Chocolate Covered Marshmallow Treats

I make several different types of cookies & treats for Christmas gatherings & for gifts to family & friends. CHOCOLATE is always on the recipe of most of my treats...me & my boys are HUGE chocolate lovers!

This is the simplest treat I make.

I buy the Holiday Shaped marshmallows (variations: Large marshmallows, chocolate swirl marshmallows, coconut marshmallows, etc) & chocolate almond bark or chocolate chips work too.

I have learned that the easiest way to melt chocolate for dipping anything is to put it in my little crock pot. After about 45 minutes it is perfectly melted and stays hot

& not icky for as long as I need it.

*Another quick tip is use the Crock pot liners and that will make clean up a snap!

So basically just dip the Holiday shaped marshmallows in the chocolate. Put them on cookie sheets lined with wax paper & wait for them to cool and the chocolate to harden!

I love that the holiday shaped ones are also colored!  This is what they look like inside!

Can't get any easier than that!

 

Enjoy!

Kids Snowman Handprint Ornaments

I saw this idea over at "Full of Great Ideas" blog. I thought it was just darling. Check it out here.

I usually try and give the grandparents something homemade from the boys every year. When I saw this, I said to myself, this was my idea for this year.

This was WAY EASIER than I anticipated. I actually put off making these thinking they were going to be a real pain & MESSY. But I was happily surprised when the kid's portion of the project literally took 5 minutes each. We made 16 total ornaments (8 for each kid). It was super easy & cleanup was really a snap.

This is what I started with: A Dollar Tree find $1 for each package.

Here is the end result:

I also added this little poem to each ornament.

*I got this from her blog as well.

"These aren't just five snowmen

As anyone can see.

I made them with my hand

Which is a part of me.

Now each year when you trim the tree

You'll look back and recall

Christmas of 2010

When my hand was just this small!"

Feel free to use the tag I created in Picnik, just please give credit back to my blog.

Go to Full of Great Ideas blog for the full tutorial here.

Enjoy!!!!

I am linking to these FABULOUS Parties:

Up cycled Thrift Store Ornaments

Last week my youngest & I went to LaCrosse to try and "almost" finish up the Christmas shopping. We got all but 4 people done. We went into one of my FAVORITE consignment shops called "What a Girl Wants". For you women readers out there, this is a wonderful shop! They have everything a girl would want there: purses, jewelry, clothes, shoes, home decor & so much more! I take things there to sell quite often. Especially during the fall & winter months. (BTW...they are also on Facebook, where they post specials & discounts ....find them here!)
*******UPDATE: This Shop is No Longer Open...Bummer!*******

While there I came across some vintage ornaments. Now the peach & mint green colors really aren't my favorite color choices, but I LOVED the shapes.

So for 49 cents I got 2 deer, 2 doves, a goose & teddy bears (about 8 cents each!!!).

I started off by taking off the flowers & ribbons that were just hot glued on. And removing the gold thread hangers. They all came off very easily. (I did save the hangers to put back on after they were painted....I also saved the peach & mint colored ribbons & flowers for a possible future project,you know me: I don't throw ANYTHING away!!!!)

I just primed them with spray paint primer, and then spray painted them the colors I really wanted:

Green, silver & white.

Once the spray paint dried I sprayed them once again, this time with spray adhesive. Then I generously sprinkled them with glitter. I tapped off the excess glitter &

WHOLA!!!

The green ornaments are a bit more green then the picture shows & they are all super sparkly!

Cute up cycled ornaments.

I am keeping a few for my own tree.

And giving some for cute present toppers on my gifts.

What do you think???

I am linking up to these FABULOUS parties:

 

Christmas Decorating

I traditionally put up my Christmas tree the day after Thanksgiving. This year was no different. Although this year I decided to change things up a bit and try a new color scheme. As you can see, I choose a green & silver scheme. With a sort of bird twist as well.

Here are some of the ornaments close up.

Green bird

This little deer came from my Grandma's this past weekend. She had been to a auction and picked up a whole bunch of Christmas ornaments. She let us all pick through what we wanted. This was one of my picks. I added the green bow to make it go with my theme. This beautiful vintage ornament already had the green rhinestone eyes & glittery silver stars on the antlers. I LOVE it! Thanks Grandma Joyce!

Peacock

Our angel we have had since we got married!

The Nativity

A view of the tree skirt. A clearance find last year at Target. It is a velvety material.

My table display. I got the inspiration from here. One of my favorite blog reads Young House Love.

This bird is from a pair that I found at the thrift store a while back (they were 50 cents a piece). The pretty silver ornament in the apothecary jar is from Walmart for $1.

My living room wall display. The glittery trees I got at the Dollar Tree this year in their clearance section 2 for $1. The feather tree was a clearance steal last year at Walgreen's after Christmas.

I LOVE this print!

Our front door from the inside.

Our front door from the outside.

My DIY wreath. (I couldn't find one that I liked so I decorated it myself)

More tree ornaments.

My kitchen cabinets.

These little cuties were my Grandma Sally's. I have 2 of them &

they really remind me of Christmas's as a child.

Here is the other.

The boys decorated the windows with Gel clings.

My corner curio. I store the Christmas Advent calendar in here so my boys don't get into it.

Enjoy!!!!

I am linking up to these FABULOUS Parties: