{Getting Ready For Easter} Easter Dinner Decor Ideas

{living}

Since I already shared pictures from last year's Easter dinner yesterday, I thought I'd share some pictures from other years today. After all I can't share pictures from this year until Easter is already past.  Of course, me being me, I can't do the same thing 2 years in a row so each year has to have a different theme (although I have to say I'm not sure I always go quite as "all in" with theme for Easter Dinner as I do for Pre-Thanksgiving Dinner, but even if it's not quite as obvious with the Easter tablescapes and decor it's still in the back of my head as I choose decorations.

{unfortunately I can't find my pictures from Easter 2011.... If I remember correctly that year had some stuff I really liked, but I don't know where the pictures are currently stored, so if I can find them I will add them here, but for the meantime we'll have to make do with 2012 and 2013}

2012

The theme for 2012 was "an Easter picnic"

These first few pictures were taken early Easter morning as we were getting ready for church {I always try to set the table for a formal meal the night before}, I loved the way the early light coming in through the windows hit the centerpiece. It looked like an early morning Easter meadow

The centerpiece was several patches of plastic grass lined up together  and scattered with oversized Easter eggs, tissue paper flowers, and little bud vases with a fresh flower in each....

... and little bunny figurines {which were originally bunny shaped sidewalk chalk, that I covered with several layers of sealant/varnish to turn them into figurines}

the whole tablescape

and in case you were dying to see it from the other end of the table lol

The buffet table.  The table cloth for this was a collection of smaller "picnic blankets" {aka pieces of spring colored gingham fabrics} and decorated with more oversized Easter eggs, normal size Easter eggs and flowers arranged in jars and bottles.  the meal was Rack of Lamb; Ham; Rosemary Green Beans and Carrots; Deviled Eggs; Biscuits; and some sort of potatoes - I don't remember how they were fixed and I can't tell from the picture lol.

We also had a cantaloupe soup instead of sliced cantaloupe

My butterfly dessert plates

and Carrot Cake Cheesecake {a Martha Stewart recipe that is so good and I make almost every year} for dessert

 

2013

For some reason I really didn't get many pictures of the table and such in 2013, but I do have a couple, the theme was "glittery and elegant" or "Easter at Versailles", and I definitely didn't really go as all out with it as I would have liked to (in fact it's a theme I'll probably do again to be able to do a little more with) I don't remember what the deal was this year, I think it was a year where Easter was early and just snuck up on me (kinda like this year) and I just didn't have much time to do as much as I would have normally.

Elegantly dressed chicks and eggs on feather nests down the center of the table.  This the first year I had this china, which my Aunt gave me.  The goblets were also a gift from a lady that I am close to at work.

and of course the silver is my mix and match vintage silverware

I always have small Easter baskets for each person at their place they serve both as gifts/favors and as placecards

This is the one for my husband that year..... notice the "man" {AKA duct tape covered} eggs? lol

The buffet table... I believe the menu that year was rack of Lamb, Ham, Popovers, Scalloped Potatoes, Deviled Eggs, Sauteed Green Beans, Sauteed Asparagus, and honestly I'm not really sure what's in the soup tureen... pasta salad maybe? and for dessert Carrot Cake Cheesecake {a Martha Stewart recipe that I make almost every year... it is soooooo good} and "magic cake" - a recipe I found on pinterest, it was pretty yummy, and I'm sure you can find the recipe if you search for "magic cake"

over-head view of the food lol

beaded eggs, a tall glass candlestick and a sparkly bunny to decorate the buffet table

{Getting Ready for Easter} Easter Dinner DIYs

{living}&{making}

Getting Ready For Easter:

Preparations for Easter are definitely in full swing here at our house.  Actually, I'd say it's more like a mad rush to try and get everything I want to do done and ready.  Somehow the month of March flew by and I didn't realize Easter was going to be as early as it is until, oh..... probably last week to be honest.  I have most of the decorating done, and I'll be posting a decorations "tour" sometime this coming week, but I have a couple more things I'd like to get made before I do that.  In the meantime, though, I do have a couple of DIYs I made for last year's Easter dinner to share today:

Bunny Ear Napkin Rings and Mason Jar Footed Glasses

{Bunny Ear Napkin Rings}

I saw my inspiration for these last year at Hobby Lobby and this year I've been seeing them everywhere! I had actually meant to post this DIY last year when I made them, but perhaps since they really seem to be a big thing this year it's best that I didn't get it posted after all. ;) haha.  I think they are just so cute, in fact I'm thinking I might use them again this year (if I don't find a new napkin fold I'm dying to do) and they came together pretty quickly and easily.

{What you'll need}:
Burlap - I'm not sure how much yardage you need, I had gotten several yards to use last year since the theme was "Burlap and Lace", I also used it to make the placemats in the picture,but it doesn't take much.  I've seen some done in colored burlap too and they are super cute
Cardstock - depending on how many napkin rings you are making 1 or 2 sheets should be enough.  I used a tan color so that it wouldn't be obvious through the open weave of the burlap, if you're using a colored burlap use a similar colored cardstock
Thread and needle or sewing machine - matching or contrasting color to your burlap
Hot glue gun and glue

{How-to}:
1 First cut a strip of cardstock to the size you want the band of your napkin ring to be. {Mine were about 1.25" wide and about 8" long}. Cut a strip of burlap a little more than twice as long and about the same length.  Glue the burlap around the cardstock so that the seem is in the middle of the strip. Overlap the ends about an inch (more or less depending on how tight you want the napkin rings to be) to make a ring and glue together.

2  Next draw an ear shape (like in the picture below) onto cardstock and cut it out. Use the cardstock piece as a template to cut the ears out of burlap.  You will need 4 ear pieces for each napkin ring you are making. (2 per ear)

3 Sew the ear pieces together in pairs a little bit in from the edge, then fold the 2 bottom corners in to the middle as in the picture below and sew a straight line across to hold in place.

4 Cut the bottom of the ears off just below the stitch line to make a flat bottom

5 Use hot glue to attach the ears to the rings and you are done.

{Mason Jar Footed Glasses}

This one is so simple it doesn't really need much in the way of instructions.

{What you'll need}:
 Mason jar of your choice (I used these tall, narrow, quilted ones to make iced tea/water glasses)  glass candlesticks (I used short ones to compliment the tall jars)
Glue/adhesive - make sure you use one designed for this type of application, the one I used when I originally made these I've used on other stuff and worked great but some of these didn't survive the dishwasher (Which was fine I put them in there as a test.) It has survived hand washing on other stuff I have used it on though, but I recently found glue at Walmart, in the craft aisle that says it is for glass (among other things) and is supposedly dishwasher safe - I haven't tried it yet so I can't say whether it really is or not - I also currently can't find where I put it (my craft room is a mess right now) so I can't tell you the name of it, but basically just read the label to determine what glue will work for you

{How-to}
This how to literally only has one step - glue the candlestick to the bottom of the mason jar and let cure as directed on the glue's packaging. It's usually at least 24 hours, but definitely follow all package directions. Easy peasy.

Now since you've seen the DIYs here's a few pictures of the tablescape and other decorations from Easter Dinner last year:

As I said earlier the theme was "burlap and lace"

the table was decorated pretty simply with burlap ribbons, eggs in a wire basket, a couple bunnies figurines from my collection and baby's breath in Mason jars

this is one of my favorite bunnies since it looks like he is praying, too sweet

the place setting: burlap placemat, charger with a lacy edge, and of course the napkin rings and glasses

The buffet table (please ignore the mess that is the craft room in the background.... it's more often a mess than neat it seems lol.... The garland was also a DIY: store bought doilies cut in half and sewn into double fold bias tape.  The table runner was a wide burlap ribbon/runner that I gathered down the middle and then laid a lace edged ribbon over it

the meal was much more simple than I normally do since it was just us and my parent's last year and I had hosted a baby shower the day before.  The "vase" that the flowers in that back are in was made the same way as the glasses, just using a bigger jar and taller candlestick.

Catching Up {&} Theme Food Week February: I {heart} Theme Food Week

{living}&{cooking}

Well, well, well..... here I am again having to play catch up after being MIA for over a month..... I really can't believe its been so long, February and March have really flown by! I apparently didn't even get Theme Food Week for February posted (we'll get to that in a minute).  I know why I didn't get anything posted in February - we were without internet for several weeks again at the beginning of the month (of course that turned out to be our fault, we didn't realize the power had gone out to the outlet that the modem was plugged into and it needed to be unplugged and plugged back in ..... which lets face it should have been one of the first things we tried, but it wasn't... haha) and then we were in California for my sister-in-law's wedding at the end of the month.  March.... IDK what happened there, it just flew flew by.

So let me go ahead and do my recap for February's theme food week and then I'll get you all caught up with everything else that's been going on and what's coming up. (especially with Easter sneaking up so quickly on us here!

Theme Food Week February: I <3 Theme Food Week

In honor of Valentine's Day February's Theme Food Week was all about heart shaped food.  There were a couple new recipes I tried for Theme Food Week, but also several of the days were just normal stuff made heart shaped or with heart shaped ingredients. So here's the menu:

Monday: Stuffed Flank Steak (hearts) with Heart Shaped Roasted Potatoes and Brussels Sprouts

This was one of those that wasn't a new recipe, just a little extra effort put into the prep.  For the stuffed flank steak I pounded out the flank steak to get it to a good thickness and size then coated one side of it with a mix of crumbled goat cheese, pesto, and roasted red peppers.  Instead of just rolling it like you normally would I rolled each side into the middle and tied it off with kitchen twine to make it heart shaped (or at least as heart shaped as possible lol). Honestly now that it's been over a month I don't remember what temp and length of time I cooked it for, but I looked up a couple stuffed/rolled flank steak recipes to kind of see what the average was and went with that, so my advice would be to do the same, for that matter you can follow the whole recipe for any stuffed flank steak and just roll it this way....  The potatoes and brussels sprouts were roasted together coated with olive oil, salt, pepper, garlic, etc. same as always.  The potatoes I cut out of slices of potato with a heart shaped cookie cutter.

Tuesday: Heart Shaped Mini Pizzas and Chicken Wings

This night was super easy and again, not a new recipe or anything, in fact mini pizzas is a dinner I make a lot, for Theme Food Week I took them up a notch with a couple more heart shaped cookie cutters.  The crust is Pillsbury Artisan whole grain pizza crust.  It's a really good pizza crust actually, of course making your own would be better I'm sure, but........ lol ;).  As well as cutting the crust out with a heart shaped cookie cutter I used a tiny one to cut hearts out of pepperoni.  I also (sort of) managed to make little hearts out of mini red bell peppers, and I attempted to cut grape tomatoes into heart shapes, but that only really worked on a couple of them, haha.  The wings were simply coated with barbeque sauce and then baked (you can toss them again with more sauce when they're done if you want since the sauce you baked on them thins out a lot in cooking, but it's a matter of preference.  Just make sure if you do it's not the same sauce that came in contact with the raw chicken!)

Thursday: Chicken Lazone (with heart shaped chicken breasts) with whole grain angel hair and sautéed green beans

This is the recipe for the Chicken Lazone that I used.  It was the first time trying it for us.  My mom thought it was fine but my husband and I both thought the sauce was a little to cream tasting and needed more flavor.  I do think this might have had something to do with the way I ended up making these though.  The recipe calls for chicken strips and then when you make the sauce you just make it in with the cooked chicken all in the same pan.  Because I partially butterflied the chicken breasts to make them heart shaped (to do this simply slice at an angle through the middle of a chicken breast, leaving the pointed end uncut so that it becomes a heart when you open it flat), I had to cook them one at a time because that's all that would fit in my pan and the butter in the pan got a little burnt from cooking so long so I had to clean out the pan and start over and while I did add a fair amount of the seasoning mix back in I think it just wasn't the same as it was supposed to be.  So while it was still good I do want to try it again sometime the way the recipe says to make it.  When I was plating my pasta it just happened to fall onto the plate in a heart shape too, which I thought was a cool coincidence.  The green beans were sauteed in butter and olive oil and of course salt, pepper, and garlic on them.

Friday: Italian Orzo Soup (with heart shaped veggies) and Heart Shaped Garlic Toast/Croutons

This is the recipe for this soup.  It was so good and I think for a change I actually followed the recipe as it was written, hahaha.  I cut the carrots for it into heart shapes (I saw it on Pinterest, basically you just shape it with the vegetable peeler and then slice it) and I actually found a heart shaped piece of tomato from the canned tomatoes that were used.  The bread was cut out with a heart shaped cookie cutter and toasted under the broiler (or you could use a toaster oven) with butter and garlic powder and a little salt on it - normally I would also put Parmesan cheese on them but I was out.....



Now you may be asking yourself, "But what about March's Theme Food Week?" We actually ended up not doing Theme Food Week this month, it just didn't really work out, but I am SUPER excited about Theme Food Week for April... the theme is April Fools.... definitely going to have some fun with this one!

    So now to catch up on other things..... As I mentioned we took a trip to California at the end of February for one of my Husband's sister's wedding.  It was a great trip and we got to see lots of family.  Also the weather was FABULOUS! it was around 60-70some degrees the whole time we were there, while back home here in VA we were having record cold temps.  We got some snow before we left and a decent snow after we got back but it was a really nice break to have that spring like weather in the middle (and miss the really cold weather at home).  Then it was March, then before I knew it mid March and then before I knew it here we are almost April and almost Easter.  Easter really snuck up on me this year too, I didn't realize it was going to be so early.  I still have a lot to do to get ready for it, but I have gotten most of my decorating done, as well as another house project I've been wanting to do for a little while now.  Over the next few days I plan on posting a decorations tour, as well as a few craft projects to help you get ready for Easter and some photos of my Easter dinner tablescapes/decor from the past couple years (since I wouldn't be able to show you this year's until after Easter).  And of course I'll have to show off my light fixture makeover too.  

    I'm also gearing up for my 30th birthday at the end of April, and we'll be celebrating our 5th anniversary in the middle of the month.  So all in all it should be a pretty busy month. A month to look forward to though!

I hope that you also have a month to look forward to on the horizon for April and beyond, and look forward to sharing mine with you!

Winter {Decorated} Mantel

{living}

Most years my mantel sits bare and forlorn in the months between when I take the Christmas decorations down and put Easter decorations up. {well perhaps not always bare, since if it's not decorated we seem to put anything and everything we want to set down up there, but forlorn anyway haha} This year though, I really wanted to do a winter-scape up there, and it all started with these two cute little birds I got from Target...

They were actually supposed to be Christmas decorations, I think, and they had ones that were definitely more Christmas looking - red and green and Christmas-y looking plaids - but I thought these two little guys would be perfect for the rest of winter and they were just too adorable with their little hats and the white one's bowtie.  They of course came home with me that day and sat in my craft room through the Christmas season waiting for their turn to grace the mantel.

Their day has come.

I finally got the Christmas decorations down and put away.... well the decorations on the mantel anyway, the tree is still up and there's still some other decorations throughout the house that I haven't gotten to yet, but hopefully later in the week... haha.  So, it was time to redecorate the mantel.  Along with the little birdies I had a birch tree with bare branches I had picked up at Christmas time from Walmart and two cross-stitches of bare trees with snowflakes that I had worked after finding the patterns on Pinterest.  And of course I also had my apothecary jar full of yarn scraps.  I also have quite the collection of tiny frames.  I think I might have a problem actually, when I see them, I just can't not buy them.... and Michaels almost always has them.  Thank goodness they are typically only a dollar or two! But anyway, the point is I grabbed a white oval one and a silver rectangle one (this one was actually supposed to be an ornament and came from Hobby Lobby...) and cut some scraps of a wintery wrapping paper to put in them.  I also grabbed a gray round one from my stash and layered it with a white snowflake. That was one side of the mantel....

I had also found this tutorial for making snowflakes for windows out of hot glue.  Perfect for the mirror, I thought.  I did do them on baking parchment paper on a flat surface (my living room floor to be precise) because I only have a hot melt glue gun and I was afraid the glue would drip before it cooled if I tried to do it directly on the mirror.  They peeled off the baking parchment easily and about half of them stuck to the mirror on their own, the others I just put another dab of hot glue on the back in the middle and stuck it to the mirror.

This was the best picture of the hot glue snowflakes... they weren't cooperating with photographing very well on the mirror from straight on

I also found a string of snowflake lights, in a bag of stuff in the craft room, to add a little more to the mirror (the birch tree actually lights up as well, I'd just have to get batteries for it. Haha.)

For the other side of the mantel, I wanted to do "icy" branches, but I didn't have any, I did however, have some white fleece so I just threw that and some snowflakes on the other side.

If I get a chance to make some "icy" branches soon I will probably replace the white fleece with them.

I'm excited to actually have a decorated mantel this winter! And I actually have some ideas for a Valentine's day mantel as well, so hopefully I'll get that done in February as well.....

Theme Food Week: Comfy,Cozy Casseroles {January}

{cooking}

So, has time sped up lately? It seems like I was just posting about December's Theme Food Week (of course I suppose that might have something to do with being late getting that one up....... heh heh). Now here I am again with another Theme Food Week wrap-up.  This week had some really yummy recipes.  And it was a theme that almost didn't come to be.  When I planning out the next few months of Theme Food Weeks I had actually originally planned on doing the theme that's going to be next month for January, but then I was having a horrible time coming up with something for February, nothing else I was coming up with just seemed quite right, and honestly even the theme I originally planned for January just didn't seem quite right for January either.  So at some point in all of this I was looking for a completely unrelated pin, but couldn't remember what board I had pinned it to so I was just looking through all my recent pins. {did you know you could do that? I just found this out, but I feel like everyone else probably already knew haha}.  I came across a couple of casserole recipes that I had pinned recently, and it dawned on me.  Casseroles! Perfect for cold winter evenings. There's almost nothing better than a warm, cheesy, hearty casserole to make you feel all comfy and cozy in the winter.  And there's a wide variety of casseroles so it wouldn't feel like we were eating the exact same thing for four nights straight.  I raided my Pinterest board and actually came up with 5 casseroles that I had to try out, and amazingly we actually managed to do all 5 nights without anything else coming up to postpone any of it! {it's a miracle! haha}.

So here we go.....

Comfy, Cozy Casseroles:

{Menu}
I have to say that most of these recipes are not exactly the lightest, healthiest recipes, but that's not really what I was going for here (although the cheddar-broccoli quinoa casserole is pretty darn healthy), but since we were going for comfy and cozy and yummy, they definitely fit the bill.  Also it was a week that I was able to use some of the tons of recipes I have pinned that I still need to try, and trying new recipes is supposed to be one of the purposes of Theme Food Weeks

Monday: Tortellini Bake with Sauteed Green Beans:

  This recipe was actually the pin that precipitated this week's theme.  I had pinned it not too long ago, and it just looked so yummy! (and it was!).  There's a bit of a funny story behind my making of this casserole though.....  Last Saturday I had gone through all the recipes and read through them quickly to get an idea of the recipe and to copy down the ingredient lists to make my shopping list for the week.  Then, on Monday as I went back to my pin to get the recipe back up to make it that night, suddenly it told me the link was no good.  I was using my phone because our house internet was out that day so I thought perhaps it was just something weird going on there, so I tried typing the address into my browser, and it told me the page didn't exist.  Huh? So I tried again several times that day and even double checked the address with the history on the browser on my computer and it just seemed like it had completely disappeared.  Fortunately it was a simple recipe and I had written down the amounts off the ingredients I needed with my grocery list so I was able to make it from memory from when I had looked the recipe over, over the weekend, but I was all prepared to have to write this post without a link to give you to the recipe.  Just for giggles today, though, I went back to my pin and tried it one last time and this time it worked.  So I don't know whether it was some issue with trying to do it on my phone (although I'd looked at it on my phone when I was first planning the week's dishes) or whether the blog's site was just having technical issues on Monday, but either way, it is back, so here's the recipe. And then the green beans of course I just sauteed in olive oil with salt, pepper, and garlic.

Tuesday: Chicken and Spinach Pasta Bake:

Now let me start this by saying that this was a really good dish.  My husband and I decided, though, that it has the potential to be amazing.  One change that I plan on making next time is to add more garlic.  Now I will say that the cloves I used were on the smaller side, so maybe even just using good size cloves would make the difference, but I will definitely be using more next time.  I also had to make some extra "sauce" for it after I mixed it all up it seemed too dry.  And if you notice the author did mention it seeming dry and pouring more half and half over it before baking it.  I actually melted down some more of the chive and onion cream cheese with the half and half and added it to the mix instead of just more half and half.  Another little change that I think I'll make next time is the type of tomatoes I used.  I used grape tomatoes because I liked the idea of the cherry tomatoes mentioned in the recipe, but the store didn't have any when I went, so I used the grape tomatoes instead.  And again it was still good, but I think next time I will use chopped Roma tomatoes.  (also the grape tomatoes definitely needed to be salted lightly before being added to the recipe, but with a different tomato that might not be necessary).  I did use partly whole grain pasta in the casserole, just to try to make it slightly healthier, but I have to say, while I love Barilla's Whole grain Angel Hair pasta I wasn't as big a fan of the whole grain penne, but it was pretty good for this casserole, especially since I mixed it with regular bowtie pasta. Here's the link to the recipe : Chicken and Spinach Pasta Bake

Wednesaday: Cowboy Casserole and Texas Toast:

Okay, let's start this with a confession.... I cheated on the Texas Toast, and just bought frozen Texas Toast instead of making it myself, man was it good though...  So now that that's out of the way....  Here is the recipe for the Cowboy Casserole.  It was so good, and warm, and filling.  As my best friend said when we were talking about it, you know its going to be good when it has "cowboy" in the title.  The fact that it's between tater tots is a good sign too.  There was really only one thing I did differently for this one, and if you read the recipe and know me it would be obvious.  I can't eat anything with mushroom in it.  I don't know if I'm allergic to it or something or just REALLY don't like them, but anything with even cream of mushroom soup (even if it doesn't really taste like mushrooms - which is what makes me think I might be allergic) makes me gag.  So usually I just replace cream of mushroom with cream of chicken, but that doesn't really work for everything, and I didn't think cream of chicken would work for this, so I looked at what other types of condensed cream soups there were and came up with cream of potato. I used that instead and it worked really well and the casserole came out delicious.  (of course I think I might have also used a bit more cheese than the recipe actually called for too hehe).

Thursday: Cheddar and Broccoli Quinoa Casserole:

This is basically a better (healthier and heartier) version of the cheesy broccoli rice casserole that I'm sure we've all had at some point or another.  The recipe for this calls for chicken in it, which would be delicious of course, but we hadn't had any seafood yet this week, so I decided to do shrimp in it instead (kind of a cheese and broccoli rice casserole and shrimp and grits mash up lol) I used frozen precooked shrimp so I just thawed them out and mixed them in before putting it in the casserole dish, but if I do shrimp in it again I think I will season them with some Old Bay before mixing them in, they just seemed like they needed a little more oomph, and I think that would do it.  Again I may have also used a little more cheese than actually called for (I wasn't really measuring the cheese in any of these casseroles, just kind of estimating and eyeballing it).  This is where you'll find the recipe: Broccoli Quinoa Casserole

Friday: Meatball Sub Casserole:

Let me tell you this was such a great way to top off this week! So yummy and easy to make.  here is the recipe: Meatball Sub Casserole.  And of course, me being me, I did make a couple changes.  one of those was completely unintentional and I actually have no idea why it happened.  As I was making the cream cheese mixture I somehow read 1tsp Italian Seasoning as 2tbs Italian Seasoning.... don't ask because I have no idea how that happened.... it's not even like it was originally 2tsp and I just made it tablespoons instead... there is literally nothing the same about 1tsp and 2tbs.... the only thing I can think is that there are several other things I make somewhat regularly that use 2tbs Italian seasoning so I just measured that out, out of habit.....? who knows.  I realized my mistake right after mixing it up, but I thought, it's Italian seasoning, it's not like its salt or pepper, it might be fine.  So I tried a little bit of it to check (I thought that if it was a disaster that I had two half blocks of cream cheese left over from other things that might still be good), but it was actually really good with 6 times as much Italian seasoning as it was supposed to have.... so basically use anywhere between 1tsp (which I really don't think would be quite enough actually) and 2tbs, lol.  I also got turkey meatballs instead of regular for two reasons, first, because I don't like regular frozen meatballs for some reason, and secondly, I try to limit the amount of red meat we eat, and I thought it was really good with the turkey meatballs (I used Wegman's brand), so keep that in mind as a option.  Oh, and one other minor thing is that when I went to Walmart to get the Italian bread they had garlic and cheese (or something like that) Italian bread so I got that instead of plain.

*Also I forgot to mention on each individual day, but any of the recipes that call for sour cream I use Greek yogurt instead... I prefer Greek yogurt to sour cream, and of course it's better for you. I've always used it interchangably with sour cream and never had a problem, and actually I've noticed lately most recipes say sour cream or Greek yogurt anyway. But definitely for anything this week I used Greek yogurt.

So there you have it, another Theme Food Week, come and gone.  Make sure you keep an eye out for February's Theme Food Week.  Subscribe to the blog to make sure you don't miss anything ;)

News Flash!

{doing}

I have an announcement! are you ready? drum roll please..................

Okay, it's really not quite as big a deal as that probably made it sound like it was going to be, but I'm kind of pretty excited about it.  But first let me give you a little background... For a while now I have been working on an ongoing photography project of taking photos of things that I see that look like either hearts or butterflies (but aren't actual hearts or butterflies).  Well, as I was taking my walk this afternoon (but not with my unicorn ear warmers because it was pretty warm today lol) I happened to notice a chipped section of the sidewalk that looked like a butterfly, and so I stopped to take a picture.  Then I thought to myself I really should get an album or something to keep all these pictures together.  Then I thought maybe I should share these on the blog too.  But then I thought what about future pictures? Then I thought what if I combined sharing the pictures online with keeping them all together as an album or gallery.  And here's where we come to my announcement......  I've started a second blog!  The new blog is called {Hearts}&{Butterflies} and it will be a gallery for this photography series.  I'm really kind of excited about it actually.  It's really fun to see all the different things that can randomly look like a heart or a butterfly if you look at them the right way, and having them all in one place will be nice.  So head on over to heartsandbutterfliesgallery.blogspot.com and check it out!

{My Cozy New Winter Wreath}&{a Roundup of Some Wintery Yarn Crafts}

{making}

Boy, has January let us know that it is winter around here lately! We've had a bunch of days with a high of 20 something and I think there was at least one day that the temperature barely broke 20, if it ever even did.  I know for a lot of places that's the norm all winter long, or even colder, but I have to say, for around here that is COLD! Cold enough, in fact, that I haven't even taken the outdoor Christmas decorations down yet (well, actually I haven't taken any of the Christmas decoration down yet really, but I'm always slow to get the inside decorations taken down.  I try to get the outside ones down in a timely manner though).  I did manage to change out the wreath on the front door at least though.  I used to be able to keep my Christmas wreath up all winter (well through January anyway, I have a Valentine's Day Wreath the goes up in February), but then a couple years ago I added a couple Christmas ornaments to it that matched the large ones that hang from the front porch, and it became a definitely Christmas wreath, and I had nothing for January.  So for the past 2 years my door has sat bare though January, but this year I decided no more.  So {of course} I hit up Pinterest for some inspiration and came up with an idea for a wreath that {if I do say so myself} I think turned out great!  It took a little time to make, but was really very easy.  It was a great way to pass a cold, early January afternoon (well an afternoon and an evening since I didn't buy enough yarn at first and had to go back to Walmart for more)

{The Supplies}

The Supplies for this wreath are pretty simple, all you need is:
~ {1} wire wreath form
~ about {4.5} skeins of yarn in varying shades of gray (or whatever color you choose)
~ A scarf (I know it's not pictured..... I wasn't able to get one I liked when I got the first batch of supplies, which is when I took the picture)
~ a pair of scissors
~ {Optional} pom pom makers (I just used my hands for some of them and then used a piece of foam core board for others)

{The How-to}
{First} Make the Pom Poms.  You're going to want at least 2 different shades of gray (or your color), and at least 2 different sizes of pom poms.  I actually ended up with 3 different shades of yarn and two larger, but slightly different sizes of pom poms and one smaller size.  Originally I had just gotten a lighter and darker gray, but when I went back to get more (after testing it out with the first skein) I went to a different Walmart and found one that has some white on it and I thought that would look really nice mixed in there too.  I also got 2 different thicknesses of yarn for a little more texture.  If you are using pom pom makers then of course follow the directions for making the pom poms that came with your maker.  I do not have any pom pom makers and can't really {personally} see spending money to buy them, when I can make pom poms just as well using my hand or a piece of cardboard/foam core board.  To make them without a pom pom maker:

{1} wrap yarn around your hand (or fingers depending on how big you want the finished pom pom to be) or around a piece of cardboard or foam core board.  {for some of the pom poms on this wreath I used a piece of foam core board, but I cut a little slit out of the middle of it, about halfway across to make the next step a little easier - it was the smaller sized pom poms so it really helped}.  You're going to want to wrap it at least 40-50 times around - the more times you wrap it the fuller your pom pom will be

{2} Slip the yarn off of your hand and wrap another piece of yarn around the middle of the bundle, and tie it as tight as you can get it (on the jig that I made for the smaller pom poms I used the slit I cut in it to tie the yarn around the middle before slipping it off the foam core board - you do have to slip it off to tighten it all the way, but it is SO much easier to get it started while it's still on there)

 

 

{3} cut all of the loops on both sides of the pom pom. Shake it out to fluff the pom pom.  You may also need to trim some of the threads to get the shape even all the way around.

{Second} using the tails from the thread you tied the center of the pom pom with tie the pom poms to the wreath alternating and evenly distributing the different sizes and colors of pom poms you made.

{I took this pic before I got the yarn with the white}

{Third} Make a bow out of your scarf. You can make whatever style of bow you want, just keep in mind it's not wire edged ribbon so it will be a little floppy, just a simple bow looks great.  Use a piece of yarn or wire to attach the bow to your wreath.

{Fourth} Hang on your door and enjoy all the warm coziness, this wreath brings to the winter months!

This was an 18inch wreath, and I used almost 4 skeins of the thicker yarns (2 of each) and much less than one of the thinner yarn.  So, I also ended up with a some leftover yarn from this project, so I went looking for some ideas of other ways to use yarn for winter crafts:
For one thing I ended up with this pile of little scraps of yarn from trimming the pom poms.

Normally I would just throw these away, but I'm planning my winter mantel decorations, and thought of a great way to make use of these little scraps...............

 

I haven't had a chance yet to try making any of the other crafts with my leftover yarn, but they would make great projects for another cold, cold day.  Maybe even a snow day (some of these would be especially great for snow day crafts for kids).  And none of them involve knitting or crocheting (crocheting, I have yet to learn how to do and knitting I'm not so great at).

~Yarn wrapped anything: Mason Jars (for candles, or vases), wreaths, cans, picture frame, etc.

~ A snowman made from yarn balls (or to not use as much yarn wrap styrofoam balls with yarn) or wreaths wrapped with yarn (I saw a couple ideas on Pinterest where they wrapped the yarn across the center of the wreath to make a solid circle)

~ {this one's a fun one} have an indoor "snowball" fight with "snowballs" that are actually white pom poms

~ a pom pom rug 

~ an old fashioned yarn doll

~ yarn wrapped napkin rings

~ snowflakes made by wrapping yarn around twigs (or Popsicle sticks)

~ let the kids practice sewing by "sewing" yarn through pre-punched holes in cardstock to make snowflakes

~ and so much more, that's just the ideas that I came across by searching for "winter yarn crafts".

For tutorials or more ideas try doing a search of your own or check out my "winter yarn crafts" board on Pinterest

Follow Joanna's board Winter yarn crafts on Pinterest.