DIY Yarn Tabletop Trees

DIY Christmas Trees

The holidays can be an expensive time of year. Between purchasing gifts, hosting parties, and decorating your home, your wallet can take a hit. One way to keep expenses down is DIY holiday decor. For example, while out shopping I saw a set of these tabletop Christmas trees listed for $30 and knew I could make them at home for far less.

DIY Christmas Trees

I quickly ran to Walmart to pick up my supplies which rang up to $10. Quite a steal if you ask me! Especially since I plan on using the leftover yarn in lieu of ribbon this year to tie gift tags on our Christmas presents. Another pleasant surprise was discovering these trees only take a few minutes to make. Needless to say, you have to try this DIY out for yourself! I think the mini trees are cute on their own, but you could play around with varying tree heights to make a statement piece for your home as well.

DIY Christmas Trees

DIY Yarn Tabletop Trees

Materials:

Directions:

  • Add a thin layer of glue around the Styrofoam cone
  • Wrap the cone tightly in yarn, adding a few overlapping layers for texture
  • Stick two of the large glitter stars together and glue to the top of the tree
  • Decorate the tree with varying sizes of the glitter star stickers
  • Enjoy!

Month in Review: November 2017

Month in Review: November, 2017

November officially kicked off the holiday season and I packed our calendar full of Thanksgiving festivities, tree lighting ceremonies and listening to carolers. Clearly, I got swept up in all of the holiday cheer and failed to pull out my phone and snap photos of our adventures. Therefore, you will have to bare with me this month as our November photos are sparse.

Month in Review: November, 2017

This year Ian and I are thankful that our drive to celebrate Thanksgiving with my family was cut down by one hour! Just another perk of moving to Milwaukee! This year we filled our holiday with a competitive round of Jenga, delicious food and an afternoon walk to enjoy the sunshine.

Month in Review: November, 2017

After some quality family time Ian and I drove home for a week packed with festive activities. We attended two tree lighting ceremonies, a German Christmas market and listened to carolers at the mall. Luckily, November was quite warm this year, so we didn’t have to battle the cold to enjoy these events.

Month in Review: November, 2017

We ended November by decorating our Christmas tree. It’s been a family tradition to have the nativity be the first ornament on the tree. Last year my sister gifted Ian and I this ornament so we could keep the tradition alive in our home. What holiday traditions do you have? Leave them in the comments below!

Click the video below to see a second from each day in Novemeber. Enjoy!

Peppermint Marshmallows

Peppermint Marshmallows

Time for a bit of honesty. The photographed marshmallows are the product of my second attempt. The first batch ended up in the trash and I had a moment of defeat. I tried switching up my recipe to make them vegan-friendly, but let me tell you, my method was a disaster! I’m sure there is a way to swap out gelatin successfully, but I’m still working on perfecting my technique. In the meantime, I’ve gone back to my traditional recipe with a small seasonal twist.

Peppermint Marshmallows

By swapping out the vanilla extract for peppermint, you can enjoy a batch of holiday marshmallows! I’m a chocolate lover so deciding to add dark chocolate to the mix wasn’t a question. I love adding a marshmallow to my mug of hot chocolate, but they are also a sweet indulgence to enjoy on their own.

Peppermint Marshmallows

Peppermint Marshmallows

Ingredients:

  • .75 oz unflavored gelatin
  • 1.5 C sugar
  • 1 C honey
  • 1/4 tsp salt
  • 1 Tbs mint extract
  • Powdered sugar
  • Dark chocolate (optional)

Directions:

  • Pour the gelatin and 1/2 C cold water into your stand mixture. Set aside.
  • In a saucepan, bring the sugar, honey, 1/2 C water, and salt to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer until the mixture reaches 240 degrees. Remember to stir constantly.
  • Remove sugar mixture from heat and slowly mix into the gelatin mixture. Increase to a high mixing speed for 15 minutes or until a thick consistency is reached.
  • Pour marshmallow mixture into a pan lined with parchment paper and dusted with powdered sugar.
  • Let sit overnight, then cut into squares, dip in dark chocolate and set aside for one hour.
  • Store in an airtight container.