Free Christmas cupcake wrappers at Food Art Party!

Cover those plain cupcake papers with a pretty wrapper!

Are you thinking ahead for Christmas kitchen gifts?  How about Christmas parties?  If you plan to bake some fabulous cupcakes for these occasions, you will want to take a look at these free printable cupcake wrappers from Food Art Party.  There are ten different designs, from Christmas trees to snowflakes to vintage Bingo cards.  Some of the designs are for winter, not just Christmas, so they are even more versatile and would work for New Year's or any winter occasion.

In fact, I just happened to think, these would also work great as muffin wrappers.  I do have muffins on my short list of kitchen gifts to make, though I do not have cupcakes listed (yet), so I will be printing out some of these to wrap around my muffins for gifting.

You'll find the wrappers here -- Free Printable Christmas Cupcake Wrappers -- along with directions for using them.  Have fun with these!  They will kick your kitchen gifts up a notch, for sure!

A new Pinterest board

A "kissing ball" made from old Christmas cards

Just wanted to mention that I just started a new Pinterest board titled Crafting for Christmas.  To start, I repinned most of the crafts from my Christmas board onto this one.  I decided I needed to have a separate board for Christmas crafting in order to keep the crafts somewhat separated from other Christmas ideas like decorating, inspiration, etc.  (Some time back I also started a board called Vintage Christmas, since I noticed lots of vintage Christmas images I liked.)  To get to the board, just click the red "Follow Me on Pinterest" button in the sidebar.  From there, you can easily access the Crafting for Christmas board.

 I've been adding Christmas crafts onto this new board as I find them.  You might get some craft ideas from this new board, so be sure and check it out if you enjoy crafting for Christmas as much as I do!   

Christmas planning ~ a short list of food gifts

I will surely make more than the items on this list at Christmas time.  There are many old favorites that are "must-haves" in our home at this blessed season.  But I have made a short list of food gifts which I am planning to give to specific people.  I thought I would post it here so I don't lose it.

*Hot Cocoa Mix
*Pride of Iowa Cookies
*Bran Muffins
*Eggnog Log Cookies
*Sacher Torte Cookies
*Whipped Shortbread Cookies
*Lemon Pistachio Fudge
*Lemon Ice Candy
*Chocolate Covered Fruit Jelly Candies

It's a great feeling to have this list made.  What about you?  Will you be giving some food gifts this year?  Is your list made yet?

Rudolph Day for October

I remember this scene from a favorite childhood Christmas book!

I didn't accomplish a lot yesterday; I'm really busy trying to make a few handcrafted birthday gifts that need to go out in tomorrow's mail at the very latest.  I'm hoping to observe Rudolph Day tomorrow with some Christmas tea and some planning and crafting.  However, today I did do a few things toward Christmas:

*  Stocked up on flour, sugar, margarine and brown sugar for holiday baking
*  Used up a few things I'd had stored in the freezer, and removed a nearly empty cookie tin, to make more room for Christmas cookies, etc.
*  Bought some plastic bangle bracelets for making some bracelet purses for little girls' Christmas gifts.

That is probably about it, but it did feel great to get those few things accomplished on October 25.

Christmas countdown printable to frame

(Photo by Life {Sweet} Life)

I'm sure we've all seen those nifty little dry-erase message boards made from printables and picture frames.  Under the glass is a menu or family to-do list.  One then uses a dry-erase marker to write in the weekly dinner menu or the necessary chores, directly on the glass.  Next week, a quick wipe erases the information and one can again use a dry-erase marker to repeat the process.  With imagination, a printer and an inexpensive or repurposed picture frame, the possibilities are truly endless.  The clever person who came up with this idea deserves a medal.

Well, thanks to Tip Junkie, I've discovered a Christmas countdown which utilizes the same concept.  Go here to check it out:  Printable Christmas Countdown .  The designer of the countdown offers it as a free printable download in either the red damask (pictured above) or a green polka dot.  What a nice idea!  It isn't quite as much fun for kids as the Advent calendars with the little doors that you open, but it's still a superb idea (especially for households without young children) and I've already downloaded the red damask version.  Maybe you would like to do the same.  Or, if you are gifted at designing, you might like to design and print your very own variation on this theme, maybe even utilizing a family photo for the background.  Have fun!

Baking, beverage, and seasoning mixes for your own pantry or for gifts

Mulled cider mixes are something I make up almost every year.  They make the best mulled cider!

For quite some time now I have had the thought to make up some seasoning mixes as gifts and package them in little homespun fabric bags.  I have done this on a smallish scale in the past, making pumpkin and apple pie spices, and have made plenty of seasoning mixes for my own use. 

These spice mixes are for pumpkin pie spice and apple pie spice.  I packaged these with a pretty pie pan and a little book of my favorite pie recipes.

However,  I haven't had time to do a lot of research into seasoning mixes.

Now I find that someone has done that research for me!  Check out this page at Tipnut:  100-plus Recipes for Homemade Mixes and Seasoning Blends.  I expect to find some great ideas there, and thought others might like to check out the link as well, whether for gifts or just to add to one's own pantry.  Have fun with this list!

Inspiration for stocking your freezer for Christmas!

It won't be long now before I will start baking a few Christmas cookies for the freezer.  This year I will be trying some gluten free recipes to see if I can adapt them to some of my favorite Christmas cookie recipes.  I always try to begin my baking with our first snowfall (usually in November, but sometimes in late October) if I can.

Today in an email from TipJunkie, I found a link to an inspiring post from Money Saving Mom.  Here's the link:  Freezer Cooking for the Holidays. 

There are lots of great ideas here for freezing not only baked goods, but doughs, mixes, etc. to make your holiday meals and your kitchen gifts simpler and easier.  Doing these simple things ahead (assuming one can find room in the freezer) will free one up from last minute details and give much more time for family fun and paying attention to the true meaning of Christmas.

I'll be trying some of these ideas and I hope they will be helpful to you, as well!

A mini Christmas in September

We hung a string of lights and brought a mini decorated tree.

I can only take a moment, but wanted to quickly post a couple of pictures from our weekend and the mini Christmas we had on Saturday night.  We never get to have Christmas all together, so this little bit of Christmasing was a treat.  We drew names ahead of time -- adults with adults and kids with kids; there were 15 of us in all -- and then shopped at the dollar store.  A fun time was had by all!

Some of the celebrants

Although this one does not show our Christmas as such, I wanted to add it because it shows the beauty of our weekend's surroundings.  Perhaps later I can post more of the pictures of our mini Christmas!

Red, green and white

... however, not Christmasy!

A finished curtain

A closer look at the design

I thought I would take just a minute and show you the curtains I just made for two dining room windows I had been wanting to partially cover.  This vintage fabric crossed my radar screen (it surfaced from a stash) again, and I decided to use it to make the curtains I needed.  Read the full story on my regular blog if you like!

And, on a Christmas-related note, I should add that the tension rods I purchased for this project will make it more likely that I finally get around to making Christmas curtains for these windows!

Another Rudy Day gets away

From a favorite vintage coffee advertisement.  I love the variety of cups hanging by ribbons from the Christmas tree!  The snowflake tablecloth is so pretty too.

Yes, this past Saturday was Rudolph Day for August.  And it completely got away.  I'm busy with planning and preparing for a visit from our faraway daughter and family, coming mid-September to stay three whole weeks.  And then there is just life in general.  Lots of time spent on preparing my Sunday School lessons for the next several weeks, garden to harvest from, weeds to pull (not keeping up with that!), cleaning to do, and on and on.  I'd love to bake some things for the freezer (to serve while our company is here) but the weather's been a bit too warm to do much baking.

Thus, on Rudy Day I did not do one single, solitary Christmasy thing.

One thing I have been working on sporadically this week is cutting out pieces for pieced Christmas placemats like this one:

They match the runner I made a couple of years ago.
 
Well, they sort of match.  I guess "coordinate" might be a better word.  The fabrics will vary for each of them -- I am hoping to make ten mats -- because I am just using up scraps.  I'm finding, though, that rather than using up all of my stash of scraps I am creating a good number of smaller scraps of Christmas fabrics.

Any ideas for using very small scraps of Christmas fabric will be welcome.  I'm thinking of using some for card making and gift tags.

Simple table topper from vintage fabric

This week I took a few minutes to narrow-hem the vintage red and green print remnant I showed earlier.  It came out the size of a small table runner, which means I will be able to use it in various places in the kitchen and dining area -- dining table, kitchen island, hutch, etc. 

The little bouquet is flowers from going-to-seed mustard greens in our garden.

Thought you might like to see the vintage doily as well.  This is a handmade doily from my mother's linen closet.  Someone had given her a set of two.  She passed them on to me some years ago.

I am pleased with how this quick little project turned out.  It looks great in my strawberry themed dining area, and will look nice later with Christmas decor as well.

A finished project

This runner has been on my "to finish" list for a couple of years now.  I am so pleased to have completed it.  My daughter loves chickadees, and I had wanted to make this for her birthday a couple of years ago.  When I bought the kit online, I mistakenly thought it was stamped cross stitch and embroidery.  I obviously didn't look too closely, for it was stamped embroidery, nearly all of it in satin stitch.

End motifs are like this

Entire runner -- I took this pic with the runner spread out on the floor.

I plan to give this to my daughter the next time I see her.  She can then put it away to have ready when the Christmas season arrives.  I'm not too worried about spoiling the surprise, as she seldom checks my Christmas blog, but even if she should happen to see it here, she will still be surprised by it, I guess.

One of the side motifs

It's a wonderful feeling to have finished this project at last!

Red and green vintage fabric print

I'm not sure this is even Christmas fabric (I sort of think not, as the motifs don't look too Christmasy), but the reds and greens are perfect.  I have had this smallish piece of vintage fabric in my stash for so long that I'm not even sure where I got it.  I have held onto it all this time because it's so pretty, but have not thought of a good use for it.  Today I decided that when I have a few minutes I will simply hem the edges and use it as a little table topper.   That way I can use it however and wherever I like -- at Christmas or any season!

Another little vintage card

Here's another little card which I came across in my photo sorting project.  Actually, this card is even smaller than the last one and was obviously used as an enclosure with a gift.  It's very simple with the church window and little choir boy, but I think it is so sweet.  There is something innocent and joyful about the small older Christmas cards from a simpler time.  I just love them and am thrilled to have found this one.  Hope you enjoy it too!

A sweet little vintage Christmas card

Recently I finished a big project of sorting through some old photos.  Mingled in with them were a few old greeting cards.  This little Christmas card was found complete with envelope and has not been previously used.  It's a sweet, though unusual little depiction of a Christmas music box (you can see the wind-up key on the base, to the right) decorated with angels -- I suppose they would twirl as the music played -- small golden bells, and greenery.  It is a "Brownie" card by Rust Craft, a favorite line of cards in years gone by.  Enjoy!

Candied Walnuts

This past weekend I tried a recipe for candied walnuts.  I was making a salad recipe that called for toasted pecans.  I didn't have a lot of pecans on hand, and I also wanted to kick the flavor of the salad up just a little bit, so I went looking for a candied walnut recipe.  This one, which I found in one of my Quick Cooking annual cookbooks -- Candied Walnuts -- did not disappoint.

(Parenthetically, let me add that these annual cookbooks -- of which I own three -- were acquired free because I had recipes published in Simple & Delicious or Light & Tasty in the past.  This is a fun way to get some very nice cookbooks, so if you have never submitted recipes to any of these magazines -- including Taste of Home -- you might want to consider doing so.  Even if your recipes are not used right away, you will receive a free magazine and often a free hardcover book eventually if they are  published.)

Back to the Candied Walnuts.  I don't keep balsamic vinegar on hand, so I just used cider vinegar.  And my canola oil was at the back of the cabinet, so I used light olive oil which was near the front.  These ingredients worked out just fine.  The walnuts were super easy to make and they are just delicious!  It's so nice to be able to make something so fancy and different with so little effort.

(Photo by Taste of Home)

These were good in a salad and they would be nice as a snack or appetizer, but I'm posting the recipe link here in my Christmas kitchen because I think they would make a wonderful kitchen gift.  Don't you agree?

A Christmas birdhouse

I was recently given this cute Christmas birdhouse ornament.  My mother-in-law found it somewhere -- probably at a thrift store or, more likely, the recycle area of her local dump.  I think it's very cute and will definitely make it a part of my Christmas and winter decorating this year.  I especially enjoy items featuring snowmen, snowflakes, icicles and so on because they can be left out and enjoyed all winter long!

My Christmas Shop on Amazon

All through July, I have been thinking about adding a few items to the Christmas Shop which is part of my A-Store on Amazon.  I'm not very good about updating this shop, and I'm not sharing this link so you will necessarily shop at it, but just mostly for inspiration and for Christmas items I  have enjoyed using (mostly books) and want to share the info with others.  Hope you enjoy your visit if you stop in at My Christmas Shop!

For some fun and Christmas inspiration ...

(Pour yourself a cup of Christmas coffee and enjoy!)

... I'd like to invite all of you to visit my Christmas Board on Pinterest! 

I love Pinterest even though I seldom find a lot of time to go there.  I just use my "Pin It" button when I find something that inspires me.  It occurred to me today that those of you are are visiting here for Christmas in July (and beyond, I hope!) might like to visit my Pinterest board and see some of the nifty ideas and art I have found.  Hope you enjoy your time there if you visit my Christmas board!

Planning for Christmas in September

 Yes, I'm planning a mini Christmas in September while our daughter and her hubby and four little ones are visiting us out here.  It has been many years since we've celebrated Christmas with them, and we won't really be doing so now -- just a little mini-celebration. 

My plan is that those family members who'd like to take part will draw names, with a $1 per gift limit.  The local dollar stores will likely be our favored shopping sources.  Then we will wrap our gifts and, at some point during the visit, have a little Christmas party.  I'm thinking I will decorate very simply to suggest the Christmas season -- probably a Christmas table runner, perhaps a Christmas centerpiece (or just a mason jar full of evergreen sprigs), and a string  of lights.

I'll probably use this runner which I sewed in 2009; however ....

it's barely possible I'll have these placemats finished in time.

We will have a festive repast -- probably just something like appetizers, cookies, fudge and punch -- and exchange our small and simple gifts.  Sounds like fun to me!