Buried Under Boxes

2012 is going to be a great year! I have a lot of plans, and tons of fun things to share with you. But for now, I’m completely buried! We’re moving twice in the next few weeks – first to storage, and to a vacation home for a temporary stay, then again in the beginning of February to our new home, after it has a nice, fresh coat of paint. In addition to moving we have not one, not two, but THREE important birthdays coming up for family members aged 8 to 61! It’s also time for Eckman’s Card, Comic and Toy Show, and as usual the hubby will be setting up a booth there, and I’ll be on hand to help. This time we’re planning quite the button-making set-up, so if you’re in San Antonio stop by and make yourself a custom button!

With all that said, I’m going to be swamped for a few weeks, and posting here will be light to non-existent. But once I’m back I’ll have all manner of exciting things to share, from recipes to decorating, craft projects to theme parties. In the meantime go visit some other fun sites! I’ll get you started.

I laughed and cried and laughed some more with The Bloggess this week

Beautiful sterling silver jewelry – and a ring I really want from Lisa Hopkis Design on Etsy

A sweet stuffed fox to make from Gingermelon on Etsy

Birthday inspiration for a soon-to-be eight year old I know

Beautiful recipes – makes me wish I could draw!

Test your movie knowledge – found on How About Orange, who always has the best time wasters!

Some of my favorite embroidery patterns – love to spend the winter stitching

And finally, a really bad video (MUST HOLD THE PHONE HORIZONTALLY!) of one of my sweet kitties exploring the top of the empty closet. Right before I took this he was talking up a storm, but as soon as the camera came out he decided to just roll around and look cute. I know the quality is horrible on the video and the picture at the top, but I have a new toy on the way to fix that soon! Like I said, 2012 is going to be great!

Sweet DIY Robe

 

I have a love/hate relationship with robes, especially in the winter. I want to be warm when I get out of the shower, but I hate battling swaths of terrycloth. I want something a little girly, but satiny, silky fabrics are worse than useless in my opinion (see “warm”). I decided a lightweight flannel robe would be great, but being very particular and knowing exactly what I wanted, I couldn’t find it anywhere (at least, not with a price tag I was comfortable with). Technically I know how to sew, and I could go buy some flannel and a pattern, cut it out, stitch it up and hope for the best. But honestly, especially after the making extravaganza that was Christmas, I’ve been feeling lazy.

Luckily I came upon the perfect solution. I found a men’s “tall” flannel shirt, and I hacked it to create my perfect robe. I was hoping for a pretty pink flannel (yeah, I know) but no such luck. Instead I found a nice, soft, gray and turquoise super-long shirt on sale for $15. I don’t have step by step photos – as we’re packing up the house I don’t have a good spot to take photos. Instead I’ve done a very bad illustration that I hope helps explain what I did. It is a pretty simple alteration but if you have any questions let me know and I’ll be happy to answer as best I can!

First, I cut off the bottom half of the sleeves. I double-hemmed the sleeves, and this left me with what will be 3/4 length sleeves on me. Next, I cut off the collar, and cut a bit of a “V” in the front of the shirt. I hemmed the raw edge, but didn’t bother with a double hem here. Using part of the sleeves I cut off I made two pockets, one for each side. I hemmed the top edge and then folded under and stitched each pocket to the lower part of each side of the shirt. Finally I attached the center of a ribbon belt to the center back of the shirt. I used the back pleat as a guide and eyeballed this.

I didn’t break out my iron or sewing machine for any of this – it is all hand sewn and roughly folded over. It’s not as neat as machine sewn would have been, but it’s perfectly fine for me! The only thing I still plan to add is belt loops on the side, so the belt doesn’t just flop down the back when it’s off or untied. It took a little longer than an hour to do, and probably would have been faster if I hadn’t been catching up on episodes of Misfits! The end result is just what I wanted, and has been working out perfectly!

Santa, is that you?

Merry Christmas everyone. Just wanted to share an old holiday tradition that you can steal, if you have a santa suit lying around. When I was very little, every year on Christmas day, Santa would knock on my grandparent’s front door, come in and give presents, and stay for photos. As I got older I realized this happened about 15 minutes after Grandpa got grumpy and went to take a nap in the other room. Although we all eventually figured it out Santa kept coming until we were almost all teenagers. I imagine these days he’s sitting up in heaven, dressed in a Santa suit, with Grandma on his lap, and a long line of kids waiting their turn.

December 24th

December 24th has always been an important day in my family. Of course there is the anticipation of Christmas, and all of the last minute preparations for the holiday extravaganza. Usually there is some sort of celebration already starting, like visiting friends and family, maybe even opening presents. This photo is of my brother, sister and I all dressed up at Grandma Katy’s house, ready to go to Aunt Mary’s. And importantly – it’s my baby brother’s birthday. It’s always felt like a bit of a super-holiday – overfull and overexciting – almost too much, but not quite.

Growing up Christmas Eve meant some sort of gathering with Dad’s side of the family. There were snacks and sweets, Christmas music, and family. When I was younger this was always at Aunt Mary’s house, and included my grandmother’s siblings, their kids, and their kids kids. Aunt Mary had a little buffet set up in the kitchen, with ham, cocktail bread, cheese balls (I loved the port wine one), and sweets. There were bowls of “chicken feed” (aka Chex mix) around the house. I got in trouble more than once for picking out the cashews! Uncle Jimmy played bartender in the laundry room – always laughing and telling jokes. We always had to dress up, and be on our best behavior,and remember not to bother Aunt Mary’s schnauzer – he did not like children!

As the years went by the big family gathering became a smaller one, at Grandma Katy’s house. There were still cheese balls, chicken feed, cookies, fudge and family. Grandma always had a fire going too, and I loved sitting on the hearth, just as close as I could get without blistering, to listen to the pops and watch the sparks flying up the chimney. We always got to pick one present to open, and I was always terrified I’d open a package of new underwear in front of everyone. I don’t think that ever happened, but it always worried me. The photo at the top is of my brother, sister and I all dressed up at Grandma Katy’s house, ready to go to Aunt Mary’s. The one right above is of my baby sister and my mom a few year’s earlier.

As my brother’s birthday just happens to be December 24th, we celebrated that too, each year. He complained quite a bit, but I never really thought about how annoying that must have been. The rest of us were excited about Christmas, and I know he got a lot of presents that were “for your birthday AND for Christmas.” More than once his birthday cake was a holiday cake from the grocery store and his birthday presents wrapped in Christmas paper. My grandmother, holding my one-week old sister, and my Aunt Beth are singing happy birthday over a Christmas stocking cake in this photo. He and my sister, who’s birthday is just a week before his, always called Christmas “Screwed Out of a Present Day.” Nowadays we try very hard to differentiate birthday cakes, gift wrap and celebrations, but there will always be a bit of blurring on what we’re celebrating.

Now that I’m all grown up I’m faced with finding new Christmas Eve customs. I’m married, so there’s my husband’s family to incorporate, and finding a balance between the two families is a work in progress. We don’t yet have true traditions, but we’re working on it. In some ways it’s stressful. I miss the comfort of tradition – of knowing what will happen, where we’ll be when, who we’ll be with. In other ways its exciting! I get to choose what traditions I want. (OK, we want – gotta include the hubby in there.) I look forward to piecing together a comforting quilt of holiday traditions to snuggle under with the folks I love.

I wish you all a happy, comfortable holiday, with all the love you can stand. And if you need to add a cheeseball to your traditions, Grandma Katy’s recipe is below. (I don’t think they make English Chateau cheese spread any more, but I think it was a cheddar-y kind of spread. Heck, I’m not sure what you can find in the way of cheese spreads, but here it is anyway.) Happy December 24th!

Magical Woodland Ornaments

I made these ornaments last year to go with my “woodland” themed goodie baskets (I love a theme!). These were a pretty last-minute project. I think I made them a few days before Christmas, so some of the materials were on sale ridiculously cheap. I got the flatter round ornaments, mostly because I felt the glass was a little thicker than the globe version, but I think they were perfect for these. I bought one package of mixed mosses and an assortment of wild-looking holiday picks (these were 80% off I think – most were under $.20 each!). I used Aleene’s Quick Dry Tacky Glue and a skewer to glue the different elements in.

Before starting, cut up your floral picks into smaller pieces that will fit easily inside your ornament. Start with the moss – apply a decent amount pf glue to the bottom inside of the ornament, being careful not to get it all over the sides of the ornament. Next, roll up a small piece of moss, enough to cover the bottom, and stuff it into the hole in the top of the ornament. I used a clean skewer and a pair of hemostats (scissor looking things with flat, ridged tips that grip together) to guide the moss into place.

Once it was where I wanted it I used the blunt end of the skewer to tamp it down into the glue so it would set. Next I chose the leaves and fronds I wanted to make up my mini landscape. Most ornaments had three pieces (odd numbers look best, right?). Again I applied a gob of glue first with a skewer, then I used the hemostats to shove the floral bits into the ornament, and get that bottom end right into the glue. These dried overnight, then the cap went back on, and a bit of ribbon was attached to the top for hanging.

I also did a few tiny ornaments with just some moss inside. They were all a huge hit, if I do say so myself! My sister has hers on her “Alice in Wonderland” themed Christmas tree this year! You can see more photos of her tree on her website, lucidbee.com.

Sweet, Salty, Crunchy, Yummy!

My holiday baking and candymaking extravaganza has begun! We’re not showing our house right now (holidays and pending contract!) so I’ve started on the craziness that happens every year usually in early December. Last night I was up late making the first few batches of pistachio brittle! Last year was the first year I made this brittle, and it was a HUGE hit. It was also a HUGE trial! The idea came from one of the Martha Stewart issues I was looking at last fall/winter, but the recipe in the magazine was a disaster! I believe the ratio of sugar to water was 2 cups sugar to 1/4 cup water. It just did not work. After two tries I took out my trusty Party Nuts cookbook, which saved the day – as usual. If you don’t have it, go get it. And while you’re at it check out author Sally Sampson’s cooking magazine ChopChop.

My recipe here is the same basic, simple brittle recipe you can find in Party Nuts (I’ve doubled the amounts – I know, it’s a no-no, but it worked). I’ve chopped up my pistachios and cut the brittle, which I took from the Martha Stewart Living magazine. The end result is sweet, salty, crunchy and yummy!

Ingredients:

2 cups granulated sugar
1 cup water
3 1/2 cups coarsely chopped salted pistachios

Before each session of candymaking I test my candy thermometer by boiling a pot of water, and making sure the thermometer reads 212 degrees farenheit. If you’re going to rely on your thermometer it needs to be accurate!

Before you get started prep your pan with enough foil to have a hang-over on each side, and spray the foil very well with spray-oil.

Butter a spoonula (or a spoon and a spatula) to stir and spread the brittle, and butter a large knife for cutting up the brittle. Have a large cutting board standing by, ready for the brittle. Finally, chop your pistachios (in the food processor if you can – save your energy!) and measure out the amount you’ll need – have it standing by!

Now that you’re prepared, put the sugar and water in a pan over high heat and boil. (I admit, I’m a bit lazy here – I just plop the thermometer in at the start, and I don’t wash down the sides of my pan with a wet pastry brush. Every time I’ve tried to do that I’ve ruined my candy, so I skip it now.)

Boil at high heat for about five minutes, or until all of the sugar is dissolved and the liquid is clear. Reduce the heat to medium-ish and continue to boil until it reaches about 305 degrees. Pay very close attention once it hits 260 or so, as the temperature will rise very quickly. Every recipe I’ve seen indicates 300 degrees, and some say a few extra work well to counteract humid conditions. I like a little more of the burnt sugar taste of caramel in my brittle, so I actually cooked this to almost 320. You have to watch it VERY VERY close, and take it off the heat as soon as you start to smell that “burnt sugar” smell. It should just be starting to turn cinnamon colored. If in doubt, take it off, because if it goes too far you’re stuck with nothing but a mass of burnt sugar.

Immediately after you take it off the heat, stir in the pistachios, quickly! You’ll notice there are no photos of this step. Dump your candy onto the prepared foil and spread it as quickly as you can into a relatively even thickness. Let the brittle sit for about two minutes, then pick it up using the foil overhang and plop it over onto the cutting board.

Working quickly cut the brittle into square-ish pieces. If it gets too cool it will start breaking rather than cutting. You can stick it in a low oven for a few minutes to soften it back up, or you can just go with the flow and break it up (my choice). Let the brittle cool for another 10 or 15 minutes and you’ll have a lovely treat everyone will be happy to eat!

Crafty Christmas: Glass Ornaments

If you’ve been to a craft store around the holidays I’m sure you’ve seen towering stacks of these glass ornaments in a variety of shapes and sizes. Every couple of years I pick some up and make something out of them – usually to attach to packages full of sweet treats. I’m making ornaments again this year, so I thought I’d share what I’m making, as well as some other ideas you might be able to use to make your own nifty (and cheap!) ornaments for your own tree, or for gifts!

I wait until these glass balls go on sale at my local Hobby Lobby before I buy them. It seems that every other week during November and December they’re 40% or 50% off, and it’s worth the wait to me. Other supplies you’ll need depend on how you want to use your ornaments. I’m going to make some for my tree that are very similar to the candles I made earlier this week – using micro beads and double-sided tape and adhesive dots. I won’t walk through that again here – just click over to my earlier post to see the process – it’s exactly the same!

Over the weekend I dug through my mom’s ornaments for a few to use around the house (since mine are all packed away and buried right now). I came across this ornament that I made for my first Christmas in my own place. That year my roommate and I made bunches of ornaments, but this is the only one I can find now. It’s a simple process – white glue drawn on the glass in a design, then sprinkled with glitter. I thought I’d make a few more this year to tie on to packages. I used a small paintbrush and a toothpick alternately to draw on my design on the ornament above, but I got lazy and just squirted the glue right out of the bottle onto the glass today.

I worked in sections, and let the first part dry completely before turning it over and working on the next.  It took about four turns to get the whole thing done, using the container the ornaments originally came in to hold them while they dry. I think last time I rigged a skewer that I could hang them on while they dried – I just wasn’t that organized this time!

I took this picture at World Market – I’m not going to make these this year, but I thought it was a great idea. A square glass ornament has a picture decoupaged on the back (facing forward) and glitter was used on the sides to “frame” the picture. I think this would be a great way to repurpose old holiday cards – I can’t seem to make myself get rid of them! If any of you decide to make these I’d love to see how they turn out!

I have another glass ornament project I’ll be sharing with you later on in the week, when I can dig everything out to photograph it. I’m going to squeeze in as much crafty fun as I can before Christmas! Happy crafting everyone!

DIY Decorations

I’ve had big plans to share lots of crafty Christmas decorations with you guys here, but I’ve found myself super busy (as always) with a myriad of holiday doings of late, and I think my plans must be altered a bit. Later this week I will have some ideas for using those glass ball ornaments you find at craft stores everywhere, and next week I’ll have an easy and inexpensive modeling dough recipe and some basic ornaments you can make from the dough. I might even be able to squeeze in a felt ornament tutorial and free pattern – I’m hopeful, but noncommittal.

In the meantime, I thought I’d share a few links to other bloggers with great tutorials and crafty creations. I hope you find something fun to make!

How About Orange is one of my daily online stops. I love her aesthetics and all of the practical goodies (and time wasters!) that can be found on her blog. Right now on the left sidebar you can find links to several years worth of paper ornament posts with directions. I think my favorite right now is the Lacy Snowflake above, but they are all cute, easy and so inexpensive to make!

Angry Chicken is another favorite of mine, and a good place to stop by for inspiration. There is an easy Advent Calendar project up right now. I’ve always loved the idea of an advent calendar, but never have attempted one myself. I think this would be a great way to do it if you have kids. And if you do give stickers (in an advent calendar or otherwise) I recently learned that wax paper is a great accompaniment. Kids can play with the stickers, move them around, and reuse them if they use wax paper.

Young House Love is a great general DIY site – lots of home stuff, which you know I love. They have some great ornament projects, and I particularly love the little animal ornaments. What a fun addition to a tree! I probably love these even more because they remind me of a couple of wreaths I’ve made by spray painting plastic toys. Maybe next year when I have access to my Christmas stuff I’ll pull ours out and take some pics to share here.

One last favorite – Martha Stewart, of course. There are probably millions of ideas on marthastewart.com, but I’m loving these button ornaments, myself. I’m not making them this year, but I have a feeling they’ll show up at some point in the future!

‘Tis the Season to be Thrifty

No, for once I’m not talking about thrifting, as in shopping at a thrift store. I’m talking about saving a little money. At my house, spending during the holidays can get a little out of hand. Both my husband and I love Christmas, and love to give presents. Also, there’s the baking, the socializing, the charity drives at work and the decorating. As I’m making a concerted effort to reduce my spending this holiday season, I thought I’d share some of my thrifty ideas here over the next few weeks. I hope you find something helpful!

As I’ve mentioned before, we’re in the process of selling our house right now. This means a good 85% of what we own is packed away. Turns out the Christmas stuff is on the very bottom of the back of the stack of boxes in storage, and nobody wants to dig it out. Since we won’t be doing a ton of decorating (keeping everything understated – festive but not my normal over-the-top) I decided to make a few purchases and repurpose some existing items. I decided one of my purchases would be candles, and set out to find some on sale on Black Friday. My plan was to decorate the lower part of pillar candles with epsom salts for sparkle, and set three or five in a dish I already owned, surrounded with more epsom salts. (Yes, it’s a Martha Stewart thing.) I found a few sales, but none quite as cheap as I hoped. I considered (for about 3 seconds) going to the Dollar Tree, but their candles always seem to smell like crayons – not a pleasant thing.

I finally broke down and headed out to Walmart on Sunday. If anyone has cheap anything, it’s Walmart, right? While I was looking at the pillar candles (and trying to talk myself into buying them because they were still more than I wanted to spend) my eye wandered down to the end of the aisle. Inspiration and relief struck at the same time. I would use novena candles (also called prayer candles) and decorate the glass! I ditched the epsom salts in my buggy and headed to the checkout with five, $1.29 candles.

I’ve actually decorated quite a few novena candles since I moved here to Texas. I know back in West Virginia these candles were not as widely available as they are here. Every grocery store, Walmart and even quite a few convenience stores carry a decent selection. I’ve found them at flea markets too – got a great deal on a case one time. If you’re not in the southwest you should still be able to find novena candles – look in the Hispanic foods section of your grocery store. I’ve glued just about everything to the glass: scrapbook paper, magazine pages, silk scarves, printed cotton, ribbon, glitter and now micro beads.

I did buy a couple of other things for this project. I decided to use micro beads when I came across a set of 16 different colors on sale for $14.99 at Michaels. In addition I bought a larger container of pearly white beads, some double-sided tape and adhesive dots. I only used two of the containers in the multi-pack and about 1/4 of the pearly beads. As I plan to use others for Christmas ornaments (more about that later this week) I’m not counting the full purchase price towards my total spent on this project. Taking all of that into account my final total including tax was $15.67, or just over $3 per candle. These would make great gifts as well.

I started by removing the labels from the glass of each candle. We had some adhesive remover, and I used that because these particular labels were REALLY stubborn. After removing the labels be sure to use a little glass cleaner to remove any residue from the glass so the tape or dots stick well.

Next, apply the double-sided tape or adhesive dots in whatever pattern you would like. Work in sections, applying a little tape, then sprinkling the micro beads, then more tape and more beads, until your project is completed.

When you sprinkle on the beads I’d suggest doing so inside a box lid, or a cookie sheet, or something with sides. Those things go EVERYWHERE! You’ll notice in the pictures I didn’t do that, and I ended up tiny beads all over my coffee table, clothes and carpet. With the dots I found that after I sprinkled I’d scoop the stray beads into a pile and sort of mash the dot into the beads to get all of the edges covered. Work with one color at a time, and be sure to gather all of those stray beads and pour them back into the container to use again.

That’s about it for this project. Depending on how stubborn your labels are, and how intricate your designs, these can take 10 minutes to an hour to complete. I used thick tape on these and relatively simple patterns and knocked them out in about two hours (again – stubborn labels!). Now my candles are lined up on my coffee table, just waiting to be lit up and glowy some night soon.

Pretty Vintage Dishtowels

Here is a project I made for a birthday present, but that could also be a quick and easy holiday present, or just something pretty for your own kitchen. I can see these in a gift basket with a cool old cookbook, perhaps an apron, oven mitts and some crocheted dischloths. You could also use them to wrap vintage cookie-cutters, or a loaf of homemade bread, or just about anything.

My friend Sarah and I have more in common than just our names. Among our commonalities is a love for vintage goodies – especially those that are kitchen-related. She had a birthday recently, and my mind went to the vintage kitchen place immediately when I was thinking about what to get her. I remembered she had mentioned wanting pretty dishtowels at some point in the past, so I set my mind to thinking.

I’ve collected a few fun old tablecloths that have great colors, great patterns, and a variety of stains and holes. I found two in my stash that are made out of thick, soft cotton, that I thought would work well as dishtowels. One in particular seemed appropriate to use. I purchased this white tablecloth with the teal mushroom print a couple of years ago, with the plan to make two aprons from it. At the time Sarah & I were baking up a storm trying to start up a small baking business. Although the business didn’t happen, the tablecloth was determined to be Sarah’s in one way or another.

I’ve included some photos and basic instructions below, but really, it’s just cutting a rectangle and hemming it. I added some trim and a loop for hanging, but you wouldn’t have to. I hope you enjoy!

Supplies Needed:

• dishtowel (for size comparison)
• vintage tablecloth – stains and holes are just fine, you can cut around them!
• trim (ricrac, pompom trim, ribbon, etc.) if desired
• scissors, (pins and a ruler are optional)
• iron
• sewing machine

Lay out your vintage tablecloth flat on the ground or a large table. Use your existing dishtowel to determine where you would like to cut out your new dishtowel. Take into account the patter, use existing hems if you can, and avoid any stains and holes.

Pin your dishtowel to the tablecloth, being careful to align the grain of the tablecloth with the edge of the existing cloth. Lay your ruler alongside the dishtowel and mark along the far edge – this is your seam allowance. (Full disclosure – I didn’t align, pin or use a ruler. I tend to eyeball these things, and this was no exception. If you feel comfortable just cutting go right ahead, but you may have a wavy dishtowel when all is said and done.) Cut out your towel.

                                    

Fold over one long edge about 1/2 an inch and with your iron set at the appropriate level press the edge. Steam may help you get a good hem. Then fold the edge over again about 1/2 an inch and press again. This double-fold will keep your edges from fraying. Fold and press the other long edge in the same way, then fold and press each shorter edge in the same way. The corners will be a bit bulky but this is to be expected.

 

Start sewing at any corner, using a regular straight stitch. Be sure to anchor your stitching by reversing the direction for a few stitches as you begin. As you reach each corner again anchor your stitches, then stop sewing with the needle in the fabric. Lift the presser foot and swivel your towel 90 degrees, then continue sewing. Keep going until you have finished your towel.

If you’d like to add trim you can sew it on before you do all of the hem, and turn it over with the hem – this will anchor it well, but will also add a lot of bulk to your seam. I chose to add the trim after I’d hemmed. At first I zigzagged the edge of the ricrac to keep it from raveling, but I decided that wasn’t really necessary for the second towel. I stitched the trim along the width of the towel, in line with the pattern on the fabric. I folded the trim over just once and stitched the edge, stitching through both layers of trim and the hem of the towel. If you’d like to add a loop for hanging simply cut a length of ribbon or trim, hem or zigzag stitch the ends, then sew into the hem where desired.

I hope I didn’t make that seem overly complicated. Let me know if you make some yourself!