So many possibilities! 

Save those wrapping paper scraps! Steph Creates shared a great use for them with this beautiful Mini Wooden House Upgrade. 

And wouldn't these Gingerbread Pancakes make a wonderful Christmas Breakfast? YUM! From Mommy Hates Cooking (but does a great job, clearly!)

THANK YOU ALL who've shared your talents here this year. Here's looking forward to a peaceful holiday and making 2026 a year of Creativity and Joy! Wishing all celebrating a very Merry Christmas. 

You are invited to the Inlinkz link party!

Click here to enter

Holiday Elfing Gifts

 

We live in a small enough town where we interact regularly with the same people. Our mail carrier, our go to checker at the grocery, our local Friday takeout restaurant, etc. Sharing some things I made to drop off this week, along with treats I made and sent to our son's office.

DIY Tumbler:

Every week, we get takeout from our local Mexican restuarant, owned by neighbors in our development. The young woman who takes the orders is always so sweet and knows ours by heart so my weekly call is simply confirming "The usual?". I love that. I made a couple of these glass tumblers which were so much fun, using DTF stickers and cup wraps I found online. This is one I made for her. Kinda hooked!

I fell in love with these whimsical reindeer that I cut apart and applied at different heights on the tumbler. 

I also appreciate the ladies behind the scenes who make our yummy food. Last year I made a bunch of gift tags they loved, so I made some more for them. 

Great way to use up paper scraps too! 

For the owners, I painted this frame from DT, and mounted an ornament. My never-ending paper stash had the background paper that brought it all together! 

Our favorite checker at the grocery store, whom we've gotten to know a bit, gets an LED candle wrapped with a festive tumbler wrap and a wood-slice ornament. I painted the background, added a reindeer sticker and sequins. 

I forgot to take a pic before I packaged but you can peek through here. 

We'll celebrate Christmas with our son in January. He and his office have had a crazy, busy year, so I thought they needed some treats. I did tins of dipped Oreos and chocolate-covered peanut butter balls, and each gets a treat bag with a hot chocolate packet, candy cane spoon, chocolate snowman, candy cane and a bottle of toasted marshmallow syrup. Just waiting on the text that it's been delivered!

These are the kinds of things that fill my heart. I think it does that for many of us Creative types. I bought a big bottle of the Toasted Marshmallow Syrup and filled these smaller ones I found online. 

UPDATE: These arrived yesterday and were a hit! 

Winter Decor: Woodland Wall Hanging

 

I love it when a plan I didn't have comes together. It came while tidying up my remaining Christmas crafting supplies and seeing how some things that weren't planned to go together, went together! It turned out to be a great stash-busting project too. 

Supplies: (All of which were in my stash!)

• Unfinished Wood Sign 
• Wood Slice  
• Half Ornament  
• Wood Stickers  
• Wood Snowman
• Mini Trees
• Faux Snow

The half ornament was leftover from another project that only needed the other half. Likewise, the rest of the items were from various projects. 

I used Folk Art Multi-Surface paint in Thicket, with a little Apple Barrel English Ivy to paint the base. I wasn't going for opaque coverage and liked the wood grain showing through. Likewise, the two colors of green were more natural to me since most evergreens have some variegation. 

I had one leftover snowflake sticker, which I applied to a leftover wood slice. I had some wood snowmen in my stash, along with some mini bottlebrush trees, and added those. 

Glued those in place with hot glue, and then added some faux snow to my half ornament, applied hot glue to its edges, then flipping my wood slice over, attached it to the ornament. 

I went around the outside with more hot glue, sprinkled more faux snow atop the glue around the dome, and then glued it to the center of my painted sign. Made a double loop bow with...you guessed it, leftover ribbon!

To finish, I laid out the wood stickers, then glued them in place. I re-attached the twine hanger I'd removed, and DONE!

Easy, peasy, stash busting pleasy! 

Sharing At:

TUESDAY TURN ABOUT #334

Vintage Charm Party #520

Cardmaking: Hanukkah Cards

 

This week's BFF Open House Link Party continues here. 

Tonight marks the first night of Hanukkah and I always enjoy making cards for special friends. These may be my favorites yet!

Supplies:

• 110lb Cardstock (Recollections, Michaels) in Dark Royal Blue
• Coordinating Scrapbook Paper
• Gold Mirror Cardstock (Recollections, Michaels)
• Silver Glitter Cardstock 
• Menorah Cut Image (Cricut Design Space)
• Digital Cutting Machine (Cricut Maker)
• Coordinating Large Rhinestones (Dollar Tree)
• Foam Dots

My go-to card size is 5x7 so I cut the solid cardstock to 7x10 and scored in the middle. I had the foiled blue paper in my stash.  I found a beautiful Menorah image in Cricut Design Space. I deleted the flames because I knew I wanted to use abstract rhinestones (Dollar Tree) for the flames. In Cricut Design Space, I then created an offset for the Menorah which I cut from the gold mirror paper. 

I attached the silver glitter layer to the gold layer using foam dots, then embellished the "candles" with coordinating royal blue rhinestones. The abstract rhinestones just screamed flames to me and were the inspiration for this entire project!

The center candle of the Menorah is used to light the other candles, with the other candles being lit from left to right, one candle each night, so I chose one color for it, and used the two gold shades for the remaining flames. 

And there you go! 

Wishing all those celebrating LOVE, LIGHT, and crispy LATKES! 

BFF Open House

 

Happy Friday Eve all! Yikes, how is it almost the middle of December already?! Hanukkah snuck up on me and I was scrambling to get some things out the door this week since it starts on Sunday night. Wishing all celebrating the light and joy of the holiday. 

Our brains never stop, do they? Or is it just me?! Worked on even more additions to my decor this week. Every year, while decking my halls, I find things that need some TLC or can be repurposed etc. Likewise, things I may have picked up on a whim, but hadn't used yet. That's us, isn't it? Finding new uses for things we already have and incorporating new things in. 

This week I shared:

Winter Woodland Lighted Jar

Easy Glittered LED Candles

Repurposed Ornament Topiary

Now, let's take a look at some of the fabulous ideas you all shared last week! 

If you're hosting a Cookie Exchange, check out this lovely idea from Flour on My Face with these Printable Tags tied to a cookie cutter as a thank you for each guest! PERFECT! 

Tis the Season for all things Gingerbread and these mini "Fake Bake" Gingerbread Houses from Studio 27 by Jennifer Adams would make perfect additions to any tablescape or holiday decor! 

Mr. Chocolate no longer asks questions when he sees a can or bottle drying by the sink. Mr. Chocolate understands where it's going to end up. Steph Creates is a kindred spirit like that. Check out this ADORABLE Repurposed Candy Tin Ornament!

A must-watch for me every year since childhood is, "Miracle on 34th Street" (the original, in black and white).  Kris Kringle is explaining the idea of imagination to Susan, the skeptical little girl in the movie. He tells her: "...this is the Imagination. And once you get there you can do almost anything you want"

This project made me think of that.  From Pettikoat Junction, Simple Christmas Decor Made With Electrical Tape. 

Finally, the Girl Scouts could learn something from The Kitchen Is My Playground and release a holiday Thin Mint collection. But even better, check out these Homemade Chocolate Covered Thin Mints! 

I can't wait to see what goodness you've all been up to this week! Party On!

You are invited to the Inlinkz link party!

Click here to enter