21 Days of Christmas: Snowflake Tree!

Do you remember yesterday when I reminded you how to make snowflakes? And some people probably read that and were like "duh Bex, who doesn't know." But in my defense, my Aussie friend didn't even know what a paper snowflake was! Poor TJ...

Well here's what you can do with all of those snowflakes! Another quick, easy, and painless DIY!

Okay, so start with a big pile of snowflakes. A skewer, a flower pot (or something equal to a flower pot) and some floral foam. 

I'm sure you didn't see this one coming - put the floral foam into the pot. Yay! Can you guess what comes next? Stick the skewers into the floral foam. Then build up the snowflake tree!

I'm not sure why my .gif is backwards, but I hope you get the idea!

And there you have it, snowflake trees!

The smaller one is made out of scrapbook paper, it looks fantastic!

16 days until Christmas!

21 Shades of Christmas: Snowflake 101

Today I wanted to make some snowflakes for my room, but to my surprise, I had completely forgotten how to fold and cut snowflakes! After a little help from my friend Google, I came up with this Snowflake 101 for you!

First, turn your paper into a square. That's steps 1-4. What you want to do is take one corner of your paper, and then fold it diaganally across your paper until it makes a smooth top edge. Cut away the excess. 

Fold your paper in half, and then in half again!

Now fold your paper in half one more time, but diagonally this time!

Round off the top corner to make a rounded snowflake!

Snip snip snip away, and you have one beautifully unique snowflake!

Here are a couple of snowflakes I busted out this afternoon!

Now get creative and make some snowflakes!

17 Days until Christmas!

21 Shades of Christmas: Merry Christmas Banner

Guess who's back... back again. Becky's back. Tell a friend... (Eminem fix of the day!)

Okay you ready for this one? Ready? Let's gooo! We're going to make a pretty little banner. Yours can say whatever your pretty little mind wants it to say, but mine says  I used red, green, and cream felt. Cream for all the letters. But really, rules suck, do whatever you want. Seriously. Orange and blue and purple? Do it. 

I also picked up one of those nifty letter stencils at the dollar store ON SALE (did you know dollar stores had sales?) for 50 cents.

Okay so see what I did there? I traced out all the letters and then cut them out. No way, right? Who would have ever thought that step came next. But seriously. Look at at that. So easy.

Okay, now cut the red and the green into whatever shape you want. I wanted triangles but since I didn't have a ruler I was like F THAT, let's do some squares. Squares. Woooo! Now glue everything down. I didn't take pictures of that step, although my pretty pink glue gun could have used some close up shots!

Cut some holes, string some string, and baddaboom baddabing you've got a banner! Christmas-y and perfect and cheerful! 

17 days until Christmas!

50 Shades of FAIL - 21 Shades of WIN

Guess what folks, I did it again! I made a big promise and then crash boom bang life gets in my way, I fall off the wagon, and there goes that project. 

Seriously, 50 days, self? What were you thinking.

Okay ready.

New plan.

21 Shades of Christmas. 

Yup, 21. Why? Because I think I could actually keep up for 3 weeks. You know it takes 21 days to create a habit? Someone should yell at me every day to eat breakfast, go to the gym, and write a blog for 21 days. Any volunteers?

But you can forgive me because This^^ is what has been distracting me?! Seriously does life get any better?! We always say, our lives are better than your vacation (;

50 Shades of Christmas: Hot Hot Chocolate!

See this pretty little jar? It is full of the most derricious hot hot chocolate mix you ever did drink. Yum. And yes, I meant hot hot chocolate. Because it has chili powder in it. Which makes it hot. And then you heat it up... which makes it hot. Perfect!

So here's the plan: 

3 cups icing sugar

1 cup good quality cocoa powder

2 tbsp cornstarch

1 tsp salt

1 tbsp chili powder

Okay wanna hear the best part?

Mix them all together. Done.

Mix 2 tbsp mix with 1/4 cup milk and some hot hot water.

Cuddle up in front of the fire and enjoy yourself. Grab a book, some Harry Potter maybe? Cuddle under a blanket. Just enjoy your spicy hot hot chocolate!

50 Shades of Christmas: Lotto Ticket Cards

Scratch and reveal the hidden message... super easy and super exciting!

First, start with your bases. Templates, if you will. AND (!!) look what I can do now! Find your printables right over here: Fa La La La La Here, Naughty or Nice Here!

Okay, so you've printed out those bad boys. 

Time for a little sharpie art. I know, so creative. Feel free to write aaanything your little heart desires inside each round, but make sure it's legible!

Naughty or nice underneath the Christmas tree!

Now take your fresh white crayon (how do I know it's fresh? No one actually uses the white crayon!) and color in all of your spots you want to cover. Aka the naughty, the nice, the fa, and allll the la's. 

Here are our pretty little paint colors, green, red, and sparkles. Now here's the magic trick, mix together 2 parts paint, and 1 part dish detergent. Mix em up and we're ready to paint!

Paint me pretty, sweetheart. Paint, let dry. Then paint with sparkles over top. Oh baby get some glitter up in there!

Make sure you let it all completely dry before you try and scratch. Or else you'll end up with paint covered quarters and no one likes that! (I think... never really been an issue before)

Okay, we're glittery, we're dry, and we're ready to scratch. OKAY GO.

Scratch and let your secrets be revealed! The colored paint washes off a little bit on the white paper, which is why I told you to make sure you wrote clearly!

I think it's super cute! Super easy, and fun for the kids in your life who love lotto tickets!

For more 50 Shades of Christmas, check out my previous posts here!

50 Shades of Christmas: Just for Fun!

1. Egg Nog or Hot Chocolate? 100% hands down hot chocolate!

2. Does Santa wrap presents or just sit them under the tree? In what kind of world does Santa not wrap his presents?!

3. Colored lights on tree/house or white? I like both! I'm a big fan of the decorations that stay in the family for foreverrr!

4. Do you hang mistletoe? No! And I've never kissed under it either!

5. When do you put your decorations up? I want to RIGHT NOW, but usually the 1st of December.

6. What is your favorite holiday dish? Turkey and stuffing and all the stuff that goes with it! 

7. Favorite Holiday memory as a child? Every single year my brother and sister and I would wake up super super early and we were allowed to open our stocking but we weren't allowed to wake up our parents until 8am so we would make them breakfast every year (:

8. When and how did you learn the truth about Santa? I figured myself a super sleuth and went snooping and found all the presents in my parents closet along with the wrapping paper Santa used... ):

9. Do you open a gift on Christmas Eve? Last year was actually the first year we did! Not usually!

10. How do you decorate your Christmas tree? My Babcia (polish grandma) made a ton of ornaments, plus every single year my dad gave my mom a special one. And my mom was a teacher so she has tons. Our trees are always soooo crowded and I love it!

11. Snow! Love it or Dread it? I love looking at snow, but usually I'm not one for actually being in the snow!

12. Can you ice skate? I actually had dreams of being an olympic figure skater! I love to ice skate!

13. Do you remember your favorite gift? Last year I got a cleaver and that was pretty badasss, but I always loved my presents (:

14. What’s the most important thing about the Holidays for you? Family and giving and food and love and decorations!

15. What is your favorite Holiday Dessert? Cookies!!

16. What is your favorite holiday tradition? Every year we have a big baking party with all of my cousins and everything. And then we have a giant dinner where we all pitch in and it's always so much fun (:

17. What tops your tree? A star! 

18. Which do you prefer giving or receiving? I love both! I love trying to figure out the perfect present for people and wrapping it up all nice and seeing the look on their face.

19. Candy Canes: Yuck or Yum? Yuck!!

20. Favorite Christmas show? **Movie - all the old school ones like frosty and rudolph

21. Saddest Christmas Song? That one about the Christmas Shoes ):

22. What is your favorite Christmas song? Carol of the bells!

If you end up doing this meme let me know! Link up your post in the comments and I'll come read...

Linkylinky with IRockSoWhat!

50 Shades of Christmas: Christmas Cards (Round 2)

Hey hey hey! Miss me yesterday? Our power went out for a solid 12 hours - good job snow plow running into power lines! (Yes, we have a ton of snow!)

But no need to fear, Becky and her horrible DIY's are here!

Just sayin though guys, I'm really enjoying these crafts. So much so that I do them and forget to take pictures... Same as when I bake. Or cook. Or basically do anything, haha. I get way to into whatever I'm doing to take pictures!

But here are my next 3 Christmas cards, which I would like to give you printables of, BUT I CAN'T FIGURE OUT HOW! Please help!

(**Edit** I figured it out! Ho Ho Ho Template, Reindeer Template, Love Santa Template)

First is a pure printable - I borrowed some clip art from the internet, shaded it in white, and added the little ornaments to the antlers. Inside I wrote Happy Holidays. I think this card is super because it is super versatile, and still so festive!

This is my least favourite so far, but in the interest of being real, here's my failure! I put two strips of silver glitter paint and then wrote ho ho ho. I thought it would have come out nicer... but I really didn't plan it out all that great! Oh well, this one can go to grandma, she'll love it no matter what!

This one was one of my favourites. I printed out a red background, used some green wrapping paper to make it look like a present, and then added a love Santa gift tag, some string, and a pretty little bow! I think it'd look like a great present to open out of an envelope!

If you missed my other cards, check out round one here!

47 Days until Christmas!

50 Shades of Christmas: Cards (Round 1: Santa Hat and Snowflake)

So I'm in here by the skin of my teeth (p.s. I don't really understand that saying... teeth don't have skin?)

So anywho, this'll be short and sweet. Mostly because it's 11pm, and I have to work breakfast tomorrow and I'm feeling a little bit like poo.

I've never been one to send a lot of Christmas cards, but I've always been fascinated by paper art. Here's my attempt at 2 different Christmas cards, more coming at your way tomorrow!

This one is easy: cardstock, printer, my nifty glue gun, scissors, felt, and a pen!

I will put up the template for this, as soon as I remember how to add a printable PDF. (Any suggestions?)

(**EDIT** I figured it out! Let It Snow Template, Santa Hat Template)

Print, Trace, and cut. Then glue. SO EASY.

Told you, super easy. Print, Trace, and cut.

Then glue!

Hello Christmas cards! I took the liberty of adding a super adorbz picture of me underneath the santa hat, and then used cotton balls to add the eyebrows and the beard!

50 days until Christmas!