For the Love of Food

As I mentioned in yesterday’s post, I only bought enough supplies at the arts&crafts store to make 2 angels. But, the smallest pack of Ferrero Rocher you can buy is a 4-pack, so I decided to make some angels from items I already had at home.

I went ahead and replaced the thick golden wings with some butterfly wings I cut out of news paper, and I replaced the thick/large decorative napkin with 4 normal-sized white napkins.

This is a very flexible project. You can make the wings out of a hard clear plastic of thick cellophane paper for more fairy-like wings. Or, you can leave out the wings completely and make a ghost. You can also replace the Ferrero Rocher with a similar-sized round confection for different effects.

Here is a step-by-step how to: Continue Reading »

I am always amazed at the hidden treasures that can be found in my local arts&crafts store. It’s small…I mean really small – and packed to the brim with every imaginable supply one could possibly need to make any craft.

Bastel Paradis is run by 2 ladies who, when they aren’t moving around seasonal inventory and helping customers find just the perfect supply, are crafting right next to the cash register.

A few weeks before Christmas I walked in and asked for some advise on what I could make my mom for Christmas. The owner quickly pulled out a little angel and told me it was easy and would be great. I ended up leaving the store with enough supplies to make 2 angels, 1 big picture ornament, and 8 smaller ornaments (will post these later). And, a few days later I ended up coming back for more supplies to make more angels and more ornaments!

I used one of the angels I made to top off my Christmas tree. We decided to have a completely homemade tree this year so that our son could enjoy touching all the ornaments.

I also handed out some other angels (see tomorrow’s post) to friends for Christmas. However, the owner of the craft store told me that these were originally meant to be napkins that you place at the table with a chocolate in the center for your guests to enjoy after dinner – so these are perfect for Christmas, New Years, and Halloween (if you leave out the wings to make ghosts).

What you will need: Continue Reading »

This year I am taking advantage of my son’s young age. A Christmas tree is no place to be hanging fragile breakable ornaments with an almost-two-year-old around. But, his age and care-free ways are a great excuse to make some homemade Christmas ornaments this year that he can not only help make, but will also withstand pulling, squeezing, bumping, and falling.

And, in keeping with the theme of my food blog – these ornaments are made from recycled food packaging – namely – Actimel yogurt drinks (known as DanAktive in the US). To be honest, we don’t drink Actimel since we’re not really fond of sweetened yogurt, but since I wanted to be able to do this project, I bought a pack of 6 and poured out the yogurt into my popsicle molds and froze them – they make a great snack and hold much longer frozen!

This is a really fun, quick, and simple project that a toddler can help make with adult assistance or older children can make by themselves.

What you will need for 6 snowmen: Continue Reading »

Last night my family and I took a stroll to our local Christmas Market. And, something really caught my eye: the handmade children’s Christmas ornaments hanging from the trees!

It seems that each tree is from a different preschool. I took pictures of my favorites/the ones I felt I could easily reproduce with my son.

My absolute favorite one is of the snowmen made from yogurt drink bottles.

6 great Christmas Ornament Ideas: Continue Reading »

I know this is not a design blog.

But, I am just so excited to share some really great (and inexpensive) holiday ideas with you. I am feeling quite inspired.

For Thanksgiving a friend brought over and self-made arrangement with a candle and some foliage (moss, mini pine cones, sticks, leaves, etc) from a walk through our local forest. When I saw this I was so excited and felt really inspired.

Yesterday I decided to take the single arrangement apart and make it into 5 different arrangements to share with you. These are all really really great and very budget-friendly arrangements that you can make in a few minutes. Continue Reading »