Magic on 34th Street

A restorative antidote to the pressing crowds at malls all over America, Jim and I were part of a different kind of flash mob this past weekend in our hometown of Baltimore...

Sending you all Beauty, Blessings and Creativity for Christmas and the New Year!

A Warm and Cozy Holiday

Cozy love...

A Cozy is a perfect companion on a cold, snowy winter day.  It keeps your bed warm at night and it makes you smile just to hold one.

We've been making these microwaveable corn bags as a family for a few years now.   Cozies can get dirty over time and the corn can scorch after hundreds of heatings so almost everyone needs to make new ones.  

Plus they make perfect gifts.

We've honed our assembly line over the years so that we've become fairly efficient Cozy makers.

I was on the sewing machine...

My brother was the corner and thread clipper...

And the girls cut the flannel and ironed...

Filling the bags with feed corn is easier with two people...

One person holds the bag open while the other fills it...

I sewed over 40 Cozies in two days.  Nice flannel is getting harder to find.  I bought that snowman flannel over ten years ago thinking I would make us all flannel pajama bottoms for Christmas...

Oh well.  Now it's being put to good use keeping our friends and family warm.

I found the snowmen worked really well with this tartan flannel I found this year at Equilter.  I just can't seem to get Scotland off my brain.  

I'm eager to get back to my book once all of the Christmas crafting is through.

And this Christmas top hat?

I made that with my friend Marian at The Queen's Ink...a great scrapbooking store in Savage Mill, Maryland.  It's a cardboard hat that's painted black and embellished with "snow" and trimmings.

There's still lots of baking and making to be done so I'll post again when I can.

A Happy and Cozy Holiday to you all.

P.S.  Here's a tip sheet from making your own Cozies in case you missed it last time...from my house to yours...

Kneehugger Elves

You might remember them?  They were really popular in the 1950s and 60s.

And when I was a kid, we had four kneehugger elves to place on our tree...one for myself, my older sister and my two younger brothers.

Mine was this red guy which still hangs on my tree today...

In recent years, the kneehugger elf has experienced a revival of sorts due to the popularity of The Elf on the Shelf book/doll set.

In my family, we exchange family names.  This year, I got my brother John's family and he has three girls.

It took me a few years to source out the vintage rubber faces for the elves but I finally had them for Christmas this year...

And made them each their own elf...

First, I worked out a pattern and made the bodies...

The faces did not have a neck or a back so I used a styrofoam ball to round out the head.  That ended up working out wonderfully because I could slip a bamboo skewer into the "head" to help connect it to the body.

A little stuffing, some simple sewing and folded paper to give the arms and legs dimension...

And the elves were mostly complete.

I embroidered monogram patches for each of the girls' elves...

And used fur from that old vintage hat I've been cutting apart over the years (I used that same fur on Kate Middleton's mitten last Christmas)...

Some jingle bells and mercury glass beads around the velvet collar...

And vintage millinery flowers, leaves and ornaments for a Christmas bouquet...

And my little elves were complete. 

I tucked a card into each of their boxes explaining the history and tradition of the kneehugger elf in our family...

They immediately remembered that their father's little green elf hangs on their tree at home.

I hope to make one for each of my nieces in the years to come...

Next time I'll show you the crazy version I made for our annual Crazy Quilting Ornament Exchange...

Happy day!

Making Candy

Hi everyone!

Those post-project blues seem light years away at this point...though they did last for about two days. Boy, do I wish I had those two days back now.

I loved loved loved all the tips for curing them...and I think I discovered another one...

Making candy. Not the edible kind.

This year, I was making sugarplums, peppermint twists, gumdrops and gingerbread for the annual Jack Christmas card...

I had to make 200 peppermint twists! I used a circle punch and found that super-nifty peppermint paper...that part was easy.

It was the wrapping of each peppermint in cellophane that truly proves I need to be committed to a mental health institution.

I can't help myself.

So after one week of 4 hours of sleep per night and 48 cards handmade cards later, I have survived another year.

THE FRONT:

THE INSIDE:

And the sense of accomplishment is great when I see them all standing up like soldiers charged with their very important duty...

Of spreading good cheer and a smile to those who receive them.

I love the whole tradition of making the annual Christmas card and I keep all the past years cards locked up in a fire-proof box. In the event of a fire, they are right up there with the family photo memory sticks!

I'll be taking a blogging break for the next week or so to enjoy time with friends and family.

I wish you all the most beautiful and blessed of holidays...filled with peace in your heart, joy of spirit and enthusiasm for 2012!

See you in January...

Free Holiday Gift Ideas

Move over Anthropologie...

I've found a new source for handmade inspiration.

It's chock full of holiday gift ideas and, unlike all those holiday gift idea magazines...it's delivered to your mailbox and it doesn't cost a dime.

Sundance catalog.

That's it. And no. I don't work for Sundance. I don't know anyone who does work for them. And they haven't paid me to write this blog post.

They have, however, filled the pages of their holiday catalog full of hand knitted, sewn, beaded, and felted goodies.

So many ideas for making holiday gifts that I just had to point them out to you in case you missed it.

Top on my list are these embroidered belts...

Some belting from the craft store, embroidery floss, french knots and the buckle of your choice. And voila! A great gift and I think a good make-it-yourself project for my older nieces.

And these Chan Luu bracelets cost about $180-$220 in the catalog...

But you can make one yourself for a LOT less. I've written about these wrap bracelets before and, over the Summer, my niece made one very successfully. And, lucky for us, there are many, many videos on YouTube showing you how to make one. All for free.

The whole catalog is FULL of hand-knitted everything! Coats, leg warmers, vests, mittens, hats, sweaters...

And thanks to free e-mags like Knitty.com and free online communities like Ravelry...we can find a pattern for almost anything...and often for free.

For example, I love these hats and scarves knitted to dress up a gifted bottle of wine and I found a pattern and it's FREE on Ravelry.

I also found this pattern too which I love...but it will cost you $2...still pretty inexpensive.

And check out those long sleeve tees (above)...I'm thinking we pick up a long sleeve tee from a discount store...have the kids make one of those folded paper snowflakes...except using fabric...and then sew them onto a shirt. How easy is that!

And these stockings hung by the chimney with care...

Here's another free pattern from Ravelry for the stocking garland....How fun would it be to play with different patterns in a mini version? Wonderful.

And the other trend I noticed in this catalog was the prevalence of the ear flap hat...

They were on almost every page!

And my absolute fave was this flower covered one...check out the braided yarn trim and ties...

I found at least eight patterns for ear-flap hats free on Knitty and dozens of options to cull through on Ravelry.

My mind is swimming with possibilities for inexpensive, trendy and cool holiday handmades for those I love. I hope yours is too.

Have a great weekend everyone.

P.S. If you'd like a Sundance catalog for yourself, you can request one here.

P.P.S. I haven't completely foresworn my affinity for Anthropologie. They still have some great ideas too...Have some fun and go build your own charm necklace here.

Seashells and Jingle Bells

Each year, my crazy quilt group has an ornament exchange.

Last year was the only year we didn't exchange ornaments because we all felt we were too busy.

The lack of the ornament exchange made us all a little sad. It's so wonderful to make a gift and receive a handmade gift that we vowed to try to never let that happen again.

Even though I hadn't started my ornament as of last Thursday, I was dedicated to whipping something up pretty quickly so I didn't skip another year.

I hadn't cleaned up my work table from the haute-couture necklace so I used materials I already had lying around. I guess one day I'll make something that doesn't have aqua in it...

But I don't know when...

I wanted to use the octagon shape of my bead journal piece, A Daughter's Valentine, that I made a few years ago...

But it didn't turn out exactly like I had hoped. (That's what happens when you wait until the last minute, Susan) After finishing the stitching, I realized that I would have liked to "frame" the piece with a much wider octagon sashing like the one in my other piece.

Alas, I had no time to do that so I decided to ruche a ribbon edging, bead it, and forego my dreams of wider sashing to a later date.

I love using that Italian metal mesh ribbon they sell in the bead stores and wanted to make my own seam covering by shaping it into hearts.

I tacked the metal ribbon down first and then intended to sculpt the ribbon into heart shapes. Tacking the ribbon first didn't leave me enough ease to really sculpt the ribbon like I wanted so next time I'll sculpt first and tack later.

All the shells, except the pink cups, are from my recent trip to the Florida Keys.

Tomorrow, I'll tell you about the ornament exchange and show you the ornament I received. She's a real beauty...

In case you missed them two years ago, you can see the jointed bear cq ornament I received here and the ice skate I gave here.

Happy jingling.

Making Snowmen

Over the weekend, the mid-Atlantic region of the United States was hit with a big snowstorm and we received about 2 feet of snow!


I went outside this morning to try to take a few pictures...and I had to wear Jim's large yellow rubber boots since they were the only boots I had that were tall enough not to be completely overcome by snow --


It didn't matter...right after I took this pic, I stepped into a snowdrift and snow poured into my boots. What I didn't tell you was that I was wearing my pajama bottoms which definitely weren't snow pants! Brrrrr! I got wet and cold pretty quickly since I was completely inappropriately dressed -- all in the quest to get a good picture in optimal light before the sun got too high in the sky...

I aborted my mission when I stumbled again...more afraid for my camera than myself really. If I dropped that in the snow~ that would be tragic!

Instead, I went back inside and took this picture out the back door...


Over the weekend, instead of being outside building real-life snowmen, I was inside working on a less heat-susceptible version...

Which included lots and lots of "snow"!


And one of our favorite characters -- Frosty the Snowman -- sporting Jack's Mojo hat!


And even though it is a lot of work to produce all the little details...


It's also a lot of fun. Nothing makes me happier...


I guess maybe that's the feeling that some of those ladies had at the Santa's Sweatshop and Cookie Party I went to a few weeks ago? Perhaps they like baking cookies as much as I like making cards? Maybe I can begin to understand them...

And I just love the sight of this army of cards all standing at attention...ready to be sent on their mission of spreading love and joy to family and friends.


And now I send one to you too...my blogging needle friends...


May the JOY of this season surround you and keep you all the year through! Mojo hats for everyone!