Lovely Christmas stamps

 It may sound strange, but even as a believer in Jesus I tend to shy away from traditional "religious" Christmas stamps.  I think they are often not very attractive.  I am much more drawn to stamps like those above featuring winter birds.  I like the idea of stamps featuring the Madonna and child, but the reality is that the ones I have seen I really didn't like very much.

The ones currently available, however, are different.  I love these and will very likely order some.

Here is a closeup:

Here is a screenshot of the description from the USPS website:

It's good to know the names of the artists who worked on this stamp,  I really like how Mary looks like the teenage girl she was and that she has no unnecessary halo.  This portrait seems light-filled rather than the darker look of many of the "religious" Christmas stamps.  It's just a very lovely stamp.

What kind of Christmas stamps do you prefer?

Christmas fabric focus week 4

 

I just love Christmas fabric.  There are so many ways it can be used!  The photo above shows how I trimmed pillow cases with a lovely Christmas scene.

For this week's Christmas fabric focus,  I chose Merry Happy Christmas by Bluebellgray for Lewis & Irene Fabrics.  It is bright and fun and just so festive.  

Here are some of the fabrics I especially liked from this line.  

Winter White main yardage

Winter White Festive Foliage

Black Forest Holly

Red Christmas Tartan

Winter White Christmas Tree

Pine Holly Jolly

Pistachio Holly Jolly

I can think of some fun projects I'd love to make with this cheery fabric.  How about you?

Today's vintage Christmas card

 

Here is one last vintage Christmas card church for the last Sunday in July.  

The red border around this scene sets it off nicely, but I think I might have used a metallic gold.  The white church with its green doors stands sturdy and tall at sunset on a winter afternoon.  In December the sun sets around 4:30 here in New England, and I love the moody winter look of this scene as it is so true to my own experience.  The church is lighted in anticipation of folks who will enter.

Already a group is singing carols around the outdoor Christmas tree.  Others are on the way in a sleigh or on foot.  I imagine that more will join them and that then all of the congregants will go in for cookies and hot cocoa -- or maybe even a potluck supper.  

I love this nostalgic image and hope that my readers will too.

Fun and festive yarn for Christmas crafting

 

Summer is definitely the time of year to sit at the beach (or on the porch with a glass of iced tea or iced coffee at hand) and work on crocheting smaller projects for Christmas.  I often make hot mats, dish cloths, coasters, and even ornaments.  It's always fun to find a festive new yarn to use.

 

The variegated yarn above has gold sparkles in it.  

The tree motif above is made from this pattern in a sparkly green yarn.  I still want to do a bunch of these and make a garland.

I just used a festive variety of regular cotton yarn in the hot mat above.

Imagine my delight to see in my email this morning a message from Yarnspirations featuring a new yarn simply titled "Festive"!  It is a new color way from Red Heart Super Savers Bitty Stripes.  You can save 35% now on this yarn with the code XMASINJULY.  

For a closer look at this pretty new Christmas yarn, go here: Bitty Stripes Festive.  Happy shopping and crafting!

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.