Valentine’s Day Yarn Wreath

Posted on January 24, 2012 by Amy

Since Valentine’s Day is just around the corner, I thought it would be fun to decorate my little yarn wreath for one of my favorite holidays. Today I wanted to share with you another fun way to decorate that wreath of yours and some fun creations you can make with a simple piece or two of felt.

You may recognize this yarn wreath that I made this Fall to decorate our front door. This wreath was created because of the limited amount of storage in our house. I created this wreath to transition with the seasons and figured out a way to create accessories that could easily be removed and switched out with the holidays. Say goodbye to this old Fall look and let’s brighten things up with some Valentine’s Day fun today!

For this wreath, I wanted to create some loopy flowers in pinks and purples for my wreath. I found a multi-pack of fun felt colors at Walmart over by the craft supplies with my Valentine’s Day colors in it. You will also need a hot glue gun, glue sticks, scissors, a tape measure, and your choice of a clip (like I have shown here) or a jewelry pin (you can find those in the jewelry-making supplies).

Taking your felt square (which is roughly the size of a sheet of paper), measure 1 1/2 inches width. You will cut a strip 1 1/2 inches wide along the long edge of your piece of felt. Repeat one more time so that you have two of these strips for your loopy flower.

Dab a little hot glue on each end of the piece of felt and fold in half. I also like to make sure it is a little secure in the middle with one more dab of glue, but you can judge for yourself how secure you like it.

Cut slits down the side that is not glued. You can make them fat or thin depending on what type of look you are going for. You can cut them straight or cut them on an angle. Basically, anything goes with the cutting!

Now start rolling your little loopy flower up and add a dab of hot glue here and there to make sure it all holds secure.

So pretty! You can leave it like this for a small loopy flower or you can use that other strip of felt you cut and start cutting it up just like the last one.

Once you have that second piece of felt cut, you can start wrapping it around the outside of your loopy flower you started, picking up where you left off with the last piece of felt. You can do two different colors of felt or keep it sweet and simple with the same color. Apologies for switching colors on you, my pictures from the first flower didn’t turn out as good.

Hot glue a small circle of felt to the back of your loopy flower to hold it all together. Add your pin or clip to attach the flowers to your wreath.

If you have any stray strips of felt, you can transform them into bows. I just fashioned this one into a bow shape and then secured it with a little floral wire in the center. Cover your wire with another little scrap of felt and you have another fun element to your wreath.

Here are all of my fun Valentine’s Day accessories on my wreath. I made these felt roses, several of these loopy flowers, and a bow in the middle clipped to the top. You could also add some cute fabric flowers, if you like, in other fun Valentine’s Day shades.

Same exact wreath.

Totally different look.

I saved all of my accessories (that my daughter did not run away to accessorize her room) and I can just reapply those fall accessories next year.

It is much easier to store a box of accessories than a million wreaths in my basement.

What special traditions have you created for your family for Valentine’s Day in your house? Do you have any special crafts you do together or any special food traditions? I would love to hear your ideas!

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Amy’s Handmade Holiday Craft Factory 2011

Posted on January 17, 2012 by Amy

Handmade gifts are my favorite kinds of gifts to give. Unfortunately, since the recepients read my blog, I had to hold off and show off my holiday crafts until now. I hope that you can bookmark these for future gift-giving though since all of these gifts were so well received and fun to create!

I ended up making two yarn wreaths this year for holiday gifts- one for my best friend and one for my mother-in-law. I did five fabric flowers on each, three rosettes, and one spray of berries/flowers. The most time intensive part of this is definitely covering the wreath with yarn, but it is a great craft to do while catching up on your favorite shows. To find out how to make a wreath of your own, visit this tutorial on creating a yarn wreath!

Our teachers loved our, “Raise Your Hand if You Mustache a question mugs and printables we created for them. I filled the mugs with my homemade cocoa mix and paired it with marshmallows for a fun gift this year. I spray painted the frames red to give them a little pop of color. According to my son the teachers really got a chuckle out of these and we had fun making them.

The Peppermint Marshmallows were bagged up for gift giving for all of the special people who make our lives so much better. After making them as party favors to take home for my daughter’s birthday party, making them for all of the teachers, making a batch for the helpers in our lives, and giving out some to our family members, I ended up giving 27 dozen of these away! They were so easy to make and so yummy to eat that it was one of my favorite gifts that I got to give this year. These would be so cute cut into hearts for Valentine’s Day too for February cocoa topping. I am now a believer that homemade marshmallows are the best kind of marshmallows to eat and to share.

Fabric flowers adorned everything I gave this year. I made about fifteen of these pins to top gifts and packaged them up sweetly with our teacher gifts. I bought two bracelets on clearance before the holidays and realized why they were on clearance when the elastic on both of them snapped after I slipped them on. The beads scattered everywhere and I gathered them up and threw them in my craft box for a future use. I ended up using those little pearls and broken bits to adorn the centers of the flowers. I still haven’t made a pin for myself yet… hopefully one of these days I will make a few of these for myself!

To match these pins, I found this tutorial for creating fabric covered button bracelets on The Mother Huddle. I discovered one thing through this process… making buttons is not easy. My fingers were breaking and each button seemed to take forever. I had planned to make four of these and ended up only making two. They are so pretty and worth every minute of effort, but it is hard to find a way to share just how special these are. I wanted to write a note with each of them that said, “Handmade. Like Really Handmade. Like I Made Buttons. Like Broke My Fingers For You. Because I Love You That Much Hard.” I think I might try and do some fun stuff with my extra materials though after my fingers heal from this last round of button making. Who knew a girl could make buttons herself?

I kept visiting boutiques and shops and seeing these cute knitted ear warmers with flowers on them. I just knew these would make fantastic gifts for my sister and best friend for the holidays. These knitted up so quickly and easily and I had fun personalizing them with unique buttons to finish them off.

Cozy Ear Warmers

Pattern: Strictly Knit Flower Headband Ear Warmer (available for purchase for $5 on Ravelry)

Needle Size: US 9

Yarn: Caron Simply Soft (in Ivory) & Red Heart Soft Yarn (in Plum)

Notes: The trick with making this ear warmer super soft and warm is that you knit with two balls of yarn to create a thicker ear warmer than you would with a single ball of yarn. This pattern is easy and straightforward. I had a blast making these two headbands and can’t wait to make one for myself soon!

My nephew is a nut for anything Angry Birds so I was dying to make something for him that incorporated his favorite game! I decided to knit him an Angry Birds hat and I will admit, I never thought I could do it. TWO eyes, TWO eyebrows, TWO eyeballs, and a nose? I can’t do that. I was really worried about this hat, but mostly about appliqueing all of the details to the front. I was shocked this turned out and I am pretty proud of my handiwork on this one.

Angry Birds Hat

Pattern: Red Bird With an Attitude (available for purchase for$3.99)

Needle Size: US 8 (16″ circulars)

Yarn: Hobby Lobby I Love This Cotton! (in Red, White, Black) & scraps of orange from my yarn stash

Notes: This pattern is fairly straightforward. I would recommend sizing down (at least) one needle size because the 1×1 ribbing on the edge is very loose and will not fit on the head snugly.

I love how this bird turned out. You could definitely make the tail a little longer to make it wave and stitch in the back or you can tie it in a loop if it doesn’t set comfortably on your child’s head.

I opted to knit my eyeballs on this one because I didn’t want to have to mess with felt or buttons.

Knitted eyeballs:

CO 1 stitch Loosely (leaving a 4” tail)
Row 1: Knit in front and back of this stitch five times (5 stitches should be on your needle)
Row 2: Knit all stitches
Row 3: Purl all stitches
Row 4: Knit all stitches but do not turn. Pass 2nd, 3rd, 4th, & 5th stitch over the 1st stitch. One stitch will be left on the needle. Cut the yarn (leaving a 3” tail.
Ball up the yarn from the cast on tail and stuff it inside the eyeball. Stitch the eyeball closed and then secure it to the white part of the eye. Repeat for the other side.

Here is the adorable recipient in his little hat. He kept pulling people aside and saying, “See this hat? It’s special. My Aunt Amy made it just for me. Just for me.”

Yup, you are special and you are loved.

Handmade gifts say you are loved in BIG ways.

Did you tackle any holiday crafts? What is your proudest craft you created or received for the holidays? Please share here!

Our Top 11 Posts of 2011

Posted on January 10, 2012 by Amy

What a wonderful year 2011 was for our site and our family. I am so happy that our readership continues to grow and this year I wanted to highlight our top 11 posts from 2011. Thanks to a little thing called Pinterest, I am finding recipes and projects are being shared in a really big way and that makes my heart so happy.

Thank you for sharing our site with others.

Thank you for your continued support.

Thank you for your comments.

I can’t tell you what they mean to me.

Here are the top 11 posts that happened on MomAdvice this year:

1. Homemade Salted Caramel Mocha Latte

There was a latte of latte loving this year as I tried to recreate every possible coffee creation that I loved from Starbucks. Apparently, you all were looking for a few homemade creations of your own. This is some yummy stuff and lots of helpful comments on this entry to customize your Salted Caramel Mocha Latte to your own level of latte perfection.

2. Homemade Pumpkin Spice Latte

The latte loving all began with this drink and recreating my favorite pumpkin treat at Starbucks. I can happily say that I rarely ordered one of these this fall thanks to this handy little recipe. It’s nice to know when Starbucks pulls a drink off of their menu, I can still get my midday fix.

3. DIY Tissue Paper Pom Poms

I love homemade decorations for my parties and these tissue paper pom poms were a big hit at our parties this year. What kind of friend would I be if I didn’t show you how to do it yourself? These are unbelievably easy and so inexpensive to create. Visit our picture-by-picture tutorial for the scoop.

4. 36 Handmade Gift Ideas

I am pretty proud of the assortment of inexpensive and beautiful gifts we create over here. This round-up of just 36 of my favorites was a hit this holiday season as everyone was hunting for unique gifts to give this year. I am excited to add many more handmade gift options to our site in 2012. For now, I hope you can create a few of these for upcoming gift exchanges.

5. A Yarn Wreath For All Seasons

This year I started working with Walmart working on their DIY channel and sharing projects you can create from their store. I have always wanted a yarn wreath you could enjoy all year long and this was my brainchild for homes with small storage (like mine!). I can’t wait to gussy her up for Valentine’s Day and share how you can continue to accessorize this wreath for your door. For now, find out how to make one of these easy creations for your home!

6. The Perfect Pink Barbie Cake Tutorial

This past year was the year of the Barbie at our house. I won’t lie. I was pretty pumped about this party. Before she was a twinkle in my eye, I wanted to do a Barbie cake and I finally got my chance. This tutorial documents how to create a really fun pink Barbie birthday cake for a special little girl in your life.

PS- This picture is still one of my absolute favorites of all time of her. Isn’t she the cutest?

7. Homemade Gingerbread Latte

I really thought this was going to be the year of the donuts on the site, but you proved me wrong. This Homemade Gingerbread Latte was a big hit for the holiday season and just think about how much money you save every time you make one of these at home. The best part was sipping this and never getting out of my pajamas. You can’t beat that!

8. Homemade Peppermint Mocha

Truth be told, the Peppermint Mocha is still one of my all-time favorite drinks at Starbucks…but… once I started making these at home, I am not loving the Starbucks version as much as my homemade version. This post offers a recipe for a simple peppermint syrup that you can add to your drinks and keep on hand in your fridge whenever the Peppermint Mocha Latte urge hits you. These are so delicious and one of my favorite recipes on our site.

9. Grilled Ground Beef Gyros

All I have to say to this is that you have some very good taste. These grilled ground beef gyros are as good as my favorite gyro joint and I even share a few secrets for making those pitas in your bread machine. I am thrilled to see that these made the top eleven posts on our site.

10. Dark Chocolate & Sea Salt Brownies

I am excited to see that I am not the only one enjoying the sweet and salty combinations that are trending in the food world this year. These dark chocolate & sea salt brownies may have made me famous in some small circles. These are absolutely heavenly and are one of my favorite creations I made in the kitchen this year.

11. 100 Days of Summer

I was inspired to share with you 100 activities you could do with your children over the summer break this year. The response to this board was overwhelming and it was so fun to see everyone gaining summer inspiration through this board. We actually used the board ourselves and documented our summer through Instagram.

I was excited to do this for me, but also for my kids. It was a fun way to share with you our summer in a more informal manner. I am so glad you loved this one as much as we did!

(First Photo Credit: Nancy Lary Studios)

What would you like to see happen on MomAdvice in 2012? I look to you for my inspiration!

Hello Kitty Birthday Party Fun

Posted on December 20, 2011 by Amy

We had an exciting week this week as we celebrated my daughter’s sixth birthday with a fun Hello Kitty birthday party. I wanted to keep the party simple and sweet with her closest girlfriends for her special day. I didn’t spend a lot on this Hello Kitty party at all, but it made me smile to hear the girl’s remarking that it was, “the best part ever.”

Just in case you are thinking about spending a lot of money, for five and six year-old girls the best party ever need only include pink things to eat, glittered nail polish, tiaras, and a Barbie movie.

Here are a few of the fun projects we did for her birthday party:

1. Tissue Paper Pom Poms in Pinks & Purples to go over her party table. I did buy a package of Hello Kitty napkins and paper plates this year to match her theme and then used all of our past party supplies to bring our pink-themed party together.

2. Hot Cocoa Filling Station- I found inexpensive holiday mugs at Michael’s Craft Store. I added a batch of our homemade cocoa mix, whipped cream, homemade pink peppermint marshmallows, and lots of sprinkles for the cocoa. Each girl got to personalize her mug with her favorite additions.

3. Magnolia Bakery Vanilla Cupcakes- Emily’s favorite show is, “Cupcake Wars,” so I knew that I needed to make a spectacular cupcake for my big girl. I made these cupcakes adorned with pink buttercream frosting and a shake of pink sprinkles. Each cupcake was topped with a Hello Kitty ring (that had lip gloss tucked inside). The rings were just $.50 each, but the girls really loved them.

4. Getting Glamorous- I bought four different colors of nail polish (including clear glitter) and a package of nail stickers to do the girl’s nails. Each girl got fancy nails and a Hello Kitty tiara to wear home with them ($2.99 each plus a 20% off coupon).

5. Movies & Popcorn- We ended our birthday fun watching, “Barbie Princess Charm School,” and munching on popcorn. The girls loved this movie and thanks to a tip from my best friend, I managed to DVR the movie on Nick Jr., saving me the cost of the rental.

My sweet Emily is the type of girl that captures the heart of anyone who meets her. Her sense of style is stellar and she has just this incredible independence that sometimes makes my jaw drop to the ground. I was never as fiercely independent as her.

Most days I shake my head and think, “How is SHE mine?” I was never that cool.

Happy birthday to our beautiful girl- we love you so much!

Homemade Peppermint Marshmallows

Posted on December 13, 2011 by Amy

Homemade marshmallows have been on my cooking bucket list for three years now. Making peppermint flavored marshmallows sounded far more intimidating that the process actually was and after making my first batch with great success, I can’t wait to try a few other flavors in my kitchen.

This year I vowed I would not talk myself out of marshmallow making. With my big girl set to celebrate her sixth birthday, I thought I would make these for cocoa fun for her birthday party. Once I bought all the supplies, there was no turning back.

I was so nervous that I didn’t take a single picture while I made them.

What if I messed the whole thing up?

What if my marshmallows reached 241 degrees and the whole batch failed?

I followed the God of Cooking (also known as Alton Brown) and did everything exactly as instructed. Surprisingly, my stand mixer did the brunt of the work while I tidied the kitchen. Who knew that marshmallow making was so darn easy? The taste? Better than any marshmallow I have ever tasted.

I did pretty pink swirls through the marshmallows and added my peppermint extract to the batch to add a fun pink peppermint touch to our marshmallows.

The hardest part was waiting the four hours before I could cut them. With cornstarch and powdered sugar mixed together in a bowl next to my board, I just used my pizza cutter (dusted with the sugar mixture) and cut my marshmallows in squares. Each one was lightly dusted with more of the sugar mixture and I stored them in a plastic container. You know…for storing….or for eating.

And eating.

I confess, I think I have a new food addiction.

These are fabulous, easy, and delicious. They would make a fantastic gift to give this holiday season with a little of my favorite cocoa mix.

Recipe:

Homemade Peppermint Marshmallows

Ingredients:

3 packages unflavored gelatin

1 cup ice cold water, divided

12 ounces granulated sugar, approximately 1 1/2 cups

1 cup light corn syrup

1/4 tsp kosher salt

3/4 tsp peppermint extract

1/4 cup powdered sugar

1/4 cup cornstarch

Nonstick spray

4 drops red food coloring

Directions:

Place the gelatin into the bowl of a stand mixer along with 1/2 cup of the water. Have the whisk attachment standing by.

In a small saucepan combine the remaining 1/2 cup water, granulated sugar, corn syrup and salt. Place over medium high heat, cover and allow to cook for 3 to 4 minutes. Uncover, clip a candy thermometer onto the side of the pan and continue to cook until the mixture reaches 240 degrees F, approximately 7 to 8 minutes. Once the mixture reaches this temperature, immediately remove from the heat.

Turn the mixer on low speed and, while running, slowly pour the sugar syrup down the side of the bowl into the gelatin mixture. Once you have added all of the syrup, increase the speed to high. Continue to whip until the mixture becomes very thick and is lukewarm, approximately 12 to 15 minutes. Add the peppermint extract during the last minute of whipping. While the mixture is whipping prepare the pans as follows.

Combine the confectioners’ sugar and cornstarch in a small bowl. Lightly spray a 13 by 9-inch metal baking pan with nonstick cooking spray. Add the sugar and cornstarch mixture and move around to completely coat the bottom and sides of the pan. Return the remaining mixture to the bowl for later use.

When ready, pour the mixture into the prepared pan, using a lightly oiled spatula for spreading evenly into the pan. Drop red food coloring onto marshmallows and use a toothpick to swirl the food coloring into the marshmallows. Dust the top with enough of the remaining sugar and cornstarch mixture to lightly cover. Reserve the rest for later. Allow the marshmallows to sit uncovered for at least 4 hours and up to overnight.

Turn the marshmallows out onto a cutting board and cut into 1-inch squares using a pizza wheel dusted with the confectioners’ sugar mixture. Once cut, lightly dust all sides of each marshmallow with the remaining mixture, using additional if necessary. Store in an airtight container for up to 3 weeks.

Prep Time: 35 minutes

Total Time: 4 hours 35 minutes

Serving Size: 9 dozen (if cut in 1″ pieces)

Source: Alton Brown, Good Eats

What is something that you discovered was surprisingly easy to create in the kitchen that you always thought was intimidating? Feel free to share your kitchen adventures!

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Homemade Gingerbread Latte

Posted on December 5, 2011 by Amy

I absolutely love anything that has gingerbread flavors in it and I had a reader request that I share a recipe for their favorite Starbuck’s treat, the delicious Gingerbread Latte. Always up for a challenge, I went on a search for a recipe for this yummy Gingerbread Latte treat to create at home.

This drink tastes like gingerbread itself and is filled with ginger, molasses, and cinnamon within the gingerbread syrup you create for your latte. I found that if I mixed the latte together with the syrup and let it sit for a minute or two and then stirred it again, that the flavors came together more fully than if I drank it right away as the spices seemed to blend in better.

This gingerbread coffee syrup does not look like the usual simple syrup gingerbread coffee syrup that I had originally thought I would create. To me, the most important flavor is the molasses in the gingerbread though and without it, I don’t think it would taste like a true gingerbread treat. If you are looking for a simple syrup version though, I found this Gingerbread Coffee Syrup that would fit the bill beautifully.

So this holiday season whether you are sipping a Peppermint Mocha, a Salted Caramel Mocha, a Pumpkin Spice Latte, or this little version of a Gingerbread Latte, I hope you enjoy saving a little extra cash and can enjoy these homemade treats to unwind with during this busy time of year.