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12 Days of Christmas Day 2: Santa Wreath

12 Days of Christmas Recipes, Crafts, and Style

Welcome to day 2 of the 12 Days of Christmas! Today’s craft is this adorable Santa Claus Wreath! I found a bunch of them on Pinterest and Etsy and decided it was easy enough to make my own:) I love the way it turned out and it really was one of the easiest I have found!  Start with some white tulle, a foam wreath form, a Santa hat, and some sort of “ho ho ho” ornament. I got this one at Hobby Lobby.DIY Santa Wreath

Santa Wreath Supplies

Begin by cutting strips of the white tulle and tying them around the bottom of the wreath form as shown below!
How to make a Santa Claus Wreath

If you want to have a mustache as well as a beard, tie a piece of white tulle across the center of the wreath and then tie white tulle to this as well. See below!

How to- DIY Santa WreathHot glue or super glue your Santa hat to the top half of the wreath form as seen below. I hot glued the hat into the position I wanted it to be in and then tied the ornament to the ball on the end. DIY Santa Claus Wreath

Add a piece of ribbon or elastic to the back of the wreath so that you can hang it on your door! See? Easy as that! Anyone else have an easy Christmas wreath to share? Let me know in the comments below!

Want to see the other 11 days of Christmas? Check them out here:

12 Days of Christmas- recipes, crafts, and DIY

Day 1  //  Day 2  //  Day 3  //  Day 4  //  Day 5  //  Day 6  //  Day 7  //  Day 8  //  Day 9  //  Day 10  //  Day 11  //  Day 12

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12 Days of Christmas Day 1: Homemade Marshmallows

12 Days of Christmas Recipes, Crafts, and Style

Happy Thursday and welcome to the first day of the 12 days of Christmas! Every day for the next 12 weekdays I will be showcasing an awesome Christmas craft or recipe! For day 1, I have a fabulous recipe for you: homemade marshmallows. These are SO good! We are having a hot chocolate bar at our company holiday party and I have made these especially for it. Oh and you know, to have a few for myself with my hot cocoa:) All I have to say is that they are SO easy and they are even better than store bought marshmallows! I made two kinds, chocolate chip (inspired by Panera’s) and regular ones. If you haven’t been to Panera this holiday season they give you chocolate chip marshmallows with your hot chocolate and they were my entire inspiration behind making marshmallows at all:) Have fun making them and enjoy!

Homemade Marshmallows

Ingredients:

  • 3 packages of plain gelatin (.25 oz each)
  • 2 half cups of water (1 cup total)
  • 1.5 cups sugar
  • 1/4 tsp salt
  • 1 cup light corn syrup- for a recipe with no corn syrup, used 1 cup maple syrup or 1 cup honey instead!
  • 1 tsp vanilla extract
  • 1/4 cup powdered sugar
  • 1/4 cup corn starch
  • Olive oil spray
  • Mini chocolate chips

Homemade Marshmallows with Hot Cocoa

Homemade Chocolate Chip Marshmallows

Directions:

  1. Put 3 packets of gelatin into a bowl with half a cup of cold water. Mix together and let sit.
  2. In a saucepan mix the other 1/2 cup water, sugar, corn syrup (or maple syrup/honey), and salt.
  3. Let the concoction cook on high for 3-5 minutes.
  4. Turn heat down to low and let cook for 7-10 more minutes or until extremely hot!
  5. Go back to the gelatin and water mix and stir it again, it will be chunky now.
  6. With your mixer on, pour the hot sugar and syrup mixture into the gelatin mixture.
  7. Add your vanilla extract.
  8. Mix in your bowl for 15 minutes or until fluffy!
  9. Put some parchment paper into a cake pan and spray it with your olive oil spray.
  10. Mix together your powdered sugar and corn starch in a bowl and sprinkle over your parchment paper and olive oil.
  11. If you plan to make chocolate chip marshmallows, sprinkle the mini chips on the bottom of the pan as well.
  12. Spread out your marshmallow mixture in the pan. It will level itself out.
  13. Sprinkle on more of your powdered sugar mixture.
  14. Let it sit uncovered for AT LEAST 4 hours. (I let it sit over night.)
  15. Once they have reached a marshmallow consistency, take them out of the pan and slice into squares.
  16. Sprinkle with more powdered sugar on each side.

Cutting your homemade marshmallows How to- Making your own marshmallows Fluffy Chocolate Chip Marshmallows

Homemade Marshmallows- Great for hot chocolate or smores Delicious DIY Marshmallows

These babies will last for a few weeks if you store them in an airtight container. Stay tuned tomorrow for Day 2 of the 12 Days of Christmas, there’s an exciting craft coming your way!

Want to see the other 11 days of Christmas? Check them out here:

12 Days of Christmas- recipes, crafts, and DIY

Day 1  //  Day 2  //  Day 3  //  Day 4  //  Day 5  //  Day 6  //  Day 7  //  Day 8  //  Day 9  //  Day 10  //  Day 11  //  Day 12

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Holiday Party Attire

Red and cream holiday attire

I feel like the moment November hits the rest of the year is a blur. It’s already December 3rd now and I am beyond busy! I’m in charge of the annual holiday party at work and I absolutely LOVE all the planning and decorating, but it can be so stressful! You want to make sure everything is perfect and that everyone is going to have a good time….no pressure! Lol! I have been planning and prepping for weeks now and almost all of the details are ready! (I’m pretty sure that’s just a nicer way of saying I’ve got a giant Pinterest board going…) The only thing I have to decide on now is the outfit! I have a bunch of different options as per usual and I probably won’t know what I will be wearing until 5 minutes before the party starts. This red and white outfit is one of my options. I love a little red at Christmas time and the winter white, chiffon skirt is one of my new favorites that I picked up on sale from Nordstrom Rack!Holiday outfit- red and cream Cream chiffon pleated skirt with leopard pumps Red plaid bow with Holiday outfit Red Target shirt with Nordstrom Rack Skirt Red Holiday Oufit- Twirl Red plaid bow clipGet The Look:

Target Top  //  Nordstrom Rack Skirt  (Similar) //  Payless Pumps  //  Target Pearl Necklace (Similar)  //  Forever 21 Plaid Bow  //  Steinmart Sunglasses  //  Charming Charlie Bracelet  //  Vintage Clutch

Shop Winter White:

I’m sure my other outfit options will be showing up here sooner or later:) My favorite thus far involves a lot of gold and shimmer, but I’m not sure if it’s too much or not. Oh well, I’ll decide sooner or later! Stay tuned later this week for the 12 days of Christmas! Last year it was the 12 days of Christmas crafts, and this year it will be all things Christmas- recipes, crafts, and gifts! Get excited!

PS: You know how much I love Target and I want to tell everyone that they have free shipping on EVERYTHING right now! Clothing, shoes, and accessories are also BOGO 50% off!

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Splurge Vs. Steal: Make Up Essentials

I hope that everyone had a wonderful weekend and a Happy Thanksgiving! I was SO good this Black Friday and I only bought some bones for my dog at 50% off! I am so proud of myself that I didn’t spend any money! Haha! I did however browse some make up and found some every day make up steals! I am one of those people who can’t justify spending $35 on lipstick so I found a few awesome make up items that are SO much cheaper than their popular expensive twins:)

Steal vs Splurge Make up essentials

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It’s The Little Things

Happy Thanksgiving, Everyone! I hope you all have a wonderful day with family and/or friends! Last year I posted about all of the things in my life that I am thankful for here.  All of these things still pertain to today so I thought, instead of repeating myself this year, I would just link to that post and talk about the little things in my life I am thankful for as well as those big ones!

100 Things To Be Thankful For:

  1. Food- I am a foodie to the core. I love food. I honestly work out so that I can eat more food. Lol…
  2. The color pink
  3. Netflix
  4. Pinterest
  5. Men with curly hair
  6. Christmas lights- How can they not just make you happy?
  7. Glitter
  8. Holiday parties
  9. Books
  10. Braids- Makes life so much easier.
  11. Movies
  12. Fuzzy blankets
  13. Daisies
  14. Photography- Documenting this beautiful life is one thing I look forward to daily.
  15. Texas- The pride this state has for itself is beyond amazing to me.
  16. Babies
  17. Candles- Especially pumpkin and apple pie flavored.
  18. Chocolate pie
  19. Musicals
  20. Men who dress well- This, this, this, this, you get the picture…
  21. Dancing
  22. Emma Watson- I have a girl crush.
  23. Big backyards
  24. Swing sets
  25. Dogs- I like dogs more than I like most humans.
  26. The internet
  27. Hot cocoa with marshmallows
  28. Crock pots- best meals ever!
  29. Fair Isle print anything
  30. Puns
  31. Mashed potatoes with gravy- I know I already said food, but these get their own number.
  32. Puppy foot prints in the snow
  33. Harry Potter marathons on ABC Family
  34. Harry Potter in general
  35. Little kid giggles- There’s nothing better!
  36. The greenbelt
  37. Fresh sheets
  38. Chocolate milk
  39. Lakes
  40. Grammar
  41. Puppy snores- puppy dreams too. Sleeping puppies in general. (PS: All dogs are puppies in my mind.)
  42. Sundresses
  43. Instagram
  44. The gym
  45. Airplanes- How else would we be able to explore the world?
  46. Plaid
  47. Sour candy
  48. Cell phones/Tablets
  49. My Mom’s Christmas cookies
  50. Tom Hanks- This world would be worse off without Forest Gump in it.
  51. Country music
  52. Berry Berry Kix
  53. New tennis shoes
  54. Running
  55. The movie Christmas Vacation- never gets old.
  56. Blue eyes
  57. Warm summer nights
  58. Finding a truly great pen that writes fantastically!
  59. Bonfires
  60. Skirts that twirl
  61. Baby bowties
  62. Puppy noses
  63. Riding boots
  64. Pink lipstick
  65. The first snow fall- it’s magical.
  66. To do lists
  67. Polka dots
  68. Sales
  69. Kittens
  70. Ice cold water
  71. Evernote
  72. Supportive people- There are very few left these days.
  73. Coffee
  74. New carpet smell
  75. The beach
  76. Sophie kisses- I don’t care who thinks it’s gross, that’s my baby!
  77. Sunsets
  78. Sunrises
  79. Notebooks- I love writing down my thoughts and pretty notebooks make it more fun!
  80. Colorful socks
  81. Lightning bugs
  82. Big puppy dog eyes
  83. Thunderstorms- I could watch the lightening all day long.
  84. Lemon pinesol
  85. Wrapping paper
  86. Halloween
  87. Rain in the summer- the smell is my favorite.
  88. Little girls in tutus- cutest thing ever!
  89. The first nice spring day
  90. Fireworks
  91. The feeling after brushing your teeth
  92. Colorful pens
  93. Holidays- they bring everyone together!
  94. Reclining chairs
  95. Kisses in the rain
  96. Cuddling in bed on Sunday
  97. Taking a walk with your love
  98. A nice clean house
  99. Birthday wishes
  100. Mountains

Once again, have a GREAT day! Thank you so much for reading!

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