Will craft for..homemade presents: Linky #18

<center><a href=" http://trophyw.blogspot.com/"><img border="0" src="http://i1111.photobucket.com/albums/h480/trophyw/feature2.jpg "/></a></center>Congrats goes to Thrifty Crafty Girl.  Her ornament tree was last week's most viewed link!

Other fun ideas from last week include:

Every Day Gameplan's super fun idea on how to deliver a present.

My 1929 Charmer  taught us that if you wash burlap it gets soft, no longer stinks, and makes a great throw.

So I've been crafting up some super cute stuff, but I can't post it until after Christmas. As I said on FB, I really want to include w tage w/ each gift that says "This took me _ hours". What have you been up to?

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Christmas Eve @ our House

 Of course, we read Luke Chapter 2 each Christmas Eve. A few years ago, we decided we should start a fun family Christmas tradition.  Here's what the kids came up:

I make their favorite snacks, it varies from year to year, but they always request: Chicken Pockets
 and Pizza pockets
and Black Bean and Corn Salsa 

They also have already requested Peppermint Bark Brownie Bites for this year.

We spread out beach blankets in front of the TV and we watch the movie ELF.  Its always on TV, but we all wait to watch in on Christmas Eve to make it more special.  After the movie, they each get to open a present-which are always PJ's. I try to find them something matching (harder than it sounds).  Last year, I thought it would be fun to make them t-shirts with our favorite quotes from Elf.

The four Elf Food Groups

Buddy the Elf.  What's your favorite color?

Smiling is my favorite.

Not pictured (b/c my son wore it over weekend and spilled hot chocolate all over it)  is one that says "That's shocking!".  I just used regular craft paint and used freezer paper and my Cricut to make the stencils.  I made these last year and the boys have worn them all year long, so they held up pretty well.

I've got something fun for this year too, but I can't blog about it until after Christmas, so I don't spoil any surprises.

Do you have any fun traditions?

Linking up here



Christmas ideas?

This is a Sponsored post written by me on behalf of Sprint for SocialSpark. All opinions are 100% mine.

 

Do you have teenagers on your shopping list? I am so feeling your pain. I have a teenage daughter and she is the hardest person on my list to buy presents for. She's outgrown dolls and toys. She loves clothes, but she is way more of a fashionista than I am, and I doubt my ablility to pick out something she would wear, much less be excited to open on Christmas morning.

Like most teenagers, two of her favorite things are her friends and electronics. If you combine the two, you get a brand new phone. Sprint is even making it easy for you.

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Who is the hardest person on your Christmas list to buy a present? If you think that they would like a great new phone, then go and check out all the great holiday offers here.  http://www.sprint.com/landings/holidayoffers/ .

Peppermint Bark Brownie Bites

December 10 was the busiest day of our lives.  We had:  church party, swim meet, piano recital, work party, and a football banquet all on Saturday (luckily a basketball game was canceled) and in all different directions all over the city.  For all of this holiday merriment, I had to make: a main dish, salad, cookies for 35 people, a dessert, and some sort of brunch item. 

I saw several versions of peppermint bark brownies on pinterest, but I ran out 13 x 9 pans.  I actually like brownie bites better anyway, so I busted out my mini-muffin tins and made my favorite Holiday treat EVER! 

 I mixed up a box of brownies.  I added 1/4 cup crushed candy canes before baking.  Then I added about a Tb of batter to a greased muffin tin.  Bake @350 for 8 minutes.

Immediately, after removing them from the oven, drop 3-4 chocolate chips on each bite.  This will make them melt, and then spread the chocolate around with the back side of the spoon.  Lick spoon-it's yummy.  Let cool until chocolate is set.  Then melt either almond bark( I used 3 squares) or white chocolate in the microwave (15 seconds and then stir, repeat).  Add a tsp of melted white stuff on top of each bite.  Sprinkle with more crushed candy cane. Enjoy!!! Holiday Treat Perfection!

Linking up here.

Black Friday, Cyber Monday...Gift Card Weekend

This is a Sponsored post written by me on behalf of Gift Card Weekend for SocialSpark. All opinions are 100% mine.
I love a good Holiday deal. My daughter and I brave the “Black Friday” crowds every year, and I usually will buy at least one thing on “Cyber Monday”, but I have never even heard of Gift Card Weekend. Have you?  It is a once-a-year event where participating retail partners give featured offers for gift cards purchased during the Holiday season and redeemed from January 6 - January 8, 2012.
Participating stores and restaurants:
 -JCPenny
-Regal Cinema
-Subway
 -Sephora
 -Applebee's
-Bass Pro Shops
-Adidas
 -Buca di Beppo
-Lowe's
-Spa Finder
 -Marriot
-Giant Eagle
We usually give out a few gift cards each year and Gift Card Weekend will increase the value of my gift if I purchase gift cards from participating retail partners. These featured offers will be available to my gift recipient for redemption during Gift Card Weekend, January 6 - January 8, 2012.
Who’s hungry?  Do you want to win a $25 gift card to Applebees?  Well who doesn’t?
Gilbert the Gift card machine pumping out more than 100 free gift cards every week to his facebook fans.  All you need to do to enter to win a chance to win an Applebees card is to like him on facebook. Gift cards will be awarded from December 10-18.  Make sure you share  your “like”, because you will be given additional chances to win for every “like” you influence.


I love a good Holiday deal. My daughter and I brave the “Black Friday” crowds every year, and I usually will buy at least one thing on “Cyber Monday”, but I have never even heard of “Gift Card Weekend”. Have you?  It is a once-a-year event where participating retail partners give featured offers for gift cards purchased during the Holiday season and redeemed from January 6 - January 8, 2012.
Participating stores and restaurants:
 -JCPenny
-Regal Cinema
-Subway
 -Sephora
 -Applebee's
-Bass Pro Shops
-Adidas
 -Buca di Beppo
-Lowe's
-Spa Finder
 -Marriot
-Giant Eagle
We usually give out a few gift cards each year and Gift Card Weekend will increase the value of my gift if I purchase gift cards from participating retail partners. These featured offers will be available to my gift recipient for redemption during Gift Card Weekend, January 6 - January 8, 2012.
Who’s hungry?  Do you want to win a $25 gift card to Applebees?  Well who doesn’t. 
Gilbert the Gift card machine pumping out more than 100 free gift cards every week to his facebook fans.  All you need to do to enter to win a chance to win an Applebees card is to “like” him on facebook. Gift cards will be awarded from December 10-18.  Make sure you share  your “like”, because you will be given additional chances to win for every “like” you influence.

Drinks are on us

Because we moved, I actually gave these away 2 years in a row as neighbor gifts/ teacher gifts. I've seen them lots of places and I would love to credit the first person who came up with the idea-they are a genius.

The tiles are only about 30 cents each, so you can make someone a great gift for very little cash.

I used some Christmas stamps and permanent ink.  I sprayed them with a coat of polyurethane.

 

Then I used a hole punch to cut out circles out of craft foam.  I attached them with Tacky Glue. Then just wrap them up w/ a pretty bow.  If you're feeling corny you could even attach a card saying something like "The drinks are on us".

I wanted some we could use all year, so I cut out a bunch of letter g's out of vinyl. I made these 2 years ago and they've held up great.

Click here to read how I used the coasters to cut down on the million dirty glasses we have each day.

Quick Present

First of all, does anyone have good ideas for sibling-present giving?   We draw names and it's pretty lame. It's degenerated to the exchanging of gift cards. I like homemade crafty stuff, but I don't really think any of our siblings do, so I didn't want to spend 80 hours making a quilt that no one wants or appreciates, but I did want to do something besides just stick a gift card in an envelope.  Solution:

 I gathered up some craft supplies: block of wood, white paint, paper, ribbon. Mod podge, and my Cricut.

1. Paint the block
2. Cut out letters
3. Mod Podge letters to block
4. Tie a big bow around block
5. Admire your work.

I'm thrilled w/ how it turned out.  I think I might even make some up for neighbor gifts and maybe even make one for myself.

I'm linking up this project here.