Christmas Preparations...

Well, I haven't posted much lately...sorry!  I've been busy with some fun Christmas face painting gigs, and of course getting ready for Christmas and my winter babies' birthdays!  Here are a few things I've been up to...

I always make tons of Christmas cookies, a tradition passed on to me by my mom.  This year I tried a couple new recipes, but this one is a definite keeper: Cookies & Cream Fudge! 

Ooooh, just looking at this photo makes me want to get some out of the freezer and indulge myself...

The boys had fun making our "play dough cookies" again this year, and we also made some salt flour dough ornaments that I can't show yet because they are going to be Christmas gifts!  But maybe I'll make a post out of it for you all for next Christmas!

We are now in the midst of hosting out-of-town in-laws, and with Christmas eve tomorrow, then Christmas day, followed by Sammy's birthday on the 26th, I'm one busy Mommy!  This is really the first year I have actually FELT my age due to the holiday busy-ness.  I have been so physically exhausted and sore all over my whole body for the past week it's nuts!  But, hey, Christmas is awesome because Mommies make it awesome, am I right?!  I'm still having a blast!!

I'd love to post a bunch of fun Christmas project ideas, but, well, I'm exhausted.  I have, however, found a lot of fabulous ideas from younger, less exhausted moms on Pinterest lately and you can check them out on my "Stuff to Make with the Boys" board!

Have a very merry Christmas and happy new year, and stay tuned for my review of our big 4th Monster Truck birthday party!

Homemade Teacher Gift Ideas

I had a friend ask me yesterday if I had any ideas for teacher gifts that she could make.  I'm still a year away from having teachers to get gifts for, but I can see how the cost can quickly add up when your child potentially has multiple teachers and teacher aids! So, what a great, timely idea for a blog post!  (thanks, Kim!)

I pulled several ideas together from my Pinterest boards and some of my previous blog posts.  Here's what I came up with so far!  I'd love to hear if you try any of these and if they go over well!  These are great ideas for ANYBODY, by the way, not JUST teachers, if you're looking for some fun homemade gift ideas!

Bake cookies and wrap them up in empty Pringles cans!

Make hot chocolate dipping spoons! This would be great paired with a couple packets of Swiss Miss!

Felt apple coasters!  So cute!

 

 

 

Fabric wrapped hangers!  Everyone has clothes to hang, right?  This is a great way to recycle fabric scraps from other projects too.

And speaking of hangers, this is posted as a wedding dress hanger, but I was thinking it could also make a cute teacher gift, whether it's hung on a wall as a decoration or actually used.

Framed initial made from crayons!  I've always loved this idea.  You can often find shadow boxes in thrift stores too or you can use a regular frame and skip the glass.  Here's another idea to use pencils!

Cookie cutter fudge!  A treat to enjoy now and a cookie cutter to use later!

Try blinging out a clipboard!

Peppermint bark always makes for a pretty presentation!  Try doing a search on Allrecipes for bark.  You can try peppermint, or maybe a chocolate mint, etc...maybe try a few and do a little sampler of a few kinds in a tin!  I also LOVE this nutter butter bark recipe.

This would be a fun twist on those jars of cookie mixes...make your own spice mixes!  These would make great teacher gifts, of course with a label that looks cuter than a piece of tape ("Seasonings Greetings?"), and maybe some cute fabric covers over the lids.  Take a trip to Whole Foods to buy spices WAY WAY cheaper by bulk.

Cute felt pencil toppers!  I'd love to post a link to this to give the creator credit, but it was shared on Pinterest with a link to a blog that is only shared with invited readers.  (If this is yours, let me know and I'll be glad to credit you!)

Another broken Pinterest link here, so I can't share a tutorial unfortunately.  But these are coasters made from cheap 4" tiles from Home Depot.  Cut scrapbook paper into squares to fit, adhere with mod podge, and put felt on the bottom! Sweet!

Apple cake pops!  Cake pops can get real time consuming, from what I hear.  But if you're up to the challenge, these are totally adorable!

I wish I could knit, then I might try this cute knit apple!  But you could do this with crochet too.  Cute to use as a pin cushion, or just a cute decoration!

What kind of business woman would I be if I didn't promote my own products?!  ;-) I've sold quite a few of my Junk Mail Gems letter magnets to people looking for teacher gifts.  For $1 per letter you can spell the teacher's last name, or choose words like "teach" or "learn," etc. 

 

I also sent out a Facebook message to my fellow teacher friends.  Suggestions included things that they can really use as opposed to gifts of the knick-knack variety.  Also, you can't go wrong with gift cards!  But don't sweat the expense...they seem to me to be just as happy to have a hand written note, a picture made by the kids, or just a heartfelt verbal "thank you!"

Are you a teacher?  I'd LOVE it if you would comment on this post with your favorites and least favorite gifts to receive! (And feel free to shoot down any of the ideas I've found!) I know it would help out a lot of moms!

For more ideas for teachers and other family and friends, be sure to check out one of my posts from last year which has more fun ideas for homemade gifts!

Christmas Cookies to Make With The Kids: "Chocolate Blobs!"

Okay, so this one is probably better categorized as a candy than a cookie, but they look good on any cookie tray!  This is another one I remember making as a kid with my mom, and it doesn't require any baking.

All you need is a package of almond bark (chocolate and/or vanilla), and some toppings (m&m's, sprinkles, nuts, pretzels, etc).

Break up the almond bark into pieces and melt it in the microwave per package directions. 

 Here's Sammy helping to stir the chocolate.  Stirring and pouring in ingredients are the main things that he is able to "help" with at his age and he loves it!  Well, that and a chance to wear his cool blue dinosaur apron.  (scored at a garage sale of course)

 Now Mommy pours little blobs of chocolate on a wax-paper-lined cookie sheet  (hence my very scientific name: "chocolate blobs"), and then your kids can "decorate" the blobs with whatever toppings you desire!  Unfortunately my wonderful selection of Christmas sprinkles is packed away somewhere unknown from our move that didn't happen, so we didn't have much for sprinkles.  But, they turned out just fine with the fluorescent green ones I did have on hand!
 

 Ours went something like, "one m&m for Sammy, one for the cookies, 2 m&m's for Sammy..."

You can do this with white chocolate or vanilla bark as well.  Then maybe you could pretend they are snow blobs. 

Once they are decorated, just let them cool and harden on the counter...they don't take long.  If you really want them done FAST, just slip them in the frig for a few minutes, and then peel off of the wax paper and enjoy!

Christmas Cookies to Make With The Kids: "Play Dough Cookies"

 My mom is a SERIOUS baker when Christmas rolls around.  I'm talking over a dozen different varieties of cookies...baked in double and triple batches, starting in the fall and filling the freezer.  Mom's Christmas cookies have been the source of many great holiday memories for myself and my siblings, so naturally, I was excited to share the traditions to my own kids.

Even if your kids are very little, you can involve them in various ways.  Sammy is almost 3 and he just LOVES to stand on a chair next to me and help pour ingredients into the bowl, help stir, and of course, do some quality control taste testing. With each year he is able to get a little bit more involved in the process.

I wanted to share this recipe that I remember making as a kid with my mom, brother and sister.  I always called them "play dough cookies" because for a kid, it's just like making stuff with play dough, then baking it and eating it! It's actually the same recipe we use to make candy cane cookies...we just make more different colors of dough...

Ingredients:
1/2 C Butter, soft
1/2 C Shortening
1 C Conf. Sugar
1 Egg
1-1/2 tsp Almond Extract
1 tsp Vanilla extract
2-1/2 C Flour
1 tsp Salt
1/2 C Sugar
Food coloring

Directions:
Heat oven to 375 degrees.  Mix butter, shortening, conf. sugar, egg, and flavorings.  Blend in flour, sugar and salt.  Divide dough and color as desired. 

I like to do about half green, then a little less red, a little bit of yellow and blue, and leave a little ball of white.  You can mix the colors later to get other colors too like orange, brown, etc.  Mine are wrapped in plastic wrap because I mixed them up while the kids were napping and stuck them in the frig, so I could pull them out to make before bedtime.

 Make your creations on a cookie sheet.  Give your kids some tools to "sculpt" with...We always have at least a fork and butter knife.  I found that a mini whisk worked great for making a pine-branch-y pattern on the wreaths and Christmas trees!  And heck, why not get out some of your kids' Play Doh accessories...just wash them well before and after.  Sprinkles are fun too for extra decoration!

 Here's Sammy with his full tray of cookies!  I made him one green triangle to decorate as a tree and a couple wreath shapes that he added colors to.  The rest were his own "blob" creations.  About 1/4" or so is fine for the thickness.

 Now carefully carry your pan over to the oven! (Mommy of course puts it in since it's hot!)

Bake 8 minutes until set but not brown. Watch through the window with extreme anticipation!!

 And they're done!  Of course, I made some more of my own (see first photo above).  But, I'm more excited to put Sammy's creations out on my cookie platter and get people's reactions to HIS works of edible art!!

Gifts: Does "Homemade" Equal "Cheap?"

How can you avoid the insanity of black Friday?  Make stuff!! I love to give homemade gifts.  I've been feverishly creating for the past month or so, and I'd love to show you what I'm giving this year!  But, many of my recipients are also followers so I can't spoil the surprise...you'll all have to wait until AFTER Christmas!

I don't give homemade gifts because I am too cheap to go buy something, although I always have this feeling in the back of my mind that that's what people are thinking when they receive a homemade gift.  Maybe it's my own insecurity about giving something I've made...wondering if the recipient is just being nice by saying they like it. After all, they can't add "something Gretchen made" to their Amazon wish list.  So, I always find myself accompanying my hand made gifts with something store bought as well, which leaves me feeling like I've just undermined the value of my own gift and added to the home-made stigma.  It's all a little ironic when I think about it, because I know people around the world are paying for the things that I make on my website and in retail stores to give as gifts to others!

While making gifts may very well be a way to save some money, I have found that many times it really costs me the same, if not more, than what I would have spent on a store bought gift.  Especially if it is something that I haven't made in the past, that might require some materials and/or equipment that I didn't already own from a previous project.  One year I tried making soaps...they turned out okay but I found it wasn't really my thing and now all the supplies sit unused. (Which brings up another good point...thrift stores are a great place to find craft supplies from people who have given up on it!)

I guess in my mind, a homemade gift says so much...it says that I thought about you not just in the instant that I grabbed something on a store shelf so I could cross you off my shopping list, but for the hours, days, and sometimes weeks it took me to create your one-of-a-kind gift.

These days, time is money.  Especially to me, a work-from-home mom, who could easily fill up all of my "me time" doing my freelance design work, for which I get paid by the minute.  Or a weekend doing a face painting gig...where I get $75 for one hour of work.  When you think of it in terms of how much money I could have made in the same amount of time spent working on a gift, suddenly the "value" really shoots up!  I mean, you can crochet an hour every night for a couple months to make an afghan!  Not to mention EASILY spend $30+ on the yarn alone.  I know certain color schemes go out of style, but I'm always so sad to see beautiful handmade afghans hanging in the thrift stores by the dozens for a couple bucks.  But I digress..

I'm not trying to bash store bought gifts.  It's really fun when you can find just the perfect thing that you know someone really wants or can really use, and like I said, I usually add something store bought with my homemade items. But, it does make me think, why couldn't I scrap the store bought item?  Or at least not complete some homemade gift and then rack my brain over what store bought item to "add to it" to make it a "better gift" that measures up to the dollar amount everyone else spent?  It would be really fun one year to just agree with the family to only give homemade gifts. You wouldn't even have to be artistic...think of the fun seeing everyone's creative sides come out!  Maybe you write a poem, or make up a song, bake something delicious, or make IOU's for an activity to do together!

I've always enjoyed giving photo gifts from sites like Shutterfly and Snapfish, and have even had a couple custom designed puzzles made for my grandparents.  These seem to be a nice blend of homemade and store bought...they carry the store bought price tag and perceived value but also the personal, one-of-a-kind touch of being homemade.  When I make something, I always like to add a little home-made tag to go on it as well.  It gives it that fancy gift feel like something from a store, and gives you a place to call out the fact that this was hand made by you and maybe even describe the process you go through to make it.

I guess my point is this: If you're a recipient of a homemade gift, don't assume the giver is just being cheap...take their investment of time as a great compliment.  And if you're giving homemade gifts, take pride in the fact that you are giving a gift that nobody else on the planet is getting from anyone else!  After all, years down the road, chances are these are the things that will really last and you'll want to hang on to for generations!

Creativity in Overdrive!

I have learned over time that when I find myself in a very stressful time in life, I tend to bury myself in my work and various creative endeavors.  It has become obvious that trying to get our house sold with two little kids, two dogs, and a traveling husband has unleashed the obsessive creative monster in me.  So, I have decided to channel this energy into something positive...making Christmas gifts!

 I just finished making this serving tray out of an old Scrabble game for my Scrabble-loving Grandma.  I think it turned out pretty cool. My favorite parts are the handles, replaced with pieces of the little trays you set the letters on.  You can check out the whole project step-by-step on my Junk Mail Gems blog, here!

I've also tried making some soldered glass pendants that I hope to attach to some sort of charm bracelet down the road...

...have been turning old records into bowls...

...and have recently taken up needle felting.  I've always wanted to try it, and when my husband gave me the opportunity to leave the house kid-free and go wherever I wanted, I went to a local yarn store.

I picked up some colorful wool roving (loose wool fibers...before they've been spun into yarn), and some felting needles.  (needles with little barbs on them)
 

I've been wanting to make some felt beads, which I did do (above), but once I got into it I realized how fun it is to make pretty much anything you can imagine. Just do a Google Image Search on "needle felted" to see what I mean!

....like this jack-o-lantern pin above, or this little robin below (the first thing I made!)...

There is just something so therapeutic about repeatedly stabbing the fibers into submission with a barbed needle until they become the shape you want! It's also the type of project that requires all of your focus to avoid turning your hands into a finger-ka-bob with those Medieval torture devices they call "felting needles."  So, it's a great way to take your mind and eyes off of everything else. I am already trying to figure out which yarn store to hit up next for some more colors.  I will try to post more about how to do this in the future if anyone is interested!

Of course I can only work on this stuff when the kids are sleeping or playing, my freelance work is caught up, and I'm not preparing the house for another showing, which leaves not a lot of time.  But, I have really enjoyed making stuff over these past couple weeks and hope to emerge on the other side of fall with a sold house and a pile of great Christmas gifts to give! In the meantime, if you don't hear from me much, I'm probably off brutally stabbing my aggressions out on a ball of wool until it turns into another cuddly wittle birdie...

ID Mommy's Favorite Toy List for 2010

A couple years ago I posted my list of favorite toys on my Junk Mail Gems blog, and now that I look back on it, I realize my 2 year old has most of the items on the list!  I have a few more new finds this year to share. With one child's birthday the day after Christmas and the other's in January, I tend to start my shopping very early to spread out the expense!  It's not often that I buy expensive toys for my boys, because we do so much garage saleing and thrifting throughout the year. But, when Christmas and birthdays come around, that's where I prefer to splurge and buy good, quality toys that I know are going to be around for years to come.

Here are a few toys on my list so far for this year! I'm using a lot of Amazon linked images here so hopefully they work...if not I've tried to include links to the original manufacturer's websites as well.

The constraints of gravity go out the window for your little architect with these little blocks from Tegu which have magnets hidden inside.

HaPe International has some really neat vehicles, made out of bamboo.  I just love how the shape of the bamboo is still present, yet they look like really cool, modern designs.  I already bought a couple of these for my youngest and am stashing them away for a few months until his birthday!

 

HaPe also has some really cool doll houses with adorable furniture sets:



Their other brand, WoodyClick, has more really cute construction sets and other wooden vehicles:

I'm such a sucker for wooden toys!! I snatch them up whenever I see them at garage sales.

I've mentioned Sprig toys in my previous list.  They have a really cute dolphin adventure playset now with a little boat.



These "Scanimation" books by Rufus Butler Seder are very cool.  We have the "Gallop" one and there are many more out there now.  The animals move when you turn the pages.  Here is a YouTube video, since it really can't be described without a visual.


If plush toys are your thing, these Ze Super Zeros toys are super adorable, quirky, and creative!




MiYim also makes some really sweet little organic soft toys, teethers, and blankies perfect for babies on your shopping list.



Puzzles are a hit in our house.  I like the idea behind these layered puzzles, where you actually stack the pieces on top of each other.  Learn what's inside your body, how a tadpole grows to be a frog, or even how a baby grows in it's mother's tummy!


Mindware is one of my favorite toy sites/catalogs to browse. There are a ton of cool toys there that will be more appropriate for my boys when they are a little older.  But, these puzzles caught my eye too, as being another twist on your average puzzle, in that they can be assembled in multiple ways, leaving some room for your child's own creativity.  There is a bug and a robot, which is convenient for me, being that we have a kid with a bug themed bedroom and a kid with a space/robot bedroom!

Can you tell I have a thing for wood toys? I think it may be the industrial designer in me who just can't get enough of toys that embrace raw materials.  I just find them refreshing in today's sea of roto-molded plastic toys that seem to get bigger and of of less quality as time passes! That's it so far for my list, but I'm sure I'll come across more fun toys between now and Christmas that I'll be sure to share.   In the meantime, let me know if you have any of these, if you like them, or if you have any other cool favorites!