Happy New Years Eve

Normally we go to Jason's parents for New Years Eve, but this year we are staying in and having a family fun night. We've picked out some movies we want to watch, some fun board games to play, have the party favors all lined up, and let's not forget the snacks!

This past year has been so fun! I've enjoyed getting to know you all this year and really value the friendships I've made here in blogland. I want to wish each of you a very Happy New Year!

What's your New Year's Eve plans? Do you stay in with the family or go out for fun on the town?       

American Girl Farmhouse Bed

I mentioned earlier that this year we focused a lot on giving handmade gifts for Christmas. Today I want to show you what my husband and I made for our 9 year old.

Allison has been asking for a doll bed for her American Girl Dolls for quite some time. I've priced these beds and even the generic beds can run $50 or more! I just can't shell out that kind of money for a doll bed. She did get crafty and made up a makeshift doll bed out of an old shoe box decorated with paper, but it's starting to fall apart. Thanks to Pinterest, I found this American Girl Farmhouse Doll Bed Pattern from Ana White.

I sent the husband to Home Depot for the wood, and with a little over an hours worth of work, a new doll bed was crafted. The grand total? Right about $25. That's a combined total for the wood, paint, and foam mattress. I also made 2 pillows and a few fleece blankets for the bed for less than $5 thanks to some fabulous sales at Joanne's. I did have grand dreams of making a cute quilt for the bed, but when we lost power for 2 days, my crafting time was pretty much eliminated, so I had to scrap that idea. Maybe I'll work on one when when Christmas break is over and the kids go back to school.

Have you made any cool crafts found from Pinterest or blog hops lately?

Christmas Eve Traditions

Welcome back everybody! I hope you all had a wonderful holiday! It's been super busy for many of us this past week, and I for one am glad that the hustle and bustle of the holiday season is finally at an end so I can get back into a normal routine. I'd be lying though if I said I wasn't completely sad that it's all over for the year. My all time favorite day of the year is Christmas Eve. That's the night where most of the magic happens and memories are made at our house.

We always go to my moms house for dinner where Santa (grandpa) stops by with a small gift for each child. Then we come home to watch The Polar Express while drinking hot cocoa. The girls go outside to toss Reindeer Food around the yard. But the part the girls get so excited about is the visit from Mrs. Claus!

Every year, when the girls are getting ready for bed, Mrs. Claus stops by. The doorbell rings and left behind is a sweet treat baked by Mrs. Claus herself!

Last year Mrs. Claus left the girls Santa sugar cookies.

The girls have never seen Mrs. Claus, but they sure do appreciate the tasty surprises she brings every Christmas eve!

We started this tradition when Mariah was about 5. She didn't understand what Mrs. Claus does all year, so I told her she bakes cookies. "Why does she need to bake cookies when everyone else leaves cookies for Santa?" Good question smarty pants! Thus, cookie baking for all the kids of the world began.

I went to the bakery to find the fanciest cookie they had, then stored it in the fridge so it would be still cold from her travels from the wintery North Pole.

Each year it's something new. Sometimes they get a slice of cake, a fancy cupcake or cookies. We like to switch it up a bit so the girls are surprised each year. I am sure that we will continue with this tradition even when they no longer believe.

Does your family have any special Christmas Eve traditions? I'd love to hear about them. I am always looking to add to ours :)

Christmas Candy Wreath

If you have a little extra time and want to make a cute little gift for someone this year, this candy wreath is a fun little craft. This is what we gave our neighbors this year.


Start with a round metal wreath base. I got mine at Hobby Lobby for about $2. They also have smaller wreaths at the craft store, so if you are pressed for time or don't want to put forth a lot of effort, I'd go with one of those. Also, have an assortment of holiday candy and holiday ribbon.

Cut a bunch of different colored ribbon strands, then start to tie the candy in random order around the wreath.

Yes, it is a little work and does take some time, but I think the end result is fun and a little impressive.

On a side note, I had other craft idea posts planned for the next few days, but we lost power yesterday morning and it won't be back on for another day or so, so I won't be able to get those up. We are checking out of our hotel today, so I may not be able to catch up on other blogs and comments until after the holidays. I want to wish each of you a Very Merry Christmas!

Candy Cane Sugar Scrub

Today I want to share with you another handmade gift we are giving out this Christmas. We always buy the main teacher in each of the girls classrooms a gift card, but if we sent those to every aid and helper they love at school, we would be broke! I am a huge fan of bath and body products, but those can get quite pricey too. So, what's a mom to do? I hopped on Google and found a bunch of homemade sugar scrub recipes that would be perfect. They are very inexpensive to make and so easy the girls were able to make them all on their own. I found this Candy Cane Sugar Scrub recipe from The Idea Room. I ended up making a batch for myself and can tell you, this stuff is wonderful!  After I use it, my skin is super soft, which I can't say often in these dry winter months!

Ingredients

2 cups white granulated sugar
1/3 cup Almond Oil
Peppermint Essential Oil
Red Coloring (I used cherry juice to keep it all natural)

Directions

Mix the sugar and almond oil together in a bowl.
Add a few drops of peppermint oil.
Put half the mixture in a separate bowl.
In one bowl only, add a few drops of cherry juice at a time, mixing as you go until you get your desired color.
You now have one white colored sugar scrub and one pink scrub. Fill a jar with each of the scrubs, alternating colors evenly, and packing it down as you go.
Add a pretty ribbon and a label and you have a cheap, but wonderful handmade gift.

If you like this Candy Cane Sugar Scrub, be sure to check out the Brown Sugar Body Scrub Recipe too!

Handmade Holiday- Monster Book of Monsters

I've been feeling pretty crafty lately, so this year I decided to go more towards giving hand made Christmas gifts to my family. I'd like to share a few of them with you this week. First I will start with the photo album I made for my oldest daughter. This craft was inspired by our trip to The Wizarding World of Harry Potter. As I have mentioned, she is a HUGE Harry Potter fan, so I was taking a mass amount of photos on that trip so she could remember every detail. My camera battery died half way through the day and I had to resort to using mine and my husband's camera phones for the rest of the day. I knew that when we got home and I developed the photos I wanted to put them in an album and give them to her as a gift. As we were walking through one of the shops, inspiration hit. I saw this Monster Book of Monsters right in the middle of Dervish & Bangles.

Why pass her a boring photo album when I can make my own Monster Book of Monsters?

I bought a plain black photo album from Michael's for $7, a bag of marbles for $1, felt for about $1, and some fuzzy material for $4 for 1/4 a yard from Joanne's, so this project cost about $13. I already had some polymer clay on hand, so I made some gnarly teeth to add to the book.

It was a fun little way to add more of a Harry Potter touch to the photos. I hope she likes it!

Have you made any handmade gifts this year?

Candy Cane Popcorn

One of our favorite family activities is snuggling up together to watch a family movie. Now that Christmas is upon us, we have been watching a lot of holiday movies. We always have to have something to snack on while we have a movie on, and it's almost always popcorn. Not just any kind of popcorn will work here. It always needs to have a kick of flavor to it. Our newest favorite is Candy Cane Popcorn. If you like Andes Mints, you are going to love this!

Ingredients

2 bags Popped Popcorn
1 bag of Wilton Vanilla Candy Melts or Nestle White Chips
1 tsp Peppermint Extract (this can be adjusted to more or less depending on how minty you like it)
2 Crushed Candy Canes


Directions

Pop your popcorn. Remove any unpopped kernels.
Crush candy canes. Set aside.
Melt white chips in microwave, stirring every 30 seconds until completely melted. (White chocolate burns quickly, so keep a close watch on it. I even add a pat of butter flavored Crisco to my bowl to keep it a bit runny).
Once white pieces are melted, stir in peppermint extract.
Place popcorn in a large bowl, then pour mixture over it.
Stir to evenly coat all pieces.
Line a baking sheet with wax paper. Pour popcorn mixture onto waxed paper. Evenly spread it out.
While coating is still wet, sprinkle candy cane crumbs on top.
Let sit until it is dry and candy melts are hard.
Break stuck up stuck together pieces and serve.
Store uneaten popcorn in an airtight container.

Holidays Downtown!

I love to go downtown this time of year! If your city is anything like mine, then you know how very festive it is as Christmastime. Ours has something special planned every weekend leading up to Christmas, so our weekends are pretty full in December.

Friday night we went out to get photos with Santa. Unfortunately, the line was way too long, but we did find The Grinch.

We hopped a ride on Santa's Trolly.

 

Admired some gingerbread houses that were on display for contest voting.

Decorated and ate some Christmas cookies.

And since we missed Santa on Friday night, we decided to wake up early and have breakfast with him on Saturday morning. This Santa is by far the BEST Santa I have ever come across. This is our 4th year doing breakfast with him. If you tell him what you want, he always knows exactly what you are talking about. My girls said American Girl stuff. He then proceeded to tell me the best route to the American Girl store in Chicago and talked about eating lunch with the dolls there. Then he easily had the same conversation about wrestling figures with the next kid. If there ever was a modern day Santa, I've found him.

Does your town do anything special for the holidays? If so, what have you done so far this year?

NeoCell Fish Collagen Review & Giveaway

As I get older, I start to think more about what I put into my body, not only for health benefits, but also to help maintain a youthful appearance. I have always been very religious about applying creams and lotions to my skin, but I never realized that vitamin supplements also play a key role in keeping the skin strong and firm. Collagen production starts to slow after the age of 25, at about 1.5% per year. As I inch closer to my mid 30’s, I find myself scanning the health and beauty section more often looking for products that might help slow down the signs of aging. You already know that I am a huge fan of NeoCell’s skin care line. (If you aren’t aware, you can read my full review of NeoCell skincare HERE.) So, when I was asked if I would also like to try their Fish Collagen tablets also, I certainly couldn’t pass up the opportunity!

NeoCell's Fish Collagen + HA is designed to promote healthy, strong and hydrated skin by delivering bioavailable Collagen to the body, which helps the skin retain firmness and elasticity. The Hyaluronic Acid hydrates the skin, and a Collagen support complex optimizes collagen production in the dermis. These tablets pack a powerful punch when it comes to fighting the signs of aging!

The Main Benefits of NeoCell Fish Collagen + HA:

• Promotes strong and resilient skin matrix
• Promotes skin elasticity and firmness
• Provides the building blocks for collagen synthesis
• Assists in cell turnover in the skin
• Antioxidant for UV generated free radicals
• Fish collagen 120 caps, nature's rejuvenating source for joints, tendons, ligaments, bones, muscles, skin, hair and nails - replenishes body's own collagen supply
• Provides essential antioxidants - corrects weak, split and damaged nail beds - increases circulation and provides elasticity
• Slows hair loss and thickens fine hair
• Promotes Eye Health 

My review:

The bottle comes with 120 2,000mg capsules. The instructions say to take 2 capsules twice daily, 30 minutes before eating. I was a little leery about taking these on an empty stomach, as mine gets upset very easily. I did as instructed anyway, and waited for some kind of nausea to hit. To my surprise, I felt perfectly fine and was able to eat as directed 30 minutes later. The capsules were small, smooth and easy to swallow.

Within a few days I did notice some slight changes to how soft my skin felt. Nothing huge, but definitely enough to notice. I have been using the NeoCell Fish Collagen for over a month now, and have seen quite a bit of improvement on the fine lines around my mouth. My nails are much stronger and seem to be growing a little quicker than they used to. The main benefit for me though is the improvements it has made on my joints. I am an ulcerative colitis sufferer, and one of symptoms of my illness is joint pain and arthritis. I have seen a drastic decrease in flare ups in my joints since taking the supplements. I was able to walk around Disney World last month for 5 days straight, and was thrilled that I didn’t have to make frequent stops waiting for a flare up to subside. I was able to keep up with my kids the entire trip!

Overall, I am extremely pleased with NeoCell Fish Collagen and will definitely be keeping it in my daily supplement routine. If you are interested in purchasing it for yourself, you can find it HERE on Amazon for about $13.50 per 120 count bottle (1 month supply). It is also available for purchase at your local GNC, Whole Foods and The Vitamin Shoppe.

NeoCell offers a wide range of health and beauty products that are not only effective, but affordable. If you would like to learn more about the other wonderful products that NeoCell carries, you can find them on their website.

Win It!

NeoCell is generously offering 1 Theresa’s Mixed Nuts reader a 2 month supply of Fish Collagen. The giveaway will be open to residents of the USA, 18+. No PO Boxes will be accepted. Winner will have 48 hours to respond to winning email or a new winner will be selected. The giveaway will end on 12/22. Please enter on the Rafflecopter form below. Good luck!


*Disclaimer- I received the above stated product for the purpose of this review. No other compensation was provided. All opinions are my own and may differ from those of your own.

a Rafflecopter giveaway