On the eighth day of Christmas...make a mixed holiday cd! So I had a revelation today...the majority of holiday cds have a lot of songs worth skipping. Let's face it, Christmas albums can't all be as great as N'Sync's! Ok so we also know that more often than not, when we buy a holiday cd, it's going to have 95% remakes of classic Christmas songs and maybe 5% original songs. And that's ok because who doesn't love classic Christmas songs? The only thing is, we are also going to have a favorite version of everyone of those songs and most likely one artist isn't going to be our number 1 pick for every song. I think aside from the rare beauty of N'Sync's Christmas album, our best shot at listening to a whole album all the way through without skipping a bunch of songs is if we get a compilation cd that is a mix of various artists. But even if we find a good one of those, odds are, it still isn't going to be your perfect mix of your favorite versions of those classics along with your favorite originals. That's where the magic of mp3's and cd burners come into play. You can make your very own special Christmas mix complete with original artwork to all your friends as an awesome gift. Or, to make it even better, you could find out their favorites and make them an even more special present. Since this is a new idea, I need some time to do some research and will include my perfect mix at the end of this blog so stay tuned for an update and rock on!
My Perfect Christmas Mix:
1. All I Want for Christmas- Mariah Carey (no question this is my all time favorite original Christmas song!)
2. Winter Wonderland
3. Let it Snow
4. We Need a Little Christmas
5. Deck the Halls
6. Merry Christmas - N Sync
7. Baby It's Cold Outside
8. Holly Jolly Christmas
9. Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas
10. It's the Most Wonderful Time of the Year
11. The Christmas Song - Alvin and the Chipmonks
12. It's Beginning to Look A Lot Like Christmas
Monday, December 20, 2010
On the Seventh Day of Christmas...
On the Seventh Day of Christmas...make pink champagne cupcakes! My friends and I had so much fun making these. The recipe only calls for a small amount of champagne (or sparkling wine) so you get to drink the rest while making them! We made them over the summer so it wasn't exactly holiday related but I think these make a great festive treat. People enjoy sweets and bubbly during the holidays so why not put your hands together and have the best of both worlds?! It's a super easy Betty Crocker recipe and the results are delicious!
Champagne Cupcakes
| 1 | box Betty Crocker® SuperMoist® white cake mix |
| 1 1/4 | cups champagne |
| 1/3 | cup vegetable oil |
| 3 | egg whites |
| 4 | to 5 drops red food coloring |
Champagne Frosting
| 1/2 | cup butter or margarine, softened |
| 4 | cups powdered sugar |
| 1/4 | cup champagne |
| 1 | teaspoon vanilla |
| 4 | to 5 drops red food coloring |
Garnish
| Pink decorator sugar crystals | |
| Edible pink pearls |
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- Heat oven to 350°F (325°F for dark or nonstick pan). Place paper baking cup in each of 24 regular-size muffin cups.
- In large bowl, combine dry cake mix and champagne. Add oil, eggs and food color. Beat with electric mixer on medium speed for 2 minutes. Divide batter evenly among muffin cups.
- Bake 17 to 22 minutes or until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean. Cool 10 minutes; remove from pan to cooling rack. Cool completely, about 30 minutes.
- In medium bowl, beat frosting ingredients with electric mixer on medium speed until smooth. Frost cupcakes. Sprinkle with pink sugar and pearls.
On the Sixth Day of Christmas...
On the sixth day of Christmas, make your own personalized Christmas cards. I know there are a lot of websites that you can make your own cards at, I've personally used Walmart.com and it was very affordable. They have a lot of choices with designs and you can personalize it with photos and text. I even was able to design mine and pick it up at the store using 1 hour photo!
Just visit www.walmart.com/photo and see all the great choices they have. Pick your favorite design, personalize it and you've got your Christmas card all set!
Sorry this was short but it's a great idea :-)
Just visit www.walmart.com/photo and see all the great choices they have. Pick your favorite design, personalize it and you've got your Christmas card all set!
Sorry this was short but it's a great idea :-)
Friday, December 17, 2010
On the Fifth Day of Christmas...
On the fifth day of Christmas, another fun way to do a themed gift is to make your own gift basket. My idea on the fourth day of Christmas was taking a "boring" gift and making it fun and themed. That example is when the main gift is the dvd or gift card and you're just adding a few bells and whistles to it. A gift basket is a collection of gifts where they all add up into one gift. There are so many gift basket options out there that you can buy pre-made but they're always so expensive. Plus sometimes it's just more fun to make your own. You can honestly make a gift basket out of any theme. That's the beauty of it. Since I used my Secret Santa example from last year, I'll use mine from this year as well. I heard mine really liked garlic so I decided to put together a garlic themed gift basket. I used fresh garlic cloves and a mini chopper to chop them up, garlic sea salt, garlic parmesan dressing, a bar that gets the scent of garlic off your hands and a book all about garlic that included a lot of recipes. Depending on your price range, you can do a big gift basket or a smaller one. If you have a budget, just make sure you're being resourceful in the items you get as the price can add up quickly. You also have to factor in the price of the basket. You can find affordable baskets, but you have to look for them. If you just go to a craft store and pick up the first basket you see, you'll probably spend too much!
Idea: Themed Gift Basket
Choosing the basket: Make sure you have a plan for what you're going to put in the basket before buying the basket. You don't want to get too big of a basket and then it will look empty if you don't have enough items to fill it. On the same note, you don't want a basket that is too small if some of the items you are buying are bigger. I would recommend buying the items first if you can, then searching for the right size basket to put them in. Also, that way you will know how much you have to spend on the basket after you've purchased the actual gifts. You also don't necessarily need to buy a "basket" if you can think of a more creative container that goes along with your theme. For example, if it's a drink theme, you could use an ice tub or cooler or if it's fishing themed, use a tackle box.
Filling the basket: As stated above, make sure that the items you buy fill the basket properly so it looks good. Presentation is half the fun of a gift basket. Make sure all the items are themed, don't just throw random things in unless random is your theme. Also, don't add something that doesn't go with the theme just because you have it and need a little more space to fill. You can use tissue paper or shredded colored paper as fillers for any empty space. You could also find a gift that goes with the theme that helps fill empty space. If you are making a baby themed basket, add a baby blanket to fill that space. Also make sure if you have any breakable items, that they are securely in the basket.
Putting the final touches on the basket: Cellophane, netting (similar to a veil) or shrink wrap are the best ways to "seal" up a basket. If you don't have the proper equipment for shrink wrap, just take cellophane or netting and wrap it around the basket and tie with a ribbon. If you are doing this last minute and don't have either of these choices, you can also tuck tissue paper around the items in your basket or just tie a ribbon or bow on top of the basket.
Idea: Themed Gift Basket
Choosing the basket: Make sure you have a plan for what you're going to put in the basket before buying the basket. You don't want to get too big of a basket and then it will look empty if you don't have enough items to fill it. On the same note, you don't want a basket that is too small if some of the items you are buying are bigger. I would recommend buying the items first if you can, then searching for the right size basket to put them in. Also, that way you will know how much you have to spend on the basket after you've purchased the actual gifts. You also don't necessarily need to buy a "basket" if you can think of a more creative container that goes along with your theme. For example, if it's a drink theme, you could use an ice tub or cooler or if it's fishing themed, use a tackle box.
Filling the basket: As stated above, make sure that the items you buy fill the basket properly so it looks good. Presentation is half the fun of a gift basket. Make sure all the items are themed, don't just throw random things in unless random is your theme. Also, don't add something that doesn't go with the theme just because you have it and need a little more space to fill. You can use tissue paper or shredded colored paper as fillers for any empty space. You could also find a gift that goes with the theme that helps fill empty space. If you are making a baby themed basket, add a baby blanket to fill that space. Also make sure if you have any breakable items, that they are securely in the basket.
Putting the final touches on the basket: Cellophane, netting (similar to a veil) or shrink wrap are the best ways to "seal" up a basket. If you don't have the proper equipment for shrink wrap, just take cellophane or netting and wrap it around the basket and tie with a ribbon. If you are doing this last minute and don't have either of these choices, you can also tuck tissue paper around the items in your basket or just tie a ribbon or bow on top of the basket.
On the Fourth Day of Christmas...
Sorry I didn't get this posted yesterday. On the fourth day of Christmas I'd like to share a tip on taking a "boring" gift and making it fun and themed. I personally like to give unique gifts with meaning. Whether that means it is a personalized gift or just something I know the person will really like. Well what happens when someone just wants a gift card or a cd or dvd? I mean I can't blame them, I have a huge amazon wishlist of dvds, but I just hate giving a dvd as a gift. It feels so impersonal to me. In order to make it your own, you have to give it a little flare. A perfect example I have for this is my Secret Santa from work last year. We used this program called Elfster that automatically picks everyone's Secret Santa and emails you the name. You can also create wishlists so that your Secret Santa can view it and get you something you want. Well my person had very unrealistic items on their wishlist such as season tickets to the Yankees, a new car, a house, etc. I thought about doing fun gag gifts to represent all the unrealistic wishes but then he also had The Hangover dvd on there. I figured he might really want that since it was the only realistic item on the list. I had to find a way to make it uniquely from me. I hadn't actually seen The Hangover at this point, it had literally just come out on dvd, but I knew it took place in Vegas so I decided to make the gift "Vegas Themed." First I started with the wrapping. I wraped the dvd in plain "grassy green" wrapping paper so it was similar to the color of a table in vegas. Then I printed out pictures of colored poker chips and cut them out and taped them all over the package. Then I bought a pack of cards and an airplane bottle of vodka. I also printed a mini poster of Holly Madison on a craps table. I taped the pack of cards to the package and rolled up the poster and put the mini bottle of vodka inside the poster and taped that on top of the cards. Alcohol, cards, a picture of a hot girl and a funny dvd, what more could a guy want?
Idea: Making a gift themed
Presentation - Find a way to wrap or package the gift so that it goes along with whatever theme you are going for. You can use printed pictures like I did, stickers, clippings from magazines, etc. One time I made a friend a scrapbook for a birthday present and I wrapped in completely in magazine covers of our favorite celebrities.
Accessories - Every girl knows how important it is to accessorize. Find small, inexpensive gifts that go along with the theme that you can decorate the package with or include in the bag, box or basket. If you are giving a dvd like I did, find some items that go along with a theme from the movie or items that are in a certain part of the movie. If I was giving PS I Love You, I might include some stationary or if I was giving ET, include some Reeses Pieces. If you're giving a gift card, maybe add a few small items that the store also sells. Usually most stores have small, inexpensive items by the register. For example if you were giving a Victoria's Secret gift card, throw in a pair of panties or some travel size fragrances or lip glosses.
Presentation - Find a way to wrap or package the gift so that it goes along with whatever theme you are going for. You can use printed pictures like I did, stickers, clippings from magazines, etc. One time I made a friend a scrapbook for a birthday present and I wrapped in completely in magazine covers of our favorite celebrities.
Accessories - Every girl knows how important it is to accessorize. Find small, inexpensive gifts that go along with the theme that you can decorate the package with or include in the bag, box or basket. If you are giving a dvd like I did, find some items that go along with a theme from the movie or items that are in a certain part of the movie. If I was giving PS I Love You, I might include some stationary or if I was giving ET, include some Reeses Pieces. If you're giving a gift card, maybe add a few small items that the store also sells. Usually most stores have small, inexpensive items by the register. For example if you were giving a Victoria's Secret gift card, throw in a pair of panties or some travel size fragrances or lip glosses.
Wednesday, December 15, 2010
On the Third Day of Christmas...
Along with collecting wine corks with crafts, I also started collecting bottle caps. I thought there would be a lot of fun crafts I could make with them as well but after doing some research, bottle caps were a little more difficult to find ideas for. I did find one idea that I loved. Stemming from the picture frame idea yesterday, on the third day of Christmas, you can make a bottle cap picture frame. I personally love the way these look! They are very creative and you have so many options to make them look different and unique for each person on your list. Below is the picture of the first one I made. My boyfriends mom wanted a picture of me and him so I made her one but liked it so much I had to keep it for myself and make her a different one!
Project: Bottle Cap Picture Frame
Supplies Needed:
Bottle Caps (amount needed will vary depending on what words you want to spell out)
Letter stickers or thin markers to write out letters
Colored paper (construction paper or card stock)
Decorative scrapbooking mats or paper
Clear plastic picture frame (usually $1 or $2 at Walmart)
Tools needed:
Hot glue gun and glue sticks
Scissors
Pencil
Double stick tape (optional)
Step 1: Decide what you're going to spell out on the frame so you know how many bottle caps you need. You can use names or places like "Disney World" or words like "Friends", "Family", etc. The options are limitless!
Step 2: Count out the number of bottle caps you will need to spell out what you want to say and decide what color paper you want to use inside the bottle caps. You can do all one color or every other color or multiple colors.
Step 3: Trace the "top" of a bottle cap onto the colored paper to make the correct number of circles. Use a pencil instead of a pen so it's not permanent.
Step 4: Cut out the circles and glue them on the inside of the bottle caps. (Put them pencil side down in case there are any tracing lines showing)
Step 5: Use letter stickers or write the letters on the inside of the bottle cap. One letter per bottle cap looks best.
Step 6: Glue the bottle caps "top" side down so that the inside with the letters is showing. You can spell out your word horizontal, up and down, etc. I like to make the caps up and down, every other one, to make more room and to make it look more artsy.
Step 7: Use a scrapbooking decorative photo mat in the frame to use as a border. Pick a pattern that has colors that match the colors you used inside the bottle caps. I like to pick a frame that's bigger than the picture I want to put in so that the decorative border shows. If you use a picture that is the exact size of the frame you can skip this step.
Step 8: Insert the photo you want to use inside the frame. If you do use a bigger frame and the matt, I'd recommend using some double stick tape to center the picture on the matt so it doesn't slide. I've also taken multiple smaller printed pictures and made a collage on the matt.
Project: Bottle Cap Picture Frame
Supplies Needed:
Bottle Caps (amount needed will vary depending on what words you want to spell out)
Letter stickers or thin markers to write out letters
Colored paper (construction paper or card stock)
Decorative scrapbooking mats or paper
Clear plastic picture frame (usually $1 or $2 at Walmart)
Tools needed:
Hot glue gun and glue sticks
Scissors
Pencil
Double stick tape (optional)
Step 1: Decide what you're going to spell out on the frame so you know how many bottle caps you need. You can use names or places like "Disney World" or words like "Friends", "Family", etc. The options are limitless!
Step 2: Count out the number of bottle caps you will need to spell out what you want to say and decide what color paper you want to use inside the bottle caps. You can do all one color or every other color or multiple colors.
Step 3: Trace the "top" of a bottle cap onto the colored paper to make the correct number of circles. Use a pencil instead of a pen so it's not permanent.
Step 4: Cut out the circles and glue them on the inside of the bottle caps. (Put them pencil side down in case there are any tracing lines showing)
Step 5: Use letter stickers or write the letters on the inside of the bottle cap. One letter per bottle cap looks best.
Step 6: Glue the bottle caps "top" side down so that the inside with the letters is showing. You can spell out your word horizontal, up and down, etc. I like to make the caps up and down, every other one, to make more room and to make it look more artsy.
Step 7: Use a scrapbooking decorative photo mat in the frame to use as a border. Pick a pattern that has colors that match the colors you used inside the bottle caps. I like to pick a frame that's bigger than the picture I want to put in so that the decorative border shows. If you use a picture that is the exact size of the frame you can skip this step.
Step 8: Insert the photo you want to use inside the frame. If you do use a bigger frame and the matt, I'd recommend using some double stick tape to center the picture on the matt so it doesn't slide. I've also taken multiple smaller printed pictures and made a collage on the matt.
Tuesday, December 14, 2010
On the Second Day of Christmas...
To keep with the wine cork theme, on the second day of Christmas, I'm going to share a super easy, fun craft that also makes a great, personable gift.
Craft: Wine Cork Picture Frame
Supplies Needed:
12 Wine corks (amount needed may vary)
Cheap plastic picture frame ($1 or $2 at Walmart)
A print of a favorite photo to go in the frame
Tools Needed:
Hot glue gun and glue sticks
Step 1: Glue wine corks around frame
Step 2: Insert picture in frame
It is literally that easy. I like to use wine corks from the same winery and then put a picture from that winery in the frame. For example, in the picture above, I asked for spare corks at Keswick Vineyards and then the picture in the frame is of me and my boyfriend at the winery. I also gave my brother and his wife a picture of them together at a winery in Seattle with corks that I got from the winery on the frame. You could also mix it up with corks from wines you've tried together or different corks from a wine tour. Another variation of this would be to paint the corks to make the frame colorful. There are so many options!
Craft: Wine Cork Picture Frame
Supplies Needed:
12 Wine corks (amount needed may vary)
Cheap plastic picture frame ($1 or $2 at Walmart)
A print of a favorite photo to go in the frame
Tools Needed:
Hot glue gun and glue sticks
Step 1: Glue wine corks around frame
Step 2: Insert picture in frame
It is literally that easy. I like to use wine corks from the same winery and then put a picture from that winery in the frame. For example, in the picture above, I asked for spare corks at Keswick Vineyards and then the picture in the frame is of me and my boyfriend at the winery. I also gave my brother and his wife a picture of them together at a winery in Seattle with corks that I got from the winery on the frame. You could also mix it up with corks from wines you've tried together or different corks from a wine tour. Another variation of this would be to paint the corks to make the frame colorful. There are so many options!
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