Gingerbread Houses

My best friend, Allison, and I have been getting our girls together for the past 12 years to make gingerbread houses. It's one of my favorite holiday traditions and the girls have loved it every year (even though three of them are now in college)!

Through trial and (a bunch of) errors I've come up with a few helpful hints:

1. Buy your gingerbread house kits at a craft store when they're on sale or with Black Friday coupons. 

2. HOT GLUE your gingerbread houses together. Using icing to put them together can lead to catastrophe. Hot glue ensures no slipping, collapsing, or hassle.

3. Collect extra candy all year long. Don't throw the good stuff out--you can keep it in the freezer. That way you won't be searching for candy at the last minute. 

4. Put your gingerbread houses on pieces of cardboard wrapped in seasonal wrapping paper so they look neat and put together. 

5. Forget the icing bags that come in the kits. Just pour icing into zip lock bags and seal them carefully. When you're ready, slightly cut one of the bag's corners so you can control the icing. This way you won't have a mess and it's very kid friendly. 

6. Get creative! For more natural looking houses you can use various cereals, beans, or crackers.

7. Sprinkled glitter is always a nice, polished touch. 

Christmas 1998

 Christmas 2010..We've come a long way!!

 My youngest's house.

 My oldest's house with a little Mary Engelbreit inspiration :)

Beaded Bird Ornaments

There's nothing more cheerful than a cute little bird. I've taken my homemade stuffed birds and sewed sequins and seed beads on them with invisible thread from Walmart. I finished them off with more invisible thread as an ornament loop. They look spectacular on our tree and my girls loved making them as well.