Christmas Candy 2009

It's that time of year already.....time for my 29th annual candy-making-marathon (last years post is here)

Ready.....begin

Peanut Butter Bonbons

Black & White Coconut Bonbons

White Apricot Fudge

English Toffee

Sweet & Spicy Pecans

Peppermint Chip Meringues

Butter Toffee Pretzel Nuggets

Butterscotch Tumbleweeds

15 plates of Christmas goodies ready to deliver to Friends, Family, Neighbors, and Co-workers

Merry Christmas everyone!

Grasshopper

Grasshoppers.......AAACK!!!



I've mentioned my intense fear of them here before.



SOOO...... look at the new ornament I just got from Daughter's family!

Isn't he great?

(and he only scares me a little bit.....)

Nativity

Leave it to a 4 and 6 yr old to point out things you hadn't noticed....

As we were decorating the house for the Holidays last week with our combined decorations (Daughter-in-Law's and mine) the two little ones are at that age where every single thing, down to the last minute detail is just so interesting. They want to hear every story behind every ornament, especially if they belonged to their Dad "when he was little"....."who made this one?"... "is that made out of a real nut?"...."why is this reindeer made out of pretzels?" Since about 3/4 of my stuff is handmade, either by someone in the family or from a craft fair, I have a lot to tell about most of these things.

As we were arranging everything, Grandson said" Mimi, you sure have a lot of Nativities!"

Do I? I hadn't realized.....so we took a little inventory and and sure enough, without even realizing it, I have a nice little collection:

I've never had a traditional set, but my Mother gave me this the first Christmas I was married, 35 years ago

Mary and Joseph lost their halos to small toddler fingers years ago, but this tiny wooden set is still my favorite. It's so small, I can't believe it wasn't lost long ago!

And this was my very "first married Christmas" ornament

Bought at a craft fair, I love this wooden Nativity Family

(9" tall)

I made this family myself many years ago from felt, fabric, and embroidery thread.

I always intended to make the rest of the set, but, well, you know how that goes.....

(5"tall)

And this is my all time favorite, sculpted by My Sister out of clay. Each Christmas she would give me the next piece to add to the set. (I think there was an angel, too, until my wiener dog got hold of it one year....)

(2" tall)

The same Sister quilted this 12x12 wall hanging that I carefully iron and hang every year.

Somewhere around here I have a complete set, including animals and a stable, in felt soft sculpture that I can't seem to find this year. I'm pretty sure it was so popular last year that I left it out after the holidays and it got absorbed into the everyday toys.

And of course we have the wonderful Fisher Price Little People Nativity that plays "Away in a Manager". Who doesn't love this set?

Last year Fisher Price came out with a matching ornament which I had to have, of course...too cute!

Here's a Nativity-themed post I wrote last year

Now that I realize I have a collection, I'm going to see what I can find to add to it. I think I even have time to MAYBE make something handmade for this season. ...

I wonder if I could convince My Sister to make me a new angel after all these years...

Project Runway, Junior Edition

I took each Grandchild school shopping again this year, one on one, except for #3 & #4 who like to go together. Because they like to have matching outfits I call them the "twin cousins". This year the girls couldn't find any matching outfits that they could agree on so they decided to design their own! They were thinking skirts and tops so we headed for the fabric department. They both instantly agreed on sparkly pink stars and butterflies and pink tank tops to match! Then it was up to seamstress MiMi to follow their instructions EXACTLY:

Skirts with sparkly stars on top and bottom and butterflies in the middle

They each chose a butterfly to be appliqued on their tank top

VOILA!! Twin Cousins once again....

and now that #4 is starting Kindergarten, they will be at the same school and are hoping to run into each other during the day, especially if they are both wearing their new Twin Cousin outfits!!

While we were looking at fabric, #3 spotted some fabric she absolutely had to have (I think she inherited that Fabri-holic gene that her Mother and I have!) so she designed herself another outfit.....

Stripes on the top and bottom and peace signs in the middle

Appliqued peace signs on a black t-shirt

She was VERY pleased with how it turned out

Look out Project Runway! It looks like we may have a budding designer in our family......

For all those manly men.....

Father's Day is almost here. Is the man in your life one of those guys that are really hard to buy a gift for ? Well, let me help you out this year.........I think your Dad/ Husband/ Brother/ Son needs an apron! All men like to BBQ don't they? It brings out that manly, macho thing when they have meat and flames and BBQ tools to take care of.....And if your man just happens to like being in the kitchen, then even better! I'm pretty sure I have something for everyone here:

Does your guy ride a Harley...or wish he did?

Does he have a hobby? fishing or golf?

Does he consider himself a wine connoisseur?

Is he a soldier, currently or in the past?

a baseball fan?

How about Nascar? Dale Earnhardt?

I've got sushi

and even just good old fiery flames.

Trust me, your man needs an apron!

They're all in the ETSY SHOP....

feeling crafty........

For Mother's Day tomorrow, we're having a family Wiffle Ball Tournament at the nearby Dog Park and then coming back to our house for BBQ hamburgers and all the fixings. There will be at least six MOM's here and I wanted to make a little something for them:

I dug through my photo archives and with a little help from Daughter and her scrapbooking and photo expertise, I turned these notebooks from the 99cent store

into these special journals for each person.

I found just the right photos for my Mother, Sister, Daughter, Daughter-in-Law and her Mother.







I'm really pleased with how these turned out! Just a few little notebooks, photos, pretty paper, and spray adhesive! I'm already thinking of future possiblities for these simple little gifts (co-workers, grandkids teachers?).....Crafty... simple and crafty, don't you think?

And speaking of crafts, I've created my own version of a craft/sewing apron. I know there are many, many versions already out there, but all the ones I've seen are half-aprons that tie around the waist, and that is not comfortable OR flattering on me! I like full aprons, so I made a shorter version of my usual pattern and added several specific pockets. I designed it just the way I'd like it and then made a few more for the ETSY shop.

There's a small pocket up high for my Ipod:

And 3 different sized pockets across the bottom: one sized for a cell phone, one I use for my tape measure and thread snips, and another for whatever else you might like to have close at hand.

So, if you been wishing for a craft apron that doesn't tie around the waist, I'll be posting these in my ETSY shop in the next few days (and I could make YOU one out of any type of fabric you choose...)

a blog post for my peeps.....

Now that we're deep into the middle of "Peeps" season, I've noticed that are two types of people: Those who LOVE the nasty little things and those who think they're gross! There doesn't seem to be anyone on the fence. Even though I've never been a fan, not even as a child (don't take it personally Peeps, it's all things marshmallow), I really find all the current cultural hoopla very funny:

*The grandkids have a Peeps colorbook

*I saw Peeps jewelry in the store yesterday

*Lenox has a line of Peeps china.....CHINA!

*This guy has a website of his art, all made with Peeps

*Look at this book of Peeps recipes and crafts

*This is a website of nothing but links to other websites about Peeps

*There seems to be a "cult" dedicated to microwaving Peeps to see what happens! (go to Youtube and search the word Peeps and watch some of the videos that come up)

Well....this year, for the first time EVER, I bought a package of bunny Peeps. I wasn't going to eat them (EEEWWWW!!), I needed one, just one, to trace for an applique project.

Then I threw them in the trash! No way was I going to feed that sugary-marshmallowy-crack stuff to the Grandkids while I was in the house with them!

This is what I made with the help of one of those crusty little guys: Easter aprons for the ETSY shop

HEY! I have a question for all you Peeps lovers out there....do they make good S'mores? I've always wondered about that! Not that I would eat one or anything....

.....and speaking of S'mores, now that I've said I hate marshmallows I have to admit that I discovered one way I did actually enjoy one: try this version of S'mores....it really was good!

Chocolate graham crackers
Chocolate marshmallows
White chocolate bar (or peanut butter cup!)

.....I can't believe I actually spent money ( .88 cents!) on PEEPS! I guess this just goes to show how far I'm willing to go for my sewing/apron addiction....