Friday, December 23, 2011

Gift Wrappin'

Have you guys noticed how expensive wrapping paper is? This Christmas, I'm a little low on funds (going back to school has this way of sucking you dry) and so I wanted a way to wrap presents and make them look cute, but on the cheap.
Solution: paper bags. I asked the cashier at Kroger for some extras, and they gave me a whole stack!
First, I cut down the middle of one side and then cut the bottom out to make one long peice, like this. I saved the bottoms to make gift tags.
Wrap up your box, and you'll discover that it's a great blank canvas!

I took pastels and drew designs. You could also decoupage, use stickers or stamps, or even leave it blank!

I had leftover tissue paper from last year and yarn from my Charlie Kelly Halloween costume, so I used those to dress up the package.

This post by one of my favorite bloggers, Delightfully Tacky, reminded me of the pompoms I used to make as a kid. Her method is a little different than mine: I just wrap yarn around my fingers a bunch of times, and then carefully slide it off.

Tie your yarn ball carefully (and VERY tightly) to the top of the package. You want it tight, or else it will fall apart.

Clip the loops and fluff out the yarn so it's a pompom!

I used scrapbook paper and the bag bottoms to make gift tags. I had that little clay stocking left over from a few years ago too, so I used it to tie the yellow tissue paper in to the rest of the package.

Voila! There are a bunch of variations, but it's fun and cute, and super cheap!

Thursday, December 22, 2011

Jess Gets Competitive

A couple of nights ago, dudefriend and I competed in (and won!) a Gingerbread House competition!
Our theme was "Gingerbird House"
We made the sidewalk out of Big Red chewing gum, and the bushes out of broccoli.
I curled up pieces of chewing gum to add texture to the roof. Dudefriend carefully cut a hole in the front of the house for the bird to get in and out, and then an even smaller hole for the candy cane perch.
There's even a little pretzel privacy fence, engineered by dudefriend, to keep out the "Peep-ing Toms"!

The back of the house has another hole - a window, complete with pretzel windowpanes and a flower box filled with Nerds.

The piece de resistance: Peeps!

Wednesday, December 21, 2011

Tree Trimmed

A few days ago, dudefriend and I bought a little 4ft tree from Lowes to decorate. I think it's so adorable!

This little poinsettia deer at Cracker Barrel, of all places. They always have neat folky ornaments. I may switch the gold cord he's hanging on for a red ribbon.

We picked that little robin ornament up in downtown Asheville, he looks so nice nestled in the branches.

My mom gave us this glittery snowman, and a matching reindeer.
I made two strands of bunting in lieu of garland. I just used scrapbook paper and yarn, and a hole punch. 2 sheets of 12x12 paper yielded 2 4ft strands, with leftover paper for gift tags!
Moof and I donned our Christmas clothes. He *loves being a rein-cat!

*hates

Thursday, December 8, 2011

Look at this.

This is fantastic:


I know it's old, and you all may have seen it, but this is the first time I've heard of it.

Wednesday, December 7, 2011

Seeking Warmth

Good Morning, freezing friends, and

Happy December!
I wish i knew how to throw some glitter on those words.

Now that it's December, we can officially embrace the beginnings of the holiday season. Ideally you have been celebrating the Holiday season for a few months now, but apparently that is "not cool" or "annoying" or "draining" to those of you scrooges out there, and therefore not very popular.

Oldie but a goody, right? Speaking of Christmas music, She & Him released A Very She & Him Christmas a couple months ago, and it's adorable and delightful and you should acquire it. I'e been listening on loop in my car for months.

So with the approaching holidays, we have the plunging temperatures, which makes getting out of bed oh so very hard. Which is why I have developed a morning warmth system that I would like to share with you:

INGREDIANTS:
electric blanket or heating pad
slippers
hot tea/hot cocoa/coffee
clothes for the day

1. get out of bed. this is the hard part.

2. turn on blanket/heating pad. make bed with this on top. gather all of your clothes, minus undies, and place UNDER heated object with another blanket on top to seal in the warmth. Yes, we are preheating your clothes.

3. Put undies in bathroom. Turn on shower to hot, close door to bathroom. We are preheating the bathroom.

4. Go gather all your breakfast stuff. Make sure you have a clean mug, never a sure bet in my house. I recommend planning ahead and washing one the night before.

5. Shower. Before opening the bathroom door after your shower, blow dry your hair. Hopefully, you are sweating by the end of it.

6. Put on your pre-heated clothes.

7. Drink warm beverage. Voyage into the cold. You are so warm by this point that the cold will be refreshing, not awful...

Happy holidays! Don't forget your hat!

Tuesday, December 6, 2011

How to learn to hate wine

Happy holidays! 'Tis the season of holiday parties, friends, family, gift-giving, etc.

'Tis the season to imbibe.

This past weekend, I visited Asheville, NC for my birthday! While in Asheville, I went to a wine tasting at the Biltmore Estate.

Jess! You hate wine! It makes you dry heave to smell it! People pour you a glass with dinner and you rudely turn it down! Why did you go to a wine tasting?

Good questions. And a better answer: it was free with our fancy schmancy Candlelight Christmas tickets. And I never say no to free.

So we embarked on the tour, learned all about the grapes and fermentation and how to make the bubbly. And it was really really neat and educational. I love educational... and then came the tasting.

First, let me digress and tell you about my history of wine drinking.

1. Freshman year: my roommate and I bought a bottle of Merlot. It tasted nasty with our Olive Garden take out... but delicious with the vending machine cookies we ate for dessert. I had a wicked hangover.

2. Sophomore year: to celebrate our first apartment, my roommate and I bought a big bottle of Riesling. We drank too much, too fast, and danced to Miley Cyrus. I had a wicked hangover.

3. Discovery of Arbor Mist and, my personal fave, Andre: Oh, peach-flavored Andre. Oh, you. You don't even taste remotely wine or champ-like. A beautiful thing, you are.

4. Mistaking liking Andre for liking Champagn: Champ and Andre are NOT THE SAME. Champ is not nearly as delicious. Even if you put fruit in it. Or juice. Sigh.

5. Trying to learn to like wine: This happened this summer. I decided once and for all it was time to get over my vino-aversion, and start choosing wine over beer (because beer makes me farty, ok?) I wimped out. After 1 sip. I still prefer beer.

Which brings me to the wine tasting. I was handed a list and told I could have as much as I'd like. My first thought was, I wish this was beer. But then I decided to suck it up and taste some and get over it.

And you know what? It wasn't half bad. I even found a couple I really enjoyed. Yes they were white wines, yes they were sweet and fruity, so what? I bought a bottle, it's Christmas Wine. It's delicious.

Bottom line: don't try to like something by overindulging, especially with alcohol. And drink good wine. And remember Tums when you're drinking beer.

Me, in front of the Bass Pond at Biltmore.