Let's be honest, Kraftmas this year was a little disappointing. My attempts to craft and bake for the holidays was a bit more difficult than last year when I was on break from school all December without any real responsibilities. Now I'm a real adult with a real job and real responsibilities, which equals less free time for all making all of the cute holiday crafts and cookies that I can muster! However, I can share with you some of the last minute Kraftmas did-its that did not make it to the blog in time!
First, a few more ornaments four our Christmas tree. I did paint these paper mache ornaments earlier this month. I really enjoy painting glass ornaments, so I made three more this year to add to the collection of ornaments from last year (e.g. ).
Crescent Santa Claus
This is an easy ornament and does not require much artistic talent! I chose a navy background, and painted the entire ornament using acrylic paint.
Once that dried, I painted a crescent shape along one side of the ornament in white. Make sure to add a little triangle in the middle of the crescent for a nose!
Next, I used flesh colored paint to make the face. Above the face, use red paint to make the hat.
Finally add Santa's eye, a little rose color in his cheek, and the white band at the base of the hat and at the top.
Christmas Tree Forest
This ornament is also pretty simple. I chose to paint this ornament bright red, which is the complimentary color to the green I would use for the trees.
Once the red paint was dry, I used short brush strokes along the bottom of the ornament to create the snow covered ground.
Next, I again used short brush strokes in green to create the trees started with the bottom of the tree and moving to the top. I scattered the trees to give the landscape a little depth as well. I ended up using three shades of green, starting with dark green and adding additional strokes in two lighter colors for some dimension.
Once the trees were dry, I used a small amount of white paint on the tip of my brush to make the trees look like they were dusted with snow. Finally, I added a few speckles of white pain around the trees to make it look like it was snowing. Love this ornament!
And our most SPECIAL ORNAMENT...
Yes, it is true, we are expecting our first child! Even more exciting was our Christmas present to ourselves this year: a gender sonogram. Drumroll please... it's a GIRL! We could not be more excited for this new chapter of our lives and the amazing journey into parenthood. And now I can partially blame my distraction from blogging on the pregnancy *he he*
Any-who, I also made these candle holders for our dinner table for Christmas using a glass candlestick holder and a square candle holder from the Dollar Store.
These are really easy, and Im intending to make more in other colors - maybe black and orange for Halloween, for example! Basically I painted to glass to match our table cloth, which was green, red, white and gold gingham. After the glass was dry, I used hot glue to put the pieces together.
And here is a final Kraftmas baking did it for those of you that like to bake instead of craft. This year for Christmas Eve dessert I made a red velvet cake with peppermint frosting from a recipe that I found on SouthernLiving.com
What you need:
1 (18.25-ounce) package white cake mix
3 egg whites
1 1/3 cups buttermilk
2 Tbl vegetable oil
1 (9-ounce) package of yellow cake mix (which equals 1 3/4 cups of cake mix if you have a bigger box)
1/2 cup buttermilk (I made my own with 1/2 cup 1% milk with 1 Tbl lemon juice)
1 large egg
2 Tbl cocoa
1/2 tsp baking soda
2 Tbl liquid red food coloring
1 tsp cider vinegar
First, beat the white cake mix, 3 egg whites, 1 1/3 cups buttermilk and 2 tablespoons of oil.
I made my own buttermilk by combining approximately 1 1/4 cups of 1% milk with 3 tablespoons of lemon juice and allowing the mixture to sit for about one minute before adding to the other ingredients.
Here is the white cake batter.
For the red velvet cake batter, first combine the yellow cake mix, 1/2 cup buttermilk and 1 large egg.
Again, I made my own buttermilk as described above, this time using about 1/2 cup 1% milk with 1 tablespoon of lemon juice.
Next, add in the cocoa, baking soda and cider vinegar (NOTE: if you do not have cider vinegar you can substitute with 1/4 teaspoon of salt).
Finally, add in the red food coloring.
Now you are ready for baking! In 3 greased 9-inch round cake pans, spoon the red batter alternately with the white batter. Swirl the batter gentle with a knife.
Bake the cakes in a 350 degree preheated oven for 22-25 minutes. Cool the cakes.
While the cakes are cooling, you can make the peppermint frosting by beating the following ingredients:
1 (8-ounce) package of cream cheese, softened
1 cup butter, softened
1 package of powdered sugar (which is about 3-4 cups)
1 teaspoon of peppermint extract
Once the cakes are cool, place one cake on a serving plate and spread with a portion of the frosting. Place the next cake on top and again spread with a portion of the frosting. Finally, place the last cake on top and frost the whole cake with the remaining frosting. I refrigerated the cake until serving, and added a scoop of vanilla ice cream on top of each slice!
Your cake will be such a hit with guests that you may only have this much left...
Phew! So glad that I finally shared these last minute Kraftmas did-its with everyone!
2014 was certainly an exciting year for us! I ran my first half marathon, made my own Etsy shop, graduated from Physician Assistant school, started my first job as a PA, and now my hubby and I are expecting a little baby girl. Talk about an incredible year, and it is only going to get better in 2015!
Thank you everyone who reads my blog. I hope that you have enjoyed a year of posts, and I also hope that you will continue to visit my blog in the coming year. I'm looking forward to sharing crafts and other projects that I am planning to work on for our little Princess due in June, as well as additional items that I hope to add to my Etsy shop. You can also follow me on Pinterest and see what inspires me!
No comments:
Post a Comment