15 Christmas Crafts Under $15: Project 10, Christmas Candy

Ok, so I know that candy isn’t really a craft, but it’s definitely part of Christmas!  I have two candy recipes for you today.  I have to admit, I didn’t really keep track of how much the supplies for each of these recipes cost, but I’m sure it’s under $15.  I made these candies for my teammates at work and Cora’s daycare teachers.  I bought the plastic bags for $1.99 for 25 and the Christmas paper was around $.59 each.

The first recipe is for a holiday candy mix I make every year.  My mom got this recipe from a coworker of hers many years ago, and it’s always really popular.

Recipe

3 cups Cheerios

6 cups Crispix or Chex

2 cups Salted Peanuts

2 cups Pretzel Sticks

8 oz Holiday M&Ms

16 oz Vanilla Candy Coating

Mix the Cheerios, Chex, peanuts, and pretzels together in a large bowl and set aside.

Melt the vanilla candy coating in a double boiler.  Be careful to not overheat the candy coating, it will scorch and not taste right and get thick and yucky.

Once candy coating is melted, pour over dry ingredients and mix well.  Add the M&Ms and stir to coat.  Spread the mixture out evenly over wax paper to cool and harden.  Once cool, break apart.

The second recipe is for M&M buttons.  You need square or circle pretzels, Hershey Kisses and/or Hugs, and holiday M&Ms.  Preheat the oven to 200 degrees and line a baking sheet with parchment paper.  Lay pretzels out flat on the baking sheet.  Place a Kiss or Hug on top of each pretzel.

Once oven is heated to 200 degrees, place the baking sheet on the middle rack for 4-5 minutes.  You want the chocolate to be shiny, but still holding its shape.  Once the chocolate is melted, place an M&M on top of each Kiss or Hug and push down.  Let cool for about 30 minutes.

I packaged my candy up in plastic treat bags and topped the bags with a piece of 5.5″x6″ scrapbook paper folded in half and stapled to the plastic bag.  I ran out of skinny ribbon to embellish the top, but it adds a nice touch if you have it.  If you don’t, they still look nice without the ribbon.  Enjoy!

15 Christmas Crafts Under $15: Project 9, Christmas Card Holder

 

In past years when I’ve gotten Christmas cards, one of two things would happen; I would either let them sit in a pile until after Christmas and then feel bad I didn’t put them up, or I would randomly tape them around the full length mirror on our basement door.  So I decided this year I needed something a little more organized, nicer looking, and higher up that little hands couldn’t get too.  In our living room we have a set of two windows that are higher up than standard windows and our TV sits in front of these windows.  I decided this would be the perfect place for a card holder because they would be visible (being right above the TV) and out of reach.  This might be the easiest of all the Christmas projects in this series.  All I did was cut the ribbon, attach it to the window sill, and clip my cards to the ribbon!  The ribbon was $.89, and the clothespins were around $1.50.  I bought a package a long time ago for another project and I had quite a few left over.

 

 

15 Christmas Crafts Under $15: Project 8, Homemade Snowglobe

Christmas is getting closer!  I am so excited about this project because I love mason jars of any kind.  So here is a tutorial for a homemade snowglobe in a mason jar.  Here’s what you need:

Glass jar

Miniature tree or figurine

E6000 glue or crazy glue

Distilled water

Glycerin

Glitter

The tutorial I had seen online for a snowglobe said that you could find glycerin at Walgreen’s, CVS, etc.  So I looked at several drug stores, Kroger and Target for glycerin and every place I looked I got a crazy look when I asked for glycerin.  They said “what’s that?”  I thought I was going to have to give up on my snowglobe, until I happened to read that glycerin is also used in baking.  So I looked at Hobby Lobby, and lo and behold there is was, and for a lot cheaper than Amazon or CVS’s website was selling it for.  So my suggestion would be look in the baking aisle at a craft store, you’re more likely to find it there than a drug store.

First you  need to glue your tree or figure to the lid of the jar.  I used E6000 glue, but you could also use crazy glue if you already have that.  Let the glue sit for 24 hours (I wouldn’t rush this step since the glue will be submerged in water you want to make sure it is good and tight).  I got my miniature tree from the Dollar Tree and I didn’t notice until after I got home how crooked they were, so look for the straightest trees you can find.

After the glue has set for 24 hours, fill up your jar with distilled water, add a dash of glycerin and some glitter.  You know that frustrating feeling when you know you have something, but just can not find it?  I had that feeling with this project.  I know I have white glitter somewhere in the disaster zone that is my crafting area, but I couldn’t find it.  So I ended up using pink.  I like how it turned out, so it was fine I couldn’t find the white, but man was it frustrating.  Once you have added the water, glycerin, and glitter to the jar, insert the tree and screw on the ring.  I ended up having to add some more water to my snowglobe because there was a big gap at the top.  I was afraid it would overflow when I inserted the tree, so I added a little at a time.

My daughter really loved watching the glitter drift down to the bottom.  She really wanted to do it herself, but mommy supervised with this one, I did not want to spend my evening cleaning glitter up off the floor!

For this project I spent $.99 on glitter, $1.49 on the glass jar, $.50 on the tree, $1.49 on the glycerin, and $.89 on the distilled water.  So the grand total for this adorable homemade snowglobe was $5.36.  I think these would make awesome gifts, and you could make tons of snowglobes out of one bottle of distilled water and glycerin!

 

15 Christmas Crafts Under $15: Project 7, Felt Ornaments

 

When my husband and I got our first tree I bought a bunch of light green and red ornaments from Target that came in big packages and were pretty generic.  They were great for the first few years, but as we’re getting older and our family is expanding, we have started to get more personal ornaments.  As much as I like the matchiness (yes, I just made up a word) of the green and red ornaments, the other ornaments had meanings for us that those cheap, unbreakable ones from Target did not.  Each year I replace a few of the old ones with new ones that give our tree it’s own personality.  Now that we have a toddler, I decided our tree needed some more toddler friendly homemade ornaments.  I love the way felt ornaments look, and they aren’t breakable, a big plus in my book!  They’re also really easy and cheap to make!  I used felt scraps I already had, and I already had the red and green grosgrain ribbon.  I bought the red and gold ric rac and the blue ribbon at Joann for $.89 each (70% off Christmas ribbon!), so the grand total for this project was $1.78!  I sewed my felt ornaments, but you could just as easily use hot glue them if you’re not into sewing.

 

 

15 Christmas Crafts Under $15: Project 6, Felt Pillow

 

Happy Friday!  Today I have a Christmas pillow inspired by this pillow.  Pillows are great for beginners, they are so easy!  Here is how I made this holiday pillow.

First I made a template in Photoshop for the felt letters, if you would like to download the template I made, you can get it here.  Cut out the letters for your template.

 

Trace the letters backwards onto your felt.  The reason you will want to do it backwards, is so that you will not have any pen marks showing after you cut out and sew on the letters.

 

After you have traced and cut all the letters out of the felt, place them on your fabric and pin in place.  I used white cotton fabric and each piece was 9.5″x13″.  If you have a pillow that you would like to create a cover for your fabric pieces will be a little different.

 

Sew the letters into place.

 

I have to admit, this was not my finest sewing job.  The letters are a little crooked, and at first I thought I was going to have to redo it.  But after stuffing, you can’t really tell that some of the letters are crooked, so that worked out well!  Next pin the right sides of the fabric together.

 

Sew around the edges, leaving a space of about two to three inches unsewn.

 

Trim excess fabric from the edges and corners.

 

Turn the pillow right sides out and press.  Make sure you poke the corners out all the way, I use a chopstick to do this.

 

Stuff the pillow and slip stitch the opening closed.

 

 

15 Christmas Crafts Under $15: Projects 4 and 5

I’m sorry I missed yesterday, I had a very busy day after work yesterday.  So today I have two projects for you to make up for it!  The first is a felt tree for toddlers to play with.  As soon as I saw this idea, I knew I needed to do it.  If you have a young child (or two) around your house, your tree is probably like mine.  It looked so nice that first night I put up all the ornaments after the little one went to sleep.  But she had other plans.  This hasn’t completely stopped my little girl from trying to redecorate the tree, but she has really loved this felt tree.  She is 16 months, so she still has a little trouble getting the ornaments to stick on, but for the most part she can do it herself.  Just be warned, cats loved this toy too…

I used a half a yard of felt which was on sale for $2.99/yd and approximately 6 sheets of felt that were $.34 each.  So my grand total for this awesome quiet toy was $3.52!

The next project I have for you all is an ornament wreath.  I have wanted one of these for a couple years, and I decided to try to make my own this year.  It really was easy.  Here is a great tutorial for how to make this simple wreath.

Here are the supplies you will need to start with:

I used ten packages of ornaments from the dollar store which ended up being around 70 ornaments.  The hanger I already had and the ribbon I got on sale for $1.99.  So my total for this wreath that would was $11.99!  I do wish I had stuck with only gold and silver or silver and red ornaments, rather than all the different colors, but I had a cranky toddler with me and was trying to very quickly get my supplies and get out of the dollar store!

15 Christmas Crafts Under $15: Project 3, Decorative Apothecary Jar

 

I love apothecary jars, I think there is something so classic about them.  They are so versatile and can be used for any season.  I bought this big one for Cora’s first birthday party this past summer.  The theme was The Very Hungry Caterpillar and on the dessert table I set up a display with each of the fruits the caterpillar eats and I used this big apothecary jar for the oranges.  And since then I’ve been using it to decorate with.  This fall I filled it with hedge apples and pine cones, and now I have made a Christmas display in it.  I used dollar store ornaments, scented pine cones from Joann (this part could easily be free if you have any pine trees around you), and epsom salt.  You can use any kind of glass jar or vase to make your display.  I got this one from Marshall’s for $9.99 but Hobby Lobby usually has some pretty ones and they put their glass 50% off pretty often.  I didn’t count the cost of the apothecary jar since I already had it, but they are relatively inexpensive.  My cost for this project was $1 for the ornaments (I mixed and matched my ornaments from a bunch I bought at the dollar store, but I used about as many as were in a package), $3 for the pinecones, and I already had the epsom salt, but I think it’s generally around $1.50.  So my total was $4!  This is a really simple, easy to throw together Christmas decoration!

 

 

  

15 Christmas Crafts Under $15: Project 2, Berries Monogram

Hello all, day 2 of 15 Christmas Crafts Under $15 is here!  Today I have a very awesome monogram to hang on a door, cabinet, or mirror for you.  I found this while browsing Pinterest and loved it!  Mine ended up looking a little different because I bought a different kind of berries.  Here are the ones I got:

 

I got all of my supplies at Michael’s.  I ended up using four stalks of berries total.  All you do is snip the berries off and then hot glue them to your letter, it’s that easy!  I would recommend trying to find smaller berries than I used because I ended up having the do two layers in some places since my berries were so big, there were some gaps left and you could see the black letter underneath.  I decided not to use this on my front door because the letter is a little too small, and the berries are about the same color as my door, so you could barely see it from the sidewalk!  I haven’t found the perfect spot for it yet, but I’m still looking.  Here is the finished product:

 

I got the berries on sale for $.99 each, so $3.96 for the berries.  The ribbon was $4.99 and the letter was $3.99.  I had a 15% off coupon, so with that and tax the total for this project was $11.66.  You could do it way cheaper if you already had the ribbon or if you got it on sale for a better deal than I did this time (I was at Joann today and they have their Christmas ribbon 70% off!).  See you tomorrow for another exciting Christmas craft!

15 Christmas Crafts Under $15: Project 1, Yarn Wrapped Trees

I’ve been a little MIA this week I know.  If you recall in my last post I was home with a sick baby last Monday, well guess who got it next?  So I have spent this week resting up and preparing for an awesome series I’ve planned for you all.  I am spending the next 15 days posting a new Christmas project each day that is $15 or less.  So I’m calling it my 15 Christmas Crafts Under $15 series!  I love decorating for Christmas, but decorations are not cheap.  And if you’re like me, you probably see things in stores, and think, hmm I could make that.  Why pay $20 for something you could make for just a couple of bucks?  So here’s my list of Christmas projects you can do on the cheap (by the way, most of these projects cost way less that $15!)  As I’ve probably said before I love Pinterest.  I wish it was my job to get paid to pin things all day long (I would totally be rich, haha).  Some of these projects are ones you can find on Pinterest.  A couple are some originals I have thought up, and a couple are my spin on some projects I’ve found on Pinterest.

Enter our first Christmas Craft: the yarn wrapped tree!

 

I love the way yarn looks wrapped around things, I’m not sure what it is about it I love, but I think it looks great.  Here is how you make these cute, easy trees.

First you need to make the base.  You can buy styrofoam cones, but since this series is all about doing things cheaply, I made my own cones out of cardstock and a paper plate.  I used hot glue to secure the cones.  Eek, excuse the mess on the table in the background!!

 

Next add a line of hot glue near the tip of the tree along the seam.  Then place the end of your yarn on this line of glue.

 

Then begin wrapping your yarn.  You may need to add a little more hot glue to the tip to get the yarn to stay in place while you begin wrapping.  As I went down the tree, every 10 rows or so I would add a dot of hot glue to help keep the yarn in place.  Then once you get to the bottom, hot glue the yarn all the way around the last row on the tree.  The first tree I did, I lined up the yarn neatly, but then while I was gluing around the bottom, the top half got loosened and shifted a bit.  While the nice, tightly wrapped look is nice, I actually liked the way the loosened, messier part looked (you can see the smallest tree is the one where this happened; the top is loose, and the bottom in neat and tight).  So on the next two I didn’t worry about staying lined up when I wrapped the yarn, I just made sure you couldn’t see the white anywhere.  You could make as many of these little cute trees and set them up along a mantle (I don’t have one, boo).  I think this would also look cute with some of that fancy yarn with fibers sticking out of it.  I’m not a knitter, so I don’t know that official name for that yarn.

So here’s the breakdown on price.  I already had the cardstock and paper plate so that was free (you could also use a cereal box broken down, anything with a little bit of structure to it).  I had to buy the yarn because I didn’t have any colors that would work.  Joann had the skeins I used on sale for 2 for $5, plus I used a 15% off coupon.  So my grand total for this project was $4.25, although if you already have yarn, it could be free!  It doesn’t use much yarn at all, so you could use leftovers you had from another project.

See you tomorrow for the next Christmas Craft Under $15!

Breakfast Casserole

 

I hope everyone had a great weekend!  We had a good weekend relaxing at home mostly, but today I’m home with a sick baby 😦  She is getting caught up on some sleep, so I thought I would make a post about this yummy breakfast casserole I made yesterday morning.  I got this recipe from a friend of mine and it is a big favorite at my house.  The best part is there is plenty left over, so we get to eat on it for a few days!

Recipe

1 can crescent rolls

1 roll breakfast sausage

12 eggs

A splash of milk

1/2 cup red pepper

1/2 cup green pepper

1 handful spinach

 

First cut up your vegetables.  You can add whatever veggies you like, I usually do green and red peppers and spinach (I don’t cut up my spinach, just the peppers).  I think mushrooms would be good in this, but I’m the only one who likes mushrooms at our house.

 

Then spray your 9×13 pan with nonstick spray and lay out your crescent rolls flat on the bottom.  You can also buy the crescent roll sheet instead, but if I buy my groceries at Target that week, they don’t have the sheets.  Either one works fine.

 

 

Next, crumble and brown your sausage in a skillet.

 

Once the sausage is done, spread it evenly over the crescent rolls.

 

Melt some butter in a new skillet, and once the butter is melted, add the spinach.  Saute until wilted.

 

Next crack a dozen eggs into a bowl.

 

Add a splash of milk to the eggs.  I don’t ever measure this, I just wing it.  Mix the eggs and milk together, then stir in the peppers and spinach.  Be sure to lift the spinach out of the pan with a fork, you don’t want the buttery juice going in there.

 

Pour egg mixture over the sausage and crescent rolls.  You may have to spread out the spinach so that it’s evenly distributed.

 

Bake at 400 degrees for 30-35 minutes until the eggs are set.  You could also add salsa or cheese to this casserole, and it would be delicious!  My husband loves to put Cholula on his (I’m not a hot sauce fan).  Enjoy!