Month: December 2020

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Crafting Tuesday: Glitter Ornaments

This year my mom has started crafting again more, which is something that I inherited from her. My favorite craft to work on is making Christmas ornaments. I make them out of anything I can find.

Saturday I arrived at my parents’ house for Christmas and Sunday night Mom and I were looking for something fun to do. I suggested ornaments, and she had a great idea to replicate an ornament she’d made her sister earlier. I couldn’t wait.

So, we got creative. We pulled out the clear bulbs, the glitter, and the cricut. And a few other things.

Pause on our project: my mother has so many crafting supplies. I love it, and one day I hope to have as much fun stuff as she has! I’m slowly making my way into building my crafting supplies, but it’s nowhere near all of her cool stuff she’s gathered along the way. I also need to organize mine better because she has hers all nice and organized.

Okay, back to the project.

So, we gathered up our supplies, and here’s how to do it:

Items needed: clear glass ornaments, floor polish, glitter, cricut, stick on vinyl.

Pour a little floor polish into the glass bulb and swirl it around gently until the inside is coated. Try not to make any bubbles. You won’t need that much force. Also have paper towel on hand as you’ll probably have to plug the open end with a finger, so you’ll want to clean off your finger so it doesn’t leave sticky residue on the outside of the bulb.

Next, pour glitter into the ornament. We used Dixie cups so we could make it more of a funnel shape to pour inside. You’ll need more glitter than you think you do, but do bits at a time. Empty extra glitter back into the glitter container.

Finally, choose your words, vinyl colors, and fonts for the cricut and cut out the lettering. Stick the letters onto the bulbs, and you’re done! It’s really quite simple, but a fun little craft.

We’ve created glitter ornaments before, but never placed the vinyl letters on them. They turned out wonderful. I think I may have to bring more bulbs and glitter with me the next time I visit so I can make more, but for now, four is enough. Though, you can never have enough ornaments!

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Anything Goes Friday: Dec 18

Who’s looking for a Christmas book sale???? I have one just for you.

🎄🎄🎄It’s the Christmas book sale of the year!🎄🎄🎄

$.99 each for four books. Love shifters? Love Christmas? Love elves and Santa? Then these books are for you! They have it all and are great reads for readers of all ages.

sparkle bokeh of Christmas tree, Template mock up for display of your product for Christmas background, vintage toning

At the North Pole’s own Christmas Village, it’s Christmas every day and dragons pull Santa’s sleigh. So, what happens as the elves start to venture out of their Christmas wonderland? Anything can happen! Includes ice dragon, polar bear, and wolf shifters, and more elves than you can shake a candy cane at! Their antics will keep you laughing as they learn some perfect Christmas lessons…and find romance along the way.

https://www.amazon.com/Christmas-Collection…/dp/B08PZ7VPJF

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Travel Thursday: Bronner’s

Inside one of the entrances.

It’s been a while since I posted a travel post, and this is the perfect time to throw out another awesome destination! It’s finally December, my favorite month of the year. Christmas, lights, holiday music, garland, ornaments, hot chocolate, giving, and cheer. It’s my favorite. That means it’s perfect to introduce the perfect Christmas store!

Bronners is the Christmas Wonderland that each of us needs in our lives. The store, located in Frankenmuth, Michigan, is over 2 acres big with almost any Christmas item you can think of. The ornament section is beyond unbelievable. If you can think it, they have it. Inside is nothing but Christmas, from their products to the decorations lining the walls near the ceiling. There is no way, if you love Christmas, that you can leave that store emptyhanded. Trust me.

Growing up, my family always went down with my dad’s parents at least once a year. I say down because it was about 2 hours south of where I grew up. These were trips that I’ll always remember. We’d go shopping and then go out for lunch at the Bavarian Inn or Zenders. They have awesome chicken. We also found that going mid-summer was the best time for us as the store was far less crowded than it was nearer to Christmas.

Even the grounds are decorated and lit up at night for people to drive their cars around to see it all. I haven’t been able to see this since I was in middle or high school, but it’s on my to-do list again. If you’re in the area after dark, you should check this out.

For more information, please check out the site below. Also, you can sign up for their catalogue (which of course I’ve done). And PS they’re doing Facebook live visits with Santa, so check out the website for more details on this!

https://bronners.com/

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Getting Crafty: Book Cozies

Let’s get crafty!!

This week we’re talking crochet. To be more specific, let’s talk crocheted book cozies. For anyone who may not know what a book cozy is, it’s a sleeve that keeps your book safe. You slide it in and voila, safe, especially when traveling. I’ve seen some crocheted and sewn with material.

Almost a year ago, I wanted to start crocheting more again, and to make something others might like or want, so I decided to create a book cozy. Now, I’m positive there are patterns out there and they’re wonderful, but I decided to use my creativity even more and created my own pattern.

I have two sizes, one for a 6×9 book and a 5.5×8. Each one also has a fun decoration on the top. At the beginning, it was only flowers as I became familiar with the pattern. Now, I have more yarn color choices and want to create better themes and also branch out in color. I made a cozy out of pinker yarn and then added some leaves to the front. Soon I plan to attempt a sunflower.

So far, I’ve kept the pattern to myself, but perhaps some day I’ll write it up better and put it on this site for people to find. The next goal is to attempt to make up another pattern for something fun and to create another style of book cozy. I can’t help but want to make more, and they don’t take long.

If you’re interested in a custom cozy or one that I have already created, please reach out to me via my contact page. They’re $10 plus shipping. Every book lover needs a cozy!

Happy reading!

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Music Monday: Dec 7

In the past, Mondays have been reserved for books and indie authors. I’m currently working to revamp the blog a little, so Monday is now switching to a Music & Books day. Why the change? Well, I was just sitting here at my desk staring at my TV playing Pandora and the song playing reminded me of one of my books. In fact, I think it was one of my books theme songs, so I thought it’d be fun to have a day to talk music and books. Either one or together.

Music plays a large role in many authors lives. Some can’t write with music on, some have to have music but with no words, and others can listen to anything. I’m in the last group, but I tend to listen to the current work’s “playlist”. Whatever songs put me instantly into the mood for that book or who make me feel what I need to for the book (this year’s Christmas book didn’t have any Christmas songs in the playlist.

With this being said, I’ll go through the different books and their playlists, but also talk music in general. I like to listen to a broad range of music (with a few exceptions). What do you like to listen to?