foodies

Today is all about getting back into the swing of things. Kids are back at school, Thomas is going back to work. No more cooking big lunches together after sledding, no more cups of cocoa with our feet on the heaters….for now anyhow, winter is not over yet. They are calling for another (smaller) snowstorm on Tuesday, so we will have to see what happens.

There was a lot of cooking during this extended weekend (Thursday, Friday, Saturday, and Sunday) and I actually took some photos. One evening we made faux chicken, pineapple, spinach, and onions over rice. I made this butternut squash sauce but I omitted the cheese and half n half. I used soy milk and some nutritional yeast instead. It was served over whole wheat pasta with fire roasted eggplant, zucchini, onions, and peppers.

We made up a batch of cinnamon rolls on the last day. We used half whole wheat flour and half all purpose, and left out the wheat gluten because we didn’t have any on hand.

Not pictured are the two loaves of cibatta bread that were made, southwestern corn chowder (so good!) I use veggie broth and soy milk…and recommend adding a can of green chiles. They are not spicy in the least but add a really good flavor.

Now it is time for me to get up into the studio, turn the heat on up there and get some work done. :)

Snow Day (day 2)

We did so much shoveling yesterday, and had to shovel more this morning. It is times like these that we wish we had a much shorter driveway. Then we walked to the local park with the kids. The park is sort of down in a valley like area so it has great sledding hills all around that just slide you down into the park area.

We sledded until we just couldn’t make the walk up the hill any more and headed home. Then I made hot chocolate and this maple pumpkin bread (left out the walnuts and used more maple instead of some of the sugar) and we played Uno. After dinner we watched Groundhog’s Day thanks to the Netflix that plays through the Xbox. Which was nice since we didn’t get any mail because of the storm :)

Thomas has a snow day again today, which is so very nice. We will finish getting the cars cleared off, probably do some more sledding and see what else we can do to keep cabin fever at bay.

snow day

And this was just a trip into the backyard! The snow is still coming down!

Betelgeuse Betelgeuse Betelgeuse

The kids had a planned half day today (because of the winter storm which is now pounding down on us) So I spent the free part of my afternoon packing orders (not a super exciting post right?) But I did want to share something we did earlier this week.

On Tuesday night I took the kids and a friend of theirs to the planetarium in Hagerstown MD. It’s only about a ten minute drive, and even if your local you may not have known that Hagerstown has a planetarium! It is hidden inside the Board of Ed building and on the smaller side (seats 70) but it was such good fun!

They do different shows it looks like every 30 days or so, always on Tuesday evenings. My favorite part was the tour of the night sky they gave first. So nice to come in from a snowy star-less night (it snowed that night too) to a dark sky filled with stars.

Now we are slowly being buried in snow again, Tom is on his way home early and here is hoping we are all snowed in tomorrow (we got out sleds!)

more Valentine’s goodies

More goodies for the treat bags. I made these wooden heart pins using everything I had on hand except the wooden hearts. Those I found in bags of 4 for $1.00. I painted each with two coats of cheap acrylic, then glued eyes, pom pom noses, and pin backs on the back. I used a red marker to make the smiles.

Next up are Valentine magnets, not sure yet if I will include these because I worry about kids thinking they can eat them. I might save these for our older friends instead. Just coat the candy with clear spray several times, all over. Then hot glue magnets to the back.

I packaged up the rainbow crayons (so they kids would know they were not for eating) and then made little blank books to go with them. I used some Valentine bags for the outside paper. It only used up 3 bags or so…they are the cutest bags I have seen! Also found at HobbyLobby. The Hobby Lobby store just opened here a couple months ago, so it is still exciting for me!

valentine goodies

With the school Valentine’s party quickly approaching I needed to sit down and figure out what I was going to make for the goodie bags. We also need to think about actual Valentines….but I wanted to get the bags out of the way.

Today I picked up a bag of these little glittery wooden hearts at Hobby Lobby (they were $1.99 and 40% off) and simply glued them to mini clothespins which I already owned. I plan to use these clips to clip the tops of the candy bags.

Next the little guy and I set out to make rainbow crayons. This involves using old broken crayons, mini cupcake tins, and some liners. We put ours in the oven for about 10 mins at 350F, probably way too long because they turned out quite muddy. We are going to try shorter times with the next batch. These will be wrapped up for the goodie bags too! I’ll have more ideas on packing soon.

I have some other projects for the bags too but the sun went down before they were finished, so I’ll photograph those soon!

working working

A totally fun post tomorrow, I swear it! These days are just flying by too quickly.

sew busy!

Sorry the blog has been a bit neglected lately with content. I promise some Valentine how-to posts very soon, and a freebie for ya! Meanwhile I’ve been sewing sewing sewing, and have even more to finish. :)

teapots

I made myself a teapot trivet a few days ago when my Spoonflower fabric arrived. I can’t sell the fabric yet because it has a small flaw which is my fault (a small white line on the edge of he repeat) It will be really easy to fix but then I’ll have to reorder more before I can sell it.

So I am using up the teapots fabric myself, its very easy to avoid the white line when using it for small projects like bags, trivets etc. :)

mister burger head

It has been a busy Friday of running errands (weird things too like buying a new kitchen trash can) Baking bread for dinner at Sean + Amanda’s tonight, and trying to find a local CSA because Spring will be here before you know it! I think I finally found a farm that is close enough and organic, just waiting to hear back from them.

It is freezing here today and thoughts of Spring are very welcome indeed. Oh and so the post is not all words, mister burger up there is for your viewing enjoyment. Once I get a few more made (and hopefully hotdogs again too) I will get them all up in the shop.

teapots

Trying out the teapots in a print. I like the large size of it but I am going to try and have it printed somewhere else…too many errors and back and forth to get this one ;)

And playing with candy sprinkles yarn from Studio Loo. I wanted to see how it looked crocheted, now I am going to frog it and try knit. Still not sure what I am going to make from it, but the yarn is beautiful!

Hungry Leprechaun

I loved this book cover, we just returned it to the library yesterday so I snapped a photo first. I have a thing for those printed hardcovers with just two to three colors. So good, I always find myself picking those out when we go to the library. My youngest and I spilt the books that will be read to him. He picks half and I pick half, then we read one from each pile (so 2 books) every night.

My lunch yesterday was leftovers, and made me realize that I eat spinach probably every single day. I always put it on sandwiches in place of lettuce, I do this with the kid’s sandwiches too. I chop it up for every soup, it is good in smoothies, ya know Pop-eye loved it. ;)

So lunch was Trader Joe’s faux beef strips, Israeli couscous, roasted tomatoes with sea salt and thyme (which was from Everyday Foods), roasted cauliflower, and barely warmed spinach.

I also made more bread on Sunday. I used this recipe quite a few times, always with really good results. It is great and chewy, makes such a nice sandwich bread. Which is actually what I plan on making for lunch today :)

Thanks for all the feedback on the yarn/knitting plush! I really appreciate all the comments. I’m going to try and few things and will post some photos when they are done. For now I’ve got to crank the heat a bit (it was 60 yesterday and today its been snowing for a couple of hours) and get to work packing up orders.

crafty plush

I’ve finally got the thread plush up in the shop. I have some other crafty related plush in the works, not sure how I feel about the knitting yarn and needles up there. Obviously the needles had to be on the chunky side so I could fit faces on them, but I feel like the yarn ball needs to be larger. I set it aside because I just didn’t like the finished plush…and then when Tom saw it laying on my desk he commented that he really liked it. So I thought I’d share a photo and get your opinions.

Textiles

I did a little household sewing this weekend. The re-moveable pillow covers I wanted to make with the other Moomin fabric, and a bed for the cat. At first she didn’t want to seem to use it, but we have caught her sleeping on it several times now!

The cat bed fabric is something I got at Joanne’s not too long ago, too cute to not get a cut of.

Tablecloth to Treat Bags

Remember my predicament when it came to quality goodies for filling treat bags, but without spending a lot of money. Well it is almost that time again with Valentine’s Day approaching. I have been thinking about my son’s class party, and decided to get a jump start.

I picked up a heart tablecloth at Target recently. It was $4.99, oh so cute…but it was the plastic-lined type and I didn’t think I would ever use it on my table. I decided I could make it into something, and so I turned it into re-usable treat bags for the class party.

1. First I folded the table cloth in half and cut along that center line.
2. Then I folded each of these new pieces in half and cut along those folds. I then had 4 large pieces of table cloth.
3. I folded each section of table cloth in half lengthwise, and then cut out long skinny bags so the fold would form the bottom of each bag. I was able to cut about 6-7 bags from each section of fabric. Since I only needed 20 bags I still have leftover table cloth that I am going to save for another project.



4. The bags will be long and skinny and have one finished edge, and one cut edge (along the top opening area) I stacked mine and sewed them all in an assembly line. It went pretty fast.



5. Since one of the top edges are finished and one was not I tucked the unfinished edge under before sewing the sides up. Just to keep it neat.



6. Once all the bags were sewn I turned them right side out and cut about 2 inch lengths of sticky back Velcro. Before applying the Velcro fold down the top of each bag onto itself. Sort of like a lunch sack. Use the folds to see where the Velcro should be attached.



And voila you are done! Now I need to start thinking about what will go inside the bags. I’ll post more when I have that down. So total with Velcro and table cloth was about $6.50 or about .32 cents per bag. Not bad considering cute lunch paper bags are usually about .30 cents each, and these can be re-used.

food stuff

It seems to be a great difficulty for me to blog about food in the winter. It is always too dark for photos when we eat dinner, breakfast isn’t usually terribly exciting (usually its fruit, maybe toast), and lunch is always a quick stop between working and I don’t really think about it (I did with the soup picture up there, that was a leftover lunch mid-day…lots of sunlight)

However since I finally have a couple of photos to share…

First is breakfast this morning. We dug out the crock pot last night and set up some steel cut oats to cook overnight, such a good way to wake up. Sometimes I like cinnamon + brown sugar, but this morning was maple syrup and bananas.

Next is soup from last week some time. I have been really getting into the Everyday Food magazines and even bought a group of old issues on ebay. The soup is the chipotle sweet potato soup. The only thing I changed was using roasted red peppers in place of the chipotle peppers in adobe because I couldn’t find them locally. I really liked the soup, and even my youngest son said “it wasn’t bad” which is a huge soup compliment from him.

I made the trek to Trader Joes today, our nearest shop is an hour away :( I love Trader Joes, not only do they have great prices, selection, but they always have the best packaging. I am such a sucker for a good tart plain frozen yogurt..so this one came home with me. Then, since we were in the area we made a stop at Caliyogurt for the plain flavor topped with bananas, so good.

a new addition…

Today Tom and I went on a mini adventure to Lucketts VA. We visited Old Lucketts Store in the hopes of getting a mirror we saw there on our last trip. Sadly it was sold, but lucky for us we didn’t go home empty handed. We saw this beautiful cabinet as we were leaving and just knew it had to come home with us.

It is a funny chartreuse like color, sort of hard to tell in the photos. It is going to be wonderful for all my cookbooks, jars of flours, etc. So excited to have found it!

Oh and just a note we did not buy the huge letters, but I did think they were pretty fabulous and had to take a photo :)

windmills and little dutch girls

I’m not sure if I will ever get this printed into fabric. I liked the idea, but I’m just not a huge fan of the finished patterns. Just a quick update today because I am off with Thomas for some adventures while the kids are at school.

Moomins (super sized)

I got this fun Moomins fabric from Tillukka on Etsy. I actually bought another Moomin fabric from her (I think I am saving it for pillows) and only bought this one because I was buying the other. Turns out I really love this one :)
I stretched it on some stretcher bars and it makes such a lovely wall hanging!

Roller

We met up with my sister and her kids yesterday to go rollerskating. The kids were off school and I think a lot of people had the same idea because the rink was really crowded. We still had a good time, and it was fun to skate with my sister.

you are sew lovely

Spools of thread, which will be added to the shop once I get a chance to sit down and get good photos of them. I really really need to build myself a light box for photos.
There is no mail today (or school) for the holiday–so I’ll be packing up orders tonight.

winners!

The winner of the Valentine’s goodies is…








Since so many of you commented I decided to draw two more names…those two people will each win a donut jar and ice cream cone timer. If you didn’t win but had your sights set on the donut jar it is from Joanne’s fabric shop of all places!










Thanks again for everyone who played and left a comment :)

Craft Hope For Haiti

Even though my donated milk plush is already sold (sorry I wanted to get a post up before it sold) but there are so many amazing handmade goods for sale here. Please consider either donating a handmade item, or making a purchase. www.etsy.com/shop/crafthope
All proceeds of the Craft Hope Etsy shop will benefit Doctors Without Borders in Haiti. All items have been generously donated by the crafting community. If you’d like to donate an item please visit the Craft Hope website www.crafthope.com

tea time

Since my kids were totally absorbed by their visiting cousin (sleepover) I had some free time to sit down and cut out paper this evening. I have been thinking about making more plush teapots (something I still want to do) but meanwhile cutting them from paper was a nice way to keep busy. Everything except the solid colored backgrounds was cut from paper. Then of course I had to make them into patterns, because really everything always looks better in a repeating pattern.

I can’t decide which to have printed. At first I thought the blue, but now I am thinking maybe the brown? pink?

pretty things

Many thanks to everyone who has left a comment on the giveaway post. You guys are so sweet, and really have warmed my heart! I think I might pick up two extra gifties to give away since so many of you responded. I already think I know what I want to get :) :)

I thought I would show you some very pretty illustrations that have joined our household recently. The book is pretty fantastic and was free. The thrift shop I found it at was having a “half-off sale” and they had a sign posted saying anything marked .05 was free. I mean .05 itself is an amazing price, but free? Crazy good.

The beautiful Moomin stamps came on a package we received. My plan is to soak them and then frame them. I love them so much! I have actually been considering buying a region free dvd player for awhile now, and this Moomins box set just about seals the deal. Has anyone else had any luck with region-free players? I have been doing just a little research on the subject, but it seems like there are a lot of players that can be set to region free with various codes and what not.

I also have begun to watch the British tv series Skins via Netflix. It is not really a show I can relate to (teens, drinking, drugs, lots of naked) but it is downright entertaining, a very nice guilty pleasure to watch while I sew. Netflix only has Season 1 and 2, and apparently you can view Season 3 online..but not if your in the USA. Sad sad, guess I’ll have to wait for Netflix to get it.

ETA–As Karen pointed out, you can watch The Moomins animated without the need of a region free dvd player. We actually own set 1 and 2 of this series, and I love it….but I really love the idea of the little stop motion felt version :)

little dresses…

So I’ve sewn another little dress, this one even smaller then the first. The doll it fits on fits in the palm of my hand.
All this plush if for a show I just posted about under the news section of my website, in Columbus OH. There is more too–but I need to photograph it all first.

A Giveaway!

*Sorry that might photos are a bit weird, I am getting used to using a second “new to me” camera :)
It is time for another giveaway! This time you’ll get a Valentine’s bag filled with goodies. Here is how the giveaway works. Leave a comment on this blog entry (not any of the RSS feeds because I don’t get those) All comments must be received by Sunday January 17th at 10pm EST. I will then use the random number generator to pick a comment, and that person will win the goodies.

working working…

I’ve been working with some beautiful felt from Sue (Giant Dwarf) this week. I am excitably working on plush for my next solo show which is coming up in April. It will be in Chicago this time, and we are planning a trip up for the opening. I won’t be posting too many photos, because I’d like it to be a surprise…but expect a peek now and again. I’ll also post all the show info starting in February.

ETA-whoops I forgot to push publish on this blog entry yesterday…

The Romance of Fifi and Pepe

I found these fun poodle trays a week or so ago when my sister came over for a bit of thrift shopping. It is a set of four wooden trays that depict the romance of two poodles named Fifi and Pepe. On the back of each tray it tells a little story describing what is going on in the picture. I love them! I hung them on the wall of the studio by using some plate hangers. The studio walls are still pretty bare since we painted and I guess it is high time we started hanging things again. Some it’s hard like a blank piece of paper.

Shop Update!

The shop has been updated! I’ve strayed a bit from the monthly updates for now. I will be adding a few more goodies as the week goes along. For now I really need to get the studio cleaned up :)

Sea Party…

Many thanks to everyone who came out for the show last night. We had a bit of a whirlwind trip to Philly. We arrived at 3, had some lunch, headed out for the show, and then began the drive home around 8pm. The whole family went and when we got home we were all just so sleepy. Sorry if I missed anyone by leaving before the show ended, but with the kids in tow and the 3 hour drive ahead of us we wanted didn’t want to leave too late. :)

I’ll be back online tomorrow with a shop update!

Sea Party! This Saturday!

*Photos above by Jenny Harada

Jenny went Wednesday to begin set up for our show which opens Sat night at 5pm Art Star Philly Jan 9th-Feb 14th opening reception Sat Jan 9th 5-9pm. Please come out and see us if you can…there will be plush from me, Jenny Harada, and Spooky Daddy……Jenny and I will both be there, and I am planning on bringing some nautical cupcakes, as well as some special “cash and carry” goodies. It looks to me like Jenny did an amazing job painting, and I can’t wait to see all the finished plush!

rain drops on roses and whiskers on kittens..

Awww guys, thanks for all the comments on my hair! You are all so sweet, thanks for making me feel so good :) :) I dyed it about a month ago using L’ Oreal’s Colour Rays in red. This dye is actually just meant for highlights so I always have to use two boxes. As for the curls Tom got me hot rollers for Christmas and I would never go back to the slowness of a curling iron. I love the rollers, so quick!

I am still sewing along, rain drops and umbrellas–for a show. I am also going to do a giveaway soon..I think something Valentine’s related. I am thinking of assembling a very special Valentine’s package (sort of like when I did the Easter giveaway last year). I am going to update my shop soon too. Probably next week? Monday or so. I have some new Valentine’s goods and some old favorites like smores, milk cartons etc.

I took the kids roller skating last night and it was so much fun. At first I felt a bit shaky on the skates, but then I remembered how to make my legs go go go. I can’t understand why roller skating isn’t super huge, its just so good. The cheesy music, the games, disco lights. How could it get any better?

a small dress..

The kids are both back in school today, and that means lots of sewing, sewing all morning long. Sewing a small dress, then some socks. Now a naked girl is finally dressed and can be set aside so I can work on the next thing.

topsy turvy

So today was the day the kids went back to school. I had a big list for myself (painting, errands, a sewing list)—Once they were at school I followed Tom to Frederick to help him paint. We were parked and got out of the car just as I got a call from the Elementary school saying there was a problem with the heating and they were closing the school at 10:30am. So back in the car I went and drove the 45 mins back home to pick up B. Even the pick up was crazy and ended up with me standing out in the cold for almost 30 minutes.

I had that bunch of boring errands to run, so when we got home we made a batch of sweet potato muffins to add a little fun to the crazy day. Then it started snowing so we made a dash outside to catch some snowflakes (it ended pretty quickly).

Now to wait and see if the heating system will be fixed in time for school tomorrow…

looking ahead

Whenever I don’t blog for a little bit, it is the hardest thing to force myself to blog again. It is so strange…like the longer I don’t blog and the worse it gets. It gets easier to put off for another day. So here I am forcing myself to post a real blog entry (not another cheater like yesterday).
It has been so cold and grey here for the past couple of days, not the most beautiful start to 2010. We had a wind advisory yesterday, and B and I went to visit Katie in Harpersferry. We kept huddled around her wood stove knitting and crocheting.
I have been sewing some heart pins like the one above in an effort to get ahead before Valentine’s Day. I also have been working on plush for a show I am in that is coming up. Don’t forget this Saturday is the Sea Party show in Philly, but then I have two more shows set for after that…so gotta keep sewing and sewing.
Alrighty–back in the saddle.

Goodbye 2009…12 months in 12 photos

2009 was a good one. We got in a few good road trips, I finished writing “the book”, we started letterboxing, I became obsessed with english paper piecing, learned to make granny squares when my mom came for a visit. I had some really good shows, got to see some old friends. There were the downs of course–like B’s first visit to the emergency room :( but all in all a very good very indeed!

I am looking forward to this crazy 2010-twenty ten just sounds so futuristic!

for my gnomie Heather

Here is a gnome guy I made for my sister Heather. He is inspired by vintage gnomes that I have seen online, and was quite fun to make. I used pantyhose from a thrift shop (but still in package ;) for his head and body. It reminded me of the babies my mom made us from pantyhose when we were younger. One that was hooked to a blanket so you could make it move around and look real, anyone else remember those?

Anyway, lots of fun to make..

I also made eggnog squares for our party to use up some of the eggnog we had left. I didn’t read the whole recipe through before making them (I never do! haha) and then when I came to the part about the water bath I just said “aw forget it” and popped them in the oven. I still baked them the same amount of time, and they are wonderful! Nothing bad happened to them without their bath. Oh and I didn’t add any alcohol either…

Thomas is off for the next three days, so I might not get a chance to update…we have some fun plans for New Years Eve and New Year’s Day so I’ll be back with photos hopefully by Sunday or so. I hope everyone has a safe and fun New Years! See you in 2010!

in the kitchen…

I thought I would go ahead and post this peppermint icebox yule log cake I just made, even though Christmas is over. I think it would make the most perfect New Years Eve cake too…plus its vegan! I googled and googled trying to find a vegan version of this cake with no luck…so here is what I did. This is for our big Christmas celebration with my sister and her family tomorrow, which I cannot wait for!! I have to go wrap more gifts :) :) so exciting :) Oh and extra thanks to Katie who reminded me to make one with her yummy looking yule log.

Vegan Peppermint Icebox Yule Log Cake
This cake is best to make a day ahead of time because it needs time to freeze before and after “frosting” Plus then you can spend more time on decorating your yule log and not feel stressed. You can even make this cake over two days by making the chocolate wafer cookies a day before the cake.

-1 batch of chocolate wafer cookies completed cooled
-2 8oz carton’s of RichWhip non-dairy topping (I find these frozen in the kosher section of my grocer’s freezer)
- 6-12 peppermint candy canes (depends on what you have around I had about 6 candy canes and a handful of those circle peppermint candies which can work just as well)
-1/2 cup confectioners sugar
-1/4 cup cocoa powder sifted

1. Make the chocolate wafer cookies and allow to cool fully. I believe Nabisco brand Famous chocolate wafers are vegan so if you can find those you could skip making the cookies.
2. In food processor blend peppermint candy canes until they are a fine powder.
3. Whip one carton of richwhip with hand or stand up mixer until it holds soft peaks. Then gently mix in 1/4 cup powdered sugar and peppermint candy powder. The whipped cream mixture will turn a lovely pinkish color.
4. Lay out a sheet of foil in the area you are working. This will be used to wrap the log in progress.
5. Make stacks of cookies and cream about 6 cookies high. Use about 1 tablespoon of cream mixture between cookies. Once you have used all the cookies lay 1 stack on it’s side on foil. Add a bit more cream to the end and lay next stack of cookies up against first stack. Repeat until you have one long stack of cookies and cream on their side. Wrap with foil and freeze for about 4 hours.
6. Whip second carton of cream until soft peaks form. Add remaining sugar and cocoa powder.
7. Remove from freezer and at an angle cut a 2 inch piece off one end of the stack and save. Cut a 1 inch piece at an angle from the other end, and set aside.
8. Use cocoa whipped cream as a frosting and spread over the entire log. Then hook the two pieces you cut off onto log as little side branches. Frost them with cocoa whipped cream as well.
9. Use a fork to create lines through the cocoa whipped cream to make it look like bark. Put the whole thing back in the freezer for 3 hours.
10. You can then decorate your log by adding mushrooms, candy leaves, etc. Allow to sit at room temp for 20 mins before serving.

My favorite part was the decorating! There are just so many ways you can go with a yule log!

thank you cards..

B was quite creative with his thank-you cards, if not a little morbid ;) He used Sarah’s thumbprint notecard set, which he got for Christmas. He didn’t even complain about making the cards until he got to the “note writing” inside. My oldest son 14 still isn’t thrilled to write thank-you cards, but I think its important, so it is required. I just remind them how happy the gifts made them, and how happy the cards will make the recipient.

long live snail mail goodness.

what do you do on Christmas vacation?

Yesterday was really nice outside, sunny, not too cold. But no matter how sunny the day when night comes we feel the need to snuggle in and enjoy the house of Christmas lights. I think that is what I will miss most when the decorations are packed away. I love the way everything feels when lit by tiny light bulbs. All of the main rooms in our house have some sort of lights going on, and they are all set to timers. So as soon as the sun starts to go down the little tights switch on for quite a magical effect :)
+crochet work
+hot chocolate
+ cozy tents

Christmas Christmas

Sorry for the major photo heavy post :) Starting from the top are some goofy ornaments I made for fun. Then on to some of the awesome presents I got. Then the last photo are some knee hugger elves I made for my sister. Its not so much a super huge surprise because they are in a see-through stocking after all, plus I think she is expecting me to make her more like last year. She covers her whole tree in elves and can always use more. I actually felt like these turned out better then the ones I made last year so that is good. I tried googling “make your own knee hugger elves” with no luck. The hardest part with the heads I have is the opening is on the back of their head (not in the neck area) so I always need to make sure the whole back of the head is covered.

Merry Merry!

I hope everyone had a very merry Christmas :) This year our celebrating isn’t over yet. We usually do a Christmas Eve celebration with my sister and her family. Since poor Heather had to work on Christmas Eve this year it was re-scheduled to the Wednesday coming up. It feels nice to extend things and try and make it last longer.

Since we have never had a free Christmas Eve we were a little unsure what to do with ourselves. Tom and I took the kids out to a beautiful German Christmas shop we like to visit, then to explore a flea market near that which used to be an old factory building and is lots of fun to wander through.

Then we had lunch out and headed home to wrap last minute gifts, watch cheesy Christmas movies (Ernest Saves Christmas), cook breakfast for dinner together, and then open our Christmas Eve gifts (always pjs!). Once Santa’s cookies and milk were set out and the kids were off to bed I read A Christmas Carol to Tom, that was fun and actually the first time I have the story. It was an unusual Christmas Eve for us, but still very nice in it’s own way.

I’ll try and post again tomorrow…I can share some of my gifts, some gifts I made, and some more of our Christmas decorations before it seems “too late” ;)

Wishing you a wonderful holiday!

Santa has been spotted in the village, hanging around with a bunch of elves. The kids last day of school before winter break is tomorrow, and its a short one. I’ll be spending that time arranging our yearly dvd of photos from the year, so much fun to watch on New Years eve :) :)

Thread Wrapped Elf

On Tom’s last day off we had a lovely afternoon alone shopping at Flea markets, when I came across the sweetest little ornament (last one pictured above) for .35cents! I love the way the little elf was made so simply from pipe cleaners and embroidery floss and wanted to try and make my own.

It was really simple and I didn’t feel like I needed to make a real tutorial, but if you guys want one I can. I just shaped the body with pipe cleaners, then used my glue gun and embroidery floss/bakers twine to wrap his shirt and pants. I secured the ends around back with a dab of the glue gun.

I then cut a little collar from felt with a slit in the middle so it slid down over his neck. Then more glue on his neck and his bead head was added. Then I made a cone hat from felt (and the glue gun) and sewed a little bell on top. His little sign is just construction paper and a toothpick. I had so much fun making him and it really took less then ten minutes!

The kids and I are going to make more tonight, and add strings to them so they are ornaments we can add to the tops of the gifts we are giving. I think they would also make great pins for wearing, ornaments, or cupcake toppers if you used bamboo skewers glued to their bum area (so their legs wouldn’t get down in the frosting). I am going to try and make a Santa this way (with a bigger belly, and beard) and a Mrs. Claus too. I’ll report back tomorrow!

party party…

We had a good time last night, despite the fact that all the snow we got kept some of our guests stuck at home. We decorated gingerbread (graham cracker) houses, exchanged cookies, listened to Christmas music, and had a fun evening. Thanks to everyone who came, and most especially wore a crazy Christmas sweater!

We made Christmas Mixed cds for everyone to take home as party favors. You can see the list of songs here–including some favorites like What Can You Get A Wookie For Christmas (when he already owns a comb)

Almost time to party…

Tonight is our Crazy Christmas sweater party, which also means Miss Katie and I exchange gifts. Since she is over at her sister’s house now I figured it was safe for me to post a little preview of her presents. I saved that great potato bag because the red and green is just such festive fun. There are presents inside (which I won’t reveal yet just in case), The small candy box we saw the day we were shopping together so I bought it in secret for her, the suitcase is from bake it pretty (with goodies inside), and the hot pads I made myself.

The hot pads are really easy to make and smell oh so good. I filled mine with rice mixed with cloves, cinnamon sticks, and rosemary from my own plant which is still growing strong outside.
1. I sewed a square of fabric (sewing up 3 sides) turning it right side out.
2. I then sewed around the 3 edges that had already been sewn, but this time on the “right side” of the fabric. This makes it look more uniform later when you sew the pad closed.
3. I sewed 5 lines of stitching down the pad. These stiches create the channels you will fill with your rice mixture. Its important to make your stitches so they are running from one closed end of the pad, down to the open end. End your stitches about 1/2 inch shorter then the edge of your fabric. This will leave you a edge that is easier to turn under.
4. Next with pins handy and a funnel fill each channel with rice mixture. As you fill a section, tuck the open edges under and pin in place. This helps keep rice from spilling out.
5. Once all sides are filled and tucked, you can sew the opening shut on your sewing machine. Just go slow and remove the pins as you go. I found it helped to pin as close to the edge of the channel stitches as possible. This way I could leave the pins in and sew past them. This keeps rice from spilling out as your sewing. You also want to avoid sewing over any of the rice as it can break your needle. You can always handsewn the whole thing shut with a running stitch instead if it gives you trouble.
6. The pads are used to protect your tables and counters from hot dishes, and when the hot dishes are set down on them, they smell wonderful!

Lastly there is a glimpse of my sweater for the party. I went with embellishing my own this afternoon. last minute of course, so its not WOAH super crazy….but I’ve got some good prizes for those crazy sweaters coming :)

Snow Day….

It has been snowing since we went to bed last night, and is still snowing strong. They say there is a winter storm warning in effect until 7am tomorrow morning, that is a lot of snow! Tom didn’t have to go in, so we’ve been having a lovely snow day in. Of course there has been loads of shoveling, we went through all of our book shelves (a long overdue task) and now we have over 20 reusable grocery bags filled with books that we are going to donate.

I hope everyone who has the snow is staying safe and tucked into home! Not sure yet what all this snow is going to mean for our party tomorrow…we shall see!

Oh and I made that pom-pom wreath above a few weeks ago after seeing some very lovely ones online. My hint ofr making pom-poms which everyone might already know..but just incase, is this: Triple up the yarn your going to wrap. So instead of cutting a length of yarn and wrapping it (to make the pom pom) Cut 3, 4, or even 6 lengths of yarn and wrap them all at once. It really speeds up the time it takes to make each pom pom, and doesn’t effect the finished pom poms at all. I used some yarn we had leftover from another crafty project to make mine.

How I spent my Friday night….

Sorry for the crummy photos, I think I need to shop for a camera that does a bit better in low light ;)

My oldest son has a friend over to spend the night, so the little one and I set to work making candy candy candy. Every year I create a mix of baked goods for all of Tom’s co-workers. This year we decided to make candy mice but with fresh cherries (for our vegan friends we dipped the cherries into vegan-safe chocolate and coated those with chopped almonds), sponge candy (whoa serious fun), homemade malt balls (but I wouldn’t use that recipe again, it was okay but not amazing), and peanut butter fudge. For the fudge I used soy milk and earth balance butter-it turned out great.

Now everything is packed away in tins for Tom to take to work tomorrow! The little guy is in bed but I am back to work up in the studio (and listen to the new Splendid Table) working on some last minute gifts. I’ll be sure and share photos of those after Christmas :)

Oh and the candy eyes we used on the mice can be purchased here…

ho-ho-ho

+ Santa Santa everywhere
+ so much cookie baking
+ dinner by tree light (and cranberry gingerale–my seasonal favorite)
*Oh and our second ornament from the Crafty Crow Kid Ornament Swap has arrived!