A Homemade Christmas: No-Sew Blankets

My youngest daughter wasn't overly enthusiastic about the homemade Christmas idea. She doesn't consider herself crafty or artistic. She is a manager of a women's clothing establishment, works long hard hours during the holiday season, and would rather just buy her gifts. And I don't blame her!! But, since we agreed to do homemade gifts this year, she joined in the fun.

Here is one of the simple no-sew blankets she put together for her four nieces:

Boy, were they a hit!! The girls absolutely loved them!

The two layers are held together with these simple knots. They measured approximately 60" by 54".

Last year, the youth group at our church got together and made these blankets for the each of the children at group home in Haiti. It was something everyone could participate in doing and the children were so happy to have their own blanket!!

Christmas Cookies

Our family had our Christmas last night, eight days early. This is an "off year", meaning that my kids go to their in-laws for Christmas. They were with us on Thanksgiving.

Anyway, I made these decorated sugar cookies for our party. My daughter-in-law, Jennifer, helped decorate them.

The colors were much brighter than they look in these pictures. Either I don't know how to take pictures, or there is something wrong with my camera. I'm leaning towards the first option!!

If you would like to try some of these, you can get the recipes here and here.

A very Merry Christmas to all of you!!

A Homemade Christmas: More Aprons

I have four granddaughters, two of whom love to help there mother in the kitchen. So I decided to make them their own aprons. Now they won't have to hitch their mom's aprons up to fit!! They are ages four and six.

I made their aprons out of fabric I already had, floral prints I picked up at Wal Mart this past spring.

I made each apron adjustable. The ties go around the neck, through the sides of the apron, then tie in the back. They can tighten or loosen them as needed.

Not the best picture, but you get the idea!

A Homemade Christmas: Aprons

If you have read my blog, then you know that my son and his new wife are going to be livingon the island of Santo, Vanuatu for the next two years. They leave on the 31st. It's going to be pretty rough over there. What I mean is, it's very likely that they will have to hand wash their clothes!! For two years - can you imagine that!?! That's what I would call roughing it.

Anyway, since we're doing the homemade Christmas thing this year, I was trying to come up with something useful to make for my daughter-in-law. The corn bags won't work, since they won't have a microwave. Then I started thinking about their laundry. Then it came to me - a good set of aprons would save her clothes and hopefully save her a lot of washing!

So I made her aprons for Christmas. I made them out of home decor fabric, since I wanted something fairly heavy and hardy. And I also wanted something pretty.

Each apron has a large pocket on the front, which doesn't show up very well in these pictures.

I found the fabric on sale at Joann's, so I have about $7.00 in each of these aprons.

A Homemade Christmas: Corn Heating Pads

Last year after the Christmas, our family decided to do a "homemade Christmas" this year. Of course, most of us put it off until the last minute, even though we've had a whole year to plan and create! So, I have spent the last week working like a crazy woman on my Christmas gifts. So have my kids. We're all hopeless procrastinators!!

Here is one of my projects:

Corn Heating Pads

My mother made a couple of these for our family several years back. We absolutely loved them!! They are a good source of moist heat for those annoying aches and pains. They are also great during the winter for cold feet or just to cozy up to. You just pop them into the microwave for several minutes, and you have hours of warmth.

The corn heating pads my mom made for us didn't have an outer cover - just the corn bag itself. So you can imagine what they looked like after several years of use. And then, they left home with my kids so I didn't even have one anymore. That's right, my kids stole them!!

So I decided to make everybody their own corn heating pads this year. I've made a dozen of them for Christmas gifts and plan to make about a dozen more after Christmas to give to friends and extended family. The pad or bag that holds the corn is made of muslin. The cover is made of flannel. I made the back of the cover so that it is easy to slip the corn pad out and then the cover can be washed.

The approximate dimensions are 11" x 17". After Christmas, I'm going to make a neck pad as well as pocket warmers.

The cost of the corn was about $6.50 and I paid around $2.00 per yard for the fabric, so these turned out to be a very inexpensive gift.

Tuxedo Cake

Check out this Tuxedo Groom's Cake! I make this for a wedding Thanksgiving weekend. Not a great time to make a cake, but I wasn't going shopping anyway. I don't have finished pics of it. They were adding flowers or ribbon or something to the top.

This is a Devil's Food cake, with a chocolate pudding filling, and chocolate syrup added to both layers. Standard buttercream with almond flavoring. The tuxedos and bow ties are made of craft foam since my customers didn't want to use fondant. The buttons are black buttercream.

Black and White Wedding Cake

I did this wedding cake for a couple in our church this past weekend. This one just about finished me off!! It sure looks pretty though.

The cake the bride showed me, the one I used as a model, was covered with fondant. But since cost was an issue, we went with buttercream. When you're using fondant on fondant, it sticks better, especially when the add-ons are heavier, like roses. So to make sure they didn't fall off, I left the roses on the toothpicks that I formed them on, and just stuck them into the cake. It worked well.

I made the roses and leaves three or four days ahead of when I needed them, so they could harden. I also added Gum Tex to the fondant to make it more workable and so it would dry quicker.

I purchased velvet ribbon instead of using fondant. Fondant ribbon looses it's shape so easily, and I didn't need the added stress! And, once again I cheated with craft foam - I made the swags out if when I started having issues with the fondant.

The design, with the smaller tier being underneath larger tier, created havoc with my normal support system, so I had to improvise to overcome that as well.

The figurine on top in the first picture was provided by the bride. It was too tall and heavy and actually make the cake top-heavy, so I didn't put it on until the bride and groom were taking pictures and cutting the cake. I was afraid it would fall. I would have chosen a smaller topper, possibly even spray painting it black - wouldn't that have looked cool?

Anyway, congrats, Rachel and Brad!

Pumpkin Cake

Here's a Pumpkin Cake I whipped up this weekend for an auction at our Christian school. It's a Marble Cake covered with a Fudge Frosting and then iced with buttercream frosting. The stem is fondant.

I baked the cake in a bundt pan, then curved the edges to help create the pumpkin shape.

A Candy Cake

I made this cake for my second granddaughter's birthday. She went through all of my books, looked over all the pictures, and finally decided on this one!

The tiers are 6" and 10", covered with fondant. The swags and pieces of "candy" are made of fondant as are the letters. The gumdrops are candy instead of fondant. I ran out of time! I purchased the lollipops at a candy shop.

The book showed the lollipops made out of fondant as well, but Nicole didn't know that and I think that's why she picked this cake. Couldn't dissappoint her, could I?

I added the multi-colored ribbons on top around the candy sticks because it seemed a bit bare.

HOPE, A Candle For A Cure

Mia Bella's Gourmet Candles announces 'HOPE', A Candle For A Cure!

Help Us Find A Cure For Breast Cancer.

Profits will be donated to the Susan G. Komen Foundation For Breast Cancer Awareness.

For every 'HOPE' candle purchase online, Scent-sations, Inc. will contribute $6.00 to the Susan G. Komen Foundation.

Scent-sations, Inc. also has announced that they will donate the $4.00 handling fee that they normally charge distributors for each candle sold online. So that means a total of $10.00 will be donated! Wow!!

And as a Mia Bella Gourmet Candle distributor, I personally will donate another $4.00 to the Mid-MO Affiliate of the Susan G. Komen Foundation For Breast Cancer Awareness for every candle sold online.

If you would like to help out with this great cause, click here