Friday Favorites Linky Party 405

Let's get this party started! Time to link up and share your fantastic craft and DIY projects, recipes, tutorials, and ideas!

Please support and follow our lovely blog party hostesses:

Jerri at Simply Sweet Home - Twitter | FB | G+ | Pin | Inst

Christine at Light and Savvy - Twitter | FB | G+ | Pin | Inst

Jen at Creatively Homemade - Twitter | G+ | Pin

Dawn at LeroyLime - Twitter | FB | G+ | Pin | Inst | BL

Maisy at Becoming Alice - FB | G+ | Pin

Sheree at Stage Presents - Twitter | FB | Pin | Inst | Inst

Lisa at Condo Blues - Twitter | FB | G+ | Pin | Inst

Amy at A Day of Small Things - Pin

Penny at Penny's Passion - Twitter | FB | G+ | Pin | Inst

Kelly at Under a Texas Sky - Twitter | FB | G+ | Pin | Inst | BL

If you are featured this week, be sure and grab a featured button for your blog!

You can show your love for this week's favorites by going over and commenting on the posts and by pinning or sharing!

Friday Favorites Linky Party 404

Let's get this party started! Time to link up and share your fantastic craft and DIY projects, recipes, tutorials, and ideas!

Please support and follow our lovely blog party hostesses:

Jerri at Simply Sweet Home - Twitter | FB | G+ | Pin | Inst

Christine at Light and Savvy - Twitter | FB | G+ | Pin | Inst

Jen at Creatively Homemade - Twitter | G+ | Pin

Dawn at LeroyLime - Twitter | FB | G+ | Pin | Inst | BL

Maisy at Becoming Alice - FB | G+ | Pin

Sheree at Stage Presents - Twitter | FB | Pin | Inst | Inst

Lisa at Condo Blues - Twitter | FB | G+ | Pin | Inst

Amy at A Day of Small Things - Pin

Penny at Penny's Passion - Twitter | FB | G+ | Pin | Inst

Kelly at Under a Texas Sky - Twitter | FB | G+ | Pin | Inst | BL

If you are featured this week, be sure and grab a featured button for your blog!

You can show your love for this week's favorites by going over and commenting on the posts and by pinning or sharing!

Zero Waste DIY Recycled Penguin Gift Box

I finished the last of my birthday mango green tea (thanks sis!) just in time to recycle the tea container into a cute little penguin gift box.

Pin this idea for later! Share it with your friends!

If you don’t have a round tea container, you can use any round container you have like an oatmeal, snack container, or what have you.

You will need:

Friday Favorites Linky Party 403

Let's get this party started! Time to link up and share your fantastic craft and DIY projects, recipes, tutorials, and ideas!

Please support and follow our lovely blog party hostesses:

Jerri at Simply Sweet Home - Twitter | FB | G+ | Pin | Inst

Christine at Light and Savvy - Twitter | FB | G+ | Pin | Inst

Jen at Creatively Homemade - Twitter | G+ | Pin

Dawn at LeroyLime - Twitter | FB | G+ | Pin | Inst | BL

Maisy at Becoming Alice - FB | G+ | Pin

Sheree at Stage Presents - Twitter | FB | Pin | Inst | Inst

Lisa at Condo Blues - Twitter | FB | G+ | Pin | Inst

Amy at A Day of Small Things - Pin

Penny at Penny's Passion - Twitter | FB | G+ | Pin | Inst

Kelly at Under a Texas Sky - Twitter | FB | G+ | Pin | Inst | BL

If you are featured this week, be sure and grab a featured button for your blog!

You can show your love for this week's favorites by going over and commenting on the posts and by pinning or sharing!

How to Make Wine Cork Gnomes

 Danish nisse are gnomes who secretly live in your attic, or barn if you live on a farm, and help take care of the animals at night when you are asleep. They also protect your family from harm.

All these helpful creatures ask for is respect and a bowl of porridge with a pat of butter on top on Christmas Eve, otherwise they will get even by playing tricks on you. Can’t find your car keys the next day? A group of insulted nisser probably hid them!

Many Danish home decorate for Christmas with nisse (also called tomte) or as we call them in the United States, gnomes.The plural of nisse is nisser and they are pretty darn cute as well as helpful!

Let’s make some Christmas gnome decorations from recycled wine corks! Tomte like it when we recycle.

Reycled Wine Cork Craft Idea: Christmas Gnomes!

Friday Favorites Linky Party 402

Let's get this party started! Time to link up and share your fantastic craft and DIY projects, recipes, tutorials, and ideas!

Please support and follow our lovely blog party hostesses:

Jerri at Simply Sweet Home - Twitter | FB | G+ | Pin | Inst

Christine at Light and Savvy - Twitter | FB | G+ | Pin | Inst

Jen at Creatively Homemade - Twitter | G+ | Pin

Dawn at LeroyLime - Twitter | FB | G+ | Pin | Inst | BL

Maisy at Becoming Alice - FB | G+ | Pin

Sheree at Stage Presents - Twitter | FB | Pin | Inst | Inst

Lisa at Condo Blues - Twitter | FB | G+ | Pin | Inst

Amy at A Day of Small Things - Pin

Penny at Penny's Passion - Twitter | FB | G+ | Pin | Inst

Kelly at Under a Texas Sky - Twitter | FB | G+ | Pin | Inst | BL

If you are featured this week, be sure and grab a featured button for your blog!

You can show your love for this week's favorites by going over and commenting on the posts and by pinning or sharing!

25 of the Best Gift Ideas Under 25 Dollars

Tis the season to think about gift giving! Fa, La, La, La, La. La, La, La, La!

My 2017 gift idea guide has something for every one on your give giving list whether it be a co worker, boss, or teacher, to the man, woman, or finicky teen in your life.

Pop on over to my food blog Lazy Budget Chef to read:

25 Unique Gift Ideas Under 25 Dollars

Did you enjoy this post? Get more like it by subscribing to the Condo Blues RSS Feed or to Condo Blues by Email.

How to Make a Christmas Tree Topper Angel

I like to mix up our Christmas decorations from year to year to get a new look from ornaments and decorations I already have and love. I figure it is time for our Christmas tree angel to grace the top of the tree after several years of big fluffy  bows.

 Here's the BEFORE. Keep reading to see the AFTER!

Girlfriend is in some sad shape! Her wings are chipped and broken, her bust looks weirdly chesty, and she has always been too tall to sit properly on the top of our tree.

I hit the shops to drool over Christmas tree decorations find an elegant angel wearing a sumptuous brocade dress. I must be the Goldilocks of Christmas tree angels because I couldn’t find one that was Just Right.

I noticed that almost every angel in the store has  the same face as the Christmas angel I already own. Since I honed my sewing skills as a kid making doll clothes,  I knew I could satisfy my inner tree topper Goldilocks by repairing and making over our current Christmas tree angel into something elegant and fantastic!

Extreme Makeover Christmas Tree Angel Edition

Friday Favorites Linky Party 401

Let's get this party started! Time to link up and share your fantastic craft and DIY projects, recipes, tutorials, and ideas!

Please support and follow our lovely blog party hostesses:

Jerri at Simply Sweet Home - Twitter | FB | G+ | Pin | Inst

Christine at Light and Savvy - Twitter | FB | G+ | Pin | Inst

Jen at Creatively Homemade - Twitter | G+ | Pin

Dawn at LeroyLime - Twitter | FB | G+ | Pin | Inst | BL

Maisy at Becoming Alice - FB | G+ | Pin

Sheree at Stage Presents - Twitter | FB | Pin | Inst | Inst

Lisa at Condo Blues - Twitter | FB | G+ | Pin | Inst

Amy at A Day of Small Things - Pin

Penny at Penny's Passion - Twitter | FB | G+ | Pin | Inst

Kelly at Under a Texas Sky - Twitter | FB | G+ | Pin | Inst | BL

If you are featured this week, be sure and grab a featured button for your blog!

You can show your love for this week's favorites by going over and commenting on the posts and by pinning or sharing!

How to Make Awesome DIY Christmas Outdoor Projector Decorations!

I like to keep my Christmas decorations fresh by mixing and matching the decorations we already have sprinkled with a healthy dollop of DIY if I want to decorate with a new outdoor Christmas theme. Condo living means I don’t have the storage space for moving inflatables or  the life size animatronic Santas we see when we idea shop at the Christmas store.

Which is perfectly fine because this year I’m decorating my house with a life size live action Santa Claus and I’m repurposing my Halloween decorations to do it. It will be SO! FREAKING! COOL!

Pin this tutorial for later! Share it with your friends!

25 Days of Alternative Christmas Movies

I like watching a good holiday movie but I swear Christmas movies only use four major plots they recycle, over, and over, and over, again:

• Dickens' A Christmas Carol

• It’s a Wonderful Life

• Helping Santa/the town/an event/the disadvantaged overcome a mean or terrible obstacle or their will not be a Christmas/Event

• And if you’re the Hallmark Channel, it usually involves a sappy sweet love story of finding a significant other, lost family member, or quite possible a puppy

Actually the puppy is wishful thinking on my part. I love dogs!

After one too may years of being forced to watch the same trite children’s Christmas special or ooey, gooey, and predictable December  movie (or coming home grumpy from being stuck in holiday traffic) makes the little pink haired punk rock girl who still lives inside me want to kick the doors off my holiday entertainment with a Christmas explosion or a monster or two.

Pin this list for later! Come on, you know you wanna.

If you need a break from watching  the holiday same old, same old, put the kiddoes to bed and break out my list of 25 non traditional Christmas movies – one for each day of December leading up to and including Christmas!

25 of the Best Non Traditional Christmas Movies for December   

Friday Favorites Linky Party 400

Happy Thanksgiving everyone!

Let's get this party started! Time to link up and share your fantastic craft and DIY projects, recipes, tutorials, and ideas!

Please support and follow our lovely blog party hostesses:

Jerri at Simply Sweet Home - Twitter | FB | G+ | Pin | Inst

Christine at Light and Savvy - Twitter | FB | G+ | Pin | Inst

Jen at Creatively Homemade - Twitter | G+ | Pin

Dawn at LeroyLime - Twitter | FB | G+ | Pin | Inst | BL

Maisy at Becoming Alice - FB | G+ | Pin

Sheree at Stage Presents - Twitter | FB | Pin | Inst | Inst

Lisa at Condo Blues - Twitter | FB | G+ | Pin | Inst

Amy at A Day of Small Things - Pin

Penny at Penny's Passion - Twitter | FB | G+ | Pin | Inst

Kelly at Under a Texas Sky - Twitter | FB | G+ | Pin | Inst | BL

If you are featured this week, be sure and grab a featured button for your blog!

You can show your love for this week's favorites by going over and commenting on the posts and by pinning or sharing!

Friday Favorites Linky Party 399

Let's get this party started! Time to link up and share your fantastic craft and DIY projects, recipes, tutorials, and ideas!

Please support and follow our lovely blog party hostesses:

Jerri at Simply Sweet Home - Twitter | FB | G+ | Pin | Inst

Christine at Light and Savvy - Twitter | FB | G+ | Pin | Inst

Jen at Creatively Homemade - Twitter | G+ | Pin

Dawn at LeroyLime - Twitter | FB | G+ | Pin | Inst | BL

Maisy at Becoming Alice - FB | G+ | Pin

Sheree at Stage Presents - Twitter | FB | Pin | Inst | Inst

Lisa at Condo Blues - Twitter | FB | G+ | Pin | Inst

Amy at A Day of Small Things - Pin

Penny at Penny's Passion - Twitter | FB | G+ | Pin | Inst

Kelly at Under a Texas Sky - Twitter | FB | G+ | Pin | Inst | BL

If you are featured this week, be sure and grab a featured button for your blog!

You can show your love for this week's favorites by going over and commenting on the posts and by pinning or sharing!

Friday Favorites Linky Party 398

Let's get this party started! Time to link up and share your fantastic craft and DIY projects, recipes, tutorials, and ideas!

Please support and follow our lovely blog party hostesses:

Jerri at Simply Sweet Home - Twitter | FB | G+ | Pin | Inst

Christine at Light and Savvy - Twitter | FB | G+ | Pin | Inst

Jen at Creatively Homemade - Twitter | G+ | Pin

Dawn at LeroyLime - Twitter | FB | G+ | Pin | Inst | BL

Maisy at Becoming Alice - FB | G+ | Pin

Sheree at Stage Presents - Twitter | FB | Pin | Inst | Inst

Lisa at Condo Blues - Twitter | FB | G+ | Pin | Inst

Amy at A Day of Small Things - Pin

Penny at Penny's Passion - Twitter | FB | G+ | Pin | Inst

Kelly at Under a Texas Sky - Twitter | FB | G+ | Pin | Inst | BL

You can show your love for this week's favorites by going over and commenting on the posts and by pinning or sharing!

18 Gift Ideas for People Who Are Always Cold

I am that person who is always cold and as luck will have it I’m also the one who is assigned the frozen tundra polar ice cap infused office at work. Because apparently most office buildings think you have to keep the IT department people as cold as the servers and computers we work on – or at least it feels that way.

Pin this list for later and to share with your friends!

Influenced by a unseasonable cold snap and freezing while I shuffled around the house while wearing many layers, I put together a holiday gift guide for people who work outside in the cold, inside a cold building, or just like the snuggle up at home when it it cold outside.

Holiday Gift Ideas to Keep You Warm When it is Cold

Friday Favorites Linky Party 396

Let's get this party started! Time to link up and share your fantastic craft and DIY projects, recipes, tutorials, and ideas!

Please support and follow our lovely blog party hostesses:

Jerri at Simply Sweet Home - Twitter | FB | G+ | Pin | Inst

Christine at Light and Savvy - Twitter | FB | G+ | Pin | Inst

Jen at Creatively Homemade - Twitter | G+ | Pin

Dawn at LeroyLime - Twitter | FB | G+ | Pin | Inst | BL

Maisy at Becoming Alice - FB | G+ | Pin

Sheree at Stage Presents - Twitter | FB | Pin | Inst | Inst

Lisa at Condo Blues - Twitter | FB | G+ | Pin | Inst

Amy at A Day of Small Things - Pin

Penny at Penny's Passion - Twitter | FB | G+ | Pin | Inst

Kelly at Under a Texas Sky - Twitter | FB | G+ | Pin | Inst | BL

If you are featured this week, be sure and grab a featured button for your blog!

You can show your love for this week's favorites by going over and commenting on the posts and by pinning or sharing!

8 DIY Gift Bow Tutorials

I obsolete love topping a hand wrapped present with a big fluffy bow.

Which I never seem to have on hand because all too often I end up wrapping gifts at Zero Hour.

Fortunately, the person receiving my pretty present is none the wiser because I now tie my own big, fluffy, and I dare say fabulous gift bows from real ribbon or paper - yes paper! – I have on hand in my gift wrapping box.

 Pin this post for easy ideas on how to recycle scraps into decedent gift wrap!

 

How To Tie 8 Easy Gift Wrap Bows

DIY Giant Peppermint Candy Gift Wrap Tutorial

My husband is a dedicated runner. He runs in even the worst weather conditions, cross trains to prevent injuries, checks in with his doctor about his nutritional needs, and as a result often drinks a protein shake after a workout.

I have so many empty protein powder containers it isn’t even funny. However considering how it contributed to Husband coming in first in his age group and 19th overall out of 800+ runners during his last race, I’m OK with it for the most part.

I repurpose the containers as often as I can for storage before settling on the recycling bin solution. Originally, I was going to upcycle the protein powder containers into GIANT peppermint stick candy decorations and use them to decorate  our front porch for Christmas.

Pin this idea for later!

After Lacey and I finished the project,  I decided to use them as peppermint candy Christmas gift boxes instead.  I ran out of cardboard gift boxes and in all honesty, I don’t want to deal with the folks who make fun of my DIY fabric gift bags this year.

Easy DIY Snowflake Gift Tags and Friday Favorites Party - Week 351

I have two quick and easy homemade gift tag tutorials to share with you today. They are perfect for snow lowers and Frozen fanatics!

Or for people who should be cleaning their craft room and get distracted by a pile of leftover supplies and decide to make something with them instead of tackling the higher priority stuff on their Holiday To Do List.

Not that I know anything about that.

Pin this tutorial for Christmas, Hanukah, or Solstice, or Yule!

 

 Homemade Snowflake Gift Tags

How to Make Your Christmas Tree Look Fuller

In addition to our family’s main Christmas tree, my husband and I decorate the upstairs landing with my hand me down (formerly) single gal Christmas tree.

Our little Christmas tree is starting to show its age. The pine needles are in a perpetual state of squished and refuse to fluff.  When one of the branches snapped off in my hand this year, I thought it was time to retire it after many years of service.

But with a dose of Christmas magic in disguise as a few decorating hacks I made our scrawny tree look full and gave it new continued life!
 

Pin this post for later!

You can use these Christmas tree decorating ideas for both live and artificial Christmas trees although obviously you won’t be able to fluff and adjust the branches of a live tree like a fake one. Either type of Christmas tree will allow you to shove a broken Christmas tree branch back into the tree to fill a hole. Guess how I know?

How to Fill Holes and Make a Full and Fluffy Christmas Tree in Six Easy Steps or Less!