Multi-Purpose Cones for the Holidays!

For our office holiday party this year I decided to try my hand at making a charcuterie tree out of a styrofoam cone and kale.  It was a little trickier than I thought, but came out pretty cool and was a hit!

I started out with the cone and added kale pieces to it and attached them with toothpicks.  I then added the meats, cheeses, and olives to keep the kale down.

I had some leftover for the hubby as well.

I also made some icing candy trees!

There was a bit of trial and error here- I realized that you need to work from the bottom so it all doesn’t slide down and it helps to stack the candies instead of lightly dusting the icing with candy pieces like I did on the second one here.

Here’s the recipe for the icing- I had to add another 1/2 pound of sugar to make it thicker.

Royal Icing

1 pound (3-3/4 cups) powdered sugar
1-2 large egg whites

Mix all of the ingredients together using an electric mixer, until the icing is smooth and thick.

 

Hope you all had a great holiday season and enjoy a very merry new year!

 

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‘Tis the Season

The day after turkey day, we went to Hanscome’s Christmas Tree Farm in North Yarmouth to pick out and cut down any tree of our choosing.  I have always wanted to do that and was happy to find a place in our own backyard.

Upon arrival we picked up a saw and headed out into the field.  I was hoping for a tall wide one like I had last year, but it wasn’t going to work out this year.  We finally happened upon a very nice, sturdy, tall, dependable tree – just like my husband 🙂 .  After playing around a bit we committed to it by chopping it down and carrying it through the village of trees.

  

Whenever I’ve put up a tree in the past, I’ve always put up all the ornaments I’ve collected as a child and as I grew up.  I’ve noticed other people creating trees with a theme and I thought for our first year in the house that I would try a collected look as well.

I decided to go with something beachy, silver and blue, and snowy- kind of like a Maine winter. Here’s what I came up with:

Here are a few examples of what I used:

A clear ornament with sand from our Honeymoon…

An assortment of scented balls from a potpourri set from Michaels…

Some funky disco balls to bring out the shine…

Coastal themed potpourri sets…

A bunch of little icicles…

And, of course, some sentimental items:

An ornament given to us by Scott and Ruth of the Brewster House.  We’ve stayed there every New Year’s Eve since the night we were engaged.

The ornament my mom gave us last year in honor of our first Christmas in Maine with the Lears…

And a his and hers first Christmas ornament from my mother in law, Cissie.

I hope you all have fun decorating for the season ahead.

Cheers!

Lauren