Christmas Eve Morning

Quiet morning... 

peaceful moment.... 

ahhhh so relaxed,

got it all done.... 

I think...
no wait, do I have to run to town for one more thing.... no, we can do without.

Another sip of coffee... 

Steve and I feel so peaceful... 

getting ready for Christmas this year felt like giving birth. 

Another sip of coffee. 

It is overcast out. 

The fire is crackling in the stove, we are still snug in bed. 

The children are all still sleeping peacefully... perhaps this moment will stretch out until noon.

Sigh.... Christmas Eve Morning, still quiet, still peaceful. 

Time to reflect...
I haven't had a nice, sweet moment of reflection yet this Christmas.
It shouldn't be that way, but too often it is;
this year, especially,  it has seemed like those delightful feelings of the "Christmas Spirit" are so far away.
Must be the condition of the world.
  But I feel it right now (the Christmas Spirit)
So does Steve.
Am remembering Christmas's of times gone by.
Sweet, happy memories.
Thank you Lord, that you are still here, right here.
Thank you Lord for giving us the most wonderful gift of all.... your precious Son, and our ability to fellowship with You.
All this is trivial in comparison to what awaits us with You.
You are so sweet,  Oh Precious Lord.
Thank you for your "Light".  I have seen it everywhere;  shining in the darkness.  It is beautiful.
I long to make it shine from me.

 ¹² When Jesus spoke again to the people, he said, “I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.”

John 8:12

December's Projects

My grand illusions of all the lovely things I would make and do and post about  during the Christmas Season and all of its  happenings, were diminished by the reality of December chaos, and my lack of ability to begin all these "wonderful" Christmas projects a little earlier.... let's say maybe September.  But it seems that no matter how often I plan to be well organized and ahead of schedule, I cannot seem to begin "Christmas" until 3 weeks before, at which time my enthusiasm gets carried away, and I am "in" way too deep to blog or delightfully sip tea while I write my Christmas cards (which I did finally do by the way, and got most of them  out 2 days ago, the rest will be "New Years" cards).   I am thinking to myself that I can look at my project making in a different light by not feeling badly that it is now the morning of Christmas Eve, and I am just now posting my projects, without any instructions (contrary to what I had first committed myself to do),  and instead decided that I can look at it this way: I am an entire year early, and how wonderfully organized I am for 2011 Christmas. Ha Ha.  Here is a brief picture summary of my December projects.  I really did enjoy making them, even if I did try to push them into too tight of a time frame.

Salt Dough Ornaments

(Recipe at bottom of Post)

 Painted to look like German Pottery

 Dipped in Paraffin

 Christmas Stockings for Grandkids

 Blankets for Adults...

 

and Babies.

Jammies for all the Grandkids.... hope they all fit.... (didn't get a "sane" moment to take pictures of those... was over the top by that time, but loved making them... (plan to start that project again, in June next year :)

Salt Dough Recipe

3 cups flour

1 cup salt

approximately  3/4 -1 cup water

Mix dry ingredients together, then add water a little at a time until a soft dough is formed (not too wet, not too crumbly.

You may add cocoa, cinnamon or food coloring if you would like to work some color into the dough prior to making ornaments, or you may paint them after they are baked.

Roll out and cut with cookie cutters, or form into desired shapes. Place on floured cookie sheet, and bake at about 270 degrees until completely hard. (1 to 3 hours depending on the thickness of dough). Once cool and dry, paint with watercolor or acylic paints.  Allow to dry again and then dip in melted paraffin, or pray with clear acrylic spray, or paint with shellac to seal.

Note:  I have looked up quite a few recipes for salt dough, this is the one I have used the most, but they  all vary by cup of flour, some adding more many adding less; the point is, this does not have to be a stringent measurement, it all works well.  The cinnamon or cocoa are nice if you want to cut out little gingerbread men that look like gingerbread.

Have fun.

Painted Glass Christmas Bulbs

These  Christmas Bulbs I am getting ready to post came to my attention over a year ago while at Hobby Lobby. I found a little Leisure Arts book called "Ornamental Magic 2" by Martha Kenton.  (Evidently "Ornamental Magic 1" is still out there for me to find, and I look forward to devouring that one day).  I  bought it and brought it home.  When my son Nathan and daughter in Law Himilce came to visit, I roped Himilce into making them with me.  We both had a ball; and after making those, I made a gross of them, and sold them at craft fairs, and gave them away for Christmas gifts.

Supply List :
Clear glass Christmas Bulbs (both the frosted and clear work well)
Acrylic Craft Paints (I used all metalic colors)
Rubbing Alcohol
Paint Brushes or Paint Sponge Brushes
Old Tooth Brush
Eye dropper
Clear Acrylic Spray
Fabric trim and Beaded trims (The fabric department of Hobby Lobby or Joanne's, has wonderful trims of every sort... I also bought up all cheap little grab bag scraps, because each bulb takes only a little).
fuzzy yarns
beads and bead making supplies (including Jewelry wire, pliers knitting needles for wrapping wire into corkscrews and ornamental designs)

Other Supplies for optional paint designs:
Cheese Clothe
Natural Sea Sponges
Rubber bands
String
Wire Mesh
Mesh Bath Pouf
Hair Comb
Plastic Wrap

To begin, you will want something set up to hang your wet painted bulbs on so they can dry.  When Himilce and I first made these, we used old hangers and opened them up and hung them up everywhere. It was a big mess, but it worked, and we had fun, although a few were broken here and there because it wasn't the sturdiest contraption, and we had to run around putting newspaper underneath them so they wouldn't drip onto the surface they were hanging over.  After I decided to make a lot of them, Steve let me use his Shop Shelf Unit that was made of metal rungs, and I could hang dozens of them up at a time.  I placed newspaper on each shelf so that they would not drip on each other.

Next, I put newspaper down on my work surface and began painting. Generally speaking, I did most of the bulbs the way I am describing in the following steps, but you can let your imagination kick in, and believe me once you begin you will have all kinds of ideas come to you.
Step One
Paint entire bulb a base color so that it is completely covered



Step Two
While bulb is still wet, spray or drip, with an eye dropper, a second color that has been watered down so that it runs quite easily.  You will want to spray or drip these paints at the very top of the bulb and let them run down.  If paint does not run down the bulb readily, spritz it with water and it will begin to run. Consider adding a little more water to the paint you are spritzing with to make it run easier.  You may add a third color at this time if desired.



Step two, other options
Allow first coat to dry, and using various texturing techniques, apply a second and or third color.  You may use a sponge, or a mesh or wrap bulb with string or rubber bands, and apply another coat over the rubber bands or string.  You may use the comb or plastic wrap to apply various textures with second color.  You may drip alcohol over the wet paint or spritz the alcohol over it for a wonderful technique, or you may splatter paint with a toothbrush.  You may also squirt paint in variety of colors on the inside of the bulb, and I did a few like that.  They turned out pretty, but the paint often ran together and almost mixed  as one color.  Also you have to be sure to put them upside down in an egg carton to make sure they have all they extra paint out of them so they can dry.

Step Three
 Hang bulbs up and allow paint to dry several hours to overnight.

Step Four
Spray clear acrylic spray over bulb to seal paint and allow to dry a couple of hours so that they can be handled.

Step Five
Using a hot glue gun, glue embelishments of trim, yarns, beads etc, around top and (if desired) around the bottom of bulb.

Preserving Autumn Leaves

As the final leaves of Autumn make their way to the ground, I realize that this peaceful season has almost passed.  Winter and Christmas are right around the corner.   Marie had longed for  me to come and visit her in Ohio before the last of the leaves fell from the trees, and happily I was able to make it before that happened.  The leaves there are so huge and beautiful, and it is sad to see them disappear completely.  We decided to preserve them so that they might last.

While I was there we had fun doing a couple of projects involving paraffin.  I would have loved posting this project before Thanksgiving so you all might have been able to make some before Thanksgiving, but ran out of time.  There is still a tiny amount of November ahead of us, so I decided to go ahead and post this easy project anyway.  Marie was sweet enough to send me pictures, since I had not taken any on my camera.

A wonderful way to preserve Autumn leaves, is to dip them in paraffin.  The steps are as follows.  Find a

large coffee can or a double boiler, and place it in or over a pan of  water.  Place the paraffin blocks in the can or  double boiler.  Turn burner onto medium to medium high heat.  

Once Wax is melted into liquid, turn off heat. Next, take each leaf by the stem and dip into wax.  Pull out, let cool momentarily, and dip again.  You may repeat the dipping process several times if you like, depending on how thick of a coat of wax looks best to you. When done dipping, lay them on a piece of wax paper to dry.  They  come out so pretty.  Click here at IdreamtIdweltinmarblehalls.blogspot.com   to see how lovely they looked on Marie's Thanksgiving table.

Thanksgiving

It is a delightful, quiet  moment of the day as I finish preparing for our Thanksgiving feast.  Olga and Eddie and friends are in town working on a photography project.  Steve has gone to Denver to pick up Russell at the airport.  Grandma Jo will not arrive until later this afternoon.  Russell arrives at airport by 1:30 P.M., so they will not be back here until about 5:00; which means we will be eating later than we do traditionally.  Here I sit, my meal  almost ready, and a few free hours to blog; not a usual Thanksgiving Day occurrence, but a sweet and restful occupation for me to put my feet up.  I am thankful to my Lord for His bounty and His blessings in our life.  How wonderful to have a holiday to express these things as a family.  Our Puritan Fathers and Mothers Left us a wonderful legacy and example.

Each year at Thanksgiving and Christmas, among my favorite things, are planning my food and looking at all the favorite recipes.  They are in themselves a memory of years gone by.   The recipes from my Mother, Grandmother, Mother in law and friends, are treasures in themselves, and everyone in the family has strong feelings about which ones are their favorites, and ought to be served.  I  also love pulling out my Mom's silver, and my Grandmother's dishes.  I usually set the table first thing in the morning after I get the turkey in the oven, that way I can enjoy the process of table setting, which is my favorite part of the preparations.. and serves my creative cravings for the day.  If I wait until later in the day to set the table, I am usually too tired, and loose my enthusiasm.

This year I had the delight of including my friend Anne ( homeschoolonthecroft.blogspot.com ) in my memory making, by wearing the apron she sent to me.

I was the only one at home, and couldn't get a picture of myself in the apron very easily, so here it is on the mannequin. 

 Isn't it so cute with those Scottish Sheep?

The sheep in their "Wellies".

Granny Florence's dishes and Mom's silver

 Place cards to direct everyone to their seat.

Blueberry Sour Cream Pie (a recipe of a friend of mine)

Cream Peach Pie (My Mother in Law's Recipe)

Look who just arrived home

Its been quite a few months since he has had some home cooking.

 Olga and Aseel (friend from school)

I think Eddie missed Russell more than he thought he would.

 Steve with his Mom (aka Grandma Jo)

Hope  all of you are having a wonderful Thanksgiving Holiday.

Many Blessings to you all.

Thanksgiving Week

Home again, home again jiggidy jig.  I am back home after a wonderful, wonderful visit.  I am already missing my precious girls, grandchildren and sons in law.   Sigh... It is really hard raising up your chickies and watching them all fly the coop.  I guess I never realized that they would.  Now what was I thinking?  Of course, that's what children do, but still I must have been in lala land, not figuring that out when I was younger.  I have always felt as if I tried to be a good sport about it all.... but gosh I sure miss having them close.  They are my best friends, and greatest blessing.  I just figured out that out of 7 children, all are in another State except the one who is only fourteen and still home... who would have figured?  Oh well, no sense moaning.  I praise the Lord for them, and for the delightful time I have going off to visit them; in that sense, those visits are wonderfully special and individual.  I can't quite get enough. Thank you so much girls for the wonderful, wonderful time.  You spoiled me and made me feel like a queen.   I loved it all; the garage sale adventures, the crafting and cooking, the beach, the talking and talking and talking, while drinking gallons of tea... and most of all you and those precious grandbabies.  Love you!

As you might have noticed, I am trying to give my  blog a makeover,  and have run into some problems getting an old template off so that I can work with the new template.  I started it while at Elizabeth's and couldn't solve it.... not wanting to sacrifice any more of our time together for that.  So I am officially under re-construction, and if any of you have any suggestions, please let me know.   One of my fears is that I might erase everything in the process.   I'm sure I will work it out with a little time spent, but as it is Thanksgiving week, I am running like a chicken with my head cut off to get everything done on time, so will have  to deal with it next week.

On another note, I just opened a  delightful package from Anne ( homeschoolonthecroft.blogspot.com ) whose contents contained my Apron yeaaaaaa! which arrived while I was away.  She included a postcard, sweet note, and a lovely bookmark calendar of the Western Isles of Scotland.  What fun!  I love, love, love  my apron Anne.  The apron has the most adorable sheep wearing Wellington boots (Wellies),  with a  Scottish, tartan design.  It is so cute.  It reminds me of Anne's sheep (or I should say.. the Builder's big brother's sheep), and will be a reminder of my friends in Scotland.  I will be wearing it as I fix my Thanksgiving dinner this week.   I can't take a picture of it yet, because my camera is dead, and I cannot find the plug in charger for it... I am hoping I did not leave it at my Mom's when I visited her, because I haven't seen it since then, and have not been able to use my camera since the battery died.  I am sure it is around here somewhere... but if I can't find it, I will beg, or borrow one, and post it as soon as I am caught up with the Thanksgiving rush.

Have a wonderful Thanksgiving week everyone.

Much Love, Pam

Planes, Trains and Apron Swaps

I have a happy occurrence which I am delighted to share with you.  I am off tomorrow to visit my daughters.  I will be visiting Marie in Ohio for 6 days and Elizabeth in Florida for 6 days.  Hurray, Hurray.  It is my Christmas and Birthday combined.

I will arrive back home again just in time for Thanksgiving, and Russell and Olga and Olga's friend from College will begin to arrive, and we will frantically clean and cook until they are all here.


The girls are also going to give me some technical help so  I can start  an Etsy shop for my jewelry and such.  I am hoping to post, while I am there with them, but  I may not... it depends on if we can stop talking, drinking tea, kissing babies, taking walks, drinking cofffee, making and eating scones, chocolate pudding cakes, creme brulee, planning for babies, and decorating and knitting and crocheting projects, and sewing projects, and listening to some of our favorite inspiring people, and books and and and...  So if for some reason I don't get back  on for a couple of weeks, you'll know where I am.

The apron swap is coming along nicely... several of you have gotten your aprons already, and have even posted.  I have loved seeing what you have posted.  I will wrap up all the rest of us after Thanksgiving... we will probably all have received ours by then, and can post at that time.

Happy Thanksgiving to you all.  May the Lord Bless you and keep you;

May He make His face to shine upon you and give you peace.

Much Love,

Pam