Vinyl Framed Letters

I ordered these vinyl letters for family presents this Christmas. They were super easy to do and really cheap. I think all together with the vinyl and frame it only cost me about $10 for each of them. I got the frames at Walmart and then just centered and laid the vinyl down on-to the glass. I thought they would look even cuter if you put scrapbook paper behind the glass. I of course made one for myself and now I just need to get decorating and find a place for it.

Side Note: Lets not talk about how I tripped and stepped on the one for my parents the day after Christmas and shattered it. Oh, well I will just have to get them another one.

Sorry for the lack of posts. I have company until after New Years.

Cocoa-and-Candy-Canes!

So I did in-fact manage to pull off my Christmas party even with all the chaos that comes with the Holidays.

The baking of all my treats was made a-lot easier with my early Christmas gift too. I am in love with this beauty and have to pinch myself that I even have it in my kitchen. So you may be wondering what I was using to mix and make all my goodies for parties before I got this wonderful piece of machinery. Just about nothing! A small hand mixer my sweet grandmother bought me off of QVC (even that I have only had for three years), or a good old wooden spoon. So I am thankful Santa saw my talent and need.

I did all desserts for the party along with a hot cocoa bar. I made little food signs for everything and tried to make them tie into the winter snowflake Christmas theme I have going on throughout the house and on the island. I picked up the light blue snowflake dollies at the dollar store and they looked great scattered under all the trays and platters. The tall jars filled with marshmallows and scented pine cones added a nice touch and some height on the table to balance out the cupcake stand.

For the cocoa bar I put out jars with assorted flavored cocoas that had little tags letting guests know what flavors were theirs for the choosing. I stacked all my milk-glass teacups and their saucers (which I purchased years ago from a thrift store) behind the cocoa jars all shiny and nice like. Before hand I tagged each cup with a little tag that had a word associated with winter or Christmas on it so that guests could tell their cups apart throughout the evening. Then I just made sure to have a nice big pot of hot water going during the party so guests could help themselves to as much cocoa as they would like.

I made cupcakes of course and sprinkled them with edible glitter to make the frosting look snow like, and found cupcake liners to go along with my color theme.

In the center of the island I placed a yummy Devils food pound cake that I cleverly label to describe the touch of vanilla glaze and sprinkles that I topped it with.

I also made mini bundt spice cakes and drizzles blue frosting and snowflake sprinkles on them for a fun look.
These are fun little cookies for a party too. They are s'more cookies made with homemade graham cracker discs that you then bake with half a large marshmallow a-top the cookie and dip in chocolate. They are a little messy for your fingers, but just right for your sweet tooth.

Most the guests were late do to the snow storm, but what could go more perfect with a Christmas party (let alone a snowflake themed one) then freshly falling snow outside.

Hope everyone has a Merry Christmas. I will post again soon when the festivities of the big holiday are all over and done with.

Dr.Seuss Playroom

Santa's elves are all done with Jayna's Dr. Seuss playroom. It has turned out really nice. I was shocked at how well the toys fit. I thought for sure I would need double the storage, but I didn't. In the future I will probably add another bookcase or two, but for now the storage is perfect. I didn't even use one of the white baskets and three of the pop-up storage bins.

Here are before pictures of the playroom. It was just a basic plain white room with no closet and a little alcove.



Out in the hall I hung this picture of Dr.Seuss books above the door going into the playroom. I love how it looks so much that I am now planning on putting little frames above all the doors in the hall hinting to what rooms they are. Kinda like on imagination movers. lol. You stay-at-home moms know what I am talking about. It will look so much better once I paint the hall too.

We painted the room Tembleque from Kwal paints. It is a really pretty blue with a little hint of green. I think I may even paint my craft room downstairs this same color. The table, stools, baskets, and bookcase are from Ikea and were really good prices. I found the blue trunk forever ago at a thrift store and even consigned it, but no-one bought it so I ended up with it again. I have kept it all this time hoping to find the perfect home for it. I am glad I did because it looks great in this room and holds tons of toys. The red chairs are the medium size Pottery Barn Kids everywhere chairs. I think they are even on sale right now. The curtains are also from Ikea and where really cheap, and the Dr. Seuss hats I bought at Target for the Dr. Seuss baby shower I did awhile back.

Here is the finished playhouse. It turned out super cute and I am very proud of myself for whipping it out as fast as I did. I still need to trim the door a little and we are going to make a miner adjustment in the frame. I love it. I think this will be Jayna's favorite part of the room so I am really glad we thought of it.(click for playhouse frame how to)

I made these little labels for all the toy baskets. I thought it would be a good teaching tool to help little Jayna learn how to put her toys away. To make them I just took pictures of some of her toys on top of a white piece of paper. Then I loaded them into photoshop and adjusted the levels of the colors a little, printed them out onto photo-paper, and used self-laminate sheets to make them kid durable.

On one of the walls I but a large magnet board I picked up at Ikea. I placed it really low so that she could use it while sitting on the floor. I have not found any good magnet letters for her yet, so I turned the buttons I used at the Dr.Seuss baby shower into magnets. I just took the pins out and added little strips of adhesive magnets to the back of them. I had picked these bags up at Target too and decided they would look cute hung on hooks in the playroom. Jayna loves filling up little bags with toys and treasures so I thought she would enjoy using these.

So the only thing left to do is paint the huge Dr.Seuss murals. Who knows when I will get around to doing that. I am just glad I was reasonable enough to know I could not do it before Christmas.

Well my Christmas party is tomorrow so I better get baking.

Ableskeivers

What are they? They are like a waffle or pancake formed like a tennis ball in a special ableskeiver cast iron pan. In Denmark, æbleskiver are common before Christmas. In December, they are often served with gløgg, Scandinavian mulled wine. For our family they are a fun way for us to remember our heritage at breakfast time. When we were young kids we would have wars in the backyard with the leftover ableskeivers. As-well as a tasty treat to eat they make for a great object to throw at siblings. My little family has made it a tradition to have them for Christmas brunch along with hotcocoa, fresh orange juice, and our favorite quiches. Our favorite things to smother them in are hot syrup, powdered sugar, and homemade blackberry jam. This recipe was obtained from my great-great-grandmother on my Mom's side and was passed down from our ancestors in Denmark. So from my family to yours God jul "Good Yule" Ingredients: 3 eggs, separated 1/2 teaspoon salt 1 teaspoon baking soda 1 teaspoon baking powder 2 cups flour 2 tablespoons sugar 2 cups buttermilk Directions: In small mixing bowl beat egg whites to soft peak and set aside. In separate mixing bowl beat yolks slightly then add dry ingredients and milk. Fold in beaten egg whites. Fry in buttered ableskeiver pan. If you would like to make these yourself you can purchase an Ableskeiver pan at just about any specialty kitchen store, or I know Williams-Sonoma sells them and has recipes and how-to videos on their website. These little pans make for the perfect unique Christmas gift too.

The Invitations Are Out

The invitations are finally out for my Christmas party. Here are the completed invitations as they were mailed. I made these pretty address labels that wrapped around the envelope to add a little custom touch to the invites. I was very pleased with how they turned out. I will post pictures of the party after I have it. Just send me an email if you would like the psd files of this invitation or have questions about how to make your own.

Etsy Yarn Wreaths

I love these wreaths! They are so cute and look like they would be so easy to make. It is not to late if you need one more festive decoration to brighten your home this holiday season. You can either buy or create one of these wonderful one of a kind yarn wreaths to adorn your door this Christmas.

1 - Yarn Tree Wreath made with a mix of vintage and new materials, rikrak and ribbons, from junktrunk, $40.

2 - Winter Wonderland 14" Wreath combines yarn balls with holiday ornaments, from brandensams, $45.

Christmas Bells are Ringing

I made these simple bells last year for our ward to hand out to the elderly at a retirement community while caroling. They were bells from the Dollar Tree that came in a pack of four for a dollar of course (which I did see that they had again this year). I swapped out the cheap silver thread they had on the bells for a thin blue ribbon. Then I made these little tags with a verse from a Christmas song and a warm holiday wish from the ward to attach to the bells. You could make a much cuter tag to go on the bells with die-cuts etc. I had to make over a hundred of them so I kept it very simple.

I will probably skip posting tomorrow since we will be out of town. We are going up to Park City for the night to enjoy the snowy mountains. We may possibly get to go on a real "one horse open sleigh" ride too. I hope we do because I think little Jayna would love it.

Dr. Seuss Playhouse Sneak Peak

I am almost done with the Dr.Seuss playhouse we are making for Jayna's Dr. Seuss playroom we are giving her for Christmas. It is all sewn together and I just need to trim the door down to the right size, and make one more window. It was way easier to sew together than I thought it would be, thank-goodness, and all my measurements were right. You would be even more impressed if you knew what kind of machine I made it on. I describe my sewing machine as the one up from the sewing machine that says Barbie on it at Sears. That is pretty much the truth too. The little guy pulled through for me though, and it was our biggest sewing project to date. I will post pictures of the finished playhouse along with the playroom when we are done with it. As for now this sneak peak will have to do. I have to get cracking on painting the playroom this weekend so we can put everything in it.

Christmas Decorations Are Finally Up!

Christmas Decorations are finally up at the Hutchings house. I was kind of at a loss of what decorations to put out and where since this is the first Christmas we have had in our new house. In Christmas's past I would put decorations on my shelves, but I have not put anything up on the walls in this house yet. I am still waiting to finalize some of my decorating / remodeling decisions before I start putting nails in the walls. Everything turned out looking better than I thought it would though, and I inadvertently ended up with a snow theme this year. I will post pictures of my two decorated fireplaces when I am done tweaking them.



Believe it or not I usually put double the amount of decorations on my Christmas tree, but this was the perfect amount of decorations for this year since I have a very active and curious 21 months old ( I am telling her to put an ornament back this very second). Notice the ring of bells at the bottom of the tree. That is my homemade Christmas tree alarm, so that I will know when she is close to the tree. I thought I was pretty clever with that one, and it looks cute. Most of my ornaments are my Grandmothers from years ago. I think it is so fun that when my Dad comes to visit at Christmas time there are pieces of his childhood Christmas's scattered throughout my house for him to see. It always makes Christmas a little more meaningful for me.



Speaking of things from the past. This is my Great Grandmothers Dinning room table that I have decorated for the Holidays. I am so excited to have this piece in my house along with the matching hutch. She always held Christmas morning brunch at this table and I am excited to put it to that same use again this Christmas. I need to somehow find an old picture of everyone around this table on Christmas morning at her house. That would be so fun to have displayed at Christmas time. The pipe-cleaner snowflakes are something I made last year and if I am not mistaken were "Martha's" idea.



Here is how I decorated the top of the hutch. The clock I made earlier this year at a church homemaking activity. The rest again are my Grandmothers old Christmas decorations. I also placed ornaments all through out the hutch filling the bowls and platters I have displayed in it.



I put these two wreaths on the french doors leading into my soon to be amazing craft room which is now to my dismay housing a ping-pong table. You can see the disassembled playhouse I am working on in the background on top of the ping-pong table. The husband tries to tell me that the ping-pong table makes a great sewing table, but that is not exactly the look I was going for in my dream craft room.

13 Ounces or Less

Did you know that you can mail things through the U.S Postal system unpackaged if they are 13 ounces or less? The Giverslog has been experimenting with this little fact for awhile now, and this Christmas I decided to join in on the fun when I found the perfect thing at the dollar store.

Christmas Party Invitations

Here is a quick sample of the Christmas invitations I will be sending out for my party. Those of you who will be receiving one please dismiss this post and act surprised when you get it in the mail. If any one wants the file for this invitation I would be more than happy to email it to you along with the links to the fonts I have used. I am excited for Christmas despite the fact that I still do not have a single Christmas decoration out in my house. We are getting a late start in my opinion. Tomorrow I will put up the tree and get to work on spreading Christmas throughout the house.

Mums the Word

I finally get to share pictures with you of the flower themed baby shower I worked on. This is a great example of how you can have the Bird and the Berry help you as much or as little as you want with events you are hosting.

For this event I did the invitations, guest favors, food signs, some decor, and all the desserts. Paige also had me put together little headband and flower hair clip kits so that guests instead of playing games could make the baby to be hair accessories. I loved this idea! At the end of the shower the honored guest had twenty little handmade headbands and bows for her baby made by her closest friends. How sweet. I helped consult Paige on which color paper goods and table clothes to purchase along with going over some setup ideas. Paige is actually a good family friend so she did come to help bake all the desserts the night before the party. Then she picked out which serving dishes of mine she wanted to use for the event and took with her everything she would need for her party she was hosting the next afternoon. Paige did all the setup and other food for the event and then just brought me back my things when she was done with them. It sounded like the mother to be enjoyed her shower and everyone was happy with how the event turned out.

If you have any questions about this event just send me an email.

What is Your Favorite Childhood Place?

I recently got to visit one of my favorite childhood places, Apple Hill, while on our Thanksgiving vacation in Northern California. I have such fond memories of going there each fall growing-up. It is literally a whole hill full of apple orchards up in Placerville. You drive the small windy roads that circle the hill, and stop by little farms and shops that serve fresh apple pies, carmel apples, apple donuts, and free samples of freshly pressed apple cider. Craft vendors in little booths occupy most of the farms walkways selling homemade crafts and art. The leaves were just turning while we were there, and there is nothing like the crisp autumn air of the California mountains.

I am really "old fashion" at heart and love all things from eras past, so the wood baskets full of just plucked apples and produce were to much for me to handle. I couldn't leave without buying some baskets of my own. I now have them in my pantry full of apples from the trip and potatoes and onions I just bought from the store yesterday. I love that they are a functional trip souvenir that reminds me of beautiful Apple Hill and memories from my childhood.


What is your favorite childhood place?

Ikea Holiday Lights

Santa's Elves made a trip to Ikea last night to pick up some items for Jayna's playroom we are giving her for Christmas. It wasn't on the list of things to look at, but my eye still caught a glimpse at all the fun holiday lighting they sell during Christmas time. They have the coolest lights to hang over your windows indoors. Next year I have got to remember that they have such fun things. As for this year the Christmas decorating budget has already been spent. See you next year fun lights.