Holiday Home Decor, Tutorials, and More...

"Snowmen fall from heaven...unassembled"

~unknown~

I hope you all had a wonderful holiday weekend. We kicked off the Christmas season yesterday here at the Quill by celebrating Advent. Many hands made much work go quickly as Handy Hubby, Darling Daughter, The Young Man Who Calls On Her helped to deck the halls. The main tree went up in the entry this year, a table top tree in the living room is fully lit with with white lights and is awaiting decor, the nativity is in place, the stocking are hung, and the Advent wreath is shaping up as the centerpiece of our family gathering spot. Today the mantle gets gussied up and a few more touches to the living room and all will be ready there. The dining nook and kitchen will be next. Hopefully the rain will lift and I will be able to get the outdoor decor done in a day or two. I'll post pictures a little later on. If you wish to see our holiday decor from last year visit this post to see what I love about my holiday home!

As promised last week, today I have two guest bloggers who have graciously allowed me to link to them to share a couple of wonderful tutorials with you. Continuing on with the theme of "Let it Snow!" You are sure to need some wonderful warm mittens before building your snowman. Visit Dawn of The Feathered Nest for a tutorial on making the most darling mittens to adorn your tree! Dawn is a mixed media artist whose precious mitten creations were recently featured in one of the Somerset publications. You will find Dawn's Mitten Ornament Tutorial here. Her instructions are clear, concise, and easy to follow with full color photos . These little mittens warm more than just the hands, they warm the heart. Enjoy!

Dawn's mittens warmed my heart so that I wanted to make some of my own. I thought these were so darling that I had to make many little pairs to put on packages as extra little gifts. I even tried this idea with a few different fabrics an loved the results! I am still in the process of embellishing my mittens so I'll post pictures later. I do have a photo of one pair that I made from an old sweater. I positioned the pattern so the cuff was on the band of the sweater and they look like a tiny pair or crochet mittens! They are embellished with holly leaves, berries, and velvet ribbon.Now that you have your mittens, you are ready to build your snowman. Lori of Faerie Window is just the person to consult for snowman building. Lori is a paper clay artist who is graciously sharing her paper clay technique for making an adorable snowman box. Lori was recently featured on Joli Paquet and you will find her Snowman Box Tutorial here. She, like Dawn, has written a wonderful step by step tutorial with easy to follow directions with full color photos. Lori made this look so fun and easy I just had to give it a try. Enjoy!

I admit I cheated a bit on this one. I found round boxes covered with a wonderful shiny silver surface and cute snowmen at Dollar Tree, so I skipped the box part and went straight for the snowman. I did embellish the silver ones a little. I also took liberty with the snowman's shape. Lori's is tall and regal while mine is short and round. I still need LOTS of practice and glitter covers a multitude of sins! I never did get the clay as smooth as I would have liked it but I am still pleased with my first attempt. Here are two of my little snowman boxes:
This is one is for my grandson. I embellished him with a little crochet chain hat and scarf with pompom fringe.This one is pretty in pink and is not quite finished yet. I have some shiny silver gift wrap with flocked snowflakes on it that I want to wrap the bottom of the box in and then glue a pink jewel in the middle of each snowflake.These are still waiting in line:I plan on giving these as gifts with a little treat tucked inside. I got so carried away that I even sculpted a little Snow Cone Man! (woman) To continue on with the Spirit of Giving this little gal will go into the Give Away on Thursday, Dec. 4! Come back then to sign up!

Thank you so very much Dawn and Lori for allowing me to link to your tutorials and for sharing your talents with us all. Thank you for the bits of beauty you both bring to artful living. You are both a spring board of inspiration. Blessings multiplied to both of you dear friends.

KIDS CORNER:

How about some edible snowmen for a frosty morning breakfast? These simple to assemble snowman are almost too cute to eat! Children will love making and eating these yummy creations. Be sure to have an adult supervise the oven.Ingredients:

Refrigerated Biscuits ~ 3 biscuits per snowman
Raisins or Chocolate Chips
Pretzel Sticks
Cookie Sheet
Vanilla Frosting (Optional ~ see note below)

Optional:
Powdered Sugar
Milk
Colored Sugar
Clean Paint brush or basting brush

Mixture of cinnamon and sugar
Spray butter

Powdered Sugar
Spray Butter

Assembly:
Lay three biscuit vertically on a cookie sheet with each one touching.

For a Plain Snowman:
Add raisins as eyes, nose, mouth, and buttons. Add pretzel arms. Bake as directed on the biscuit can.

For a Dirty Snowman:
Lay three biscuits vertically on a cookie sheet with each on touching. Spritz snowman with spray butter. Sprinkle on cinnamon and sugar, add raisin eyes, nose, mouth, and buttons. Add pretzel arms and bake as directed on the biscuit can.

For a Powdered Snowman:
Lay three biscuits vertically on a cookie sheet with each one touching. Add pretzel arms, raisin eyes, nose, mouth, and buttons and bake according to biscuit can.

Spritz with spray butter and dust with powdered sugar.

For Frosty the Snowman:
Lay three biscuits vertically on a cookie sheet with each one touching. Add pretzel arms and bake according to biscuit can directions.

Mix together powdered sugar and milk to make an icing. Have children paint the icing on the snowman. Add raisin or chocolate chip eyes, nose, mouth, and buttons. Sprinkle with colored sugar if desired. Enjoy!
I invite you to return on Wednesday for two more terrific tutorials by two other talented artists and I will share with you my twists on their designs. Thursday is Give Away Day! On Friday Give Away winners will be announced and I will have another of my own tutorials up as well as a few other tips and tricks. I hope to see you there!

Blessings,
Miss Sandy