Holiday Potpourri--plus printable tags

SOOOOOO I have gone down the slippery slope to PINTEREST obsession I think.  ONCE again I couldn't get an idea out of my head and would not rest until I had made some Stove Top Simmering Holiday Potpourri.  I mean WHO DOESN'T trade sleep for crafts??????   Anyway....this is my new favorite thing.  I have it cooking on my stove as I type and it is making me happy to have the holly jolly scents of the season wafting through my house.  LOVE IT!!!!

I used a combination of LOTS of potpourri reasearch, but mostly used THIS post for the recipe, and about a million others for how to put it into a jar.  GO check out THIS one to see how pretty it looks cooking on your stove...delicious.  PLUS I think it looks so yum in the jar.  I used large jars and small jars.  The small ones needed some coaxing to get it all in and couldn't hold all the water.  The large ones had EXTRA room.  So I guess the choice is yours.

BTW...those who know me may wonder why I care that it smells....being that my allergies made me an UN-smeller for years.  Well luck may have it that on Wednesday I went to my ENT doctor and got some new meds.  RIGHT IN TIME TOO because as of yesterday I am back amongst the world of SMELLERS!!! YAY!!!!

Ok...side note over. 

I found the little red lids at WALMART in the canning aisle.  I pretty much HAD TO HAVE THEM.  I mean red and white check...SERIOUSLY!!!  They were cheap too...less than 2 bucks for a whole stack.

Ok...so since I changed up the tutorial a bit...here is how I made mine.

INGREDIENTS:

1/2 cup of fresh cranberries

1 orange

1 Tbsp whole cloves

3 cinnamon sticks

1 tsp. ground nutmeg (I never found any other kind)

***sidenote again***I bought cinnamon sticks at WALMART in the regular McCormick spice bottles.  There were only about 9 in a jar and cost around 5 dollars.  Kinda spendy.  I read online that you can get them at natural food stores or specialty food shops...I didn't try.  I did find some on Amazon though that may have been cheaper, but then you have shipping.  I never found cinnamon stick pieces in the stores (but I didn't search too hard).  I just paid the 10 dollars and moved on.  Just a thought!!

OK...Now the process...

I cut my oranges into eighths and threw half of them into the bottom of the jar.  Then I added half of the cranberries.  Next, I dumped in the cloves and nutmeg.  Then I added some water (I added half the water to get stuff floating).  Next, I put the cinnamon sticks around the outside of the jar.  I thought they were the cutest part, so I wanted them seen:)   Then I added the rest of the oranges and the rest of the cranberries on top.  Finally I added more water until it was about 3/4 full.  With the smaller jar...it was more tricky and more trial and error.  PLUS the recipient will have to add water for themselves when they cook it. 

OK...so the instructions for cooking are as follows:

Dump the contents of the jar into a small saucepan.  Always add enough water to  cover the bottom of your pan.   Simmer on low heat to release the lovely holiday scent.  Remove from heat and refrigerate at night.  Continue adding water and enjoy through the holiday season. Happy holidays!!!

I would probably print up the instructions and maybe add them to the back of the jar.  I didn't do that with this batch because they were for my friends.  BUT for my neighbors, I might wanna add the rules...that way I don't have to stand on the porch for 5 minutes explaining!!!  Just a thought:)

Moving right along....I printed the tags up on card stock and hooked them to the jars with large flat glue dots....worked great. 

Here is the printable tag.  If you would like to use it click the picture...insert into a word document...and print.  I cut and pasted it 6 times onto the page, made 2 columns, and printed 6 to a page.  Worked out great. 

Now follow my lead and make one for all your friends, neighbors, visiting teacher ladies, co-workers.....BUT FIRST make some for yourself!!!!  Happy Holiday!!!!

Deck the Halls....DIY lighted topiary Christmas Tree

I TOTALLY Fa La La LA LOVE Christmas.  I love the decorations...the family togetherness....the songs....ALL OF IT.  On Friday I was SOOOOO super excited to have Thanksgiving over so that I could start decorating for Christmas.  Tree up....CHECK.  Look on Pinterest for new decorating ideas....CHECK.  I found a few inspirations HERE, HERE,HERE and HERE. 

Sadly I did not have a set of old school ice-skates hanging out in my garage.  BUT I did have this cute little sled chillin out there.  My dad picked it up for us last year at a yard sale.  YAY DADDY!!!  When I saw the pictures on Pinterest I almost killed myself digging through the crap pile in the corner of my garage.....WELL worth it for sure.  I have never decorated my porch (until this year) and I am loving changing it out for the different holidays...SO MUCH FUN!!!
Anyway...I had the sled.  I wrapped up some cardboard boxes filled with cinderblocks for the gifts.  I left out my Halloween straw bales for something to lean on.  AND I JUST NEEDED A LITTLE TREE.  I had two choices....go out into the BLACK FRIDAY insanity and try to find a mini tree for my milk can...OR head out to the crap pile for something to build one out of.  TO THE CRAP PILE!!!!

I grabbed some chicken wire(also in the scary corner of my garage) and formed it into a tree shape.  I pretty much just rolled it, flipped a few of the cut edges under the other ends and folded the wires over (to keep the ends together), and then pressed the top together until it made a tree shap instead of a tube.  It doesn't have to be perfect because the greenery will cover any small UGLYS:)  My model here helping me smush the top.  Christmas crafting is always WAY more fun with a happy helper elf...

 

I just made my tube a little bit bigger than my milk can opening.  Then I shoved the wire down in as far as it would go.  I put it down until the bottle started widening out.  It was super sturdy and I TRIED to pull it out or knock it over and it would not budge....LUCKY!!!

NEXT, I took my lighted greenery.  MINE was just a long strand of lighted garland.  Not the nice kind that looks real, but the cheap 5 dollar Walmart kind that is just one strand with no branches.  The branches kind would probably work well, but I already had the cheap stuff from another long lost christmas project that didn't happen.   I poked it up through the wire at the top of the tree and left the strand sticking up to make the point.  Then I wound the garland around the wire.  I overlapped here and there and tried to go under and around a few times to keep the garland from slipping down.  It stayed on pretty tightly. 
When I started I had NO idea if this would work.  But when I got this far I was almost dancing.  BUT then I decided that it was a little naked. 

So I grabbed some pre-made bows that I had (also from Walmart, also from years ago).  They had long ties on the back, so I strung them around the strands of greenery, through the wire and back out. Then twisted them.  I thought that would help keep the greenery from slipping around. 

AND DONE....Mini Tree Topiary Goodness:)

SOOOO the "decorate with what you have" saga continues at our house.  I am not gonna lie....I cannot wait to see what I find in the Crap Pile next:)

A few Thanksgiving memories...

I had a few successes (is that a word??) this Thanksgiving, so I want to put the links here on my blog so that I can find them again next year.  I hate when I have to search and search for the links that I have used in the past---darn that internet is a big place:) 

FIRST OFF...I have to admit something a little embarrassing.  I MADE HOMEMADE ROLLS by myself for the first time EVER!!!  I know...hard to believe for a 30 year old housewife.  BUT I have always let others do it, or been happy with the lovely rolls from the store.  BUT I saw this recipe (on PINTEREST of course) and got it into my head that I wanted to bake.  SO I DID.  It was so easy and actually kinda fun.  NOW if only bread didn't make me gain weight just by having it in the house...

 Just a warning...these have butter in the mix, then have butter spread onto the rolled out dough, and finally melted butter smeared on top. YUM!!! 
Now I realize I am the youngest child in my family and that by law my family cannot put me down.  AND I know that my family would praise me for bringing canned olives to dinner.  BUT despite that, they did ALL tell me how good these were.  SOOO I am pretty sure they meant it:)
These were seriously easy enough that my happy helper got to roll a few up.  AND she got to eat the first one (and she liked it)!!!

OK...enough about the rolls.  Another link I want to hang onto is for some Thanksgiving printable placemats.  I printed these up, cut them out, and glued them onto cardstock.  There were lots of different free printable mats, but these were the only ones I found that printed on regular 8.8x11 papaer.  Cannot beat that!!!   I took them for the kids table and they super enjoyed coloring away....worked like a charm!!!  BUT there were tons more free printable on the site...napking rings, centerpiece, banner, tons of stuff.  Next year I think I need to go all out.  Since I don't EVER have to cook the turkey, I should be in charge of something (besides canned olives). 

SOOO Thanksgiving is over....is it really time to take down the cute Fall decorations I just finished getting up????  Good thing decorating for Christmas is SOO much fun:)

Pumpkin Spice Sugar Scrub---good enough to eat:)

I just found my new favorite gift to give.  NOT KIDDING.  I pinned THIS a while back, and FINALLY decided to follow through.  I made Pumpkin Spice Sugar Scrub for the ladies I go visiting teaching too AND for Ms. Tonya the pre-school teacher extraordinaire.  This was SERIOUSLY simple.  Just mixing up oil and sugar and spice.   I used Sunflower Oil by the way.  The tutorial mentioned using vegetable oil, olive oil (kinda stinky), or many other kinds of oils.  I found a huge bottle of  Sunflower in the OIL aisle at Walmart for 3 bucks.  That made it the winner for me!!! 

If you have never used Sugar Scrub...you may not think this is such a great idea.  BUT IT IS.  I use this stuff on my dry scaly winter YUCKO hands and it works like a champ.  You can also use it on your elbows and knees if they get yucky.  I tend to crawl on the floor a lot with my kids or making crafts, so my knee caps are brown and dry.   This stuff sluffs it right off.  LOVE IT!!!  SOOO if you are looking for a gift for a co-worker, friend, neighbor, or just someone with dry skin....THIS IS IT.  BTW...I made one batch and filled one small, 2 medium, and 1 largish jars. 

The original blogger also has printable tags.  I printed them onto sticker paper and put the stickers right onto the jars and onto the lids.  I LOVED THE STICKERS.  It was much easier than using paper and adhesive and trying to attach them.  Stickers worked like a charm!!!

I also found the scoops at Walmart.  They came in a 3 pack (1small, 1medium, and 1 large) for about 3 bucks.  I am not gonna lie.  I pretty much think the scoops were the cutest part.  Is that lame????  Maybe so, but I am a little lame I guess;)  Do you know how lame I am????  Well lets just say that every time I look at this stuff or think about it I get a big smile.  Sugar Scrub+Jessica=BFFs!!!