I love homemade decorations for the holidays, but I’m a little challenged when it comes to execution. I can’t sew very well, so one of my favorite tricks is to use good old fashioned felt—and there’s no better time than the holidays to try your hand at festive red felt crafts!

Here are a few ideas to get you started:

Red Felt Placemats from Real Simple

Red Felt Pillows from Better Homes & Gardens

Felt Star Table Settings from All About You

Red Felt Memory Box from Country Living

I normally don’t like donuts, but these look absolutely amazing! I love how the recipe uses such classic winter flavors as pumpkin and hazelnut to make these sugary treats simply irresistible.

I can’t wait to bake them for house guests over Thanksgiving weekend or serve them with hot cider. Delish!

Recipe (from Cannelle et Vanille via Bliss’d)

375 grams flour
55 grams hazelnut flour
10 grams baking powder
8 grams baking soda
1 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp freshly ground nutmeg
1/2 tsp ground ginger
1/8 tsp ground cloves
10 grams salt
110 grams pumpkin puree
60 grams whole milk, room temperature
40 grams sour cream, room temperature
100 grams sugar
2 eggs, room temperature
60 grams butter, melted

Canola oil, for frying

400 grams sugar
2 tsp ground cinnamon
50 grams hazelnuts, toasted, skinned and finely chopped

In a large bowl mix together the flour, hazelnut flour, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon, nutmeg, ginger, cloves and salt.

In a separate bowl, whisk the pumpkin, milk, sour cream, sugar, eggs and melted butter. Add this mixture to the dry ingredients and fold until it comes together. Don’t worry if it’s lumpy.

Dust your work surface with a bit of flour and dump the dough on it. Knead lightly until it comes together. Dust the top lightly with flour and roll to 1/2″ thick. Using a doughnut cutter or two round cookie cutters, cut out the doughnuts and place them on a sheet pan with a silicon mat or parchment and dusted with some flour.

To fry the doughnuts, fill a pan up to 2″ of canola oil. Heat the oil until it reaches 375F. Do not over-crowd the pan with doughnuts. Fry about 5 at a time (depending on the size of the pan). They will sink to the bottom but then float to the top. Turn them over and let them cook for an additional 2 minutes or so.

Drain them on paper towels and while hot, coat them with the cinnamon-hazelnut sugar.

It often feels like the holidays just sneak up on you—one minute you’re hanging spiderwebs and making cute Halloween costumes, then before you know it you’re surrounded by Christmas carols and holiday ads!

This year, we’d like to help you get a head start on your holiday season with a few of these tips for saving time, money and your sanity as you plan your Thanksgiving celebration:

• Let Us Send Your Invitations for You for FREE! The Tiny Prints Mailing Service is a fabulous new feature that is sure to save you time and money. All you have to do is upload your guests’ mailing addresses and we’ll add them to your envelopes along with your return address and real stamps. Then we’ll drop them in the mail for you! All you have to do is pay for the cost of stamps and envelope printing—saving you time and the cost of shipping your order to you.

• Host a Potluck Buffet. Sit-down dinners will always be elegant, but a buffet-style meal will be the easiest way for you to feed a hungry crowd without feeling overwhelmed. To simplify things even more, host a potluck buffet—you make this super simple turkey from the Food Network and stuffing, but ask your guests to bring the side dishes and dessert!

• Use Make-Ahead Thanksgiving Recipes.  Just because you are hosting a Thanksgiving celebration doesn’t mean you have to be cooped up in the kitchen all day! Give yourself some extra time with these delicious make-ahead recipes from Good Housekeeping.