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CHRISTMAS TABLESCAPE

Hello! Hello! Are you ready for your holiday yet? Has this ever happened to you?

You get the call.. yep, that's right. Your sister-in-law Suzy has strep throat. She can't have Christmas dinner at her house. Could you possibly host? The family swears they will bring all the food. It is 2 days away!

Warning bells start going off in your head as you look around the house at what you thought was a "safe" mess, because you were going out for Christmas dinner. You start to panic... sweat is pouring out of your pores. Things get "stashed," toilets get scrubbed, vacuuming is completed.

Uh-oh. What should you do with your table? I have the perfect solution for you! Here is a super simple tablescape made with dollar store items, the great outdoors and a scarf from your hubby's closet!

Throw down a scarf on the table. It makes a great table runner!! Grab some mason jars, Epsom salt, dollar store votives and ornaments (or pull some from your tree!).

Gather some greens and pine cones from outside or get greens from the local produce/grocery store. You can even pull apart a fresh wreath you catch 70% off!

I set up my mason jars at various heights just using small gift boxes. Throw down the greens (random is best!), mason jars and add in the pine cones and ornaments.

It will look great all the way around!

For a place setting, I used a jingle bell (dollar store) and tied my napkins with twine. Super simple!

I know this set up only took me about 20 minutes to throw together with things I had around the house or outside. Fresh greens always make things feel more fancy to me. Like you spent HOURS arranging it.

I wish all of you a holiday of love, joy and of course, stress-FREE! Hugs to you!!

Linking up with:
Just a Girl and Her Blog
Thrifty Decor Chick
Like a Saturday

YAY! Thanks to Christy at Confessions Of a Serial DIYer for featuring my tablescape!

DIY GLITTER CANDLES - WITHOUT THE GLITTER MESS!

Happy Wednesday!

Here's a super simple craft that you can throw together in about ten minutes! Easy Peasy, right?!? It can decorate your house right through the holiday when you need an extra special touch.

I love all the glitter candles and well, glitter EVERYTHING that I see on Pinterest. I have always avoided it though, because I tend to be a messy crafter. Me? YES! Even when I bake, my husband gives me the evil eye whenever he walks in the kitchen. Tee hee.

So this is my solution to avoid the glitter mess... Glitter Ribbon!

Here's what you will need: Glitter ribbon - any size/color you wish, pillar candles of your choice, glue dots, some holiday/winter baubles (pine cones, ornaments, peppermint candies, etc.), and a container to put it all in. I chose my lanterns I normally use outdoors in the summer months.

Ok, are you ready for your 10 minute craft? Cut your ribbon the diameter of the candle so it overlaps just a bit. Wrap it around the candle and glue dot it to hold it together. You can make it stripes or add ribbon to the whole candle!

Place the candle inside your container, clear vase, etc. (I used a bowl to prop my candle up a bit)

Now add your baubles. I am using cinnamon scented pine cones and cinnamon sticks for mine.

Ta DA! Easy quick craft that looks great and doesn't create a mess. Plus, because it is just glue dots, you can remove the ribbon after using it and start all over again for another season!

Hope you are enjoying creating lots of good things for the holidays! Please leave a comment to let me know you stopped by! Feel free to share your own 10 minute craft too!

CHRISTMAS "MANTEL"

Happy Tuesday!

I hope your weekend was wonderful and filled with lots of hot cocoa! We are still getting decked out for Christmas around here so I thought I would show you the top of my hutch.

Years ago..you know, when I was a young'n and lived in an apartment by myself, my Mom would come over and always bring a new Christmas decoration and then help me decorate. She was even nice enough to store all of my totes of stuff and haul it to me an hour and a half away.

It is so nice to think of that time and how much fun we always had listening to Christmas music and hanging out. Lucky for me, I have a wonderful family of my own now, but I still miss that time with her.

So, it was a great surprise that this year, I found myself able to decorate with my Mom. She just happened to be at our house to hang out for the day! The kids went down for a nap and we got out the last Christmas tote I had not dug into.

I love putting stuff up and having her stand back and say, "no, that doesn't look right or yup, that is better."

My favorite part of my holiday decor has to be the beautiful tea set. (it's up above all the way to the right) Surprised that I love tea cups... yea, haha you are funny. The actual silly thing about this tea set is where I purchased it - Bath and Body Works. Right?!?! It was a gift set with lotion and such.

The easiest decoration was this tiny frame I covered in burlap and just added green buttons and a red ribbon that came off a packaged gift - super simple! (and would make a great gift!)

One other thing I did was add Epsom salt and red jingle bells to a blue mason jar. I just love the red in the blue jars.

I hope you enjoyed a little view of our Christmas decor! Do you have a favorite person to decorate with? Or a favorite Christmas album you listen too? I would love to hear from you! Have a great rest of the week!

MINI PEPPERMINT BARK CHEESECAKES

Afternoon! If there is one flavor in this life I adore it is Chocolate and Mint. Put them together in any number of ways and I'm in. It is super in ice cream, coffee, etc. I luuurrrvvveee it.... makes me melt!

So, when asked to make a dessert for my work Christmas party, I knew I had to try something new and exciting. I had a vision. It just didn't exist on Pinterest. What? What I had in my head was not on Pinterest?!?! How is that possible? I have no idea.

Here it is: Mini Peppermint Bark Cheesecakes. Yes, there are some out there, but not exactly as I pictured it. I decided to put a couple of ideas together from 2 great sites to come up with my own version.

Here's how it turned out.

YUM!

MINI PEPPERMINT BARK CHEESECAKES

The recipe is from a combination of two recipes I was inspired by: the blogs Baked by Rachel and Picky Palate.

Crust Ingredients:
Holiday Oreos (1 package)

Filling Ingredients:
3 – 8oz blocks cream cheese, softened
1 cup sugar
4oz white chocolate, melted
1 1/2 tbsp flour
1 1/2 tbsp heavy cream
1/4 tsp salt
2 tsp peppermint extract
3 eggs
1 1/2 cup peppermint bark, chopped (I used 2 bars of Ghirardelli)
1 container of Hershey's Special Dark Dessert topping (in the ice cream aisle)
1 bag of Candy Cane Hershey Kisses, unwrapped

Begin melting 4oz white chocolate. Using the microwave, in a heat safe bowl microwave for 30 seconds at 50% power until fully melted. Stir well after each interval. Preheat oven to 350.

In a large bowl or stand mixer, beat cream cheese until smooth. Add sugar. Mix well. Scrape bowl well prior to each new addition and as needed. Add melted chocolate, flour, whipping cream, salt and peppermint extract. Mix well. On medium/low speed, add one egg at a time. Mix until smooth and blended well.
Add peppermint bark pieces, stir by hand.

Place one oreo in the bottom of each mini opening. (I use a mini cupcake wrapper around the oreo to prevent leaks around the bottom of the cheesecake.) Pour evenly into cups; filling until full. Bake for 20-22 minutes or until cheesecake is cooked through. Let cool completely.

Remove cheesecakes from pan and top each with a spoonful of dark chocolate dessert topping and a Candy Cane Hershey Kiss. Refrigerate until ready to serve. Makes 3 dozen. (make sure to eat up any leftover kisses... you're welcome!)