Welcome to the first installment of Craftmas (or Craftukkah or Craftzaa, whichever you celebrate)!  I don’t know about you gals, but we are super tight on money this year and that is ESPECIALLY true around the holidays.

However, like many, I have some creepy Martha Stewart desire to decorate our house in everything tinsel, and I squeal with glee anytime I see something covered in Santa Clauses.  Hey, I’m not proud of it, but there you go.

So during my daily Anthropologie browse a couple weeks ago (ah, but to dream), I stumbled upon a beautiful tree ornament. I won’t show it here (again, scared of copywright ramifications…thanks, lawyers, for screwing with my craftiness), but you can probably find it on their site.  Anyway, this little item happened to cost a pretty $398.  Um, yeah.  Here’s my interpretation of the same tree topper, with exciting step-by-step instructions!

This project cost me about $20…only 5% of the store-bought cost!

Here’s what you’ll need:

-small grapevine wreath (I think this one is 6 or 7 inches in diameter)
-bundles of sticks and other decorative items of your choice
-glue gun and glue sticks

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Nope.  I’m not talking about that list of qualities your fairytale in-laws possess in your dreams… You know, the dreams where eating organically isn’t considered “hippie” and you and your mother-in-law share the exact same tastes and shoe-size?  No?  Just me?  Humph.

I’m talking Christmas Wish Lists + The In-Laws… i.e.: Sticky Situation in the Making, right?

Telling Evs’ parental units what I want for Christmas continues to be awkward for me… This is definitely one of those aspects of marriage that I never considered when we got engaged.  Last year, I was overwhelmed by the generosity of his mom and dad.  However, while I do love a pretty package under the tree with my name on it, if it were 100% up to me, I wouldn’t make any specific requests from my new side of the family for the holidays.

However, my Mother-in-Law insists upon the submission of a Christmas Wish List prior to Halloween.  Yep, we have an Early Shopper on our hands.  Which, kudos to her - I always find myself, eight days before Christmas, circling the mall parking garage aimlessly, stalking exiting shoppers for their parking stops and beating my head against the steering wheel in time to Rockin’ Around the Christmas Tree.

Ahem.

Anyhoo, as instructed, I recently submitted my In-Law Wish List.  As always (”always” being relative since really this is my first year to have technical “in-laws” but whatever), I followed the Three Cardinal Rules of Gift-Requesting-From-Non-Blood-Relations-You-Don’t-Have-Sex-With:

(1) Lots of options
(2) Lots of price-points but nothing over $50
(3) No clothes (don’t ask me why - just feels weird)

Now, without further adieu… The In-Laws Wish List!

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Its that time of year… now that you have received the lovely chunky striped sweater from great aunt sally and the matching reindeer socks from your 2nd cousins you need to write some thank you notes.  Why not add some style to the outside of those envelopes AND save your hands from some of that inevitable cramping that will result from all of those notes!

Use one of these darling custom return address stamps from red stamp to return stamp your thank you note envelopes:

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We had a Christmas Tree Dilemma.  The biggest room in our apartment is the living room, which has been turned into a studio for our various projects.  It’s where we spend 90% of our time at home, and it is filled with tables (not one, not two, but three tables, two bookshelves, and a computer desk).  Ground space is limited, so any tree would need to fit on one of those tables.  A traditional 4′ or larger tree just wouldn’t work.  I had heard rumors of fabulous little rosemary trees, but could only find them online for $40 and higher.  (our entire budget for Christmas decor).

Imagine my surprise when we walked by a ginormous display of rosemary trees outside of Whole Foods.  Even better?  It was $12.99!  Reading this article from Green Your Decor made me feel even better about choosing a reusable tree.

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Hope you are all enjoying a wonderful Christmas.  Here are a few of my favorite Christmas decor items I’ve seen this year.

Images: Glitter birds from Martha Stewart, placecard from Erin via Design*Sponge, Blue Cottage Collection via Creature Comforts.

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I saw this recipe for donut holes on Design Sponge last week and had to try!  It comes from one of our favorite bloggers, Wanwisa from Modern Vintage.  Perfect for Christmas morning, these were insanely easy to cook and my family raved about them.  It’s not every day we get warm “homemade” donuts.  I think you can reduce the sugar down to 1 cup and adjust the cinnamon to taste.

One canister of Pillsbury Buttermilk Biscuit dough (8 large biscuits)
20-32 fl Oz. of Canola Oil (depending on the size of deep fryer, wok or cast iron pot)
2 cups of sugar
2 tablespoons cinnamon

Cookware
Small wok, deep fryer or cast iron French oven
Spider Skimmer or metal slotted spoon

In a small wok, deep fryer or a cast iron French oven, heat up some oil to 350 degrees. Mix sugar and cinnamon in a shallow bowl and set aside.  While the oil is heating up, pop open the biscuit canister and pull apart three equal parts of dough from each biscuit. Using the palm of your hands, roll dough into smooth round spheres.  Use either an Asian Spider Skimmer or a metal slotted spoon to drop a few balls at a time into pot. Fry in batches of 5-6 at one time. As the donut holes cook, they will rise to the top. Allow them to reach a nice golden hue evenly around before removing from oil and placing on a large plate lined with a few layers of paper towels. While warm, roll the donut holes in your sugar mixture and cover evenly. Plate them and serve while slightly warm.

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Merry Christmas from the creators and contributors of Elizabeth Anne Designs!  It’s been an amazing year for our business and we thank each of you from the bottom of our very grateful hearts.  We hope 2009 is filled with peace, love and joy for all of our friends!

Love,

Ami Elizabeth and Rebekah Anne

I am very much about the seasons, especially the Christmas season (yes, I do consider Christmas a season all its own).  Every Christmas I try to be judicious about my decoration purchases and only buy things I would actually want to pull out and use again the following year.  This year I fell in love with the twig reindeer from Pottery Barn.  My family picked up on my adoration and were kind enough to pick me up a family. Aren’t they adorable?

I’m loving this simple centerpiece idea from the portfolio of Phyllis Asher.

This year I hosted my third annual Christmas tea.  This has apparently become a tradition not only important to me but also to my friends.  I was going to skip it due to the large number of other holiday parties we are hosting and attending, but one friend worked up the courage to ask me about it.  She said she and a couple other friends had already talked about the tea and were looking forward to it.  When I explained why I was leaning towards skipping it, she suggested that I make it a potluck.  That’s what I did, and it turned out great.  Below is a list of things you’ll need for your own tea party as well as a recipe for fake clotted cream.

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