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Decorating

crafts

salt dough gingerbread houses | Christmas crafts

This is the Christmas craft that sent me down the salt dough rabbit trail this year.  (You can read about my salt dough ornaments HERE and HERE.)  Instead of making my little Christmas houses out of gingerbread this year, I wanted to try making salt dough “gingerbread” houses to see how they compared and if they would last a few seasons or longer.  It took me a couple of tries to figure out what I liked and how to best assemble and decorate these salt dough houses… The printable recipe for these salt dough gingerbread houses is at the bottom of the post if you’d like to try making them.  You can find house templates HERE. salt dough gingerbread houses | tips The learning curve for me came in how to best assemble the houses.  I actually bought what I thought was white sealing wax made for a hot glue

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All Things Home

casual winter porch | Christmas decorating

I did not marry a man who likes to fuss with Christmas lights.  If I want lights, I typically have to do them myself.  It’s not that Jeff won’t help but it’s just not his thing at all and I get that.  He’s never going to suggest it or start untangling and testing lights on his own.  He’s okay if the outside of our house looks just as it does the rest of the year.  But, the style of this particular house makes decorating for the holidays pretty easy.  I can just address the porch and it’s festive enough to leave the rest of the house alone.  So, I focus on creating a casual Christmas porch that can transition nicely into winter. This casual Christmas porch actually started with a freelance writing assignment for HGTV.com.  My editor asked me to create a door decoration for the holidays that wasn’t a

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crafts

molded salt dough ornaments | christmas crafts

I know what you’re probably thinking.  Didn’t you already do a post on molded salt dough ornaments?  Well, yes, I did!  You can find that post HERE.  While this post is a little Deja Vu, this is actually a different post talking about working with a different kind of salt dough for a different look. I enjoyed making the salt dough “gingerbread” so much that I decided to try working with some original salt dough.  And of course, I wanted to test it out in the wooden molds.  I used a basic recipe of 2 cups of flour, 1 cup of salt, and 1 cup of water and kneaded it in my mixer until it formed a ball.  I made some shapes with cookie cutters and shaped the rest of the dough in the molds.  They turned out beautifully, but I did have to adjust my technique since this dough

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All Things Home

2021 holiday home tour | Christmas decorating

While I am still working on crafting and gifting, our home is pretty much done being decorated for Christmas.  Due to some freelance projects, I got a very early start this year and I can’t say I mind too much.  It meant that I didn’t feel rushed, but could take my time working through each space.  I enjoy decorating so much more when it doesn’t feel like a race.  That extra time allowed me to rethink certain areas, like the fireplace mantle and I love the results.  So, here is our holiday home tour for 2021… I did the most decorating in the living room because it’s where we spend much of our time and it’s the most visible room in the house.  It’s also just natural to decorate with the pretty mantle, built-ins, and a place for the Christmas tree.  You can read more about the mantle HERE. Swapping

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crafts

easy embroidered felt ornaments | christmas crafts

I have been wanting to make some felt ornaments for a while.  In fact, I purchased all of the supplies last Christmas and just never got around to it.  But, this Christmas season, I’ve been feeling extra crafty, so I got out my felt and embroidery thread and made a few easy embroidered felt ornaments. For inspiration, I looked at a few felt ornaments I already owned.  I have some of from and a couple of other references that were gifts.  I share these ornaments in the video tutorial embedded below.  I didn’t copy them, but rather used them as a jumping-off point for inspiration.  I wanted to keep these felt ornaments very simple, though.  I didn’t want to get into stuffing or needle felting.  I wanted to create ornaments that had the layered and stitched look I loved but took less than an hour to make.  These easy embroidered felt

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design

miss mustard seed wrapping paper

Launching Miss Mustard Seed wrapping paper all started with some lino block cutting during the Thanksgiving break.  I created a pattern I really loved and others loved, too, so I decided it was time to stop putting “make patterns for paper and fabric” on my to-do list and actually do it.  Not just doodle and fiddle, but make it digital, upload it, and sell it. This wrapping paper journey actually started over six years ago when I met with the then-owner of a quilting fabric company about creating a line.  I had never done patterns before, but I felt like it was in me.  I could see it in my head and I just needed to learn how to get that into a format I could communicate with others.  I developed two lines and the whole experience ended up being a dud.  I mean, I learned a ton and worked

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crafts

molded salt dough “gingerbread” ornaments | Christmas crafts

These molded salt dough “gingerbread” ornaments were one of those crafting happy accidents.  They started when I made an impulsive purchase from an Instagram ad for a couple of cookie molds.  Minutes after I purchased them, I thought it was a stupid purchase.  But, I really loved the patterns and they were inexpensive (I think $16 for both.)  I thought it might’ve even been a scam because the site had one of those not-quite-right names that I can’t even remember now.  But the carved cookie molds arrived at my house a few weeks later.  I was relieved they weren’t a total waste of my money, but I still questioned the hasty buy.  I put them into the cabinet with my other baking gear, cookie cutters, gingerbread house templates, etc. On Monday, I decided I would try making “gingerbread” houses out of cinnamon salt dough for Christmas instead of using traditional

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a slice of life

mini cheese balls recipe & a holiday grazing board

Disclosure:  This mini cheese balls recipe & holiday grazing board post is sponsored by .  As always, all words and opinions shared are honest and my own. As a lover of cheese-and-crakers and grazing foods in general, I am a big fan of the charcuterie board/grazing board trend.  Not only are they beautiful and visually impressive, but they are simple to put together and require little or no cooking.  It’s just about arranging things together in a way that looks appetizing and inviting.  So, I headed to my local to pick up all of the ingredients I would need to make my favorite recipe for mini cheese balls, a holiday grazing board, and even a kid-friendly grazing board for pickier eaters. While I was picking up ingredients, I found this .  It is a really cute set at a great price, so I bought it to test it out and

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I’m Marian, a painter, writer, and lover of all things creative. From art and antiques to home projects and everyday life, I share my journey in hopes of inspiring you to embrace your own creativity and make beauty in the spaces you live.

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