Decorating for the Holidays DIY Christmas Decor, Winter Simmer Pot, Cozy & Whimsical Crafts

Hello friends, I hope you're all doing well. I'm getting ready for a very special day tomorrow. We are going to be decorating for Christmas and transforming our little cottage into a winter wonderland. Tonight I'm making DIY snow-covered pine cones from natural and compostable materials that I'm going to use to decorate around the house tomorrow. To start, I'm mixing together equal parts of flour and water to form a paste and painting the mixture onto the outer edges of the pine cones. Then I'm rolling them in salt to coat the edges. I used sea salt, but you can also use epsom salt here or any other coarse salt you have on hand. Next, I'm placing them on a parchment-lined tray to dry completely overnight, and in the morning they'll be ready to use for decorating. I ended up creating a few dozen of these pine cones off-camera, and it was such a fun and relaxing activity to do this evening while listening to an audiobook. Now that the pine cones are done, I'm heading to bed early so I can start decorating first thing tomorrow. So if you haven't already, make yourself something warm to drink and get cozy, and I'll see you in the morning for a day of holiday magic and decorating. So yesterday I picked up a lot of natural materials that I'm going to use to decorate around the house. This is a big bunch of pine and balsam, I believe, and it smells so good. This is probably one of my favorite scents in the world. And I also picked up some eucalyptus from the grocery store, which I think looks so pretty with evergreen, and it smells so good too. I want to use these to decorate the windowsill here in the living room, and I think it's going to make it look so festive in here. And I'm also going to use some of these snow-covered pine cones from last night. Can you believe how pretty they turned out? I love them. I think this is probably one of my favorite holiday wintery DIYs that I've ever done. I just think they look so realistic. These are going to be perfect for decorating all over the house. We have a lot of fun activities planned for today, but first I want to make a winter simmer pot. I created this recipe a few years ago, and I'm so proud of it. It's actually one of the most popular recipes on my blog, so I can't wait to share it with you. Let's go make it. Oh, it's so cute. I like the little ones. Hi friends, I'm just taking a quick tea break. I'm so happy with how the living room turned out, and the simmer pot is still on the stove, and it's making the whole house smell amazing. It really feels like a Christmas wonderland in here, which is exactly what we were going for. Now I'm going to head upstairs with Alex, and we're going to watch a movie and make our gingerbread house lanterns. I am sitting here thinking, alone with my drink, as I do this time of the year. Do you remember when love was around, when we were aglow, the talk of the town? When I'm sitting here drinking, I can't help but think about you, about us, as I do this time of the year. I think I remember me being with you. Was that just a dream that never came true? I am sitting here thinking, drink after drink, as I do this time of the year. Thank you so much for spending this cozy day with me, friends. Alex and I had so much fun making these crafts, and I hope that this video has inspired you to do some fun holiday projects of your own if you have the time. I also wanted to thank you all so much for your amazing comments and book recommendations on my last video. I have a running list of recommendations from you all that I am so excited to read, and I'm just so grateful to each and every one of you. Your comments always make my days so much brighter, so thank you all so much for being here, and I will see you again very soon. Good night, friends!