2013 Joy Jar

Happy New Year! I hope everyone had a safe and happy new year's eve celebration! I had an early celebration with some friends and then a relaxing night at home with my pups.
This holiday season has been very busy with lots of hard change in my personal life. Every year my office coworkers and I exchange small Christmas gifts, but I wasn't able to participate this year, so I decided to make them some New Year's Eve Party Kits!

 

 

Each kit included some confetti, tic tac mints, candy, party hats, noise makers and photo props. I utilized some free printables from around the blogosphere to create this. My coworkers loved them!

I also chose to start the new year off with a new, simple project that I call a Joy Jar. I took a plain jar and added some scrapbooking stickers to it.

 

It is now placed in my kitchen with a notepad nearby. My goal is to write down happy thoughts and memories throughout the year. Next New Years Eve I will read through each one and remember what a blessed year I have had.
Do you have any new years traditions? How about new year goals?

NYE Party Kit Sources:
2013 Sweets & Glitter Labels: TaterTots & Jello
Tic Tac Mints: Infarrantly Creative
New Year Labels: Love the Day
Photo Props: Accent the Party

Custom Valentine's Day Fortune Cookies

Yep, a weekend post! I actually got a few Valentine's Day projects done before the holiday, so I'm sharing ahead of time.  A little last minute inspiration for you!

 They are easy to make yourself! All you need are store bought fortune cookies, chocolate and sprinkles of your color choice, and your fortunes printed or written on strips of paper.

Directions:

Prepare your custom fortunes on strips of paper, and have them close by.  You'll need to work quickly.

Unwrap a fortune cookie.

Dampen a paper towel.  You want it very moist, but not dripping wet.

Wrap your cookie in the paper towel.  

Microwave on high for 20 seconds.

Unwrap from the paper towel, gently peel the cookie open.  Pull out the existing fortune, put in your custom fortune and squeeze the cookie shut again.

You must work quickly, as the cookie cools, it hardens and will break. A word of caution these babies are HOT.  Honestly, I couldn't figure out how to not burn my fingertips.  I worked quickly and dealt with the discomfort.  Ah, the price you pay for crafting!

You can leave the cookies plain, or you can decorate them.  I chose to decorate mine with red Wilton candy melts and heart sprinkles.  

A note about dipping the cookies: Don't actually dip them in the melted chocolate!

If you dip the cookies in the chocolate, the chocolate could flow inside the cookie and ruin your carefully placed fortune.  

I held the cookie over the bowl of melted chocolate and then used a spoon to pour the chocolate on top of the cookie.  Place on wax paper, decorate with sprinkles and allow to harden. Viola! You have a custom, chocolate dipped fortune cookie!

This is a great trick for any occasion! Birthdays, anniversaries, perhaps even a marriage proposal!

Here's wishing you good fortune with or without a cookie!

Sunshine and Rainbows

This week I shared my birthday celebration Joy Dominoes, aka random acts of kindness. Today I'm sharing another fun idea, a Sunshine and Rainbows box!!  

Earlier this year a dear friend of mine experienced a life altering tragedy and was having a really rough time. Its been my experience that people go through a tragedy and are able to distract themselves with all of the details and the visits from well wishers.  Suddenly time passes and the distractions are no longer as frequent. You're left with your own thoughts and grief.  I thought of my friend "after the dust settled" and thought she might need some cheering up.  We live in different states so a visit wasn't really feasible. I decided what she needed was some sunshine and rainbows!

Here is the collection of random stuff I sent her. Each item had a cute meaning behind it too.

A box of Skittles to represent rainbows and a little ray of sunshine to remind her of her awesomeness.

A garden gnome (well that's kind of an inside joke), a lotus flower which is said to bring peace, and bright yellow nail polish for a much needed sunny pedicure.

A scented candle in a tin decorated just for her.

These are just a few of the items I included. The possibilities are endless! You don't have to wait for a reason to send one either! Everybody needs a little sunshine and rainbows, even when life is going good.

I hope you're inspired to send a loved one some sunshine!

Peppermint Bark Snowflakes

Yesterday I posted about a fun and delicious gift for your coworkers. Included in that gift was a snowflake of peppermint bark. I made mine with a little twist this year. Check out the recipe....

I picked up this silicone tray in the Dollar Spot at Target.  You can also substitute cookie cutters as molds for the bark.  Place cookie cutters on a wax paper covered cookie sheet.

Ingredients:

Peppermint Crunch Junior Mints (I found these at Target too!)

4 oz. Chocolate Chips

4 oz. White Chocolate Chips

Handful of peppermints or candy canes

1/2 teaspoon peppermint extract, divided

Sprinkles (Mine are snowflakes!)

Vegetable Oil (not required, but good to have on hand)

Directions:

In a candy melting pot or double boiler, melt your brown chocolate chips.

Meanwhile, in a plastic bag, put your candy canes or peppermints. Crush with a rolling pin or kitchen mallet.

Once your chocolate is melted, stir in 1/4 teaspoon of peppermint extract.  If your chocolate is thick or dry looking add a small pour of vegetable oil.  This will smooth it out.  Continue to add a little at a time until you reach a nice smooth consistency.

Pour chocolate into molds. Drop in 2-3 junior mints. 

Sprinkle some peppermint chunks on top.  

Place mold into freezer for 10 minutes.

Meanwhile, melt your white chocolate.  Once melted, stir in remaining extract.

Remove mold from freezer. Pour white chocolate into molds.

Top with more peppermint pieces and sprinkles.

Place mold back into freezer for 10-15 minutes.  When chocolate has hardened just pop out of the molds!

This recipe yields 6 snowflake bark pieces. 

Hot Cocoa Coworker Gifts

Today I gave a fun little gift to my coworkers. If you're looking for a gift idea for your coworkers, this might be inspiration for you!

This gift includes hot cocoa on a stick, (you can get the recipe and tutorial HERE), chocolate dipped candy canes, peppermint bark, and homemade marshmallows.

I also used these awesome free printables from Hostess with the Mostess 

On the back of the tag I typed up my own little greeting:

Minnesnowta Hot Chocolate
Here in MN, we like everything "On A Stick"...so why not our hot cocoa!
Mix with 1 cup of hot milk and enjoy your cocoa Minnesnowta style! There is even a peppermint stir stick! A tasty peppermint bark treat goes perfect with your hot cocoa.
Enjoy!

I packaged these up in some holiday treat bags and handed them out. Everyone loved the cocoa on a stick idea!

I hope you've found some inspiration for your coworker gifts!