Snow Ice Cream

Nutcracker Themed Christmas Decorations: A little mouse army, and mouse king, paper snowflake ballerinas, and pastel coloured nutcrackers make for the perfect Nutcracker themed children's room.

I wanted to decorate my daughter's room for Christmas. The problem is that my kids really play in their rooms, and they're full of toys, books, games, and crafting supplies. So, in Paige's room, I settled for one little area to set up a small Christmas vignette.

She decided she wanted to go with a Nutcracker theme. This was a little challenging, but I love what we eventually came up with.

We started out looking for some nutcrackers. Since her room is pink and aqua, that's the colour scheme we wanted to go with. I found a cute set of six unpainted ones that we could decorate ourselves. Instead of using the paint colours from the set, we did them all in aqua, pink, and white. I love how they turned out, especially the cute little faces and smiles that Paige gave them all.

We also needed some mice and the mouse king. I found the perfect thing at IKEA. These little mice were only .99 cents, and came in white, brown and grey. We got a couple of each.

For our mouse king, I made a cute little crown out of felt and added a few gems. Then, we tucked the mice into and around the little Christmas tree.

For our sugar plum fairy ballerinas, I saw the cutest idea from krokotak.com for these snowflake ballerinas.

With pretty, Nutcracker Themed Christmas Decorations for a little girls room like this, life really is a party!

You might also like The Nutcracker Christmas Tea Party:

Also check out our Little Girls Christmas Bedroom here.

You might also like our Boho Reading Tent here.

Hot Chocolate Gift Basket: the perfect inexpensive hostess gift idea, perfect for Christmas gift giving, or a teacher gift idea.

Today I'm sharing another gift idea for under $10.  This little hot chocolate gift basket idea is perfect for a host, hostess, neighbour, teacher, coach, or friend.

Hot Chocolate Gift Basket Ideas

One of the keys to an inexpensive, yet impressive gift is the packaging. I love that the bulk food store carries several different flavours of hot chocolate mix. I bought some and then put them into cute little mason jars, because everything looks good in a mason jar. 😉

I also added some candy canes, and a few different kinds of marshmallows.

Chocolate Spoons

I picked up some chocolate spoons at the dollar store too. Here's a pic of the package so you know what to look for. I used these in a hot chocolate buffet for an event last year and they were a big, big hit, so I thought they'd be fun to add to this gift. I took them out of the box and wrapped them up individually in cello bags and tied them with baker's twine.

Adding Label Tags

I made some simple little brown paper tags, and attached them to the mason jars with more aqua baker's twine.

Wood Tray Instead Of A Gift Basket

I put everything together in a little wooden tray, also from the dollar store, that I painted aqua with some craft paint and filled with some silver basket filler.

With a hot chocolate gift basket like this for giving, life really is a party!

You might also like Printable Gift Card Holders here.

You might also enjoy Holiday Hostess Wine and Cheese Gift Basket here.

Bakers Gift Basket Ideas: DIY Christmas sprinkle gift set and a Christmas cookie themed holiday ornament make the perfect inexpensive gift.

I wanted to share these sweet little bakers gift basket ideas that would be great for the baker in your life. I put this together for less than $10.

Christmas Sprinkles

I found these little jars for .79 cents each. They're the tiny size, sometimes used for little individual servings of jam.

I went to the bulk food store and found all the Christmas sprinkles. I love how pretty they are in their little jars, and it's just the right amount for your holiday baking.

Packaging Them Up

I found the little metal tray thrifting, but what would also work great is the bottom of the little box from your Christmas cards, wrapped up in some pretty holiday paper. I put some shredded book pages in the bottom of the tray.

A Cookie Ornament

I added this sweet gingerbread cookie Christmas ornament. Doesn't get much more cute than this sweet little gift.

With bakers gift basket ideas like these, life really is a party!

You might also like Printable Christmas Gift Card Holders here.

You might also enjoy Holiday Hostess Wine and Cheese Gift Basket here.

Woodland Christmas Tree: decorated with lots of easy DIY ornaments you'll be inspired to create your own woodland Christmas tree.

I'm so excited to share my Woodland Themed Christmas Tree with you this year.  I've had so much fun making and collecting all the woodland Christmas ornaments.  I just love how it turned out.  This rustic Christmas tree is perfect for celebrating the holiday season with a woodland theme.

The Tree

When we finally finished renovating our basement a few years ago, I was able to move the family tree, with all our homemade and vacation ornaments downstairs, and have a themed tree upstairs. The kids call it "Mom's Tree".

This faux tree was found on Kijiji for a great deal. I wanted a skinny tree so I could fit it at the bottom of our stairway. It's very nice here since you can enjoy it from the living room, and the dining room. The first year I decorated it all in snowflakes, silver and white. When I decided to do a woodland theme this year, I knew I could use a lot of the ornaments I already had and just add a few new ones for a woodland feel. All the glass, silver and glitter help my woodland theme take on a snowy, glitzy feel, which I really like, with just a little rustic added in.  The silver adds a little sparkle and woodland glam.

DIY Woodland Animal Ornaments

My first idea for ornaments for my woodland themed tree was to buy a tube of cute woodland creatures plastic toy animals from the craft store and spray paint them white and hang them on the tree. I used little screw-in eye hooks on their backs, which worked great. They're my new favourite. I love how these adorable woodland creatures turned out.  The white color scheme really helps them to stand out against the green tree.  These white ornaments are an easy DIY and not expensive to make.

Birch Bark Ornaments

I wanted to include lots of natural elements in our Christmas tree decorations.  We also made some birch bark Christmas ball ornaments. I bought some empty glass balls at craft store, and removed the tops from them.

Then I used small strips of birch bark, peeled off some birch wood, and curled them with scissors like you would ribbon. I just slipped them into the balls and put the tops back on.

They look so sweet on the beautiful tree. I really like how they turned out.  They were simple to make, and their rustic style is perfect for our woodland-themed Christmas tree.

Feather Ornaments

Another idea for some natural decorations was to incorporate some feathers.   I made another set of glass ornaments with feathers inside.  I picked up the feathers at the craft store too.  They have lots of different colors and kinds, but I thought these dotted speckled ones were the perfect fun addition.

Pinecones

I also wanted to use some pinecones, as more natural materials on the the woodland themed tree. I made two types of pinecone ornaments. For the first one I used some pine cones leftover from making my white pine cone wreath, that had been spray painted white. I just added little round screw-in eye hooks to the tops, and then used a hook to hang them on the tree.  This was a great way to turn them into ornaments and easily hang them on the tree.  Adding ribbon would be a nice option too.

I also had these fun, large spruce cones. To decorate them I just added a little white paint to just the tips to make them look snow covered, since I wanted the tree to be a combination of silver, white, glass and glitter, but also mix in some natural brown for a natural look on our woodland-themed tree.

Acorn Ornaments

Another natural element I added were the acorns made from Easter eggs that I made this fall, see the whole tutorial here. I just added some clear fishing line to the stem to hang them from.  They're a perfect addition.

Rustic Decorative Balls

I also added a few different decorative balls. These birch balls where made by hot gluing strips of birch bark to styrofoam balls. I also used some twig balls, and fun moss balls. To add a little pop of color and texture to the moss balls, I wrapped them in some white, fuzzy yarn. Love how they turned out.

They look great tucked into the tree as holiday decorations.

Store Bought Woodland Ornaments

When I decided to do a woodland theme, I started seeing so many cute decorations in stores. A lot of them are more of the red, felt, rustic lodge style that won't work with my silver, and glitter winter woodland look. But here's some that I found that really fit my look and that I couldn't resist.

1. White Owl  2. Book Page Nest  3. Glitter Acorn  4. Silver Mushroom 

Silver, White, and Glass Balls

I mixed all these new ornaments, bought and handmade, in with the white, glass, and silver ones I already had for our woodland tree. Like these pretty little bird figurines, and lots of glass balls.  The mix of different styles of rustic natural decorations and sparkly, silver, glass, and snowflake ornaments adds so much interest to this tree.  We used a beautiful snowflake tree topper for the tree and it finishes it off perfectly.

Tree Skirt

And as a tree skirt at the base of the tree, I used beautiful, warm,and fuzzy sheepskin rugs. The creamy one is real, from IKEA, and the white one is faux, a fun find at HomeSense. I love how they connect with the beautiful pillows on the couch.

With a fun woodland winter wonderland tree like this, life really is a party!

More Christmas Inspiration

You might also like our Christmas Home Tour 2018 here.

Also check out our Christmas Home Tour 2016 here.

You might also enjoy DIY Woodland Mugs here.

Woodland Christmas Decor: forest creatures, natural elements like pinecones and acorns and DIY ornaments create a magical Christmas.

This year I'm bringing the outdoors in with lots of woodland Christmas decor.  This theme is perfect for the holidays and adds a little magic to the season.

You might also like our Boho Christmas Decor Ideas.

A Table Top Forrest with Woodland Animals

I have collected lots of table top Christmas trees over the past few years, and love the way they look all mixed together on my dining room table. This year, to go with our Woodland Christmas decor theme, I thought I'd add a few little woodland creature friends to the forest.

I originally planned on painting all the little woodland animals white -you know how I love a little spray painting. 😉 But after seeing it all together, I kind of liked how they looked. Not to mention the kids pleading in the background. What do you think, should I paint them?

I found most of them at the craft store. I started out with one of those tubes of North American animals, but I didn't like how the animals weren't to scale. (Maybe you didn't know I was quite that particular about things -well I am, and just the thought of the raccoon being the same size as the deer was bugging me.) So, I found these other, larger animals. At first I thought it might be a little expensive to get enough of them but...about nine or so 50% off coupons later and it worked out great. 😉 Most of them worked out to be a dollar or two.

I have to say I kind of love them. At first glance it's just a regular, shiny, silvery Christmas tree display.

But then, you see them, hiding in the trees, and you can't help but smile, even at the skunk.

It's going to be hard to put them away after Christmas.

Deer Head

Sometime in October I got the idea that I wanted to add a deer head to my dinning room for our Christmas and build a whole woodland Christmas decor theme around him. I thought of a few options, and was buying supplies for another version when I laid eyes on this guy. A plain, brown paper, paper mache deer head. I decided I should bring him home, and abandoned my other plans. I gave him a few good coats of white gloss spray paint, and loved him even more. 😉

Homemade Picture Frame

I knew I wanted to surround him with an old picture frame, painted silver. Of course when you need something you can't find it. I looked at all my local thrift stores and couldn't find exactly what I was looking for.  When I was driving by the Habitat for Humanity Re-Store and had an idea. What if I bought some old trim and made my own frame? I found this piece of trim for a $1 -sold!

Once I got it home, I had a little help cutting it to size, with all the right angles. I glued it together, stapled it, clamped it, and then filled the little gaps and sanded them smooth.

After a few coats of silver spray paint, I think my $1 frame turned out pretty well.

Boxwood Wreath

I needed one more finishing touch for the deer head, a little wreath around his neck. The box wood wreath came from trimming up my box wood and I made a little wreath. I just bent a coat hanger into a circle to make the form, and then wired little bunches of box wood around the form.

It's the perfect natural element for this spot.

More Woodland Christmas Decor

To finish off the display I used this gorgeous little black wrought iron tree my sister gave me a few Christmas' ago. I love the little pompom garland, reminds me of little snow balls.

I usually have some Black and White photos of Paris hanging here, but decided to change them out to go with our woodland theme too. These sweet little prints are printed onto wood veneer and I thought the snowshoes and feather were perfect with everything else. I framed them in some in-expensive IKEA frames, and I like the way the white frames match my dear, deer head -affectionately referred to by all my family, friends, and visitors as the moose.

I didn't do too much else on the table, just some candles, and the silver bowl, filled with some pinecones.

Woodland Entry Table

I thought it would be fun to add a woodland touch to the entry area too.  The deer look so sweet in the fresh pine boughs on the table.

These easy DIY pinecone balls were a great little Christmas project.

Woodland Christmas Tree

One of my favourite woodland touches this Christmas is my woodland themed Christmas tree.  

With lots of DIY woodland animals it's the perfect touch for our theme.

You can read all about all the details of the woodland Christmas tree here.

All the woodland Christmas decor details came together so beautiful.  This might be one my favourite Christmas themes ever.

With Woodland Christmas decor, life really is party!

Christmas Hostess Gift: give a thoughtful and world changing gift this year with a donation to charity and DIY keepsake ornament.

I wanted to share this great gift idea as part of the Christmas Gifts for under $10 series -perfect for a host/hostess, bus driver, neighbour, or friend.

Let's face it none of us really needs another candle, box of chocolates or bottle of wine this Christmas...okay you might make an argument for the wine, but still. Here's an idea to give something with a little more meaning.

Charity Gifts That Do Some Good

I'm always inspired by the World Vision catalogue that comes around each year filled with charity gifts for people in developing countries, and I love the idea of giving things like animals, and education because they're the gifts that keep giving and provide a brighter future.

So, I was wondering how to make these meaningful gifts a little less expensive and suitable for a hostess gift, and also give something to the recipient as a keepsake as well. Here's what I came up with.

The Gift of Fruit Trees

World Vision offers 5 fruit trees for $30. The trees could do a lot for a family. They offer fruit which helps provide nutritious food and vitamins for a family, given enough to create an orchard they could provide an opportunity for a family to create a small business, and they offer natural beauty, shade, and oxygen to the area. Win, win, win. At only $30 for five here's how I turned this into a fun under $10 gift.

A Keepsake Ornament

You can make three or four of these sweet keepsake ornaments, with a glittered covered pear, and then divide up the fruit trees, to make gifts for under $10. I already had the fruit ornament, but you could find any plastic fruit and even glitter it yourself. Then I made a little tag that says HOPE. I used rubber stamps on card stock, glittered the edges, and mounted it on a little piece of book page paper cut with special scissors, then I tied it to the pear with some silver ribbon.

I purchased the fruit trees, and printed out the description, you can purchase and print it here, and packaged it up with one of the keepsake ornaments in a fun little Chinese take-out box, with shredded book pages. Now, when you are invited somewhere for dinner or a party over Christmas you can let the host know that you bought a fruit tree in a developing country in their name, and that each year they put the ornament on their Christmas tree they'll remember the gift of the fruit tree.

With a thoughtful, and meaningful Christmas hostess gift like this, life really is a party!

Also check out our Holiday Hostess Wine and Cheese Gift Basket here.

Also you might enjoy our Printable Christmas Gift Card Holders here.