Handmade Gift for Madelin's Teacher

Pretty much every part of this gift was handmade...the treats, the hand-painted jar and the gift tag. So I saw the chocolate covered Oreos idea on Pinterest. I probably should have read how to make them...I thought it would be fairly easily and could make them without any directions. BUT it was a disaster...you can kind of tell that in the picture. Anyways, I made some more that looked a lot better (thus being the reason why they are white chocolate covered in the picture below - oops! :)). I make the chocolate covered pretzels every Christmas. They are easy to make and yummy! :)

I put m & m's in a jar, placed the treats in a jar, put the jar in a cellophane bag, added a Starbucks gift card to the bag and tied the bag with a piece of scrap fabric. The gift tag was created by the illustrator of my mom's book.

If you look closely, you can see the hand-painted holly berries on the backside of the jar.

Handmade Gift for Madelin's Classmates

Back in August (you know, pre-Kate), I volunteered to be Madelin's class "room mom." Luckily, I haven't had to do much. I volunteered to do the treat bags for the holiday party and instead of buying treat bags, I wanted to make my own. I know, big surprise!! :) What can I say, crafting keeps sane! And here they are... I used paper grocery bags, cut them in two pieces (4 1/2" x 6") for the "gift." I sewed the two pieces together, leaving one end open to fill with candy, then sewed it shut but left one corner open for easy access. I created the pompoms with yarn. Voila! A treat bag for "next to nothing" (except for a bit of my time ;)).

ChRiStMaS: Another "K" Joins the Bunch

Here's to the beginning of all posts related to Christmas...

We decorated for Christmas last weekend and figured it just wasn't right to not have a stocking for Kate. So another "K" joins the bunch; Madelin was quite concerned that there was already another "K" stocking and suggested we do "E" for Emiline. :)

Remember these from last year? I swear it seems like I just made those yesterday!! Here is Kate's! The mantel is now complete. :)

What are you Giving the Principal for Christmas?

I'm sure probably thinking, "Um, nothing!" I do realize school is over for Winter Break and you were probably doing good to get a gift for the teacher, much less the principal or anyone else at school. When I taught, I got showered with gifts but I felt bad for the director of the preschool because it seemed like she didn't get much when Christmas came around. So when I saw this idea in my December Martha Stewart issue, I figured I could give gifts to those "forgotten" educators (they are definitely deserving of something) and it only cost $1/candy bar. We gave the Santa to Madelin's teacher. The snowmen were distributed among the principal, coordinator, expressive arts teachers, librarian and counselor. If you click on the Martha Stewart link, you will see that they used yarn instead of ribbon and Madelin and I used black crafters paint for the eyes and mouth as opposed to black ink and I used cream felt for the beard and the top of the Santa hat. The labels are also from Martha Stewart. Maybe you can give it a try next year...

I Hope Your Christmas is a Sweet One!

A week or two ago the Schwan's lady (yes, lady!) brought a catalog to our door. I was flipping through, not looking to purchase, just drooling over the yummy pictures (and found this yummy Santa)! ;) Pancake face, whipped cream beard and hair, strawberry hat, m&m eyes, cherry nose and banana ears make for one good looking Santa!

Santa is getting chocolate covered pretzels at our house. As Madelin informed me, "You know Santa only likes cookies!" Oh well, these are just as tasty and cause me alot less stress!!!

Now that's my kind of reindeer food.

Christmas m&m's, raisins, marshmallows, peanuts and chocolate chips. You're welcome, Rudolph!

Gingerbread kit from Trader Joe's. Madelin enjoyed decorating it and Anders enjoying sneaking the m&m's off of it. If you like the taste of sweet cardboard, it's for you. ;) No really, it was fun to do.

Santa's Going to Have to Bring Stocking Stuffers This Year

For many years, I've wanted to make stockings! I saw these stockings a few years ago in a Garnet Hill catalog (I cut-out the page for ideas) and have always adored these stockings from Pottery Barn Kids. But I never wanted to buy them when I knew that I could make them. Now, that I stay home full-time and know how to use my sewing machine, I finally found the time to make them!The Garnet Hill stockings are made of felt, so I thought that would be easy enough. As you can see from the high quality (or not) photo I bought green, brown, red and white felt from Hobby Lobby. I can't remember how much (perhaps a yard or so) I bought but let's just say it was more than enough because I still have some left over.

Please focus on the stocking "pattern," not the sweet sponge painted block walls (yes, this is my basement-don't judge ;)). Chris helped me make the stocking pattern, we used cardboard and the measurements (11x20) from the Pottery Barn Kids stockings (plus, 4 1/2 inches for the cuff).

I cut 2 stocking pieces from each color of felt and then pinned the matching pieces together. The white piece of paper has an initial on it (C, K, M or A).

These are all of the pieces that I cut out; some from a pattern but mostly free-handed. I used crafter's glue to adhere the felt.

I created the initials by typing each letter, printed "C," "K," "M" and "A" out, pinned the paper initial to the felt and then I cut around the paper intial.

I got the bear idea from a Mini Boden shirt and the paw prints were my idea; I also added floss for the mouth.

The snowman was created using snowman stocking ideas from P.B.K., Garnet Hill and my own creativity; I also used floss on the scarf and real buttons for the buttons.

The ornaments are similar to the Garnet Hill ones and again, my own creativity.

I used pinking shears to cut-out the pine trees, similar to the Garnet Hill pine trees.

The other various colors of felt are from felt scraps I already had. I hand-sewed ALL of the pieces onto the stockings - it took forever!!!!!!!!!

I pinned all of the pieces to the front stocking pieces.

I folded the front piece of felt down 4 1/4 inches and pinned the initial onto this flap.

After sewing the initial down, I un-pinned the 4 1/4 inch flap and laid it back on top of the back piece.

For the tabs, I cut a total of 8 strips (1 x 6 ). As you can see, the tabs are a double layer of felt (for strength and durability).

On the sewing machine, I sewed (on both sides of the tab) the two strips together .

After, all of the pieces were sewn on and the tabs were made, I sewed the front and back stocking pieces together. From the top of the stocking to 4 1/4 in. down (on both sides of the stocking), I sewed 1/8 in. from the outside; this is to prevent bunching when the top is folded over to create the cuff. From the 4 1/4 in. down, I sewed 3/8 in. in from the outside around to the opposite side of the cuff. I know this is confusing and it's difficult for me to explain but it worked! Once that was done, I hand-sewed the tabs on. It was then that I "saw the light at the end of the tunnel!!!!!"

The stockings are hung and just in time for Santa to bring lots of little treasures!

What Do You Do With All of Those Cards??

We love to receive Christmas cards at our house. Every year, we seem to get a few more than the year before and finding the space for them can be tricky. I was flipping through a Pottery Barn Kids catalog and came upon a page that showed Christmas cards hanging from some kind of string. I thought to myself, "I can do that...for cheap!" I nailed a nail in the wall, tied twine around the nail and then nailed the nail in completely. I did the same on the opposite wall. The twine is about 16 ft. long. We have received one card, thanks Laura. :) I used a binder clip (purchased at Office Max) to hang the card on the twine.

I used to place and hang the cards on the mantle, but as you can tell, it has been over-taken.

I also used to tape them above the archway between our entryway and dining room but I wanted to try something new.

What do you do with all of your fabulous Christmas cards?

Inexpensive Chandelier Decor

We have this light fixture (I hate to call it a chandelier, that sounds so fancy and ours is nice but not fancy!) that begs to be decorated! I looked in Pottery Barn for ideas, but no such luck. I was at Target with a few friends last week and one of the friends showed us these ornaments. I remembered the ornaments and had to go back and buy them!! They were $1 per set of ornaments; in the $1 bins.

I used clear fishing line to tie them to the light fixture. The tying process took a little while but it was a cheap and easy decoration, you can't beat it!

Thanks for stopping by!

24 days and counting

Now that Thanksgiving is over it's time to focus on Christmas! :) I have a few Christmas projects in the works; so be looking for them very soon. To start the season off, Madelin and I made a Christmas Countdown Chain after school today. We've never had an advent calendar (as much as I like them and have always wanted one), so the next best thing is a Christmas Countdown Chain. Madelin and I have made one each year for the last few years. It's quick and easy (that is unless you have a 1 1/2 year old trying to get his little hands on the strips of paper and is also trying to "help" by dismantling the stapler)! We used green and red paper and pinking shears. I folded the width of the paper into eighths.

I cut a majority of the strips and Madelin cut the rest.

Our pile of 24 strips...the number of days until we will be celebrating Christmas at our house. I did not want to take the chain on the plane with us!!

I looped the strips through each other, making sure to overlap each loop and then Madelin stapled them.

Our Christmas Countdown Chain!

To finish off the chain, I used a strip of felt to tie the chain to the curtain rod.

Thanks for reading!