Valentine's Day Pop Art Print

Does anyone love decorating for "love day" as much as I do? The bright reds and pinks fill my home with warmth of the upcoming spring and though it isn't may favorite holiday, I love to decorate for it. I drape hearts and pink over my entire bookcase with words of 'love' and 'xo's' where ever I can reach. But I had one bare wall...coming up my stair from the entry way that needed attention. So I came up with this...

This little DIY project cost a total of $6.50. That's it! and it's so easy to construct. Just head to your local superstore and pick up an 11x14 frame with 8x10 mat, a package of tissue paper and a gift bag with a print that will fit inside the 8x10 opening and scrapbook paper.

Disassemble the frame and glue one sheet of tissue paper to mat. I just used a regular glue stick so I wouldn't have any big glue clumps. Make sure you glue all over the mat so you don't get any air  pockets and when you start sticking the paper down go slowly so you don't get any wrinkles (I did but the print camouflages the wrinkles so I didn't worry about it.)

Next punch a hole through the middle of the tissue paper into the 8x10 opening and cut to each corner, essentially creating an 'X'.

Then you fold them to the back side of the mat and glue down. Cut off any excess.

Next take your sheet of scrapbook paper and glue to the back of the mat. I will pull this mat out after Vday and replace with the next holiday so by gluing it all together it will be easier to store.

Then cut the print off the gift bag. This doesn't have to be exact but get as close as you can. Glue your print to the scrapbook paper and let dry for a few minutes. Reglue anything that you need to. After this picture I actually outlined the heart with the 'I' in it so it stood out more.

Finally just assemble the mat and frame back together and hang your new graphic pop art. I love the pop of holiday flair this adds to my wall as well as seeing it when I come up the stairs. Just a fun quick way to get a unique and whimsical decoration. Can you just imagine the possibilities?

The Star-said in AWE-Day 12!!!

I am in love people. I loved my tree, but once I made this star, and put it on my tree, I fell head over heels in love with this tree. All the paper, the traditional ornaments as well as the fun twists on "everyday" things, just sent my heart a flutter. But the star.....the beautiful star....well here you take a look!

It's so gorgeous! I found a link on pinterest and followed these instructions to make our star. I would recommend this to anyone! Can you imagine a cute wreath for a bedroom door done in birthday paper? Or for a baby shower!? Or any holiday!?!?! I want to try and make one with 12 pieces of paper. I will probably blog about that if I do it.
Here are a few tricks that I did, once I read the above instructions. After I folded and cut the first paper, I used that as my "stencil" to make matching cuts on the other 5 papers. That way I didn't have to measure for each one. Scotch tape does not hold very well, I ended up redoing it with glue dots. And they held so much better. Also it's a lil tricky to staple the "sides (big to small) together with a big stapler, if you have a mini stapler use that. I also took a toilet paper roll (never thought I would put TP in a blog post) and cut about an inch off, covered it in decorative paper and used it as a base.
I am in love...what do you think? I may use this design as 'snowflakes' for the tree next year with smaller square paper. (4x4 instead of 6x6)....
Here is our finished tree as my 12 Days of Christmas comes to an end.......I am in love......

And yes I know the star is crooked, I can't reach it to fix it...

Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year! I wish you a season of peace, love, family and fun. See you in the new year :)

Christmas Ornament Balls Anyone-Day Eleven

You know when I remember my Christmas tree decorating as a kid, I remember putting ornament balls on the tree in either red shiny or white satin. I couldn't let this year go by without any "balls". But I didn't have enough paper left to make any 3-D balls like these;

Origami Ball

Paper Balls

I needed 6 pieces of paper for my star and I could have made one ball....one.....and my "matching or equal OCD" issues would have been going bonkers with just one....just one people....unless they are in groups of three or just one single unit which is fine if it's a star on a pinnacle of a tree....you get my issues right.....moving on!

So anyway I looked around for any ideas and I ran across 6 wooden circle disks. And that was my "Light Buuuuulb" (said in of course Gru's voice) moment.
Here is how they look:

My youngest daughter is the only one left helping now, the other kids just want to watch the movie...which is fine...they oooh and aaaah in all the right tones for her and I :)
The star is tomorrow and I loooooove it, I hope you will too!

Mmmmm that Smells like Christmas-Day Ten

I love this ornament. Really simple, really quick and lots of pop! It's a "cookie" ornament. You know those ornament stars that we seem to get home from our kids during the holidays that look like a cookie? I tracked down a recipe and thought I would try it.  I will do this one over and over again in the Christmas' to come. It has the feel of sugar cookies when you are cutting it out but you don't get the sugar high. It's also cinnamon and I love the smell of cinnamon.

Here's the recipe:
1 1/2 cups cinnamon (a lot I know but so worth it!)
2 cups applesauce
1 cup flour

Mix cinnamon and applesauce in medium bowl. Add flour and knead until no white shows. (this did not take long at all, one suggestion, spray cooking spray on your hands, or coat with a lil butter because it does get sticky). Roll out on a cinnamon coated surface to 1/8-1/4 inch. (I used a big plastic table cloth and did it right on my table. That way my kids could circle the dough and punch out the shapes and all I would have to do is roll up the tablecloth for easy clean up). Dip cookie cutters in cinnamon and cut out shapes. Once shapes are cut out, take a straw and punch a hole through the top of the "cookie". Dry on wax paper for 48 hours. (I dried it on cookie sheets over night and then used cooling racks, worked great) Store in a plastic bag to keep cinnamon smell.

And that is it! Take a look at our pictures and see the fun shapes we used.

Once they were all dry, I tied red ribbon through the hole and hung them from our tree. The smell of cinnamon mixed with the smell of evergreen  smells like Christmas to me. Here is how they look on our tree:

You could also decorate them with decorator paste, but I like the simplicity of these "old fashioned" ornaments. Only 2 days left!!! I can't wait to show you the star.

Mom Look What I Made at School-Day Nine

My youngest daughter is loving decorating the tree. She constantly wants to add more decorations.  So much in fact that I am starting to get concerned she won't leave enough paper for the rest of the days.....so if we end on day 10 you will know why.
She came home from school with this small paper cube that she had learned to make for math. I was so impressed I asked her if she wanted to teach us how to make them for our tree.She was....gidexhapastic..you know giddy, happy, excited and ecstatic combined. No matter my power of description, these boxes are origami and I don't think I could describe them sufficiently for those of you who read my little blog.....and because I am not tech savvy to upload a video to my blog...I went on a search on YouTube....again....because I can....and here it is..... Origami Cube.
Even if you don't want to make these cubes, you should watch the video.  I was so impressed that my six year old came home and taught us this. I feel like she is a mini genius.
We added ribbon to make them look like little mini gifts hanging from our tree. Here is how they look:

  I like the wider ribbon.....

and I like the narrower ribbon.....

You decide which you like better and hey you could always hide those small gifts in one of these....it would be a lot of fun to watch them being opened.....

Mom, We need more Sparkle!!! Day Eight

I have a young daughter who loves jewels, sparkle, shimmer, and glitter. I am a tomboy type gal who loves high heels and earth tones. Sparkle and glitter really don't fall into my wardrobe selections. So this ornament idea was a wonderful compromise for both styles. It's a rock, that is wrapped in wire that are jewel tones, and hung in front of twinkle lights it gives an added sparkle to the tree that a 6 year old loves!

 I bought a strand of rocks that are meant to be used as a bead. There were 6 rocks on the strand which was perfect for each member of our family. The wire came in a package of 8 different colors. And ornament hooks I had on hand. (Any craft store that sells jewelry supplies will have the rocks and wire)

 Straighten out your ornament hook. Slide the rock onto the "ornament hook". Fold one end into an "L" shape about a 1/4 inch long. That will be the bottom. Get your colored wire and starting at the very top of the "ornament hook" twist it around until you get to the stone. Take the wire and loop it down the stone and slide it under the "L" and back up to the top of the stone. Repeat this process until you have the stone "woven" and about 2-3 inches of colored wire left. You need to end at the top of the stone.

Fold over the long "ornament hook" wire to make a loop. Pinch it as close to the bottom of the loop as you can, and then wrap the extra colored wire around both "ornament hook wire" to secure the loop.

Repeat with all stones.

Then you have all these beautiful "jewels". String with ribbon and hang from your tree. Next year I will get more rocks to make more "jewels" but these are nice this year because they will have a memento from this handmade Christmas.

Here's how they looked in our tree:

Day Seven- It has a Twist

I have 2 "hyper" kids. As most kids are hyper and get excited this time of year, I have two kids who cannot have all the sugar that Christmas seems to go hand in hand with. So instead of real candy canes I opted for pipe cleaner, hand made candy canes. Less sugar, I can teach about each aspect of a candy cane and having a Christ centered Christmas. Here is the story I read while my kids, twisted, folder and "hooked" their pipe cleaners.

The candy cane has long been a Christmas tradition. It's sweet peppermint taste has been enjoyed by young and old for years. But did you know what is symbolizes?

It is a hard candy because God's promises are a firm foundation and His love is infinite.

The large red stripe is for the blood of Jesus shed for our sins on the cross. In Him we have redemption through His blood. The forgiveness of sins, in accordance with the riches of God's grace.

The white is for the peace and innocence the Savior offers. We have a brother and friend who has suffered with us. Loved us. There are they who have come out of great tribulation; they have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb. His sacrifice for us can make us clean again. 

Finally the cane is made in the shape of the Good Shepard's staff and we can return to our Heavenly Father if we follow the Good Shepard's plan. Also if you turn it upside down makes the letter 'J'.

John 3:16 For God so loved the world that He gave His one and only Son, that whosoever believes in Him shall not perish but have eternal life.

It was probably my favorite night so far. I love their big round eyes realizing the symbolism of just a yummy candy cane.