A while back I introduced you to the Paperless Kitchen, they’re a great site founded to help everyone adopt greener lifestyles by offering alternatives to kitchen paper products. They have a wide selection that helps make it easy to “green” your kitchen and do your part to protect our planet!

Beginning at 10 pm tomorrow night and running through to Cyber Monday, the Paperless Kitchen is offering 50% off the following items! (Use Coupon Code paperless50 for the 50% discount on that set of products.)

 

They’re also offering 15% off all other products across the site during this 4 day special! PLUS all orders placed in November will get a free 4 pack of the Paperless Kitchen Skoy Cloths! Just click on the box below (pretty please, it’s my affiliate link) to get to the Paperless Kitchen site and do a bit of green holiday shopping for yourself and your friends and family!

Have a Happy Thanksgiving!

A while back I cleaned out my pantry and found entirely too many half-filled bags of rice and beans, shamefully out of date spices, and bottles of Torani with less than a teaspoon of syrup in them. Up until this past weekend I had then everything sitting in a “should just throw it away but can’t” pile on my kitchen counter. I was sure the kids and I could make some kind of art project with them. Hmm, what could I make with this stuff? It took me a couple of weeks of staring at the two items, sitting side by side, before I finally realized I should just put them together, duh. So we did!

Less than a week from today we’ll all be digging into our Thanksgiving dinners and chances are pretty good, before we take our first bite we’ll be snapping a picture or two. In fact, according to a recent survey conducted by Swanson, nearly 1 in 4 Americans will take or post a photo of their meal this holiday season. Just as they help give our foods a kick of flavor, this year, Swanson is also sharing tips that’ll help make your holiday food photos shine!

Tips from Swanson to Make Your Holiday Food Photos Shine

· Capture the Cooking Process – There’s no need to wait to the meal hits the table to start capturing your holiday food photos. Start with some action shots in the kitchen, like stirring the pots on the stove or pulling the golden brown turkey or Moist & Savory Stuffing out of the oven.  

· Choose the Right Serving Dish – Using a smaller serving bowl for stuffing or mashed potatoes makes the dish look full and plentiful, while taking up less space on the holiday table. Choosing a dish in a contrasting color helps the food pop.

· Add a Garnish – For photo worthy dishes, add a garnish of an ingredient that is found in the dish or that complements its flavors. For example, butternut squash and sage soup can be topped with fried sage leaves, creme fraiche, pumpkin seeds and even pomegranate seeds to add color and texture. If your dish features a signature ingredient like stuffing with cranberries, reserve a handful of berries to sprinkle over the top before it goes into the oven.

If you’ve been following along you may have noticed that every couple months I take part in the Craft Lightning series hosted by 30 Minute Crafts and The Country Chic Cottage. Guess what? It’s that time again! But, before I share my 15 minute craft I wanted to say thank you to both Caroline and Angie for all the work they’ve done over the years. They are two incredible ladies who have gone out of their way to provide countless platforms and opportunities for creative bloggers and I am very appreciative of their hard work. Now on to the craft!

Usually when the holidays roll around my attention focuses on ornaments and gift-making but this year I’m also looking towards our dining room table and thinking…napkin rings!  Surely the kids and I can come up with an easy napkin ring that takes less than 15 minutes to make, right?

As we all write our Monday to-do lists and look over this week’s calendar I thought I’d share a little inspiration.

As promised here is the ultimate collection of over 50 tutorials and project ideas that will ensure your tree doesn’t have a single ‘ugly’ ornament! Thanks again to all the great bloggers who’ve been a part of the No Ugly Ornament Series these past few years!

1. Wine Cork Tassels
2. Paper Birds
3. Mini Trees from The Sewing Loft
4. Okra Spikes
5. Magazine Ornaments
6. Paperback Lion Ornaments
7. Medallions
8. Vintage Glitter Ornaments
9. Owl Ornaments
10. Crystals and Twine Ornaments
11. Vintage Santa
12. Paper Snowflakes
13. Quilted Trees
14. Martha Inspired Looped Ornaments
15. Caged Animal Ornaments
16. Stash Cans
17. Paper Globe Ornaments
18. 3-D Shapes
19. Origami Dress Ornaments
20. Felt Garland
21. Citrus and Spice Ornaments
22. Paper Trees


23. Paper Ballerina Ornaments
24. Origami Elf Boots
25. Paper Snowflakes (different pattern)
26. Glitter Filled Glass Ornaments
27. Mini House Ornament
28. Snowy Wonderland Ornament
29. Poured Paint Ornaments
30. Childproof Snowflake Ornaments
31. Paintbrush Santas
32. Hand Stamped Ornaments
33. Glittered Seashells
34. Felt Snowflakes
35. Family Frame Ornaments
36. Glittered Snowflakes
37. Jeweled Podgeable Ornaments
38. Gem Icicle Ornaments
39. Washi Tape Monogrammed Ornaments
40. Sequined Ornaments
41. Vintage Candy Cane Ornaments
42. Paper Starbursts
43. Snowman Ornaments
44. Christmas Toilet Paper Roll Vignette Ornaments
45. Fuzzy Christmas Owls


46. Christmas Vignette Ornaments
47. Scrabble Tile Ornaments
48. Gingerbread Salt Dough Men
49. Shadowbox Ornaments
50. Feathered Balls
51. Salt Dough Ornaments
52. Snow Ornaments
53. Suitcase Ornament
54. Painted Acorns
55. Button Candy Canes
56. Vintage Paper Ornaments
57. Christmas Ornament Makeover
58. Painted Glass Ornaments
59. Faux Porcelain Flowers
60. Easy, No-Sew Owls
61. Book Page and Glitter Snowflakes
62. It’s a Gourd Thing Ornaments
63. Metal Washer Snowmen
64. Mirrored Ornaments
65. Scrappy Stars
66. Wine Cork Candle Ornaments
67. Christmas List Ornaments

If you know my friend Heather from The Sewing Loft you know she’s an awesome seamstress but she had everyone in mind, skilled to beginner, when she came up with this Easy No-Sew Owl Ornament! Be sure to check it out and grab the free template she’s also providing!

Sometimes I like to challenge the kids with a project because everyone needs a challenge now and then. This Metal Washer Snowman from Cyn and Samantha, aka The Gagen Girls, looks like a great one for them to try!

I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again, I’m a sucker for a book page project and this Book Page and Glitter Snowflake, from One Krieger Chick, is too beautiful not to make!

This was something completely new to me, I’ve never seen Gourd Ornaments like these make by Lisa from Stuff-Such. I love how festive and colorful they are and hope I’m able to find some small gourds at my local farmer’s market to make some of my own!

Today I shared these Mirrored Ornaments they were a take on the Disco Ball-like ornaments I’ve seen on Pinterest.

This has been such a fun week I’m sorry to see it end, but don’t worry the ornament love will still be going strong! I’ll be sharing a Round-Up of ALL the No Ugly Ornaments from the past three years next week so be sure to stop back by and if you haven’t already done so already pin the 2013 No Ugly Ornament Series page to have this year’s ornaments tutorials on hand!

I can’t believe it’s the last day of the Series already! Here’s one more ornament to keep your tree from being ugly. Around Pinterest I kelp seeing mirrored ball but I wanted to try something a little flatter. So I created these Mirrored Letter Ornaments. They’re super easy and cheap, plus they give you an excuse to demolish any old CDs sitting around!

Supplies

• old CDs
• old scissors – I say old but what I mean is a pair you don’t mind destroying
• glue ( I know I have glitter glue shown but I ended up using a white crafting glue)
• black puffy paint
• cardstock

Directions

I started off by printing some of our family initials onto cardstock in a big bubble letter font and cutting them out. Be sure to use a hole punch to make a hole to hang your ornament!

Next, I cut up a few CDs, this wasn’t easy and I had pieces flying everywhere! I might try cutting them with an X-acto knife next time. After I had a good handful of little mirrored pieces I started gluing them to the cardstock letters.

Finally I used the puffy paint to outline the pieces and give them more of a stained glass look. You can repeat the process on the back or just paint it black. String them up and you’re ready to go!

Be sure to check back tonight for the last wrap-up of the week AND next week look for the ultimate Christmas ornament round-up!

I can’t believe the week is almost over! I hope you’ve been enjoying the series, here are the ornaments from today!

I can not tell you how many times I’ve seen bells and ornaments like this in thrift stores but walked away because, what was there to do with them? This is what you do with them! You take a tip from Pet Scribbles and give them a Christmas Ornament Makeover.

I have thought about making Painted Ornaments like these with the kids on numerous occasions but I’m so glad that Barb was real about the process in her post. At least I know now that it might take a while and I’ll probably have to have the kids work on more than one at a time!

As I was looking over my Faux Porcelain Ornament post from this morning and realized I completely forgot to say that I tied a red ribbon to these flowers to make them into hanging ornaments. I also considered wrapping them onto a skewer with floral tape to make a spike for the tree.

Tomorrow’s the last day of the No Ugly Ornament Series, be sure to stop by we’ve got a full lineup to wrap things up!

Once upon a time I pinned a project, which I can’t find now, that showed how to make faux porcelain flowers that could be used as ornaments or pretty much whatever you wanted. The thing that set this tutorial apart was that it used plaster NOT spray paint to create both the look and feel of real porcelain.

Since I couldn’t find the link I decided to improvise and try out what I could. Here are the results!

Christmas commercials are on the television and I’m already seeing Black Friday ad previews, Christmas is definitely in the air! Here are three more ornaments to add to your Christmas crafting to-do list!

My daughter was looking over my shoulder when I checked out this Button Candy Cane Ornament from The Country Chic Cottage. She fell in love with them, decided to raid my craft stash, and dragged out all the red and white buttons she could find. Guess we’ll be making a pair of our own!

There are some things that I’m always happy to see and vintage paper is one of them. Mommy Envy is sharing a cheap and easy Vintage Paper Ornament and she’s suggesting ways to give them a more personal touch such as using comic books!

Today I shared our little Painted Acorn Ornaments. They’ll get lost on our big Christmas tree but they’re the perfect size for the tabletop ones we set up around the house!

I hope you’ve been enjoying the NUO Series so far, be sure to stop back by tomorrow or if you missed any from earlier this week just click on the box at the top of the page!

Acorns, they’re so little they get lost on most Christmas trees but I still love them! There are so many different ways to create ornaments with them but I chose what I thought would be the easiest. In the end it wasn’t extremely hard, BUT, it wasn’t as foolproof as I’d hoped it would be!