Three little green trees

After I had taken down some of my Christmas decor for the season, I got to thinking that I should have taken more photos. So I hung these little green trees back on the chandelier just long enough to take a picture of them. Here's how they looked during the Christmas season:

In addition to the trees, I hung bows of wide plaid ribbon and little gingerbread men from the chandelier. The gingerbread men are just made from recycled brown paper bags. I pressed the paper after cutting the bags apart and then cut gingerbread men shapes from it. I stitched them together on the sewing machine with a layer of batting in between 2 shapes for each ornament. I added details with shiny dimensional paint.

I made these little trees quite a few years ago. They were made from a kit someone had given me -- a kit they had bought for themselves and never got around to use. It was an ornament kit from Yours Truly, a company based in Atlanta, GA. The bright green calicoes have a retro look, and the trees turned out taller than I was expecting them to.

The first Christmas after I made these, I did put them on the tree, but I really didn't care for them as tree ornaments. For quite a few years they were just relegated to a box of ornaments and not used. Last year I noticed their nifty retro look and thought they would look neat hanging from the chandelier. I had first tied on the plaid bows, then the gingerbread men. I thought the trees might add a nice touch, and was pleased with the way they looked with the other items.

Making Christmas ornaments

I simply love crafting Christmas ornaments. I've been making them for years. One ornament particularly stands out in my mind. I crafted it from felt years ago from a pattern in, I think, a McCall's Christmas Make-It Ideas. The ornament was either two or three hearts of varying sizes strung vertically on a thread. It was pink -- not the best color for a Christmas ornament, I'm thinking now -- but how I labored over that creation. Each size of heart was cut twice, and then the thread sandwiched in between the two, which were glued together. The effect was like that of a mobile, in that the hearts swayed and turned on the thread in the air currents in the room. I made this project when my children were very young, and as I recall it took me an entire day. Another project I did back in those days was crocheted ornaments I found the pattern for in a newspaper. A Christmas tree was one of the designs I made. These were crocheted from dark green yarn and then colorful French knots were added for lights.

As my kids grew older, I was always on the lookout for ornaments they could make. For a few years I taught art at a Christian school, and made countless ornaments with the students there at the Christmas season. In later years I made many ornaments for an annual October craft fair at my daughters' school. It was always fun, as Christmas drew near, to look at my stash of Christmas magazines, as well as the new issues, to decide what ornaments I might make. Oh, the fun of sending off to Home-Sew for the makings for some of these -- Christmas ribbons, cords, laces and trims! It was truly a special and wonderful part of my Christmas season.

Now I often look back on ornaments I have made and wish to make more of them. But there's never enough time. This year, I plan to work on ornaments all year round. One project I hope to do this week is to sit down and plan what ornaments I will make and to locate all the patterns and instructions. Then I will take note of any materials I might need to buy. I believe I can probably make a good many ornaments just with materials I already have on hand. How inspiring that thought is!

More on gift tags from old Christmas cards

Last year, I posted on this simple idea, but I thought I would publish this again and add to it a little bit, along with a photo of some of my tags.

One of the most obvious and easy ways to use your old Christmas cards is to make gift tags from them. There are a couple of ways to do this.

Sometimes you can use the entire front of a card as a tag, if it has enough blank space to write the to/from information. These are especially nice for family members -- for example, you might have a card front that says "Merry Christmas to a Dear Granddaughter." This is a natural to paste to the top of your granddaughter's Christmas present. These can add a real decorative element to a package wrapped in a solid color like red, green, blue, silver, etc.

The other way is to cut shapes from your old cards to make tags. You can make simple shapes like rectangles, squares or circles. Current, Inc. sells a set of tag templates which work very nicely and has quite an assortment of shapes. A book of children's Christmas stencils would also work well. Of course, you will want to make sure that your design elements from the Christmas card are centered or otherwise placed strategically on the tag before you cut it out.

Once you have cut your shapes, you may want to embellish your tags with glitter glue or dimensional paint, or you can brush white glue over them and sprinkle with glitter. Another thought is to use some of the lovely glitter glazes available. They come in varying colors and some have little glittery shapes like stars in them. I found these in the same aisle with crayons and markers; at least that's where they are in my Wal*Mart.

Next, you can punch a hole in each tag and add some red or green string or gold cord to make a hanging tag. If you embellished the tags, you will want to make sure the glue (or glaze) is dry before adding the string or cord.

Here are a few of the tags I have made in the last couple of years.


This simple project is a fun way to keep your kids busy on snow days -- and I personally find that doing a project like this, even all by myself, is very relaxing and a great stress reliever. Have fun with this idea!

Foldable fabric baskets

Here's a project I've made several times and thought others might like to try also. You've probably seen baskets similar to this in gift shops in varying prints and sizes. We see them often in gift shops here in New England and I always admired them, but would often tell myself, "I could make those...". I came across some instructions for these in an old magazine, but have tweaked them quite a bit.

The baskets are great to hold lightweight gift items or a set of coasters or napkins for giving. They also make a nice serving basket or a container for napkins on a buffet table.

Here's what the finished product looks like. I love the vintage-looking fabric on this one and how the background looks like birch bark. The fabric is not actually old; I bought it at Jo-Ann's several years ago.

To make a foldable fabric basket, you will need:

2 11-inch squares of fabric
8 5 1/2-inch lengths of 3/8” ribbon* in color to coordinate with fabric
1 5 1/2-inch square of plastic canvas**
4 pieces of plastic canvas**, each cut 2 1/8 x 5 1/2 inches

Here's what to do:

1. Fold and press under 1/2 inch on all sides of the fabric squares.

2. Pin the fabric squares together with the WRONG sides facing.

3. Pin the ribbon ties in place between the two layers of fabric. Position two ties on either end of each side of the square, placing them 5 1/2 inches apart.

4. Topstitch close to the edge on THREE SIDES ONLY of the pinned fabric squares.

5. On the fourth side, topstitch only through the ties, leaving the 5 1/2 inches between the ties UNSTITCHED. (This is so you can insert the plastic canvas reinforcements into the basket.)

Here is a very rough sketch that shows how the ties should be placed.

6. Insert three of the smaller plastic canvas pieces to form three sides of the basket. Stitch to enclose these pieces.

7. Insert the 5 1/2-inch square of plastic canvas to form the bottom of the basket. Stitch to enclose this piece.

8. Insert the last small piece of plastic canvas to form the fourth side of the basket. Topstitch to close the opening on the fourth side.

At this point, the basket looks like this:

9. To form the basket, tie the ribbons on each corner into a bow.

* Instead of ribbon, you may prefer to use a similar width of bias tape or even make your own matching fabric ties. Ribbon is easiest.

** I think the folding baskets you can buy are reinforced with cardboard, and you could certainly use heavy cardboard if you prefer. I use the plastic canvas so that the baskets could be washed if necessary, or at least spot cleaned more safely.

Have fun with this idea!

Mini flour sack dish towels

A few years ago, I made embroidered day-of-the-week flour sack dish towels for my 2 daughters and my daughter-in-law. They went over well and I know that one of my daughters uses hers all the time. They are decorative and also work very, very well for drying dishes.

This year I got to thinking about my granddaughter who has a toy kitchen, and I came up with the idea of making some mini flour sack dish towels for her. Then I thought a little more about it and realized she would probably want to actually use them for helping Mommy. And likely, her big brother might want one, too. So I made some.

For the regular flour-sack towels, I buy them in a multi-pack at Wal*Mart and then cut each one in half and hem the cut edges. For the mini towels, I cut them in quarters and then hemmed the cut edges before stamping on a transfer. I just used transfers I had on hand for these, and was very pleased with how cute they came out.

Do you have children or grandchildren who have a toy kitchen -- or who just like to help Mommy? These might be a fun idea for them!

Stuffing a stocking for a baby

In 2006, I crocheted five of these stockings for the five grandchildren we had then. In 2008, two new grandchildren were born who needed stockings too. Now, I didn't necessarily intend for these stockings to be the ones they would hang up on Christmas Eve -- the stockings are quite small (and stretchy too) and also the design has a lot of holes in it. I just thought they would make a nice decoration and would be something that they could always keep which had been made by Grammy. Two of my grandchildren are using these as their regular stockings, and that makes me happy too!

Anyway, for the new ones this year, I found myself in a hurry to get them stuffed and no good ideas for what to stuff them with. Last time I gave these to infants, I used things like teething toys, little slippers, etc. But this time I hit upon the bright idea of just buying a package of baby socks and wrapping each pair individually in tissue paper to stuff the stockings. I bought a package of 8 or 10 cute girly socks for the granddaughter, and the same amount of athletic-type socks for the grandson. This really went over well with the parents, who thought it was a clever way to stuff a stocking.

Maybe someone else could use this idea as well! It might even be a fun gift at a baby shower.

Happy New Year to all!

I'd like to wish all of my friends a very happy and healthy 2009! It's my fond hope that I'll be spending much more time here in my Christmas kitchen in the coming year. There are so many recipes I want to try, so many craft projects ongoing, so many Christmas ornaments I'd like to make... I'll get here as often as I can, I can say that for sure.

God bless you all, and Happy New Year!

Bookmarks from old Christmas cards

Here's a fun and easy craft project to make use of those beautiful Christmas cards you just can't bear to throw away. I learned to make these bookmarks a long time ago -- probably a good 30 years ago -- and had forgotten all about them until I found these four in a box at my parents' house. I believe I'd given these as little gifts to my parents and two siblings, but there they were, stashed away in a box, unused. I was happy to be reminded of this idea!

These two old bookmarks were made with landscape-type scenes from Christmas cards.

One of these is made with a pretty photo of a lantern from an old Christmas card. The other is a depiction of the three wise men. You can see that bookmarks can be made from cards that have either a horizontal (like the first two) or a vertical design (like these).

To make these bookmarks, you first cut rectangles from old Christmas cards, the approximate size you'd like the bookmark to be, rounding the corners a bit. (The end product will, of course, be a bit larger because of the crochet stitches surrounding it. The ones I made were about 4 and three-quarters inches long and about 2 and one-quarter inches wide.) I made mine a double thickness by cutting a matching rectangle from the blank back of the card -- plain white card stock or a color would work too. If the card stock the Christmas card is made from is really sturdy, one would not need the second rectangle.

Then, holding both rectangles together, you punch holes with a small paper punch -- those in the photo are about an eighth of an inch -- at intervals all around the bookmark. I punched holes at quarter-inch intervals.

Again, holding both rectangles together, simply use crochet cotton and a small hook to single-crochet around the bookmark, starting at the center top of the bookmark and putting 3 stitches in each punched hole. I think that when I try this again I will put an extra stitch in each corner. When you get back to the beginning, join the last single crochet to the first one with a slip stitch at the point where you started, but do not fasten off. Instead, chain enough stitches to make the size loop that you want -- it looks as if I chained 20 or 22 stitches -- and then join with a slip stitch at the starting point to form a loop. Make a tassel with crochet thread and add to the loop.

There are a few changes I would try if I were making these today. I would try using red, green, or another color of crochet cotton instead of just white (I'm sure that's all I had back then). I also have a sport weight of variegated Christmas yarn with a glint of gold that would be very pretty for this. Also, there are so many neat charms and embellishments available now. I think I'd try adding a charm to the loop at the top instead of a tassel.

(It probably goes without saying that I would not cut up lovely old vintage cards for these. I have scanned all of my old cards -- so if I wanted to use vintage card designs for these bookmarks, I would print my scanned images out on card stock and use those to make the bookmarks.)

I'm inspired now! As soon as my crafting of Christmas gifts is complete (there are still some family members we've not yet exchanged with), I'm going to try making a few of these with last year's cards. Hope others have fun with this idea!

About the heart on that rag garland...

Just another thought I wanted to add. Several people have asked me about the red felt heart that I have hung from the center of this garland. As I mentioned in the post, I bought this a number of years ago at Cracker Barrel, after Christmas. I didn't buy it specifically to go with this garland (although it does go perfectly!) but rather, I bought it because I thought it would be easy and fun to make these ornaments. I just added it to the garland on a whim one year and liked how it looked. For those who would like to try making their own holly heart ornaments, here's how they appear to be made.

Basically, it's 2 red felt hearts either fused together, or possibly made with the adhesive-backed felt and the two just pressed together. They are blanket-stitched around the edge in green. Green felt holly leaves (which appear to be double thickness as well) are machine-stitched in place. In the center of the three holly leaves, there are 3 red pompoms for holly berries. A thin red cord has been threaded through the top of the heart and knotted for a hanger. Red crochet thread would work as well.

Maybe this will be the year I make some of these! I'm determined this year to work on Christmas things all year long. I seem to say that every year, but I really, really hope to do so in 2009.

In my real Christmas kitchen...

I've just posted this over on my other blog, but I know that not everyone who visits here reads my other blog, "Across My Kitchen Table." So I thought I would share it here as well, for a peek into my real (as opposed to virtual) Christmas kitchen. Welcome!

This little display on my kitchen island (really an old formica-topped desk built by my dad) sums up so much of what I feel about a Christmas kitchen. The Christmas bandanna underneath it all is one I bought many years ago with just such a use in mind. The little "oil" lamp is from a dollar store and the Merry Christmas ribbon some I bought at Walmart a few years back. The two Gooseberry Patch books, Christmas Pantry and Comfort & Joy, fit perfectly in my kitchen this time of year. The pantry is stocked with plenty of cookies, fudge, and apricot fruitcake, and the makings for many other food gifts. And I find my kitchen at Christmas time to be truly a place of comfort and joy.

The "ribbon candy" is really ornaments, made by my daughter Joanna last year. I love the way she packaged them to look like real candy -- and I enjoy them as much (or more) as part of a display like this as I would hanging them on the Christmas tree. The cookie cutters are some of my favorites, and the oversized teacup is from the Mitford snowmen collection. (I found it in a consignment shop a few years ago.) The little rolling pin recipe holder with the candy cane handles was a gift from my granddaughters, and the recipe is a favorite from my dear friend Marilyn. I found the package of vintage light bulbs when we began cleaning the attic this spring, and saved them for just such a use as this.

May your Christmas kitchen be a place like this... filled with sweet old memories and new ones being made... a place where you and your family find joy and where others find comfort too... a place from which your light shines forth to encourage friends and neighbors at this blessed season.

Another favorite Christmas card!

Here is another very favorite card of mine. It was sent to us by our daughter and husband one year. It's so neat because her memories of winters past definitely did include building snowmen, skating fast, and sipping plenty of hot chocolate after both activities!

Rag Garlands

Last night I put up the rag garlands over my kitchen window and corner cupboard. It occurred to me that others might like to make some of these, so I searched here in my Christmas kitchen to see if I had ever posted directions. Apparently not! So I thought I would take a minute and put them up here now. I made these many years ago, and they are still in great shape. Here's what to do:

For a base, use either jute twine or heavy rug yarn. Mine are made on dark green rug yarn and I like that better because the color just blends in with the rag strips and even if they shift a bit it doesn't look as if there are any bare spots. Make the length of the yarn or jute as long as you want your garland to be. 4 to 6 feet is a good length, but do measure if you want to put your garland in a specific spot. Just hang the yarn up there, let it drape down as it will when the garland is hanging, and cut the base material to length accordingly.

For your rag strips, you may use homespun or Christmas prints or anything else you like. You need more than one color or design. A combination of 3 is ideal. It will take approximately 2 yards of fabric for a 4 to 6 foot garland. My kitchen ones have a green/white plaid, a green Christmas print and a red pin dot. Cut or tear the fabric into strips 4 inches long by 2 inches wide. I tore mine and like the look, but the cut ones will fray over time and working with them, too.

Now just tie the strips onto your yarn or jute, alternating colors of fabric. This is a very relaxing project to work on in the evening because it takes very little thought or work. I have also worked on these while waiting at the doctor, dentist, or waiting for someone at the airport.

(I've read about the idea of tying one of these garlands to a string of lights or even tying the fabric strips directly onto a string of lights to make a lighted rag garland, and have always thought it a neat idea, but must note that I don't know for sure how safe this is and have never tried making one of these. Maybe this will be the year.)

The photo shows the garland over my kitchen sink window. From the center point I have hung a nifty heart ornament purchased at Cracker Barrel after Christmas a few years ago.

Have fun with this idea!

A red Vermont farmhouse

Here is another beautiful Christmas card featuring a painting by Fred Swan. I just admire and appreciate his work so much. Hope others enjoy this as much as I have. Notice the sled in the doorway to the shed!

Another favorite...

Today I thought I would share another of my favorite Christmas cards. This one features a painting by Vermont artist Fred Swan. The painting is called "Walking to Town" and I just love it. It's one of those paintings one could just get lost in. You can almost feel the cold New England air and feel the falling snow. Happily, "Walking to Town" has also been made into a counted cross-stitch kit, and I own the kit! One of these winters, I'll get the stitching done and keep "Walking to Town" on my wall all year round.

A favorite Christmas card from years gone by

So much for my intention of posting here every day in December! Obviously, it's not happening! My life is much too busy right now. As for Christmas preparations, I've made some fudge, baked some cookies, and done quite a bit of decorating. Plenty more to do, however!

For today, I just want to share one of my favorite Christmas card images. This is a card I've had for years. I bought a package of them years ago and this is the last one. I scanned it so that I wouldn't lose it. I just love this illustration, by artist Kathy Lawrence. It reminds me of my own children at these ages, and one of the little boys looks a great deal like my nephew Chad as a young boy. Hope all of you will find this card as delightful as I do!

And another favorite...

Here is another favorite ornament, this one handmade. Years ago when my daughters were at a Christian boarding school, their school held a craft fair in the fall. I always loved crafting ornaments for that fair, and this paper twist angel is one I made at that time. Ever since, I've wanted to make more of these because they really are very cute. Maybe this will be the year... who knows?

To the left of this ornament is one depicting a dog in a picnic basket. Someone gave that to my husband one year. To the right is one of my easy handmade Victorian-style ornaments made from cardboard, wrapping paper and trims.

I forgot to mention that we did get some of our decorating stuff out of the attic on Sunday, and I hope to have at least the dining room partially decorated by Thursday when I have friends coming over for tea, mulled cider and Christmas cookies. I have loved the way my fall decorations looked this year, but it's December and time to move on!

A favorite ornament

I'm hoping to post here every day of the Christmas season, but missed December 1, so am going to post twice today.

Here is a favorite ornament of mine which I bought years ago at an after-Christmas sale at Cracker Barrel. It depicts a fluffy-tailed mischievous squirrel hanging onto and peeking through tree branches which spell out the word "Joy". Sometimes this ornament hangs on the tree, other times it hangs in a window or doorway. Wherever I hang it this little squirrel makes me smile!

To the left of the squirrel is an old-looking newer ornament from a set I bought at an after-Christmas sale at Target, I believe. The colors and sheen of this ornament make me think of the old-fashioned ribbon candy my grandmother always had on her candy table at Christmas. To the right of the squirrel is a candy cane ornament made from tri-beads.

Have you begun your Christmas decorating yet? I've put my ribbon board up in the front hallway and filled it with the usual vintage cards, and placed the "December" illustration from a Tasha Tudor calendar in its frame in the hallway, but so far that's all the decorating I've done.

Happy December, everyone!

Advent Countdown project!

Wow, it has been a long time since I have found time to post here. Hopefully I can begin posting on a more regular basis soon. Meanwhile, I did just want to post this photo of a project I did a few years back.
This is an Advent countdown made from directions in Gooseberry Christmas Book 6. An old frame is painted -- I used a coat of white paint over a coat of dark green and then a coat of crackle medium over that. Then one cuts heavy cardboard to fit in the frame and wraps the cardboard with batting and fabric -- I used red flannel. 4 strips of 1.5-inch wide Christmas ribbon are glued vertically over the fabric, evenly spaced, then one glues pockets made from card stock or old Christmas cards to the ribbons. Number tags are then added for the dates from 1 to 24. I made three of these at the time (all somewhat different), one for each of our grown children and their families, and it was one of the most fun projects I ever worked on.

The right sort of ribbon is easily found in Walmart this time of year, and it's fun to choose from the great variety that's available. I made about half of my pockets from old Christmas cards, and the rest from red or green card stock with stickers added.

To fill the pockets, I made strips of paper with fun ideas on them, like "Make paper snowflakes", "Go see a Christmas parade", "Make some fudge", etc. The pockets could also be filled with things like sticks of gum, small candies, stickers, candy canes, even coins or folded dollar bills.

Maybe someone else will have fun with this idea!

Gift packaging for homemade laundry soap

Well, it has been many months since I posted here in my Christmas Kitchen. It hasn't been a matter of not wanting to post here, but rather a matter of not being able to find the time. I've been so busy with everyday life that many once-enjoyable "extras" have had to be passed over.

This past weekend, however, I found myself in need of a quick and easy hostess gift. Our hostess lives in a park model RV, so I wasn't sure of what to take. I knew she didn't have a lot of room for extra knickknacks. So I thought that a consumable gift would be in order. I considered a jar mix -- say, for coffeecake or muffins -- but I wasn't sure what she might have for baking pans. Then the light dawned -- I was making up some of my homemade laundry soap that morning, being almost out of it. What a perfect consumable gift that would be! After all, everyone does laundry! So I just doubled the batch and put enough for 6 loads of laundry in a quart size zipping bag, then packaged it in a fun way. What a hit this gift was!

I decided that other people might be interested in this gift idea, too. First, here's the formula for the homemade laundry soap:

HOMEMADE LAUNDRY SOAP

1 bar Fels Naptha soap, grated (I use a hand grater and grate the soap onto waxed paper)
1 and 1/2 cups washing soda
1 and 1/2 cups borax

Combine all ingredients in a large glass or metal bowl.

Place about 1/3 of the mixture in a blender and blend until it becomes a powder. You will see small particles of the Fels Naptha, but in general you want a fairly uniform, dissolvable powder.

Empty soap powder out of blender into a container (which has a cover) to keep in the laundry room. I use recycled quart yogurt containers to keep my soap powder in.

Repeat with remaining mixture.

(After making the soap powder, wash the grater, bowl, blender container, measuring cups and any other utensils well in hot soapy water. Rinse with boiling water. This is just what I do -- it's not a good idea to ingest borax, so I want to make sure I get every trace of it off my utensils. That's also why I use metal or glass utensils and not plastic -- it seems to me that plastic is capable of absorbing substances.)

Use 1/4 cup soap powder for each load of laundry. I like to run a little warm water into the machine first, then add the powder and make sure it's dissolved before adding the clothes and turning the water temperature to cold.

I have been very, very pleased with the effectiveness and the low cost of this laundry soap powder!

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To package the laundry soap as a gift, here's what I did. You could use any amount of the soap you like, but I found that enough for 6 loads of laundry (1 1/2 cups) fit very comfortably in a quart size zipping bag.

I then slipped the plastic bag full of soap powder into a brown paper lunch bag. I folded down the top of the bag a couple of times. Then, I printed out an instruction label like the one at the top of this post -- and feel free to borrow it, if you like. I held it in place at the top of the folded bag and then sewed the bag shut (and the label in place) using my sewing machine threaded with red thread. It looked very unique and my friend was so delighted with the packaging that she put it on display. I hope she eventually will break down and use the soap powder!

So there is a new gift idea for you to think about for this Christmas. With many people trying to be more frugal, it might be a very successful gift. I can see this packaged maybe in (or with) a clothespin bag and maybe a crocheted or knitted dishcloth or two. Have fun with this idea!

Managing a stash of Christmas magazines

If you're like me, you probably have quite a stash of Christmas magazines. I've got Family Circle and Woman's Day Christmas issues going back to the late 1960s -- and, if I count magazines passed on to me by my mother, I have some going back to the early 1950s. And let's not forget all those wonderful Good Housekeepings with the elaborate gingerbread house ideas! I have managed to declutter many, many magazines from my life, but not those Christmas issues. They have too many great recipes and craft and gift ideas. The only problem is that I can seldom remember which issue I saw a particular idea or recipe in.

This year, I discovered the recipes-to-try form at Organized Christmas, as I mentioned in an earlier post. It has helped greatly when I come across a recipe I want to try. But what about all of the craft and gift ideas?

A couple of years ago, I started a sort of system which has worked well for me. In the month or two after Christmas, I go through some of the magazines in my stash. As I find ideas I want to try, I place a sticky note on the front of the magazine. I jot down the title of the craft and note its page number. I keep all of the magazines that I've marked like this on the same set of shelves. This has helped tremendously with finding those great ideas again.

As a bonus, I find that there are so many wonderful ideas in my magazine stash, I'm more easily able to resist the Christmas issues of these magazines when they appear in the grocery store!