Holiday Bucket List Update

We are a little over a week away from Christmas and we have been doing all the things!! Baking cookies, shopping, counting down, and playing in this winter wonderland snow, although I'm not a huge fan of the white stuff! I guess it makes it a picturesque Christmas, right?

And we've been busy tackling the bucket list! Since we last chatted, we have checked another four items off the list! And each one was just as fun at the last! Here's what we've been up to this week.

We baked gingerbread cookies last week and boxed a few up for our next door neighbor. Sadly, it appears she's out of town and we weren't able to leave them. We will attempt again after the holidays. But, don't you worry, we boxed up sugar cookie cutouts that we made yesterday to give to his tennis coaches tonight. Still giving the baked homemade goods, even if it isn't to our favorite neighbor!

Speaking of gingerbread, McKinley decorated his gingerbread house last week. I've been trying to make after school fun, since it's been pretty stressful trying to wrap up testing and all the comes with the end of second quarter. He came up with all the ideas, but needed a little help in the icing department. Those piping bags can be tricky!

Over the weekend, the three of us headed to the Johnson County Museum to check out the vintage Christmas trees inside the Mid-Century Modern home they have on display. I've never gone through the museum and enjoyed it so much! It's a history of how Johnson County was established and lots of landmarks that used to be a part of our small city. So many memories too! If you are a child of Overland Park, then you definitely need to check it out! And if you love anything MCM like myself, you definitely need to check out the trees before they're gone!

Yesterday was a snow day which meant boredom and the need to play in the snow. But before all of that took place, McKinley and I settled in for a bit and watched the original Miracle on 34th Street. He was antsy at times, but he really did watch, and at the end was chatting up a storm about how real Santa Claus is! So glad he understood and was able to answer some of the questions I threw at him at the end. We also watched the old Frosty the Snowman cartoon while making cookies. Two classics in one day! 

This weekend is packed with all the other things we love to do and I can't wait to share them with you!

Here is a look at our vintage aluminum tree! I love it so much!

Hope you're enjoying the season!

XO,

Andrea

DIY Felt Ornaments

Since McKinley is going to work on these after school today, I felt it was the perfect time to post this fun holiday DIY! I am a big fan of giving homemade gifts to family and friends and I make sure that McKinley gives one every year. This year, it's felt ornaments. But they don't have to be just an ornament. They make super cute gift tags on wrapped presents, a tag on your hostess gift bottle of wine, or a darling name tag at your holiday table. And they are so easy to make!

Here's what you'll need:

Felt, fabric glue, cookie cutters, a black Sharpie, fabric scissors, string, and any small craft adornments. I decided against the glue gun, but if you use on, make sure your little ones fingers are out of the way! It's hot!!

First, pick the perfect cookie cutter for your stencil. I chose a tree, snowman, sweater, bell, mitten, and stocking. 

Fold your felt in half so you only make one cut. You will want to double up your ornament to keep it from being see-through and to make it a little more sturdy. 

Next up, glue. You will want fabric glue for this project. You could use school glue, but the fabric glue is a little stronger. And it dries clear. Put a thin outline of glue around the edge of the ornament and make sure to glue the Sharpie side to the inside of your ornament. Once together, you can trim an excess you have.

 Originally, I punched a hole at the top of the ornament to string the hanger, but after the first one, I ditched this method and went with simply gluing the string inside the ornament before sealing it closed. It worked much better. The hole punch is still an option.

 

Now you are ready to start decorating! Use anything and everything small and cute that you can get your hands on! I shopped my mom's craft room and found tons of little mini things to use. Check out the craft stores miniature sections. That's where we got a lot of these things last year.

Here is the loot! I am in love with the sweater, but they are all so darling! 

And here's how they look on the tree, gift, and wine bottle!

The options for creating are endless AND, you don't have to use this idea for just Christmas! Think about Valentine's Day, Easter, Halloween! So cute, right? 

Happy Crafting!

XO,

Andrea

Holiday Bucket List 2019

So, here we are on December 9th, with roughly two and half weeks until Christmas, and I'm just now sharing my Holiday Bucket List for this season. Guess what people, life is crazy right now, and I am just glad I got the list created!

I love this one! I tried to come up with some new things to do this year, but as always, there's the same fun traditions we do every year! That's why they're traditions, right? Check out this years Holiday Bucket List!!

We have been able to check two items off the list so far. We've already hit up Crown Center and McKinley got his first dose of play under the Mayor's Christmas Tree. He loves this tradition! We took him on his second Christmas, at night to look at the lights, but it wasn't until he was two that he got to play! Now in addition to playing, we take in a little ice skating at the Ice Terrace, but on this day, we ran out of time. I'm sure we will be back!

This year we had a first. We took McKinley to see The Kansas City Ballet's The Nutcracker at Kauffman Center and it was a gorgeous production!! I was a dancer growing up, and The Nutcracker was my first ballet production at age five. It is such a magical show and McKinley loved watching the larger than live tree grow! Definitely something everyone should see once in their lives. We are planning to see his sweet friend in "Clara's Dream", the Miller Marley production, later in the month. And as always, we are taking in the Coterie's production of "A Charlie Brown Christmas" in a couple of weeks. I am a huge supporter of theater arts!!

We have our reservations for the Holiday Train at Union Station in a couple of weeks as well. This is such a fun, free, family event!! Tickets, which again are free, go on "sale" to the public starting December 13th. It helps reserve your time to visit the train and you can get a pic with Santa too! The trains rolls into town on December 18th and will be on display until December 21st. Get all the info, and more about the Holidays at Union Station, here.

One of my favorite things to do is bake sweet treats for our sweet neighbors! Our next door neighbor does that same thing! She bakes up cookies and brings McKinley an ornament every year. It's so kind! And he remembers every year when placing them on the tree! I also bake breads for hostesses so they have something to wake up to the next day and not feel like they have to make breakfast after entertaining the night before. I shop for darling trays and cookie tins to make the gifts extra special! And while your baking, you should add sugar cookies to the list! We love to add frosting and gobs of sprinkles to ours!

After school today, McKinley is planning to decorate the Gingerbread house I assembled yesterday. I'm not even going to pretend that he helped! But he loves to decorate it and I've been collecting sprinkles, cookie gel for "glue", holiday candies and more, to make it as festive as he desires!

Have you ever been to the light display at Deanna Rose? It's so spectacular that we could see some of the lights from my parents house! (They happen to live less than five minutes from the farmstead!) Take a blanket to wrap up in, a Thermos of hot cocoa, and tune that radio dial for a festive display! Also, if you haven't seen the one at the research lab on 103rd and Metcalf, you need to go! Just park in the church parking lot across the street, and take in the dazzling display! These are staples during our light night!!

New to the list this year is the Johnson County Museum's Vintage Tree display! I saw a friend post about it last week and immediately added it to the list! If you haven't been to this museum, it's a must! It's all about the history if Overland Park and there's a fun Kidscape play area! Get a yearly membership while your there. You'll definitely go back! Check it out here! 

Lastly, I plan to introduce McKinley to some old fashioned Christmas movies and I plan to start with White Christmas!! Find a classic that everyone will love and put it in your rotation this year. I have tons that he needs to see! What is your  favorite?

That about covers it for this year! Are you going to play along? And if so, what is the first thing you plan to tackle? Let's check in next week on our progress!

I love the holidays!

XO,
Andrea

DIY Halloween Treat Bags

When I was growing up, we didn't have fancy trick or treat bags. We had that generic plastic orange  pumpkin with a black handle, and as we got older, the trusty pillow case. McKinley carries a fuzzy pumpkin bag or large fabric pumpkin bucket. Either way, they are super cute! However, I decided we needed to elevate the trick or treat bag this year and I decided to make it myself!

Here's what you'll need:

A canvas tote bag, fabric paint, sponge brushes, paper plate, pencil, eraser, puffy paint, and a steady hand!

Load up your brush with the first color of your choice. Because I was doing candy corn on the bag, I used the colors in order of a candy corn. I started with white, but you couldn't really see it in photos. Apply horizontally on the bag in large strokes. You can make your strips as thick or as thin as you wish. On my second bag, I went for a larger band of paint.

Do the same thing with yellow. After you've applied your colors, go back in and smooth out any defined lines you might see and create an ombre effect with the three colors. 

Next up, it's time to apply your candy corn. If you are anything like me, I need a stencil! I can't even draw a straight stick figure. So, I headed out on the web and found free clip art of candy corn (also witches hats and bats) and sized them to different heights. Go with what makes you happiest. I decided to use smaller candy corn scattered throughout and larger witches hats for the second bag I made.

Once I cut out all the candy corn, I placed them around the bag. I will say, I originally traced too many and needed to erase a few after the fact. When you go to erase them, use a rubber artists eraser. This will allow the pencil marks to come off easier and not pill the fabric.

See that smudge? I tried to use a pink eraser before the rubber one. It didn't work as well!

Fabric puffy paint is what you need! I've used Scribbles and this Imagin8 and they both work well. 

When you apply your puffy paint, make sure you start with a light pressure on the bottle. The paint can splatter out and leave a blob on your project. To get started, try testing it on a paper plate or another piece of fabric to get the feel. And make sure you shake the paint to the end of the bottle. 

Trace each of the candy corn and then add small half circles to the inside to create those defined lines you see in the candy itself.

If you need to smooth out some of your lines, use a toothpick. 

This is the witches hat bag I was talking about earlier. Do all the same things you did above. I made the paint stripes larger and I prefer it! Really fills the space of the canvas. And I love the dimension the puffy paint gives to the hats! 

And here's the completed project!! I love it! It's so happy and makes me smile. And I may use it for more than just trick or treat! It would be so cute this time of year as a little tote for all the things you carry throughout the day. It adds just a hint of Halloween to your daily look without screaming costume alert!! It would make a sweet teachers gift during the Halloween classroom party. 

Allow 24 hours to dry, especially since you applied fabric paint to the bag and all the puffy paint inside the hats. 

What do you think of this cute project? Head here to see the fun segment on Better Kansas City! Belinda Post was excellent at applying the puffy paint! You will be too!

XO,

Andrea