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.