Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas. Feliz Navidad. Joyeux Noel. Mele Kalikimaka. Buone Feste Natalizie. 

No matter how you say it, here's wish you and yours a very Merry Christmas! 

Color Me {Merry & Bright}

Well, we are down to the wire. Christmas is only two days away. It's time to start baking up cookies for Santa and getting ready for a joyous holiday celebration. We are off today to see family all over the state for the next two weeks and I'm excited to spend some time away and celebrate with those that mean the most to us. It's hard for me to not be in a good mood this time of year and I wanted to translate that into today's inspiration. Much like my mood, this board is filled with all things merry and bright. To some Christmas may mean red and green, but sometimes it's nice to mix it up. Who's to say you can't have a holiday filled with all the colors of the rainbow? Pinks, turquoises, and greens sure fill the room with joy unlike any combination I've seen before. If this doesn't put a smile on your face there may just be something wrong!

I hope you all have a Merry Monday! What are your plans for the holidays?

Weekend Reads {12.20.13}

Well, my friends, I have great news. My two week holiday vacation has officially begun. After a crazy few weeks of working non-stop and back to back holiday parties, I can finally relax a bit and indulge in the things I love most like family time, baking, crafting and blogging. Needless to say, I am beyond excited. The best part though is that I'm finally starting to feel the holiday spirit. I haven't been able to wipe the cheer from my face since yesterday afternoon. Santa would be quite proud actually. Now that the spirit of the season has taken over, I've gathered up my five favorite reads from the week. Each is appropriately holiday themed and certainly going to make your spirit as bright as mine! Happy Weekend!

1. Christmas Morning Pajamas & Coffee from Meg Biram

2. Mrs. Lilien's Christmas Dinner Menu from Mrs. Lilien

3. Printable Holiday Tags and Wrap from Eat Drink Chic for Oh Happy Day

4. Easy DIY Paper Bow from Hank & Hunt

5. A Colorful Holiday Table from The Glitter Guide

Last Minute Gifting

It's hard to believe that Christmas is literally a week away. Like many of you my head is spinning with finishing up work stuff before vacation, completing your holiday shopping and planning for family's arrival or trips out of town. With so much going on it can be easy to forget something, namely gifts for coworkers and acquaintances. You certainly don't want them to feel like you didn't put any thought into a gift but also, you don't particularly have the time to spend hours thinking about the perfect gift to get them. My go to in situations like this is a unique coffee mug, a Starbucks gift card, and the recipients favorite candy. It show that you took the time to find a mug that fit their personality; plus, who doesn't love a Starbucks gift card?

So, for any of you scrambling for a quick and easy idea this week, just remember that all you need is a trip to Starbucks and a walk down the candy aisle!

Color Me {Coastal Christmas}

While a white Christmas sounds lovely, the only kind of Christmas for me is a coastal Christmas. I'm the kind of person who gets cold when temperatures drop below 70, the kind of person who can't imagine having to scrape ice off my windshield in the morning, the kind of person who doesn't really own a "coat", and I prefer to keep it that way. A coastal Christmas means starfish tree toppers and more aqua than red and green.

It's no secret I'm a beach fanatic. For now though, we are living in a landlocked city meaning I have to bring the beach to me. Even if you don't live near the coast you can create a coastal Christmas wherever you are. Keep the color scheme light and bright with beige, silver and shades of blue. Create homemade ornaments out of starfish and skirt the tree with loose burlap. I'll share my coastal Christmas details with you later in the week, but here's a little inspiration board to get you started!

Have a great Monday!

Indulge In {Nutella Crinkle Cookies}

Ever since I was a child, I've had an addiction to sweets. Cookies, cakes, ice cream, it didn't matter. If it could be considered dessert, I'm going to love it! But as I've grown I've realized I need to control my dessert intake just a bit. I'm typically really good about doing this throughout the year but always allow myself a pass during the holidays. Frankly, it's just too hard to turn down all of the homemade holiday treats. One of my favorite cookies is the recipe I'm sharing with you today. It's for Nutella crinkle cookies and they are out of this world delicious. I first made them for a holiday pot luck last year and they got rave reviews. Since then they have become my go to cookie recipe. So in honor of all the holiday baking, here's the recipe. Hopefully they will become one of your favorites too!

:: Ingredients ::
3 Cups All-purpose Flour
2 Teaspoons Baking Powder
1/2 Teaspoon Sea Salt
1-1/4 Cups Nutella Spread
4 Tablespoons Unsalted Butter, softened
1-1/4 Cups Granulated Sugar
1 Teaspoon Pure Vanilla Extract
1 Teaspoon Instant Hazelnut Cappuccino Powder
2 Large Eggs, Room Temperature
1/3 Cup Whole Milk
1 cup Confectioners Sugar

:: Directions ::

1. Combine flour, baking powder, and salt in bowl. With electric mixer on medium-high speed, beat Nutella, butter, and granulated sugar until light and fluffy, about 2 minutes. Add vanilla, instant cappuccino, and eggs and mix until incorporated. Reduce speed to low, add flour mixture and milk, and mix until just combined. Refrigerate dough until firm, about 1 hour.

2. Adjust oven racks to middle positions and heat oven to 375 degrees. Line three baking sheets with silpat or parchment paper.

3. Add confectioners’ sugar to bowl. One at a time, roll dough into 1-inch balls then roll in confectioners’ sugar. Place balls 2 inches apart on prepared baking sheets (12 cookies/sheet). Refrigerate first sheet of dough for 10 minute while preparing the second sheet. Bake cookies for approximately 8-10 minutes, switching and rotating sheets halfway through baking. Cool 5 minutes on sheets, then transfer to wire rack and cool completely. Repeat with remaining cookie dough.

Party DIY {Be Merry Wreath}

Without a doubt, it is finally Christmas at our house! The tree is up and decorated, gifts are wrapped and in there proper spot, poinsettias are adorning the plater box on the front porch and lastly the wreath is hung! I've had the supplies since before Thanksgiving, but with a hectic work schedule, I finally got around to completing it this weekend. I'm really happy with how it turned out too. All I had to do was spray paint a twig wreath found in any craft store and paint a "Be Merry" sign in this year's decor colors to complete it. Now that it is hung, I really feel in the spirit each day I come home after work. Plus it adds some personality to our holiday decor that couldn't be accomplished with a store bought version. Here's the step by step…

:: Supplies ::
Twig Wreath
Silver Spray Paint
Chip Board Sign
Craft Paint
Small Craft Paint Brush
Pencil
Tulle
1" Finishing Nails
Hammer

:: Directions ::
1. Spray twig wreath silver and allow to dry.
2. Paint chip board sign in your choice of base color. Let dry completely.
3. Using a pencil, lightly trace the phrase "Be Merry" onto the chip board. In the corner, lightly trace holly leaves and berries.
4. Paint over the phrase in the color of your choice. It may take a few coats to cover the pencil marks if you traced on the darker side. Paint holly leaves green and use the end of your paint brush to create the berries.
5. Let sign dry completely before turning face down. Hammer a finishing nails 2.5 inches from the top and 1 inch from each side leaving approximately 3/4 of the nail exposed. Cut a 2' piece of tulle, fold in half and tie each end of the tulle in a knot around the exposed part of the nail. Take a second piece of 2' tulle, fold it in half and string it through the sign, loop around the wreath and tie the end in a bow. Hang from a wreath hook on door.

Color Me {Traditional Christmas}

We get to that point every year where the conversation shifts from summer vacations and weekend road trips to Christmas traditions and holiday decor. Like many, the first thing that pops into my head are thoughts of traditional touches like deep red and hunter green plaid topping a table filled with homemade cookies and festive cocktails. Combine that with a roaring fire, mugs of hot cocoa and a blanket of fresh snow outside and you have the picture perfect traditional Christmas. While some of us live in areas where this is far from reality, there are ways to create the "traditional" Christmas no matter the circumstances. All you need is a bright holiday spirit and a sea of red and green decor to create that unmistakable Christmas feel!

Weekend Reads {12.6.13}

The holidays are officially upon us. Most of my shopping is done, my tree is up and decorated, and I've started to plan out all the cookies I'm going to make. But the one thing I haven't managed to do yet is hang my Christmas wreath. Like my card, I make my own every year. I'm especially excited about this years and feel that it could be so cute it takes me through the next few years. For that reason, I'm holding off the big reveal until next week. But, until then, I've gathered up my favorite DIY wreaths to take us into the weekend. Hope you all have a relaxing few days and I will see you back here on Monday!

1. Wood Slice & Burlap Christmas Wreath from Finding Home

2. Metallic Star & Greenery Wreath from Raveena Girls

3. Pom Pom and Posies Wreath from Nest of Posies

4. Christmas Ornament Wreath from Live Love DIY

5. Peppermint Monogram Wreath from Two Twenty One

*Image from: A Bubbly Life

Party DIY {Cheers! Holiday Cards}

As I mentioned last Friday, we've created a new tradition of making our Christmas cards instead of submitting a mediocre picture of the two of us to a website that generates a Christmas card. This is mainly due to someone's distaste for taking pictures and also in part to my love of crafting. Each year it's fun to come up with a new idea and bring it to life. This years inspiration came from a "Cheers!" stamp I have. I knew I wanted to incorporate it some how, but I wasn't quite sure. After a little brainstorming with Rob though, this idea was born. We created a slider card with a martini glass hand cut out of the front. They were a bit time consuming to make but in the long run, totally worth it! I designed the insert in photoshop and had it printed on card stock to complete the look. While any size envelope can be used to create the outside, we opted for a tall narrow envelope with a metallic scrapbook paper for the backing. Here's what you will need to make your own…

:: Supplies ::
Sealed Envelope
Scissors
Scrapbook Paper, trimmed slightly smaller than the envelope
Hot Glue
Holly Beads
Card Insert

:: Directions ::
1. Fold envelope in half length wise (hot dog style). With the envelope vertical, cut a line straight across the top being careful to not cut all the way across. Cut from a point approximately 1.5 inches down from the first line at an angle to the end of the top line. This should form a triangle. After it's cut, remove this portion.
2. Approximately 1.5 inches from the bottom of the envelope, cut a straight line approximately .5-1 inch in length. At a point approximately 1/4 of an inch above this line, cut at an angle down to the end of the bottom line. Remove this triangle portion as well.
3. Cut the portion of the envelope along the crease between the two triangles and remove. 
4. Open up and this should form a martini glass. 
5. Trim off bottom of envelop to allow for card insert to slide in and out.
6. Using your hot glue gun, glue holly beads to the top of the martini glass to appear as if coming out of the glass. 
7. Insert trimmed scrapbook paper into envelope placing a dab of hot glue on the bottom center of the paper. This will stick the paper to the envelope and allow for it to stay in place while the card will be able to slide in and out freely. 
8. Insert card with message to complete. 

Color Me {Winter White}

It's finally starting to look like winter around here. The past few days have been filled with gray skies and colder temperatures making me feel like Christmas is right around the corner. As I do every December, I've put together some holiday theme boards that will take us right up to the celebratory day. No matter if you prefer a traditional holiday, a coastal Christmas or a winter white one like today, I'll have all the holiday cheer you need right here. 

Being in Florida, the closest thing we get to a white Christmas is sandy white beaches and a decked out Palm tree, but that can't stop a girl from dreaming right? Even if you don't live in the snowy white North, you can still create the perfect white Christmas. Adorn the tree in soft shades of white with silver accents and keep the rest of your decor neutral. Apply this theory to your holiday table as well. An ivory tablecloth topped with white plates and silver decor is just what you need to make it perfect. All that is left is to light a fire and curl up with a mug of hot chocolate!