Hot Cocoa Spoons

           d  It's that chilly time of the year d

  Time to cozy up with a cup of hot cocoa in front of a crackling fire, and enjoy the season!! 

I made these chocolate covered cocoa spoons for my brothers wedding. They had a cocoa bar with lots of fun toppings and these chocolate covered stirring spoons. We made several different options hoping to please the crowd!

 

 

I purchased wooden spoons online, then hand stamped the names on each handle. 

Dipped them in chocolate then added candy canes, sprinkles and edible pearls. 

Then placed them in the freezer until they set up. They were super easy to make and turned out really cute!

After the reception we had a few left over that we popped in the freezer for later. 

They lasted several months too!

                  d Happy Holiday’s d

Ditching Auto Mode :)

Just so you know auto mode is NOT your friend. I love my camera but feel like it has too many flaws. Well guess what, it's not the camera it's me. That's right, I have not been taking advantage of my cameras full potential for years now, how about try ever. I have been wanting to know how to shoot manually for awhile now and always felt like I was way in over my head every time I tried to look into it. Well I am still in over my head but decided to take baby steps. One of the helpful sites that I have been using is My 3 Boybarians. I have been doing her "31 Days to a Better Photo" very, very helpful. Each day you learn some thing new about your camera, "baby steps" just what I needed.
My first experiment was on the Christmas tree. The Unskinny Bobby has a great post about shooting Christmas tree's.


Let me show you what I mean.....

Here is my tree in auto mode. It makes my tree look messy and not very attractive.

You cant even tell that the lights are on on the tree.

 (can you find our Elf on the Shelf??)

Using Unskinny's tutorial I shot this in manual mode.

Fun huh!! I feel like this picture is one I could actually keep or scrapbook.

And no before you ask, I did not mess with this in photo shop.

I only added text to the top of the picture and voila, done!

Ready for another example??

Basket shot in auto-mode, not bad. The lighting isn't great though.

In order to get the right lighting on the basket, the flower on the top got over exposed.This is something that can easily be fixed in photo shop. I wanted to show this photo without any editing so I am leaving it the way it is for now. There is also a funny shadow on the wall from my window, remember I am still learning so obviously this picture is not perfect.

My main problem with my taking pictures is lighting, lighting, lighting. My camera always wants to use flash so most of the time I have to turn it to the auto setting without flash. The problem with this is that I can't take advantage of any other features. Manual mode is defiantly my new friend.


It's been fun learning a little more about my camera.
I hope this post inspires you to "ditch auto mode"

Baby steps!!

Oven Mitts

These make awesome hand made gifts. I made 6 pairs last Christmas for neighbors, friends and family. I have been trying to give handmade or helpful gifts this year with this lovely economy. You can get a free PDF with the instructions at www.youcanmakethis.com/info/free/free-make-an-oven-mitt.htm. They turned out really cute. I used several different pattern combinations, I had even wanted to have the family's last name embroidered on the wrists of the mitt but ran out of time. Make sure that you plan ahead with this project especially if you are making more than one set.

This is a pretty easy sewing project, trust me I cannot sew worth crap and I was able to make 6 set's!

Christmas Crafts

Wouldn't these little pillow boxes make an awesome advent calendar?? Of course! Time consuming though. I found them on Creative Journey of a Everyday Crafter.

 

More awesomeness from Creative Journey of a Everyday Crafter

I thought this was pretty stinkin cute too. I found this cute little box at  

The Queen's Scene. 

 

 

 This would be fun to make with my girls. Check out

There She Goes Clear Stamps

for directions.

If I had not already made my Christmas gifts for the year this would so totally be what I would make for everyone, maybe next year. You can find the directions at Gluesticks.

If my darn printer would work once in a while I would have already printed these out for my kids. I guess I am headed to Office Max to make some color copies. 

You can find this lovely print out right here at Being Creative to Keep My Sanity.

 

 

 I am loving these bottle caps. You can find the directions at Whatever.

If I can get my hands on an unfinished shutter I am so going to 

make one of these for my dining room. 

Pearls, Handcuffs, and Happy Hour 

came up with this awesome idea. Stop by her blog and check it out.

How many day's do we have left until Christmas?? 

 

Not enough to get all of the crafting in that I need to. I think I am going to

start Christmas crafting in like July next year. 

 

Btw I just wanted all of you to know I did not steal all of these ideas from Pinterest. I know you are thinking it, shame, shame. I did however add the links to my Pinterest boards, so if you want to pin them for yourself you can find them there.

I wish you all Happy Holiday's

(and hope you avoid all the winter sickness going on, I am however not so lucky)

Letter's To Santa

It's that time of year to write your letters to the big man! And of course Santa sends your letters back after he reads them so that they can be scrapbooked. Here are 2 letters that I came up with, feel free to print and use them. Happy Holiday's!