Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas...

Merry Christmas everyone!

Love seeing all the pretty lights all around town.

And my little festive light I hung in my apartment.

I am loving my winter "tablescape" (In the words of Sandra Lee! Oh my god, you guys, have you caught her new show on the Cooking Channel?? She's so epic. My mom and I are obsessed. She's a riot).

Anyway, I started by mixing some green, silver and gold glitter ornaments with some cinnamon scented pine cones in a couple different large hurricane vases. Then, I have my yarn wrapped beer bottle and sweater wrapped vase that I made from Pinterest tutorials.
Finally, the pièce de résistance: my friend and I spend a recent morning, over scones and mimosas, making the festive, wrapped cone Trees! I wrapped one with a faux fur skinny boa, one with burlap and a vintage-looking gold beaded garland, both from Michael's, then, made the third one out of strips of wax paper. How cute are they?! I love them. I mean, who doesn't want a fur tree!

We used this tutorial here:  Handmade Christmas Trees from the lovely Shauna Mailloux.
She has so many great ideas, plus Pinterest has so many others, as well. These are so fun to make!

While I was at Target the other day, I saw this bin of the cutest ornaments...then realized these all would be SO easy to DIY! Take that, Target!!

Those little reindeer on the right are just yarn wrapped plastic animal toys, same as how I wrapped the beer bottle above.  The big sweater ornament balls on the left would be easy to craft, same as my sweater vase above.  And the little silver glitter reindeer guy behind those is just like This Tutorial I was going to use to make some decorative bookshelf trinkets (also can be ornaments or book ends).
Sorry retail shops, you've been found out thanks to Pinterest!! Ha!

And, check out my little twine clothesline card 'tree' I hung on my wall to display all my holiday cards!

Happy Holidays, everyone!
Thanks so much for supporting my little blog. It means so much!
So there.

Season's Greetings

You guys, I decided to MAKE my holiday cards this year. Like, start with blank cardstock and a pile of crafting materials, make them.
It was quite a bit of work, but they turned out so cute!

I used buttons, rhinestones, metallic paint, burlap, twine, ribbon, scrapbook paper, pieces of old holiday cards, and Chevron print glitter tape adhesive ribbon. Plus Elmer's Glue and hot glue. And went to town creating my own layouts and design ideas.
I used the end of a pencil, and a wine cork to do the painted dots.

What do you think?
Hope you are having a wonderful holiday season!
So there.

Espresso Truffles

It's that time of year again...I'm making Peppermint Bark!!  It seems to get a bit easier every year I make it.  Still a bit imperfect...we'll call it rustic-looking; but hey, I guess that is what makes it different from, say, This Peppermint Bark. 

But I also have something special to share...

My first Guest Post!

I have so many crafty, foodie friends, I'm always asking them to do a guest post with their great creations!

Today my friend Molly is awesome enough to share her amazing truffles she makes every year! 
Don't these look amazing!? Also, her food photography puts mine to shame!  I need to hire her just to come over and be my photographer while I'm cooking and crafting!! Enjoy :)

Espresso Truffles

Truffles are an elegant candy that are perfect as a special holiday party treat. They might appear intimidating, but are easier to make than you think! You can have fun with the coating too, whether it's nuts, crushed Oreo cookies, coconut, cocoa or drizzled chocolate of a different variety. Package them up in gold truffle wrappers and your friends will think you picked them up at the local candy shop! 

Although there are a couple steps involved, as long as you have some room in your freezer and plan ahead, the actual result is beautiful and well worth it. 

See the full recipe here:

http://www.realsimple.com/food-recipes/browse-all-recipes/espresso-truffles-10000000608415/index.html

Merry Christmas!
Molly

Things I Love Thursdays

Time for another Things I Love Thursdays!

1. First of all, my bestest friend since 6th grade has been living in London for the past 2 years, and is home for the Holidays! Hooray!!
We obviously had to go to our favorite Mexican restaurant, Avila's El Ranchito in Costa Mesa. Yum!

Check out her amazing website dedicated to Vivien Leigh & Laurence Olivier and her great photography blog, Days in Mayfair.
 

2. This Jar Opener from The Container Store is the best $9 I ever spent. It works on any size jar, from the tiny hotel size jam I stole was given, to a big jar of sauce. It is so easy to use!

3. These frozen pasta meals and soups from Bertolli are actually really good! Thanks to my Momma for telling me to try them, and to Vons for finally having them on sale for $5! This one is a creamy, cheesy tomato soup with spinach, basil, chicken, and tortellini. YUM! Just add a cup of water, and heat on the stove like canned soup, until it thaws and is warmed through. Tasty!! And so perfect for this "I guess it is FINALLY winter in Southern California" weather we're having lately. Brrr!

  

4.  You know you are finally in a nice apartment complex when the leasing office and mailboxes both have Holiday craft and recipe tutorials posted! How adorable is that?! I'm going to like it here...

                              

5.  And finally, thank you to the always witty Urban Outfitters for the To-Do list that we all REALLY need, especially around the holidays.

 You're welcome!

 

So there.