Santa’s Photo Scavenger Hunt

December 21, 2020December 19, 20209 Comments

Good morning! Just a few more days until Christmas!! Are you ready!! I am all set to go! I am just waiting for family to come so we can spend some time together. Maybe you are looking for something special to do with the family you are with. Here is a game that is fun for all ages.

I played a game similar to this back when I was in high school, back in the stone ages, you know, before cell phones. :0 I think we used Polaroid cameras. I guess now that Polaroids are back again, you could still use them! This game will take a little planning ahead of time, but it’s not too difficult.

You will need:

a larger group of people
a list of items to find
a phone or camera

Before the party, you need to decide where your scavenger hunt will be. Will it be inside the house, around the neighborhood, at the mall? Once you decide where, you will need to walk around that space and make a list of the items you want found. This can be as easy or specific as you want. It could be a general item like an inflatable Santa to finding the house with 3 palm trees and a penguin. You will want a list between 10 -20 things depending on how long you want the game to go and the space you selected.

Divide your large group into smaller groups, between 2 and 6 are probably the best. It can include any age groups too. If you have younger kids, you will probably want an adult as a chaperone and to help out when needed.

Each group will get the same list of items, but in a different order. That way they are going in different directions and won’t see where the other groups went. They will follow the list and take a picture of each item as they find it. They need to be back at a designated point within the allotted time with their pictures.

Some things to decide and to explain before you start.

You will need to decide how picky you are about the pictures. Do you want exactly the object you are thinking of or just something similar?
Print out your lists.
Do you want pictures with participants in it?
Will there be prizes for just the winner or all players?
Also, be sure you players are respectful of other peoples property or other shoppers.

Now you are ready to start! Get your groups divided, explain how the game works and go! Once time is up, the teams should be back at a meeting point with their pictures.

Now, have fun and make some great family memories!!

My Coastal Christmas Tree

December 6, 2019December 5, 20191 Comment

Today is the last day of 12 Days of Holiday Ideas! We made it all the way through! There are now hundreds of ideas to make your holiday merry and bright! If you want to go back and find all the bloggers and see what they have posted, here is the link. I hope you have enjoyed this series. I know Lauren and I both enjoyed putting it all together. Thanks you to Shirley and Erlene for working so hard to put this all together!

You can see all the other link ups at the bottom of the page. Be sure to check them out!

Now, Lauren and I were both supposed to show our Christmas Trees today, but SOMEBODY hasn’t even put hers up yet. Ahem. So, it’s just mine today!

I bought the flocked tree a couple of years ago, and I love how it fits with the rest of my living room! It shows off all the coastal ornaments so well. I have another tree in my family room as well, and that one has all the family ornaments, so this one is just fancy and fun.

Of course, I have included some starfish and some of my Shiny Brights. The diamond shaped mirror ornament is from my childhood. I have 3 sisters and we each received one of these mirrors in a different shape. I also see a few of my ornament exchange ones in this picture. Here is the link to this years exchange and if you type ‘ornament exchange’ in the search box, you can find the past years also.

I added this vintage sled to place some of the presents in and a cozy fur throw to snuggle up with.

I made these sparkly initial chipboard letters for each of us to add to the tree too.

My tree goes perfectly with all my other coastal items in the room. Thank you so much for joining us each post. Welcome to all our newcomers too! We can’t wait to meet you all and hope you continue to stop by! Have a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!

MEET OUR SPONSORS who have generously donated fabulous prizes for the Big Christmas Giveaway!

DecoArt winner will receive a prize package valued at $100!

Dixie Crystals/Imperial Sugar winner will receive a Keurig Coffee Maker valued at $100!

Oriental Trading winner will receive an OrientalTrading.com gift card valued at $200!

Cabot Cheese winner will receive a gift basket of Cabot products valued at $75!

Burlap Fabric winner will receive a prize pack of products valued at $50!

Zulay Kitchens winner will receive one Milk Frother and a Lemon Squeezer valued at $21

It’s Home To You winner will receive one wooden Santa sign valued at $65

Giveaway begins Nov. 8, 2019 and ends Dec. 6, 2019. Winners will be notified by December 13, 2019. Sponsors will ship each prize to the winner. There will be a total of seven winners, one for each prize. Drawing is by random selection using the Rafflecopter widget.

Must be 18 to win. Open to U.S. residents only.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Christmas Cheesy Potato Recipe

November 29, 2019November 28, 2019Leave a comment

Good morning! I have a yummy post for you today!! I don’t usually post a recipe but this one is too good not to share! Remember you can see what the other hosts are sharing by going back to the first post.

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This is a sponsored post. All opinions are my own.

My mom has been making this Potato Casserole for years and it is always gone by the end of dinner! In fact, she now makes two 9 x 13 pans for our family. It’s so cheesy and yummy and super easy. I’m sure this will become your family’s next favorite!

Cabot Cheese was kind enough to sponsor this post and supply me with the cheese. I love it! It’s soft and very tasty. It’s perfect for this yummy and cheesy recipe! Cabot is also one of our giveaway prizes, so be sure to enter!

Christmas Cheesy Potato Casserole

Ingredients:

1 Package (2 lbs.) frozen hash browns
1 can cream of chicken soup
1 small container of sour cream
2 cups grated Cabot cheddar cheese
2 tablespoons dried onion
1 cube butter + 2 tablespoons melted butter
1 cup corn flakes

Mix first 5 ingredients plus the 1 cube butter, in a large bowl. Pour into a 9 x 13 oven-safe pan. Melt the 2 tbsp. butter and mix with the corn flakes. Spread over the top. Bake on 350 degrees for 1 hour. Serve hot and enjoy!

Christmas Cheesy Potato Casserole

Click the link above to print your own recipe! I hope you enjoy!

You can see other yummy recipes here!

MEET OUR SPONSORS who have generously donated fabulous prizes for the Big Christmas Giveaway!

DecoArt winner will receive a prize package valued at $100!

Dixie Crystals/Imperial Sugar winner will receive a Keurig Coffee Maker valued at $100!

Oriental Trading winner will receive an OrientalTrading.com gift card valued at $200!

Cabot Cheese winner will receive a gift basket of Cabot products valued at $75!

Burlap Fabric winner will receive a prize pack of products valued at $50!

Zulay Kitchens winner will receive one Milk Frother and a Lemon Squeezer valued at $21

It’s Home To You winner will receive one wooden Santa sign valued at $65

Must be 18 to win. Open to U.S. residents only.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Gifts to Print for You!

November 27, 2019November 26, 20192 Comments

Good morning! I hope everyone is ready for Thanksgiving! I cannot believe that it is tomorrow! I still have some baking to do before the big turkey day, so I better get going on that…

Welcome to the 5th annual 12 Days of Holiday Ideas event, hosted by Shirley of Intelligent Domestications and Erlene of My Pinterventures Between Nov. 11th and December 6th there will be hundreds of new ideas shared by over 55 Co-host bloggers!

Go here to see our kick-off collection of Holiday ideas as well as all of this years talented participating DIY and Foodie Blogs. Download this years November and December calendars with all of the topics and dates so you can make plans to watch for ideas!

We are hosting a BIG GIVEAWAY from our Sponsors this year! Be sure to scroll all the way down for more information and to enter to win!

This blog post is about printables. We have 4 different printables for you today and I hope that you enjoy them. They were fun to make!

The first printable I have is actually from a previous blog post for the 2019 Christmas Blog Hop post. This printable is a Christmas To Do Coloring Page. This is a cute Christmas tree with ornaments on it. Some of the ornaments have Christmas activities that you can do and others are empty to put your own Christmas activities in. Click on the link below to download the printable and use it yourself!

Christmas To Do Coloring Page

The other printables that we have are all gift tags. There are three different kinds of tags for your Christmas gifts. There are blue circular tags that fold over so you can hide the to and from on the inside. The second tags are pink (my favorite) with cute little pink Christmas trees on the front and the third ones are silver with little black reindeer. These are all easy to punch a hole in to tie a ribbon through it.

Gift Tags 1

Gift Tags 2

Gift Tags 3

And that’s it! It’s not very much, but we enjoyed putting this all together. I know I personally will be using the Christmas To Do List because it’s a great way to keep my Christmas organized. And I will definitely use the pink tags for all of my Christmas gifts. Let me know if you are going to be using any of these for your Christmas!

MEET OUR SPONSORS who have generously donated fabulous prizes for the Big Christmas Giveaway!

DecoArt winner will receive a prize package valued at $100!

Dixie Crystals/Imperial Sugar winner will receive a Keurig Coffee Maker valued at $100!

Oriental Trading winner will receive an OrientalTrading.com gift card valued at $200!

Cabot Cheese winner will receive a gift basket of Cabot products valued at $75!

Burlap Fabric winner will receive a prize pack of products valued at $50!

Zulay Kitchens winner will receive one Milk Frother and a Lemon Squeezer valued at $21

It’s Home To You winner will receive one wooden Santa sign valued at $65

Must be 18 to win. Open to U.S. residents only.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

A Clowder of Christmas Cat Ornaments!

November 25, 2019November 25, 201912 Comments

Good morning! How was everyone’s weekend? Mine was crazy busy, but it was fun. I celebrated one Thanksgiving already and I ate so much food! I basically had to be rolled out the front door to my car that’s how much food I ate. But it was a wonderful day with family and I wouldn’t change anything.

*This post is sponsored by DecoArt. All opinions given in this blog post are my own.*

We are hosting a BIG GIVEAWAY from our Sponsors this year! Be sure to scroll all the way down for more information and to enter to win!

Today we are showing you how to make your very own ornament! And I promise, this isn’t super complicated. It can be done in one afternoon if you wanted.

Now as some of you may know, I have 2 cats named Target and Amelia. I love my crazy cats and I have cat ornaments that look like them. But, I knew I wanted some other cat ornaments for my Christmas tree to spice it up a bit. So I am here to give you instructions on how to make your own cat ornaments!

Things you need:

-Popsicle Sticks

-Paint

-Pipe Cleaners

-Colored Felt

-String

-Hot Glue

-Sharpie

Step 1: Paint the Popsicle Sticks

This step is pretty self explanatory, but it’s still the first thing I did. I used the awesome paint from our sponsor DecoArt! DecoArt is one of the sponsors for the 12 Days of Christmas and they graciously sent us 8 different paint colors to use to our hearts content. They are also part of the giveaway at the bottom of the blog posts so make sure to check that out! We appreciate them sending us the paint and sponsoring this blog post!

My personal favorites are the pink, red, and dark blue. The darker colors covered the popsicle sticks really well, but I had a bit of trouble with the silver. It didn’t show up on the wood, so I would suggest using it as a top layer to add some sparkle on your project. The light green was okay but it was kind of streaky so I was not a fan of that one either. But I painted the sticks to prep them for step 2.

Step 2: Make your Pipe Cleaner Tails and Glue to the Popsicle Stick

I tried to match the pipe cleaner to the correct paint but unfortunately I didn’t have purple or dark green, so I used colors that looked good together. I tried to make my tails look a little different so my cats had some character. Here is what my blue tail looked like!

I did have to bend the tails just a smidge so that way I could glue it to the Popsicle stick, but it didn’t hurt the tail at all. I put a small amount of glue on the Popsicle stick so that I could stick the two pieces together.

Here’s all of my cats with their tails!

Step 3: Draw a Face on your Cat

I used a fine point sharpie to draw a little face on the cat, but you might be able to use a regular sharpie on a bigger Popsicle stick. I drew two little eyes, a nose, a mouth, and 3 whiskers on each side.

Step 4: Glue a String Loop to the Cat

You can do this step a couple different ways depending on how you want to hang your cat ornament. I took a bit of thread and hot glued it to the back of the head side of the cat. You can use twine or even an ornament hook if you wanted, but you will need some hot glue to hold it together!

Step 5: Make Ears and Scarves out of Felt

Originally, I was going to end here. But I didn’t think the cats looked quite right without some tiny ears and some cute scarves. So I cut some felt that matched my cat bodies to make some tiny little ears and some red and yellow felt for some wintery scarves.

Step 6: Admire Your Cute Kitties!

I think they turned out so cute! I now have a clowder of cats for my Christmas Tree which will be perfect to add with my Target and Amelia ornaments. I hope you enjoyed this cute tutorial and thank you to DecoArt for the paint! See you on Wednesday for the next blog post!