Holiday Readin'

I just love being able to lounge out on the couch at this time of year, with a good cup of tea and a few Christmas mags. I keep all the tasty December issues, new and old, in one sweet spot for just these moments.
The icing on this little cake of mine has got to be glancing over occasionally to see the glow of our Christmas tree, with the window behind it revealing a hint of snow on the rooftops across the road.
Ahhh the holidays...

Toronto Christmas Market

My big dream is to visit the Christmas Markets of Germany.
Nuremberg, Dresden, Frankfurt,... some day it will happen...
But for now, this weekend, Toronto's had to suffice.

Though a little snow would have made it even better and maybe made it not feel quite as chilly, it had a great atmosphere and definitely added a little something to my excitement for Christmas!

Ladybugs

I love the patterns for the "Bed Bugs" found in Amy Butler's LITTLE STITCHES FOR LITTLE ONES.
I have made a few of the ladybugs for gifts and turns out I'll be making a couple more this holiday - just because they're so cute.
Another great thing about them is that basically any type of material works, so It's been an awesome project for me to use funky vintage scraps of a strange cloth that I otherwise can't find projects for.







You have the option of putting a little packet of bells in the center which makes it a very sweet baby gift. It would also be just as nice to give to a slightly older child with all the different possible fabric combinations. There's a lot of room to play when creating these cute bugs.

Candy Cane Courage

I won't lie to you, the Candy Cane cookie is a mega time consumer. These cookies are no walk in the park. Every Christmas my mom would say, "I don't think we'll make the candy cane cookies this year". But every year we did indeed throw out the effort for these awesome cookies. They ARE worth the effort, and I believe it's the almond flavouring that makes them so.

As I baked today, a strong memory came back to me regarding this little not so simple sweet... That feeling of the immovable dough, and the eternal cookie rolling. When a point is almost reached where you decide that's enough, and the temptation to discard the rest of the dough or simply throw it down in blobs becomes victorious. Though the feeling began to creep up, I didn't give in. If you give these a whirl and you get that same inclination just snack on one from your first batch and you'll have a new lease on baking. Yummy! Also, it may help to have a little candy cane rolling assistance. Someone to chat with or even just to entertain you while twisting the dough would make all the difference.

The recipe comes from the Betty Crocker library (circa 1971) - one of those plastic box sets from the seventies where you sign up, and they regularly send you recipes to fill up the container. I especially adore those 70's food pics.



A little off course, but I gotta say though it may be just me, there seems to be a serious overabundance of hot dogs in recipes from the 1970's. Of course it makes sense though... For an era that thought "noodle loaf" was a good idea (you know, the bologna with noodles and cheese embedded in it) hot dogs were practically "gourmet".

And so, without further ado (or discouragement) the recipe:

CANDY CANE COOKIES
1/2 cup butter or margarine, softened
1/2 cup shortening
1 cup icing sugar
1 egg
1 1/2 tsp almond extract
1 tsp vanilla
2 1/2 cups flour
1 tsp salt
1/2 tsp red food colouring

Heat oven to 375 degrees. Mix thoroughly butter, shortening, icing sugar, egg, and flavourings. Blend in flour and salt. Divide dough in half; blend food colour into one half.
Shape 1 teaspoon dough from each half into 4-inch rope. For smooth, even ropes, roll them back and forth on a lightly floured surface. I find the flour just makes the dough more crumbly and difficult to roll, so I twisted them up directly on the counter without any flour.



Place ropes side by side; press together lightly and twist.



Complete cookies one at a time. Place on ungreased baking sheet; curve top of cookie down to form handle of cane.
Bake about 9 minutes or until set and very light brown. If you wish, mix 1/2 cup crushed peppermint candy and 1/2 cup granulated sugar. Immediately sprinkle cookies with candy mixture; remove from baking sheet. About 4 dozen cookies.

We have never done the candy sprinkle on top, but do sprinkle a small amount of granulated sugar. I think the peppermint candy would take away from the flavour of the cookie.



So glad the "work" is done and the eating can take place!

I also made macaroons today. What a nice contrast! About 15 minutes and I had a full container of them (and possibly a tummy ache from eating way too much as I scooped it out on the tray).



Happy Baking!
xo

Popcorn Anyone?

Of course my tree is not complete without some strands of popcorn draped along its branches, so that is just what I did this week. Popcorn garlands just add a certain warmth to the tree and the room they have decorated. They are super easy to make, and last several years before they get a little soft and need to finally be tossed - NOT eaten!

To make them you'll need:
Dental floss
A sewing needle
A big old bowl of popcorn
A few buttons

For the popcorn just pour a bit of oil in the base of a big pot - enough to just barely coat the bottom and set about 3 kernels in there. As soon as those 3 kernels pop your oil is hot and ready for you to pour in the rest of your kernels. For my 4 quart pot I put 1/2 cup of kernels. Keep giving the pot a good shake while holding the lid tight of course - just to ensure it won't burn. As soon as the popping noises slow down, remove it from the heat cause you're done!

You're ready to string 'em up. Don't try to make your garlands too long or you'll be dealing with mass entanglement and you may just want to give up on your stands and eat the whole bowl. Your tree won't get decorated that way!
I tie a small button to each end of the garland to keep those kernels on there. It does help.



For garlands it is much better to make your own popcorn. Microwave popcorn is too full of mysterious craziness, and bagged popcorn I think would go soggy faster. This is how we always make our popcorn and we think it tastes better this way too.
You'll want to make enough (of course) for snacking cause you know how it goes - one for the garland, three for me, and so on.
Enjoy!

Waldorf Mondays

Only one more week to go in our parent-child group at the Waldorf school. I haven't decided whether I will re-book for the next session. Although I really want to, I may wait until the spring term since I'm only going to get more pregnant, and we are meant to have a pretty snowy season (fingers crossed!). It is a half hour drive and may prove difficult some mornings as the winter wears on. As I said though, I'm still undecided...
Levi has become so familiar, and so accustomed to the routines of Monday morning I would hate to affect that now. Monday morning is also something I really look forward to socially, and mentally. We're in a space there where I can completely relax and let him do his thing, bring a project I'm working on, drink some nice tea, and have a good chat.



This morning we got a little crafty, and made these super cute angel ornaments since we all finished stitching together the felt ball we have been working on.





Monday mornings at our group are such a low-key and peaceful way to kick-off a fresh week. I hope the creative, natural play and easy pace that we have experienced here really stays with my little one.



I hope you had a fantastic Monday!
xo

Handmade Holiday: Progress!

YAY! Success has been happening one stitch at a time over here.
I finally finished my little guy's car cozy and am pretty psyched about it. An amazingly handy little idea, that will be quick and easy for stuffing in his nappy bag, and entertaining him while out and about. It didn't take long at all, it's just all about seeking out that perfect chunk of time in which to get to work on it.







I mentioned this cozy a few weeks ago on my Handmade Holiday post about some of the incredible free tutorials available online, and this is so definitely one of those.
The tutorial I used is courtesy of Homemade by Jill, and I borrowed the adapted ideas of Polkadot Prints, so many thanks to those two fantastic bloggers!

The outside, and the pockets are made from an old pair of jeans; the wheels from an old wool sweater which I felted.
The inside Roadway material and the roadsign fabric used for the car applique are both from Riley Blake's Wheels collection which I picked up on Etsy.

I also finished a little stocking stuffer this week which we have been working on at our parent & child Waldorf group Monday mornings. It is a simple handstitched wool felt ball. This will be a much kinder toy to our home considering how much he likes to throw a ball. Though he may not like it as much as a ball that has the potential of causing a ruckus...
Anyway, I know I've said it before but hand-sewing really is so meditative, and chilled out. I totally enjoyed working on this little project.



Hope you are all finding success in your gift-making, baking, card writing, or whatever holiday projects may be on your list!
xo

Just Breathe

Today was one of those days where absolutely nothing seemed to be going right. By the time dinner rolled around I was shattered and a little bit ready for something to send me over the edge. Anyway, I know after-the-fact you look back and think how ridiculous it was to feel so overwhelmed, but It's the silly little things adding up, like spending a whole morning driving around doing boring & unsuccessful errands, going to exchange something that isn't available at that particular location you drove the distance for, a little boy who wants to be picked up constantly but then never held (???), or the needle on your serger breaking - twice! That was after driving so far to the sewing shop to get a new needle. I guess maybe I should stockpile the needles for while I'm still learning... There is more to my story, but really none of my complaints are any more exciting than the ones already said so I won't bore you with the details.
Needless to say, this evening I wanted to do nothing but put on my jams and hit the hay, but alas, here I sit at 11:41pm telling you about my crappy day.

Once my hubby came home, we ventured out to pick out our perfect Christmas tree (which, no joke, is the most perfect tree EVER!), a little sewing project was started, a tasty dinner was made and eaten, and a nice walk over to a nearby park was had where a tree lighting took place. As my sleepy head is now desperate for a pillow to crash on I'll just leave you with a few images from my evening (which turned out to be pretty great) and encourage you, just as Twig & Toadstool has, to S-L-O-W-D-O-W-N and just breathe.

Our tree farm visit -

Would love to trek out and cut our own next time, but apparently the selection wasn't great among those this year, and we just couldn't seem to make it to the farm before 5pm all week which was the cut-off time for that adventure.


This awesome tasty Broccoli-Walnut stir-fry recipe can be found here on the blog of a good friend of mine. I took her advice and used fresh ginger, adding 1 teaspoon. I think adding a Tablespoon may be the ticket here, and I think I'll try that next time. Definitely this stir fry will see a next time!


The park near our house had a tree lighting, free hot chocolate, free baked goodies, and Christmas carol singing. Totally prefect for lifting spirits!




Hello Perfection! :)


Enjoy the awesomeness of this season and try not to be too jealous of our crazy amazing tree ;)
xo

Christmas Advent Calendars

Ah, advent calendars. Almost better than the big day itself. Almost!
They are the key to our anticipation, and the fuel for planning and progress.
Today is the Day the countdown truly begins. I suppose it can fuel anxiety as well considering now all I can think about is that the countdown has started and I have a lot I want to do!

There were times in my childhood where we had at least 3 daily advent calendars as well as the traditional Sunday advent celebration of lighting a candle and having a bible reading or other devotional. I imagine at some point there was probably even 4, if only to appease the 4 kids that all want to be the one doing the advent on Christmas Eve. It was a very big deal to be the one to velcro that little sequined star or angel to the top of the felt tree!

I inherited one advent calendar that my Aunt Sandi made for us when we were young, and we continue to use it every year. A couple felt ornaments have been lost, but new ones have been made. The occasional fix-it is required but it is in great shape for a nearly 30 year old advent. I'm not sure how old it is, but I can't remember not having it.



I bought this advent calendar at a second hand shop for 5 bucks! What a steal. It is so cute. Now that I have refastened the knob to the end of the dowel, and re-glued down any loosey goosey velcro bits, tomorrow I will choose it's home for the month - only an acceptable one day late. I have 23 days to replace the one missing ornament. A job I should think I can handle, but we'll see how much I procrastinate on this small task.





Check out these advent-related posts:
Pomegranate Chronicles for a super sweet, child friendly craft idea
An awesome cute freebie from PolkadotPrints
A lovely post on celebrating advent at Plain and Joyful Living

24 days until Christmas!!

Beachy Craft Time

Well that's me all caught up on posts that I had wanted to blog about while in the Dominican. This is the last little taste of my beach week, and it's hard to believe I was there only a few days ago... :(

A beach, the sound of the breeze in the palms, one shining sun, and a wee bit of craftiness.
Can there be a better combo?



I knew that amidst all the relaxing I would crave using that downtime for something creative, and cross stitch is just so portable (though remember, NOT airplane friendly what with the scissors and needles). I have lost at least a couple great pairs of mini scissors to the folks checking hand luggage at the airport. I think I have learned my lesson, but only time will tell...



This book is really awesome - if you dig needlework, which I do. It is packed full of super cute motifs and ideas for how to use 'em. I've just started another mini project from it, but sorry I just can't share for the sake of surprises!