gingerbread houses

My family made gingerbread houses for the first time ever and I'd have to say it was quite a success! It was definitely more difficult then I thought it would be, maybe because the gingerbread was from a box with an unknown expiration date. Or maybe I'm just not cut our for gingerbread constructing, but I had a great time anyways. 

I was super thrilled that a friend of mine, Ryan, was able to join us that night... well until he showed us all up with his mad skills. ;) His house is the one expertly constructed on the far left (green and red walls), mine is the one in the middle (red door), and Shaunessy's is the far right (with hand-crafted wreath on the door). Mom and Dad built the beautiful trees in the back. 

Gingerbread houses are fun... If you want to give it a go, I would just suggest maybe making your own gingerbread, or use graham crackers, it would be just as fun. :)

Happy Holidays! 

dot art ornaments

{The Dot Art Ornament}

I found some glass ornaments at the dollar store, first of I have to tell you how much I love the dollar store, it's the perfect place for crafters to get their creativity on. Anyways I decided to pick up a few ornaments and see what I could come up with. A few days before I found them I had actually posted about my Australian Dot Art obsession and figured I should give it a try with these ornaments. 

When I got home and started looking on Pinterest guess what I found??? ----------------------->

The woman who makes these is amazing! I would totally recommend checking out her Etsy shop.

Pearle's creations helped me gain inspiration and I couldn't wait to get started. Ok, now nice thoughts only. Keep in mind these are my first attempts so no comparing mine to Pearle's beautiful artwork ok? ;)

I first started with a base coat of a solid color

Then proceeded with the dots

After I was finished I spray-painted the tops silver

and coated the ornament with a glaze finish

Ta da! Here are the finished products:

SWIRL design

WRAPPED PRESENT design

FLOWER POWER design

It was such a fun project, I encourage everyone to give it a shot. But, in the meantime, if you feel so inclined, these and a few other designs are now available on our Etsy shop. Just click on the "Etsy" tab at the top of the page. :)