DIY / Simple Christmas Cutout Decor (with FREE download)
Now that Thanksgiving has past, I feel ready to begin the Christmas season. First thing's first, the decorating!
I wish I could shop at TJMax all day and snatch up all the holiday decor, but I have no where to store it when the season ends. Living in Brooklyn with 2 roommates, we don't have a ton of extra closet space, so when it comes to decorating, I like to try to think of easy, cheap ways to spruce things up when the holidays come around.
Last year we whipped up some Pipe Cleaner Snowflakes, Snow Globes, and some Standing Holiday Cutouts. This year I thought we could convert some of the current apartment decor INTO HOLIDAY DECOR with some scrap paper and paper cutouts. The frame pictured above is from a Gold Refresh DIY we did a while back, and is usually the home to a pic of my grandparents, but quickly became a Christmas Tree. Hot Damn.
With some plain white printer paper and scrap book paper we will convert any picture frame into a festive holiday piece. I'm excited.
SUPPLIES /
Downloaded Christmas Cut Outs (click to download)
Scissors
Various Frames from around the house
Tape
Scrap Book Paper - or any colored or patterned paper you have laying around!
Bakers Twine or Ribbon
Optional Supplies / You will see later that I used some washi tape and an additional ribbon for the ornament cut out
In the Free Download you will see 3 pages, what will be a Gift Box after we add some pizzaz, a Christmas Tree and Hanging Ornaments.
Download and print the document on plain white printer paper.
Cut out the shapes you printed out.
Trim the white paper to fit into the frames you selected. The gift box and tree are small and can be cut down to fit in a small frame easily, the ornaments require a bit of a larger frame if printed without scaling.
Back the white paper with the cut out with the fun papers your selected!
This is where I used the gold tape- I covered the top of the ornament with little rectangles, cute right? - If you don't want to use tape, just leave the cut out so the decorative paper shows!
Using the bakers twine, make small bows. and tape into place.
Place the assembled paper and bow into your frame and you're all done!
You see above where I used a second type of ribbon, but you don't have to, use the twine or leave the cutout showing.
Using small bows made from the same ribbon or bakers twine on all of the cutouts creates a family look to all of the frames, even if you use different papers, like I did.
Its amazing how 4 square cut outs becomes a festive gift box just like that!
Place on shelves like shown earlier or create a cluster of these cuties on a table, where ever you choose, they will be a perfect addition to your holiday season!
What other fun decor do you have around your house this year?
Thanksgiving Free Download
First, click here for an easy Sweet Potato Cupcake with Marshmallow Frosting recipe, then dress 'em up with some freebies!
Whats included you ask?... 1-inch circle cupcake toppers, a folded table card for marking seating or food, and lets not forget that on Thanksgiving we should remember what we are thankful for, so I've included a little card for your and your loved ones to share with each other. OH AND a full sheet of pattern for any extras. Click HERE to download the 3 page file!
The cupcake toppers are super easy to assemble, and the table cards just take some quick easy cuts!
Using a 1-inch circle punch, punch out all the circles. I love Martha Stewart Craft punches, this is the one I have but any 1-inch circle will work (or scissors if you have a steady hand!).
Cut out any shape larger than 1-inch for the backing (optional of course), I used this one.
Adhere the two pieces together, using glue, tape or glue dots.
Then I typically glue to a popsicle stick, but I couldn't find any at home, so I used straws! Use whatever you have that will work!
Want a recipe card too? Click here for that too!
Do you have any fun Thanksgiving plans this year?
Funfetti!
Raise your hand if you don't LOVE funfetti cupcakes.... I see no one is raising their hand... good, so we are all on the same page. They're GREAT. Make you feel like a kid again. Make you smile. They're so damn cute! So why not give it a bake?
Makes 12 cupcakes in standard liners.
RECIPE BELOW - GET BAKING!
FOR THE BATTER /
1¼ cups flour
1½ tsp. baking powder
¼ tsp. salt
¾ cup sugar
6 tbsp. butter, room temperature
1 large egg + 1 egg white, room temperature
1 tsp. vanilla extract
½ cup half-and-half
2 tbsp. rainbow sprinkles (plus more for decorating!)
FOR THE FROSTING /
1½ cups (3 sticks) unsalted butter, room temperature
1 pound (4 cups) confectioners sugar, sifted
½ tsp. pure vanilla extract
FOR THE BATTER /
1 / Preheat oven to 350˚F. Line cupcake pan with paper liners.
2 / In a large bowl, sift flour, baking powder and salt. Set aside.
3 / In a stand mixer, beat the sugar and butter until well combined. Add egg and egg white, one at a time, beating on low. Add the vanilla.
4 / Gradually add flour mixture to butter mixture in 3 additions, alternating with half-and-half in 2 additions. Fold in rainbow sprinkles.
5 / Fill cupcake liners about ½ full. Bake for about 17-20 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the middle comes out clean. Remove from pan and cool completely on a wire cooling rack before frosting. Frost with vanilla frosting (recipe below), and decorate with colored sprinkles!
FOR THE FROSTING /
1 / With an electric mixer on medium-high speed, beat butter until pale and creamy.
2 / Reduce speed to medium. Add the confectioners' sugar, ½ cup at a time, beating well after each addition and scraping down sides of bowl as needed. Frosting will be pale and fluffy.
3 / Add vanilla, and beat until frosting is smooth.
You can find the DIY for the decor I made here. I bought these adorable liners and sprinkles at Sur La Tab, but have seen similar liners ones at TJMaxx lately, so go looking! Download the recipe card for free for the Funfetti Cupcakes here!
These would be perfect for a baby shower, wedding shower, kids birthday or any other fun event! What are you going to make them for?
500 & a freebie!
Wednesday. How do you feel about them? You could look at it two ways: glass half full or glass half empty I suppose. Week half over, or half the week left? This morning, as I started up my computer, sipped on a cup of coffee, and ate a delicious Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Doughnut my boss baked, I was feeling pretty good. Wednesday is ok today. THEN, I logged into my Squarespace account (I'll admit, I am mildly obsessed with checking the stats on the site) and I saw I was at an even 500 Unique Visitors this morning, thats more friends than I have on Facebook! (Thanks whoever clicked over from Facebook this morning at approx. 9:30 am!)
As a thank you, how about a freebie? Tweet @128johnst and tell me about your favorite post so far on 128johnst. and you will be entered to win Three Recipe Cards of your choice, printed and shipped to you or a friend! Five winners will be randomly chosen at the close of the giveaway.
Choose three of the five above recipe cards, and all you have to do is tweet! Don't have a twitter? Leave a comment here, but don't forget to tell me about your favorite post so far! Thanks for all the love!
This giveaway will be open for one week; I will close it for entries on Tuesday, October 23rd at 11:59 pm EST. Due to high shipping rates overseas, I am only able to offer this giveaway to residents of US and Canada. Five winners chosen randomly will receive three recipe cards of their choosing. Good luck!