Sunday, December 22, 2013

The Prairie Schooler 2011 Santa Finish

I am finally in the home stretch with my ornaments.  I don't think I will ever do 7 of the same thing again.  I really had to push myself to get these done.  About #4 I was through with the whole thing, but somehow I think I will actually have all these done in time.  I will show you how I finished them into Christmas tree ornaments.

This is the finished cross stitch and a piece of black felt that I used for the back.
 I folded all the edges to the back.
 This picture shows the front with the side tucked in behind.
 Next I cut out the corners.  I just used the lines that were made when I folded the excess material.  I stayed close to the fold lines but not right on them.
 Then I folded down the corners and then folded them into a point.  The next 2 pictures will do a better job of explaining that then I did.

 I then used stick pins to hold it all in place and repeated with the other corners.  Some of my corners ended up not very close to the green line of stitching after folding, so I had to make another cut closer to the green stitches right in the corner to get a better fold.

 I lined up the black felt on the back and then stick pinned it in place.
 I used a piece of ribbon to make the holder and sewed it in-between the two layers.

 I then just stitched the whole way around.
 And here is the final product on my tree.
Next year I will not be doing all the same ornament or I will be starting in January and spreading them our over the whole year.  Happy Holiday every one!

Wednesday, December 11, 2013

Chocolate Stirring Spoons

I seen these stirring spoons here, and I loved the idea.  So my sister and I set to work.  We did milk chocolate and white chocolate coconut.  In the post it says she spooned the chocolate into the plastic spoons, but I thought that would be too messy so I used a ziploc bag and trimmed off one corner.  That was a semi bad idea, the chocolate is very runny when melted and it poured out of the bag like water but if I had thought of that before hand I would have been better prepared.

I forgot to take pictures of the milk chocolate but both bars were Lindt.  Also it really is important to prop the end of your spoon handle on something (gingerbread house tray in my case), it keeps the spoons level and the chocolate in the spoons instead of all over the table.  I melted the chocolate in a double boiler (nothing fancy just a pot of simmering water and a bowl that will sit on top of the pot but not in the water.  My sister claims she uses a metal bowl but you would probably burn your fingertips off if you forgot what you were doing so I would go with glass.  You will still need oven mitts but if you forget and touch it for a second you will still have the use of your fingers for the rest of the day).  Once you get the melted chocolate into the spoons you just decorate away.  In the dish on the far left below is mini Rolos.  If you use something chocolate like that you should wait a few minutes until you chocolate cools a bit before you put the in so they don't melt.  I put the spoons in the fridge to set up, I used a plate with a dish towel on it to keep the spoons level.
 Here is the final product.  I got small "Sucker" bags at the Bulk Barn and tied them on with ribbon.  They turned out so well.  I might do these again next year for gifts.
Here they are ready to go to their new home.  

Tuesday, December 10, 2013

Pampers toy box

With a 9-month old in the house, we go through diapers like nobody's business.  I hate to throw the boxes out because they are a great size, sturdy and why not recycle, so I came up with this idea then put my mother to work.
I asked my mother to sew a cover for the box and this is what she came up with.  All I asked her was to make it removable just in case I needed to wash it.  Thomas has claimed this as his toy box and I spend a good part of the day putting the blocks back in just so he can turn it over and dump them back out.  

I would like to figure out how to add a lid and use them to store DVD's and allow them to be stack-able.  I will let you know what I come up with.  

Monday, December 9, 2013

Christmas Tree Day!!

We got our Christmas tree on the 1st.  The earliest we have ever got our tree.  Brayden picked it out and we were on our way back home in 10 minutes.
Here is Brayden checking the water level. 
 
I have also decided to start a new tradition this year, Christmas book advent calendar.  I have seen these all over the internet and I love it.  Every day instead of starting the day with chocolate we start it with a new book.  This is definitely something I will be doing again next year.   
 Here is Brayden wearing his "Baby's first Christmas" sock.
 I am almost done of the ornaments I am giving for Christmas presents, about 2 1/4 left.  I hope I get them done in time.  I will try to remember to take pictures while I am finishing one.  Happy Holidays everyone!