Another vintage kids' book ~ The Animals' Merry Christmas

When our kids were young, we had the equivalent of this book contained within one of a four-volume set of Richard Scarry anthologies.  If your kids or grandkids are not familiar with Richard Scarry, they (and you!) are missing out.  His art and stories are both fantastic and so much fun for kids.

This Little Golden Book (copyright 1950, 1958) actually was written by Kathryn B. Jackson, but the pictures are all Richard Scarry, and just beautiful.  The book contains four Christmas stories:  Mr. Hedgehog's Christmas Present, The Singing Christmas Tree, The Cold Little Squirrel, and The Long-Ago Donkey.  It also includes two Christmas poems: Green Christmas and A Very Small Christmas.

The poem Green Christmas was a favorite of my children, so I will quote it here:

Green Christmas

"It's almost Christmas, and still no snow!"

Cry the woodland creatures.  "We still can go

Out of our houses to search for roots

And seeds in the dry grass, and maybe shoots

Of fern and fennel that think it's spring.

We may find acorns -- 'most anything

That's good to eat may be in sight

For Christmas dinner, on such a night,

When the ground is bare of ice and snow,

And stars are bright, and the winds don't blow.

Hurrah for Christmas and still no snow!"

"It's almost Christmas, and still no snow!"

Sigh the townsfolk, wishing the wind would blow.

"Our doors are wreathed with pine and holly,

And our Christmas trees would look extra jolly

Blazing with lights -- if the snow came down

Deep and white all over the town!

Why doesn't the sky go wooly gray?

Why doesn't it snow for Christmas Day?

It's not like Christmas without some snow!"

Sigh the townsfolk, wishing the wind would blow --

BUT -- 

"Hurrah for Christmas and still no snow!"

Cry the woodland creatures, and out they go.

-- Kathryn B. Jackson

Such a fun poem.  Helps kids to see that there may be more than one side to a story!

If you've not seen this book, I'm pretty sure you could find one on eBay or Etsy.  With its four separate stories and two poems, it would be a great addition to your family's library of Christmas books!

A fun little gift for a 1-year-old

 Our youngest grandson turned one year old in June, and -- although I really wanted to make something handmade for him -- I was at a loss as to what that might be.  Then I saw an idea on Pinterest for alphabet letters made of fabric.  Now this might be something he could play with, and I could see his siblings getting involved by spelling out names or words on the floor for him.

  I looked at the tutorial and decided to make it easier.  Here's how I did it.  First, I did a search for large alphabet letter templates.  I found some great ones on DTLK's Educational Activities for Kids, just the size I was hoping for.  They printed out two to a sheet of paper.  I printed enough letters so I had not only the ABCs, but also enough extra letters so that every child's name (he has four older siblings) could be spelled out on the floor at once.  Somehow I could just envision that happening!

Then I cut out enough fabric squares to have 2 for each letter.  I had lots of small colorful scraps in my stash that were just perfect for this.  Using dressmaker's carbon paper, I traced letters on half of the squares.  Then I cut a same-size cotton batting square for each letter. 

I sandwiched them together like this: plain fabric square, right-side down; batting square; fabric square with traced letter, right-side up.  I pinned them securely, then carefully machine-stitched around the outline of each letter.  Once the letters were all stitched, then I cut out each one with pinking shears, using embroidery scissors as necessary for some of the small cut-out parts of letters. 


 
 
Voila!  A multitude of fabric alphabet letters for a little boy and his older siblings to play with!  The letters could be packaged in a zip-top plastic bag, a plastic box, or whatever other storage you might find suitable.  Hope someone else can use this idea.  My grandkids loved it!

Rudolph Day for September

Isn't this so pretty?  It's a cross-stitched  effect from a "calendar" card from the 1960s or 1970s -- I'm guessing the latter.  My scan is so detailed that I could actually make a cross-stitch from this design if I so chose.

Unbelievably, Rudolph Day for September is here!  Do not ask me where the time has gone.  I have been so busy, mostly with spending part of time each day out of the house for eldercare responsibilities.  I had a simple, simple gift tag project (involving hot glue, some embellishments, and silver thread) planned for August -- I estimated it would probably only take about 15 minutes to make a dozen tags.  Well, somehow I didn't even find fifteen extra minutes.  How lame.

So when I thought about Rudolph Day coming up again this week, I thought that of course I would complete that project today.  It's not happening...

Instead, I decided I would at least crack open the door to the Christmas Kitchen and just give a quick little update.  In view of how busy my life has become,  I'm planning just one handcrafted gift per grandchild this year ... very simple projects, all using the same pattern but different themes.  We will see  how that goes.  I'm finding that some of the components aren't as easy to locate as they used to be, but have bought some online and am almost ready to start on the first gift.  (I don't want to be more specific, as some of the recipients (or their moms!) read my blog. 

Guess I'd better close the kitchen door and order some more materials now.  Hope all of you are having a more productive Rudolph Day than I am!

Another vintage kids' book -- THE NIGHT BEFORE CHRISTMAS

You can see this book was well loved!

Today I want to quickly share another of my childhood Christmas books.  I finally found a few minutes this summer to scan some of my favorites.

This one is simply the classic The Night Before Christmas poem by Clement C. Moore.  This Little Golden Book version was published in 1949.  What is really special about it is the lovely illustrations by Corinne Malvern.  There is a little bio of her in the front of the book: "Corinne Malvern has excelled in two of the arts.  She was a successful child actress, then studied art, and has since exhibited her work and done commercial art.  She has illustrated ... many of the Little Golden Books."

Since the poem was  written in 1822, the artist opens the book with an illustration depicting a calendar page from December 1822.

Don't you love it?

I scanned this page because it was easiest, being first in the book, but also because it's my favorite.  I love the little house and the falling snow by lantern light!

Vintage kids' book ~ The Most Beautiful Tree in the World

This book was one of my favorite Christmas stories as a child.  It is a Wonder Book and, sadly, gives no credit to either the author or illustrator.  All it says is that the story was originally published in Family Circle magazine in 1954 and was copyrighted as a Wonder Book in 1956.

The book tells the story of children living on a farm and the beautiful gigantic spruce tree on their property.  The tree is sold and carried away by helicopter to become the Christmas tree at Rockefeller Center.  Andy and Ellen get to go to the city and see their tree in all its glory.  The story ends happily with a new little spruce tree being planted in place of the large one, and the promise that it too may one day be the most beautiful tree in the world.

Andy and Ellen's first sight of the helicopter passing over their farm

The story is fun and the illustrations absolutely fabulous.  If you can find a copy, this little book is well worth having in your Christmas book collection.

An attic find

 
As I've mentioned a few times, I've been doing some clearing out at my dad's home.  Not things that he sees and uses daily; just things in the storage areas, of which there are many.  While working in the attic back in June, I came upon this find:

It's an interesting-looking book, although the stories I've glanced at don't seem to be anything wonderful.  (In fact, they seem a little strange.)

The book's title is

 CHRISTMAS STORIES:

 A Parlor Companion,

FOR

CHRISTMAS, NEW YEAR, AND ALL SEASONS.

How's that for  all-inclusive?  I couldn't find a copyright date (or even an author's name; it seems the stories may have been written by a number of different authors, though I can't be sure).

However, the book was a gift from "Aunt Lizzie", and is inscribed "Merry Christmas, December 25, 1892."  That, and the fact that it will be a nice addition to my Christmas decorating, made me decide to hang on to the book, at least for now.

Down the Lane to Christmas

A favorite vintage card from my collection

Here is one last lovely poem by Mildred L. Jarrell.  Oh, the memories it brings!

Down the Lane to Christmas

Down the lane to Christmas

Mid fields adrift with snow,

I can see the old familiar home 

With windows all aglow.

I can hear the Christmas music

Carried o'er the frosty air,

And picture home folks singing

Round the organ by the stair.

The yule log will be burning

Near the tinseled Christmas tree,

And I hasten with a yearning

Towards the ones that wait for me.

Though the road is long I've traveled

Sure my heart no more will roam,

For down the lane to Christmas,

My heart is nearly home.

~ Mildred L. Jarrell

I hope you've all enjoyed this simple Christmas in July as much as I have.  It's been fun for me and a nice break from my everyday responsibilities.  See you in August!

A fun last-minute handmade gift

Photo by Raising up Rubies

I admit it ... I am slow, slow, slow when it comes to catching up with blogs I follow by email.  Sometimes I read the posts I get by email right away.  Other times, especially when I'm very busy, they just stack up in my Inbox without being read.  But I save them to read later ... you can easily see why I have over a thousand emails in my Inbox at any given time.  When I finally do get around to looking at these blog posts, I nearly always find something I want to pin or save.    That's the case with this fun last-minute gift from Jaime at Raising up Rubies.

This Peppermint in a Jar gift is so simple yet so much fun, with a couple of handmade touches to make it impressive.  Jaime's creative fingerprints are all over it.  Go on over and check it out ... I'll let you get the details and the helpful photos from her.

Have fun with this idea!  I plan to make some of these!

Chocolate Nut Fudge

Photo from Taste of Home

Can you use one more fudge recipe?  This one, Chocolate Nut Fudge, which I saw in the December 2000 issue of Country Woman magazine, looks like a classic and a keeper.  It sounds simple to make, and I like the fact that it uses both milk chocolate and semi-sweet chocolate chips.  It also calls for large marshmallows rather than marshmallow cream, and I like the idea of that -- more vintage-y, somehow. 

I'm planning to give this one a try.  In my book, you can never have too many recipes for kitchen gifts!

Two more fun Christmas fabrics!

Snow Magic

 Today I'm going to share scans of two more of the Christmas fabrics I recently purchased.  One I got from Walmart,  primarily because it was a nifty small print with sort of a vintage look. 

With its unusual color palette of gold, brown and red, it will go with other, plainer fabrics in my stash.  The little motifs include deer, trees, sleighs, ornaments, candy canes and more.  I regret that I don't know the name of this fabric.

The other fabric was part of my recent purchase from Fabric.com to finish off my $125 gift certificate.  I could no longer find the fabric on their site, although they did offer a couple of other coordinating items.  But I did find it here: Snow Magic.

I love this scene!  To me, it really looks like Vermont.  For one thing, there are sugarhouses near a couple of the pictured homes, and backyard sugarhouses are pretty common in Vermont and New Hampshire.  The other thing that makes me think the artist was depicting a Vermont scene is the slantwise upstairs windows on a couple of the houses.  From what I understand, it was pretty common to place a window slantwise in a space where a window would not otherwise fit, in an upstairs room.  I imagine this is true, because a good many old houses in Vermont (and some in New Hampshire, Maine, and probably the other New England states as well) have these slantwise windows.  Good old Yankee ingenuity!

This is such a fun fabric although I have no idea yet what I will do with it.  Maybe just a simple table runner, to showcase the design.  We will see!

One more Christmas poem

This tiny card is from my personal collection.

Here is another Christmas poem from The Blessings of Christmas, one of my attic finds.  This is a lovely poem by Georgia B. Adams which could be a heartfelt prayer for our friends, rather than merely a wish. 

                   Peace

What do I wish you this Christmas?

    Above all, I wish you peace ...

A peace of heart and soul and mind

    That will with each day increase.

I wish you a tranquil spirit,

    Trusting in God above,

The joy of knowing His presence

   And deep abiding love.

I wish you a calm composure,

    Peace of mind unsurpassed;

I wish you faithful friendships -- 

    That will forever last.

What do I wish you for Christmas?

    Peace may you find alway;

May this be the gift that fills your life,

    On Christmas and every day.
~ Georgia B. Adams

Chocolate Caramel Thumbprints

Photo from Taste of Home

Always on the lookout for new Christmas cookie recipes to try, I came upon this one in a back December issue of Country magazine: Chocolate Caramel Thumbprints.  The recipe looks fairly simple although there are several steps to it:  baking cookies; making a filling and filling the indentations; then melting chocolate and adding a chocolate drizzle.  (I'm getting hungry just writing this!)  I do have several other recipes that incorporate the same number of steps, and it's not difficult work, but you just can't be in a hurry.

I think this would be a perfect cookie for a cookie exchange, as it is quite different and looks delicious.  I'm thinking too that eliminating the drizzle and sprinkling the caramel with coarse salt instead might make a nice salted caramel variation.  Definitely a want-to-try cookie for this season.  Too bad it's too hot to bake or I might fire up the oven right now!

Rudolph Day for July

An illustration from Jolly Old Santa Claus, one of my favorite childhood books

 Yes, today is July 25 -- Rudolph Day for July!  For today, I thought I would share a quote.  This idea comes from Jennifer Acuff and was quoted in the "Country Woman Almanac" pages in the June/July 2009 issue of Country Woman magazine.  Here it is:

"Our family beats the summer heat by celebrating Christmas in July.  We stay inside all day watching our favorite holiday movies, making stocking stuffers, decking the halls and eating a Christmas dinner.  The festivities end with reading the Nativity story and munching homemade cookies."

-- Jennifer Acuff, Monterey, TN

Isn't that a neat idea?

My own Rudolph Day is going to include some errands and busyness, but I also hope to take some time to look over my Christmas notebook and do some planning and tweaking of my Christmas lists, simplifying them a bit.  Maybe I'll do a little online shopping for some necessary materials for handmade gifts.  We will see!

A nice idea for Christmas breakfast

Photo from Taste of Home

I don't know about you, but I am always looking for good ideas for Christmas breakfast.  We keep it very, very simple -- usually an egg bake of some kind; muffins, coffeecake or sweet rolls; and fruit.  This is the sort of breakfast I always served Christmas morning when our family was young and all still at home.  I felt it was important to have something hearty and healthy to balance out all of the excitement and sweets.  I love to make egg casseroles because they can be prepared the night before and simply baked in the morning.  I usually make the baked goods ahead too and simply reheat them, although if it is a very simple coffeecake, I might bake it that morning.

Now it is nearly always just my hubby and me at home for Christmas breakfast.  That's just fine with us; our children have their own families and we believe it's very important for them to have their own holiday traditions.  We would be the last people to ever insist our kids must be with us for Christmas.  We actually enjoy our own empty-nest traditions and we don't mind at all having Christmas breakfast on our own.  (And of course we would not mind having company, either.)

I recently came upon this recipe:Scrambled Egg Spinach Casserole and it looks delicious.  I think it will be this year's Christmas morning breakfast entree.  Maybe you would like to give it a try, too!

Some more fun Christmas fabrics

This is just a scan I did of the fabric.  You can get a much better look at it by clicking the link below.

 A few years ago, a friend and I visited a local shop just before Christmas.  It was a rustic, seasonal spot that seemed to be part farm market, part antiques mall and part craft fair.  Local crafters each had their little section within the shop.  One area I was particularly drawn to held a number of simple sewed items like place mats and pot holders.  I found some simple square pot holders made from a vintage-look skiing print that I loved, and bought one for each of my daughters.

 Ever since then,  I have thought it would be fun to make up more pot holders in similar prints, either for gifts or for sale.  So while browsing Fabric.com to spend my gift certificate, I came upon this Dear Stella design called Ice Skating White, I just had to order it.  It isn't quite as nifty as the skiing print I liked so well, but it is very cute and I can see it being used for mug rugs as well as pot holders.  Then I came upon another, coordinating, Dear Stella design called Train With Presents White -- and, since I have a number of train-loving grandchildren, I thought I could find some uses for that one as well.

Also a scan.  Click the link above for a better look.  This reminds me of a child's drawing, especially the trees.

I've pinned both of these  fabrics to my Crafting for Christmas Pinterest board, rather than to my fabric board, so I will remember to use them in my Christmas crafting.  I hope I have time to do some of that this year, but my life has become very busy.  We will see!  I will wash the fabric and have it ready, at least.

How to finish a cross-stitch Christmas ornament, #3

Here it is -- how to finish a cross stitch ornament #3.  I saved the most difficult finish for last -- framing with fabric -- and it is not very difficult at all, though it does involve the use of a sewing machine.  If you can sew a straight line and turn corners, you have all the skills you need to sew this ornament.

If you have never tried framing stitchery with fabric, it's very easy.  You can either use the same fabric for all four sides, or two different ones as I did.  Obviously, you will want to choose colors that complement those in your design.

To begin, just measure your finished stitchery horizontally and note down the width of it. 

Also figure out how wide you want your "frame" to be.  (For something this small, I thought an inch would be about as wide as I wanted to go.)  Plan on a half-inch total seam allowance and cut your top and bottom frame pieces accordingly.  (Don't cut the side pieces yet!)   For example, my stitchery is was 4 inches wide, and I wanted a 1" frame, so I added 1" for the frame and a total seam allowance of 1/2", and cut the top and bottom frame pieces 4 by 1-1/2 inches. 

Pin and sew your top and bottom frame pieces to the top and bottom of the stitchery, using a 1/4" seam allowance.  Press the seam toward the frame pieces.  Press on the right side too.  Trim off any frame edges that don't line up with your stitched piece.

Now for the side pieces.  You will measure vertically now, the length of the stitchery which has now become greater because of the top and bottom frame pieces you sewed to it.  Again, add the desired width for your frame (1" in my case) to your 1/2" total seam allowances.  I cut my side pieces 5" by 1- 1/2".)

  Again, pin and sew the side pieces in place along each side of the stitchery/frame piece, using a 1/4" seam allowance.  Press the seams toward the side frame pieces.  Press on the right side too and again trim off any frame edges that don't line up with your stitched piece.

Now you will make a backing piece for your stitchery.  You can either use fabric that matches your frame, or a solid color like red or green.  Simply measure the finished piece, with its frame stitched in place and pressed,  and cut a matching piece to use for the backing.  (In my case, that meant a rectangle 5" by 5 1/2".) 

Sew the two pieces together with right sides facing, using a 1/4" seam allowance and leaving a 2-inch opening for turning.  Turn right side out, press neatly, and then stitch around the finished piece about 1/8" from the edge, which will sew the opening closed. and will give a nice finished look to the ornament.

I could have sewed a loop of ribbon or metallic cord in place when sewing the front and back of the ornament together, but I decided it would be simpler to just thread a needle with cord (I used green crochet thread) and pierce the top center of the ornament, then tie the ends of the cord together and trim the ends neatly.

And there you have it!  It probably took me a lot longer to type this (trying to be very clear with my instructions) than it will take you to assemble your finished ornament!

Chocolate Dipped Lemon Spritz

Photo from Taste of Home

Even though I have many, many Christmas cookie recipes already (click the "cookies" link in the label cloud to see some of them!), I'm always on the lookout for some that are new and different.  When I saw this recipe for Chocolate Dipped Lemon Spritz, I was intrigued.

I already have a good lemon spritz recipe (here's the link for my recipe for Lemon Spritz) but this one sounds really, really good -- as Andy Griffith might have said, "Extra good!"  You press the dough into strips using the bar plate and cut it into squares, then dip the baked cookies diagonally into melted dark chocolate and sprinkle with lemon sugar.  If you have ever had, from a box of nice chocolates,  a dark chocolate with a lemon cream filling inside, you can imagine how good this flavor combination would be in a cookie.  The cookies are very attractive, as well.  I like the idea of the lemon sugar sprinkled on top.

 Pressed cookies are so quick and easy, producing loads of pretty cookies with very little effort.  In recent years, Mr. T has been the cookie baker in our Christmas kitchen, and has made simple multicolor spritz cookies.  But I am going to wrest the cookie press out of his hands to try this one!

Sing Out the Carols of Old

Vintage Christmas carol book from my personal collection

Here is another lovely Christmas poem by Mildred L. Jarrell.   Enjoy!

Sing Out the Carols of Old

Let us have music for Christmas ...

Sing out the carols of old,

Rejoice in the birth of the Christ Child,

The most wonderful story e'er told.

Sing with a heart filled with gladness

And love for the Heavenly King ...

Lift up your voice with song and praise

Until the rafters ring.

Let us have music for Christmas

In the glow of candlelight,

Mingled with snow and mistletoe

And shepherds that watch by night.

Sing of the star and wise men too,

And angels watching above ...

Bring once again to the homes of men

The gift of wondrous love.

Let us have music for Christmas ...

Sound the trumpet of joy and rebirth;

Let each of us try, with a song in our hearts,

To bring peace to men on earth.

~ Mildred L. Jarrell

I love that, especially the lines "Let each of us try, with a song in our hearts, to bring peace to men on earth."  Oh, how people need to know the peace of God today!  Let's purpose to share His incomparable peace with a song in our hearts!

Embroidered felt gift tags ~ a fun little project!

Photo by Flamingo Toes

I'm not even sure if I should admit this, but I have over 1000 unread emails in my Yahoo inbox.  I subscribe to a lot of blogs by email, and some of them publish every day, so that's a lot of mail.  I try to keep up with the ones that come in each day, but inevitably during holiday time or busy seasons of life, there are those I don't get to.  Then when I have time, I go back and look through the ones I haven't read.  I nearly always find things to try, pin, or save.

It's sort of neat that right now, while I'm trying to come up with posts for Christmas in July, I'm looking through the unread inbox items from last December.  And I found a keeper that I want to share with you all -- lovely gift tags made by embellishing felt shapes with beads and embroidery.  These are the work of the amazingly creative Bev at Flamingo Toes.

Flamingo Toes is one of my favorite creative blogs.  If you have never visited, do go over and spend some time looking around.  You are sure to be inspired!  Bev dreams up some fabulous creations and she does beautiful work.  She does a lot of hoop art and I am wanting to make some of that myself.  But these Beaded Embroidery Felt Gift Tags are what I want to share with you today.

There's a snowflake, a holly berry, and a monogram tag.  These will add beauty to any gift, and I think the recipient might even like to use them as ornaments another year.  The felt shapes are neatly backed with kraft paper to cover the back side of the stitchery.  Aren't they pretty?  You might even think of variations of your own that you would like to try.  Have fun!

How to finish off a cross-stitch Christmas ornament, method #2

 Here is how to finish off a cross-stitch Christmas ornament, method #2!

This is quite easy, being mostly done with hot glue and a few other simple items.  It is a little harder than just popping it in a frame as in finish #1.

You will need:
* Scissors
* Ruler and pencil
*Poster board or cardboard (I like to use the shiny metallic back of a recycled Christmas card.)
* Glue gun and glue sticks
* Glittery Christmas trim or rickrack
* Metallic cord for hanging

In addition to your finished stitchery.
Start by trimming your finished stitchery so that it is a nice even size and has at least 1/4" to 1/2" of unstitched area around the design.  Measure your trimmed stitchery piece, and cut a piece of cardboard or posterboard to the exact same size.

Cut a small piece (maybe 2 to 3 inches) of metallic cord to make a hanging loop.   Place  the cardboard square wrong side up on your work surface.  Fold the metallic cord in half, and glue the ends of it to the top part of your cardboard square, letting the loop part extend above the square so it forms a hanger for your ornament.  (If you prefer, you can simply glue the ends of the loop to the back of the ornament, but it doesn't look quite as neat from the back.)

Now, take your stitched ornament piece and glue it, wrong side down, over the glued cord ends, matching the stitchery and the cardboard piece as evenly and neatly as possible.

Lastly, you are going to cover the raw edges of your stitchery with the glittery Christmas trim, braid, or rickrack.  Probably the easiest way is to cut the top and bottom pieces and glue them neatly in place.  Then, when those are in place, cut the side pieces and glue them neatly in place as well, paying special attention to the corners where the pieces of trim come together.

You are finished!  I've finished off many cross stitch ornaments this way, and they are quick and easy to do.

If you wanted a more rustic look, you could back the ornament with cardboard and glue twigs around the edge instead of the metallic trim, using twine or jute for the hanging loop.

I must say, though, that the quick and easy frame method #1 is my personal favorite way to finish off  a cross stitch ornament.  The method I've shown here is quick and inexpensive, but the purchased frame is more foolproof.  

Whatever method you choose, I hope you will try making some cross-stitch ornaments this Christmas.  So much fun!