Sweet and Simple Cookie Kit Gift-with Free Printable!

         I have another easy gift idea for you- and another printable! This little cookie kit can be put together with just a few inexpensive items from Target or Walmart, but it makes a sweet, thoughtful gift for a teacher, neighbor or friend! It is perfect for a last minute gift, since you don't have to make anything.

I purchased:
-"Cookie Cookbooks" from Mardel. These little books are so cute, and they were only $2 each.
-Cookie cutter sets from Target. Dollar Spot score!
-Cake Mate "Sequins" Frosty Mix sprinkles, from Walmart $1.30 each
-Vanilla Cookie candle from Walmart $1
-Betty Crocker Sugar Cookie Mix $1.50 at Target
-Polka Dot Paper Bins (I bought mine last year, they were clearanced for $0.25, but you can get the same thing for around $1)
-some ribbon to tie your printable on with.

 Right click on the printable to save, and then print full sheet size. You will have four labels. The front says, "Merry Christmas" and the back says,

"Sprinkles and sweets, 

delicious cookies and

treats, we hope that is 

what your holidays are

made of!"

"Sweet friendship refreshes the soul." Proverbs 27:9 (the Message)0

Even if you don't want to make the cookie kits, you could put this little tag on any kind of homemade treat! Since they don't specify what is inside, you can use them however you want. And, since they don't have a particular recipient on them, you can use them for teacher gifts, neighbor gifts, or just whoever! 

I printed the labels, folded and then placed them at the top of the cookie mix packages. I punched two holes (be careful to punch at the very top of the bag, on the sealed part, so you don't puncture the part with the mix in it!) and then I tied ribbon into a bow.  There are lots of other fun things you could add to your gift, or you could make a homemade mix, but I was going for frugal and easy, so all my items are store-bought. However you do it, it will still be a cute and thoughtful gift!

Mine ended up being around $6 each. I always think that homemade gifts are lovely, and it would have been fun to have given cookies that I had baked, but time is short, and I thought these would be fun for the recipients to use with their families. They can be also be used after Christmas, when everyone isn't completely inundated with homemade treats anymore!

Linked up at:
"Fabulously Frugal Thursdays" at A Life in Balance 
"Thursdays are Your Days" at 52 Mantels 
"Pin It Thursday" at Sweet Bella Roos 
"Thrifty Thursday" at Living Well, Spending Less
"Craft Frenzy Friday" at Craft Dictator

Glam Feather Holiday Wreath

      The last time I made a holiday wreath for my door, it was this one. My style has changed a *lot* since then, and it was really time for an update. I made this paper Christmas wreath, but it wasn't suited for my front door, it was a little too fragile. I love Christmas, but I decided that you could definitely leave this wreath up past Christmas, even up to Valentine's Day if you wanted to, so "holiday" wreath was an appropriate term. However, if you prefer, you can definitely call it a Christmas wreath!

     This is one Christmas wreath that is fast, fun and cheap! You can get started after a quick trip to the Dollar Tree and Hobby Lobby.
You will need:
-5 red feather boas from the toy section at the Dollar Tree. They may not look like much, but once you shove them on the wreath form, they will look much more expensive!
-floral pins
-a wreath form, I used an 9.5 inch extruded foam one, but those are kind of pricey (about $4 at Hobby Lobby), you could definitely use a cheaper foam one, or even a straw one. The fluffy feathers cover a multitude of flaws!
-embellishments, if you want. It looks just as good plain! I used a snowflake ornament from Walmart that was $0.98. I have three in the photo, but I only ended up using one. I also ended up adding some ribbon.
- a lint roller. This is not a joke-you will get "fluff" everywhere, and this will make clean up much easier!

Total cost: around $10

  To get started, find the end of one of your boas. All the ones I bought had yarn loops at the end, so it made it really easy to pin it into the wreath form. I made sure to keep all my pins on one side so that it had a "back".

Push the pin securely through the yarn and into the form.

Start looping the boa securely around the wreath. Don't pull too tight-you don't want to damage your feathers and pull it apart. Push each loop together to cover the form completely. Once you reach the end, secure that yarn loop and start another boa next to it.

In less than 10 minutes you will have a fabulously feathery glam Christmas wreath! You can stop here, or you can embellish it.

I removed the hanging loop from my ornament, and then I secured it with three floral pins-make sure you are pushing these into the wreath form, and not just the feathers! If you look closely at the photo, you can see the pins. I then attached a simple bow to the top.

This is the part where you will want the lint roller. See all the feather bits? Once it is clean, you can enjoy your lovely "Glam Feather Holiday (or Christmas) Wreath!

Isn't it delightful? It is definitely the easiest wreath I have ever made, and it is definitely my favorite Christmas one! I may leave it up until summer...

Linked up at:
"Be Inspired" at Elizabeth & Co.
"Wow Me Wednesday" at Ginger Snap Crafts 
"Whatever Goes Wednesday" at Someday Crafts
"Fabulously Frugal Thursday" at A Life in Balance 
"Thursdays are Your Days" at 52 Mantels 
"Sugar and Spice" at Seven Thirty Three 
"Thriving on Thursdays" at Domesblissity 
"Lovely Ladies Linky" at Life with the Crust Cut Off 
"Pin It Thursday" at Sweet Bella Roos 
"Thrifty Thursday" at Living Well, Spending Less 
"Craft Frenzy Friday" at Craft Dictator

Pretty Peppermint Tree

This week has had two special blog "firsts" for me. I shared my first printable! That was very exciting. And today, I am guest posting for the first time ever! Anne, of "Planting Sequoias" graciously agreed to share her little corner of the blog world with me today. I shared a post about a whimsical peppermint tree I made!

  This little candy-covered tree makes me happy every time I look at it. It is just a fun, simple decoration with a lot of charm. I put together step-by-step instructions for how to make your own peppermint tree. So jump over to "Planting Sequoias" to check it out! Drop Anne a comment, and maybe she will ask me back!;)

P.S. (updated as of 12/4/14) I had people ask about how well it would store. True story: I packaged mine in clear wrap, and then carefully bundled it in packing paper and put it with my other decor in a Rubbermaid container. We moved over 800+, stored it in a shed for 6 months, I schlepped it to our new apartment, and opened it, thinking for sure it would be ruined. Nope! It stood up like a champ! It had lost two candy pieces, which I hotglued on, and it is proudly standing on my bookshelf. You can definitely store this-I didn't even shellac mine. Love this thing!

Linked up at:
"Whatever Goes Wednesday" at Someday Crafts
"Thursdays are Your Days" at 52 Mantels 
"Thriving on Thursdays" at Domesblissity
"Lovely Ladies Linky" at Life With The Crust Cut Off 
"Pin It Thursday" at Sweet Bella Roos 
"Thrifty Thursday" at Living Well, Spending Less 
"Craft Frenzy Friday" at Craft Dictator

Warm,Fuzzy (Gloves!) Teacher Gift-with a Printable!

I am over the moon to show you this project for one major reason: I HAVE A FREE PRINTABLE! Yes, I am shouting, because I am *not* tech-savvy at all. I am sure this would have been easy for the majority of the population, but that isn't the case for me. However, it will be totally worth the work as long as it makes things a little easier for at least one or two of my readers. It really is all for you. ;)

This little gift comes together in a snap (since you don't have to play around with making printables!) and it costs less than $5! I wanted to give something useful and calorie-free to my kids' church teachers-and since touchscreen compatible knit gloves (yes, I'm an iPhone junkie!) are on my own Christmas list this year, I decided that was just the thing!

Supply List:
-pair of gloves for each recipient, I chose "touch screen compatible" ones from Target, $3 each
-Nivea lotion tins, I specifically chose these because 1. I love the lotion, its terrific. 2. I knew they would be a good fit for a 2 inch hole punch! Bonus: they are only about $0.89 each.
-a 2 inch hole punch
-clear cellophane bags to fit your gloves, I picked up a package of 25 at the Dollar Tree
-silver "foil shreds" to place in the bottom of the bags, this is definitely optional, but fun! $1 at the Dollar Tree
- my printables! Simply right-click on the image to download and save, then right click on the image to print. Chose regular paper size (8.5x11) to print the right size for both images.
-standard hole punch
-ribbon for tying the bags and toppers together

Bag Toppers for Teacher Glove gift

 The bag toppers are super easy, simply cut off the extra white paper around each topper and fold along the line in the middle. It looks like half of the topper prints "upside down" but it will be right-side up when it is folded.

The front of the tags says, "Merry Christmas!" and the back says,
"Thank you "snow" much for being a great teacher. All the kindness and g"loves" you've shown warms our hearts." The small print says, "Every time we think of you, we thank God for you." 1 Thess. 1:2.

Snowflake Lotion Toppers

   
The lotion toppers can be used for a variety of things-I think they would make cute gift tags, even. To use them for the lotion, cut the rectangles apart, you don't need to do this with any precision.

Center your punch opening over the snowflake and punch. You will have a perfect circle that fits great on your lotion tin!

 I also discovered that this fit great on top of Nivea's "lip butter" tins- so if you are looking for another gift option, this is cute, too. I placed four tiny glue dots on each punch and stuck it on top of the tin. It will be easy to remove, but it looks cute in the packaging.

   I added some silver "foil shreds" to the bag and then placed the gloves and lotion tin inside. I needed to slightly fold in the sides of my bag, I taped them down. Then I added the topper and punched two holes centered near the top, and then tied a bow with some ribbon.

See? A super simple, yet thoughtful, gift that teachers of all kinds should appreciate- I know I would! Now, if only I could get my "students" to make these for me....

All ready to say a warm, fuzzy thank-you!

Linked up at:
"Pin It Thursday" at Sweet Bella Roos
"Fabulously Frugal Thursday" at A Life in Balance
"Thursdays are Your Days" at 52 Mantels
"All Things Thursday" at Posed Perfection
"Thrifty Thursday" at Living Well, Spending Less 
"Craft Frenzy Friday" at Craft Dictator 
"Thoughtful Spot Blog Hop" at Ironic Adventures

Simple Paper Straw Snowflake Ornaments

    I'm a tiny bit obsessed with paper straws. I'm not sure why. Maybe its because I'm a trend-follower, maybe it is because they are so colorful, but whatever the cause, I just love them. And when I saw red and green ones at Target I was inspired to put together this cute and simple ornament craft-it is so easy you can make it with your kids!

First you need:
-paper straws in whatever "Christmas" colors you want. I purchased mine at Target in the Dollar Spot. At 10 for $1.00 it can't be beat!
-pipe cleaners, I would recommend white
-scrapbook paper
-buttons
-ribbon for hanging
-1 to 1 and 1/2 inch hole punch (mine is kind of an odd size, it's like 1 and 2/5!)

Start by measuring and cutting your straws. I cut mine at 2 and 1/2 inch lengths, which gave me exactly three pieces per straw. However, you can make them as large or as small as you like, just be sure you have 8 equal pieces.

Then you need to trim 4 pipe cleaners to double the length of your straw pieces, minus a tiny bit (less than 1/4 of an inch). Basically, this ensures that you don't have pipe cleaner sticking out of the top of the straws.

Grab your pipe cleaners in the middle and twist them into a bunch. You don't need to twist too much, because you don't want a big lump. Just enough to keep them together.

Spread them out into a rough "snowflake" shape. Don't worry about getting it perfect, you can fix it once you add the straw pieces. Pipe cleaners are forgiving like that!

Simply slip your straw pieces over each pipe cleaner. There is no need to glue.

Now you should have an eight pointed snowflake!

Cut your ribbon double the length you want it for hanging and tie it securely in a knot around the middle.

Line the ribbon up on either side of one of the straws, so it will be in place once you add the center embellishments. Add a generous dollop of hot glue, or tacky/craft glue if you are working with children, making sure it touches the bottom of all of the straws.

At this point you have lots of options. You can use two paper circles to cover the center. You can add all kinds of embellishments on top of the paper, like rhinestones, buttons or ribbon. Or you can use a large button to cover the center. Basically, you just need something to cover the pipe cleaner twist in the center, and the glue that is holding it together. I used paper circles and buttons!

If you would like to finish the "ends", cut a piece of pipe cleaner about 1 and 1/2 inches. You will need 8, one for each point.

Fold it in half, and then take the top of each side, and bend that about halfway down, leaving it to point out horizontally.

That will give you a "T" shape like this. You can place these into the straws at the end of each point. I just pushed mine in and they stayed just fine, but if you are worried about them falling out, just put some glue in the end of each straw and then put the pipe cleaner piece back in.

I snapped a quick outdoor shot for you, but since it was 8 degrees and the wind was blowing sideways, it isn't too terrific!

I got a better shot indoors. These are great tree ornaments, but they would also be cute package toppers, or embellishment for a wreath. You could even string them together to make a garland.

They are also a really inexpensive project, too! The cost breakdown:

$0.30 for the straws (3 at $0.10 each)
$0.15 for the pipe cleaners (I bought a package at Hobby Lobby for $1 and didn't even use a fourth!)
Various embellishments and ribbon were probably less than $0.25
Total= around $0.75 each


I had the ribbon, buttons and paper on hand, but you use so little of these that even if you had to purchase them you would still have plenty left for other projects! They are quick to put together, so you can whip up a whole tree-full in no time.  Quick, cheap, colorful and easy-that is my kind of Christmas project.

Linked up at:
"Fabulously Frugal Thursday" at A Life in Balance 
"Thursdays are Your Days" at 52 Mantels 
"All Things Thursday" at Posed Perfection
"Pin It Thursday" at Sweet Bella Roos
"Thrifty Thursdays" at Living Well, Spending Less 
"Craft Frenzy Friday" at Craft Dictator