Feelin' Crafty

I'm feeling all crafty and festive lately.

I spent this afternoon making handmade ornaments to give to our

neighbors and to the lovely ladies who watch Ayla every morning at the Rec. None of them read my blog so I can show you! :)  I'm pretty happy with how they turned out:

Instructions: (for those interested in an inexpensive, crafty project) 

1. Stamp a large star onto chipboard.
2. Cut out the stars from the chipboard.
3. Cover the stars in mod podge and glue them to the back-side of your patterned paper of choice.  Wait a few minutes for it to dry.
4. Using an exacto knife, cut out the stars from the patterned paper.
5. Next, cover the other side of the star with mod podge and glue them to the backside of a coordinating piece of patterned paper or cardstock. Wait a few minutes for it to try.
6. Again, cut out the stars using an exacto knife.
7. Punch a hole through the top of each star.
8. Use sandpaper to sand the edges of the stars (optional).
9. Add any text or handwriting.
10. Cover the entire star with mod-podge to create a protective coat. (do both sides)
11. Add a loop of ribbon with a knot at the top to finish them off!

I also baked a batch of Aunt Dora Cookies for our Steed Christmas celebration tomorrow afternoon. Those things are teeny tiny! They only take about 6 minutes to bake, so it keeps you hopping.  I'm making them again next week for a Cookie Exchange, so I've got lots of dough rolls all ready in the freezer.

Finally, the last project of the day was on a whim, really.  I've had these white candles in our bedroom forever (they looked great in our old red bedroom, but not so great in our new tan bedroom).  I never light them, and I really would like to have RED candles instead, but I have trouble buying them when I have three perfectly good white candles.  So, I decided to just decorate the white ones instead.  Patterned paper, a little ribbon, and a metal alpha letter.  They were done in about 3 minutes.  

Tomorrow is Steed Christmas at Josh & Rachel's house.  Looking forward to lots of good food and Christmas music and gift exchanging.  Hope you all (not y'all) have a good weekend!