Glittered Chalkboard Ornament Tag Tutorial

I am in love with all things glittery and gold these days, seriously In. Love. So it seemed fitting to make these fun Glittered Chalkboard Ornaments (that also double as a fun gift tag!) for Jo-Ann's new #fabulouslyfestive campaign. 

I was asked, along with some other lovely bloggers, to create something fabulous and festive for the holidays and, well, this sums up those two words so perfectly in my eyes :-) 

These are so simple to make and have such a wow factor. Plus with the chalkboard component there are endless possibilities to what you can use them for...write a name, a Christmas phrase, or draw a design, you name it!

Glittered Chalkboard Ornament Tags

Unfinished wood ornaments (found at Joanns)

Chalkboard paint

Paintbrush

Mod Podge

Glitter

Twine

Yarn needle

I found these unfinished wood ornaments in the holiday aisle at Jo-Anns. These are great because they have a raised edge around the star which is perfect for glittering up!

You will need some chalkboard paint, mod podge, glitter of your choice and a paintbrush to do this project.

The first thing you want to do is paint the inside of the ornament with the chalkboard paint. You do not need to be perfect with the paint as the edges will be glittered so any messes you do make will get covered. Follow the directions on your bottle of paint, mine stated that it needed two coats and then it needed to cure for 24 hours.

Once 24 hours has passed, take a piece of chalk and rub it all over the chalkboard paint to prep it for writing.

Then, paint on a layer of mod podge on the raised edges of your ornaments (not the entire ornament!), heavily sprinkle your glitter over top and tap off, and let dry for about 20 minutes. Once dry, add another layer of mod podge over the glitter (again, on the raised edges not the entire ornament!) to seal it so it does not flake off.

And then grab your chalk or a chalk paint pen and decorate as you like!

Ahhh...glittery gold goodness!!! I 'm feeling good about that :-)

For more inspiration in your holiday crafting, visit the Joann's craft catalog here.

And be sure to use the coupon below to get a jump on your craft shopping too!

Thanks for stopping by today!

XOXO,

A Little Help for the Holidays from Kraft: No-Bake Tiramisu

*This is a sponsored conversation written by me on behalf of Kraft. The opinions and text are all mine.

With 8 days until Christmas and an additional 6 until New Year's Eve, I think it's safe to say that most of us have some sort of holiday gathering in our future! Since I am a sweets person through and through, I almost always choose to bring a dessert or two to get togethers. And when I host, I love to hem and haw over oodles of beautiful and luscious dessert recipes picking just the right one (or ones) for the crowd we are entertaining.
I thought I'd share a favorite dessert recipe of ours that looks and tastes like you spent a whole lot more time in the kitchen than you actually did, and is always a hit with any size crowd...individual cups of No Bake Tiramisu. And if the words "no-bake" didn't get your already, I'll have you know that I use simple, regular-strength black Maxwell House coffee instead of the more traditional espresso since, to be honest, I never have espresso in my home anyways. You can't even tell the difference taste-wise, it's amazing really, sooo good!

No Bake Tiramisu (serves 4)

24 ladyfingers
1/2 cup sugar
1 Tbsp vanilla extract
8 oz mascarpone cheese
3/4 cup brewed Maxwell House coffee, cold (divided)
2 Tbsp cocoa powder

Crush ladyfingers in large zippered plastic bag with a rubber mallet or the end of a rolling pin, set aside. In a medium-sized bowl, mix together the mascarpone cheese, sugar, vanilla, and 1/4 cup of coffee. Place a layer of crushed ladyfingers into each bowl or glass (approximately 2 Tbsp ), then drizzle 2 tablespoons of coffee over top the ladyfingers. Next place 2 Tbsp of the mascarpone mixture over top. Continue with one more layer of each in each glass. Refrigerate for at least one hour. When ready to serve, sprinkle cocoa powder over top of each individual tiramisu. Enjoy!

Add a piece of chocolate or even a crispy cookie and you are set to ooh and ahh your guests!

From shopping for gifts to planning family dinners, it’s hard to keep up with all your holiday to-do’s. This year, Kraft is helping out with great weeknight meals and entertaining ideas to make the season a little bit easier. Plus, Kraft is offering up to $20 in coupons, redeemable exclusively at Target, to make food shopping easier and to help you have a happy holiday season.

This is a sponsored conversation written by me on behalf of Kraft. The opinions and text are all mine.

Thanks for stopping by today!

XOXO,

Happy Donut Mail

Since Christmas is practically right around the corner, it seemed fitting that my littles and I should take a moment this month and create a laundry list of things and people we are thankful for in our lives. 

And I thought an even more fun idea would be to not only create a list of things and people to be thankful for but to give those people a small gift as a token of how much we are thankful for them!

If you follow me on Instagram, you know I like to share pictures of Happy Mail with you. Happy mail is either stuff I have received in the mail that makes me happy and brightened my day or things I have packaged up to give to someone else to make them happy. Isn't it so fun to get something...a card, a little note, even a small package...in the mail!

The kids thought, "Hey, everyone loves donuts!" and I thought, "Heck ya, they do!" so we took that happy mail idea and ran with it and came up with Happy Donut Mail! 

We spent one weekend making sweet chocolate-dipped donuts with happy orange sprinkles for some sweet people in our lives. Although you could also just buy them at the store or your local donut shop too!

We packaged them up in pretty little kraft boxes I found at Target. And wrapped them in lace and gold tinsel.

And strung a little card on the side of each box with a handwritten note telling each recipient how much we appreciate them, and how we are thankful they are a part of our lives. (Handmade with Love printables found in this post here!)

Then we dropped them off at each recipient's home to brighten up their day like they have brightened up ours!

It was such a fun activity, and something I am sure my littles will remember for years to come! In fact we have plans to do more Happy Donut Mail deliveries in our upcoming weekend plans, how's that for a fun Sunday afternoon project?

The Best Part is an online community that's dedicated to brightening your day--every day. How? By Spreading optimism, one share at a time. The Best Part posts inspirational stories, encouraging quotes, good news and other upbeat items to Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram--and encourages fans and followers to share that optimism with their friends. Because when optimism is shared, it grows, making an even more positive impact on our world. Check out what others are sharing on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.

This post is brought to you by Folgers and BlogHer.

XOXO,

Gingerbread House Party in a Box

Last weekend my littles decorated our traditional gingerbread house we always do as part of our Advent calendar. It's always lots of fun and good memories. And I love to see how the houses are evolving as they get older and another set of hands can help create them!

This year, I decided to gift a few of our friends with their own little Gingerbread House Party in a Box!  I thought it would be fun to give them a little something to do on one of our cold, snowy midwest winter afternoons...that get dark a whole lot earlier than any of us mommas would like.

These kits are so easy to make! Just grab a few basic house constructing supplies, graham crackers and a can of white frosting, and then add in your choice of fun and festive candies for decorations. I even added in a few packets of hot cocoa mix and stripey straws to keep the little architects bellies warm while creating :-)

I included starlight mints, gumballs, red hots, holiday sprees, holiday tic tacs, and holiday gumdrops along with a bunch of miniature candy canes which would also go great with the hot cocoa mix!

I wrapped the can of frosting in scrapbook paper to make it a bit more festive and called it "Cement". I even added a small muslin drawstring bag with a bottlebrush tree and a little deer to stand outside the gingerbread homes...it's the little things that make it more fun!

And there you go! A sweet holiday surprise to give to your friends or family. PS. how fun would this be to open on Christmas Eve or even to do on Christmas day!

Merry Christmas to you!!

Thanks for stopping by today!

XOXO,

RECIPE: Cinnamon Chip Button Cookies and the Great Food Blogger Cookie Swap 2013!

Last month I decided to participate in The Great Food Blogger Cookie Swap 2013 hosted by Lindsay of  Love & Olive Oil and Julie of The Little Kitchen. This is the 3rd year they are hosting this swap where 100% the proceeds go to Cookies for Kids' Cancer. This year we raised, if you can believe this....$13,778.40!!!! Isn't that amazing?!

Each food blogger who chose to participate made 3 dozen cookies, 1 dozen each for 3 other food bloggers. We each packaged up our cookies and shipped out cookies out by December 2...it was so fun to do! And it was even more exciting to get surprise packages full of cookies in the mail, definitely the perfect way to start of the holiday season! I wish I could have shared some pictures of the cookies I received but my littles ate them up seconds after the boxes were opened...they were that good! You can check back here to see a list of all of the participants recipes. I can tell you I am waiting on the edge of my seat to get those recipes!

The cookies I chose to make were Cinnamon Chip Buttons...a super simple slice and back cookie that can be made in no time at all! They are a family favorite over here :-)

Here's the recipe for you...enjoy making a few dozen this holiday season!

Cinnamon Chip Buttons (makes about 60 cookies)

1/2 cup unsalted butter, softened
1/4 cup granulated sugar
1 egg
1 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp vanilla
dash of salt
1 1/4 cup all-purpose flour
1/3 cup cinnamon chips
1/4 cup turbinado sugar

Cream the butter and granulated sugar in the bowl of an electric mixer until smooth. Add in egg, cinnamon, vanilla, and salt until well combined. Next, add in flour and mix well. Fold in cinnamon chips. Sprinkle work surface with turbinado sugar. Working with half the dough at at time, roll it into a rope measuring about 20 inches. You may need to add more turbinado sugar as you are rolling the dough. Do the same to the remaining half of the dough. Chill the ropes of dough for at least an hour so the ropes are easier to slice.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees and line a baking sheet with parchment paper. Slice ropes of dough into 1/4 inch thick slices and arrange on the parchment lined baking sheet. Bake 12-15 minutes or until slightly golden brown. Let cool for 5 minutes and then transfer to a wire rack.

*You can also freeze this dough for up to 1 month!

Let's get ready to make some Cinnamon Chip Buttons, shall we?

Here are the cinnamon chips I use...I usually can find them at Target or Wal-Mart.

Once your ingredients are mixed together, you are going to roll the dough into long 20-inch ropes using half the dough per rope. Make sure to sprinkle some turbinado sugar or "sugar in the raw" first to prevent the dough from sticking and also to give the cookies a nice sweet and crunchy edge!

Chill the dough for at least an hour before slicing and arranging onto a parchment lined baking sheet. Bake at 350 for 12-15 minutes or until just slightly golden brown.

Mmmm! These are calling my name!

I packaged my cookies up in a brown parchment food bags and decorated them with washi tape, cupcake liners, and my favorite pretty paper doilies and sent them on their merry way!

I hope you enjoy this recipe as much as we do!!

Thanks for stopping by today!

 XOXO,

Pillsbury "Celebrate More" Holiday Celebration Starter Kit Giveaway!

Hey! Remember when I shared my super delicious and oh-so-easy Chocolate Peppermint Cake Mix Biscotti recipe with you here? Well, now is your chance to win a great selection of Pillsbury® holiday products just in time for your holiday baking!

I have a pretty sweet giveaway from Pillsbury® that includes a whole bunch of their fun Holiday cake and cookie mixes as well as frostings just for ONE of you lucky ducks!! 

Here is what is included...

Holiday Celebration Starter Reader Giveaway Kit:

·         Garland Green Vanilla Flavored Holiday Funfetti Frosting

·         Rudolph Red Vanilla Flavored Holiday Funfetti Frosting

·         Dark Chocolate Seasonal Cake

·         Chocolate Peppermint Cookie and Peppermint Frosting

·         Holiday Sugar Cookie

·         $100 dollar Visa or American Express gift card

·         Total estimated giveaway value: $115

If you would like to enter this giveaway, and I highly suggest you do! Just click here now or enter via the Rafflecopter widget below!
a Rafflecopter giveaway

XOXO,

*I have been compensated by the  J.M. Smucker Company to promote its Pillsbury Holiday products, but the opinions expressed are my own. ©/® The J.M. Smucker Company. Pillsbury is a trademark of The Pillsbury Company, LLC, used under license.  

A Christmas-ing We Go!

Last weekend we thought we should take advantage of the warmer temps (yes, that would be 40 degree weather folks...this past weekend we were lucky to hit the 20's and that's without windchill!) and go cut down our Christmas tree!

We found a new to us tree farm and I think this one might be my new favorite place to go every year! It was family run, very mom and pop, and so cozy and cute.

We road this pretty red tractor out to the trees...

{The biggest and the littlest of the family}

We ended up narrowing it down to 3 trees fairly quickly...and then finally THE one, it's amazing how good our kids are becoming at picking out just the right tree :-)

Once we cut our tree down we headed to their fire pit to warm up with some hot chocolate. I love that they had such a fun place to go while you waited for your tree to get shook and netted.

Then we paid up at their adorable life-sized gingerbread house...how fun is this! I sorta kinda want one in my backyard!

And then off to home we went...until next year!

PS...we finally, finally, finally have the lights on and the ornaments hung! It only took us 5 days after the fact!!

XOXO,

XOXO,