Merry Christmas & Happy New Years!

Hey everyone! Hope everyone had a very Merry Christmas and a great New Year....I will be back after the New Year for more creative ideas! :)

Peppermint Bark

My favorite winter treat has always been peppermint bark...chocolate and peppermint make the best combination in dessert or coffee. Here's how you can make peppermint bark at home...looks great and can be given as a gift. 

Ingredients:

1. Equal parts milk and white chocolate (I used 2 c. of each)

2. 20 Peppermints (More or less depending on your liking)

1. Bring a pot of water to a rolling boil. While it's heating up, line a cookie sheet with parchment paper. After the water has boiled, turn the temputure to low-med, place a bowl over the pot, and melt the milk chocolate until completely smooth.

2. Pour the chocolate into the cookie sheet and spread evenly.

3. Let the milk chocolate completely until hardened (I left it over night).

4. Next melt the white chocolate the same as the milk chocolate. 

5. While the white chocolate is melting, place the peppermints in a Ziploc bag and crush with a tenderizer until fine pieces. 

6. After the white chocolate has melted  pour over the milk chocolate and spread evenly.

7. Immediatly after, sprinkle the peppermint over the white chocolate so that it sticks to it and let cool until the white chocolate hardens. 

8. And finally, after the chocolate hards, peel off the parchment paper off the back off the chocolate, and break into random pieces. The candy can now be placed on a plate or in a gift box to given to a loved one.

If you have a chance to make this; send me pictures! Enjoy!

Pretty flowers in your hair

Here is a little DIY to add a little bling for your Christmas dinner...just some ribbon and hot glue will give you this pretty floral headband by Alisa Burke.

Wipe Off Weekly Menu Board

I found this tutorial on Makes and Takes. I didn't get to make mine own for this tutorial, but I hope to make one in the near future. 

Supplies:

• Picture frame with glass front (preferably a 12×12 frame)
• Piece of patterned scrapbook paper to fit in your frame (also 12×12)
• Optional: Vinyl cut letters for each day of the week (you could always just hand write them)
• Dry-erase marker

1. Put your patterned paper inside the frame. Replace the back. That’s pretty much it. :)

2. If you wanted to stop here, you could hand-write your days of the week on the glass, or use it as a message board / to-do list. It can also be used as artwork at this point :)

3. Use a paper towel or cloth to easily erase dry-erase marker off the glass.

4. If you want to get fancy and go a step further, you can add vinyl lettering for the days of the week.

5.You can leave the frame as is, or paint it black. The best part about this project is that it is SO easy to change the paper if you decide to change your decor, or if you just get tired of it. So you’ll really use it for years to come!

Gift Wrap Pt. 3 - Gifts Tags

And to finish of your gift here are gift tags in different colors and styles. Just click on the image to open up the file that you can then save to your computer and print as many times as you want. I would suggest printing gift tags on heavier paper and I sometimes even print on shimmer paper or decorative scrapbook paper. Happy giving! 

 West Elm

 West Elm 

  West Elm 

 West Elm 

Paper Crave

Paper Crave 

Paper Crave 

Domestifluff

Domestifluff 

Domestifluff 

 Orange You Lucky

 Orange You Lucky

For more gifts tags...go here.
If you would like some more gift wrapping ideas visit the Giver's Log.

Gift Wrap Pt. 2 - Little Pretties

After wrapping your gift its time to make your box all pretty. First start off with some type of ribbon or anything else you have around the house like yarn, twine, garland, or fabric.

YARN

 Martha Stewart

RIBBON

 Martha Stewart

Then add little embellishments to make your gift stand out from the crowd. Things like doilies, buttons, bells, pine cones, silk floral, elements from nature, feathers, brooches, jewelry, and so much more! Just add little touches to make beautiful gifts to give! 

DOILIES

 Unknown

Unknown

BROOCHES

Unknown

MONOGRAM

 Martha Stewart

 Martha Stewart

Knot & Bow has some gifting kits all pre-assembled for you to put your gifts together. 

 

Gift Wrap Pt. 1 - Gifting and Wrapping

Christmas is this weekend! So, you're done with your shopping (or almost) and now it's time to wrap. I have some ideas for wrapping your gift without having to go the store or spending a lot of money. The first part is actually wrapping the gift. Look around for different paper or fabric products that can be laid flat around a box.

FABRIC

 Martha Stewart

TISSUE PAPER

Martha Stewart

LEAVES AND OTHER NATURAL ELEMENTS

Martha Stewart

NEWSPAPER

 Real Simple

DISHTOWEL

 Real Simple

MAP

 Real Simple

 CARDBOARD BOX

 In Haus Press

 BUTCHER PAPER

Design Sponge

These are some things that can be found around the house. Do you have any other wrapping ideas that you use?

Put it in a box!

If you don't know where to put your bed in your apartment, architects Emmanuel Combarel & Dominique Marrec suggest putting it in a box!This space had tall ceilings, so adding the cube to the center of the apartment not only filled the visual volume, but also created more living space.

The bed lays in a box hanging from the ceiling and just a step down onto the "2nd floor". The box in the middle of the apartment gives another room, but also creates a division in the living spaces of the apartment.

The box is made of a metal structure, then covered with wooden panels, but not sure how it is attached...probably A LOT of bolts and screws. 

All images are from here.

Reminds me of like a adult size version of a bunk bed :) I think it's just missing a large colorful piece of artwork on the white wall of the cube. 

What do you think about this space? Is it useful, creative, or do you dislike it? Let me know your thoughts.