More Winter Flair

Clove-Studded Orange Pomanders

According to Wikipedia, the first uses for making a pomander was to carry a religious keepsake.  I also read on a another DIY website that, in the tradition of the Victorians and Royalty alike, pomanders were used to mask odors.  Today, clove-studded clementine pomanders are a great reminder of the comfort and sweet smells of the holiday months.  And clementines often go on sale right around the end of December/early January, so this is a great New-Year's-Eve-day project.  

First, take an unblemished clementine.  Use a toothpick to map out a design, poking holes for where the cloves will go.

Push whole cloves into your toothpick marks to form your design.  If the sharp cloves hurt your fingers, you can wear a thimble for protection.

Try to mix up the designs.  I did some stripes, circles, and a heart.  A really pretty (though ambitious) version I've seen involves studding the entire clementine with cloves 1/3 inch apart.  Maybe next year.

Just by placing these adorned clementines in a glass bowl adds some wintry flair to any room.  You can also add ribbon (shimmery silver would be great for NYE!) and tie bows around the pomanders to hang them up.

 

Holiday Post-Party Syndrome

After the holidays are officially "over" (with the coming and going of December 25th), it's always hard to decide on the appropriate timing for taking down decorations. For me, it was yesterday, because I could no longer live amongst the clutter of gifts, holiday decor, and laundry.  With the New Year approaching, I want a clean slate.

That doesn't, however, mean that ALL holiday decor must go!  There are still some wintry decorative items that don't exclusively relate to Christmas that are appropriate for the rest of the winter months.  While I took down the obvious Christmas-related items (such as the holiday bow from my door) and threw out many a cookie (I think I'm cookied-out for this year), I still kept some festive "flair" around the apartment.  Here are some of the items I converted from Christmas to Winter.

Sparkle Shelves

I spread some sparkly string I had on hand across 

our shelves in the living room to add a bit of bling.

Snowflake Trivet

This was a lovely Christmas gift from my friend Margot.  

For the holiday season, I had a green candle with a red 

ribbon bow placed in the middle.  But just alone, 

it's festive for the coming winter months!

Stay tuned...more winter flair projects to come!

StumbleUpon.com

A friend told me about a website called stumbleupon.com, where you check off your interests, hit "stumble upon" and it pulls up various websites it thinks you may be interested in.  

First, I stumbled upon Betty Crocker's cookies, which was lovely.  But then next I stumbled upon this awesome video!  

Those flowers kind of look like the background of my blog (and also from my wedding bouquet).  How serendipitous!  

Emma Dodge Hanson Photography

I need to re-watch the video to figure out the part where you glue all the flowers together.  Maybe a springtime project... :)

Wrapping Presents (continued)

As promised, I made spiced mixed nuts today.  The original recipe I found here: http://www.containerstore.com/recipes/Spiced_Mixed_Nuts.html

I bought waaay too many nuts versus what the recipe called for, so I one-and-a-half'd the recipe.   (It you don't like spicy things, you can cut down on the amount of cayenne pepper to taste.)  Unfortunately, the limited oven space came into play and I couldn't spread out the nut mixture into just one layer on only two baking sheets...

The crowded baking sheets made some of the nuts stick together, but as it cooled, it was easily broken apart.    And, most importantly, it tastes delicious!

 

I poured about 2½ cups of nuts into each holiday bag.  Using double-sided tape, I secured ribbon in place around the tops of the bags, and then stuck gift tag stickers over the seams.  Now they look delicious too! 

I think next year I will make granola as holiday presents: 

http://www.containerstore.com/recipes/Granola.html

and/or Cinnamon Twists (shout it out if you love puff pastry!):

http://www.containerstore.com/recipes/Cinnamon_Twists.html

Wrapping Presents

I don't know about you guys, but other than cookies, wrapping presents is one of my favorite things about the holiday season.  I walked around the Bryant Park shops last week and picked up a small moisturizer for my husband's grandma.  I had bought some gift bags from the Container Store with the intent of filling them with spiced nuts (spiced nuts, recipe, and pictures to come shortly - I'm making them on Wednesday), but I thought it would be cute if I put her moisturizer in one too!  Check it out:

Speaking of home-made holiday gifts (my favorite kind), the Container Store and Real Simple Magazine teamed up this year (pretty much a life-long fantasy of mine) and posted gift ideas on their websites.  Real Simple provided the recipes, and the Container Store provided the container ideas.  I love all of them so I couldn't decide...I chose three.  1. Spiced Nuts (coming soon), 2. Infused Liquor/Olive Oil (also coming soon - being made on Wednesday alongside the Spiced Nuts), and 3. Hot Chocolates (see below!)

The recipe can be found at: http://www.containerstore.com/recipes/Cocoa.html

I doubled the recipe and made four containers; I have one extra but I figured it might come in handy at the last minute.  I also added mini marshmallows to the tops of the jars, which I think makes it look a bit more festive!

Here are the instructions that you should put inside the card if giving as a gift:

A quick sidenote: a lot of people will suggest homemade as a "cheaper alternative."  Don't be misguided - not only are homemade gifts more effort, they also do cost money (containers, ribbons, cards, etc.).  So make sure you do it for the fun! :)

Holiday Slumber Party

This past weekend I hosted a holiday slumber party for my college friends.  More pictures to come soon, but for now, check out the signature cocktail of the evening: Prosecco, with a splash of cranberry-pomegranate juice, floating frozen cranberries and a touch of edible glitter (you can buy it online at wilton.com).

Cookie Exchange Party!

I hosted a Cookie Exchange Party this past weekend.  Everyone brought 5 dozen cookies of one type, and then we traded with each other so we left with 1 dozen each of 5 types of cookies.  I make a lot of holiday cookies starting in November in preparation for Christmas, so I put together a cookie platter 

below (the two top tiers were for eating, the bottom tier were my "Exchange" cookies).

Since she knows how crazy about cookies I am, my friend Liz spent all day to make me a display tree out of star-shaped sugar cookies!

 To welcome everyone arriving at the party, I hung a bow on our door.  I fashioned it by taking red and green ribbon, placing it on top of each other, and forming loops, which I stapled in place.  I then wrapped a small piece of green ribbon around the center of the loops to hide the staples and held that in place with a small piece of double-sided tape.  I took a few extra ornaments and hooked them onto the bow, and voila!

Hello!

My name is Lauren.  I love all parts of parties, from planning to decorating, from baking to cooking, from signature cocktails to arts-'n-crafts, and more!

I live in a small NYC 1-bedroom apartment with my husband, so space is always limited, but I always make room for my current project.  I thought I would share some of these projects with you - I hope you enjoy!

~Lauren