Christmas Totes and Bags

It's no surprise that many of my gifts will be given in tote bags this year. I posted last week the tutorials I used - Irene's Classic Tote and Moda Boutique Shopper .  Sew, Mama, Sew is hosting a Fiskars giveaway and bag sew-off, so here is a picture of the totes I made.  The kids gave their teachers the Boutique Shoppers before I took a picture, but I can say they were fabulous! 

This week I finished up some pencil bags and Boxy Zippered Pouches.  I adore the boxy pouches and will definitely make more in the future!  I made the black ones slightly bigger than the tutorial; my fabric pieces were 12" x 8" and I cut off 1 1/2" for the gussets. I also recommend interfacing if using lightweight fabrics.  Feel free to browse my 'Projects to Try' sidebar for more easy gift ideas and feel free to leave me more project suggestions and links in the comments. I love a good tutorial!

We'll be leaving for our Christmas vacation tonight and won't be back until Christmas Eve.  Wishing you all a Merry Christmas and blessed New Year! 

Quick & Easy Gift Recipes

Looking for a last-minute or easy gift for your friends, neighbor or co-workers? Try these recipes for Easy Cracker Toffee or Dipped Pretzels. Our family made these last Sunday afternoon and they are tasty!  Hope you enjoy them as much as we do. Merry Christmas!

Easy Cracker Toffee
1 sleeve Saltine (Soda) crackers
2 sticks (1 c.) butter
2  c. brown sugar
2 c. chocolate chips (milk, semi-sweet or dark to your taste)
(Optional: crushed nuts)

Melt butter and brown sugar in a medium saucepan to boiling; boil for 4 minutes stirring continuously.  Line jelly roll pan or cookie sheet (with edges) with foil and spray with no-stick cooking spray.  Cover pan with soda crackers.  Pour butter & brown sugar syrup over crackers, spreading evenly. Bake at 375 degrees for 5 minutes. Remove from oven and sprinkle with chocolate chips. Return pan to oven for 2-3 minutes, then remove and spread chocolate evenly over crackers.  Sprinkle with nuts (optional).  Refrigerate, then break or cut apart. Keep cool until serving.

Dipped Pretzels
1 bag Rolled Gold pretzels (or your favorite brand)
1 package almond bark
1 package dark chocolate chips

Melt almond bark in double boiler (or microwave), stirring often.  Dip half or all of pretzel in almond bark, then lay on wax paper to cool.  After pretzels are cooled, melt chocolate chips.  Dip a spoon in the melted dark chocolate and drizzle over pretzels. Let cool, then refrigerate to set the chocolate. Keep cool until serving.

We wrapped these food gifts in ziplock bags, then put them in old tins that we decoupaged with wrapping paper.  Cute, cheap, and crafty gifts!  I've also made quick napkins out of 2 yards of Christmas homespun fabric ($1.50/yd at Walmart).  Cut into 18" sqauares, then serge or make rolled hem edges. You could wrap a fabric napkin around the bag of treats and tie with a bow for another reusable, handmade package.  We were all about handmade gifts this year and hope you'll give handmade, too!

Approaching Burnout

I'm officially tired. It's time to get away for vacation!  The last 2 days have been at my sewing machine with short breaks to feed the crew and keep the house livable.  The list is almost completed, but I've come to the conclusion that the kids quilts are not going to be ready in time for Christmas giving.  Sad, but I just don't have time.  I'm giving the sewing a break tonight and will try to get the presents wrapped.  We're leaving in less than 2 days and nothing's wrapped! 

The kids "Celebrations Around The World" concert was tonight.  It was quite politically correct with Drew singing a Jewish Dreidel song and a Chinese New Year song.  Abby sang a Danish prayer. They sang a few secular Christmas songs, too. Drew's favorite part was their flag dance to the Chinese music. It was all really strange, but the kids were all dressed up in their Christmas best and enjoyed themselves. To fight back, I'm telling everyone I talk to " Merry Christmas."  Let's not forget that Christ is the reason for this season!  Wishing you all a very Merry Christmas!!!

Edit:  I forgot to add that between bathtime and getting the PJs on, Mallory pooped on the floor in Drew's room...Dragged it all across the floor!  The rest of the family hid away gagging, and Mama was left to clean it up. The joys of motherhood!  Just when you think you're down, it gets worse.  Thankfully, once the smell cleared and the kids were in bed, Andy helped me wrap presents until midnight and they're done!

Christmas in the Sticks

We got a big kick out of the Truckers' Light Parade on Saturday night. You know you live in the sticks when the log trucks, tow trucks & pick-up trucks get decorated with hundreds (thousands?) of lights and shut down the highway  for a parade :) We met some friends from church at THE grocery store parking lot to watch the parade. It had warmed up a little - 20's- and stayed dry for the parade. It was really fun and neat to see the trucks lit up. We saw lots of Santas and a few nativity scenes on the trucks. We are loving life in a small town!

 

Other highlights of the weekend were getting to know Drew's buddy, Luke. Luke spent most of Saturday with us, then his family came over for dinner Sat. night after the parade. They are a great family and we hope to get to know them better.   Sunday I got my craft on and made 5 more totes and all of our Christmas goodies. I finished the teacher's gifts of Boutique Shopper Bags and they are darling! I plan to make a few more for myself :)

The kids and Andy decorated Christmas tins while I cooked up some toffee and dipped pretzels & mint Oreos.  Yum!  The kids added wrapping paper designs and customized the tins with the families last names while Andy Mod-podged them on. Pretty cute and very handmade!  We'll be delivering them to Andy's coaching friends at their awards dinner tonight.  Andy also made gift bags for all (52) of his students. Pretty cool that he has so few students that he can give them each a gift. He has a few troubled ones that I'm going to make rolls for as a special gift later this week. I wish I could add a few extra hours in my days this time of year!  I still have gifts to finish before we leave town on Thursday. Wish me luck!

Birthday Fun, Part 2

Wow! 6 and 7 year-old have a lot of energy! We had a house full of kiddos last night - 10 all together.  We ate pizza, apples & Cheetos then played Disney Scene It. If you are not familiar with this game, it is a DVD trivia game based on Disney movies. It's a game that the kids are better at than we are :) The game got a little rowdy, so we moved onto cake and ice cream before sending them back home. Abby had a wonderful time with her closest friends here and we the parents survived!

Birthday Fun, Part I

Abby had a great birthday. I can hardly believe my 2nd-born is 7!  The kiddos are now 8, 7, 2...so hard to believe. 

She liked her guitar cake so well that she wanted to save it for her friend party tomorrow night :) I had to do a little surgery after Lucy (the dog) took a bite out of the guitar!

 

Kind of hard to see, but they all have frosting mustaches :)

Tutus Galore!

If you are still looking for a gift for the girl in your life, why not make a tutu? They are quick, easy, cheap and adorable...what more can you ask for?!!  I have made 5 now for gift-giving and have a few helpful hints. Here is a good tutorial with the how-to. Bobbie also just posted a tutorial with the same method - easy! I buy my tulle by the yard (like Bobbi demonstrates) because it's cheaper - .99 cents/yd at fabric.com. I've also found the 6" x 25 yd spools on ebay for around $1 plus shipping if you don't want the hassle of cutting your own 6" strips. If making a girl's tutu, I use 3 yards or 2 spools for each tutu. I've found if you roll the 6" strip or fold it in quarters before tying it to the elastic you will have nice little pointy, curly separations in your tutu (see the blue tutu). I you just scrunch them up as you tie them on it turns out more wild-looking (see red/green/gold). However it turns out, you're girlie is sure to adore them!

 

 

 

Another easy accessory to add is a matching hair clippie. I bought some snap-clips and set aside 2 pieces of tulle for each barrette. Tie them onto the inside corner of the barrette and make a big bow. Trim the tails of your bow and you now have a matching set of clippies in no time!

Are You Feeling It?

Anyone else feeling the crunch to get everything done before Christmas? I started planning back in the Spring, but projects are still lined up waiting to be finished in time for gift giving. Abby's 7th birthday is tomorrow, Dec. 9th, so I've also been preparing for her special day. Today, I made sandwich cookies for her class party tomorrow and baked the cake for tomorrow night's special dinner. Thursday night she's having a pizza and cupcake party with some friends from school. Tomorrow I need to finish making her cake into a Taylor Swift guitar (good luck to me!) and make the cupcakes for Thursday night. Between baking today I was able to finish 3 tutus; only one to go! I need to get back to my kitchen cleanup....Hope you're doing better at finishing those Christmas gifts than I am!

And The Winner Is....

The winner of my first ever Sew, Mama, Sew giveaway is.....

# 56 - Bethany from The Joyful Life!  Thanks for participating in my giveaway. She shared a great tutorial for making Simple Rag Dolls found here.  These would make great gifts for the little girl in your life! I have this one bookmarked in my 'Projects To Try' column. Feel free to browse this list for more great ideas for toys & clothing for your kiddos.

It was such fun to visit hundreds of blogs for the free giveaways and to find new blogger friends and ideas. I felt a little guilty for spending so much time on the computer, but it was worth it.  Hope my visitors will come back often!

It's Beginning To Look A Lot Like Christmas!

The weather has been cold and frosty this weekend with a bit of snow on Friday night. It was definitely time to head to the woods and cut our Christmas tree! Saturday afternoon we bundled up and drove up to the forest and found some beautiful trees. We finally all decided on a nice tall, full pine tree. Mallory started to pout because she wanted the thinner spruce, but Andy made her happy by cutting her a small tree just for her! We plan to leave that one outside on the front deck since the house is too small for two trees :) I decked the halls with some Christmas decorations and the kids helped trim the tree. I must admit, it's the best fresh-cut tree we've ever had!

On the way back into town, we stopped by the property. What a change! The excavators have been working and the home and shop sites are leveled. The pit for the house is dug and ready for concrete work to begin this week. Our manufactured home is being built and we're hoping it will be delivered before Dec. 23. Amazing how fast it is all coming together! Please keep us in your prayers through this process. We still need to have the bank appraisal done before we can finalize the loan. We're doing all this work on faith that it will appraise high enough for the loan we need = scary for me! We've been told it shouldn't be a problem, but until I see it in writing it makes me anxious. We're aiming for a late January move-in. Hooray!