Sweet log cabin plates

 

Observant readers may have noticed the edge of a plate in my last post -- the one about the winter cross stitch that I "framed" in a Mason jar -- and might have wondered about it.  These are actually plates that I got at the thrift store.  I probably paid no more than $2 apiece for them, probably less.  I did a little research on them and thought readers would enjoy hearing more about these pretty winter plates.

They are from a company called The Cellar and from what I can determine were sold at Macy's back in the day.   They were made in Italy in the 1990s and are hand painted.  I have no difficulty believing this, as the plates vary a good bit in color and just the overall look.  Even if one had a "set" of these, probably none of them would exactly match.

Though not all that old, these plates are technically vintage.  The pattern is called "Log Cabin Christmas" (though to me they are not all that Christmasy -- just wintry, and therefore more versatile).  You can see a good number of the other pieces in the set here at Replacements Ltd. where you can purchase a plate for $40.

You can find everything from plates, bowls, and mugs to salt & pepper shakers, cake pedestals, butter dishes, sugar bowls and creamers, and much, much more.  I especially fell in love with the teapot below:

 I will definitely be keeping my eyes open for more pieces as I visit thrift and antique shops.

And there you have the intel on a very sweet thrift store find that I am so pleased with!

A wintry cross stitch finish

  This little stitchery, a freebie from Erin Elizabeth Designs, was one that I completed last winter but .had not figured out a finish for.  The design depicts a little snow globe, sort of a tallish shape.  I finally came up with the idea of displaying it in an upside down pint Mason jar -- and yesterday I took a few minutes to make it all work.

I pressed the cross stitch really well and trimmed it down a little and pressed all the raw edges to the back.  Then I rolled it up to make it fit in the jar.  I quickly saw that it was going to need something inside it to help it hold its shape and not collapse within the jar.  In my cardboard stash I found a white marble-look side panel from a tissue box.  I rolled it up, taped it together with packaging tape, and rolled the stitchery around it.  That made the difference and gave me just the look I was going for.

I'd thought I might glue a sparkly snowflake button or two to the lid of the jar, but I haven't done that yet.  I sort of like the plain look, but when I get it out next year I may decide it needs a sparkly snowflake.  Meanwhile, I'm loving this little finished project just as it is.

So happy to have completed this at last!

A sweet Christmas card for Rudolph Day

 

 Recently I came upon this sweet Christmas card front.  Usually with card fronts (after scanning them to use as graphics) I just add them to my stash of freebies to tuck in with Etsy orders.  I loved this one so much I decided to also blog about it -- and what better day than Rudolph Day to do so?

This is such a pretty winter country scene -- a classic red house in a snowy landscape with leafless trees, a clump of white birches, and plenty of glitter to add dimension and sparkle.  There's even a stack of firewood at the end of the house.  I would love to live in this house!

Then there's a split-rail fence and several red cardinals about.  Just a classic country scene.  The greeting reads "Christmas Greetings -- and warm wishes for your happiness always."

The back of the card front, though, carries a message that I loved and wanted to share with readers.

The text is sort of light so I'll share it here:

Meeting again at the
crossroads of the year
with memories of
happy hours gone by
and high hopes
for the year to be.

I love this thought -- meeting again at the crossroads of the year!  That may just sum up the reason why I continue to send Christmas cards -- to meet up, even if only via the mail, and check in with people with whom we share memories of happy hours gone by, people whose new years we have high hopes and prayers for.  This might be a sentiment I would add to a handmade Christmas card.  It would also be lovely as a sort of Christmas blessing to cross-stitch and display.

Anything seems possible on a Rudolph Day in March!

Vintage-y recipe leaflet

 

 I just came upon this treasure and listed it in my Etsy shop, but decided to post it here while I'm thinking of it.  It's not super old, likely from  the 1980s, but it has some delicious looking chocolate and peanut butter recipes -- six of them, to be exact.

The leaflet (see it unfolded below) likely came in a bag of Gold Medal flour, but also features recipes using Skippy Peanut Butter, Hershey's Cocoa, and Fleischmann's Yeast.  There's a yeast-raised coffee cake, three kinds of cookies and two kinds of bars.

And on the back side ...

Below are the recipes:

 

One of these might be just the ticket to bake on a blustery March day, to try out for a future kitchen gift!  I may be doing just that myself.  The hard part will be deciding which recipe to try first.

A sweet vintage find

 

Going through paper treasures found at the family homestead to sell in my Etsy shop, I found this striking vintage Christmas card front.  The scene is so familiar, yet so unusual.  I have never seen a church scene exactly like this one.  It's clearly evening (I believe I can glimpse the moon behind the clouds) and likely intended to depict a Christmas eve service.  Either snow or ice (or a wintry mix) has covered the ground and even the trees. I have seen trees look like that when rain or mist freezes on them quickly.  And there are so many icicles on the church.

The entire scene has a moody, cloudy vibe that I find very unusual in a Christmas card.  Yet folks are bundled up and making their way to the warmly lighted church for an evening service.  There's a parable in that!

As I looked closer at the card, thinking it was an entire card and planning to list it on Etsy, I realized that it was only a card front and that it had been repurposed as a gift tag.  Clearly, it had been taped to a tin of Bessie's Mix by my great-aunt.  The card was even still slightly curved from having been taped to a can!

Such a sweet memory.  I am so happy that I found this!

Ways to repurpose used Christmas cards and scraps of gift wrap

 

 It was recently brought to my attention that I've apparently never written a comprehensive post on this topic.  So it's time to do just that!

There are so, so many ideas out there and I have made many of them.  There may even be too many good ideas to share in one post.  We will see how I do with this one. 

Gift tags are, of course, one of the more obvious uses for your Christmas cards. And there are lots of ways to do that.  But here is a post of some of the techniques I've used: gift tags.

A very novel use of Christmas cards is to make little boxes out of them.  This post  tells just how to do that very simply.  I had tried making these boxes in the past, only to find that it was a very complicated process, involving the drawing of many lines and folding them at intersection points, etc.  This procedure is much simpler and more straightforward, and the boxes are just so cute you may find yourself addicted to making them.

Ornaments are also a great way to use Christmas cards.  This post shows how to make an ornament and also a pin!

Two Victorian style ornaments

Pin made using a Christmas tag

 The following posts have other ideas using gift wrap or Christmas cards: Juice-can lid ornaments; ornament from Mason-jar lid.

 

My granddaughter and I made Christmas card banners one year and they were so much fun to do.  I've been wanting to make some similar ones only for winter.  I could use wintry Christmas card scenes. card stock in shades of blue, navy ribbon, and use snowflake buttons in between the individual pennants.

 One of the first real craft projects I made with used Christmas cards was this one: Christmas card "kissing ball".  I made many of these for gifts over the years.  These are a bit time-consuming but I think the results are worth it.  The one I made for our home has lasted well and has taken on a real vintage look over the years.  It has had to be re-glued in places a few times, but that's a simple matter and easily taken care of.

Below, you see the "kissing ball" hanging in a doorway.

The kissing balls can also be made smaller, using, if I remember right, 1.5-inch circles, to produce ornaments that can be hung on the tree.  To do that, I would either simply use glitter on the ages and/or use tiny colorful beads at the intersections.  I've made these smaller ones in the past and just used glitter, but small colorful beads (in place of the mini Christmas balls used on the large ones) should look nice too.

So there you have a few ideas!  I've got more thoughts buzzing in my mind, and I know somewhere I have another couple of pictures I could use, but those will have to wait for a less busy day.

A fun handcrafted gift tag

 

 I made a fun little tag after Christmas.  We had some gifts to give our friends but didn't get to see them before Christmas due to illness.  I had wanted to make this tag as not only a part of the gift wrapping but also as a little keepsake they could hang somewhere in their house.

The idea for this tag came from one of the large format Gooseberry Patch Christmas books --  Book 11.  Apparently, I have not reviewed this book, but I need to.  For those interested in owning a copy, Thriftbooks has a like-new, hardcover copy here for $5.99.

I found this tag idea in a chapter titled "Greetings & Gift Wrap" and the specific name of the project is "Greenery Package" on page 67.  I opted not to do the greenery/pine cone trimmed package because I wanted to use this tag on a gift bag.  But the gift wrapping idea is fabulous and I will use it another time.

The directions for the tag aren't very detailed.  They say: "Use decorative edged scissors to cut out a black & white photocopy of a favorite wintry photo.  Tie broken sticks together with rusty wire to make a frame.  Wire it to the photocopy.  Use adhesive foam dots to adhere a vintage tag to the frame and the photocopy to the package."

I snagged the photo of our friends off her blog, and changed it to black & white.  I didn't wire the frame to the photocopy, but hot-glued it. I also embellished it with a rusty metal snowflake since I found some in the stash with my wire.  But a teensy pine cone and sprig of greenery would also have looked nice.  I didn't use the vintage tag suggested and, since I was using it for a hanging tag, just added a nice metallic thread hanging loop. 

Our friends were surprised and delighted with this special tag! I'm thinking that I will post about this again for Christmas in July.  Summer would be a great time to gather the necessary sticks for the project.

And here's the actual 2025 cookie list!

 

 I'm sure no one is holding their breath for this list, but I do know there are some folks who are interested in trying some new-to-them cookie recipes on Rudolph Day, so here we go with what we actually baked this year.

Chocolate Mint Crisps

Whipped Shortbread

Raspberry Almond Thumbprints

Chocolate Spritz (updated version here)

 

Blond Brownies

Cookie Dough Brownies

Lemon Shortbread Thumbprints

Lemon Spritz

 Eggnog Log Cookies

Sacher Torte Cookies (updated version here)

Chocolate-Filled Gingerbread Thumbprints

Gingerbread Coffeecake Cookies

Secret Spice Cookies

 

 Chocolate Orange Cookies

Christmas Tree Spritz

 Christmas No-bake Cookies

Maple Thumbprint Cookies

 Peppermint Mocha Cookies

The latter two were new this year, but they both earned a permanent spot in our cookie repertoire! I do intend to write a post about each of them eventually.

So that is our actual list for Christmas 2025.  Many of these were made in double or even triple batches.  Such a sweet tradition for us!

The actual 2025 candy list

 

So now here is the actual candy list from 2025.  I had seven kinds of candy on the tentative list, all of which I have made in years past.

We actually made only four kinds of candy:

Heavenly Delight (chocolate peanut butter fudge, pictured at top of post)

Salted Caramel Fudge

Special Holiday Fudge

Chocolate-Dipped Orange Slice Candy

However, we did make multiple batches of each kind of fudge -- and I think we made 3 or 4 batches of the Heavenly Delight, which is a huge favorite with many people.

That's the actual candy list, complete with links!

The actual kitchen gift list

 

 Regular readers know that in addition to the tentative lists I post before Christmas, I also like to post again after the holiday to share what I actually made for kitchen gifts, cookies, and candy.  So here is my update on the kitchen gifts list.

Recall, this was the tentative list:

So here is what I actually made, with recipe links for those who are interested:

Eggnog Log Cookies
Sacher Torte Cookies (updated version here)
Special Holiday Fudge
Chocolate Mint Crisps
Christmas Granola
Little Apricot Cakes
Barbecue Spiced Pecans

That last one wasn't on my list but I found it in an old magazine and it seemed meant to be.

I also tried out Pecan Pie Bark, but that isn't on my actual list because I didn't make it as a gift, just took some to a game night at church.  I think I would give it as a gift another year, though, as it was delicious.

And so that is 2025's actual kitchen gift list!