Let's not talk about glitter, mkay?

I'm having one of THOSE days today where there's just way too much to do and in the back of my mind I can hear myself saying that somethings just have to be pushed to Tomorrow's "to do" list. Kind of like, well, what was SUPPOSED to be today's project. Instead I spent the day cleaning my Mother's house, "handling" the Bank issues (DUNH DUNH DUNNNNNNNNH), grocery shopping and catching the tail end of my Sister In-law's "Select Chorus" Christmas Concert. I? Am not in a crafty mood today. Also... I may be anti-glitter today as well. JUST SAYIN.' So here are some nuggets of joy from LAST Christmas and I hope you enjoy the (almost embarrassingly) easy tutorials.

 Santa's Cookie Tray and that other Tray.

What you'll need:

1. Unfinished trays from your local craft store. You can typically find them in the wood working section for cheap cheap CHEAP. I believe this was a 2 piece set for less than $5.
2. Decorative papers/stickers/general scrapbooking embellishments.
3. Paint!
4. MOD PODGE!

Take your tray and sand off any splinters or rough edges, dust off and follow up with paint color of your choice. Something I've learned since last year (which I will be attempting and following up with tomorrow -- keep yo' eyes peeled!), is to wet your paper before Mod Podging it to your surface. Apparently it keeps the paper pliant enough to keep those stubborn bubbles/ripples from forming. WHO KNEW!?!?? Not the "me" from a year ago! Now that your paper is down, put ANOTHER coat of Mod Podge on top to really seal it in. Go ahead and "seal" the rest of the tray while you're at it. The word we're looking for is "finished" and/or "uniform." Now decorate to your little glitter lovin' hearts content! Make sure to seal it with ANOTHER coat of the good ol' Podge! Let dry and dump you some cookies on your tray and call it a day. Aren't we glad Mod Podge is non-toxic? Just don't go putting it in the dishwasher, mkay?

Even though paper itself is a pretty cheap embellishment, I've found that if you check any craft store's clearance section right before any holiday you can almost always find last year's "style" marked down. You're welcome.

"Speaking of Cheap" Door Hanging

You guys... see this sign? I bought the base for $.88. I bought $8.80 worth to be honest. After Easter LAST YEAR, our local Kroger had these plain (i.e. UGLY) "Welcome Easter" signs STACKED in the Manager's Special section. It's probably one of my best finds ever. For this one, I sanded and primed the edges ONLY of the sign, slapped some fancy paper on the front that already had this awesome Santa snow scene and hot glued some felt glitter snowflakes on it. I finished it off by sticking push pins BACK through the original holes for the original (i.e. UGLY) wire hanger and slipped a simple ribbon in there. TADA! Isn't it beeeeautiful? It's my very favorite Christmas decoration.

Coming tomorrow? Snow Dough. Hopefully... wink wink.

I am sharing my holiday home decor and cleaning tips for the chance to win prizes from The SITS Girls and Great Cleaners.