turkey cookie platter

When I visited my parents a few weeks before Thanksgiving, my mom dug out one of her recipe magazine's cookie edition. She wanted to show me a turkey platter that was featured in it (funny enough, it was created by my cookie idol over at sweetsugarbelle.com. I guess similar taste runs in the family).

Mom: Isn't this cute? 

Me: Yeah. Do you want me to make you one for Thanksgiving? 

Mom: No. You don't have to do that. But isn't this cute? 

Translation: my mom wanted the cookies.

Mind you, she is well aware of how time consuming they are to make, so she really was trying to be nice and not inconvenience me. However, the only thing I was able to convince her to let me bring to dinner was pie from the bakery at Chris's work (she only let my siblings bring booze, so at least I scored a food item).

But the platter turned out quite adorable, so I'm really glad my mom suggested it to me. I'm also learning to better my royal icing technique, which is always good too. Practice makes perfect. Or in this case, practice makes more tasty cookies for my family to enjoy.

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return of the chalkboards

It's been a while since I've worked on any kind of chalkboard, but I promise I haven't completely stopped doing them.

Since I spent all of Thanksgiving weekend in Lee's Summit, I popped out a Grains & Taps board for Brad. I think it's quite adorable, if I do say so myself.

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#25craftsofchristmas-nights 3, 4, 5

This past weekend I got my maximum craft on by hosting craft parties on Friday, Saturday, AND Sunday. (I also attended a craft fair on Saturday where I seemed to accumulate multiple objects of the moose persuasion. Shhhh. We're not going to talk about it).

The craft party themes were "Christmas Countdowns," "Ornaments," and "Cards." With the help of my friends, we plowed through 12 more crafts! Woohoo!

Friday night: Countdowns
7. Chalkboard Countdown - (pinspiration from item no longer on etsy)
8. Pocket Advent Calendar - (link to pinspiration no longer working)
9. Santa Beard Countdown (not yet numbered) - this was a shape I purchased from the silhouette online store

Saturday night: Ornaments
10. TMNT filled with glitter - Allison curated project
11. Cement Light Bulbs and Trees - pinspiration
12. String Words - pinspiration
13. Melted Crayons* - pinspiration
Bonus Ornament: Melted Snowman with olaf quote
*Only 1 ornament was dropped and shattered on the concrete floor in the making of this craft.

Sunday ended up being a quiet crafternoon (do you see what I did there?) for Allison and me. We used my silhouette to cut out some simple shapes to make lots of adorable cards.
14. Santa Suit - pinspiration
15. Wrapped Packages - pinspiration
16. Paper Tree - pinspiration
17. Ornaments - (pinspiration from item no longer available on etsy)
18. Ribbon Tree - pinspiration

See projects from nights 1, 2, 6, 7, and 8.

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#25craftsofchristmas - night 2

You know what I really enjoy? Watching my "non-crafty" friends create some awesome stuff. I think they enjoy it too. :)

Last night I hosted my second night of Christmas crafting with "More Winter Decorations."

4. Sharpie Mugs - these are alllllllll over Pinterest. However, we used oil based Sharpie paint markers after I read through a lot of tips. Hopefully this produces some long lasting work, because these ladies made some adorable pieces.
5. Paper Snowflakes - pinspiration. I pre-glittered all the paper (of course), which was slightly messy but mega sparkly.
6. Tinsel Trees - pinspiration. I am totally making a million of these to put everywhere. Soooo sparkly!

See projects from nights 1, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, and 8.

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#25craftsofchristmas - night 1

Sunday kicked off the first of eight craft nights I am hosting this year for the "25 Crafts of Christmas" challenge I am completing with my friends.

For night one, I planned three projects for the "Winter Decorations" themed craft night.

1. Puff Paint Window Clings - this was an Allison curated project. The Pinterest inspiration (pinspiration. Is that a thing? I'm going to make it one. So just roll with it) can be found here. (Please note the age group for this... yeah. Kids at heart?)
2. School Glue Snowmen - pinspiration.
3. Painted Kitchen Towels - this has been an evolving project. Tutorial coming soon.

See projects from nights 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, and 8.

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