Crafty Wednesday {hometown ornaments}

Happy Wednesday friends!  Tonight we’re having a party to celebrate the Tree lighting in Rockefeller Center.  Last year it was a tree from our back yard in Rockefeller Center and one year ago today we were in NYC for the tree lighting with our family members and friends.  

This year we are looking forward to a quiet night at home with our friends watching the tree lighting in TV.

   

 Today is a great day and I’m excited to share this simple craft with you today.

  I love making ornaments for the holidays.  Our tree is full of homemade ornaments that Brock and Ava have made over the years.  I also like to make an ornaments and this year for my annual Holiday Market I had the idea to make wood slice  hometown ornaments.  I sold the 15 that I made for the Holiday Market and then I took orders for 40 more ornaments.  People love these ornaments and that makes me so happy!

To make this project you will need wood slice ornaments.  I ordered mine from Amazon.  You can also cut ornaments from a tree branch which would be free :-). I just ordered them because it was easier.  This is the set I ordered. 

You will also need a silhoutte vinyl cutting machine. I got the small Portrait for $120 three years ago for Christmas and I use it all the time.  Honestly, this little machine has paid for itself multiple times over I use it to crafts and we also use it for our craft classes at Branch and Bloom.

I downloaded a script font from DaFont and used it for the vinyl for my ornaments. They have so many to choose from!  

My ornaments are 3.5-4 inches across so I printed my hometown vinyl 3 inches across.  I also added a little red heart for some color.  You could do your heart in your school colors which would be so cute.  

These are quick and easy gifts for the holidays.  If you make some let me know.  I would love to see how they turn out.

Happy Wednesday!  

Xoxo

Saturday Snack {peppermint bark}

Last Sunday my friend Jenn and I went to a class at the Beckmann 1802 Mercantile in Sharon Springs, NY.  The Mercantile is owned by the Fabulous Beekman Boys-Josh Kilmer Purcell and Brent Ridge.  They have a wonderful shop and  brand new space for cooking classes st their store on Main Street.

Here is a picture of everyone that took the class.  Jenn is next to me in pink and our instructor is in the middle stirring a big pot of chocolate.

At the class we learned how to make 6 different gifts that you could give to your friends and neighbors as Christmas presents.  I love giving homemade gifts to people so I was excited to take this class and learn about new homemade gifts I could give this year. 

We made:  

Apple Chutney-a savory combination of apples, raisins, onions, and spices. 

Infused Vinegars-a combination of fresh herbs and dried fruits.  We got to create our own.  I made lemon dill and blueberry and scallion.

Pickled Onions-these are perfect to put on top of nachos or other Mexican Favorites. 

Rumtopf-a traditional German favorite made with fresh fruit and rum.

Peppermint Bark-a special holiday treat made with candy canes and white chocolate.

Infusion Bottle-spices and dried fruit combine with spirits to make unique cocktails.  I added dried apples and cinnamon sticks.  

Here are my infused vinegars and pickled onions.  I think they turned out so pretty!

We made peppermint bark and this bark would make the perfect snack or it would look pretty as a gift.

First you unwrap candy canes or peppermint candies and put in a plastic bag.

Then you brek up the candies into small pieces using a rolling pin. Cover baking sheet with parchment paper and add your candies to the baking sheet.

Then pour melted white chocolate over the peppermints making sure they are all covered and make sure the white chocolate goes to the edges.

We used this chocolate in our class.  

Then bang your pan on the counter a few times to get rid of air bubbles and to make sure the chocolate is evenly distributed.  Let cool until hardened.  Then flip your pan upside down to release the peppermint bark.

Break into small pieces and enjoy!

Happy Saturday!!

Xoxo

Friday Favorites

So many favorites this week!  Yesterday was Thanksgiving my absolute favorite holiday of the year, today I’m decorating for Christmas, tomorrow I’m going to brunch and on a shopping trip with my girls and Sunday I’m going to NYC with my sister  in law Anne. 

I’m linking up to Erika, Narci and Andrea to share my Friday Favorites.

1.  I spent the morning volunteering and then walking in the annual Turkey Trot for Hospice. The Turkey Trot is one of my favorite holiday traditions.  I love starting my Thanksgiving day at the Turkey Trot. They give pies for the winners of 5k race and I made a couple of pies  for the winners.  My friends and I also ordered the same Thanksgiving socks to wear which was fun.

2. Graig and I went to see the movie Wonder last night.  It was so good!  That was definitely a favorite this week.

3. My Thanksgiving centerpiece was another favorite this week.  I love the colors in this arrangement-so pretty!

4. My class at the Beckmann mercantile was another favorite this week.  I’ll have a post on this fabulous class tomorrow. At the class we learned how to make all of these wonderful gifts for the holidays.

5.  Going to see Joe Biden was another favorite from this week.  

I hope you had a great Thanksgiving!

Xoxo

Thankful and Blessed {2017 edition}

I originally wrote this post last year and I updated it for this year.  I hope you and yours had the best Thanksgiving

Xoxo

 I love all holidays but Thanksgiving is my absolute favorite. I love a day devoted to being with family and friends and celebrating everything we have to be thankful for. I am so blessed and have so much to be thankful for.

I am most thankful for Graig and our two kids.  Since I was little I dreamed of being a wife and mom and these three made that dream come true.  I am thankful for them every single day.  Brock and Ava are growing up fast.  I am proud that they are working hard to achieve the goals they have set for themselves. The biggest joy in my life  is being a mom to them.  Brock started at ASU in August and Ava is in the Czech Republic on a Rotary Exchange.  I was so sad they weren’t home with us this year but I’m so happy they are both setting goals and achieving them.  Even if that means we are apart on Thanksgiving this year.  

 

I am so very thankful for my own family.  My Dad and sister are a huge blessings to me and I'm thankful everyday for them.  My Dad lives in Illinois and my sister lives in Texas so I'm thankful for the time  we are able to be together.

I am thankful for my in-laws that adore our kids and are always in the stands cheering at every sporting event and school function.  I am thankful to them for raising a son that they taught to work hard.  Graig has the best work ethic of anyone I know and I am thankful for his parents for teaching him the value of hard work.  

I am thankful for my dear girlfriends.  I love the good times we have together and all the memories we've made together. I am so blessed to have them with me in this crazy life.  

 

So much to be thankful for this year :) 

Xoxo

Crafty Wednesday {Thankful Trees}

Last week for our craft night for Branch and Bloom we made Thankful Trees. We wanted to create these trees so people could write what they are thankful for on the leaves and circles and then hang them on the tree.  We thought the Thankful Trees would be a good visual reminder about all the things we have to be thankful for in our own lives. 

The first thing we did we did was have people put on their thankful tree vinyl decal. I made the decals with my silhoutte vinyl cutting machine(I have the portrait.)

After they put on the decal we hole punched our leaves and circles so we could hang them from the branches.

 

We had corn and raffia ribbon  available so people could add  both of those things to their vases if they wanted them.

Rachael collected sticks from her yard and they were perfect for this project.  People picked out what they wanted and then they added them to their vase. 

The last step of this quick and easy project was adding the leaves and circles to the branches.  

Everyone’s turned out a little different but they all turned out really cute!  Everyone was thrilled with their Thankful Trees. 

After class we took a big group picture of everyone for our Facebook page.  This was a fun project!  I hope it reminds  everyone to be thankful for all the blessings in their lives.

It’s not

Too late to make this project you could whip this up

tomorrow morning before your thanksgiving feast.

 I hope you have a wonderful Thanksgiving tomorrow with your loved ones.

Xoxo

Joe Biden at Procters

I have always admired Joe Biden and I was thrilled to hear he was going to be speaking in Schenectady, NY. My friends and I bought tickets and we went to see him last night.  It was a great night.  He spoke about his new book that everyone in the audience got a copy of with the purchase of their ticket to see him speak.

We went to dinner at an Italian restaurant right by the theater before the event and it was so good.  All of their pasta was homemade and it was delicious.  I got the mushroom farfalle and it was so good!

Before dinner we walked through the theatre to get from the parking lot to the restaurant and our friend Faith got interviewed on TV.  

After dinner we made our way to the theatre for the program.      

Joe Biden’s daughter Ashley introduced him and then the audience sang him happy birthday because it was his birthday. 

Joe was gracious and humble and he is a great storyteller.  He spoke about  his son Beau who died of cancer and the work that he has done since his death in raising funds for cancer research.  He also spoke about his family and how his parents encouraged him and supported him throughout his life.  

He talked briefly about running for President  in 2020 but said he hasn’t made a decision about running in that election.

I am so glad that we went last night.  He is so interesting and I learned a lot about his life and family by listening to him talk last night.

When we left we were each given s copy of his new book. I can’t wait to curl up and read this over Thanksgiving break.

I hope you had a good Tuesday!

Xoxo

Holiday Market

Yesterday my friend Rachael and I coordinated our 5th annual Holiday Market. The Holiday Market is an annual event where our crafty friends come and sell holiday items.  We serve champagne and cookies and it is the event  that kicks off the holiday season.  

5 years...I can’t believe it!  It seems like yesterday we had this idea to bring our crafty friends together once a year to sell what we’ve made and now it’s 5 whole years later!

A lot has changed in 5 years.  When we started we had (at most) 50 people come and this year we had over 300.  We moved our Market to our friend Stephanie’s kitchen design showroom  3 years ago because we were outgrowing Rachael’s house and we’ve added more crafters so our shoppers have more variety. 

I have spent the last two weeks making things like crazy to have enough stuff to sell. My biggest sellers this year were my hometown ornaments (I have orders for 35 more!) , owl succulent planters and reversible signs. 

We asked everyone to bring food items for the food pantry and we put the donations under Stephanie’s tree. We were able to collect so much food yesterday which felt really great. 

I had my crafts in a big kitchen that I shared with my friend Sabrina. We decorated our kitchen with greens and winterberry. Sabrina made the hanging succulent planter.  I liked it so much I bought one for myself! 

Here is a picture of our kitchen before everyone came.  We had a great time decorating it and getting it ready!

We had a beautiful selection of crafters at our Market.

Our friend Heather is an amazing cook and she made herb butter, cranberry sauce, hummus and carmel to sell for Thanksgiving.  She had samples set up so people could try everything.  This was a very popular table!

Our friend Kimmy sold her beautiful handlettered items.  She made beautiful advent calendars, wall hangings, ornaments and door mats.

My friend Wendy made the most beautiful flower and succulent arrangements.  I bought 2 of them.  I just love her stuff!

My friend Betty sold her delicious fudge and DIY cookie kits for kids.  

My friend Jenn sold her goats milk soap and lotions.  These are always a big hit!!

Here was our cookie table.  Everyone loved the cookie table!  

Our Holiday Market lasted for three hours and it went by in a flash!  It was so busy.  People said it really got them in the Holiday spirit which was nice to hear.  

It was a great day and it’s such a good little tradition for our friends, customers and our community.  I hope this tradition continues for many more years to come!

Xoxo