A partridge in a pear tree

Little by little I am getting my Christmas décor up. It's a lot slower process this year with my nearly one-year-old little guy underfoot!

Due to my limited time for decorating, I need projects that are simple to create, but still look elegant.

So here's what I came up for for the centrepiece on the sideboard in my dining room - a pear tree using my cupcake stand.

The pears are from the grocery store (obviously) and cost about $5 for a dozen. The glittery little bird came from the dollar store. Now I realize it's not exactly a partridge, but work with me here, OK?

I designed the banner on my computer and printed it. Then cut it out and taped some jewelry wire to the back of it so I could manipulate it to fit around the pears. It's secured to the pears with a bit of tape also.

And that's all there was to it!

One thing to note, is that using fresh fruit puts a limited time on your décor. I bought the pears about 4 days ago and they are already starting to get a little too ripe. I will have to replace them soon. Maybe I will look into buying artificial ones, but I think REAL pears have such an elegance to them!

I'm linking up to these parties this week. Check them out!

The smells of the season

The Christmas season is here! I guess I had better start pulling out the Christmas décor and getting the house ready! Christmas is definitely my favourite time of year and there's nothing to get me in the spirit than some great Christmas music and some wonderfully spicy-sweet smells.

Here is a re-post from last Christmas - a tutorial on how to make your own "Christmas smelly pot". It is so good, I just had to share it again! Can't wait to make this pot-of-goodness this year.

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Christmas is my favourite season of the year! It is a time to reflect upon the birth of our Saviour Jesus and the hope of salvation He brought to the world.

I also savour the happy music, pretty decorations, sparkly lights, yummy food and special times with friends and family. And I can't forget to mention the smells. Oh, the smells!

Whether it's freshly baked cookies just out of the oven, a scrumptiously scented candle, a freshly cut Christmas tree or spiced apple cider brewing on the stove, the smells of Christmas are divine!

Last year I saw a friend put together what I have come to call a 'Christmas smelly pot'  – for lack of a better term. "Brilliant!" I thought, "I must do this." So I went about creating my own 'smelly pot', modifying it a bit to make the recipe my own. Now my house can smell like Christmas everyday of the festive season!

Here's how to create your own 'Christmas smelly pot' in a slow cooker.

Ingredients:
Half an orange;
1 apple;
2 bay leaves;
2 to 3 tablespoons of whole cloves;
2 cinnamon sticks;
Splash of lemon juice.

1. Cut the apple in half so that the core makes a pretty star. Stud the orange with some of the cloves. If the skin of the orange is particularly tough, pre-make some holes in the orange with a pointy object (I used a chop stick).

2. Fill a small slow cooker with 4-6 cups of water, add all the ingredients listed above.

3. Set the slow cooker on low and let simmer away, uncovered. After a few hours the mixture will begin to darken in colour and fill your house with its lovely Christmas aroma. As the pot simmers the water will begin to evaporate. I just add more water a few times a day to keep it topped up.

4. At the end of the day you can place your pot in the fridge overnight. Take it out the next day and reheat for more smelly goodness. I usually use my smelly pot for 3 to 5 days before making a new one.

Note: Although all of these ingredients are edible, I have not tried tasting this concoction, nor would I recommend it – even though it does smell good enough to eat!

Enjoy and Merry Christmas!

Scrabble Ornaments and a Christmas Collaboration

I am so excited to be collaborating for the next week with six other fantastic bloggers to bring you some awesome Christmas decorating ideas and projects! Thanks to Shannon and Dean at AKA Design for being the ring leaders on this!

Each day one of us will be featuring a Christmas project on our own blog. We’ll be sharing the links to each others projects on our social media (twitter, facebook, pinterest) so you can easily check them out.

Then stay tuned later in December for a FREE downloadable PDF of all of the project tutorials!

Wednesday is my day to share with you, and here we are!

Being a lover of Scrabble, I couldn't resist making some ornaments out of old Scrabble tiles. Who doesn't love those cute little square, lettered tiles?

Being a Christian, I decided to use the five advent themes celebrated in the weeks and days leading up to Christmas for the words of my ornaments: Hope, Peace, Joy, Love and Christ. This adds more significance to the ornaments, reminding me to reflect on the reason I celebrate Christmas - the birth of our Saviour, Jesus Christ.

OK, here we go with the tutorial! Stick with me. I took lots of pictures to help explain each step. This makes it a really long post, but trust me, it's not as complex as the oodles of pictures make it seem!

Supplies:

Supplies needed:
Scrabble tiles (pulled out of an old game purchased at a yard sale)
Thin jewelry wire
Beads
Jingle bells (also purchased at a yard sale)
Scrapbook paper
Dry adhesive or glue (pictured later)

Tools needed:
Drill
Exacto knife and cutting board
Needle
Awl (or other pointed object)
Scissors

Step 1: Drill holes

My always-so-handy husband drilled holes in the top and bottom of each tile, using the smallest drill bit in his set - 1/16th. He fashioned a simple jig to hold the tiles in place while he drilled.

Step 2: Paper backing

I wanted to dress up the ornaments a bit, so I thought some festive-patterned paper on the back would look fun. I had this handy StudioTac dry adhesive leftover from my college days, and it worked out so well for sticking the paper to the letters. I'm sure another type of glue would work just fine, as long as it's not too wet, so the paper doesn't warp or bleed.

1. Glue letters to scrapbook paper. 

2. Use an exacto knife to carefully cut around the wooden tile (this paper is double sided, so that's why there is a patterned side facing up).

Step 3: Punch holes

Once the paper is on the backs of all of the tiles...

1. Use a needle to poke a small guide hole from front to back.
2. Take a larger pointy object (I used an awl tool) to poke a hole on the back (this is where the small guide hole you just made it helpful - shows you know where to make the hole). This pushes the paper into the drilled hole of the tile leaving a clean edge on the paper.

Step 4: String letters together 

Feel free to improvise with whatever works for you here. I have outlined a pretty detailed step-by-step process of what I did, but there are a myriad of ways you can string them together. As long as they are all attached together at the end, you have succeeded!

1. Cut a 4-inch piece of wire and feed through the bottom hole of your first letter. Add a bead or two to the wire on each side of the letter.
2. String the wire through front and back of the top hole on the second letter. Pull tight.
3. Feed wire back up through the beads on the front of the tile.
4. Do the same as step 3 on the back of the tile.

5. Feed the wire piece at the back, through to the front of the tile. You should now have two ends of wire at the front of the tile.
6. Twist the two pieces of wire together.
7.  Feed the twisted wire back through the hole of the tile and trim with scissors as close to the back of tile as possible.

Repeat this process for each letter in your word.

Step 5: Make a loop for hanging

1. Cut a 12 inch piece of wire and double it in half. Feed through top hole of first tile. Give wire a couple of twists so it is secure around the tile. Thread a bead or two over the wire.
2. String beads on each side of wire, leaving space at the ends to secure them together.
3. Twist ends tightly together.
4. Feed the twisted ends back through a few beads to secure closure. Trim the excess wire.

Step 6: Add a jingle bell

If you don't have a bell, you could just finish it off with a few beads at the bottom.

1. Feed wire through top loop of bell, give a twist or two to the wire and add a bead (similar to step 1 in the previous hanging loop instructions). Feed wire through bottom hole of bottom tile the same way you did when stringing the letter tiles together.

2.  Feed wire back down through the bead and secure around the bell. Trim excess wire.

And now it's done!

Now only four more words to go for me....

Aren't they pretty?

And I like how the backs are lovely to look at too.

And here they are on the tree.

Please take some time to stop by all the friendly blogs participating in this fun Christmas affair!

AKA Design
House of Hepworths
Thistlewood Farm
Finding Home
Cozy. Cottage. Cute.
Satori Design for Living

I will be pinning all the participating projects to this Pinterest board.  So be sure to follow my board and repin!

I'm linking up with these great link parties. Be sure to check them out!

It's beginning to smell a lot like Christmas

Christmas is my favourite season of the year! It is a time to reflect upon the birth of our Saviour Jesus and the hope of salvation He brought to the world. I also savour the happy music, pretty decorations, sparkly lights, yummy food and special times with friends and family. And I can't forget to mention the smells. Oh, the smells! Whether it's freshly baked cookies just out of the oven, a scrumptiously scented candle, a freshly cut Christmas tree or spiced apple cider brewing on the stove, the smells of Christmas are divine! Last year I saw a friend put together what I have come to call a 'Christmas smelly pot'  – for lack of a better term – and let it simmer on her stove top. "Brilliant!" I thought, "I must do this." So I went about creating my own 'smelly pot', modifying it a bit to make the recipe my own. Now my house can smell like Christmas everyday of the festive season!  Here's how to create your own 'Christmas smelly pot'.

Ingredients:
Half an orange;
1 apple;
2 bay leaves;
2 to 3 tablespoons of whole cloves;
2 cinnamon sticks;
Splash of lemon juice.

1. Cut the apple in half so that the core makes a pretty star. Stud the orange with some of the cloves. If the skin of the orange is particularly tough, pre-make some holes in the orange with a pointy object (I used a chop stick).

2. Fill a small crock pot with 4-6 cups of water, add all the ingredients listed above.

3. Set the crock pot on low and let simmer away, uncovered. After a few hours the mixture will begin to darken in colour and fill your house with its lovely Christmas aroma. As the pot simmers the water will begin to evaporate. I just add more water a few times a day to keep it topped up.

4. At the end of the day you can place your pot in the fridge overnight. Take it out the next day and reheat for more smelly goodness. I usually use my smelly pot for 3 to 5 days before making a new one.

Note: Although all of these ingredients are edible, I have not tried tasting this concoction, nor would I recommend it – even though it does smell good enough to eat!

Enjoy and Merry Christmas!