Crafty links for a cold day

My lands, it is cold here today! The heater has been running just about nonstop and I've had cold hands since the minute I woke up. I had hot soup for lunch, planning to make more hot soup for dinner and I'm on my first cup of hot chocolate with more sure to come. Brr! It's the perfect day to stay in and decorate!

The tree is up and hung with my most precious of vintage ornaments. Oh, it's pretty! I say this every year, but when the afternoon sun comes in the window and hits the tree it's just like a big jewel box with all the sparkle and the colors. This is a photo from last year, but it looks pretty much the same this year too:It makes me so happy to walk in there and see the glitter! Now that's done, it's time for the rest of the house to get festive.

I don't know about you, but I'm totally in the mood to do some Christmas crafting! Last December I was in such a bad humor that I don't recall doing nearly as much crafting as I would have liked, even though I was filled to the brim with inspiration from Silver Bella. This year is different, and it seems that Blogland is just filled with no end of crafty ideas! Some of my favorites from this past week alone are:

• This fun white fur wreath from The Nester
• Barbara's darling glass bead and bell garland at Oodles and Oodles
• All of the tutorials on Joli Paquet have been top notch, but I'm especially in love with Sunday's tart tin ornaments and cookie cutter garland!
  

I am so in love with that cookie cutter project that I must have gone back and looked at it a hundred times already. I immediately dug through my big jar of vintage cookie cutters to see if I have enough to make a garland of my own. I do, but that didn't stop me from heading to Home Goods on Monday to see if I could find the vintage repros that Jeanne used in her tutorial. I did find them in the aisle where the cooking bowls in case any of you want to look for them as well. I was just tickled to see this garland idea because last December I tried to think of something decorative to do combining my cookie cutters and big silver jingle bells, but due to my aforementioned BAD MOOD and a lack of time, I never did anything. Now I have a plan!

By the way, here is the Chocolate Pie recipe that Blogger wouldn't let me post yesterday:

Creamy Chocolate Silk Pie

One 9" pie crust shell, baked and cooled
1/4 c. sugar
3 Tbsp cornstarch
1 1/2 c. milk
1 c. chocolate chips (I used semi-sweet)
1 tsp vanilla
2 c. heavy cream
2 tsp powdered sugar

In a medium saucepan combine sugar, cornstarch and milk. Whisk ingredients together until well-blended. Heat just until it starts to thicken, remove from heat and add chocolate chips and vanilla. Allow them to melt into the milk mixture a minute or so before stirring. Let cool about 10 minutes, cover with a lid and place in the fridge to cool for at least another 30 minutes.

Whip heavy cream and powdered sugar until soft peaks form. Combine half of cream with the cooled chocolate mixture, folding together gently to keep it light. Fill the pie crust. Use the remaining whipped cream for the topping, either piped from a bag or just spread over the top like icing on a cake. Sprinkle with shaved chocoalte or mini-chocolate chips. Refrigerate 2-3 hours before serving and serve cold.

I'm afraid I didn't write down the source of this recipe so if it's yours, thanks for sharing! :)