DIY

Handmade Holidays: Polka Dot Candle Holder

Next up in the Handmade Holidays series has a little bit of glitz — a decorative candle holder with gold polka dots!

I love the idea of using this handmade holiday gift for a little hostess treat when you’re visiting friends for the holidays. To start I used a craft punch to cut out circles on a piece of thick cardstock, then taped the cardstock around the candle holder to create a stencil. From there, it’s as simple as filling in your polka dots with a metallic sharpie — you can add-on an extra layer of metallic marker after the first layer dries if you’d like the color to be a bit more opaque. Then pair it was a pretty scented candle and some fun matches (I love these ones!).

 

DIY

Handmade Holidays: Festive Bottle Stoppers

I’m kicking of a new series: Handmade Holidays to share some crafty ideas for making DIY presents this year.

First up, some festive bottle stoppers! I bought plain, unfinished bottle corks in the kitchen section at Target and colored in the stopper with a silver metallic Sharpie, followed by a light brush of glue and matching silver glitter. Once they dried all you need is a drop of super glue to hold an ornament in place on top of the stopper! These took under an hour to make, and cost less than $10 to make the whole set — I think they’d look great tied to a bottle of wine for a hostess gift during the holidays!

Life

20 Gift Ideas Under $25.

I think I’m finally finished with all of my Christmas shopping, but there’s always that one gift recipient that I’ll realize has slipped my mind just days before the holiday weekend. So, if you’re like me and need a few last-minute gift ideas, I’ve rounded up 20 festive finds that are on a budget — everything is under $25! The danger of putting these posts together? I’ve already done some shopping for myself: that polka-dot hat is mine!

From top left: pencils, whisk, shoe clips, initial watch, horse bottle opener, tart server, lobster earrings, twirl perfume, polka-dot hat, peace plate, magic wallet, pom-pom mittens, perpetual calendar, nail polish, volupsa candle, coasters, paddywax candle, heart sunglasses, notebooks, red lipstick.

Life

Favorite Clean Beauty Products and Brands.

Since the new year is time all about updating our routines and making healthy choices, I thought it was the perfect time to update my favorite clean beauty products list. In past years I’ve shared all of my favorite Beautycounter products – being a consultant, I get a great discount and tend to use mostly their products. But this time I expanded the list to include several products from other clean beauty brands that I’ve tested this year. I’m all about finding more affordable and accessible options. See all my favorite clean beauty products and clean beauty brands to kick off 2023 below: read more

Entertaining

A Classic Fall Cheese Board.

We had some friends over this past weekend, so of course a cheese board was on the menu. I’ve been experimenting and getting creative with all sorts of themed grazing boards lately, but sometimes I just like to go back to basics and create a simple, classic board with my favorite ingredients. It was also a great chance to try out my new set of cheese knives by Forseti Steel! read more

Life

The Download – 11.30.18

I just sat down to write this post and had to do a double take when I realized it was the very last day of November. The holiday season is already flying by and it seems like it just started. This week I have lots of holiday updates to share in my download — I’m listing all of my festive upcoming book events (I really hope to see you there!), linking all of my gift guides for your holiday shopping, and sharing a great charity to consider supporting this season. Hope you have a very merry weekend — we’re getting our Christmas tree and I can’t wait! read more

Recipes

Butternut Squash and Ricotta Crostini.

I have a super easy appetizer idea for your holiday celebrations today: Butternut Squash and Ricotta Crostini. It takes just a few simple ingredients to put this together; sweet roasted cubes of butternut squash, creamy whole milk ricotta, and crusty toasted slices of bread. Then these little bites are finished off with a garnish of chopped fresh sage and the star ingredient: a sprinkle of Sel Marin. Louis Sel is the most delicious sea salt blended with provencal herbs. A good friend of mine, Karen, found out about this amazing salt at a Parisian food fair and could never quite find something similar back here at home. She decided to bring Louis Sel to the US and I’m so glad she did because now I put it on everything (I call it magic salt, because it magically makes me crave vegetables when I add it on top of a dish!). If you have any foodie friends or family, it would make a lovely holiday gift (maybe pair it with a nice cookbook, I have one you might like, wink wink!). Or grab some for yourself and get making this tasty appetizer for the holidays — full recipe below: read more

Travel

A Family Trip to Quebec City at Christmas.

I’ve been toiling away at this recap of our wintry Christmas road trip up to Quebec City all week because I have so many fun details to share (and because I got so many questions about it while we were there)! This trip was a bit of a full circle moment for my husband and I, because we had started this tradition of spending a few days in Quebec to take in all the festive holiday decorations back when first were dating. Then 12 years ago on a frigid snowy night a few days before Christmas we got engaged in front of the Chateau Frontenac in Quebec. This was our first trip back since that engagement weekend, and it felt so special to be visiting after all these years and experiencing this magical winter city as a family. read more

Travel

A Weekend Family Trip to Washington, DC.

We kicked off summer with a fun long weekend trip down to Washington, DC! I hadn’t been to DC since before we were married, so exploring the city with a kid and through new eyes was a fun adventure – it felt like we were there for the first time. We packed our trip with lots of kid-friendly museums and experiences, so I thought I’d share our itinerary and some travel wins for future planning!  read more

Life

Kids Cookie Valentines.

My favorite Fancypants Baking Co decorated cookies are the perfect nut free, allergy-friendly treat for Valentine’s Day celebrations! The individually packaged decorated cookies are my go-to for school holiday parties, and I love the idea of incorporating them into Valentine’s gifts and giveaways. When planning for treats to bring to school parties, we have to make sure that all of the ingredients are clearly labeled as nut-free. All of the Fancypants Baking Co cookies are made in a peanut and tree-nut free facility so they’re an easy choice! On top of being allergy friendly, they’re made with fresh, wholesome, mindfully sourced ingredients, and all of the icing is dyed naturally with colors from fruits and vegetables. read more

 
 
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