Easy Christmas Present DIY

Greetings friends!

I haven't done the last to Daily Decembers because we have been packing and moving things to my grandmother's new apartment! Yesterday was the big moving day and it started at 9:30 and ended at 5:30. Phew, that was a big day. The weather was so nice though! 70 degrees in December!! What is this?!?

Anyway, today I shall share an easy diy and do today's Daily December.

What are we making?

DIY coasters!

What you will need:

A smooth tile

Rubbing alcohol

Sharpies

A little cup and eyedropper or something that will let you drip the alcohol

A sealer

Felt pads

1. Poor a little bit of rubbing alcohol into the cup and I suggest putting the tile onto a plate to protect the surface you are working on. Also, before you start, wash the tile.

2. Color the tile with sharpies however you want! I decided to go with wintery colors of blue.

3. Take the eyedropper or whatever you are using and drip the alcohol onto the tile. You can put however many drops you want, but I don't suggest a lot unless you want your sharpie markings to mesh together.

(Mine did mix a little)

You can tip your plate to let the alcohol drip to other sides if you put a lot on, like I did. You can also blow on it.

4. Wait for it to dry and drip some more if you want. I did this about 3 or 4 times.

5. When you have your tile how you want to to look, (btw, if you really don't like how yours turned out you can easily wipe the sharpie off by washing it.) take out your sealer and spray/paint over your tile, then let it dry.

I used this:

6. Put on the felt pads on each corner of your coaster...

...Voila, you finished your masterpiece!

Here are some others I've done:

Hope you enjoyed that DIY and had fun! There are soooo many options that you can do with these and they are fun presents to give away!

~*~

Today's Daily December is Winter Pinterest Roundup, so here are some of my faves:

Funnies:

So true...

*facepalm*

Fashion:

The penguin is so cute!

Nail Art:

Well that was an extremely long post, but I hope you enjoyed it! Byyyyeee!!!

QOTW / Daily December #5, #6, #7, And #8

~*~

I missed so many of these Daily December prompts, yikes! These past few days have been super busy and yesterday my oldest brother turned 20! :O

Anyway, let's get to these prompts.

#5 - This week I...

Started school again. Since NaNo I hadn't done much, but a couple math lessons a week, so now I'm kicking it back into high-gear.

Worked on some costumes with my friends for a project we are doing. (And we went to Starbucks!!)

Took care of a couple dogs with my younger brother for some of our neighbors.

Went to eat and celebrated my brother's birthday.

Umm...there are other things, but my mind is drawing a blank right now...

#6 - Winter Essentials

*Comfy Clothes

Who doesn't love huge, floppy sweaters to cuddle up in?

*A Fire Place

To warm yourself in your comfy clothes.

*Christmas Movies

To watch while you are comfortable and warming up next to the fire. (Elf is one of my favorite Christmas movies! You?)

*Cookies

Decorating Christmas cookies is so fun! 

*Eggnog

To go with your cookies! Mmm....

#7 - Christmas Playlist

Yess! I love Christmas music! Three of the songs on my playlist are:

White Christmas - Danny Gokey

Heaven Everywhere - Francesca Battistelli

Christmas This Year - Tobymac

#8 - Your Opinion On...

Umm....uhh....eeek....my brain feels fried right now....Okay, my opinion on apples...sorry, I just ate an apple and that's all I can think of. xD

Anyway, Granny Smith and Pink Lady apples are the best. They are so crispy and sour,  yet sweet. I love the Granny Smith apples a bit more because of their sourness.

Soft apples are so gross and the dark red apples are equally as gross.

That is my opinion. Thank you.

Okay, what are your opinions on apples?

xD

~*~

Ah, I'm all caught up! Yay!

Today I went to the Orthodontist and I have some awesome news. I'm getting my braces off in January!! Yay!!!

One of my brackets would not stay on my tooth when they tried to put in the wire, so they left it off, lest they break my jaw. 

Literally, it felt as if they were breaking my jaw. They pushed so hard trying to get the wire in that they had to hold my jaw to help support it and they still couldn't get it in because the bracket popped back off....my jaw is still sore....

Well, I have to get ready for another outing tonight! Byyyeee!

Christmas Memories

Hello lovely people!

I forgot to do yesterday's prompt, but today's Daily December is Favorite Christmas Memory, but I will share a few that popped into mind.

One Christmas when I was very young, I unwrapped a little tubular present and it was a toilet paper roll. I was confused at first, but then I saw a little stuffed animal cat inside and it was so cute, I loved it! I think I still have it somewhere...

OOH! One of my favorite Christmases was when we had a scavenger hunt. I think this was just a few years ago, but each year my brothers and I get one big present, basically the one that cost/wanted the most and the scavenger hunt had things we needed to do to find our big present.

I remember having to do a crossword puzzle, then racing up the steps to find clues in our bookshelf, then down to the kitchen and one of the last things we had to do was sing a Christmas carol.

It was very fun and I'd be up to doing that again. xD

Ah, another favorite memory was when one Christmas a looooong time ago we didn't see Santa that year! One night, there was a knocking on out back door and my parents let someone with a red suit in. I was so surprised to see santa in our house. He sat down on one of our chairs and we told him what we wanted. I was a bit skeptical though and I let my brothers go first. This santa looked oddly like our friend's dad with his salt and pepper beard. It wasn't until this santa left that I found out my brothers were skeptical as well. My parents only smiled at our guesses at who he might've been. My younger brother said he looked out the front window and saw him drive off in a car with one of our friends in the back seat. Hmmm....

Well, I don't know when, but my parents later said that he was actually our friend's dad and he did this to other families as well if their kids wanted to see santa and they hadn't been able to. ;)

Yep, there are some memories of mine! Any fun Christmas stories of your own?

Paracord Bracelets

Hello all!

This is a little late, but oh well. :P

For Christmas, I made my brothers each a paracord bracelet!  They loved them!

Here is a pic:

If you want to know how to make them, click here!  She has an easy-to-follow tutorial and I couldn't have made it any better than hers. :)

Have a great day!

Banana and Bear's Christmas Photo Challenge/ Writing Contest Reminder

'Ello all!

I'm entering Banana and Bear's Photo Challenge!

Click here to see more about it!

Christmas Ornament:

Christmas Lights:

Christmas Candy:

Christmas Tree:

Christmas Present:

Christmas Wreath:

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For a reminder, my winter writing contest ends in 3 days!  (December 31)

Click here to find out about it and to enter.

There are 3 who have entered so far!

Have a great day!

Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas everyone!

I hope you had an awesome and fun day with your family! :)

What gift was your favorite?

Winter Writing Contest

Hello, all!  Happy December 1st! 

As it says in the title, I'm hosting a Winter Writing Contest!

Rules:

You may write a short story or poem.

It has to be winter themed.  Here are some examples:

*Christmas

*Snow

*Candy Canes

*Freezing Temperatures

*Hot Chocolate

Please make sure your entry is family friendly.  If you write anything inappropriate, use swear words, or anything like that you will be disqualified.

The contest is December 1st - December 31st.

Comment with a link to your writing on this post!

Anyone can enter!

Winners:

I will post the winner(s) on my blog, they will get a winner button, and they will be put in the AEL's Contest Winners page!

There may be more than one winner, but it depends on how many people enter! :)

Feel free to advertise this! ;)

I hope you join and have fun!

My Nutcracker Collection

'Ello all!

I have a nutcracker collection that I've had for awhile now.  Here's a little story of how I started collecting them.

When I was in elementary school, my music teacher had a HUGE collection of nutcrackers in the music room.  She had giant ones and tiny ones all around; on top of shelves, on the ground, or anywhere else where she could squeeze them in (that's how many she had!).  It made me want to collect them.  She would tell us stories about some of them and why she started collecting (which I've forgotten now).

One day, my family was at a friend's winter party and one of the teens had a few nutcrackers.  I admired all of their little intricate designs.  She saw me staring at them and asked if I liked nutcrackers.  I said that I wanted to start collecting them, but didn't have one yet.  She, then, decided to give me one of hers.

I told my parents this and every winter since then, my parents have let me pick out one to add to my collection.

Here is my collection to date!

The one on the left was the one I was given to start my collection.  The one on the right I won at some game in music class.

Christmas 2008.  My brother picked these out as a gift for me.

Christmas 2009

Christmas 2010.  One of my favorites!

Christmas 2011.  The one on the left plays music when you twist the thingamajig on the bottom.  The left is one that my mom made me.  (it was just wooden with only a face.)

Christmas 2012.  My parents found this one for me.  It's unique and my parents love playing golf! 

Christmas 2013.  My other favorite one!

Christmas 2014.  Another golf one that my mom found, but the other one I picked out because I liked that the eyebrows and mustache were raised instead of flat!

 That's my whole collection so far!

Do you collect anything?