Homemade Gingerbread Christmas Tree Ornaments

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Since we are home for the holidays, my son wanted to help my mother "Oma" make gingerbread Christmas tree ornaments in her kitchen. He is "Mr. Big Helper" these days, and I am loving his enthusiasm for all things Christmas. We followed Nick Malgieri's gingerbread recipe via Kitchn and Martha's Stewart's Royal Icing recipe via Kitchn's "How to Make Gingerbread Christmas Tree Ornaments" post.

We followed each recipe to the t, and the final product was a beautiful and aromatic cookie that we enjoyed decorating. 

Baking with Oma

Baking with Oma

*Baking Tip: It is important to keep your dough cold so that the butter doesn't melt and ruin the consistency of the cookie while it bakes. 

To make the holes for the tree, take 1 toothpick and break it twice. Then place the toothpick about 1 inch from the top ensuring you made a hole all the way through. Keep the toothpick in place while the cookie bakes so your hole doesn't close shut. 

*Baking Tip: Once you remove the cookies from the oven, slide the parchment paper on to the countertop or cooling rack to stop the baking process. Also, take the toothpicks out so they don't get stuck as the cookies cool. 

As I mentioned before we used Martha Stewart's recipe for Royal Icing. In lieu of a piping bag, you can use a zip up plastic bag like below. Spoon the icing into the bag and twist one end of the plastic bag. Then cut a small piece off of one of the bottom corners. 

From here you can choose to decorate with the Royal Icing and by adding special embellishments like edible sprinkles, candy, etc. 

I know my limits and I am not an expert decorator. So, when I saw these beautiful Vintage Santa wafer papers from Fancy Flours I was hooked. I knew these images would add a sense of elegance and whimsy to my tree. As a nod to the quilters in my family, I also purchased these red and white cross stitch squares.

Fancy Flours includes a set of instructions that were also very easy to follow. 

I hope you get to enjoy some time with your family doing things that you love this Christmas season. 

DIY Coffee Table Tray

Thank you for visiting. I now have a new home at www.countrypeony.com. I hope you will find me there.

For months, I have been on the hunt for a tray to go on top of our industrial coffee table cart in our living room. I could not find one that fit our color scheme, and most that I liked blended too much into our coffee table. So, when I saw this decorative tray article from Martha Stewart, I knew I had to give it a try.

First off, I will say that this project was a little more challenging than I had anticipated. Here are a few tips that I learned along the way. 1) The spray adhesive makes this project very messy. So be sure that you prep your space properly, so you don't ruin any of your furniture with the glue. 2) To save money, I used two 8X11 glass inserts from frames that I wasn't using instead of the recommended acrylic sheet. 3) I would recommend taping down the back of the tray fabric fold with duct tape. The felt will hide the duct tape. 4) I would also recommend using a hot glue gun to secure the felt to the back of the tray to finish the piece off.

How do you customize your living space?



I also used two 8X10 glass panels, and a hot glue gun with glue sticks.