These little treats are simple to make a huge hit at Christmas! I made up a batch for neighbor gifts this weekend.

Holiday Pretzel Kiss Candies Recipe

Ingredients:
*Small, waffle-shaped pretzels
*Hershey's Kisses (plain old chocolate are good, but my favorite are the Candy Cane Kisses--any variety of Kisses or Hugs will work)
*Red & green M&M's
*Cookie sheet and parchment paper


1. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper (or wax paper). Spread out pretzels.


2. Put a Hershey's Kiss or Hug in the center of each pretzel.


3. Heat oven to 170°. Place baking sheet in oven for 6 minutes. Kisses will just begin to melt and look shiny, but will not lose their shape.


4. Gently top each Kiss with an M&M, with the "m" side down. It should immediately push the Kiss' point down, but if you have to press it into the Kiss, you may need to heat them a little longer.



Place in the freezer until the Kiss is hard again (i put my whole cookie sheet in my big freezer, but you could wait for them to cool and put them on a smaller plate if you don't have that much room in your freezer). Package them in a cello bag, add a bow and a tag, and you're good to go!

Yes, I'm still busy making up ornaments, neighbor gifts, and last minute tags for Christmas! I've always been a Last-Minute Lucy. I suspect a few of you are, too, so the next few days are for you. Sometimes procrastination pays off! Or if you're a planner, put the next few posts in your file for next year!

This simple wreath is made up of bits of leftover ribbon--the tiny scraps I can hardly bear to throw away (see my ribbon jars in this post). Here's a great way to use them up.


Scrappy Ribbon Wreath Ornament Tutorial

Supplies:
*Small scraps of ribbon or fabric strips
*Craft wire and wire cutters

1. Form your wire into a circle shape in the size you want your wreath to be. I bent mine around a glass that happened to be sitting on the table by me. Cut wire and wrap the ends together to secure.

2. Start tying your ribbon on. I tied some of mine with a double knot, and some with just one knot. This helps the ribbon ends go different directions, which I think looks better. But play around with it and see what you like best.


Keep scrunching the ribbons together and adding more until it's full. Then I cut my ribbon ends in a "V" to tidy them up.


4. Tie a longer piece around and tie in a knot to create a loop for hanging. These are darling on the Christmas tree, on top of a gift, or, if you made it larger, on a door or wall.


We also loved this fabric version of the scrappy wreath by Living the Swell Life (which is an adorable blog--if you don't know it you must spend a few hours there).

So many great ideas for Christmas, so little time! I have a long list of posts I hope to share with you before the holidays are over, so watch for multiple posts per day for the next week!

This one has to be the quickest and easiest gift I've ever put together. I was looking for simple Christmas gift ideas for the ladies I work with at church, and I had seen a friend's necklace that had the 2011 theme for our youth group that I wanted to make. I hadn't been able to find really nice quality pendants anywhere locally, so I contacted one of our fabulous sponsors, PhotoJewelryMaking.com, to see what they could recommend. They sent me several different options to try out and share with you. I ended up making several gifts, then purchasing the supplies for the necklace for my church friends so we could get together in January and make them together! (We have waaay to much fun crafting together.) So here are a few ideas for seriously EASY Christmas gifts, LDS YW 2011 theme gifts, craft day with your friends, or just a necklace for yourself!

This piece used the Copper Beaded Edge Circle Pendant with the Krystal Clear-Itz Glass small round glass tile. It's kind of hard to tell from the picture, but it's a domed glass piece and it is so pretty! It magnifies the wording and makes it look more expensive than it really is. But I have to tell you the most amazing part. It might look easy to type up and size the wording for a necklace like this, but it probably would've taken me about an hour and a lot of trial and error to get the size exactly right for the pendant. I'm pretty good in Photoshop, but it still takes me time. So I tried their EZ Photo Resizer Software and was SO impressed! All you do is save your text (or photo for photo jewelry) as a JPEG file, open it in the software, and put in your jewelry piece's measurement (which they provide on the Web site and packing list). Then you can crop it to fit exactly. I printed these off and punched them with my 1" circle punch, used the Instant Seal-Itz photo strips to stick my glass tile over it, and super glued it to the pendant. Voila! Five minute necklace.


I did add a couple of other things to it, as you can see. The Double-Sided rectangular pendants are even easier to make. They can stand alone, or you can pair them with another pendant like I did. Each rectangular pendant has a plastic sleeve that slips out of the pendant. You open up the little folder, place your photo or patterned paper or text inside, and slide it back in the pendant. Two-minute pendant! And they're double-sided, so you can put different papers on each side, or two photos, or text and paper, or paper and a photo. . .you get the idea. I also added a little flower charm (by Making Memories' Vintage Groove jewelry line). And when you get bored with it, it only takes 2 minutes to change it to a whole new piece of jewelry!

This one features the Six B's from Gordon B. Hinckley on the back.


Another unbelievably easy Double-Sided pendant with charm (also by Making Memories' Vintage Groove jewelry line). I put a different paper on the back so I could easily flip it around for another outfit.



Here's another version of the LDS Youth 2011 theme. I used the Krystal Clear-Itz Bottle Cap Covers that you can just stick on top of your photo/text/patterned paper. One-minute pendant. I think we have a winner! These are great for bottle cap magnets and pendants, too (wish I would've had those when I did my bottle cap magnet class a while ago!).


They also sell resin kits if you want to try that. Liquid resin is poured over the top of your photo or patterned paper and allowed to dry 24-72 hours. It sets hard and clear. I made a couple of little pendants with the resin and they turned out great. My favorite part about their resin kit is the amazing instructions! They give you step-by-step with tons of tips and tricks to make your resin pendants turn out beautifully. I've used it before, but I always get nervous when I do it--there are a lot of specific steps that I'm always afraid I'm going to mess up! But they made it really easy. These two pendants were actually made with the Bracelet Making Links, because I wanted to be able to hang a charm or jewel from the bottom of it. But they'd make really cute bracelets, too!



If you're too scared to try resin (or just aren't patient enough to wait for it to dry like me!), you will be amazed at how awesome the Krystal Clear-Itz look. I compared them to the pendants I did with resin and couldn't tell the difference. But they only took a few seconds to mount, and I didn't have to worry about smudging them, or having air bubbles show up, etc. This is the way to go if you ask me! There are also square glass tiles that look really professional, too.

By the way, look how pretty this pendant is on the back!


There are also Krystal Clear-Itz stickers to fit in the Keychains, which are great gifts for grandparents or guys.


Of course we love all our sponsors because they keep our blog going, but I really love it when I can say first hand how awesome a sponsor is. Love, love, love PhotoJewelryMaking.com. At first I wasn't sure I would use their stuff because I wasn't as interested in the photo jewelry, but when I starting thinking of all the other possibilities with patterned paper and text, I was sold. And I used their 10% off coupon this month to make mini kits for my January craft night with my friends! You can use it too, just enter gift10 at checkout!

FINALLY! My two new crochet hat patterns are now in my Etsy shop. I know, I promised them by the end of last week, but there were a couple of technical difficulties, and all the Christmas prep has really thrown me off! They're ready to go now, though, and you still have time to make them before Christmas! The Lizzy Cloche takes me less than an hour to complete, and the All-Star Beanie just under two hours! Plus there are tons of yarns on sale right now at the craft stores, so these are great, inexpensive gifts! I also posted some adorable jewelry in my shop that were left over from a craft fair I did in Seattle. Another great last-minute gift!


The All-Star Beanie has to be my favorite boy hat ever. Although I'm working on one in girl colors that is going to be fabulous! There are 7, count 'em 7, sizes in this pattern. I covered the whole range--from 0-6 to Adult, and everything in between. Plus you get the cute star pattern that you can use on lots of other projects! I seriously love this hat.



I have been wearing my Lizzy Cloche crocheted hats almost non-stop these days. (I've made it for myself in several colors!) My husband gives me the worst time about the huge flower, but I love it! If it's a bit big for you, no worries. There are three rosette sizes in the pattern, so you can choose the one that fits your style best. This pattern is the big girls' version of my Ava Cloche pattern, and it comes in sizes from 12 months to Adult.



If you love the Ava Cloche, here's a new one I just made in pink. It's sooooo sweet! I am in love with it! The Ava Slippers came out adorably, too!


I added a little leaf to each, and I wanted to share the leaf pattern with you! It's quick and easy, and makes such a great addition to my crocheted rose pattern (in both the Ava and Lizzy patterns). Or it would be adorable with any of my other flower patterns, like the five-petal flower and the six-petal flower. Enjoy!


Long Leaf Crochet Pattern
Size G hook, worsted weight yarn

Ch 10. Sc in 2nd ch from hk. Sc in next ch. Hdc in next 2 chs. Dc in next 3 chs. 2dc in same ch.

Continue on back side of ch. Dc in next 3 chs. Hdc in next 2 chs. Sc in next 2 chs. Sl st to beg ch. Fasten off. Stitch to project, hiding the end under your flower.


Short Leaf Crochet Pattern (For bootie pattern)
Size G hook, worsted weight yarn

Ch 7. Sc in 2nd ch from hk. Hdc in next 2 chs. Dc in next 3 chs. 2dc in same ch.

Continue on back side of ch. Dc in next 3 chs. Hdc in next 2 chs. Sc in next ch. Sl st to beg ch. Fasten off. Stitch to project, hiding the end under your flower.

• Peanut free
• Gluten free
• No cholesterol
• Low sodium
• Vegetarian friendly
• No GMO’s
• No preservatives
• No trans fat
• No MSG
• Low calorie
• Good source of fiber

Today I found myself in panic mode. I'm leaving for Utah for Christmas in less than a week, and I am still looking for last-minute gifts for friends! Yikes! Then I saw this deal over at HowDoesShe and immediately breathed a sigh of relief. Today these adorable Petite Rosette statement rings are on groopdealz for only $4. I am in love with these rings!!

This chic petite ring is a great way to accent your outfit, and add a pop of color!

AND they're adjustable! One size fits all!

TODAY ONLY: You can snag a rosette ring of your own for only $4!! ($7 regular!)

These little cuties will be shipped out to you by Dec. 17th, which means you should get them before CHRISTMAS! I'm having mine shipped to Utah so I'll have them for my girlfriends' brunch!

These also make sweet stocking stuffers!

And guess what?! Shipping is only $2 no matter how many you order! You can buy 1 or 20, and you will only pay the one-time $2 shipping charge! Woo hoo!

This deal is offered in five lovely colors you can choose from at checkout.

Grey, Floral, Ivory, Tiffany blue and PINK



Remember, this deal is only good for today through GroopDealz, so GO, GO, GO!