34 A Pinteresting Christmas

Pinterest is really changing things in the blog world.  Heck, in the real world as well.  We are finding endless amounts of inspiration and ideas and running with them like crazy.  It's beyond fantastic.

So it's not quite so strange that Pinterest made an impact on our Christmas a little bit this year as well.

In fact, thanks to Pinterest, I was able to make a great holiday gift and a fun little desert for the kiddos!  Things I probably never would have thought up on my own, so I was quite excited!

Awhile back I pinned this pincushion sewing jar:

And no, I don't sew {yet, it's on my list of things to do in 2012.  No I don't have a written list, just one of the many I keep in my brain....}, but my husband's family is full of sewing smarties, so I thought it would be fun to bring a whole box of these sweet gifts to a holiday party!

So I rounded up a bunch of extra fabric pieces that I had:

Purchased a box of canning jars:

Purchased 12 mini sewing kits:

Along with a little package of pins:

Not shown:  hot glue, batting, felt and scissors.

The project was super simple, but a little time consuming since I decided to make 12.  A couple of things I learned:

• The less dense and softer the fabric, the easier it is to work with.  Do not use outdoor fabric, you will get frustrated.
• Hot glue is your best friend.  I used it to really hold it all together well so it will hopefully last a lifetime.
• I covered the underside of the jar lid with a piece of felt to make it look prettier, it was just important to cut the felt circle small enough so the lid would still screw closed easily enough.

It was pretty straight forward putting the jars together.  Here was the finished product:

By the time I was all finished up, it was dark outside.  So the picture isn't the best, but still, you can see it makes for a great party gift!

So now you know I don't know how to sew.  Another thing you may not know about me, I don't know how to cook or bake either.  Well, I know a little.  I can make waffles.  The kind you put in the toaster.  And bake a mean cupcake from box mix.  That's about it....

That said, I always feel a little bad showing up at gatherings and events without an awesome dish to pass.  I have to thank the grocery store often for helping me out with that.  This year though, was a different story.  I found these cute things on Pinterest and I knew I could easily replicate it for the kids!

Of course, I took the easy way out and just purchased a bag of oh so awful for you chocolate donuts {I told myself it was OK, it's the holidays}.

I just popped some M&M's in for the nose and pretzels for the ears, white frosting eyes and donzo!  No baking required!

Mine didn't turn out as glamorous, but that's the best part.  Kid's don't mind!

And let me tell you, I went through many many pretzels to try and get great antlers... it's not as easy as one would think....

So there you have it.  How Pinterest spiced up our Christmas a little bit this year.

It got me thinking, I can't be the only one that was inspired by something found on Pinterest.  How did Pinterest change your holiday season?