Hand made Christmas gifts

Christmas is over so I can share some of the things Justine and I worked on for gifts. They were not quite finished when I took the pictures.the stem buttons were added. We went shopping at goodwill for frames.  Took out the glass, covered the back with burlap, glued on the buttons. Merry Christmas to the grand parents.
 The strings on the cinnamon ornaments were added and the cords on the washer necklaces were added. Last was the sock monkey for her brother. We will start working on the 4H projects for 2015 after the first of the year. I am looking forward to more fun in the sewing room. Have a Happy New Year. j

Christmas 2014

We had a very nice Christmas with 3 of our four children and their families. Lots of food. Lots of left overs. Special requested salads and pies.
I made these candy jars for the kids.

 Cam's ninja cookie.

 Time for them to go home. We miss the Fl. kids. Maybe next year they will be here too.

 clipping the box tops and soup labels hahaha family time.

 New guitar.  Have a Happy New Year. 2015

Merry Christmas

To all, I wish good health and happiness. Merry Christmas. Remembering the reason for the season. The birth of our lord. Jesus Christ

Noel has new hands.

I received a paper mache head doll from an on line friend.After I posted I really wanted to own one. Hope wrote and asked me if I would like hers. Of course I said yes. I have named her Noel and she now has been repaired and is ready for her ward robe. I have had her for a couple of weeks but

had no time until tonight to make her hands and stitch her body darts. I had fabric that matched perfectly. I drew the new hands and fore arms.Stitched them. Glued the old hands together at the end,so the stuffing would stay in place, with fabric tac then pulled on the new hand/fore arm like gloves and stitched them just below the elbow. She has her tiny waist again. Love her. I am very pleased with how she turned out. Merry Christmas to me. and to YOU ALL. j

Favorite food

linking to http://733blog.com/2014/12/inspire-me-wednesday-51/
 Two of our favorite foods are this snack mix
Snacken good snack mix.
2 cups club mini crackers
2 cups crispiz cereal
2 cups mixed nuts or cashews
2 cups fish crackers
4 cups cheez it crackers 6 cups bugels 5 cups nacho bugels
3/4 cup popcorn oil and 2 packages of ranch dressing
I put all the dry ingredients in a large roaster, sprinkle on the dry ranch dressing, drizzle the oil over the mix ,stir and cover.Bake at 250 for 40 min. Stir every 10 min.

You can add 3 cups of pretzels in place of the club crackers.

and Chocolate no bake cookies.
2 cups sugar
 1/2 cup milk
1/2 cup cocoa
1/2 cup butter
Melt butter, add sugar and cocoa. Bring to a rolling boil.
Add 3 cups oatmeal, 1 1/2 cups coconut and 1/2 cup nuts if desired.
Stir well and drop by spoonful on waxed paper. A double batch made 63 cookies. Enjoy j
Linking to http://strangersandpilgrimsonearth.blogspot.com/2014/12/the-art-of-home-making-mondays-please_15.html

Primatives on the porch.

Link http://sewmanyways.blogspot.com/2014/12/sew-darn-crafty-linky-partydecember.html
 http://www.frommyfrontporchtoyours.com/2014/12/treasure-hunt-thursday-185-highlights.html
I like some primitives and have some on my front porch. This year I decided to decorate using things I have. Not a lot of lights (saving on the power bill). Usually I do the traditional decorating with the wreaths and roping. This year we are trying to save $ so no real roping. It went from .69 a foot to $1.00 a foot. Call me cheap but I need lots of feet so nope not paying that.The first 5 pictures are of,how the porch looked, other years.

 

 Here is the porch decorations for 2014. The south end of the porch has an old wooden file cabinet.I store garden things in it. The piece of slate on top was from an old school house.The wreath is one I picked up this year at the local church bazaar. $1.00. I thought the musical themed ribbon just went with the God shed his grace on thee. Now you will be singing that song all day long.

 

The nest is one a robin made on the down spout a couple of years ago.








The metal table and shelves hold a variety of things, Big pine cones on the top shelf ,a corn dryer hanging on the left.The rest is just stuff I like and added to the shelf. I can leave most of the things all winter.

 The roses are from our 50th anniversary.I am hoping they will freeze dry.

 The big colander, just has pine cones this year. The dried piece I brought back from a trip to AZ.

This nativity has been the decoration on the porch for many years. The reason for the season. I will add some lights around the wreath and the nativity. I need to get into the attic to get them.

Love the smell of ever green.

 This fern stand is to the left of the front door.

This is a small shrub I bought late in the fall. I bought 2. We will plant them in the spring but they work great for Christmas trees.

 The snowmen on the table to the right of the front door. The whole  porch(this year) is a hodge podge of things I like. The evergreen adds the Christmas smell and the touch of green. It all makes me smile. Merry Christmas. It will be here and gone very soon. j

Christmas Past.

Link http://sewmanyways.blogspot.com/2014/12/sew-darn-crafty-linky-partydecember.html
 http://www.frommyfrontporchtoyours.com/2014/12/treasure-hunt-thursday-185-highlights.html

 I thought I'd share some of our past Christmas trees. The first is the angel tree I did for the festival of trees. Angels we have heard on high. The rest of the pictures are trees I have that do not get undecorated they go into a closet all ready for the next year.I love the pencil tree with the hand made decorations. I have added other hand made things through the years.

The Santa tree like the pencil tree gets stored and enjoyed every year. The santas I have collected for a lot of years. Some I made.

Before the kitchen remodel I had room on top of the cupboards to put my small trees. Now they go here and there.

 

 

The santa tree also has hand made ornaments. A couple are made from old light bulbs another is made from a glove.

 The santa and mrs. santa were a gift many years ago from Lorraine. That paper garland was made by our daughter when she was in about the 3rd or 4th grade. She now has a 7th grader.

We don't do a real tree in the house any longer.Now we put one outside in the back patio for the birds.This one was from 2013.It was so beautiful.

 The doll room tree.

Santa and his elves ready to greet our family and friends.












Well that is a few of the many of our trees. See ya soon j