Homemade Christmas Gifts Part 2

To go along with the Peppermint Mocha Ornaments I made some Peppermint Bark. Such a simple treat to make, but it is delicious and looks festive. Alex enjoyed being my taste tester.

He also like breaking up the candy canes.

If you don't know how to make this all you need is:

12oz bag of semi sweet chocolate chips
12oz bag of white chocolate chips
candy canes

Cover a square (8"x8") or rectangle pan (11"x7") pan with foil. Melt you semi sweet chocolate first according the the directions on the package. Spread it into your pan. While it is cooling you can break up your candy canes into tiny pieces. When you pirst layer is solid melt your white chocolate and pour on top of the first layer. While the white chocolate is still melted sprinkle on your bits of candy cane. Put pan into the refrigerator to cool. When it is cool, pop it out of pan and break into pieces.


We also made a couple of hand print snowman ornaments that it seems like everyone in the blog world has done. These are for Alex's grandmother and great grandmother.

To make these put your child's hand print on to a ornament with white paint. Once the hand print has dried, paint on details to make the fingers look like snowman.

Happy Holidays!

Homemade Christmas Gifts

I thought I'd share some of the homemade gifts that I have been working on this year for my family. I have a couple more ideas, that I hope to accomplish this week. So here is what I have so far.


Peppermint Mocha Ornaments. I found these adorable little gift ideas here.

I changed my recipe a little bit. To make these I purchased 6 clear glass craft ornaments.  I used mint cocoa and instant coffee. About 1 and half cups of cocoa and half a cup of instant coffee. Mixed them together well and added about 6 Tbsp to each bauble. I used soft peppermint sticks to add color. They were easier than candy canes, to get the correct size for the bauble.

 

I printed out directions, Add 3 tbsp or more to hot water or milk and enjoy. Cut them out into circles and mounted them to a piece or red card stock. I added a bow to each with a little holiday ribbon.

I plan on giving this along with some Peppermint Bark to my cousins.

I also have seen a ton of people making Scrabble tile pendants on Etsy and decided to give it a try. These were fun. I plan on giving these to my tween cousins. Eight year old twins and a 7 year old.

To make these I found some scrabble tile replacements at a craft store. I purchased three 16" silver chains, some fun scrapbook paper, some jewelry bails and paper glaze. I also purchased some cute little truffle boxes to use as packaging. You can find a tutorial for making them here

Finally I made some transportation theme recycled crayons for a little 5 year old boy. I used Wiltons candy mold and some crayons from the dollars store. I bought a little blue tin for them to go into and a Disney Cars coloring posters for him to color.

These are simple to make. Take the colors you would like to put together. Peel off all the paper, and break them into small pieces. Melt the crayons. I put them into small containers and then put those containers into very hot water. They do not melt if you just stick them in a microwave. Pour into desired molds and pop out of mold when cool. Be careful not to pop them out on a hard surface so they don't break.


So today I hope to make a couple more ornaments with the help of Alex for the grandparents. Will post about them later. Happy Holidays everyone!!

A Happy Halloween

Alexander wanted to be Woody from Toy Story. I was not impressed with the Woody costumes at the store or the price so I made him one. The hat was his favorite part. I found a long sleeve yellow t-shirt for $3. I used a fabric marker to make the red lines on it, and sewed on 3 black buttons.The cowboy accessories were $5 (hat, handkerchief, badge and belt) I found a pattern to make a vest here.  I made it out of felt and painted on the cow print with black acrylic paint. His Grandmother bought him the boots, which he also loves and wants to wear them all the time









This was Alex's first Halloween that I think he really got the concept.  In the morning we went to kids event at Haunted Acres. He had a blast, there was a trick or treating through the woods, a maze with silly characters to catch and a pumpkin reward at the end., carnival games and face painting. Some of the props were pretty scarey looking but Alex didn't seem to mind. The place is mainly a adult attraction.

Later that afternoon we carved out pumpkins.

Mom craved a little spider

Dad carved a creepy face

And of course we did some Trick or Treating. Alex got right into it saying "Trick or Treat" and "Thank you" at every house. We went with some friends, it was really cold but we all had fun.

Robin aka Wiley

Woody and Robin

 Hope everyone else had a great Halloween!