Our hearts grow tender with childhood memories and love of kindred, and we are better throughout the year for having, in spirit, become a child again at Christmas-time.

~Laura Ingalls Wilder

Merry Christmas to all my blog friends and followers.
Love, The Johnson Family

Homemade Salt Dough Ornaments

I started making these little salt dough ornaments in 2008 when we had our second son Easton. I knew our family of 4 was complete and I wanted to make both of our boys something special every year that I could one day pass down to them and their family.

It is a simple recipe:

1 cup Flour

1 cup Salt

1/2 cup Water(plus or minus)

So, So easy

You can either let it dry out or bake it at 250 degrees for about 2 hrs depending on how think you make the ornament. Mine are about 1/4 inch thick.

This was the first year...Santa! The classic Christmas Icon.
In 2009, I made a Gingerbread Man.
This year was the Penguin. I had a ton of Black Onyx Glitter from Halloween and thought this would be another great use for it.

I would love to know what other Homemade Christmas things you make!?

Martha's Magazine Trees

I saw this idea on The Martha Stewart Show last year and have been wanting to try it! This year I finally have the opportunity to make them. My husband needed some centerpieces for his Breakfast With Santa event and thought this would be perfect for it. The magazines were free and the only other supplies you need are some spray paint(whatever color you like) and some glitter. Very, very inexpensive.

First, start with the cover of the magazine and work your way to the back. Grab the top, right hand corner and fold it down to the center of the magazine.

Kind of like making a paper airplane!

Next, take the same page and fold it in one more time. It should look sort of like a tie.

Finally, you'll have a little triangle on the bottom that will need to be folded and tucked into the page.

This is so the tree will sit flat on any surface. Just work your way through the entire magazine till you have the shape of a tree.
* A little side note, the size of the Martha Stewart Magazine works great for this project. Anything smaller will make the tree look not so full!

Next up is the spray paint and glitter. I used white because I wanted minimal coverage. I like being able to see some of the magazine after being painted. However, you could use green, red, silver, gold or even pink if you wanted.

After spraying it, sprinkle on the glitter. I would've loved to have used Martha's glitter, but the budget allowed a coarse glitter from Walmart. It turned out great!

It ended up having a silvery hue to it when dried.

How fun are these bunch of trees. They make such an impact for so little money!

I also love how they look a bit vintage. Such a fun centerpiece for Breakfast With Santa. Hope you'll give them a try.

Chocolate Crinkles

These oh, so delicious cookies will always remind me of my Aunt Kathy. I loved these cookies when I was younger and the only person in our family that ever made them was my Aunt. I've never attempted to make them and decided this year I would give it a try. Trust me...this recipe is so, so good! They remind me of a gooey brownie, but topped with powdered sugar. How bad can that be?! I hope you'll give these a try. Here is the recipe.

MIX TOGETHER:

1 Cup Cocoa Powder

2 Cups Sugar

1/2 Cup Veggie Oil

BEAT IN

4 Eggs(one at a time)

2 tsp Vanilla Extract

COMBINE IN A SEPARATE BOWL

2 Cups Flour

2 tsp Baking Powder

1/2 tsp Salt

ADD DRY INGREDIENTS TO WET INGREDIENTS

* Cover dough and let chill for 2-4 hours

-Preheat oven to 350 degrees

-Either line a cookie sheet with parchment paper or cooking spray

-Roll dough into 1 inch balls and then roll in 3/4 Cup powdered sugar

Bake 12-13 min.

EAT AND ENJOY

I linked up to:
Uncommon

Adding a little sparkle!

A few years back, my Grandma gave me a few of her old village pieces so that I could start my own. We've lived in apartments since then, and I haven't had a whole lot of room to set it up. So, this year I decided that I would make a mini-village in our wine glass cupboard. It worked out well because little hands can't get to it! What is Christmas though without a little sparkle?! This was really simple and took maybe 30 minutes.
All I did was take a clear glaze and paint over any areas that looked like they were covered in snow. After the glaze was painted on I sprinkled it with some glitter. I just love this little phone booth.
A cute little snowman...
A snowy little tree.
It makes the houses look so wintry...
And cold.

I love my little, sparkly village...

Happy decorating!

GIANT Ginger Cookies

All I can say about this recipe is, these are DELICIOUS! You must try them. If you love the taste of ginger, these are the cookies for you. I've been making these since 2004, and I just love them!

Combine in a bowl:

4 1/2 C. Flour

4 tsp ground ginger

2tsp baking soda

1 1/2 tsp cinnamon

1 tsp ground cloves

1/4 tsp salt

In another bowl:

1 1/2 C. Shortening-beat with mixer for 30 sec.

Add in

2 C. Sugar

2 Eggs

1/2 C. Molasses

combine wet and dry ingredients

Roll into 2 inch balls and then roll them around in a bowl filled with about

1/2 C. Sugar

Place them on a baking sheet about 2 1/2 inches apart and

Bake at 350 degrees for 11-13 min.

Let cool on a cooling rack for 10 min. Then,

EAT AND ENJOY!

A Merry Wreath

Simple and under $10

I really wanted to make a wreath this year, but didn't have a ton of money to do it. My goal was to spend less than $10. ACCOMPLISHED!! I found a very simple wreath at Walmart for $2. Nothing great, but it does the job. Then I found these snowflakes in a pkg. of 2 for only $1 at JoAnn Fabrics. They needed a little sparkle though.
I also found the glitter at JoAnn Fabrics for .99cents and had the sparkle glaze on hand. All I did was put a quick coat of sparkle glaze on the snowflake and sprinkle on the glitter.

Make sure to work over a piece of paper to save yourself a huge mess. You'll still end up looking very glittery doing this project.

I love glitter...makes everything look so pretty.

Next, I wired it to the wreath so that it would hand in the center.
Also at JoAnn Fabrics I found this cute ribbon for around $3.50.

A simple bow for the top of the wreath.

Then I wired on some extra Christmas bulbs I had in red and green!

Very simple, but pretty enough to hang on our front door! Better yet, it can be used year after year.
I linked up to these parties: