BFF Open House Link Party #30 Wrap Up and Features

Slow down December! Thanks to everyone who linked up to Friday’s BFF Open House. I hope you all enjoyed meeting Aimee from It's Overflowing.

Clearly there are some busy Elves out there in blogland producing some amazing holiday creations. Here are just a few!

Carolyn from homework can always transform the most mundane object into something amazingly beautiful. These little box ornaments are no exception:

Likewise, Bev from Flamingo Toes outdoes the original inspiration for an ornament from Anthropologie with this interpretation of it:

I love this mesh wreath from Gray Cardigan and would you believe this is her first attempt?!

And check out this peppermint wreath from Brown Paper Packages! Looks good enough to eat:

Finally, of  course I have to feature something chocolate! Check out these tempting treats from Pressed Down and Shaken Together. YUM!

Can’t wait to see what everyone gets up to this week. Make it a creative one! If you were featured, please feel free to grab a button.

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Second Annual Treat Exchange

I had a treat exchange to go to last night so thought I’d share the goodies I brought. A girlfriend of mine did this for the first time last year, everyone brings 5 of something and everyone leaves with 5 of something…can be sweets or appetizers. It’s now become a tradition.

Last year I made cake pops. This year I made dark and white chocolate peppermint bark and salted chocolate pecan toffee.

Barks are one of the easiest candies, OK THE easiest candy to make! I used a combination of chocolate chips and candy melts for both the dark and white chocolates. For the peppermint, I used candy canes and Andes Crushed Peppermint thins.

In a clasically brilliant move, I broke my candy thermometer right before I needed it. Do not have candy thermometer on counter when breaking up candy canes and pecans! So I had to eyeball my toffee but I think it turned out OK.

I used this recipe : Salted Chocolate Pecan Toffee

I love packaging things. For these, I used ceramic mini loaf pans I found at Michaels for $1. Put my candies in cello bags, then put them in the loaf pans:

Then I wrapped each in polka dot cellophane, and finished with gift tags I made from scraps from my Christmas cards. I used a holly wreath graphic from The Graphics Fairy as part of my labels.

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BFF Open House Link Party #30 and BFF It's Overflowing

Happy December 1 everyone. Let the countdown begin! I can’t believe it’s December already. Really?! But time waits for no man, or woman, and certainly no crafter!

I met this week’s BFF when I saw a project of hers at a link party and just knew we’d hit it off. Meet Aimee from It’s Overflowing who blogs about the fun she has with her hubs and three kids and their adventures remodeling their 1950’s era home. She rocked it when she knocked off these Anthropologie Mason Jars:

As you know, I’ve recently had a slight addiction to putting things in jars and when I was out shopping last Friday and saw they wanted $30 – $38 for theirs at Anthro, then saw Aimee had done these…well the rest is history. Had to check out her blog!

Look what else she’s whipped up!

Click on the pic to see the tutorial for these. You’ll never believe how they started out.

And it’s not too late for an super cute Advent calendar idea and Aimee’s got one for you:

While you’re at it, whip up a batch of this:

A perfect neighbor gift too!

You’ll definitely be inspired by Aimee so I hope you’ll go and visit.

Now let’s see what all you creative geniuses have been up to this week. The rules are simple. If it was made by you, link it. Please link to your specific post and not your main blog page, and please no advertising or shops.

Epsom Salt and Glitter Crushed Peppermint Ornament

I love all the things you can do with clear ornaments but my favorite ones are the flat ones. I’m sure there’s a name for them but they’re the round ones that look like you took a ball an flattened it.

I needed something I could make multiples of without breaking the bank so thank you Michaels for having these 50% off. Picked up a few packs of these (4 for $2.50) along with some of these glittered snowflake ornaments  by Darice ( $1.99 for a package of 12).

Glued a snowflake on one side and cut out white vinyl snowflakes using my Cricut Expression (Damask Décor cart) and stuck one on the other side.

Got out some tinsel glitter and Epsom salt, and spooned a little Epsom salt, silver, and red glitter into my ornament. Finished with a bow from red with silver polka dot ribbon.

I think it looks like crushed peppermint.

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Easiest Advent Calendar Ever!

I’m terrible at Advent calendars, so I figured what could be easier than circling the date ? I can actually remember that ( I think!) . And what’s easier than using a dry erase marker? A trip to Goodwill, a major score, a printable and :

Since I usually go to GW with the intent of finding something to paint or alter, I am still feeling weird about not doing anything to this frame. But why would you when you find POTTERY BARN frames at GW for $.99!

Of course you buy more than one.

That and a printable and you can’t really get any lazier than that.

Sharing the printable here in case there are any other Advent Calendar challenged people out there!

Click to bring to full size; right click to Save As and then re-size as needed.

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A Furniture Leg And A Finial Walk Into A Craft Room And Turn Into The North Pole

Hope everyone survived Black Friday. I got a few things at JoAnn and Michaels and I’m going to be a hermit today hopefully busting out a chunk of my Christmas cards!  Didn’t know what to title this post because it was one of those things I made that I had no idea what it was going to be until I did it.

There’s an architectural salvage place in Seattle called Earthwise. I love wandering around there and finding who knows what to play with. They have a whole section of just furniture legs!

I also had a finial in my stash from a trip to Lowes. Ignore the snowflake thingy…didn’t end up using it.
I glued the finial to the leg and then painted with Martha Stewart “Wedding Cake” craft paint, followed by a coat of ivory pearl.

While that was drying, I made a polka dot paper medallion and cut out the numbers 25 from red glitter card stock.

I love my Martha Score Board which I use for my cards all the time but it’s great for making accordion folds for things like medallions.

One 12x12 paper cut in half then score each 6x12 piece at one inch intervals. Fold in half to make a fan shape, and hot glue together. Repeat then glue the two halves together. Cut a circle from plain cardstock and adhere numbers.

I added a little Epsom Salt frost to the top of my final.

Went around the top and bottom with some patterned tissue paper.

Added a glittered reindeer ornament from a pack of them I got at Dollar Tree.

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Giving Thanks

I'm sure everyone is busy cooking baking, packing, or traveling ....maybe all of the above. I've been up since before the sun came up and the cranberry sauce is done, the pumpkin pie and chocolate pecan tart baked, the turkey brining, and the bread dough rising. But before I sit down to peel apples and the day gets any further away from me, I wanted to pause and say thanks.

I  love this time of year which reminds us to stop and think about all the things for which we really have to be grateful. Included in the many many things for which I will give thanks tomorrow, I include you all. Truly, the talented, supportive, creative, funny, and smart people I've met through blogging are among my blessings. I read every comment left, recognizing that someone took time out of their day to share a thought with me. I appreciate that you all put up with ( and get!) my cheesy puns and sense of humor. I am so very thankful to have a creative community that constantly inspires me. My husband's grateful that I have people who get as excited as I do about how many things you can Mod Podge and glitter, and who understand why it's not redundant to need more than one die cutting machine.

I wish everyone a very Happy Thanksgiving, filled with great food shared with those you love. Thanks for enriching my life!