Christmas Gift Idea #15: Miscellaneous & the Greatest Gift of All

It's Christmas Eve today!! Merry Christmas Eve! I'm so sorry I failed to post this yesterday. I got swept up in all of the holiday fun that I forgot what day it was. But it's not too late to get that last-minute gift in! I'll go through some great gifts you can get that won't seem last minute.

First, let's see our last Christmas movie clip for this series--and by Christmas movie clip, I mean clips. To get the full impact of this movie, I needed to show you two clips from it instead of just one.

The Nativity Story

I just love that movie. I get choked up as the shepherd reaches out for Jesus every time. Do you know that feeling? To feel so hopeless and lost and then to find out that God sent His Son for you--for each one of us. You can see why the shepherd is in awe of this little babe in front of him. What these people have been waiting for--a Savior--has finally come. 

I'll talk more about this at the end of the post, so be sure to keep reading.

Christmas Gift Idea #15: Miscellaneous

Well, it's Christmas Eve and you still need a gift, huh? Fortunately for us, and not so fortunate for the employees that work there, there are several stores that are still open today. They might close early though so you'll want to get out as soon as you can. And as you go, be an encouragement to those who are working today. Smile, be friendly, and wish them a Merry Christmas and a great day! There are too many people out there that aren't as friendly or considerate of the workers at these stores. Brighten their day!

Here are some of the last-minute gift ideas I have for you. You may remember some of these ideas from past blog posts in this series, but these will be gifts I've talked about before that can also be last minute. 

1. A scarf for a man or woman. Department stores will have these, but so will Walmart and Hallmark if they're open today. 
2. A gift card. Now a lot of people don't really like this gift idea because it's not as personal. You can make it personal by picking a store or restaurant you know they really love! They'll still be very excited about this gift because it will be to a place they enjoy going, and they will have a reason to go now with your gift card! You can also find fun ways to give them the gift card. You saw my Coffee Cup card and Coffee Mug bundle in one of my earlier posts. You can use that to put the gift card in, or if it's a movie gift card, why not put it in the popcorn bucket bundle I wrote about in my last post? You'll give them an additional gift with the popcorn bucket. You can even include a game with the gift card and make it a date night gift! My sister-in-law did that for us this year and I thought it was a great gift! I'm excited to use it! 
3. Tin of Cookies. This is what I was doing yesterday. I was baking cookies to go in these cute Christmas tins I found at Walmart. I filled up the tins, wrapped them, and today I will give them to a few of my family members as gifts! 
4. Bath and Body Works. I pointed out in a previous post that Bath and Body Works has great gift bundles already put together for you! All you have to do is go there, pick out what you want, purchase it, and then take it home and wrap it. Bath and Body Works isn't the only store that does this though. Just about any store you can go to today will have gifts already prebundled and ready to go for you! 
5. Soda Pop and Candy Bottles. This was also a previous post I wrote about, but it's really easy to do. Go to your grocery store or Walmart and pick up a four-pack or six-pack of soda bottles. You'll also want to pick up some candy, but it needs to be candy that will fit in the soda bottle. Then you'll need to take that home, drink two or three of the bottles depending on how big of a pack you bought (I recommend getting some help with this. You don't need to drink that much soda in one day), wash the bottles out, let them dry, and fill the empty bottles with the candy. Put the bottle of candy back in the pack with the full pop bottles, put a ribbon on it or put it in a gift sack, and then you are ready to go. 

These should get you through the holiday! But what will you do next year? Buy your gifts earlier so you aren't stressed out around Christmas! :) 

The Greatest Gift of All

Now I would like to share with you the greatest gift you can give this Christmas, and that is the story of Jesus Christ. If you don't know the story of Christ, I'm going to share it here. If you do know the story of Christ, don't be afraid to share it with your friends and family this year. You may think they know the story, but you might be surprised to learn how little they do know of it. 

Now the Christmas story didn't start in the manger. It started long before that. It began when sin entered the world in the Garden of Eden.

It should be obvious to all of us today that there is sin in this world. Just look outside or turn on the news. People are being killed, are sick, or are dying. There are wars and famine. People are cruel to others, whether it's through physical violence or verbal abuse. There is definitely evil in this world, and it is a result of sin.

It wasn't always that way. When God created the world and man and put man in the Garden of Eden, the world was good and perfect. There were no wars or famine or disease. God gave man wonderful things in the Garden, and God walked among man. But He also set in the Garden the tree of the knowledge of good and evil and told them not to eat from it. He told them they could eat from any other tree in the Garden except for that one. Many will say, why did God even put that tree in the Garden if they weren't allowed to eat from it and if it was so bad. God gives us choices, and that day in the Garden He gave man a choice. They could choose God and choose to obey Him, or they could choose the tree and choose to live for themselves. That day they chose the tree and ate from it. 

When Adam and Eve ate from the tree, sin entered the world. Because of this, we are all sinful people. Not one of us can say we are perfect. We make mistakes and bad choices everyday. And because of sin, we were separated from God. When we die, we would not be with God in Heaven, but we would be sent to hell, where all sinful and evil things must go.

But that is not the end of the story, and evil has not won. God formed a plan to save us. He sent His only Son, Jesus Christ, down to earth. This is what we celebrate on Christmas--the greatest gift of all! Jesus lived a perfect life. He never sinned. He taught people about God. God is loving but He is Just. Jesus paid the price we couldn't pay. He payed for our sin by dying on the cross and rising again three days later, conquering death. Now, when we believe in Jesus and all that He did for us and accept that gift, we will be saved. When we die, we will no longer be separated from God. We will join Him in Heaven and praise His holy name for all eternity! 

That is the best gift anyone can receive--hope in our Savior Jesus Christ. He didn't just die for me; He died for all who will accept His gift and choose to live for Him. 

You don't have to live without hope this Christmas. Accept the hope that Christ brought to us. Choose to live for Him and you will see how much better your life is for it--not regarding material possessions or circumstances necessarily, but your outlook on life, the attitude you have, and the hope you have in knowing that this life isn't all there is. 

I hope you will choose to accept Christ this Christmas. And if you know Him, I hope you will share Him with your loved ones this Christmas season. Have a very Merry Christmas! 

Christmas Gift Idea #14: Movie/Popcorn Bucket

Nine days until Christmas!! Can you believe it?! I only have one more post for my Christmas Gift Idea series after this one. We have gone through several Christmas gift ideas for the holidays. I hope that you were able to find one, or a couple, that you were able to use this Christmas. Today's gift is another easy one to put together. But, as always, we'll watch a Christmas movie clip first.

The Muppet Christmas Carol

Don't be a Scrooge this Christmas! Be of good heart and cheer. I really enjoyed this version of A Christmas Carol. Maybe it's the songs, maybe it's my fondness of the Muppets, or maybe it's my love of Michael Caine (I love the movies he is in), but I really love The Muppet Christmas Carol.

Christmas Gift Idea #14: Movie/Popcorn Bucket

Here's another fairly easy gift for you this Christmas. This is what I like to call the Movie/Popcorn Bucket.

 

For this one, I bought a pre-made popcorn bucket at Target for $7.99. It came with the bucket, two bags of popcorn, two boxes of M&Ms, and a box of Skittles. All I need now is a movie to go along with the gift, some cute ribbon to tie it all together, and then I'm good to go!

If you don't like this mix of candy and popcorn, you can also put your own bucket together. Bed, Bath & Beyond sells some fun popcorn buckets by themselves. And Walmart did at one time. You can buy a popcorn bucket, pick out some candy you know your family member or friend would enjoy, grab a couple of popcorn bags from your box of popcorn in the pantry, buy a movie, and give the gift to a friend!

It's that simple and easy!

Join me next week for my LAST Christmas gift idea for this holiday season. And if you missed any of my posts for this series, please go back through and see all of the gift ideas I've laid out for you all. I hope they are a help to you this Christmas! I know I have used several of these ideas for this year alone.

Safe travels! And I will be back next week with my last Christmas gift idea. :)

Christmas Gift Idea #13: Bath & Body Works Gift Bundle

Only sixteen days until Christmas, can you believe it? It seems like November and December have just flown by! It doesn't really seem fair. This year I felt like we were cheated in a way. Thanksgiving came so late this year that it has felt like a mad dash to get everything ready for Christmas as soon as Thanksgiving came to an end. As a result, I don't really feel like I've been able to enjoy all of the Christmas festivities I so enjoy doing. (The ice storm that just hit Texas and kept everyone inside for days on end didn't really help either, but I did enjoy looking at the snow! So pretty!). This weekend, I've already told Aaron that we need to go ice skating and look at Christmas lights. :) It should be a fun-filled Christmas weekend before we head off the following weekend for Christmas in Oklahoma!

If you're in a rush to get those Christmas presents picked out and wrapped like I've been doing for the past few days, I hope I can be of some help. We are about to look at Christmas Gift Idea #13, but first, as always, here is another Christmas movie clip. (Disclaimer: I don't know if most of you consider this a Christmas movie, but for some reason I watch this movie every year at Christmas.)

The Phantom of the Opera by Andrew Lloyd Webber

Christmas Gift Idea #13: Bath & Body Works Gift Bundle

Here is another easy gift idea for the holidays. The great thing about this gift is that it is already put together for you. All you have to do is pick out which one you want, add a tag or put it in a gift bag, and then give it to the person you have in mind! 

In the gifts' section on their website under $20 gifts and under, you can see several Bath and Body Works gift sets they have put together. (And if you celebrate Christmas after December 25th, that's even better. Whatever they have left gets marked down quite a lot so you can go back and get it after Christmas if need be!)

Another idea for buying a gift from Bath and Body Works is to go during the Buy 3 Get 3 sale. You can buy 3 lotions or shower gels from their signature section and get 3 of the same ones or different ones for free! It usually costs about $32 to do this, but then you can give a lotion or shower gel to each of your friends, or use them as stocking stuffers. That's about five dollars a person. I've done this on several occasions for the holidays. And if you are on their email list, you may even find a coupon you can use on top of that to get those lotions or shower gels for even less! 

I'm a huge fan of Bath and Body Works and highly recommend their products. I have been so busy lately though that I haven't been able to go in several months--although that is probably a good thing since I usually spend too much of my money on lotions and shower gels when I do go!

If you don't think lotions or shower gels are really what the people on your list would like, they also have kitchen and bathroom soaps that are almost always on sale, cute wallflowers that would make great gifts, and Aromatherapy lotions and soaps that are great for dry hands during the winter season! 

I hope this has been a help to you. There are only two weeks left in the Christmas Gift Idea series. Be sure to share these posts with your friends if you have found them helpful! I know many people are scurrying around right now trying to come up with inexpensive but personal gifts to give their friends and family and could really use some ideas.

***

Above all though, don't forget the reason for the season. It's easy to get wrapped up in buying gifts for our friends and family--which can be a great encouragement and loving thing to do for them--but don't sacrifice the time you should be spending with your family and reflecting on the meaning of the season to obsess over the gifts you are going to get for your loved ones. I've been guilty of this for sure. I love the joy receiving the gifts I've crafted or bought brings to my friends and family, but I have to remind myself that gifts aren't everything. They are only temporary things, mere objects that will one day pass away, but the time we spend with people and the encouraging words and love we offer them goes so much further and makes a lasting difference.

And for me, Christmas is a time that I celebrate the birth of Jesus Christ and what that means for all mankind. I am lucky to be able to celebrate this with much of my family and many of my friends. If you don't have friends and family around you you can celebrate with, take heart in knowing that you are not really alone. Your brothers and sisters around the world are rejoicing the birth of our Savior with you. That's such a cool thing for me to reflect on. Even though I haven't met all of the people who believe and have chosen to follow Christ around the world, we are all still one family, one body, waiting for our Savior to return again for us. Rejoice in knowing that our Savior has come, has conquered death, and has made a way for us! 

The Birth of Jesus Foretold

In the sixth month of Elizabeth's pregnancy, God sent the angel Gabriel to Nazareth, a town in Galilee, to a virgin pledged to be married to a man named Joseph, a descendant of David. The virgin's name was Mary. The angel went to her and said, "Greetings, you who are highly favored! The Lord is with you."

Mary was greatly troubled at his words and wondered what kind of greeting this might be. But the angel said to her, "Do not be afraid, Mary; you have found favor with God. You will conceive and give birth to a son, and you are to call him Jesus. He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High. The Lord God will give him the throne of his father David, and he will reign over Jacob's descendants forever; his kingdom will never end."

"How will this be," Mary asked the angel, "since I am a virgin?"

The angel answered, "The Holy Spirit will come on you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you. So the holy one to be born will be called the Son of God. Even Elizabeth your relative is going to have a child in her old age, and she who was said to be unable to conceive is in her sixth month. For no word from God will ever fail."

"I am the Lord's servant," Mary answered. "May your word to me be fulfilled." Then the angel left her.

Luke 1: 26-38 (New International Version)

Until next time...

Tell me what you like to do to celebrate the holidays! 

Christmas Gift Idea #12: Tin of Cookies

I'm a huge fan of The Santa Clause movie that I've already shared a clip from, but I also enjoyed the sequel to this film. Here's a clip from the movie. I love the setting of this scene. It's so pretty!

Christmas Gift Idea #12: Tin of Cookies

This is another quick and easy gift for you to put together for your friends, family, coworkers, and neighbors. Just get one of these cute Christmas tins:

Then fill them up with some yummy cookies! Here are some good recipes for you:

No-Bake Cookies (or Dog Piles as my family calls them)

Ingredients 

1/2 cup (1 stick) butter
2 cups sugar
1/2 cup milk
3 tablespoons cocoa (baking)
1 teaspoon vanilla
1/2 cup peanut butter
3 cups oatmeal
waxed paper

Directions

Melt butter, sugar, milk and cocoa. Bring to a boil for 3 minutes. Remove from heat and add peanut butter, vanilla and oats. Stir well until it starts to cool a bit. Then drop on waxed paper.

There are also Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Cookies, which can be found at Sally's Baking Addiction. These are very delicious!

What are your favorite cookies? 

Christmas Gift Idea #11: Soda Pop and Candy

Thanksgiving is only days away! Although I am going through the Christmas Gift Idea series, I don't want to skip over Thanksgiving. So today I decided to post a video clip that features Thanksgiving.

This Thanksgiving, I'm thankful for my wonderful family, God who loves us all and sent His Son to die for us and then rise again so that we may have new life with Him, my church, my job, and my home. I'm also thankful for the time I get to spend with my family this week. My husband won't have to work on Thanksgiving or Black Friday this year, which is a huge blessing! And my family and part of his family are going to come spend Thanksgiving with us this year. What fun!

Now if I can just figure out how to make this turkey...

What are you thankful for?


Christmas Gift Idea #11: Soda Pop and Candy

For those of you less crafty readers out there, you're going to love these next posts leading up to Christmas. They are extremely easy to put together! No crafting required--unless cutting a ribbon is too much, but lets hope not!

The soda pop and candy gift is a great one! Here's one variation of what this could look like:

My mom told me about this idea when I was in high school and I thought it was a great gift idea for my friends. I was recently reminded about this idea and realized that this might be something I could do for my friends or coworkers now!

You will need to buy either a six-pack or four-pack of bottled soda. For this one, I went with cream soda because that's my husband's favorite so I knew he would help me drink them! :) You want to drink half of the sodas in the pack and then wash out the bottles and let them dry. When they are completely dry, you can fill them with the candy of your choice! I went with the Christmas-colored dark chocolate M&M's because I thought those looked the most festive, but feel free to choose whatever soda and candy you want! 

You can either give one pair (one soda and one bottle of candy) to your friend as a gift--just add ribbon!--or you can give them the whole four-pack or six-pack. You'll fill half of the bottles with candy and leave the other half as sodas. Then you'll want to decorate the little pack holder with a ribbon of some sort. If you decide to go this route, especially for Christmas, I would recommend getting Coca-Cola or Dr. Pepper bottles because the cardboard pack it comes in will be red! Then you would just need to add some red or green ribbon! 

That's all there is to it! This gift is super easy and very delicious! It's also a great way to create several gifts at once! For this one, I bought a six-pack of cream sodas for $4.49 I believe and then the bag of candy for a couple of dollars. You might need another bag of candy, but you have three gifts right there! Just add ribbon. 

I hope you found this blog post helpful! Have a Happy Thanksgiving! 

Until next time...

Don't forget to share in the comment section what you are thankful for this Thanksgiving! :)

Harry Potter World & Christmas Gifts Continued

Last week Aaron and I got to go to Harry Potter World in Orlando, Florida! It was so great. If you didn't know, I'm a huge Harry Potter fan!! :D And in light of my recent vacation, I thought this clip was only fitting for this week's post:

Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone

If you haven't been to Harry Potter World, I highly recommend it! However, I would suggest going after next summer when they complete the expansion. From what I have read, in addition to Hogwarts and Hogsmeade that already exist in Harry Potter world, Universal Studios will be adding Diagon Alley, King's Cross with platform 9 and 3/4, and the Hogwarts Express that can be ridden from the current Harry Potter world to these new additions! It's going to be SWEET! :)

Another tip for you anxious travelers: the fall is the best time to go! DO NOT try to go in the summer or during prime holiday seasons. If possible, avoid these times at all cost or you may not enjoy the parks as much as you should!

Here are some of my favorite pictures from this last week:

Aaron and I standing in front of Hogwarts!

Aaron and I hanging out in Hogsmeade.

Can you tell I'm excited?!

Hogwarts! 

Cool shot of Hogsmeade

Fish and Chips & Butterbeer!

I got a wand! 

Excited for what's to come! 

Christmas Gift Idea #10: Wall Decorations

 

These wall decorations were a gift to me from my bridesmaids a little over a year and a half ago. They made these for my bridal shower. These decorations would make great Christmas gifts for your friends/family.

All you need is either a canvas or cork board. The flat canvas is pictured in the photo to the left and the cork board is pictured to the right. Personally, I would recommend the cork board. You can get a package of these square cork boards from Walmart or Hobby Lobby. You can use push pins to tack on the pictures. If you get the canvas, you have to use double-sided tape/nails to get the pictures and paper to stay.

Then you will need some nice looking fabric, buttons, letters for the name, and some dimensional stickers like you see in the pictures (the hearts and flowers).

Step One: Wrap the fabric around the cork board or canvas. Staple the fabric on the back of the cork board or canvas so it stays.

Step Two: Order the pictures you want to put on the cork board or canvas. Use push pins (for the cork board) or small nails (for the flat canvas) to make the pictures stay on the board.

Step Three: Add the lettering/sticker dimensions onto the boards.

Step Four: Hot glue the buttons onto the board wherever you think they look best.

And that's all there is to it! Until next time...

Christmas Gift Idea #9: Felt Wreath

Christmas is drawing ever closer! I've actually already seen Christmas lights up on houses in town. I'm not one of those people that gets up in arms about that kind of thing because I love Christmas so much, but I was still surprised to see the decorations up at the beginning of November. This Christmas gift idea I'm about to show you will make a great Christmas gift, but it will also make a great Christmas decoration for your own home that you can make for the holidays!

I'm very excited about Christmas! Last weekend I had a Christmas card-making class at my house that was a lot of fun. We listened to Christmas music, had Christmas cookies and apple cider, and made Christmas cards! What a day! These are the cards we made at my card-making class. I'm planning to post a couple of these sets on my Etsy shop either this week or next if you or any of your friends and family are in search for some cute Christmas cards! 

It's time for another Christmas movie clip. I have to say that it has been a lot of fun watching different clips from my favorite Christmas movies to find just the right clip to post here. 

Home Alone 2 is the one sequel that I prefer over the original movie. Don't get me wrong, I still really like the first Home Alone movie, but Home Alone 2 is my favorite of the two. 

Christmas Gift Idea #9: Felt Wreath

I'm sure by this time of year you have started thinking about Christmas gifts, but hopefully that's not a stressful thing for you. Christmas gifts don't have to be a stressful thing, especially if you are a crafter or want to craft. In that case, it can be a lot of fun! You get to take your craftiness and make some really great gifts for your friends and families. This week's gift idea I'm going to show you is a felt wreath. My friend Aaryn showed me how to make one of these. She made one for me that I really love! I did mine a little differently but the concept was the same. This gift is fun, cheap, easy, and a lot of fun to make! 

Your felt wreath will look like this at the end: 

I had someone in mind when I made this so I used the blue felt. You can choose whatever colors you want for yours! Here's what you will need:

Felt Sheets and Pins

Felt Sheets and Pins. You can find the felt sheets and pins at Michaels or Hobby Lobby. You can also find the push pins there, but I also found some at Target when I went to pick up a few groceries.

I needed two packages of pins. At target they cost $2.00 for a package. I didn't use all of the pins in both packages, but I did run out of the first package and needed another one.

For the felt sheets, I had just enough. I got ten felt sheets (5 of each color). They cost 29 cents per sheet.

Foam Ring

Foam Ring. A large foam ring. I found this one at Michaels. I believe it was priced at six or seven dollars, but I used a 40 percent off coupon, which you can find in the free Michaels app at the app store. 

Once you have your products then you are ready to begin! I dunno how you will feel when you are putting it together, but midway through I was ready to go get another wreath so I would have another wreath to make when I finished this one. It was a lot of fun and was really pretty in the end! You could also add a letter to your wreath at the end if you want to. When you are getting these items from the store, make sure you remember to think about getting a letter while you're there. 

Step 1: Cutting Your Felt Sheets

There are a few different methods I used to make this wreath. You'll want to cut big squares for your flowers like I did in the picture to the left and small circles like I did in the picture to the right for your petals. 

There's not a strict size you have to cut these, just use your best judgment. Cut one square and one circle out and then use those to make your flowers and petals like I'll show you in the following steps. Once you test that out, you can see if you need to make these smaller or bigger. 

Step 2: Making Flowers from Felt Squares

Once you have cut out a few of your squares, cut a spiral into the square like I did in the picture to the left. This is going to allow you to twist your square into a cute flower for your wreath. You'll just start in the middle of the square and then wrap the rest of the square around the middle to form a rose. You can get an idea of what I mean by seeing the picture to the right. 

After you have done a couple of these, see if you like the look of them. If not, cut your next squares smaller or bigger depending on what size of flower you are hoping to make. The end result of this square should look like the picture to the right. 

Step 3: Making Petals from Felt Circles

 Fold your circles in half twice so it looks like what I did in the picture to the left. It may not look like much by itself, but once you have decorated your wreath with these, they look great! I especially like the looks of these along with the flowers I made in the previous step.





Step 4: Pin Flowers and Petals Onto Wreath

This is where the push pins come in. After each flower or petal you make, pin it onto your wreath so it stays. For the flowers, you will be able to put the pins in the center to pin them to the wreath. For the petals, you will need to pin toward the bottom of your petal and play around with it until it sits how you want it to on the wreath.

You are going to decorate the face of the entire wreath with your flowers and petal so in the end you get the wreath I posted in the beginning. 

And that's all there is to it! You'll make some great wreaths for $10 and under. 

Until next time...

Christmas Gift Idea #8: Picture Box

One of my favorite Christmas movies growing up! I could only find the trailer for it. If anyone finds a clip from this movie, please post in the comment section below! If not, then I guess you will all have to just watch the whole movie! :)

Christmas Gift Idea #8: Picture Box

This is a great little gift I received from a friend of mine one Christmas. It's a neat, personal gift you can make for your friends and family.

You'll need:

A cute cardboard box (You can find these at Hobby Lobby. They have different shapes like this star.)
Paint
Paint brushes
Double-sided tape
Mod Podge
Jewels/gems
A few select pictures

First, paint the box whatever colors you or the recipient of the gift would like. Let it dry.

Second, tape the pictures you want to use on the box. (Use double-sided tape!)

Third, glue or stick the jewels or gems onto the box for added effect.

Fourth, mod podge the entire box and let it dry.

Then you're done!

It's pretty simple, but it makes really cute gifts! You can also use it as a gift box you can fill with other gifts you have for your friend.

Until next time...

Christmas Gift Idea #7: Cupcake Socks

I apologize that this post is so late tonight. I forgot it was Monday! What a day!

This is a classic movie that you should definitely watch this Christmas season—White Christmas. This is my dad's favorite Christmas movie. We always watch it every year and sometimes not intentionally. It comes on TV and so my dad gets hooked, which gets the rest of us hooked. Not sure if I'll get to see a white Christmas this year since I live in Texas now, but at least I can still see them in the movies, right? Enjoy!  

Christmas Gift Idea #7: Cupcake Socks

I can't take the credit for this craft! My aunt made these for my mom and me a few Christmases ago and we loved them. So cute and so easy to do. All you need are:

• A pair of socks
• A couple of cupcake liners
• One colored cotton fluff (They sell these in local craft stores)
• A pair of scissors
• Tape
• Hairband/rubber band

STEP ONE:

First, lay your socks out flat, one on top of the other. Roll the top sock down until it looks like a little hot dog and then roll the other sock around it. 

It should look like the picture on the right when you are finished rolling them together. Keep in mind you want to make this look like a cupcake! That should help you as you're rolling them together. 

STEP TWO:

Second, wrap the hairband or rubber band around the bottom of the socks to hold them together. 

Keep in mind you won't be getting that rubber band/hairband back so if you have a lucky hairband or something (Some people might, I dunno?!), then I would find something else to hold the socks together. 

Once you have finished with this part, set it aside for a moment.

STEP THREE:

Take your cupcake liner and cut down one side until you get to the base/bottom of the liner. Then cut around until you have cut out the base/bottom of the liner (you can see that on the right side of the photo—the little circle). Feel free to discard.

You'll notice the cupcake liner looks like a C in this picture. I'm going to be using that as a way to explain this next part. Cut slits starting from the inside of the C going out. Don't cut all of the way through. You only need to cut about half an inch up. You do this about an inch and a half apart all along the liner (just the inside of the C). This will allow the cupcake liner to straighten out a bit so you can wrap it around the socks. 

STEP FOUR: 

Wrap the cupcake liner around the bottom side of the socks, keeping in mind you are trying to make this look like a little cupcake! :)

You will need to use the tape here to tape the liner together once you have wrapped it around. 

STEP FIVE:

I then took another cupcake liner, cut a small section out of it (maybe an inch and a half in width) and taped it together again so it would fit snugly around the cupcake socks. This will be a judgment call on your part regarding how much you need to cut out to make it fit together. 

STEP SIX:

Finally, use double-sided tape (or fold regular tape to make it double sided) to put the cotton fluff on the top of the socks to make it look like a cherry on top. 

And there you have it! The cupcake socks! Doesn't look as gross as it sounds, huh? :) So go find some cute socks your friend or family member or coworker will love and make them into this little cupcake to give as a gift. 

Until next time! :)

Christmas Gift Idea #6: Beaded Silverware

Before I share with you Christmas Gift Idea #6, as always I want to start off with a Christmas clip. I really enjoy this movie! I make sure to watch it every year at Christmas. This scene in particular is pretty spectacular. If you haven't seen the Santa Clause movie, put it on your to-do list this season. It's a great movie. Also, I'm sorry this clip isn't better quality. It was the only one I could find of this scene. The sound is still pretty good though so I hope you enjoy it all the same!

Christmas Gift Idea #6: Beaded Silverware

I learned this great idea from a women's event at my church! We had an event where we learned about great Christmas gift ideas for under $10. (Sound familiar?) Don't worry though, I've been creative with this blog. I haven't used any of those ideas until now. Although if you read my blog before the Christmas Gift Idea series, you may remember a post featuring the knitting loom I use to knit scarves and blankets—I was introduced to that idea at this women's Christmas event. But hey! Taking what you've learned, applying it to your life, and sharing it with others is a great practice to keep. :) I hope that you will take these ideas I'm giving you in my post, apply them to your holiday gifting activities, and then share these ideas with your friends and family! 

But back to the post! I will be taking you through this step by step. 

Materials: You will need a serving fork and spoon. I believe I got these from Walmart for a buck and a half each. Then you will need some wire (pictured to the left) and some beads. For my first set of these, I used purple and blue beads and it turned out great! Pick out whatever beads you think would be best for the recipient of your gift.  

1. First, take your wire and wrap it tightly around the end of your utensil. It's okay if it slides because that will get corrected once we have finished

wrapping the beads.

2. Second, divide your beads in half. You will use half for the spoon and half for the fork. (I'm sure most of you know that, but I know that sometimes when I start crafting I lose sight of even the simplest of things because I'm so caught up in what I'm doing!)








3. After you have strung your beads on the wire, wrap the string of beads around the utensil until you make it to the base of the head. Then, wrap the remaining wire around the top of the beads you ended with and continue to wrap the remaining wire around the other beads to make it hold tighter.

4. Then repeat with the other utensil. My mom is in town visiting this week so she helped me put together the spoon tonight. You can see that the two look different, but when you are making your own, you can make them look the same. Each person might have a different look to theirs depending on the order of the beads and how they arranged the beads as they were spinning them around the utensil.

Now all you have to do is wrap them up! If you would like to add more to this gift, perhaps you can find a pretty salad bowl and kitchen towels to accompany your serving fork and spoon, or some other kitchen serving dish.

Until next time! :)

Christmas Gift Idea #5: Canvas Photo

Today I will be showing you a fun trick I found on Pinterest, which would make great little Christmas gifts for your family and friends! As always though, let's start with a fun Christmas clip to get us in the Christmas mood! :)

Christmas Gift Idea #5: Canvas Photo

Aaron and I got married a year and a half ago. We have quite a few wedding pictures and some family who have requested a couple of photos of us. With this fun Christmas gift idea, you take a wedding photo, a family photo, or a photo with your friends and then mod podge that photo onto a canvas. It's a great way to mount your photos and create cute little gifts. Here are the two I finished:

These didn't really photograph all that well, but they look great in person, trust me! :) For the first photo, I followed The Sassy Pepper's instructions.

She even adds a cute little element to the side of the canvas by using a few pieces of scrapbook paper to make a sort of frame. Here's how mine turned out:

As you can see from this photo, my picture was too small for this canvas so I used gray paint to create a frame-like look to it. I also need to go back and add maybe a cute ribbon that I can use to hang this. Since it is a canvas, I can always hang it up that way, but a ribbon might give it a little something extra. 

All you need for this craft is Mod Podge (you can find this at Hobby Lobby or Michaels, and I'm sure other craft stores), the photo you want to use, a sponge brush to use for spreading on the Mod Podge, and a canvas. The paint (and a paint brush) and scrapbook paper is optional. 

Get creative with this and be sure to check out Pinterest for other ideas similar to this. You can make some great gifts using photos, canvas, and mod podge. It's simple, it's easy, it's personal, it's inexpensive, and your friends and family will love it! :)

And please, if you do any of these crafts, share your creations with all of us! I believe you can just post the picture in a comment in the comment section. I would love to see what any of you come up with! 

Until next time...

OU-TX Weekend

For starters, I would just like to share with all of you that I successfully made it through my first week at my new job! I have to say I'm loving it so far. Not a fan of the traffic, but I'm sure I'll adjust or figure out alternative routes that aren't as congested. I'm learning about some great stuff at work that will not only help me with my new job but should help me with this blog as well, which is a bonus!

I've been thrown back into working life and realize now—with my first week behind me—just how little I was actually home this week. Wake up, drive to work, work, drive home, make dinner, eat dinner with my husband, chill on the couch for a little while, and then it's time for bed! Then we wake up and repeat! But alas, now it's the weekend and I get to experience some more free time! Time to play! And what will I be filling this weekend of all weekends with? OU-TX of course!

I should explain what OU-TX is for those of you who live far away from this Red River Rivalry. Well, that's just it. It's the Red River Rivalry, big football game, between the University of Oklahoma (Norman) and the University of Texas (Austin). The two teams/schools meet in the middle (Dallas) for an epic game!

Now I don't get to go to the game this year, but I am planning on attending a watch party for it with my hubby and some coworkers/friends. And who is going to dominate this year? OU, of course! To get you into the spirit of OU-TX, a little video:

Oh yeah, that's my alma mater! Love it! :)

I also wanted to post some pictures from my previous OU-TX experiences. I've had the privilege of attending the OU-TX game twice. The pictures I'm posting here are from the first time I attended the game. Unfortunately, this was one of those years where we lost, but it was still an incredible experience because it was my first time going to the game. The second year I attended the game we won, which was awesome, but my friends and I were in some pretty terrible seats then so I thought this would give you a better representation of my OU-TX experience.

Our team gettin' pumped! 

Seriously, we were very close to the action! Here was our kicker, Stevens, warming up!

Pretty much on the field. Put me in the game, coach! Totally joking. I would be hospitalized within seconds of getting on the field. Ha ha! 

Boomer Sooner! 

Sammy B! Great quarterback for our team. I was really upset, as most Sooner fans were, when he was injured in this game. But he did recover and was able to play in the games following this. He's now in the pros. 

One of the great things about OU-TX is that the fair is right outside of the game, so afterward—yep! that's right!—we got some cotton candy! 

 Oh and then we had to get some QuickTrip coffee before we headed home. (We don't have QuickTrips in the OKC/Norman area, so this was a must!)

Well, there is my OU-TX flashback! I'm excited about watching the game tomorrow. I feel confident we will do well. 

See you back here on Monday for Christmas Gift Idea #5!