Woodland Christmas DIYS

I have four basic themes that I like to use when I decorate for Christmas.  They are the themes that I seem to gravitate to year after year.  They are gingerbread, red trucks, gnomes and woodland animals. 

Some of my favorite Christmas decorations were from a few years ago when I had a Woodland Christmas Theme.  The ornaments I either made, bought on clearance or from the Dollar Tree.  

I made these snow owl ornaments that went viral a few years back, and painted animal faces on wooden circles. 

This JOY sign was fun to make. I cut the J and Y out of cardboard and covered it in buffalo plaid wrapping paper.  The O is the mini styrofoam wreath wrapped in a Dollar Tree Christma garland.

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This reindeer picture was inexpensive and easy to make, and the look was perfect for the theme.  I wrapped the glass of a Dollar Tree frame with  a wrapping paper print that I loved.  I then glued on a wooden reindeer head and red pom pom.

This wreath was inspired by an more expensive wreath I saw at Target.  I glued on red pom poms to a Dollar Store wreath and added a glitter ribbon. It was simple, but fit the theme. 

Next to the tree, I set up a treat table with my favorite buffalo plaid items from Oriental Trading. A few years ago I was sent some items and I still love them to this day. They matched my decor and helped with the woodland feel.  I now have several buffalo plaid items from the Dollar Tree as well.  Every year they add more and more items to add to my collection.  In this picture you can see the plaid pails, plaid gift bags, and a ceramic plaid tiered tray.  While pails and tray are no longer available on Oriental Trading, they do have these charger plates at DT that look very similar. 

I filled each of the trays with different treats. 

My daughter and I made woodland animal cut out cookies and decorated with homemade royal icing. 

I made simple candy clusters, and added cherries and cashews. They are so yummy!  I served them in buffalo plaid cupcake liners, that were perfect size portions. 

We also made some marshmallow reindeer pops, and peanut butter cracker cookies. 

  Another favorite Christmas item of mine that is available is my buffalo plaid wooden tray  I used it every year.  I did not see the small wooden slices on the site this year, but did find something very similar here and here.

Do you have a favorite theme that you decorated with for Christmas?  I would love to hear in the comments below.  

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Dare to Share #497

It is Saturday morning, and you know what that means..

It is time to Dare to Share! 

Good morning! I did not forget about the party.  Last night after I went out with my boyfriend I was trying to upload my graphic.  After multiple tries, and not having any success, I figured there must be a technical glitch.  I decided to try again this morning, and voila, it loaded on the very first try. 

I am having been working on a post the last couple of days but we have been so busy at school, I have not been able to finish it yet.  I hope to get that live this weekend.   One thing I did get done this week was add a new listing to my Etsy Shop.  

I added some Elf on the Shelf gift tags this week. I also have some Woodland Animal Gift Tags and one of my favorites Christmas Gnome Gift Tags .   

Since my shop is pretty new, I am always up for new ideas on what to add.  If there is something that you would love to find, I would love some new ideas on what to make for the shop.  Let me know in the comments.. 

I hope everyone has a great weekend.  My boyfriend and I plan on doing some fun Christmas things today since he is now finally in the Christmas spirit. He is one of those that doesn't want to think about Christmas until we have Thanksgiving.. LOL 

So let's get this party started!  Link up and HAVE FUN!! 

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Dare to Share #496

It is Friday night, and you know what that means..

It is time for Dare to Share! 

Happy Thanksgiving weekend 

Do you do any Black Friday shopping?  I only did a little bit online this year.  I used to get up early and hit the stores as a tradition, but now that you can find great deals online I find staying warm and spending time at home more appealing.

This year I think we are going to keep Christmas a little more simple Christmas activities and not worry about the gift so much. 

 

** This post also contains affiliate links and I will be compensated if you make a purchase after clicking on my links

Another tradition that we had for several years is Elf on the Shelf.  We had a lot of fun with Buddy and Joy over the years.  They are currently enjoying a nice retirement, since the kids are all all grown up, but hopefully someday they will swing by for a visit.   I did however this year find so many great items at the Dollar Tree that would make great elf accessories that I wrote a blog post about it in Elf on the Shelf Ideas and Props.

Well it looks about time to get the party started.  Link up and HAVE FUN!  

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Elf on the Shelf Ideas and Props

Does your family have an Elf on the Shelf?  We do, we have two, but they are currently enjoying retirement.  We did have a few fun years of their antics, but they kids are all grown up now.  

** This post also contains affiliate links and I will be compensated if you make a purchase after clicking on my links.

There are a couple of reasons why I am writing this post though, I know many people still have young active elves visiting their homes.  Also if you have followed my blog for awhile you know I have a love for all things Dollar Tree.  This year I found so many great prop ideas, I knew I would have to share them for the mom struggling to come up with ideas. 

If you follow me on Instagram, I post my Dollar Tree finds, and craft ideas. This week I shared a post of items that I found that would be perfect for Elf on the Shelf.  I saw so many I could not share everything in one post but here is what I have so far.   

First up... Furniture and home props 

In the toy aisle you can find all kinds of elf size items such as a bed, arm chair, dust buster and even a toilet.  Behind the bed you can also see they have a variety of kitchen accessories as well.  

They have added electric guitars recently, which are just the right size for the Elf to play (see picture of Buddy playing to Joy above)   The dirt bike is also the perfect size for the Elf to ride around the house.  While the phone may be a bit big as a phone, it could be a good size for an Elf Tablet. 

Being from the midwest, my favorite game is of course, the elf size cornhole. Your elf could challenge all his toy friends to a game.  The Uno cards are travel size pack and smaller than normal cards.  I think the fishing pole comes in different colors but it is good size for elves to hold.   If your elf likes sports, there are several different small size sports items like the goal post, pool table, and ping pong paddles.  

Here are a few more ideas that our elf has done in the past. You can sometimes find these small easels in the Crafter Square aisle.  One day we found him drawing a picture of our Christmas Tree. 

Buddy and Joy enjoying nature using their handmade binoculars made out of pipe cleaners. 

Their elf size sleds were found at the Dollar Tree, which made for a fun day of sledding. 

They enjoyed decorating for Christmas on their elf size Dollar Tree Christmas Tree. 

Their camping gear was also from the Dollar Tree.  I believe the elf size skillet and lantern are still available.  

If you would like even more Elf on the Shelf inspiration check out these past posts. 

Adventures of Buddy the Elf (week 1)

Where's Buddy?

Adventures of Buddy Week 2

Adventures of Buddy Weeks 3 & 4

 

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Dare to Share #495

It's Friday night, and you know what that means..

It is time to Dare to Share! 

Well it has been another one of those weeks!  I think the last full week before a holiday break are some of the hardest.  You know you are so close to having time off, but yet it still feels kind of far away.  This was definitely a bit of a bumpy week. A couple members of a staff just recently lost their mothers, another has a sibling going through a big health battle, with another its a child. Today one of the subs had a car accident on the way to school and was not able to make it in. Then on top of all of that stuff, the number students who either have Covid, or quarantined because of close contact keeps going up and up.  Everyone is ready for a much needed break.  While we wont be off for an entire week, it should be enough days that we can all have some well needed rest. 

I was not able to share a post this week, because of how busy this past week was. I'm sure you all understand that.  I will have time to work on projects and posts in the upcoming days and I am very excited about it.  

I did add a few new printables in my Etsy Shop.  I added a set of Gnome Christmas Tags, and a set of Woodland Christmas Tags.  I'm pretty happy with how they turned out.  

Well it looks like it is time to get this party started, so link up and HAVE FUN! 

You are invited to the Inlinkz link party!

Click here to enter

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Dare to Share #494

It is Friday night, and you know what that means.. 

It is time to Dare to Share! 

This was definitely a  week at school. We have several teachers out for different big reasons at my school, and not enough subs to cover it all.  We also had one of our elementary schools in our district  close for a couple of weeks because of the number of Covid cases they have. They will be online until after Thanksgiving.  It was definitely busy, but thankfully we made it though.  

Not only am I busy at school, but I have been busy online as well.   

In my Etsy shop, I have been selling my Thankfulness Turkey Kits based on a Thanksgiving tradition I did every year which you can see in this post here.

I shared two posts this week. I love the fun of gingerbread during the holidays, so I shared an update post on gingerbread party ideas and crafts.  

Even though we still have a few weeks until Thanksgiving and the official start of the Christmas season, a lot of people that I know are putting up their Christmas tree. Now is the perfect time to start making ornaments for the tree.  I share a post with some easy ornament DIYS, with some of my favorite ornaments. 

Do you have your Christmas Tree up yet? 

Well it is super late (we just got back from the dance) and it is time to get this party started.  Link up and HAVE FUN! 

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Easy Ornament DIYS

Recently I had a large Facebook page share my snow owl ornaments on their page.  This happened a few years ago as well, and that time it went viral. It was quite exciting to see something I made on the front page of yahoo and a few other sites. I would see my post several times in my feed as it was been shared by people who didn't even realize it was mine.   Having my ornament being shared again got me thinking.  I have a several ornament DIYs I have shared over the years that many of you might not have seen, or if you had its been quite awhile ago.   

** This post also contains affiliate links and I will be compensated if you make a purchase after clicking on my links.

Along with the snow theme, I made a few easy snow themed ornaments. 

In my post snow ornaments  I shared three different snow themed ornaments.

I found the clear ornament balls on clearance several years ago. I'm not sure how much they are currently in stores. Dollar Tree does have some this year if you can find them.  If you are not able to find any in the stores,  DollarTree.com currently has the available online in small quantities. 

If you like to paint I also have a painted Christmas Tree ornament tutorial. 

I used to the same painting technique to make both the Santa heart ornament and the Santa gift box.  They used to be big sellers back in my craft show days. 

One night after my daughter went to bed, she remembered she had to bring in something for a class gift exchange the next morning.   What they brought could be handmade so we went to work right away and at the last minute made these handmade ornaments.  She got a fun pickle ornament in return which we still put up on our Christmas tree each year.  

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Gingerbread Party Ideas and Crafts

With another holiday season almost upon us, I began thinking about some of the parties we have had in the past.  One of our very favorites was our Gingerbread House Party.  My youngest had her friends over and their made their own gingerbread house, decorated gingerbread cookies, and went home with a box of gingerbread goodies. 

One thing I recommend, especially if you have younger kids, is to buy a gingerbread kit that has smaller kid size houses. They were much easier to put together and finished in a timely manner. 

Another tip as a veteran party thrower is to separate all of the goodies to be used on the houses using cupcake pans. They help contain the mess and make it easier to decide what to use when you can see it all. 

A fun and easy craft that I still use every year for decoration is my Dollar Store Gingerbread Charger.

One of the favorite crafts at the party were these gingerbread craft boxes. 

We had a mini Christmas tree in the kitchen decorated with cute gingerbread ornaments and peppermint ribbon.  I still use these every Christmas as well.  

You can see the entire party and with a lot more pictures and ideas here on my original post Ideas for a Gingerbread party.

While writing this post, I saw a blast from the past.  All of my kids are now young adults, but in my post Gingerbread Tea, you can them when they were practically babies.. When they were in first grade our school would throw a Gingerbread Tea every year for the parents. I have fond memories of those teas.  If you are thinking of having an gingerbread party, you may find more inspiration there too. 

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Dare to Share #493

It's Friday night, and you know what that means.. 

It is time to Dare to Share! 

If you were here last week you saw that it was my birthday weekend and my boyfriend and I just attended a Halloween dance.  They rest of the weekend was a lot of fun as well. It was full of sushi, skeletons, and football. Then just like that we went from Halloween to all things Christmas.  Since I am frequently at the Dollar Tree, I understand that.  They have been selling Christmas items for a couple of months already. I have been finding so many cute things, I am also starting to getting into the spirit.  

We do still have Thanksgiving in a couple of weeks, and because of that I shared a  post of some of my favorite turkey crafts.  

Thanksgiving Turkey Countdown

I also wanted to share about a course that I took and LOVED! Have you ever thought about learning how to make printables and selling them online.  Earlier this year I took a course by Gold City Ventures. I learned a lot from the course, and I also joined their online Facebook group. Each week we have a live session where Julie and Codi the founders and teachers meet with us live and answer questions and talk all about printables.  I look forward to every Wednesday, because they are more than just teachers, I now consider them friends.  They are supportive of their students, and cheer on our successes. It truly is the best course I ever took, and one of the more affordable ones out there.  The course is now currently open if you would like to know more.  I just became an affiliate for them because I truly do believe in their course.  Here is the link to  Printables Course.

It is time to get this party started, link up and HAVE FUN!!

You are invited to the Inlinkz link party!

Click here to enter

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Thanksgiving Turkey Countdown

And just like that, Halloween is over, and the holiday season has begun.    Thanksgiving is three and half weeks away, so it's time to start planning our family gatherings.  Here are some of my past easy turkey crafts that you can put together in no time. 

These turkey napkin rings are one of my favorite Thanksgiving crafts I ever made.  They are pretty easy to make, and make a statement on the table. 

These turkey treat boxes are another easy craft that will look cute on your table, and you can fill them with sweet treats. The containers from Dollar Tree. While you may not need a case of them online, here is the link so you can read more about them.  

Brighten up your table with these turkey place cards. 

If you any leftover Dollar Tree craft pumpkins, you can turn one into a turkey pumpkin that also works as a centerpiece.

A fun snack you can make as you prepare your Thanksgiving dinner are these "turkey" sandwiches that can be made with your favorite sandwich ingredients (turkey, tuna, chicken etc..) 

Turkey treat cups  look so cute filled with candy pumpkins or candy corn.  

This cute turkey votive will great your guests wherever you want to place him.  

Do you have any turkey crafts or traditions that you would like to tell us about?  Leave a comment in the comments below.  

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