Creative Team

Basswood Trees with eat.sleep.make.

1 · Dec 12, 2013 · 1 Comment

Hi all! Shannon from eat.sleep.make. here! So excited to share this inexpensive and easy project with you! All you need is a sheet of basswood, a craft knife, a rule, pencil and some paint!

First – Decide how big you want your tree to be. My first one I made 6 inches tall and 4 inches wide. Mark the wood and draw your triangle

Second – Use your ruler and craft knife to cut along the lines you drew. It may take several scores with the knife to get through the wood. Don't press too hard or you may crack the wood.

Third – Draw a line half way up from the middle of the base on one triangle. Then draw a line half way down from the tip of the triangle on the other. Use your craft knife to cut a slice about 1/16 to 1/8 inch where the line was.

Fourth – Slide your pieces together to make sure they fit.

Fifth – Paint a fancy little design on it!

These take little time to make, but turn out so adorable! It would even be fun to cut them out and let the kids paint/color/glitterfy them.

Stop over at eat.sleep.make. and check out some of our other Christmas projects!

Celebrate the Light Canvas

DIY Rosette Tree

DIY Snow Globe Necklace

Gingerbread Granola

3 · Dec 10, 2013 · 2 Comments

I’ve known for some time that I want to recreate this recipe. Gingerbread has been on my mind a lot recently with the holidays. My two flavor staples for this time of year are gingerbread and eggnog. So when I tried out a granola that incorporated one of those I became giddy with the thought of building a recipe around the product! This gingerbread granola is now a staple in our home. Mainly because it’s so quick to prepare and packages up beautifully for last minute neighbor treats!

4 cups old-fashioned rolled oats
1 1/2 cups pecans, finely chopped
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
1/2 cup melted butter
1/3 cup real maple syrup
1/4 cup molasses
3/4 teaspoon vanilla

Preheat your oven to 350 degrees. Line a large baking sheet with parchment or a baking mat.

Mix all of your ingredients together in a large bowl. Spread into an even layer on your prepared pan.

Bake for 30 minutes, stirring halfway through the baking time. Allow to cool completely and enjoy!

While this bakes you get the wonderful smell of the Holiday’s floating through your home. It is so wonderful to wake up to and seems to last for days! We like to double the batch otherwise it never seems to make it to our friends and family!

Try it out on top of cereal, yogurt, fruit… or just on it’s own. It is unbelievably delicious and helps spread Christmas cheer whenever you decide to share! If you liked this recipe, check out these:

Coconut Macaroons // Easy Orange Blossom // Cranberry Bliss Bars

DIY Paper Fan Photo Ornaments

47 · Dec 8, 2013 · 7 Comments

Hello everyone! December snuck up on me…but I'm grateful Heather is so sweet to still share my photo ornament project! Hopefully some of you are like me, and still doing holiday crafting and decorating. Anyone? Buhler?? haha! I love subtly incorporating photos into decor…as seen here. 🙂 I made quite a few photo ornaments this year…and hope to carry on the tradition in years to come, making just a few more ornaments each year to add to the collection, displaying sweet winter memories.

Supplies you'll need:

Cardstock (I used gold glitter cardstock from Joann Fabric & Craft)

White Cardstock (or whatever color you'd want to frame/outline your photo)

Hot glue gun (with extra glue!)

Scissors

String/twine/yarn

Photos!

You can print/create your circular photos a few different ways:

–> I used two apps on my phone–Afterlight to get the photos into frames, then Diptic to put the circular photos into a collage (I put one picture in one part of the two-picture collage, and printed them out as 4×6's)

–> Print a bunch of photos (I liked mine black and white) and then use a cup or something circular to trace circles onto the photos….just make sure they're as uniform as possible.

–> Or you can use an online photo editing site like PicMonkey to create the circular pictures.

Then cut!

You'll want to reinforce the sturdiness of the photo by hot glueing the photos to card stock, then cut them out again (I left a thin frame/outline around the edge).

To create the paper fans, I used a tutorial Heather actually shared a few years ago over on the lovely Stephanie Lynn's blog, Under The Table and Dreaming. 🙂 Go here to see the how-to. Just be sure that the width of the paper strips you cut out (you'll need two strips per ornament) are a little more than what the radius (half the width) is of your circular photo.

Heather's tutorial for the paper fan has you glue a piece of paper to back, which I did here–and I wrote the month/year of the photo that would be on the front. And with the thicker card stock paper, I needed more than just a drop of glue, so I put about 3 or 4 circle/swirls of hot glue (moving quickly, as it dries fast) on each cut-out circle and pressed them onto the paper fan and held for a few seconds to make sure it was secure.

**A photo is hot glued on the back of the lower fan already…that way I didn't have to hold it for the picture I was taking. But you'll need to hold it tight and flat on your work surface until you hot glue your paper to it.

Then you'll hot glue the photos…it's coming together! Again, quickly swirling the hot glue around the back of the paper/photo to make sure there is good coverage, then press it onto the paper fan and give it a good rub down to make sure it stays put. 😉

Next, put the "hangers" on. I just cut pieces of the string/twine and, with a dab of hot glue, glued the two ends to the back, in one of the folds). And I used a pen to push the string down and get it nice and stuck in the glue. Remember to make sure you're putting the loop at a spot in the back where, when it hangs, the picture will be straight. 🙂

Voila!!

Then trim your tree and deck yours halls!! I used ours as ornaments…but I'm thinking I may make more and create a garland for over our mantle. Lots and lots of possibilities. 🙂

Thank you Heather! And thank you WhipperBerry readers! Happy Holidays everyone!

Haley

PS – Here are a couple Christmas projects I shared last year:

Go here for our Christmas box advent calendar…love this magical season and the sweet traditions that come with it!!

Go here for stencils to create these Christmas photo booth props. We used them for our Christmas card, as well as at an Ugly Sweater party and a company holiday party! SO FUN.

Caramel Corn Recipe

0 · Dec 3, 2013 · 5 Comments

Caramel Corn Recipe // Hello Whipperberry friends! Can you believe that it's December already? It feels like this season flies by so fast…it's hard to take it all in isn't it? There's just so much to do, and so little time to do it! But I admit I love it all…the fast pace of the malls, the music, the gatherings and the goodies. Oh my, how much do I love the goodies! I might need a bigger pants by the time January rolls around! Nah, holiday calories don't count right?! 😉

Speaking of goodies, I wanted to share a family favorite recipe with you today. This caramel corn is actually my Grandma's recipe, and I remember my Mom making it for us every year…I always looked forward to it! And now I make it for my family. Don't you just love recipes that get passed down through the generations? There's something so special about sharing a recipe with your loved ones that generations before you have been enjoying too. Love that so much.

Anyway, this caramel corn is SO good. Creamy, and chewy and delicious! I hope you try it and love it!

This caramel corn is also perfect for gift giving or simply just enjoying with your family during a movie night! It's quick and easy to make and it's crazy delicious! Trust me when I say this treat will get devoured. I seriously could eat this all by my lonesome!

Ingredients

1⅓ cups granulated sugar
1 cup salted butter
1/2 cup corn syrup
1 tsp vanilla
8 cups popped popcorn
1 cup pecans & almonds (optional)

Instructions

Pop your popcorn. Then measure out about 8 cups and spread it out onto a large cookie sheet.
If you wish to add nuts to your popcorn, you might want to toast them in a 350 degree oven for 2-5 minutes, watching them very carefully. Toasting them brings out amazing flavor! When the nuts are toasted, sprinkle them over the popped popcorn. Set aside.
Now on to the caramel! In a saucepan melt the butter, then add the sugar and corn syrup.
Bring to a boil over medium heat, stirring constantly.
Continue to boil, stirring occasionally until the mixture turns caramel colored.
Remove from the heat and stir in the vanilla.
Then pour the caramel over the popcorn and nuts. Using a fork, gently mix, and separate into clusters.
You can eat it at this point while it's soft and warm, or you can let it cool and enjoy it later.
Store in a tightly closed container.

Deeeelish! I hope your holiday season is full of cheer and much deliciousness!

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If you get at chance this season, I'd love for you to stop by my blog for some Christmas cookie recipes! Yum.

Mint Chocolate Chip Blizzard Cookies | Candy Cane Crumble Nutella Cookies | Eggnog Ice Box Cookies

Have a delicious day!

Creative Team

Ingredients

Instructions

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