New Years DIY... and a GIVEAWAY!!

**THIS GIVEAWAY IS NOW CLOSED, AND COMMENTS ARE CLOSED.  THE WINNER IS SALLY.  SALLY, PLEASE CONTACT ME AT LEMONADEMAKINMAMA@COMCAST.NET TO CLAIM YOUR PRIZE. 
The hoodlums are more or less still in a toy-coma, so I decided to finalize a few of our New Year's Eve items before the weekend hit... and I was able to squeeze in a post about it like I'd been hoping to do, without taking away from time with them!  (They're pretty much ignoring me anyway.  Ha! Fun new toys!)  Chance are, it will only be the four of us celebrating and eating PF Chang wannabe lettuce wraps (yum!) but I plan to make it FUN no matter what! 

 I'd been skulking around Pinterest, looking for inspiration and here's what I came up with. Numbered glasses.  I used to have ten.  Oops.  I think it would be better if you had ten.  You know... for the countdown's sake?  And of course since we're celebrating with kiddos, this is sparkling cider.  Kids LOVE drinking anything out of a fancy glass.  (Hence the reason I used to have ten.)

 I really wanted some clock face chargers but I couldn't find any in my price range (almost free) so I hit the local Goodwill store and snagged some large cream plates for $2.00.  They had flat edges and though I'd have loved to make a full set of eight, I couldn't find more than four.  Luckily, I found a dollar's worth of four milky-white plates with gilt-leaf designs and they were so cute I decided to intermix them if we do have anyone else join us.  I love that look anyway so it all works out.

I tried two ways of doing this, and I think that your best bet is to print out the numbers you want, then cover the backside thickly, with pencil lead.  Tape that number exactly where you want it to appear on the plate and carefully trace the number (filling it in helps too) by pressing firmly.  After you lift off the paper, there will be a very faint outline of what you traced and colored in. Trace and fill in with a brand new sharpie. (I went through two on this project) Bake at 350 for about a half hour and it should be permanent.

**If you mess up during the sharpie drawing part, use a slightly damp Magic Eraser and it will fix any mistakes.
 **I tried using carbon paper but it didn't work as well with the sharpie.  

 My plan was to layer them with a smaller, clear plate... and I LOVE how it turned out!

 I made two with Roman numerals and two like this. 

 I fell hard over these rock candy swizzle sticks. I found them at Trader Joe's... who incidentally has the best Cinnamon Pear cider- and if you mix in some sparkling mineral water it's delicious, sugar free, kid-friendly "champagne!"  (Not that we call it champagne of course.... because of course we don't encourage underage drinking or whatever... which makes me ask why they ever made candy cigarettes?  Just saying.)

 We made these little crowns.  Every party needs a crown, yes? I cut the basic shape out of brown wrap, and then we used our number stamps and some silver ink to put the 2013 on them.  Quick and easy.

 Don't I have the cutest models in all the land?

 And because all of this festive sparkly fun is happening, I put together a very small (but sweet) little giveaway for you!  Included are some silver and gold dessert plates, some coordinating napkins, a box of rock candy swizzle sticks, 20 gray stripey straws, a teeny white candle, a great sample of lotion that will make your hands feel like silk, and some sparkly little ear bobs.  (I'm sorry they can't be real.)

If you'd like to be entered to win this Sweet Sparkly giveaway... please leave any kind of comment on this post.  And for extra entries, you are welcome to Pin, Instagram, Facebook, blog, or tweet it.  (Just be sure to leave separate comments letting me know you did those things.)


We'll choose a random winner next week after the New Year!



Happy New Year sweet friends!!