Merry Christmas!

I hope you all have had a wonderful and Merry Christmas. Ours has been really really good. I'm sorry I've been kind of MIA lately, but right now family is really where I'm spending my time. I will be back, but probably not much before the New Year. I hope you are all enjoying your families this special time of year!


* I will possibly post a freebie sometime this week though . . . 

Freebie Friday- Pinwheel Bows & Gift Card Pillow Box

I think this is going to be full of disclaimers. Seriously. That's what I get for waiting until Thursday night to figure out a Freebie for Friday. Ah, the stress, sometimes I get better results, sometimes not. It's good for me to be constantly figuring out something new though. I like that. Well, enough about that. Here it is: last minute bows, and last minute pillow (I get it confused with billow-see pdf) boxes for gift cards. Click here to print it. 


First disclaimer: I realized after all the stores had closed, I was out of yellow ink. So while everything appears pink-the actual printable is green and RED. They match last weeks gift tags. Sorry about that. But here are the bows and gift card box: When folded the bows are a little over 2 inches, and the box fits a gift card-but you could use it for favors or small gifts too.

I've also created a little movie tutorial for folding the pinwheel bows because they are a little confusing for me to explain in type. Maybe I'm just a visual learner. Second disclaimer: I sound (and feel) like an idiot in this video. I know, everyone hates themselves on tape-me too. Sorry about that. I also apologize for the poor lighting, But hopefully the movie helps.

And a Third disclaimer: I didn't take any pictures of the gift card pillow box because it was half one color and half another (see first disclaimer ) but it's fun, and you'll like it. I promise :) Just make sure you use cardstock! Oh, and I think these little pinwheel bows would be so cute on top of a a cookie wrapped in plastic wrap or on a little gift, or as ties for little paper garland . . . Enjoy!


**Also, due to next Friday being Christmas Eve I won't be posting a freebie next Friday. I'll try to post one sometime between the 26 and 30, but won't again on New Years Eve. I  will resume regular Friday postings on January 7th. And I hope you all have a very Merry Christmas!

(this is the back side with a sticker over the white space. That's a fun way to use it too :)

gingerbread-the perfect recipe

Every year growing up my mom would make each child in our family a gingerbread house and we would each get to decorate our own, put them together, and sneak the candy off of  all December long. On New Year's Eve at the stroke of "midnight" (or 10 o'clock) we would each break our houses and eat them by dipping them in milk to soften them up. LOVED IT. So of course, we've carried on the tradition (although I don't eat quite as much of the hard month old gingerbread as I used to . . . ) This last weekend we made our gingerbread house-sometimes I get a little anal about only using green, red and white candy, but this year I tried to relax (I still nixed the orange though-just couldn't quite let go). The little buddy put the candy on of his choosing and I helped with the frosting, and daddy made good suggestions about where to put stuff while holding the little sweetie. Lots of fun. Anyway, but I thought I'd share my awesome recipe with you all (which was originally one my mother got from the gingerbread lady in our ward (church congregation)). So I hope it's not a trade secret I'm sharing :)

GINGERBREAD (not great for gingerbread men-not soft enough-but good and firm for houses)

1/3 c. brown sugar
1/2 c. oil
2/3 c. molasses
1 egg
2 3/4 c. flour
1/2 t. salt
1 T. baking powder
1 t. cinnamon
1/8 t. cloves

cream brown sugar and oil. Add molasses and egg and mix well. Add dry ingredients. Chill dough overnight. Roll dough on an oiled peice of foil. Place on cookie sheet and bake in 300 degree oven for 20-30 minutes (1/2 inch thick (although I do mine more like 3/8 inch)). Place *pattern for walls on gingerbread and cut before baking (mmm. . . .never done that step . .. I guess I should read more carefully). Then trim with pattern on hot baked gingerbread (i always just cut it out while it was hot-burn your fingers all over hot). Lift out carefully and cool on a cake rack (or counter) until completely cool. Use royal icing to glue together

ROYAL ICING

3 egg whites (room temperature)
1/2 t. cream of tartar
1 lb. confectioners sugar

combine all ingredients and beat throughly until icing stands in peaks. Keep bowl covered at all times with a damp cloth. (When exposed to air it starts to harden-which is what keeps your house together.)

*I don't have my mother's original pattern so I made my own a couple years ago. It fits well into a 11x 17 baker's sheet. Here are the dimensions I use-use them or up or make your own (the beauty of this is that it only uses one sheet for the whole house) Keep your pattern as one piece and just cut notches to indicate where to actually cut on the real gingerbread)

A few helpful hints:

1. hold your "pattern" over your rolled out gingerbread before you bake it to make sure gingerbread it is rolled out far enough.
2. when the gingerbread comes out hot-cut out around the outside and use a knife to cut windows and door. then cut the little notches on the sides and then use the edge and a pizza cutter to cut the straight inside lines (down the middle and in three sections)
3. The front and back fit on the inside of the sides when squaring up the house.
4. decorate the house before putting it together. That way the kids can enjoy decorating without waiting for it to be put together, and usually they're bored and ready to go play by the time it's time to put it together-which makes it a lot easier.
5. when putting the roof on, hold one side and add extra frosting under the eave and then hold it for a minute or so for it to set a bit before adding the second roof. Sometimes they have a tendency to start sliding off.

already tuesday?

This month is seriously flying by. Sorry about the lack of posts.  Some easy fleece hats we made yesterday with monograms. I used this Martha Stewart tutorial, which I must say was more confusing than helpful. But it gave measurements and that's mostly what I needed anyway. The little buddy helped me paint on the monograms (we just used acrylic paint)-the gifts are from him after all. If I'd had freezer paper like I thought I had it would have been more helpful. I planned to do freezer paper stencils, but when I pulled out the freezer paper I realized I'd bought parchment paper instead. Alas. I hot glue gunned them on-letting the glue dry for a few second before pressing it on. It didn't work great-some parts were all the way cool and didn't stick, other parts were too hot and I had to cut them off with my exacto knife. But, they're alright, and the little buddy loves his! I used grenouille font in caps at 400 pt in word-made them outlines and cut them out-which, again would have been perfect as a freezer paper stencil. 

Freebie Friday: Christmas Tags

I needed some Christmas tags this week. I wished I'd made these a little sooner- a sticky note cut in half hardly works well eh? Hopefully you can use them in some way: Get them here.

cut out as 2 by 4 inch square:

use a two inch hole punch:

use a 2 1/4 inch scallop punch:

cut out as a 2 1/2 inch square:

enjoy!

must be santa

This is what we did today. Last week I helped with a primary activity where they were doing these cute cute santa's. So I took home some of the extras and we finally got to them today. They are pretty easy and so darn cute. We used stiffened adhesive backed felt for the hat and put it all on a tile. I love children handprints!

holiday cards at shutterfly

Check out Shutterfly's Holiday Card promotion! How cool are 50 free cards? I think so too. Hurry, offer ends December 10th.

 I think these long skinny flat photo cards are my favorite this year. (Click on the image to go to the cards.) The Christmas tree is such a fun idea but still tastefully simple. The only drawback is it might make the images a little too small ,but that can also be a bonus because you can add a lot of pictures. I just don't know. I love the simplicity of the brown one. The focus is on the pictures. That's what I like, but it works best with the same photo shoot pictures (same color scheme). I suppose if you used sepia or black and white pictures it would look really good too. I think this bottom one is my favorite though. I love the black and white image, the design over the instead of around the picture is perfect. Simple and elegant. Plus I love the black and white photo. I think I'll have to use it for my Christmas card this year.

I am also loving these desk calendars. I love how clean they look and simple yet you can add a couple of pictures. The best part though is that they are more compact than usual . . . I may have to add them to my list of calendars to give out this year. I know a few certain desk job workers might enjoy some pictures of their favorite grand kids. . . eh? They would even be fun with nature/ interesting macro shots given as a gift to teachers or other service workers. The postman?

Last, but not least, aren't these necklaces so fun! Perfect for Grandma or a friend. I may have to round up pictures of all the grandkids. Maybe the keychain or bracelet would be better . . . all so fun.

yes. I will receive compensation for this!

Freebie Friday-Make Your Own Calendar

So I want to have the little buddy make hand made gifts for the grandparents. But I want it to be something useful, not something that will get tossed or forgotten, and something made by him, not me. Unless I come up with a better idea than this before we get around to it, this is what we will be doing . . . decorating a Calendar for the grandparents! Print your own here.

A few other fun ideas:

*Paste pictures on each page
for drawing prompts:
*draw a squiggly shape and have them make something out of it (that was always my favorite in elementary school)
*make a collage for each month using magazines, etc.
 *do pictures of the family members who have birthdays in that month
* To finish i: staple it, put in a folder in page protectors, cerlox bind it, or even frame them.

I think this will be a great way to introduce time and calendars to the little buddy in a more formal way!

I'm also pretty excited about the new poster I just put up in my shop-check it out!

my sad star

I don't have a real star topper on my tree. (or a tree skirt) Can you tell? But the tree is up! Check. (Don't you love the little sweetie on the couch-yep she's real :) Now on to the rest of the house. We usually put the tree up the day after Thanksgiving, but we weren't home to do it this year! So we did it a few days later than normal. This may be the last year I have an uncontested pretty tree. Once the little buddy starts bringing home cute little ornaments from preschool and the likes I'm sure I'll love them so much I'll have to put them up somewhere! That's okay. I'm still debating buying a little tree for his room. . . and for his ornaments. Is that snotty? I hope not. I really like my pretty tree. Now I just need to figure out a way to make my star ornament into a tree topper. . . . maybe a wire wrapped into a coil like this will work-