Month: November 2010

Will I sound like an ego maniac if I say I LOVE Christmas music, especially all the songs that include my name? This year, I’ve been very excited to listen to all my Christmas albums on my iPhone, and have been having fun creating new Christmas stations on Pandora. We had those cranked up yesterday when Parker and I pulled out all our Christmas decorations, including the fabric “paper chain” advent calendar I made last year.
This project is so quick, you could easily whip one up before Wednesday. Inside each link is a slip of paper with an activity to do each day leading up to Christmas.
Click on the picture above to go to my original post, which had a list of the activities I included, and links to the instructions in written form and an audio slideshow. (NOTE: The link to the article was no longer working, but it has now been updated)

For more holiday inspiration:

Here’s a Thanksgiving bunting project I made last year. I must confess, I have no idea where this bunting ended up, and we are not going to be home for Thanksgiving, so the chances of it actually getting displayed this year are slim! But this is a great project for any time of year. I tried to streamline the sewing process by starting with whole circles then cutting them in half. Click below for the how-to article and audio slideshow.

Thanksgiving bunting AP article

Thanksgiving bunting AP slideshow

The winner of my magazine giveaway is Ann! Congratulations! I will email you to get your address, but probably won’t have a chance to get the magazine in the mail until Monday because we’re going away for the weekend.

Thanks for all the teacher gift suggestions everyone!

In other news, I made these little guys this week (from the book “Fa la la la Felt”) and can’t decide if they are creepy or cute? What do you think?

My husband thinks their mouths look like fangs.

I sewed up a storm Monday but I’m starting to feel my energy wane as the week goes on… and it doesn’t help that I’m getting a cold. But here’s what I have to show for Monday’s effort: 24 neck gaiters/neck cozies. Those of you who read my “hidden” holiday blog will know that I made one of these last month and bought enough fleece (at 60 percent off!) to make about 40 more. The plan is to give them to a few of my son’s friends for Christmas, and donate the rest to a local charity. They are SO easy to make, and they really come in handy for the cold winters we have here. No long scarf to get tangled in!

I used the tutorial found here at the Gator Project (I’m going to stick with my spelling of gaiter though, after looking it up in the dictionary!), modified a bit because my fleece was only 58 inches wide, and to make a reversible version. So instead of cutting 1 20X20 piece, I cut two 19X9″ pieces and sewed them together, so I was starting with roughly a 19X17.5 piece. (I went with 9″ for the height because 1) it was for a kid and I didn’t think it needed to be tall enough to cover his whole face and 2) I could then get more out of a yard of fleece). I found 19 inches (which ends up being the circumference was big enough for my son, but it might be a bit small for an adult. If I tug on this, I can fit it over my head and it is not tight on my neck, though.

So, if you were making them out of one piece rather than reversible, you could get SIX gaiters out of one yard of fleece. I calcuated that if I actually make all 41, I will have spent 62 cents per gaiter. Not bad!

For my son’s friends, I’m going to pair each gaiter with a winter-themed book:

Hopefully the recipients will be happier than my little model:

(I know this wasn’t posted originally on Monday, but I’m linking to the “Made by You Monday” at Skip to my Lou. Lots of holiday gift inspiration!

Does anyone actually use napkin rings? I have to admit, I don’t, though I came up with these three versions for a Thanksgiving craft story I wrote for AP.  The first version, with the bell,  is a bit fancier than the others, though it is probably the easiest to make. The second version is a felted wool ball sewn onto a strip of felted wool sweater. The third version is my favorite. Can you guess what the acorn is made of?  ……………. CRAYONS! I had seen a tutorial online for making beeswax acorns by creating a mold out of Play-Doh and then filling it with melted beeswax, so I decided to try it with crayons, and it worked!

You can see more pictures and get instructions for all three projects by clicking below:

Associated Press Acorn Napkin Rings

Also, don’t forget to enter my giveway for a copy of “Holiday with Matthew Mead.”

I have this week off from work and am determined to finish making most of the Christmas gifts I have planned. I’m already off to a great start, thanks to the weekly challenge at Works in Progress, but I really want to get a lot done this week so I can spend more time just enjoying December. To kick of the week and help get myself in the holiday giving spirit, I’m giving away a copy of “Holiday with Matthew Mead,” a 144-page “book-a-zine” full of beautiful holiday decorating ideas and recipes.

If you read “Country Living” or “Better Homes and Gardens,” then you’ve seen Matthew’s work before. We were surprised to learn a few years ago that he lives just a few towns over from us here in New Hampshire. Last year, my husband hired him to prepare, style and photograph all the recipes for his new cookbook and we were thrilled with the results.

You can get one of my husband’s new recipes in the holiday magazine:

along with page after page of holiday inspiration (there’s only two pages of ads). Many of the features focus on one color, which I found really appealing. I think my own holiday decorating can get kind of cluttered. Trying a more monochromatic in various spots look might be the way to go. I was especially drawn to these cute little snowmen:

The magazine is only available through the Holiday With Matthew Mead website, or you might win a copy by leaving a comment below! In the spirit of the holidays, there are no hoops to jump through, any old comment will do! But if you’re feeling generous, I’m working on a craft article for AP about turning kids’ artwork into Christmas gifts, so if you have ideas, please share! Oh! And I am in desperate need of ideas for a handmade gift for my son’s (male) first grade teacher. “Teacher gift” ideas tend to be pretty feminine. This guy is an avid hiker and rides a motorcycle.

I’ll pick a winner Thursday morning.

I snapped this picture last Monday after spotting these absolutely gorgeous red maple trees (in a dentist office parking lot of all places), and thought it was perfectly patriotic for Election Day.

I’m finally feeling almost back to normal after a very long Election Day … I got home from work at 3:45 in the morning Wednesday (after a long night spent analyzing and writing articles about the exit polls AP conducted for the election) and got up at 7 a.m. to get my son to school and get back to work. I was so tired I accidentally sent Parker to school with an empty lunch box (We have two of the same lunch boxes. The packed lunchbox was right next to the empty one I had left in my car the day before). Oops! Luckily he was quite happy with the emergency lunch his teacher threw together for him.

This morning, I spotted an ad in the paper for this very intriguing estate sale:

“Over 3,000 salt & pepper shakers, 7,000+ skeins of yarn, 300+bell collection, 100+ collectible spoons, 100+ postcards, thimbles, furniture, all kinds of craft material and other household belongings.”

SEVEN THOUSAND skeins of yarn? I don’t knit or crochet, but I kind of wish I did. Can you imagine what this woman (named Erma!) was like?

Here’s a sneak peak at my Christmas project for this week. As always, leave a comment or send me an email if you want the address of my “hidden” holiday blog.