Gingerbread House Decorating Tips 2019

I like the creative part of making a gingerbread house every year.  Here is my 2019 house and some things that worked great for me this year.

1. I bought a pre-assembled house, that let me get right to the fun part - decorating!  Here is the kit I used this year and I got it on sale in the store.

2. I bought extra candy.
-Sour Streamers ended up being a great option, I could cut out shapes I wanted out of the long, sugared strips.
-I got really excited when I found Candy Buttons - they were the perfect colors to me

-I used Smarties as a porch and sidewalk

3. I bought cereal for the roof.  This year I used Cinnamon Toast Crunch.  And it's a bit painstaking to shingle a tiny roof, but I love the result.  It turns your Gingerbread House into a Gingerbread Cottage!

4. I worked in the living room while watching movies.  It's kind of a long process that takes a lot of concentration, but to keep it fun, I watched Christmas  movies while I worked.

5. I used fake snow as a final touch. Some years I've added snow with frosting or powdered sugar, but I had bought fake snow for another project and used it to fill in between the house and the cardboard edges of the base and dusted some over the top of the house -  it was a perfect touch.  It looks like snow and adds some sparkle.

2017 Christmas Tree

Usually, I'm thinking a year ahead about my next year's Christmas tree and overall Christmas theme, but this year I was 100% focused on buying my first house.  I bought my house in August and painted the kitchen cabinets and slowly got a few things on the walls.  I bought new living room furniture and a dining table and created a craft room from the ground up.  And unpacked. And mowed the lawn. And planted flowers in the window boxes.

All that to say, this year was unusual and by November, I did not have a plan for my Christmas decor.  I planned to use things I already had, but I didn't have a vision.

Then I came across this ribbon from Hearth and Hand by Magnolia at Target and it became the centerpiece of my vision along with the song/sentiment "There's No Place Like Home for the Holidays" - to celebrate my first year in my new home.

I pulled from last year when my theme was O Holy Night and the tree was decorated in stars and the year I had a red/chalkboard theme. 

 My first purchase for this year's Christmas decor was this galvanized steel tub from Ace Hardware.

Then I bought my beautiful Fraser Fir tree from Lowe's and once again had a great customer service experience there.  And even with no lights or adornment I love it in the tub in my living room.

Another benefit when you get your tree from Lowe's is that they usually have a bin of branches they've cut for customers and they let me take as many branches from that bin as I wanted.  I used those extra branches all over my house in buckets and on my dining room chandelier - which has been one of my favorite things this year.

Then, although I had a BUNCH of strands of clear lights, a lot of them didn't work, so I got my tree partially lighted and had to buy more.

Next I added strands of beads and my beautiful white and black plaid ribbon.

Then I used my homemade chalkboard ornaments from a previous year, but I modified them to fit this year.

Then I filled in with a few new ornaments from Target, some stars from prior years and some black shiny globe ornaments from Michael's.

I posted this bell ornament pic on Instagram and the next morning I woke up to a message from Target asking if they could use my photo - that was pretty exciting!  They used it on their #TargetStyle section of their website!!

I'm so happy with it!

And every night when I turn off all the lights - the magical glow of the tree makes me so happy!  (And makes me want to take more pictures!)

Christmas Home Reveal

This year I wanted my Christmas decor theme centered around the Christmas hymn 

"Oh Holy Night"

 O holy night the stars are brightly shining

It is the night of our dear Savior's birth

Long lay the world in sin and error pining

Till He appeared and the soul felt its worth

A thrill of hope the weary world rejoices

For yonder breaks a new glorious morn

Fall on your knees

O hear the angels' voices

O night divine

O night when Christ was born

O night divine o night

O night divine

I started from scratch with my tree.  Tree and beads from Goodwill; stars from Gordmans and Dollar Tree mainly, with a few from Target.  Beads and ribbon and star picks from Michaels.  Tree skirt is one of my plaid scarves.

I found this giant evergreen frame at Goodwill in the fall and designed an engineering print to go in it.  My nativity is from Hobby Lobby.

I made the artwork on the mantle, which you can read about here.  I ordered the little trees from here.

The candles are this idea I saw on Pinterest. 

Mason jars from Goodwill, the plaid, branches and mini pine cones are all things I had.  I bought the fresh garland from a fundraiser a friend was doing and it MAKES the whole room.  I added pine branch picks from Hobby Lobby, lighted star garland and laser cut wooden stars from Michaels.

Hot chocolate bar!  I started collecting antique Santa mugs last year. I found the stand at Goodwill.  The box I also found at Goodwill and transformed, which you can read about here.

It's very bright and cozy and I love the time I get to spend here!

 

Next week's blog will be all about how I made this gingerbread house!

Transferring a Printed Design to Wood

Last week, I posted about how I found a wooden box at Goodwill and upcycled it by removing the dated handle and painting the box with milk paint.  The other part of the project was to transfer a design onto the top of the box to make it even more Christmas/vintage looking.  My step 1 was to design what I wanted to transfer.  Taking it back to before step 1 - here is my design inspiration - the fictional Inn in one of my favorite Christmas films - White Christmas.

Back to step 1 - here is my design:

Step 2 was to reverse the image using photo editing software:

Then I did a test using a method I found online - which was to print on regular paper and brush the back with water and then rub the ink into the wood.  This method didn't transfer very well and came out kind of blurry and light.

So I searched for another method and found this tutorial on Pinterest that was very helpful: 

It directed me to print the reversed image on freezer paper, on the shiny side and then position it and rub over the back it with a credit card. The freezer paper is very important - not saran wrap, not waxed paper, not parchment paper - FREEZER PAPER.

Since I was using milk paint, which requires an oil rubbed finish, I decided to transfer the image on after I'd painted but before I applied the oil.  This is how it looked after that step.  I think I could have rubbed it harder and it would have come out darker, but I was worried it might smudge.

I gave time for the ink to dry and then I did applied the oil.  I was really concerned that the oil might smudge the ink, but it didn't!

Hot Chocolate Bar

Lately, I get a lot of my ideas and inspiration on what is trending from Instagram.  It may be my favorite app.  Hot chocolate bars are everywhere lately.  I was trying to decide what to put on my 3-tiered stand at Christmas time and decided this would be perfect!  Since part of my theme this year is "vintage Christmas" I decided to hunt for vintage Santa mugs at the antique store - so fun!!  The tray is vintage too.  The jars mostly came from Michael's or Goodwill.  Straws from Michael's, then I added Starbucks hot chocolate packets, marshmallows, mini chips, wafer/fudge stir sticks and peppermint stir sticks (not shown in this pic).