Countdown to Christmas - Reeses Cup Reindeer

I made these Reeses Cup Reindeer a few years back with my kids.  I had forgotten about them, until I was going through some old blog posts. My kids loved them!  They are easy to make, and a big hit especially with people who love Reeses Cups.  

What you will need 

Reeses cups - regular size 

Reeses cups - mini size 

Red M & Ms 

small pretzels 

candy eyes 

a few pieces of chocolate to melt 

Melt a few pieces of chocolate in a small cup to use as chocolate glue. I used four chocolate kisses and melted them in the microwave.  I started with 20 seconds, stirred, and then added a few more seconds. 

Using the chocolate glue, I attached a mini Reeses cup for the snout, a red M & M for the nose, and two candy eyes.  I left the wrapper on  during this step to minimize the melting while handling the chocolate

Remove the top of the wrapper, and use a toothpick to make two holes for the pretzel antlers.  

To make the antlers, I broke the pretzels in to candy cane shapes.   I then dipped the end of the pretzels into the chocolate glue and put in the premade hole. 

The Reeses Cups got a little bit soft while working with it, so I placed them in the fridge to chill for a few minutes.  We took them back out, and they quickly disappeared! 

** this post contains affiliate links 

If you are looking for some Christmas gift ideas for your favorite baker, I found some really nice things you might be interested in over on Amazon. 

These Gluten Free Sprinkles are gorgeous and you get a lot of them.  They come in several variations including this one with mini gingerbread. 

This 4 pack of Buffalo Plaid Christmas Baking Aprons are so cute!  One thing nice about a four pack, you can break it up into multiple gifts, making each one a very affordable gift. 

If you know someone who likes to make candy, this 8 pc Silicone Christmas Candy Mold Set is currently under $10.  

Lastly,  this Nordic Ware Holiday Mini Loaves Pan can be used to make several gifts or treats at one time.  I love all the details in each of the loaves.  Bonus, it is currently on sale! 

Now for one more last minute  holiday tip.  If you go to McDonalds, I just heard of a new amazing sweepstakes they are starting very soon  They are giving out multiple McGold Cards which gives the owner free food at McDonalds for 50 years.  Yes, that says 50 years.  The SZN for Sharing Sweepstakes will be December 5th-20th on their mobile app.  You will find daily deals, special merch, and a chance to win a special McGold card.  

 

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Countdown to Christmas- Snow Owl Ornaments

A few years ago an ornament I made back in 2013 went viral.  It was so interesting seeing my post everywhere for about a week.  Yahoo even picked it up, and made my photo a cover to one of it's posts.  On my own Facebook page, I saw several people share the post, even without knowing it was from my website. 

These snow owl ornaments are now special to me and the stars of my Woodland themed Christmas tree, which you can see in this post Woodland Christmas DIYs. 

All you need to make these ornaments are cardboard tubes, paint, glitter paper, cardstock and hot glue.  

The first thing I did when making the ornaments was to paint the cardboard tubes white.  

 

Once the tubes were dry, I folded the tops and bottoms in to form points on both the top and the bottom of the owl.  

This is what it looks like when you are folding the tube.  Fold one side over first, and then the other.  

The best way to make the eyes and feathers of the owls is with a  hole punch. I think I got mine at one of the local craft stores, I did find these set of three sizes over on Amazon.  The  two biggest circles you need for the owl is for the whites of it's eyes.  

Using a smaller hole punch (I think this was 3/8"), I cut out two black circles for the eyes, and several circles for the body.  I layered 15-16 circles made from glitter cardstock and glued them the body.  I also cut out the wings out of the glitter cardstock, and glued them to the sides of the owls.

I used half of a gold pipe cleaner to hang my owl.  I folded it into a loop and then added some hot glue to the back of the owl. 

The last step to finish up the owl ornaments is to add a small triangle beak, and the small white dot on the owl's eyes. 

Don't they look pretty on the Christmas tree, and they cost very little to make since all you need is cardstock. 

Now for my money saving tips of the day.. 

Have you checked out any of the Cyber Monday deals yet today?   I have been watching for some new craft items to add to my Christmas wish list that I could really use in my craft room.  

Have you seen these handy heat guns used by DIYers on crafting reels on Instagram and Tik Tok.  Well they are perfect for you want your paint to dry quickly or when you want to shrink wrap a gift.  I would love to have one for when I am painting projects. 

If you like to create gnomes like I do, you might be interested in this 36 pc gnome kit , with nosed and faux fur beards of different colors. I like that the beards the little gnome noses are ready to use. 

Probably the most useful item on my Christmas list is this Chandler Full Size 60W glue gun with stand. Several of the crafters that I watch on YouTube have this glue gun, and it is a best seller on Amazon. Not only would it do what I needed it to do, but it looks really pretty too.  

What crafting items are on your wish list?  

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The Dare to Share Saturday Party

 

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

It is time to Dare to Share! 

Happy Thanksgiving Weekend! 

I hope everyone is having a great holiday weekend.  

We have had a very nice weekend so far. We had our first of two Thanksgiving meals on Thursday. Tonight we went to a tree lighting festival in a nearby town.  Saturday is the BIG game (Ohio State versus Michigan), and I get to see one of my childhood best friends. Then on Sunday, we will have our second Thanksgiving. I can technically add Monday to the weekend too, because I will be making my favorite holiday meal Leftover Thanksgiving Pizza.

This week I was very busy.  I shared several posts 

such as my Easy Turkey Votive and Air Fryer Potato Skins.  The potato skins are a great appetizer for those football games and holiday get togethers.  

Another recipe I shared this week was my Slow Cooker Mashed Potatoes. Making mashed potatoes in the slow cooker is so easy, and my kids love them this way. 

On Wednesday I shared our last minute grocery shopping trip, and some really good deals in my post Are You Ready?

Earlier today I shared my DIY Christmas Fireplace Mantel.  When we moved from a house to an apartment several years ago, we no longer had a fireplace. While it was not the same as what we were used to, it was a good inexpensive alternative.  

Over on my Etsy Shop  I have been very busy getting ready for the Christmas season.  I have added Christmas trivia, Christmas Riddle Me This for kids, Letters from Santa, a Christmas Planner, Gift Tags, and Treat Bag Toppers with a bonus recipe for magic reindeer corn.  I have several most listings in the works that will be listed in the next week. 

Now that you have seen everything I have been up to. I would love to see what you are up to. 

It's 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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Countdown to Christmas - DIY Christmas Fireplace Mantle

 When we had to move from our house with a fireplace to an apartment in 2015, we had to adjust to a change to our traditions. One of those traditions was hanging our stocking on the mantle for Christmas Eve.  We wanted to continue our traditions as much as possible so I decided to DIY a mantle. 

Since we had just moved a few months before, we still have some moving boxes on hand. I used for small size moving boxes (16 x 12 x 12) from Lowes to make the sides of the fireplace.  I taped them shut so that the sides were even. 

** this post contains affiliate links 

I wanted to make my fireplace red, and since it was December in Michigan and I did not have enough room to paint indoors, I had to improvise again. I bought two rolls of plain red paper from the Dollar Tree.   I wrapped them individually with the paper and stacked them back together. 

There are a couple of ways to make the bricks.  One way is to use a square sponge in white paint. I was making our mantle kind of last minute, and knew waiting for paint would take longer than I had. I decided to use a roll of masking tape to make the lines.  I tried to line the tape up as straight as possible, but as you can see in the picture didn't measure between each line.  Uneven bricks give your fireplace more character, yea, let's go with that.  LOL! 

I took smaller lines of tape, and lined up bricks on all visible sides.  

Next I needed to figure out what to use as a mantel. I decided on a Dollar Tree foam board, though you could use a piece of wood if desired.  The foam board  was lightweight enough to sit on the cardboard boxes. I did have to trim them a little bit for the best fit.  One piece is a bit thin, so you can double up and use two of them.  

I used small command hooks to hang the stockings.  I put them on the top of the foam boards with the hooks close to the edge. For a more cozy feel, I covered the mantle with my favorite woodland Christmas blanket.  Buddy and Joy thought it was a nice spot to have a little Christmas snuggle. 

While it was not the big wooden fireplace that I was used to, it was an inexpensive alternative that only took a few dollars and a few hours to make. 

Have you been doing any Black Friday shopping today? 

If you shop online or in store, make sure you use Rakuten to save a lot of money.  You can currently get up to 12 % cash back on your  purchases that you are already making anyway, so some extra cash is a nice bonus.   To get back money for your in store purchases.  Open the app on your phone, find the store and pay with your linked card (like Ibotta). If shopping online, find the store you are buying from on Rakuten app or site, before making your purchase. You will receive your cash back shortly at after. 

 If you do not have Rakuten yet, you can sign up here.

Today is definitely a good time to check out Amazon  you are in the market for a new computer.  They have many great deals today.

 

 

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Countdown to Thanksgiving - Are you ready?

I am a little late with my post today because we were out doing some last minute shopping with the masses.  We are having two Thanksgivings this year.  One at D's moms house tomorrow with ham and lots of fixings, and one on Sunday at our house with turkey and several of our favorite recipes. 

Today we went shopping at  Meijer, Aldi, and Walmart.   

Meijer had some amazing deals like 99 cent bags of potatoes.  I plan on using them to make both Slow Cooker Mashed Potatoes for Thanksgiving and Air Fryer Potato Skins possibly for the big football game on Saturday. (you may have heard about the Ohio State vs Michigan game :)) 

**this post has affiliate links 

I do have a few Black Friday deals that I found out about today that I feel can't be missed.    

If you craft, teach, or create things to sell,  Creative Fabrica is having a 90% off of many of their fonts and graphics. It is my favorite to go site to find all kinds of things I need for my Etsy Shop Listings.   If you are considering making your own printables to sell, I highly recommend the course by Gold City Ventures.  They have a Free Ebook that explains selling seasonal products, and a Free Workbook on how to manifest a passive income selling printables.  

Over on Amazon there are a few early Black Friday deals that also look very interesting.. 

I am not sure how long this deal will last, but this Roku Streaming Stick 4k is currently 50% off.   I love having all of our streaming channels at one place, now that we no longer have cable. 

The 7 qt Crock Pot I share in yesterday's post is also currently $20 off and currently only $29.99.  If you have Amazon Prime you could have free delivery.  If you don't they do have it, but are considering it, they have a 30 day Free Trial   you might be interested in.  

I hope everyone has a very Happy Thanksgiving!   I most likely won't be posting on Thursday, but will be back for the Dare to Share Party on Friday. 

 

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Countdown to Thanksgiving - Easy Slow Cooker Mashed Potatoes

                 

Today I am going to share my favorite way to make homemade mashed potatoes.  They are easy to make, and a perfect addition to your holiday meal. 

Sorry the photos are so dark, I took these pictures years ago when I started making mashed potatoes this way.  I think I may need to take some new photos this Thanksgiving. :)) 

**this post contains affiliate links 

 When I made this batch, I used 6-7 small potatoes to make 4-6 servings.  I peeled the potatoes, cut them into smallish pieces, and then put them in my slow cooker.  Instead of cooking them in water, I cooked them in broth.  I set the slow cooker on high, and cooked them for 4 hours.  

At the end of the cooking time, the potatoes were super soft, tender and easy to mash. While mashing them I added in a little milk, butter, garlic and salt and pepper.

The kids LOVED them made this way, and requested I make them this way all the time.  It is so easy, and its the only way I make them now.  

If you in the market for a slow cooker, I found this one on Amazon that has dividers for cooking two things at once.  That would be really nice for when you cooking smaller portions.  It is highly rated, and a reasonable price.  

Here is another highly rated best seller from Amazon.  It is 7 qts, Crock Pot brand, and currently $20 off.  It looks like a great deal.  You can see the deal here.

Today's shopping tip is another amazing deal, that would also make a great Christmas gift.   For a limited time you can get a FREE 11x14  Canvas People  canvas print of your favorite photo. I have several Canvas People  canvases like this one of my kids at Christmas when they were younger.  Definitely go check out them out. 

Only one more day of our Thanksgiving countdown. See you tomorrow! 

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Countdown to Thanksgiving - Easy Turkey Votive and Air Fryer Potato Skins

 

This sweet guy is quick and easy to make, and looks cute just about anywhere you sit him. 

*this post contains affiliate links   

To make him you will need the following items which can all be found at the Dollar Tree .

round glass bowl 

ping pong ball 

feathers 

google eyes 

felt scraps 

I used orange paint when painting the bowl and ping pong ball  instead of brown, so the light could show through the glass votive easier. 

Once the paint was dry, I hot glued the ping pong ball to the front of the glass bowl, and feathers in the shape of a turkey tale to the back.  Then then added the eyes and felt to the ping pong ball to make the turkey's face.  

In the bowl I used a battery tea light. I am not sure how an actual candle would do with the acrylic paint.  

My turkey greeted our guests on the bathroom counter near a fall flower bouquet. 

To make this easy appetizer or side dish,  you will need some potatoes, cheese, bacon, and any other fixings you like to add. 

While this is not the exact air fryer I have, this Kalorik 3.5 qt it is  the same brand and size. It has good ratings and as they time of this post is on sale.  

To make my potato skins I started with six potatoes that will make 12 potato skins.  I bake mine in the microwave, but you can bake them anyway you prefer. 

I sliced the potatoes the long way and scoop out some of the potato filling and place it in a large bowl. 

I split the potatoes into two batches, since they wouldn't all fit in my air fryer. I baked them for 3-4 minutes at 390 degrees.  This was to crisp the outer skin just a bit before filling them.  

While the skins were crisping, I mixed up the filling.  We keep our potatoes pretty simple. In the bowl on top of the potato is six pieces of bacon broken in a pieces, shredded cheddar cheese, and salt and pepper. 

I then filled the skins and placed them back in the air fryer for five more minutes.  After they baked those five minutes, to  make them extra cheesy, I added sprinkled more cheese on top and let that melt for one  more minute.  

The finished potatoes are so good, and don't last long!  

BONUS TIP  If you have any potato filling left over, just mix it with scrambled eggs the next morning for a filling breakfast. 

Today's Shopping Tip is a fun one. If you plan on going out for Black Friday shopping on Friday morning, you might want to make Kohls one of your first stops.  The first 200 people who enter the stores will be part of their TGIBF Sweepstakes.  Everyone of 18 years old will be given a game piece with the possibility to win over a million dollars in prizes.  The big prize is a trip to Legoland, but they are also giving away gift cards, appliances and Kohls cash. Every card will win something. 

I have another easy last minute Thanksgiving recipe planned for tomorrow.  See you then.  

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