Glittered Pine Cone Ornament

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As I said in my last post, I had a couple  ornaments to share, and here is the other one....
This one, follow the instructions of my other Pine Cone Ornament until you get to the step where you paint the tips of the pine cone with  color.
With this one though, using a  medium size paint brush brush on some glue, everywhere. Everywhere that you want glitter that is  ツ  I did mine all over, the more the better! This project is super easy and great to do with the kids!! Kids love glitter (and so do I)
Somebody needs to come up with a non static glitter! Every time I work with glitter, its all over the place! I even tried using some furniture polish wiped on the inside of a plastic bowl and it STILL stuck to it. I tried cookie sheets, wax paper, all to no avail. Sticks to my hands no matter what. I am ordinarily a static-y person, I apparently carry so much static in my body you better not touch me till I touch something else! LOL Especially if I have been in my car! I dunno why?? ¯\(°_o)/¯

Anybody have any tricks to use so glitter doesn't have so much static? Please share!!


Here is what you need:

Pine Cones
White Paint 
Glitter
Glue
Paint Brush
Small Screw Eye Hooks
Thin Ribbon (for the hanging string) **
Medium Ribbon (for the bow) **I just used the same ribbon that I used for my other Pine Cone Ornaments

First I screwed all the eye hooks in the bottoms then I sprayed them all white, I gave them two coats each.
This time, my husband set up a spray booth for me and I used his air compressor and spray gun.  ツ You can use spray paint though.I painted some of my XL large pine cones that I got from a friends yard, and 1 teeny tiny pine cone (see it hanging in the pic? Isn't it cute!?) and a few large  cones and a few medium ones. The largest one I have measures 8 1/4 inches tall !!!

Hanging Pine Cones...waiting to be decorated :)

Here are a couple pictures of my XL Pine Cone, and one along side of a Medium size

8 1/4 inch Pine Cone

Next step, "paint" glue on the tops and bottom sides of the pine cone. (All over) I can "paint" most of my pine cone except where I'm holding it. (usually about a 1 inch band around the bottom)

Next comes the glitter  ツ  sprinkle as much as you like, or as much as the glue will hold, you will find the spots that you didn't apply the glue, you can either  apply more now or when you go back and apply the glue and glitter where your fingers were holding the pine cone. You will get glitter in your glue and on your paint brush if you do it while its still wet, but I didn't mind, so I filled in while wet.

Put as much or as little as you like. I like a lot!

Once its dried and you have as much glitter as you want on there add your hanging ribbon and your bow....

Isn't that pretty!!??

 I can't wait to get the lights on our tree (tonight) to see what it looks like all sparkly and shiny! I'll take more pictures and add them.

Finally added the lighted tree pictures 12-25-12

Here ya go Di  :)

Glitter on....

Hot Glue Snowflake Ornament

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Since its so close to Christmas, I thought I'd do a couple more ornaments, I thought these were so cute and I wanted a few for my tree! I got the idea for these, from here. They were fun, simple and fairly quick to make. This might be a fun project to do with the older kids as the glue is hot and they tend to have a little more patients than younger kids.... I think just about everybody has a hot glue gun, so you could make some too! And if you don't have one they aren't that expensive to buy. 
The trick with these, I think, is you have to take your time, go slow and try to make it as smooth as possible. My first one didn't go so great, :( kinda turned out crappy alright, all thanks goes to the glitter that hid all the defects!  I think if the inner circle was a little smaller, I would have liked it more...I'll hang it on my tree anyway, but I like my second one the better.
Don't get confused if you see two different snowflake patterns, I took pictures of both for the tutorial. I wish I was a better photographer, but sadly I'm not  ツ  My picture taking doesn't do them justice! But on the other hand, it doesn't show all the flaws as well either! hehehe 
I did get my hubby ♥ to take a few with his camera, he's way better at taking pictures than I am, he took the ones of the snowflake up against the fern for me.

Anyways...


Here is what you need:

Hot Glue Gun
Glue Sticks
Any Dish Soap
Wax Paper
Snowflake Template (I made my own because my printer is out of ink because I am so good like that  ツ  )
Mod Podge or Glue (I used glue, because I didn't have mod podge)
Glitter - any color you chose (I used Iridescent)
String or thin Wire

My first template (that I added to it as I went, as you'll see)

I didn't use a cookie sheet to work on (or something similar) I just did it on the table, I regretted that because I needed to turn the paper as I worked and I couldn't turn the table lol... so find something flat to put it on that you can turn.

That being said, Plug in your glue gun and while your waiting for that to heat up, rip a sheet of wax paper off the roll and put your template beneath it (you might want to tape the corners as it does move around a little) First squirt a little soap on the wax paper, you don't need a lot, you can even add a tiny bit of water to thin it out a little, just make sure a thin coat covers your design. 

Squirt some soap on wax paper and spread over design

Once your glue is hot begin by tracing your template working slow, don't make the glue lines to thin or it will be to flimsy also try to make it as smooth as possible.

My second template..I like this one much better!

Trace template with glue

Once you have finished tracing your design, let the glue cool and get hard.
When the glue is hard, carefully peel the snowflake off of the wax paper. Run it under cold water, this helps harden the glue further and to rinse the soap off. Dry the snowflake and place on a plastic (disposable) plate and with a paint brush "paint" on your mod podge (or glue, in my case) I watered down my glue a little, to thin it out.

Work on a plastic plate 

Cover the snowflake with glitter....

I let mine dry and glittered the other side as well. :)

Once it was completely dry, on the back side, I glued the string on.

That's it! Just wait for it to dry... Hang it on your tree

My husband made a suggestion of incorporating the string right into the design, that way there is less chance of the string coming off later. That was a good suggestion, I thought...to late for me to use this time, but not for you! 

My second snowflake

This ones Blinging ;)

I don't have pictures of it on my tree because we haven't put it up yet, maybe this weekend...
I'll take some of the ornaments on the tree and post them later.

Can I make a request? Somebody needs to make glitter that isn't static-y!  If you work with glitter its gonna be all over you and your house lol ..That's okay everything is all sparkly (even my husbands backpack he took to work today..shhhh!) ¯\(°_o)/¯ Hehehe.....

Tips:
If you store your glue sticks in the freezer you wont get those little strings when you pull away. 
If you don't store them in the freezer you can add a little Vaseline to the tip and that should do the trick to not get strings.
If you don't do either of these then a hot blow dryer will get rid of the stray strings.

I hate the strings! It always feels like spiderwebs to me, and I hate spiders!!

Make your own snowflake template, (just make sure all the lines connect each other) and let me know how yours turned out.

Edit 12-13-12
I had a good idea for these, not only do they make nice ornaments for the tree, but they also would be really cute hanging with a suction cup in the window!! I would probably use some really thin fishing line for the string for the window ornaments.

Added new picture 12-25-12 with the lights on my tree..

Be Creative, && Have fun!

Mom's Chili

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We had a tradition growing up in my family, we always had Mom's Chili on Christmas Eve.  Most everyone liked it, then the others (you know who you are) grew up and loved it! Then they couldn't wait for grandma's chili !! And proceeded to stuff themselves after that!
She always served Saltines, Sour Cream, Cheddar Cheese, Corn Bread, & Grandma's Jello Salad...oh! and Black Olives (mom had to cover these, or they'd all be gone before dinner, we ALL loved them!) she also had dessert... later, once your chili settled, waiting for the kids to go to sleep so Santa could come...
I always looked forward to that, even when we got older... & I miss it now! (•̪●)   Good times! ♥
This never fails to warm you up on a cold winter night...
Here is what you need:

1 1/2 lbs. of Ground Beef (you could also use Ground Turkey or Ground Chicken also)
1 Small Bell Pepper
1 Small Onion (I used sweet onions)
2 Cans (46 oz.) of Tomato Juice (any brand)
4-5 Cans Of Dark Red Kidney Beans (you could use light kidney beans if you like, sometimes I'll mix half light half dark) (any brand)
1 Can of Stewed Tomatoes (any brand)
Chili Powder
Shredded Cheddar Cheese (optional)
Sour Cream (optional)
Saltines or Oyster Crackers (optional)

I cut my Bell Pepper and Onion up in big chunks so its easier for my hubby to pick them out... You can cut them to any size you would like.

In skillet brown Ground Beef, Onion, & Bell Pepper

Drain thoroughly...
Once drained put ground beef mixture in either a crock pot or medium to large pot.

Add Both cans of Tomato Juice..

Then add the Kidney Beans & Stewed Tomatoes...

Now this is the part that I have never measured, but I started with 1/3 cup of Chili Powder.
When my mom told me this recipe, she said "Keep adding Chili powder till you get a nice brownish color" so...I'm going to tell YOU that too. :) 
I ended up adding more chili powder,after the 1/3 cup, till it looked right to me, so use your own discretion. Some of you might think this is spicy, but its not! Not at all, I don't like super spicy food and You know what they say, if its hot going in, then its hot coming out...  ツ
Really, its just gooood!

So... once you have a nice brownish color, and you have stirred it really well, turn your crock pot on high for at least 2 hours, then turn it down to low and cook on low for the rest of the day. If your cooking on the stove, bring it to a boil for a few minutes, then turn it down to a simmer...
I start mine in the morning and usually don't eat till after 6 and its usually "done" by then. (its really done before that, but the longer it cooks the better it is!!)

By the way, this ALWAYS tastes better on the second day ;) 

Add some Crackers, or not

Add some cheese and a dollop of sour cream (I forgot to buy the sour cream!)

These are both optional... 

I usually can only have one bowl, I always add so many crackers and some cheese that it fills me up to fast ;)

You can half this recipe, because this makes a lot! It would probably serve 4 people, two meals, or more.

Enjoy....