You are invited to my 3rd annual Girlfriends Great Cookie Exchange!

One of my favorite things to do during December is to host a cookie exchange. I love to bake. I love to gather with women and just be a woman, not a wife, or a mom, just a woman for the evening.

Our family has always gotten together to bake cookies, but I always wanted to do a cookie exchange. This will be my third official exchange outside of just my family. When I started doing a cookie exchange, I searched for info on how to do it. I found Robin's exchange how to. This lady has been doing them since 1989. It is a great resource on games and invitations and rules for the exchange.

A cookie exchange takes a bit of prep work. I like to have my participants email me their recipes in advance so I make sure there are not 10 people bringing chocolate chip cookies. I usually stick to Robin’s rules. They are great for keeping a level playing field. But since most of the people that I have at my exchange don’t love baking as much as I do, I am easing up on the rules a little this year.

Another great reason to have the recipes emailed to you early is so that you can get a recipe book made up. I found these adorable recipe card digital files that I used in Photoshop to make recipe cards with. I ran up the street to Kinko’s and had the recipes printed. I have a comb binding machine that I throw together some little booklets with. The first year I had the recipes printed at Kinko’s and then I put the recipe cards into small photo albums.

Here is my recipe from last year:

The first year, we played some cheezy Christmas games. Everyone apparently isn’t a Christmas dork like me and my family. So the game was a little akward. Last year I made an apron and we played Left, Center, Right to win it. It was a lot of fun.

The winner of the exchange always gets a “Golden Spatula”. Last year, Erika had to run all over town finding a yellow spatula for my party (I love you, Erika!)

Once you have all your cookies together, you have to have some way for your participants to bring their cookies home in. The first year I purchased some cake boxes for each participant.

They were fine, but all the cookies didn’t fit in them and they were a little flimsy under the weight of all the cookies.

Last year I picked up some plastic bins from the clearance the year before.

These worked out so much better than the boxes did. I just wasn’t in love with the color choice. I didn’t find any at the end of last year’s Christmas clearance. So I’m still on the look out for something to carry the cookies home in.

Erika and I spent some time making up these *bells* to decorate the baskets. We also made them for our stockings for Christmas Eve. You take a circle of tulle. Fill some small plastic cups with nuts and some more with mints. Wrap the tulle around the cups and tie them off. They are supposed to look like bell ornaments. We have made these to tie onto our Christmas Eve stockings forever. Our Mom had them on her Christmas Eve stockings when she was a little girl so it has been a long time that our family has done them.

For an activity, I had all the supplies to make these paper globe ornaments. I had seen this paper craft everywhere it seemed. I had to make them. It was really fun to make them. I think everyone was quite proud of theirs when they were done.

We have a lot of fun at our cookie exchanges. I love to bake and it is a good excuse to get to bake. I love to make things with other girlfriends. And I enjoy being with just women every once in a while.

I have to share this recipe with you. It is totally delish and terribly bad for you I’m sure. I had to dig it up in a church recipe book. I just have to mention this. WRITE IN YOUR RECIPE BOOKS! I’m not kidding! When you cook or bake something, write how much you and your family liked it next to the title of the recipe. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve searched for a recipe only to not be able to remember where it is. Another thing I do is make something only to remember after we have eaten it, that we don’t like it. A great way to tell your favorite recipes is by which pages have creases, smudges or splatters on them. But I can’t always read if that is a good thing or not. Now EVERY time I make a recipe out of a book, I ask my husband how many stars it gets on a 5 star rating. I write that at the top. I also write my impression of making it. “Time consuming but worth it” or something like that. I have two recipes that this could be. I didn’t write which one I loved, so I had to call my mom. (It is her ward/church cook book so she knows by whose recipe it is.)

Pumpkin Roll

3 eggs (beat on high 5 minutes)

1 c. sugar

2/3 c. pumpkin

3/4 c. flour

1 tsp. baking powder

1 1/2 tsp. cinnamon

1 1/2 tsp. pumpkin pie spice

Line cookie sheet with waxed paper and pour batter onto it. Bake at 350 for 10 minutes. Sprinkle powdered sugar (a lot) on a clean towel; flip cake upside down onto towel, remove pan and waxed paper. Roll cake up in the towel to cool (it also helps to give it the shape).

Filling:

8 oz cream cheese

1/4 c. margarine

1 c. powdered sugar

1 tsp. vanilla

Mix until creamy. Unroll cake; spread filling, re-roll without towel, chill and serve.

Yummy!

If you do have a cookie exchange, take lots of pictures and share what works for you and what doesn’t. It is so much fun!

Anjeanette

Technorati Tags: recipe,pumpkin roll,cookie exchange

Christmas in July Ornaments and Gifts Recap.

Just in case you missed these……

In July we posted a full week of Christmas Crafts to get everybody inspired for Christmas. You could also say that we wanted an excuse to have some fun making Christmas crafts a bit early.

There is still lots of time to get any and all of these done before Christmas. All of these crafts are quick and fairly easy to make. Most of them can be done with your kids.

Don’t let the look of this fool you into thinking it is more complicated than it is. Your kids can lace the yarn around the edges. Think of it as a Christmas ornament lacing board. This is definitely something that you and your child can make together. Go to, our plastic canvas snowflake picture ornament post, to see a complete tutorial.

Here are some fun ideas for Christmas photo ornaments to make with your children. Get out those scrapbooking papers and stickers you have stashed away. Also included are some durable Polymer Clay ornament examples.

Here is a fun way to dress up an ornament. So simple yet it adds so much to the look of your “glass” ornaments. These fantastic shatter proof ornaments are a great way to have beautiful “glass” ornaments on your tree when you have kids and pets.

Go see how to recycle a card into a crochet ornament. Don’t let not knowing how to crochet keep you from making one of these. See our step by step instructions on how to crochet these ornaments.

We will show you how to make some Christmas Shrinky Dink ornaments as gifts for Christmas. These are great to make with your kids. They can give them as gifts to their friends, teachers, aunts, grandmothers, great grandmothers, and special care givers.

As always thanks for stopping by!

The Roots and Wings Co Girls

Technorati Tags: Christmas,Christmas in July,Crafts,Tutorials

Setting the tone of your holidays with your senses

This time the video has the sound and video in sync so you don't have to close your eyes...unless you want to;) (For videos my voice goes up 10 notches and I can't seem to control my face, yikes.)

We talked about setting the tone of the holidays using your senses.

Music was always playing when we were growing up. I still think of the music from my past as my soundtrack of life. I do sometimes break out in song. Rebecca does it all the time too. She does it in craft stores ALL THE TIME!! I pretend I don't know her most of the time...if that doesn't stop her, I join right in with her;) I'm not kidding. We sing in stores. And it isn’t pretty. But our voices sound similar. I’m not sure if that is good or not;)

When we were kids, we had reel-to-reel and record players to play our music on. (We only had an 8 track in one of our cars, never in our house.) I love the sound of a record spinning and crackling and popping on a record player. I have so many specific Christmas albums that were huge in our Christmas rotation. Last year, I was finally able to find one of my very favorite albums from my childhood in CD format. I had searched for it on a CD for years and years. It was the New Christy Minstrels Merry Christmas album. The version we got has two albums on it. The second album is a bit hyper and crazy. Only listen to it if you have had a ton of caffeine or sugar. But the first album is spectacular!

If you ask the 4 oldest siblings what our favorite Christmas album was from our childhood, they would tell you Christmas in the Stars particularly What do you get a Wookie for Christmas

Seriously, you must go listen to this right now. It may shed some light on my geekness, but I fully embrace my inner geek.

And one last favorite Christmas record from my childhood was The Osmonds! I mean, you can’t have Christmas without Jimmy singing It never snows in LA. I can totally relate to that now since we live in Arizona-Phoenix area and it NEVER snows here.

My kids have a few albums that they love to listen to at Christmas time. Barenaked for the holidays not only rocks out some awesome Christmas songs, but there are some really great Hanukkah songs as well.

My husband listens to a lot of Christian music. Somehow he missed the fact that Relient K Let it Snow...Let it Reindeer was a Christmas album. If you look at the cover it has Rudolph right on it. We totally scored with his mistake! He still loves Relient K, but he isn’t as crazy about Christmas music as my kids and I are. He thinks Christmas music should only be played around Christmas time and not all year long the way I like it…silly man! Still it is an album we can all totally enjoy!

And let’s talk about the scents of the holidays…

Our favorite scent for the whole holiday season is Wassail. Here is the recipe from our secret family vault. It makes a huge batch, which is great when you have the whole family around for dinner.

1 Qt Water

4 Cups sugar

12 Whole Cloves

1 Cinnamon Stick (or more)

Boil for 5 minutes, then add:

1 (12oz can) orange juice frozen

1 (8oz can) lemon juice frozen

4 Qt water

Simmer and enjoy! You could make it in a crock pot.

Rebecca shared with you a powder version. We like that for times when you want just one mug full.

We would love to know what your favorite Christmas albums are, and what is your favorite holiday scent...how do you set the tone of the holidays with your senses?

Anjeanette

~~

This is Rebecca now. I wanted to share what I am thankful for. I am thankful to those people in my life who inspire me! It is always so much more fun to craft with people and I'm thankful that I have a few different groups that I get to craft with (children, family, and friends). I have had wonderful women before me that serve as my biggest inspirations, and I am proud to be following in their footprints. As a blogger, of course I also peruse way more blogs than I should. I love all the amazing women out there that put their fantastic ideas out there...just because. While I will not make most of the great ideas that I see, they help spark my own ideas, or remind me of ideas I had long ago that just haven't been tackled yet. And of course, I am thankful for this blog and the other RootsAndWingsCo Gals. It is great to have something pushing me outside of some of my boundaries. Being creative helps keep me centered, and so I am thankful for those that help push me to make the time to create, as well as those that inspire me.

~~

Katrina here,

My all time favorite scent for the holidays is pine tree. Seriously!! When ever I go to a store like Target, Walmart, Home Depot, etc I have to walk in through the garden center (even if what I need is on the other side of the store) just to smell the trees as I walk through. As a kid we always had a real Christmas tree. Many years we drove up to the Santa Cruz mountains in California to select our tree. In later years, there were a few years my mom would select a live potted tree. Not one of those tiny ones but they were always at least 5 footers. Now that I have my own family we have an artificial tree. I have tried every thing from pine scented plug ins, to simmering pots to buying a live wreath just to get that smell in my house. The plug ins were a bit strong so I would take the vial and set it in a small vase to hide it and just let it slowly release it's scent on it's own. I usually place it somewhere near the tree. I have also taken it and rubbed a bit of the scent here and there on the tree (like perfume). Somebody actually asked me if my tree was real one year because the smell was there. I don't have a fireplace but if I did you can bet I would light it up for special events during the holidays, especially Christmas Eve. There is just something about it.

Some of my favorite Christmas music are of course the old classics but the Chipmunk Christmas album is one that I had to get for my boys. As a kid I would play that one over and over. As a grown up I have found that I really like Mannheim Steam Rollers. I guess I can't totally get away from the old classics but I love the way they have given the songs a modern feel.

For drinks we always did a lot of spiced cider or spiced tea (orange or apple). Another winter time favorite from my grandmother was compote. It is basically mixed dried fruit in a pot covered in water and maybe a cinnamon stick added in. You simmer it till all the fruit is soft. It is great to just eat/drink out of a cup warm or top it with a bit of whipped topping or on vanilla ice cream. Ok so I realize that may not sound yummy to most of you, it may be a thing you just have to grow up with to appreciate. It is a legacy from my long gone grandmother along with many of her yummy dishes like pierogies and fried dough topped with powdered sugar. Just the thought of those takes me back and makes me miss her. It also makes me think of my sister who is the baker in our family. Making things from my childhood takes me back and makes me feel close to my far away family and those that are no longer with us.

For setting the tone, I often look to my fond memories from my childhood. I try to recreate some of them for my children but I also try to set the tone in a way that works for us. It will never be exactly the same as it was all those years ago however, you can create new traditions that set the tone for your family.

Happy Holidays!!

Silhouette Ornaments

Ok, I know it has been done before. But it is worth doing again!

See? Totally cute! And I finished 5 in just a couple of hours (due to drying time).

I've fallen in love with this fabric from Michael Miller. It is the red Dainty Damask fabric. I have decided that if you have some really outstanding fabric or scrapbook paper, your project is going to be a success! You really don't have to do much to make it great. K.I.S.S.

I started with wood disks from Hobby Lobby. I painted them up and let them dry. I used the circles to trace onto my fabric. I cut inside my line to make my fabric circle smaller than my wood circles. Then, I Mod Podged the fabric circles onto the wood circles. (You could totally use pretty scrapbook paper if you don't do fabric.)

Use your favorite way of capturing your silhouettes. I had my kids stand sideways in front of a window. I printed the pictures out on regular paper, the size I wanted them. I just penciled in the bottom of the silhouettes...I liked a little curve at the bottom. I cut the paper pictures out and positioned them over the decoupage circles. Using transfer paper, I traced around the images. You could totally just cut them out of black paper if your cutting skills are up to snuff. If you are not a skilled cutter, or your scissors are dull as a butter knife, you can paint it on as I did. If you find your paint hard to work with, water it down a little so it flows more easily. Coat it with a sealer or more decoupage medium.

Add an eye-hook and string it with some ribbon.

I tied some ribbon that I had used for other ornaments on my tree.

I just love how they turned out. I also painted the names and year on the back so we can always remember;)

Something I am thankful for a husband that works to support us. Our insurance is particularly important to us. Although we are currently fighting with them, we would go under for sure without it. Thanks honey for taking care of us.

Technorati Tags: Christmas,Ornament,Silhouette,Mod Podge

Anjeanette

***ETA

A few of you have asked about attaching the eye hook on the top. First, I had to buy them from the hardware store. Second, I did use a little hand tool that made a teeny pilot hole in the wood before I screwed in the hook. I used to be a nail technician a zillion years ago. I had this little tool that I used at the end of acrylic nails to add a hole to hang charms from. Funny, right? I'm not sure that people do that anymore. But in the past when I was putting eye hooks into wood, I would use a teeeeeny drill bit to drill a pilot hole first. Then I would have an easier time screwing in the eye hook. If you are strong (like my husband) you may be able to screw the eye hook into the wood without much trouble and without an eye hook. Hope that helps! Let me know if you still have questions.

Children’s Artwork Mug Gift

Two years ago I came up with the idea to use artwork that my boys made to have printed on mugs for my Dad for Christmas. My little guy was only 3 at the time and was not drawing at the time. So I took an 8.5” x 11” white paper and put his hands in paint to make hand prints all over the paper. I then scanned in the image and put a title, his name and the date he made the artwork. I then went to Walgreens.com and ordered the mug to be made and shipped directly to my Dad.

It is like holding their hand every time they have coffee or tea.

This was the mug I had made out of my 5 years olds drawing. It is a little harder to get him to do an art project on the spot. He more or less has to be inspired before he starts drawing. He draws all the time and back then was never with out a pen and paper. It was like therapy for him. It soothed him. Still does. When I scanned in his artwork, I labeled all the different parts of the drawing. It is quite plain to see what he has drawn, although he did inform me that I got one of them wrong when he saw the mug. LOL

There are many companies out there that will do this kind of thing. Some are better than others. You also have to pay attention to where they place the design. Last year I ordered a picture mug from a different company and they always put the picture opposite the handle. Which means you don’t see the picture if you are holding it by the handle. Another thing the images may not last as long when washed over and over in the dishwasher or if kept in direct sunlight. Although, my parents use these mugs just about every day and wash them in the dishwasher. Just be sure to pay attention to product details about how to store and wash them. My Dad was kind enough to take these pictures of his mugs for me so that I could share it with all of you. Thanks Dad!!

He LOVED these mugs and had to be convinced to use them. My parents use them all the time. They just hand wash them instead of putting them in the dishwasher. Although, I believe they have gone in the dish washer from time to time. I am glad to see that they have held up well.

This year the school is doing a fund raiser where they are having the kids make artwork for just this purpose. I can order any number of products with the artwork my boys have created. So personal and fabulous and a great way to keepsake your child’s art.

Katrina

Technorati Tags: gift,mother,father,grandfathers,grandmothers,family,friends,child's art,mug

Today's Thankful

I am thankful for my handsome loving husband. He works so hard for us. He has given me two beautiful boys and the ability to stay home with them. He is a great father and fantastic husband. Further more he does not complain about our little menagerie of pets or the fact that my boys are always asking for more pets. We just laugh and tell the boys we have enough...for now. He just smiles as we coo over animals that aren't ours.

Katrina

Advent/ Countdown Calendar Revisit

This year for Christmas in July, we did a whole week of advent /countdown calendars. We posted 4 fabulous tutorials and a bonus 5th advent calendar highlight just to get your creative juices flowing. There is still time before Christmas to get yours made in time for December 1st.

My Favorite Advent Calendar So Far, Anjeanette show off an Advent Calendar she made for her family a few years ago. She shows off the beautiful felt ornaments that she made. It's the little details that take an ornament from nice to WOW!

Fabric Paper-type Advent Calendar Chain, This is a great NO-SEW project! Check out Anjeanette's tutorial to find out how she made it. The fabric chain can be used as an Advent Calendar or just for decoration. Best of all it is reusable year after year!

Fabric Candy or Activity Advent Calendar, Rebecca shows us how she did a remake of an Advent Calendar her Mother made when they were kids. She has added a fun new twist to this old favorite. Instead of tying candy to the calendar she has tied little scrolls of paper with activities planned for each day. She has even included her list just to give you ideas of what kinds of things she has planned for her children.

Framed Advent/Countdown Calendar -2 ways, Katrina has put together a tutorial to show you how she turned her Advent Calendar into a work of art. Recycle or rather upcycle an old frame for a new life! Included are templates for making the Advent Calendar itself.

Christmas in July Advent Calendar #1 Pizza anyone? Anjeanette turns an inexpensive pizza pan into this lovely Advent Calendar. Plus earn how to make your own transfer paper.

So many choices so little time!!! We hope we have inspired you to make your own Advent Calendar for this year. If you already have one, maybe you have seen something here that will make you want to make a new one. Let it be known that the Roots and Wings Girls all have more than one Advent Calendar each. After all we have more than one child each. ;) Maybe more calendars makes each day that much more special. Can we make Christmas last twice as long if we have two calendars?

Thanks for stopping by!! Happy Holidays!

The Roots and Wings Co Girls

Technorati Tags: Christmas,crafts

The Roots and Wings Girls are thankful and we plan to share what we are thankful for at the bottom of all our posts this month.

I am thankful for my son's Autism. I am thankful because it has given me a gift. Life has slowed down a bit and I get to witness amazing miracles every day. I don't take for granted the miracle of speech and communication. I don't take for granted that my boys are able to connect with others. I don't take for granted that my boys can show their love and affection. I don't take for granted that my 7 year old still wants to snuggle with me that he needs that connection. He is still a very independent boy but isn't afraid to need me still. Autism is a challenge for my son and our whole family but it isn't something that is going to stop us. We work a little harder to do everyday things but all in all life is good. It has also made me grateful for how truly fantastic our family and friends are. So many families with autistic children aren't understood by even their own families. Our families get it and are supportive in every way they know how. I am thankful for all their love and support. I guess I listed two things I am thankful for today. What are you thankful for?

Katrina

Join the Roots and Wings Co girls for 8 weeks of Heartfelt and Handmade Holidays!!

Today’s topic is determining what is important for each holiday and setting your priorities.

If you are anything like me, you are busy.(Ha ha! Busy is such a small word for the reality of it.) I find that if I don’t sit down and plan out what is important to me, those things come and go and I’ve missed them completely only to have done or participated in something that I could have done without. I am certainly not super woman. I have learned that there are things I have to say "no" to. I enjoy my holidays when I can take a breath and really experience things with my husband and children. Someday I will have entire place settings that match, a wonderfully decorated house, and all of those nice-to-have things. I have nothing against all of that, it just doesn’t fit our budget or time. Right now, those things are not on my priority list. My priority list is about the feelings, values and memories I am making with and for my children.

I have to sit down with my husband and we talk about all the things that are important to us. We talk about what memories we want to be making for our children. I have the most amazing memories from when I was little. Our Grandma calls them memory pockets. She talks about saving up all our happy memories in these pockets and tucking them away. Then when we are having a tough time we can reach into our memory pockets and pull out a wonderful memory to make us feel warm and make us smile. What a great way to think of memories. I also think memory pockets are for the times when things are going well, too. They are great to remember and be thankful for all the amazing things we have done in our lives.

Some of the things on our list this year are the Angel Tree with our kids, driving around looking at Christmas lights, picking out special ornaments for each son and spending as much time with family as possible. I like to shop online in the evenings as much as possible because I would rather spend my time interacting with my family, than pushing through crowds of people. There is no right or wrong answer here. We are simply suggesting you go ahead and sit down and plan out the feelings, values and memories you want to make with your kids and set up your priority list now, as we are ramping up for the slew of holidays coming our way. I hope that 30 years from now, my kids will be telling their children great stories from their childhood. When my kids remember these memories, I want them to feel warmth and love in remembering these things.

Now I am asking you to link up and let us know what is important to you? What are your must-do items for the holidays? What memories do you want to make for your family?

And because it is November, the lovely month of Thanksgiving, I thought it would be nice to remember what I am thankful for. The thing in my life I am most thankful for is my little family! We had a difficult time getting pregnant in the first place. This is almost unheard of in our very fertile family. But it was a struggle. I had a laparoscopy to remove as much endometrial scars as possible and we tried and tried. I was extremely sick with hypermesis for both my pregnancies and had a handful of difficulties during my second pregnancy. It wasn't just easy for us to even bring our sons into this world. I am thankful EVERY DAY for the two children I do have. I don't know how or why I got so lucky to have them, but they are mine! I am amazed by them and am just so thankful to have them!

Anjeanette

Rebecca here: I love this 8 weeks of Heartfelt and Homemade Holidays. I'm quite excited for what we have coming up for you! I think each topic is near and dear to my heart! But I especially love this week's topic. I used to run around crazy, at the holidays, trying to do too much. I've changed and now want enjoyment out of the Holidays, as well as down time with my kids. The down times are some of my favorite moments. As Anjeanette mentioned, we really do have great memories from our Holidays. That is why it is so important to me what kind of memories I am passing on to my kids. I actually sit with my kids and ask them what their priorities for Christmas are. Every year they say something different. One year it was having Hot Cocoa, and another year it was sledding in the snow (for us that means a day trip to somewhere that actually has snow!). I make my own list of priorities. Then, I literally schedule it all out. If things don't get scheduled, they don't happen. I make sure my 3 kids top priority will happen. Then, we talk about the things that are on my list. This helps me keep their priorities in with mine. For me my priorities are a Christmas story each night before bed, to do something (even super simple like writing out our lists to Santa, or drinking hot chocolate with Santa shaped marshmallows) Christmas-y each day, watching Holiday Inn with my children, the Angel Tree like Anjeanette said, Christmas Eve with my side of the family, and the smells and sounds of the seasons are also quite important to me. I also feel it's a time to teach children about other people's customs, and to focus on thinking outside of ourselves. This is done by celebrating other countries traditions, as well as actually thinking through (and hopefully making) great gifts for the wonderful people in our lives. I have a whole slew of other things we will do as well, however, these are my MUST dos. This time of year is so magical to me. I am sure it is from the wonderful memories that I have from my childhood. I am determined to provide my children with their own magical memories of this time of year.

Katrina Here,
From the perspective of a special needs mother here are my thoughts on the holidays. I absolutely love the holidays and would be crushed not to celebrate. Early on, the holidays were good because my son was too little to understand it all and that was OK. It was normal for a baby or toddler to have a bad patch because of missing a nap. We didn't know any better. After my son was DX'd with Autism everything changed. I joined a parenting autism news group. When the holidays came around so many of the parents were anti holidays because of bad experiences they had with their children, family and friends Nobody understood that it is IMPORTANT for their special needs child to have a place, in a house full of people, that is quiet where that child can go to escape all the noise and fuss so that they could regroup themselves and not have a meltdown. I stopped reading the news group. It was too depressing. I love the holidays and all that goes with it and I was not about to let others take that away from me. Oh dear this was suppose to be short! Sorry.

Here is what I do to celebrate the holidays with my family. I set my priorities by thinking about where my son is at and how much he can handle. I am a big fan of decorating the day or weekend after Thanksgiving. We always trim the tree together, always. We set aside time to write lists for Santa. Oh and one of his elves started visiting us last year. Elphie was our elf on a shelf. We set aside time to go visit Santa and go for walks to see all the lights around our neighborhood and others near by. Afterwards we all have warm chocolate to warm us up. Generally speaking we don't do too many holiday parties and we play it fairly low key. I take my cue from what my boys want to do. I have stopped trying to have them help me pick out a toy for the toy drive. Instead I pick the toy and together we drop it off at a toy drive. If the lines for Santa are too long we go during the week when the lines are shorter. We read Christmas stories. I always try to find at least one book that has a story that has a trait that I would like my boys to learn. I don't want the holidays to be all about what they get on Christmas eve and day. I like to share traditions that I remember as a kid like going to the mountains and cutting down our own tree from a tree farm. Pick what is important and let time slow down. Take lots of pictures of each event. My boys have grown to LOVE all that comes with Christmas. My oldest always has a quiet place to go when we visit family. They love and understand him and how he is. We don't get upset when he does not want to open gifts with everybody else (he just can't take all the noise and distraction). However, he gave us a lovely gift last Christmas and came in to open gifts with everybody else. He is always invited to do the things everybody else is doing but he is also able to choose to opt out. My point is don't ever stop giving them the option to join in. I don't let my son's autism keep us from doing things. We look for ways that he can join in.

Hoping you and yours have a Fabulous Holiday Season.
Katrina

***
W would love it if you left a comment with a link or just a note saying what is on your priority list. What are your must-dos for the holidays? What memories do you want to make for your children? What things must you do in order for your heart to be filled with warmth and love?

Or even better, leave us a link, on our McLinky, of your blog post telling us how you set your priorities. Be sure to link directly to the post and not just your blog.

Anjeanette

Hot Spiced Orange Drink

Technorati Tags: Drink,Orange,Hot,Make-A-Mix,Thanksgiving,Family,Traditions,Autumn

Mmmmm, yes that’s me, sitting back enjoying a hot drink and thinking about all I have to be thankful for. Seriously, even through my hectic, chaotic life, I’m loving every minute. You will probably hear me go on and on during this time of year. But I have the greatest family on Earth (I swear, even the extended family members are so super awesome and amazing!), wonderful friends, and a new cute little house. What more could I ask for?

At this time of year there are so many things that I am thankful for. One thing I try to never forget about during the seasons is the smell and taste of the season. See this post of mine for more smells of the seasons. Because my Mom used to make the same things at the Holidays, certain smells or tastes will always remind me of that Holiday! I hope to pass these kind of memory invoking things on to my children. We make this drink, and another one called Wassail, during Autumn and Winter.

This drink is from a mix that you make and then just pull it out all Autumn and Winter long. When Erika got married, the sisters got together and made up a bunch of those Make-A-Mixes (we love making those together because you can get more bang for your buck! We’ve done them a couple of times over the years). This is one of the mixes we found. It’s great because I store the jar in my pantry and whenever I feel like just a cup of hot spiced orange drink, I whip it up!

Hot Spiced Orange Drink Recipe:

1 10 oz jar Tang orange crystals

2oz Lemonade Mix

2 C Sugar

2 tsp Ground Cinnamon

1 tsp Ground Cloves

Mix and store in a covered container.

Jar instructions:

To make into a drink, mix 2-3 tsp of Hot Spiced Orange Drink powder mix and 1 C boiling water.

Make a jar of the powder mix. Then, make yourself a cup. Then, put your feet up, relax, and enjoy. Hot drinks are always so soothing to me.

Rebecca

A Reversible Quilt Coat for a Dog

I have an old dog with lots of aches and pains. This year I decided she could benefit from a coat to keep her joints warm.

I found a fantastic tutorial that shows you how to make a dog coat out of a woman’s jacket. What a great way to recycle! Using a woman’s coat to make a dog coat is brilliant! Go HERE to get the coat pattern.

Thank you Diana for allowing me to use your pattern and post about it here.

I decided to use the pattern to make a Halloween quit coat that reverses to have a side that would be for Christmas.

Making my Halloween quilt template…

Once you have printed out your coat pattern and adjusted the size you will need to:

1. Measure the width of the back coat panel (not including the straps).

2. Decide how much of the width you want your quilt blog to cover.

3. Be sure to account for the border strip that will go around the center block. Mine was a finished border of 1 inch. My cut fabric was 1 1/2 inches to allow for 1/4 inch seams.

4. Be sure to allow for 1/4 to 1/2 inch seam allowances. Your finished quilt block will be smaller than the original template.

5. Cut a square piece of paper to the size you decided upon.

6. Fold your paper in thirds. I have marked my folds so that you can see them.

7. Fold the other side into thirds.

8. Draw diagonal lines from the corner of the middle sections through the center point to the opposite middle corner. Do the same with the other center section.

9. I have colored in the sections to make it look less confusing. For your template you will cut out one black corner section. For the candy corn template you will cut out one gray section.

10. For the Pumpkins I used the template from my Pumpkin Garland Tutorial. Use only half of the stem pattern. Set aside for now.

11. Measure the triangle from top to bottom and divide into thirds. Cut fabric strips adding 1/2 inch for seam allowances.

12. Sew the strips for your candy corn to make one long strip. Always iron seams to the darker fabric. Be sure seams are ironed flat.

13. Place your triangle template over your fabric strip. Be sure the tip of your triangle is over the fabric you want to represent as the top of your candy corn. I flipped the triangle for the next cut to make another triangle in the opposite pattern and am saving it for another project. Flip your triangle again and cut another candy corn. Keep working down the strip till you have 4 candy corns or have used up all of the fabric strip.

14. Sew each corner piece to one triangle. I recommend ironing the seams before sewing the next sections together. Keep sewing pieces together till you have the whole square. Iron it to make sure it lays flat.

15. Trim your quilt block to make sure that it is square.

16. Sew on the trim fabric. Start with matching up the corner. The strip should be long enough to over hang at the end. The next strip will start at the edge of the previously sewn strip. Work your want around the quilt block. I found it helpful to iron the seams after I added each strip.

17. Iron on a sewable adhesive to the back of your pumpkins and stems. Position your pumpkins on your quilt block and iron them down. Top stitch around the edges and sew in any details onto the pumpkins and stems.

18. Fold the raw edges of the trim fabric under and iron them down.

19. Appliqué your quilt block to your base fabric by: 1: Ironing on a sewable adhesive and or 2: top stitching the quilt block all the way around the edge on to the base fabric. If your quilt block didn’t turn out completely flat don’t use the sewable adhesive.

20. Assemble the layers of the coat with right sides together with the batting on one side. Sew around the edges, leaving an opening to turn it right side out.

21. Turn right side out and top stitch around the edge. For the center pattern I stitched over the seams (stitch in the ditch) and around the edge. For the straps I quilted a random cris-cross pattern with meandering lines.

Note: I chose to use a solid Christmas fabric of the reverse side to simplify things but a poinsettia quilt block would look lovely.

Katrina

As always if you decide to make a quilt coat of your own, please let us know, we would love to see it. Pictures of your projects are always a welcome addition to our Flickr Group.

Diana, posted this wonderful write up on her blog about my dog coat. I am speechless... I simply can't thank her enough for making it so easy to make this coat.

Technorati Tags: Dog Coat,Halloween,quilt block pattern,tutorial,pumpkins,candy corn,pets

Plastic Canvas Snowflake Picture Ornament

Years ago my Mother-in-Law made us all plastic canvas snowflake ornaments as part of a 12 days of Christmas care package. We decided we wanted to share this pattern with you. I wanted to add a new twist to it. In this family we LOVE photo ornaments, both making and getting them. Hint Hint!! My tree needs some cousins on it this year. I thought this would be so cute with a picture in the middle. Even better, my photo ornament is a pin, so it can be used in other ways as well.

Here is Nana’s ornament taken apart. I wanted to show you how hers looked with the white thread. She used a white yarn that has a shinny silky thread running through it. If you look closely at the top picture you can just make it out. That shinny thread adds to the look of this ornament. White with a silver thread running through it would also be nice.

1. Here is your basic template. You can buy squares of plastic canvas or a larger sheet of it. Simply cut out the above shape out of your plastic canvas.

I wanted you to be able to see what I am doing so I used blue embroidery floss for this tutorial. In reality you would want to use something thicker than embroidery floss.

2. Hold the end of the floss to the back of your project. It will get hidden by the stitches you will be making. For this you will need something like 4.5 yards of yarn for each half of the snowflake. I used an entire hank of embroidery floss which is 8.75 yards total.

I suggest you cut yourself a 4.5 yard length of yarn. Thread it through an yarn needle and position your needle near the center of the yarn. This way you will only have to pull half the length of the yarn through the canvas at any given time.

Follow my directions for working in one continuous string around the ornament.

3. For the most part I am going to let my pictures explain the steps.

4. You will always bring the needle back up through the starting hole as you work each corner of the X. This will make a loop around the back side that will be identical to the front.

5. Down again through the next hole and then back up through the starting point.

6. Each corner will go like the picture above. Stitch from right to left inserting your needle through the holes that the arrows point to.

7. Still working from the same starting hole now stitch towards the center of the canvas. Follow the arrows from left to right.

8. After you finished the stitches towards the center of the canvas come back up through the starting hole. Insert the needle down through the hole shown above to the right of where you started.

9. Now put the needle back through the top of the same hole you just went through and pull it through. Bring your needle back up to the top of your canvas and go down through the hole to the right of the one you just went through.

10. Work your way around the next corner of the X. These are the hands of my 5 year old helping me out with this ornament.

11. Here you can see that we have gone all the way around the next corner to the opposite side of the next section. I have pulled the needle up through the starting point to repeat the above pattern with this side. Work your way all the way around the ornament in this fashion. The last thing you will do is weave around the edge of the side you started with.

12. Now to secure the end. Put the needle up through the bottom of the hole that you did your last loop in as shown above.

13. Insert the needle behind the decorative stitches and pull it through. Put the needle through the hole indicated by the arrow above and repeat this process. Simply snip off the end of the yarn.

14. Now follow the same pattern and make another one.

15. Place the X’s you just made one on top of the other as shown above.

16. To secure the halves together simply pull the corners of the back X forward to lock them in place between the sides of the top X. It will look like the picture above when you are done.

Now to make the picture part of the ornament.

1. Roll out Fimo or Sculpty clay (the kind you have to bake for it to harden). Roll it out to a 1/4 inch thickness. Use a cookie cutter shape that is no bigger than 1.75 inches in diameter. Bake according to package directions.

2. I edited this picture using Photoshop elements. I removed the background (I wanted the background to be a crisp white for this) and cropped the picture into a circle shape. I resized the picture down to 1.5 inches (the inside diameter of my cut out clay). Once I printed it out, I used my 1.5 inch circle cutter to cut out my picture.

3. Paint Mod(ge) Podge over the top surface of your clay shape. Press the picture on and let dry. This will take about 15 minutes. Now go back and apply a coat of Mod(ge) Podge over the top of the picture. Repeat one more time. The label on the Mod(ge) Podge suggests spraying a clear coat over the dried project to seal it and eliminate the slightly tacky finish the Mod(ge) Podge leaves.

How do YOU say Mod Podge? I say it Modge Podge, always have and always will thus the (ge) tacked on to Mod. I am with Anjeanette on this one, they need to change their name!!!

4. Use your trusty E-6000 to glue the pin to the back of the clay. You will know what I am talking about if you have seen Anjeanette’s Tutorials that require glue.

This is THE GO-TO glue when you want it to hold like no other. You will have to break up the Clay before it will release it’s hold. Even then you will have to use a knife to scrape the clay off the glue. The glue will remain forever on the pin. (I tried to reuse a pin by removing it from an earlier project that broke. I got the pin off but the project is in tiny crumbs in the trash.) Seriously go out and get some from your craft store if you don’t already have some. Keep pliers handy because once it has been used a few times you will need them to get the cap off. If your tube gets plugged and the glue won’t come out, use a toothpick to clear out the nozzle.

Once the glue has dried pin the picture to the front half of the snowflake ornament canvas. If you have two children make a second pin and fasten it to the other side of the snowflake. Be sure to remember to put the child’s name and date on the back of the pin.

The reason I used a pin on the back of the clay picture is so that whomever the lucky person is that gets your lovely gift can remove the picture pin and use it elsewhere to enjoy it all year long.

Technorati Tags: Christmas in July,Christmas,Katrina,Crafts,tutorial

Katrina