12.22.2013

Last minute Christmas crafting.....

This song has been the first on my Christmas playlist for sometime now...Yes, it is VERY non-traditional, YES it is a 'booty' Christmas song, and YES, it is probably not many people's cup of tea, but this song gets me pumped about Christmas projects!! See what you think:
It's Sunday and Christmas is ONLY TWO DAYS AWAY!!! I'm so excited! I made a majority of my presents and this evening, I am finishing up the ornaments, clocks, and candy.... My sewing desk had become simply my craft table for the time being..... The ornaments I actually started about a month ago - I cut the wood, etc in THIS post.
I documented the other steps HERE in this post, and the updated rest of the story goes:
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The other steps have been sort of a learning process... I bought the wrong kind of glue, wrong kind of sealant, etc... SO, the successful way to make these is so much simpler......
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Mod Podge!!! The glue AND the sealant!! I brushed some on the back of the printed photo (which I actually just used 65 lb card stock) and then waited about half an hour....
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While I waited for the glue to dry, I screwed in the hooks to my ornaments and strung twine and tied each one individually so that when I brushed on the Mod Podge for sealing, I could hold them by the hook and then they could hang to dry....
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Baby once again found my clean laundry to be the most comfy place to nap while I work.... I love this gal.
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The next project was the clock.... I bought a multiple clock kit at Hobby Lobby (link to purchase is here)
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I printed out a full size photo on a piece of cardstock (my favorite picture of my Milly-poo EVER for this one) and glued it (again used the Mod Podge) to a piece of cardboard. After it dried, I started assembling the clock parts. The instructions on the clock kit are SOOOOO easy. After I put the actual clock center in (I just poked a hole in the center of the pic with some scissors), I slathered on some more Mod Podge to seal the picture. While the glue/ sealant was till wet, I Googled the number images and printed out a 12, 3, 6, and 9....
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...and I printed them and stuck them to the clock face. I did not use the 12 though - my favorite part of this picture is Milly's eyes and I didn't want to cover them up... After the first coat dried, I brushed on another coat and then put the hands on the clock......
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Beautiful, huh?? This one I made for my secretary, Jeannie - she absolutely LOVES my farm animals and knows the long, hard struggle this one in particular has had (you can read Milly's story here) so I thought this would be the perfect clock face for her!
The rest of my work crew got candy..... peppermint bark and my famous confectioner sugar filled caramel dark chocolate sea salted balls..... long name for something that only last a short period of time ;)
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Time to break up some peppermint....... and release any holiday tension... bahahaha!
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After the initial breaking up of the peppermint, I use a coffee grinder to get different sugary consistencies to really stick to the layers of chocolate...
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melt and spread the dark chocolate (I lined a cookie sheet with wax paper), then when that cools, melt white chocolate and spread over the top of the dark, then while that is still melty and soft, sprinkle your peppermint and let it cool into a solid (about an hour or more) then break it apart for some beautiful bark!!!
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...now on to the beautiful salty balls..... sorry - I am attached to the recipe and just cannot let go of it at this time. Here are a few pics though:
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