Candlewicking Christmas tree skirt

I thought I would take a minute to share photos of my Christmas tree skirt. This is one I made many years ago. It is candlewicking, done from a kit which my parents gave me. It took me quite some time to finish this project -- stitching the lace around the edge was more time-consuming than the actual stitchery! -- but I finally did and have used it every Christmas since. You really can' t see much of the tree skirt in the above photo, other than that pesky lace, so here are more that I finally thought to take this year.

You can see that the main motif is a beribboned heart between two doves.

In between these main motifs are smaller motifs of a candle. Here's a closeup of a candle motif.

I keep thinking I would like to make a new tree skirt, perhaps a crocheted or patchwork one. But I'll hold on to this one for its sentimental value.

Sweet little ornament

Here is a cute ornament idea. Our daughter remembered the felt handprint ornaments I had made for her siblings years ago. For those, I had traced around their hands, cut 2 of each handprint, placed matching prints together and stuffed them lightly as I sewed the two together by hand. I had embroidered their name and the year on the front of each ornament.

Being a busy young mom of three, my daughter figured out an easier way.

She traced the hands and feet of her kids onto red, white and green craft foam and cut them out. She cut a photo of each child into a circular shaped and glued it to the hand print, then added the name and age to the footprint, attaching the two prints with thread so the ornament just loops over a branch. Cute idea! Maybe other moms would like to try this.

Soft fabric trees

One new thing I tried this Christmas was making some soft little fabric trees. I had seen these on a blog quite some time ago and had saved the pattern. This year I finally got around to making a couple of these. They didn't come out quite as nicely as the ones I had seen, but they are cute.

I thought a blue tree would be nice in the upstairs bathroom. This particular blue isn't exactly right, but I liked the fabric (which I had on hand) so much that I used it anyway.

This tree is resting on an inverted footed glass dessert dish.

I made a green tree, too. Here you see it with other items on a hutch shelf.

Later I had the inspiration to put the tree in a Christmas teacup.

If others would like to try making these sweet little trees, the pattern may be downloaded here:

soft fabric trees

Some great after-Christmas deals

Understand, I am not one who rushes to the stores the day after Christmas to shop the clearance sales. I know all too well that those 50% off prices will, in a week or two, become 75% off prices, and then, sometimes even 90% off a bit later. So my tendency is to wait a couple of weeks.

But this year, I had to go grocery shopping the day after Christmas. We do the shopping for my elderly parents and ordinarily go on Thursday nights. Well, that was out this year, with stores closing early on Christmas Eve, and so was Friday night... in fact, the entire week was too full to do the shopping on a different day. So, Saturday it was (and I make it a rule never to grocery shop on Saturday! Too busy!), so we went about 7:30 a.m.

I barely glanced at the clearance stuff in Walmart, though we did eyeball the fake trees with an eye to getting one later if they go to 90% off. My hubby did buy some clearance candy.

We unexpectedly had to pick up a prescription for my dad at the second store, and had to wait for it. So, we walked over to Marshalls. And that is where I found the wonderful deals. Impulse buying for sure, but such fun for only $7.96!

First I found some terrific Christmas coffee on clearance for only 2.49 a bag.

I bought 2 bags. One was hazelnut, and the other a cinnamon-hazelnut blend called Christmas Blend, I think. We sampled one of them and it is wonderful! Then I froze them for later use.

Then there was this cute little glittery house for only 99¢!

It doesn't look exactly like the others I have, but I couldn't resist. I want to make some of these, but if I can add one to my collection for pennies, I will, of course.

I love that the brand is the old-timey Shiny Brite. This is the bottom of the house.

And then there was a much larger glittery house.

It reminds me of a church, although there is no steeple. This was only $1.99, so you see there was no way I could resist getting this one, too.

In other terrific buys, I noticed that our local Hannaford supermarket had the Almond Bark (confection coating) in with its Christmas clearance merchandise. I bought 2 packages of the white chocolate coating at 50% off. This week it is 75% off, so I got some of the dark chocolate as well. This coating has a 2-year shelf life, so it will keep awhile. And actually, wouldn't it be great to use in making candy for Valentine's Day and Easter?

It's so much fun to get a good deal, especially on something you can really use!

Mini spool wreath ornament

Here's an easy, easy ornament that is a lot of fun to make and could use up some of your crafting odds and ends. As you can see, it requires 7 mini craft spools. You glue ribbon around these -- you could use ribbon of the exact width for the spools, or use any width and cut it to fit, as I did.

Then you string the spools on a length of chenille stem, stringing 6 pony beads alternately with spools. I can't say the exact length of chenille because I made these ornaments a long time ago, but probably half a chenille stem would do. When beads and spools are all in place, twist the ends of the stem together to form the circle for the wreath.

Finish by tying (and/or gluing) a bow of contrasting ribbon to cover the twisted stem ends. Add another loop of ribbon or thread for a hanger, and you're done.

Happy New Year!

I pray that all of my readers and friends will have a happy, healthy 2010! I hope to be in the Christmas kitchen a lot more often throughout this new year, and I'd love for you all to join me in my kitchen. Hope to see you there!

And now, the actual 2009 baking list...

I thought I would take a minute to share what I actually baked for the Christmas season, and a little bit about each recipe. Quite a few of these items are still in my freezer awaiting a family Christmas party this weekend.

Cookies:

Pepparkakor -- Crisp spicy cut-out cookies. I made them in the shape of hearts and Christmas trees and sprinkled the tops with red sugar. Still have some of this dough left to bake, in fact.

Whipped Shortbread*-- round little molded cookies, perfectly white with tops dipped in sparkly red or green sugar. Easy to make and a great favorite. These are the cookies in the photo above.

Eggnog Logs* -- nutmeg-flavored cookies shaped like little logs. Frosted with an eggnog-flavored frosting with "bark" markings made by fork tines, and then sprinkled with nutmeg.

Sacher Torte Cookies* -- round chocolate cookies filled with raspberry or apricot jam and then the tops drizzled with melted chocolate.

Peppermint Tree Spritz -- pressed chocolate cookies in a Christmas tree shape, sandwiched together with green-tinted, mint-flavored confection coating and then half of each cookie dipped in the same. I only made these for old time's sake, but I probably won't be making them again. They turned out to be a LOT of work, much more than I bargained for. Delicious, though.

Almond Raspberry Thumbprints -- almond-flavored thumbprint cookies filled with raspberry jam and drizzled with almond-flavored icing. These are pretty and delicious and are fast becoming a must-make cookie. Would be good with apricot jam, too, but the raspberry is so pretty! (From Cook & Tell, my favorite recipe newsletter.)

Dipped Cherry Cookies -- round molded cookies filled with chopped cherries and white chocolate. Each cookie is dipped halfway in melted white chocolate and then in red or sparkly white sugar. From Country Woman magazine. This was my first time trying this recipe, but it won't be the last! Pretty and delicious.

Double Drizzle Pecan Cookies -- a molded brown sugar cookie topped with pecans and drizzled with penuche and chocolate. Easy, yummy and impressive with the two drizzles. From Country Woman magazine and fast becoming a must-make.

Hazelnut Shortbread -- super easy shortbread with toasted hazelnuts added. Made in a square pan and cut into tiny squares. Recipe (from Cook & Tell) suggested a confectioners sugar frosting drizzle. I had some of the penuche glaze left from the above recipe, so used that. Excellent choice!

Chocolate Mint Crisps -- easy chocolate molded cookies with a melted Andes mint swirled on top of each one. Delicious and easy -- the dough is made in a saucepan! Fast becoming a must-make cookie. From a special Country Woman Christmas magazine.

Fruity Lime and Raspberry Spritz -- used this recipe to test out a borrowed cookie press. These easy and colorful spritz cookies are made with fruit-flavored gelatin. Nice flavor! Recipe found on the internet. Nice fast way to make a whole bunch of festive-looking cookies.

Candies:

Heavenly Delight* -- our family's favorite layered chocolate and peanut butter fudge. Made 2 batches of this and may need to make another when family visits in January.

Four-Chip Fudge -- made with butterscotch, peanut butter, milk chocolate, and semisweet chocolate baking chips. No real cooking, as it's made with sweetened condensed milk; just heating and melting the chips, basically. Easy, yummy and makes a huge batch. From Taste of Home.

Chocolate Mint Candies -- I've been wanting to try these for awhile, but won't bother with them again. The photo (in a Country Woman Christmas magazine) showed lovely squares of milk chocolate candy with minty white chocolate sandwiched between. Mine turned out more like bark, or even shards. Not worth the price of the confection coating and chocolate chips used to make them.

I had also intended to make some little mini-loaves of bread and fruitcake for gifts. The first batch I tried failed so miserably that I scrapped the entire notion.

So there is my Christmas baking report! We'll have a houseful of family for several weeks in mid-January, so no doubt I will be doing plenty more baking.

* Recipes marked with a * are "must-makes" for the Christmas season.

It's snowing...

... and has been snowing most of the day here! Although I don't have time to post much today, I did want to share another card from my collection of vintage Christmas cards. A report from my Christmas kitchen will follow soon, I promise!

Here's today's card:
I love the lightly falling snow and the carolers gathered around the lighted tree! Hope someone else is enjoying these old cards too...

Merry Christmas to All!

Mr. T and I would like to wish all of my wonderful readers the merriest of Christmases and the happiest of New Years. God bless you all!

And here is today's vintage card... Enjoy, and
Merry Christmas!

Another vintage card...

This skating scene is another vintage card from my collection. I love how the snow is falling on the twirling skaters, and the scene is framed in snowy evergreen branches. I could get lost in a lovely scene like this one, couldn't you?

Here again at last...

Oh, how much I wanted to post in each of my blogs regularly throughout the Christmas season!! I love Christmas so dearly, and want to share my thoughts about it with others. But this season, for whatever reason, there just hasn't been the time to post the way I wanted to. I've been in the Christmas kitchen a lot, and hope to post about my adventures there after the big day. But for the next few days, I'm going to post some scans of my favorite vintage Christmas cards from my collection. I will post a different card on each blog, hoping that these will inspire and delight my readers as Christmas draws ever nearer. I love, love, love this card. It just evokes Christmas in days gone by, with all of the cards and packages piled on the mailboxes, ready to go off to family and friends. This is how it was in my childhood. How I wish my grandchildren could know this simpler way of life! I try to convey it to them the best that I can. Hope someone else enjoys this card today!

Just for fun

I do realize that angels don't actually look like these delightful little sprites. But I couldn't resist sharing this completely whimsical vintage card from my collection. This one is recently acquired and I think it is too cute not to share.

Here's the inside:

Hope you are all having a wonderful Christmas season so far!

Christmas angels... and shepherds too!

Last weekend was our hometown Christmas parade. The evening was snowy... just a perfect setting for the parade and really added to the festivity. Here are some of the little angels and shepherds from our church float. Notice how snow-covered they already are (and how bundled up under their costumes!) and the parade hadn't even started yet!

Another gift finished

Here is another finished gift. I actually have finished quite a bit of Christmas crafting, but am not posting photos yet because they are gifts for family who may see my blogs.

This is a set of pillowcases for dear friends. As you see they are plain brown pillowcases, embroidered very simply with Queen Anne's Lace in ecru. I have lost the web address where I found the design, but they are designed by Alicia Paulson and if you simply google Queen Anne's Lace embroidered pillowcases, you should be able to access them quite quickly.

Now... back to laundry, turkey-soup making and crafting!

Some serious Christmas crafting

Thanksgiving is over, and our granddaughters (6 and 8) were here for the weekend. With Thanksgiving Day behind us, these little girls are getting into the Christmas spirit already!

They made:

A stand-up angel

A spiffy snowman

And a candle decoration!

Oh, and a flurry of paper snowflakes!

I must add that the candle decoration is from an old Christmas activity book from my own childhood. I had everything on hand that Sarah needed to create this project.

What fun!

Baking List for Christmas 2009

While we were away I also made out a tentative baking list for the Christmas season. Something on it is sure to change -- I may leave something out or try some different recipes -- but I thought it was a good idea to make a tentative list so I would have more of an idea as to what ingredients to buy. Incidentally, Walmart has been having a good price on Gold Medal all-purpose flour -- the 5 lb. bags are $1.50. Their butter is $2. So we have been stocking up somewhat. Here's the list:

Cookies:
Pepparkakor
Whipped Shortbread*
Eggnog Logs*
Sacher Torte Cookies*
Peppermint Cookie Wands (or possibly Peppermint Tree Spritz)
Almond Raspberry Thumbprints
Chocolate Dipped Maple Logs
Double Drizzle Pecan Cookies

Breads/Cakes (to be made in mini loaves for gift giving):
Golden Apricot Cakes*
Cranberry Lemon Bread
Chocolate Fruitcakes


Candies:
Heavenly Delight*
Snowflake Fudge
Pistachio Cranberry Bark

* Recipes marked with a * are "must-makes" for our family during the Christmas season.

Time to tweak the Christmas list and timeline...

A couple of weeks ago, Mr. T and I were so blessed to be able to take a little getaway to a lake way up in the northern part of our state. It was a great time to relax, reconnect, and renew. I brought plenty of crafts along and spent the Monday afternoon (which was a gorgeous day) on the dock soaking up the late fall sunshine and working on projects.

Another thing I did was to bring along a couple of Gooseberry Patch Christmas books. For each, I made a list of projects and recipes I want to try and posted a list in the front of the book.

I had also brought my Christmas notebook along on our getaway and spent a good bit of time looking through that and refining my thoughts and plans for Christmas 2009. I majorly tweaked my Christmas list and decided to postpone one large project until next Christmas. I could just tell it was going to turn into one of those broken-record projects that takes forever, although it is fun to work on and is coming out quite well. I decided to spare myself the aggravation and stress of trying to finish it for this year.

I also tweaked my Christmas crafting timeline in a big way. I think I finally faced reality about what I can accomplish and what would be best not tried for this year.

You may not have time to get away as we did, but maybe you could spare an hour or two here and there for some Christmas planning. It really does help ease the stress so one can focus on the true meaning of the season.

One project completed!

I planned to make five embroidered pillowcases for Christmas gifts for various people -- two sets of two pillowcases, and then one single case. It was neat how the Lord provided that single pillowcase. Many years ago, an elderly friend who loved embroidery and other needlework passed away. Her husband gave me her embroidery supplies and several unfinished projects. This pillowcase was one of them.

The only problem was that there was no floss included with this case. By going through some of the other items, I found the pinks that she had used, but no green. By painstakingly matching what she had done with a DMC color card that I have, I managed to come pretty close.

The finished project came out really well, and I know the recipient will be pleased!

Shiny icicles

Here's a simple, fast project that kids can do. It's similar to the "tin" icicles which I think are in the archives here on my blog, but much safer for kids. These shiny icicles started out as the giant twist ties that come around bunches of leaf lettuce. I have seen some in shiny metallic green as well as the red.

I had two ties, and cut each one in half. Then, I simply wound each tie around a pencil to curl it, and slipped the pencil out.

These icicles can be simply bent to fit over a tree limb, but I used a tiny hole punch to put a hole in the tip of each one and threaded through a piece of gold cord, then tied the ends to form a hanger. You could also put an ornament hanger through the small punched hole.

These are so simple and easy, but they look pretty and colorful on the tree as they catch the lights.

Yo-yo Christmas ornaments

Recently we had a rainy Saturday, and I needed something easy but absorbing for my granddaughters to do. I suggested making yo-yos out of Christmas fabric, with the idea of making them into ornaments. They thought that sounded like fun, so we quickly headed to my bin of Christmas fabric. They both enjoyed the yo-yo making project, but I was surprised at how the 6-year-old stuck with it.

Here is Mackenzie's yo-yo candy cane.
Basically, you make yo-yos starting with 3 1/4-inch circles of fabric, and just before pulling the gathering threads, you center a 1 1/2-inch poster board circle in each one. This stiffens the yo-yos and makes them suitable to work as ornaments. In the candy cane, there are 4 red and 4 white print yo-yos. You hot-glue them together to form the ornament, then hot-glue a loop of ribbon to the back to serve as a hanger.

The candy cane would have gone together better if Mackenzie had not glued a button to each yo-yo beforehand, but it worked out fine and she is pleased with the result. (The pattern I have suggests adding buttons and other embellishments after the ornament is glued together.) The other ornament possibilities are wreaths and Christmas trees. Sarah has started on a wreath, so there are still yo-yos in my living room!