Category: Holidays
Create, Holidays

Easy Valentine Treats

February 9
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Valentine’s Day is only a few days away!  But it’s not too late to still think about preparing special snacks…there’s plenty of simple fixes to make a treat table pretty even if it’s last minute!  Making food look festive can be so simple and create a holiday display that’s Cupid worthy in a matter of minutes!  I love simple snacks for any time of the year.  And as much fun as fancy desserts can be, using traditional favorites can be equally tasty and often times nostalgic too!  So keeping it short today, let me share with you some favorite supplies that can transform the ordinary into something pretty sweet!

spread the love…

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Celebrate, Holidays

Year of the Rooster!

January 30
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We have a lot of family celebrations that have now become much anticipated traditions…Chinese New year is one of our favorites!  Even when our boys were little, they were pretty adventurous eaters so it was always easy to introduce new cuisines and celebrate with food!  I love all the opportunities to have meals around the table together…whether it’s big celebrations like Thanksgiving, Christmas or Easter…right down to our corned beef and cabbage on St. Patrick’s Day,  a Mexican feast on Cinco DeMayo, or all the Asian choices for Chinese New Year!  Over the past several years we’ve invited friends over to enjoy the Chinese New Year with us.  It’s a fun celebration to get a little creative and since the theme changes with the zodiac calendar, each year is something new until the cycle repeats itself!  But this holiday we kept it simple and decided to celebrate with just the four of us and place a take-out order from one of our favorite Chinese restaurants!  And since I didn’t have to prepare any food…I had a little fun making our table just as festive as if we were having guests!  By recycling my supplies I saved a lot of time and money creating a simple but fun table!  If you think you missed out on the Chinese New Year celebrations, not to worry!  They’re not over for 15 days into the new year so you’ve got plenty of time to break out the chopsticks and still have some fun!

Celebrating the Chinese New Year!

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Celebrate, Holidays

Love & Conversation!

January 25
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In addition to my love of celebrations, I also love to have simple conversations with my boys.  That seems easy enough but as kids get older it gets increasingly more difficult to have heart-to-hearts on a regular basis!  But fortunately, in my house, there’s a pretty simple solution…food!  It’s true that the best conversations happen around the dinner table…so why not the snack table as well!  It’s now paczki time, and if you’re not familiar to this Lenten season sweet treat…you should discover it–soon!  Pronounced pawnch-ki, or punch-key, they’re similar to a jelly or custard filled doughnuts and are only served up until the first day of Lent then vanish until next year.  So when we see them in the bakeries and grocery stores for the first time…it’s pretty exciting!  I decided to create a Valentine table filled with goodies for a family treat and an opportunity to savor some sugary favorites and open the door to some good conversation!  And since “conversation” was the intended goal, I used plenty of those sweet little candies to inspire the theme!  Let me share some easy ways to create something special that just might get the conversations flowing!

be mine    xoxo   let’s chat…

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Create, Holidays

Hand Out Smiles!

January 20
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My boys are past the days of creating and handing out those adorable classroom Valentines…but that’s no reason to stop making some simple tokens of love for all the special people in your life!  I don’t make bunches of love notes anymore either, but I still create some fun little gifts for my family and a girlfriend or two!  I want to share a really fun DIY valentine that you could make for kids or adults…and with plenty of time to get your hands on the goodies I created them with!  Have a look at a whimsical way to make someone smile on Valentine’s Day!

#makesmesmile

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Create, Holidays

A Little Paper Love

January 16
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I had so much fun with all the paper hearts in custom colors for my sun room the other day…I actually went a little crazy customizing the rest of my home!  I LOVE decorating with paper so much because it’s really inexpensive and you can make a simple display look like a million with very little effort!  And since the papers for my raspberry and black sun room decor were from a scrapbook supply pack, I had plenty more patterns to choose from to create some Valentine joy for my living and dining rooms too!  The other day I bought an adorable garland of glitter arrows and hearts at the Target dollar spot…it’s so sweet but I was really hoping to use some spring inspired colors for the holiday this year.   So the purchased hearts became a template for all the pretty paper ones I cut from the pad!  Take a peek at how a little paper can add lots of love…

paper and strings make wonderful things…

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Create, Holidays

Friday DIY-Day!

January 13
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Happy Friday everyone!  Valentine’s Day is just over a month away…but it’s never too early to start thinking about fun holiday crafts!  I have a really easy project today that anyone can create…really!  I was inspired by some friends on Instagram who shared how to make a festive Valentine wreath…and I merely put my own twist on it.  I love to be motivated this way…in fact, we’re all inspired in one way or another by those we admire or creations we see on all the wonderful media outlets we have to gaze upon!  I hope you too can find some inspiration today to recreate this craft or change it up to make it just right for you! So take a look at this simple and seasonally festive DIY that will steal even Cupid’s heart!

shot through the heart!

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Decorate, Holidays

Customize It!

January 11
6 Comments

Have you ever wanted to create a holiday display with colors other than the traditional offerings in the stores?  I don’t know about you but I often want to mix it up a bit and coordinate holiday color to the hues in my everyday design.  I’ve also had color schemes in my home that just didn’t go well with the common colors of certain holidays…like red and green just didn’t mesh well with the canary-yellow walls of my living room!  It can be tough to seasonally decorate if your color loves just don’t fit in!  Now that my home is more on the neutral side it’s much easier to blend in traditional seasonal decor, but sometimes I just want something different!  If you can relate, or if you’ve avoided decorating for holidays because those particular shades just don’t work, I’d like to share a solution with you…make your own!  I DO understand that not everyone gets a little giddy when the the subject of DIY enters a conversation!  But let me tell you that this option today is so easy that you could have your kiddos do it for you if the thought of crafting turns your tummy!  But I hope once you see how simple it can be, you might find more inspiration for not just decorating for holidays but celebrations & occasions of all sorts!  take a peek…

make it your own!

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Holidays

Cocoa & Cookies!

December 21
6 Comments

Well, the big day is almost here and I FINALLY feel fairly prepared for all the celebrations!  Since the last day of school is today, we can soon start baking cookies and getting ready for all the holiday callers!  And it’s a fact that we will be loaded with plenty of gingerbread, sugar, and other varieties of Christmas cookies, so we NEED to have a warm and toasty drink to go with them!  One of my favorite sips during the holidays (and actually all winter long) would have to be hot cocoa!  We serve it up often when the cool winds begin to blow, but there’s something about Christmastime that give us the opportunity to doctor them up in holiday style!  At our annual Christmas Eve Gumbo I usually prepare the hot drink…but this year I thought a Cocoa and Cookies bar was in order!  It’s a perfect opportunity to make it special with plenty of friends stopping by all evening for a cup of soup…AND some sweets and hot chocolate to wash it all down!  If you caught the Holiday Hop last week, you got a good dose of inspiration…including some festive cocoa displays!  Lucky for me, I also soaked in the wonderful ideas that inspired my own cocoa station for my family and holiday guests!  Hot cocoa is easy to make and you really don’t need much to go with it to create a treat table that will delight kids and adults alike!  So with a few days left before Santa arrives, you still have plenty of time to create a holiday treat for whoever may come calling!  Have a peek at what I’ll be serving up on Christmas Eve…

hot, hot, hot chocolate!

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Create, Holidays

Tag It!

December 19
2 Comments

Christmas is getting closer and if you’re anything like me this year…you might find yourself a bit behind!  Nothing wrong with that though!   In fact, it can be fun to finish all those final touches later in the month…it’s so festive in the house with the tree finally up and possibly some snow on the ground.  What better time to get in the holiday mood!  But that said, it’s easy to fall under some stress worrying about getting everything finished.  If you’ve got some wrapping to do, I’d like to share some simple gift tag fun!  Good for much more than just labeling a gift…you can decorate with them too!  Gift tags can be just as festive on a tree or on the table!  Take a peek at some last minute Christmas fun…and make your season bright!

more than just a label!

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Celebrate, Holidays

Holiday Party Hop!

December 16
4 Comments

Happy Friday everyone!

…and welcome to the final day of the 2016 Holiday Party Hop hosted by the talented and inspiring mirrabellareations!

HOLIDAY HOP

I’m beyond thrilled to have joined the other 18 fabulous hosts who are so completely gifted…it’s really been a joy reading along all week–and also feeling as though I’d like to copy each and everyone of them yet this season!  Not only have I gained so much inspiration for the holidays and beyond, but have had the pleasure of meeting these creative gals and sparking some wonderful new friendships!  If you’re hopping over from custom_maed…I’m sure you had a great time scrolling through her inspiring idea for a holiday s’more kit!  Wasn’t it wonderful?  If you missed it you can back up and check her out…

party hop 17

or see all the fun from the beginning right here!  you’ll find your way to the final stop on the  holiday hop at the end of my post!

partyhop 18

It’s hard to measure up to all the fabulous ideas from the entire week…but I’d like to share some simple tips that might help to make your gatherings jolly!  I can hardly believe that we’re past the midway mark in the month with only 8 more days until Christmas Eve…where did the time go?  But the good news is we STILL have plenty of time to celebrate the season!

get ready for some Fa La La…

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