Making your own scented pine cones

Speaking of pine cones, which we were just yesterday, I always love it when the scented pine cones appear in the grocery stores.  Cinnamon perfumes the produce aisles and gets me in the mood for Thanksgiving and Christmas.  I'm usually tempted to buy these scented cones, but I invariably talk myself out of it because we have acres of woods at our place and free pine cones are literally ours for the taking. 

I often do pick up pine cones from our property and I especially love to gather the tiny hemlock cones to use in Christmas crafting. 

The one caveat in crafting with natural cones is to make sure they are not harboring any insects.  To that end, when you bring harvested cones home, be sure to bake them (on a foil-lined cookie sheet) in a 300º oven for half an hour to kill any insects, before crafting with them.  This procedure also has the added benefit of opening the pine cones up in an attractive way.

If the pine cones you've found have pitch on them, this baking maneuver will give them a pretty glaze as the pitch melts.  An added bonus is that when dry, the pitch will no longer be sticky to the touch.  

You can read more of my tips and ideas for crafting with natural cones here.

Since I so enjoy using pine and hemlock cones in crafting, I was delighted to see a post from Yvonne at Stonegable about making one's own scented cones using essential oils like cinnamon, clove, orange, etc.  Read her inspiring post here: How to Make Beautifully Scented Pinecones.  Yvonne talks you through the process of making these and makes it so simple.

Pick up a few pine cones this summer if you have opportunity and make some of these for use at the holidays.  You will be glad you did!

Pine cone perfection

 

As I mentioned last weekend, so many themes seem to be repeated in Christmas cards and in other Christmasy items.  One of my favorite elements in Christmas items of any kind is the pine cone.  You can see them making an appearance with pink candles in the card design above.  Below are a few more from my collection.

With a tiny angel underneath

With branches, greenery and birds

I think I love pine cones so much because they represent new life.   To me they also speak of spiritual growth.

 

A Christmas card

Christmas fabric

Found in an advertisement received in the mail

Another pretty card

Another card.  What a lovely decorating idea!

A glittery 1950s parchment card

This was the outside of a photo card from the 1960s.

A scrap of wrapping paper

 So many ways to picture the humble pine cone!  Stay tuned for another really nice idea tomorrow.

Peppermint Mocha Cookies

 

 This is a new recipe for us as of this past Christmas.  Again, it was a case of my hubby (or it could have been me!) wanting to try a new and different cookie recipe.  Once again I turned to my trusty Christmas Cookie Exchange Pinterest board.  

 
And these Chocolate Peppermint Cookies from Ambitious Kitchen just jumped out at me, especially when I read about the option of adding espresso powder to make a peppermint mocha variation.  We both love peppermint mocha coffee and I know a good many other folks do as well. 

So I made the recipe as written adding the 2 teaspoons of espresso powder as suggested.  Wow!

Photo by Ambitious Kitchen

I did make the cookie dough balls smaller than specified, using about half the amount of dough for each cookie -- that is, 1 tablespoon of dough rather than two tablespoons.  (We like our Christmas cookies on the smaller side so we can fit a greater variety on our cookie trays.)

And I honestly can't remember at this point if I added the white chocolate drizzle or not.  I know I dipped them in the melted chocolate and sprinkled on the crushed candy canes.  I'm pretty sure I did add the drizzle.  

These cookies are scrumptious!  I would label them a quintessential Christmas cookie.  They've earned a place in our regular Christmas cookie list.

Last call for Christianbooks' Christmas in July sale!

 

I wish I had paid more attention to this sale earlier.  Now it really is the last minute!  But if you are like me, you might still be interested in checking out this sale.  

Here are some of the fun things that I found.

This sweet Advent calendar for only $2.99:

A set of 8 pop-up Christmas cards featuring a red pickup truck for $4.27!  Pop-up cards are such fun but usually quite expensive.

This tree-shaped  Let Us Adore Him melamine tray would make a lovely gift when filled with Christmas cookies or fudge.  It's a deal at less than half price.

I have always liked paper placemats, and this set of 12 for $3.60, pictured below, is especially festive and fun.

Head on over to Christianbook.com and check out the sale.  Hope you find some good buys as well!

Christmas fabric focus week 3

 For this week's Christmas fabric focus,  I chose 12 Days of Christmas by Nancy Halvorsen for Benartex Fabrics.  

Here are some of my favorites from this collection:

Red Holiday Plaid

Green Holiday Plaid

Cream Pine Boughs

Green Motion

Gold Pine Boughs

Moss Pine Boughs

Red Motion

Teal Motion

Willow Diamond Candy

This is a fun fabric line with some vibrant colors.  It would be so enjoyable putting them together in some simple Christmas sewing projects.  Which is your favorite?

This week's vintage Christmas card

 

 Here is another vintage Christmas card featuring an image of a church and village.  This is only a card front, from a very small card, but I think it is extra special.

I love the colors on this card which look as if they might be from the late 1960s or early 1970s.  The blues and greens are such interesting shades, especially the green trees in the foreground.

The village clustered around the church, nestled in the shelter of a mountain, just says "New England" to me, most likely Vermont or New Hampshire.  Tiny lighted houses in the distance remind us that some folks live way out in the country.  

People are streaming to the church, one would assume for a Christmas Eve service.  Above the mountains a brilliant star can be glimpsed, presumably the Christmas star.  

This card front with its lovely scene will be going into my box of Etsy "freebies" that I include with orders.  It will go to some discerning customer with a Christmas order!

All aboard the Christmas train!

 

 As I've worked on scanning and listing vintage Christmas cards for my Etsy shop, some themes emerge again and again.  One of them is the theme of trains, train stations, and railroads.  They come in all styles from whimsical to nostalgic to completely realistic.  I thought it would be fun to share a few of those cards and other train-themed goodies today.

 

The Santa Train!

Waving to the train while cutting the tree

A folded candy box with train theme

Love this train station.

And here is a fabric featuring Christmas trains!

 
Hope you have enjoyed this ride on the Christmas railroad.  It was a fun one for me!