Felt Pizza Promise

Last Christmas *ahem* I promised Alexa I'd make her a felt pizza. Well, I did make her a bunch of other felt food but didn't get her pizza done in time for Christmas. So I told her I'd work on it after the new year and get it to her as soon as possible.
It took a little longer than I thought it would. But it's FINISHED!

Finally!
So sorry Alexa! Thanks for your patience. She really is happy with it. And has been playing with it a lot.

I'm only about 10 months past when I was supposed to have it done for her. At least I got it done before this Christmas. Which, by the way, is only 65 days, 2 hours and 16 minutes away. Eek! I gotta get crackin' on this year's Christmas gifts!

TTFN

~Tina

Christmas Season Photo Album

As this Christmas season comes to an end, I thought I would share some photo highlights with you.....

All dressed up for Christmas Eve Mass

After Mass, we always drive around for a little while looking at Christmas lights. It's so fun! We try to find Christmas music on the radio to complement the light displays we see. We've come to know where some of the most festive houses are around here, but we are always on the hunt for new ones.

At home, we have our traditional Christmas Eve dinner of breaded shrimp, crescent rolls, fries, and corn. We are usually rushed for time (either due to hungry children or having to get to Mass, depending on how things go that day), so it's good to have these convenient yet traditional favorites. And of course we have Oplatek.

We have started the tradition, a few years ago, of exchanging gifts that the children have for us and each other on Christmas Eve, after Mass. In the flurry of excitement on Christmas morning, it's easy for the children to forget to say "thank you" to a sibling for a well thought out or handmade gift. I find that if we take our time on Christmas Eve, for the children to open gifts from each other, they show their appreciation more. They've really come to look forward to this time. They enjoy watching as their sibling opens a gift that they worked so hard on. And I give them each one handmade gift from John and I, too.

How adorable is this duck that Taylor made for Evan?!!
And this snowman that she made for Skylar?! Sky loves him! He's soooo soft!
Evan seemed to enjoy his homemade dressup box from mommy and daddy......

and his family photo album from Alexa. He loves looking at the photos of people who love him.
Alexa was OVERJOYED with her felt food! I still need to make her the pizza and breakfast tray. She was especially happy with the Teatime tray.I found this cute large photo storage box for her to keep her felt goodies in. It slides under her bed (away from the exploring and sometimes destroying hands of Evan). All of the girls enjoyed some time under the cozy fleece blanket that I made for Skylar.Taylor received this adorable card/book from Alexa. She used Alice in Wonderland stickers, crayons, and her imagination to describe why she loves her sister. It really touched Taylor's heart. Alexa made another book for Sky, filled with Skylar's favorite things...
Skylar chose this Tinkerbell "magic cloth" for Alexa.....
and a Little Einstein's coloring book for Evan....
And these delightful earrings for Taylor.....

I can't seem to find photos of it, but Taylor made a messenger type, dark pink, patterned bag for Alexa to carry all of her goodies in! It even has clever pockets on the front that suit the kinds of toys Alexa likes to have with her. (You can see the pink strap of the bag over Alexa's shoulder).

I painted and designed for Taylor, a small wooden box with The Cheshire Cat on the top. She seemed to like it. Unfortunately, I can't seem to find photos of it, either.

Some scenes from around our home on Christmas Eve....

Our Family Altar Above the fireplace.

I'll have to stop here, for now. I'll continue sharing our Christmas photo highlights with you as soon as I can. Hope you enjoy your weekend!

TTFN

~Tina

Crunch Time

My "countdown to Christmas" just got altered. I was already feeling like Christmas is coming way too fast, and now this. I have to have major dental work done Wednesday that will probably put me out of commission for at least 2 or 3 days, maybe more. And it will be soooo close to Christmas. So for me, I now need to be ready for Christmas by Tuesday night. Oy.

And it's not just that I need to hurry to shop, wrap, decorate, bake etc. It's that I really want my children to enjoy Advent a lot before this dental work makes me feel like doing nothing but resting. We've already done some festive and fun things this Advent, ( I hope to share pictures, soon) but I'm trying to squeeze in some more. So, here's what's coming up for our gang.

Saturday....Taylor has play practice, then we have Skylar's 10th BD party in the afternoon(yay!). Depending on how we feel, we might go out shopping (yuck, I'm not a fan of shopping this time of year and it will be soooo crowded)

Sunday.....Mass in the morning, then some shopping while Skylar goes to her friend's BD party. Taylor has a BD party to go to in the evening. And this is Skylar's actual BD, so we will spend the evening with pizza and a movie, maybe.

Monday.....Taylor's last Creative Writing class before Christmas and Alexa's final speech class. We also have a Christmas Craft day with our local homeschool group. Then I hope to take the girls to the local Model Train Show, after dinner. I'm thinking we can check out the trains, then walk around Old Town. Then hopefully pop into some casual place to get hot chocolate. As a last resort, we'll go to Denny's or IHOP and get some there.

Tuesday.....wrapping gifts, maybe a teatime, laundry, making cookies and fudge, any of the above. Oh, and Taylor has practice.

Wednesday....The big day...blah. I will be knocked out for 3 hours so my dentist can do all my repairs at the same time.

Thursday....Recovery day.

Friday.....Gingerbread party with our co-op. Boy I hope I am up to this. I don't expect to be talking much, but I just want to get there so the kids can enjoy it, then I can come home and sleep (if I need to) while Evan naps.

In every free moment, I need to finish internet shopping and in store shopping, wrap gifts and finish the gifts I am creating. I'm still working on Alexa's felt food, but haven't even started Evan's dressup set, Alexa's dressup set, Skylar's cozy blanket, Alexa's cozy blanket, Evan's family photo book and Taylor's Alice in wonderland gift. I know this sounds like a lot, but most of it will be pretty simple to make. I also need to make fudge for the neighbors. Ok, so maybe it is a lot. *sigh*

I'm continuing to read Christmas stories to the girls, while I can. I've ordered some books on tape for them to listen to when I'm "out of it". I hope to have some movies ready, too.

How is your Christmas prep coming? Are you ready?

TTFN

~Tina

~~HANDMADE CHRISTMAS~~ More felt play food

I finished up the felt play food set that I was making for my niece. Today I boxed it up to get it ready to mail (I'm only about 3 weeks late *sarcasm*). Sorry about that, Mike and Nicki.

Anyhoo, as I was boxing it up, Alexa said, "Wait, I need to say goodbye!" I started cracking up. "Goodbye to what?", I said through my laughter. She said, "the felt food." So I guess that's a good sign.

As I was creating it, I would show the girls, to get their opinions, but I never let them play with it, since it was a gift for Kyra. So here's the last few items....

A box of chinese noodles, an eggroll and a fortune cookies. These are kind of lame. I'll have to work on improving them. I just bought the take-out box at the craft store to make it more fun.

Then I made this Teatime Tray. This is one of Alexa's favorites. I bought a wooden tray from the craft store, left it unfinished and lined it with sparkly white felt that I cut down to size. Then I put a gold doily in the center. I attached some small artificial flowers at two of the corners for a feminine touch. On the tray are 5 "cookies with icing and sprinkles on them", all different shapes. And then in the little bag are felt "teabags". I tried to make them the right size for a child's sized teacup. So simple, but Alexa was really excited about this.

And last but not least is this apron. I just bought a premade "blank" , child sized apron and decorated it with fabric pens. (Alexa might like one of these, too).

So, now that I've completed my niece's felt food collection, I really need to start on Alexa's. Shhhh. I am so pleased to be able to create something that my daughter is now requesting for Christmas. That's a first for me.

Have a wonderful weekend. I'll be back as soon as I can, to keep you updated on our Homemade Christmas. Hope you are having a blessed Advent!

TTFN

~Tina

~~*HANDMADE CHRISTMAS*~~ Felt Play Food

I recently posted about how I hope to make as many gifts as possible this Christmas. I should have started months ago. Well, actually I did, but then stopped........for a long, long time. I started back up again in early November, but still have so much to do.

I began earlier this month, with a new project, something I've never attempted before......felt food. The first batch is actually for my niece's birthday. I was supposed to go to her BD party in PA a few weeks ago, but things didn't work out like we planned. So I knew I'd have to mail her gift. Then more ideas kept popping into my head. So she still hasn't received her BD gift (so sorry, Kyra). But that's because I came up with a few things to add that I really think she'll like.

Oh, and after seeing all of these things I'm creating for her cousin, Alexa has now requested them for Christmas, too. She doesn't know that some of what she's seeing will be hers. Shhh.

This first one is for Kyra. I'll make one for Alexa, too. I love the fact that you can put the toppings on the pizza, and take them off again. I'll think they'll enjoy pretending that way.

The cheese and sauce are sewn on, but the rest of the toppings are removable. So fun!

There are onions, green peppers, and pepperoni. Mmmmm. Yummy. I wrapped it in cellophane on a cardboard circle (kind of like you'd get a frozen pizza from a box).

I also made Kyra a breakfast tray. I bought an unfinished tray at the craft store, put a doily on it, and filled it with....

bacon,

an egg,

and pancakes with syrup with butter,

And it's all wrapped up and ready for Kyra.

Then I made this cheeseburger, fries and cookies "bag lunch" for Alexa.

Taylor made the "Mrs. Felt's" cookie bag for me to put the chocolate chip cookies in. And the cheeseburger can be put together like the pizza.....lots of parts to the sandwich make it more fun to play with, I think.
I am working on chinese take-out food for Kyra and Alexa and a teatime tray for Kyra. I'll try to post pics of those, once they are completed.



Creating felt food is so addictive! I don't use a machine. Everything is sewn by hand, so I can sit and watch a movie after the kids are in bed, as I sew. I also don't us patterns (I'm such a rebel). I just see something I think the children would enjoy playing with, and attempt it. Most of the time it works out, but sometimes it doesn't. Well, what you think? Mind you, these are first attempts, so be nice to me.

How are your Christmas crafts coming?
Thanks for stopping by and have a wonderful weekend!
TTFN
~Tina

Creating an Old Fashioned, Handmade Christmas

I've been wanting to do this for years. Simplify my life by clearing out clutter and really taking an honest look at what I need versus what I want. So many things in this house could go. But it seems to take so much time, to weed it out. There's always that fear that I'll get rid of something I need. But really, how much could I "need" it if I forgot I even have it?

Our garage needs cleaned out desperately. Not so much the unfinished part, but we have a storage part to our garage that is so full, I couldn't tell you half of what's in there. John and I have been discussing how to clear it out. At the moment, all of the stuff out there is pretty much useless and pointless because we couldn't find it if we wanted to.

So, what does this have to do with an old fashioned, handmade Christmas? Before I can begin to prepare for Advent and for the Birth of Christ, I've got to clear out the stuff that is weighing me down. I have to have a realistic goal, this close to Christmas, so we are just sticking with the garage. That's where all of our Christmas decorations and craft supplies are now, and where we store Christmas gifts as we create and purchase them.

Lots to do. We'll begin with a trip to the thrift store to donate a massive amount of "stuff" that I've already boxed up. Good stuff, too. Not junk. And I have clothes to give to my niece and nephew, that my children have outgrown. And anything "princessy" must go to Kyra, my Cinderella-lovin' niece.

Once that's all gone, the real work begins, I have such a hard time letting go of things. Sometimes it's an attachment that deals with offending a gift-giving relative and sometimes, I just plain think I'll want or need it. I know it drives John crazy, but at least it's mostly confined to the garage. (And he has quite a few computers and other electronic things to get out of there, too).

I would really like only the most special decorations kept for Advent and Christmas. I can't stand the house being full of Christmas "stuff". I'm not a scrooge, by any means. I just want to surround us with only the things that mean the most. So I think I'll have to try to bring in the Christmas decoration boxes at night, to go through alone. I'm afraid otherwise, we'll get rid of nothing, because my children want to hold onto everything that has anything to do with this holiday season.

For the "handmade" part of our old fashioned Christmas, I plan on creating as many gifts as possible. Here's a general list of gifts I'm creating.....

• felt play food (I'll put pics of this up sometime this week.)
• rolled beeswax candles
• a girls dressup set
• a little boys dressup box
• some crayon pouches that I saw over at Erin's blog
• some of these adorable bibs
• stationary and notecards
• fleece blankets
• homebaked goodies: fudge, chocolate dipped everything and cookies
• jewelry
• aprons
• some other stuffed toys

There are many things on this list, as you can see. I'll post pictures to show my progress. But keep in mind, I realize I won't get to everything. I'm gonna try like crazy, though.

First things first. The garage.... *shudder*

Maybe I'll just go work on some felt cupcakes for now. I mean really, it's too late at night to go out to the cold, dark, lonely pit of "stuff".

If you are interested in creating some handmade goodies yourself, check out this jackpot of ideas over at sew mama sew. And for more fun, join their Handcrafter's Holiday: a blog meme. I can't wait to read what others are doing and creating for Christmas.

Hope you are warm and cozy on this chilly night.

TTFN

~Tina

Creating a Handmade Christmas (in July)

I had decided that I wanted to do a "handmade" Christmas this year. In order for that to happen, I must start VERY early. So today's the day. I'm starting simple....so as to not overwhelm myself. (That might sound funny, but it's true.)

I got this set for $2.50 on clearance at a craft store some time ago. I've been wanting to try pressing and drying flowers to make into gifts. It comes with lots of little "cutsie craft things", too, that I'm sure my younger daughters will enjoy, but I wanted it for the flower press. One of the bushes in front of our house is blooming with these flowers:

I didn't plant the bushes, and I haven't been able to identify them, yet, so I'm afraid I don't know what they are. But they are pretty and definitely worth pressing. So I got out the press and put it together. Then I laid the flowers on it.

Then it was back out to the yard to find something else to press. And with all the wonderful, delicate and dainty wildflowers I've been seeing along the highways, would you believe clover was the only other thing I could find in my yard that was small enough to fit in this press?

So I layered cardboard, then paper, then flower or leaf, then paper, then cardboard, and so on. It was pretty simple. Then you put the top on and screw it down.

And that's it. Then you wait. These are small, delicate flowers, so I imagine a week will be plenty of time.

I'm anxious to see how these turn out. I plan to use them in making some gifts for Christmas. I'll follow this up with another post on another day, once the flowers come out of the press, to show some of the different gifts you can make with pressed flowers.

TTFN

~Tina