friday favorites: christmas crafting and diy-ing!

this weekend i will be all up in the christmas spirit (weirdo.) but it is so true!

i love doing a little crafting and diy-ing... especially if it involves making something delicious or involves glitter.

since we have zero plans for this weekend, i plan on filling it with lots of christmas-related activities. and i couldn't be happier about it!

i think we'll start with prepping for our annual ornament making.  todd and i like to turn this into kind of a "date night" after jackson goes to bed.  we get some snacks, some wine and turn on some christmas music (duh!) and get to work!  once we have the ornaments cut and baked, we put them aside for painting the next day. that way our little man can help us too!

here's one of my favorites that we've made! i think he may be from the first year we made them... 2012! you can find the tutorial on making your own christmas ornaments here.  once i saw this, i knew we had to make them. and we have. every year since the original tutorial was posted.  see the full post from 2013, here.

and there's this one from last year... we have to make a family one each year! we made ornaments as a part of a christmas bucket list last year. you can read more about it here. apparently this year we are major slackers!

next up - something new to try!  we are going to be giving yummy treats (along with handmade ornaments!) to family members this year in lieu of gifts.   

its hard to buy for family that you don't see more than once a year and i'm hoping they will appreciate a little treat and something special that we've made together instead.  something that will surely last longer than any gift with gift receipt... sorry. i'll hop down off my christmas-gift-buying soapbox for now ;)

back to the treats.  we'll be trying out these (hopefully) easy chocolate oreo truffles.  todd thinks we should practice making them so we can see how well they turn out. wouldn't want to give them as gifts if we cannot make them work! plus, we'll need to make sure they taste good too!

seriously. what would i do without these lovely girls?!

while painting the christmas ornaments, i think we should also give this little craft a try.  jackson loves to paint so i'm thinking he'll enjoy this!

i have a small blank canvas and it if turns out to be pretty cute, it could become a part of our christmas decor each year. i think its a pretty cute idea! i found the idea for the trees here.  hopefully jackson loves the idea as much as i do!

 and... we really need to get our letter to santa written. and delivered to the special mailbox. before the time runs out!! and maybe we should drive around to see the christmas lights while we are out and about?

seems like i took our weekend of "no plans" and booked it solid. ooops.

i can't wait.

p.s. this weekend and next weekend are the only weekends left before christmas. how does this happen?