Advent Calendar

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I made this advent calendar last year, using saved Christmas cards that I’d cut up. The idea came from knit ones I saw strung across a window in a magazine photo. I missed the advent calendar from when I was a kid and wanted to have the same experience for my sons.

So I got some small paper craft bags and went through the cards after the season had ended. Saving the pieces and parts that I thought would be easily cut-out or stand on their own graphically. I created numbers for each day of December and glued them all together. Rubber cement is best as it has some flexibility when opening and closing the bag of goodies.

I then simply folded over the tops and used a clothes pin on a ribbon strung across our barn door (obviously a big window or wall works well, too).

I bought a few little wind up toys and trinkets for each day and also threw in other things like quarters (for the piggy bank) or animal crackers or stickers. Doesn’t have to be much, in fact I prefer it that way. I used the “5″ dates for the more significant contents. In other words the 5th, 10th, 15th, and 20th all have a better content.

I only have room for 12 days to hang at a time, but it allows me to plan a bit better. For instance, my oldest has preschool on Tuesdays and Thursdays, so I know he doesn’t need anything to occupy his time or play with those mornings, so I filled those with less fun things – money or a candy cane to eat after lunch, etc. Other days, when I know there’s nothing happening, I put in the toy that might hold his attention, or an ornament craft project, Play Doh mini-can, etc. Be creative – use it as a bribe to be good, whatever. It gives my kids something to get excited about every morning and it looks festive hanging in our great room! Enjoy!

Vintage Photo Ornament

So here’s the story… about ten years ago my parents’ house burned down. All the walls were to the ground and the few things left standing were the brick fireplace and I think one shower. Most everything was destroyed. But because of the compressed nature of the books and photo albums (little oxygen) they were able to salvage some of their memories. On my mom’s side of the family, many of the relatives sent photos that they had, or could make copies of. My dad’s family, however, have all passed away for the most part, and he was the keeper of all the photos (that are now burned around the edges or have melted plastic on them from the albums they were kept in).

My idea stemmed from wanting to somehow display these old photos or create a keepsake. The originals are all pretty small and made smaller by the burned areas. Trying to restore them would be too time consuming or expensive to have a professional do it. During a trip through the craft store, it came to me:  a collage of the photos made into an ornament.

This was really an easy project. I scanned all the photos and made a couple of prints on my color printer, then cut them all out. I also created a vintage looking circle (using a cropped area of a photo edge) with my Dad’s initial in it and a dotted circle surrounding. I purchased a pack of clear glass ornaments (they make them in plastic, too) and used Modge Podge as my glue and glaze. They do make an outdoor version if you wanted to do family photos and put your initial on there to hang on your outdoor wreath or something.

I just started glueing and layering the photos, using the glue liberally. It is quick to dry! Then I gave the ball a couple more coats for a nice finish (I used the Gloss finish, rather than Flat).

If you don’t have vintage photos and like the look, you can create it by using different filters on photo applications. I’m considering doing this to make ornaments as gifts for the grandparents, one of each of my sons. I hope you (and/or those you’re gifting) enjoy this easy project, too.

Iceberg Lettuce… sort of

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I went outside this morning to harvest the rest of our lettuces, carrots and beets. I brushed about 3 inches of snow off the cold-frame lid before opening it. They’ve been doing well in their covered boxes, but the next couple of nights are supposed to drop to the single digits. I doubt they’ll survive that! So we’ll be having a roasted beet, orange and mixed green salad with our Thanksgiving dinner.

I also cut-up and roasted one of the last Cinderella pumpkins this morning. It smelled so sweet when I cut it open and a ton of flesh (thick walls!). I smeared it all over with butter and put it in a 400 degree oven for 30 mins. Then reduced to 350 for another 30 mins. Then turned off the oven but let the pumpkin sit in there. I’m hoping to use the fresh puree for Turkey-Day pie, but I’m aware that the consistency may be a bit watery. My plan is to drain it or squeeze it in cheesecloth. We’ll see how it all turns out. Good news is it’s just family and close friends for dinner – so if it flops – it flops.

I’m going to sign-off and go set the re-circ pump to help the pipes not freeze over night. It’s rare that it gets into the single digits or below around here… especially this early in the season! Cheers!

Turkey Puppet

This little kids’ craft project is fairly simple. The “ol’ paper bag puppet” is all this really is. But it was still fun to make and my son had fun doing it… so isn’t that the point?!

How to make it: The obvious is the paper bag. I happen to have smaller sized craft bags and basket coffee filters leftover from other projects. If you used lunch-sized bags, you could use a paper plate for the main tail feathers.

I had my son color one coffee filter all brown with marker, then another with any colors he wanted. I used the brown one flat and cut the colored one in quarters (pie shaped). I cut a scrap of construction paper for a backing so the glue wouldn’t bleed through, and put it behind the filters. My son glued the heck out of the middle and stuck his colored filter quarters on the brown flat filter. Then I took apart an orange fabric flower and cut it into quarters and had him glue sections on as additional feathers.

There was so much glue in the middle of the “feathers” at this point, that the bag was just able to stick on. I cut out a beak and waddle and had him glue them on along with googly eyes. I bent pipe cleaners for feet and legs and adhered them and put a weight on it all until it was dry. That was it! My son decided to draw more feathers on the front of the turkey, and drew on his eyes before glueing the googly ones on. Obviously anything works… it’s a kids’ project! Enjoy and Happy Thanksgiving!

Early Snow Gingerbread House

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It snowed for the first time last week. It seems to snow around the first of November every year, here. We had just eeeked in some family photos among the leaves and fall colors the day before, too! Close one. Well, those fall leaves were quickly quilted with large flakes of snow, making the colors seem even more brilliant with the contrast of white against them. I loved it. As soon as the kids were up from their naps, we went for a walk. My son started immediately talking snowmen and winter and Santa Claus. And though I kept (and continue) telling him that we need to have Thanksgiving before Christmas – I couldn’t help but start to think of Christmastime, too.

This gingerbread house was one I did two years ago. I had dubbed it “Early Snow” for the same reasons above. The trees still full of brilliant leaves with a blanket of snow on them. I like to do a gingerbread house every year or so, a tradition I started for myself about 8 years ago. I invite friends over and we share our edible finds and expertise and go to it. Usually it takes the good part of a day… or even two if you get serious about it. Every year I do something different – usually inspired by where I am living at the time. One year, while living in Las Vegas, I did a California ranch house with a pool (including a bubble gum sun-bather). So I guess it’s no surprise since it snows early every year here – that I would do a gingerbread house with that in mind.

I don’t use pre-made templates or cutters. I will make a paper template so my walls match, etc. Rarely, however, are they a perfect fit. Royal icing – the “glue” is a godsend. I don’t cheat and use non-edible things for construction, either. I like to have fun with it. It becomes a challenge to think of foods that can become something on a house. Cereals are great for roofing and wall texture. This house has Golden Grahams for shakes. I’ve also used frosted shredded wheat for a thatched look.  I used Big Red gum sticks for bricks, mixed nuts for rocks and added an outdoor fireplace (our house has a mix of stone and brick as well as a fireplace outdoors – though that’s about where the similarities end).

I loved how the tire swing on the tree turned out. I cut a piece of black licorice in half length-wise and looped it to look like the tire. Then used some fruit-by-the-foot, cut in a thin strip, to wrap and hold it together and then hang from the tree limb. The leaves on the tree are popcorn held together with colored marshmallow (think rice crispy treats). In hind sight – too heavy to last. They started to droop and stretch apart. If I were to do it again, I’d take the candied popcorn ball approach. The planters are Rollo’s with mini gumdrops on them. I used pretzel sticks for wood trim, Adirondack chairs and even logs in the fireplace. Look for the snow shovel propped on the corner of the house… a piece of cereal attached to a piece of dried spaghetti, then detailed with icing. For the windows, I melted broken-up butterscotch candies in the window openings after the wall was almost cooked. Then “leaded” them with gray icing. The rest is fairly simple with gingerbread construction and royal icing.

I have no ideas yet for the kind of house I’ll make this year. I’ll have to go searching on the internet for inspiration. A part o me wants to try a section of downtown, Main Street… maybe too ambitious. We’ll see. Thanksgiving before Christmas… Thanksgiving before Christmas…