Year: 2022

With two young children, I make a lot of hot chocolate. This season, I decided to create an epic hot cocoa bar for my kids to enjoy.

It’s a bit messy and sticky, but the memories are absolutely priceless. In this post, I will share all the items I included in my hot chocolate bar and where you can find them!

There’s nothing more nostalgic than memories of my mom peeling off our layers of coats and boots and making us mugs of hot chocolate.

Now I am creating these same memories with my daughters, with some extra flourishes because A Beautiful Mess is all about going the extra mile—especially when it comes to holiday treats.

Related links: Peppermint Hot Chocolate, Gingerbread Hot Chocolate, Nutella Hot Chocolate, Non-Dairy Spiked Hot Chocolate

Hot Chocolate Station Items:

• It’s important to start with a big wooden tray. By grouping my hot chocolate accessories

This week, we’re chatting about the most creative and thoughtful gifts we’ve received, gift ideas, and how we’re wrapping our gifts this year.

You can find the podcast posts archive here.

A big thank you to our sponsors! Check out the offers from Shopify, LMNT, Wildgrain, and Cozy Earth. And, if you’re looking for a specific code you heard on the podcast, you can see a full list on this page!

Show Notes:

Best gifts ever received: 

Emma – Trip to Charleston to see Prissy and Pop, a homemade book from her husband called First Year in Texts, and a horseshoe necklace that says Cloud Nine (the name of her book).

Elsie – A wedding video, a dollhouse from her husband, and record and artwork collections.

Gift shopping secrets:

Emma – Make notes on your phone when someone mentions something they want. If

Are you looking for DIY Christmas card ideas? Maybe you want to make a Christmas card with a photo? Today, I’m sharing three Christmas card ideas anyone could make, AND a big list of other ideas and links as well. Hooray!

In this post, I am working with Canon USA. I used my Canon IVY 2 Mini Photo Printer for each of these card ideas. I love this little printer! It’s compact, easy to use, and you can use an app to print photos from your phone. You can even add design elements like frames in the app.

We have a special code for our readers too! You can get an extra $10 off the Canon IVY 2 Mini Photo printer with code ABM on the Canon USA Online Store through 12/31/2022.

Additionally, users will also get a free IVY Carrying case if they purchase the Canon IVY 2 Mini

Citrus season is upon us! You know what that means, don’t you? Elsie will be whipping up an orange cranberry margarita with the tart fruit, and I’ll be over here butchering oranges and lemons for holiday home decor. Haha!

That’s right, I’m getting au naturel and turning food into Christmas ornaments. These dried citrus ornaments smell great when you make them, and you can eat the leftovers. Sounds like my kind of craft!

Supplies:

How to Make Dried Citrus Ornaments:

Step One: Slice your fruit into 1/4″ slices and carefully remove the seeds. Use a wide blade knife (this knife set is so cute!) to ensure uniform thickness of individual slices.

Step Two: Arrange the fruit slices onto a baking sheet lined with parchment paper and place in a warm oven set to about 150-170°F.

Bake for 3-4 hours, flipping every hour until the fruit is dried (but not