Reindeer Feet

Ingredients:
Pretzels
Hersey Kisses
Cadbury Christmas Balls

Preheat oven to 250*. Place pretzels on ungreased baking sheet. Place a Hersey kiss on each pretzel. Bake just long enough for chocolate to get soft (3-4 min).

Take out of oven and immediately push Christmas ball into kiss. Let cool a little and put in refrigerator to harden the chocolate again.These things go like crazy! Yum!

Ornaments

I love Christmas ornaments, especially handmade ones. Here's a few I've made and love.

Christmas Tree Ornament
I made this ornament from this tutorial. Pretty simple and super cute!

Hanging Heart
Pattern found here. You only sew straight lines.
Mini Yarn Wreath
Tutorial found here. No sewing or gluing. My 4 year old made one...that's how simple it is!

I Spy Bag

I'm making I Spy bags for my son's friend's birthdays this year. They are great in the car, doctor's appointment, church, etc.

Here's what you'll need:

• 5" square of plastic vinyl (bought in a fabric section)
• 2- 2 x 5" strips of fabric
• 2- 2 x 7.5" strips of fabric
• 7.5" square of fabric
• polly pellets (bought at a craft store)
  
• an assortment of items to "spy"

Here's what to do:

1. Sew the 5" strips of fabric to either side of the 5"square of plastic.

2. Sew the 7.5" strips to the other sides of the plastic to frame it.
3. Top stitch around the plastic

4. Sew the back of the bag placing right sides together and leaving an opening to fill the bag. Clip the corners and turn right side out.

5. Place the "spy" items in the bag and fill with polly pellets until the bag is about 2/3 full. Whip or blind stitch the opening.Write on a label some of the items to find and stitch it to the back...and you're DONE!
Easy!

"Loves" Book

My friend gave me this idea when my boy was little and didn't get to see all of the family very often. We made a "Loves" book for him to remember all the people that love him. Since I recently had a daughter I have made her one too.

I used

• a 4x6 photo book,
  
• cardstock paper,
• this template,
  
• and photos of the different family members preferably with the child. I used his parents, siblings, grandparents, aunts, uncles, cousins, and then I also added Jesus.

I printed the words
"Who loves (the child's name)?
(The family member's name) loves (the child's name)!"

I spaced the words using the ruler on a regular sized paper in a Word document (or you can download my template). I got 2 pages per paper. Print the page, cut it to 4x6, and stick it in the book. Pretty simple.

I love that he can see their pictures, know that he has at some point been with them, read their names, and read his name. Now that he is older, he remembers them more, so we update the pictures so he can remember things he's done with them (especially the cousins). Plus he gets to read how much he is loved...who wouldn't love that?

Mini Cakes (aka Donuts)

I found a donut pan at a store this week with the recipe for donuts on the back. I was so excited because my little boy has a severe peanut allergy and since most bakeries have cross contamination issues with peanuts, we haven't had them in about 2.5 years since we found out. Making my own at home, however, takes away the risk, and I was excited for my boy to try a donut! When I told him what they were, he was also excited but confused if they were safe because the name has "nut" in it....so we have renamed them mini cakes at our house. ;-)

Mini Cakes

2 c. flour

3/4 c. sugar
2 tsp. baking powder
1 tsp. salt
1 Tb. butter, melted
2 eggs
3/4 c. milk
1 tsp. vanilla
1/4 tsp. nutmeg
1/4 tsp. cinnamon

Preheat oven to 325*. Lightly spray pan with cooking oil. In bowl mix together flour, sugar, baking powder, salt. Add butter, eggs, milk, vanilla, nutmeg and cinnamon. Beat until well blended. Fill each "mini cake" hole 2/3 full. Bake 8 min. or until tops spring back when lightly touched. Cool. Remove from pan and dip into glaze. Decorate with sprinkles, etc. Mini cakes can also be dipped into cinnamon and sugar or powder sugar instead of glaze. Makes approx. 36 mini cakes.

Easter Dolls

For Easter this year, I'm doing more homemade things. These were inspired by the Black Apple Dolls. My little boy has been into Nursery Rhymes lately so I think he will appreciate his own Humpty Dumpty, and I just thought the rabbit was cute.

Charming Log Cabin Quilt

I realized last fall that with all the quilts I'd made this last year, I still hadn't made any for my own babies! I found this great pattern called "Charming Log Cabin Baby Quilt" and finally finished them this weekend. The tops were really easy to sew together. The edges were a little more difficult just because I hadn't done pecos or scallops before, but overall an easy quilt to do. I quilted them on my machine using my walking foot. I like that they are similar, but the edges are different for boy/girl.

For my boy--quilted with diagonal lines
For my girl-- quilted with vertical lines

Baby Rattles

I have a few friends who are expecting babies in the next little while, not to mention myself, so I love finding cute little things to make for the little cuties coming our way. I found the idea for these here. I didn't add eyes or a nose because I couldn't get them to look as cute as hers, plus I made the ribbons more of a "mane" than ears. To make it a rattle you add a small bell as you stuff the crook at the top. It doesn't make a lot of noise because of the stuffing, but I kinda like that.

Embroidery Towels

I love it when I can get my little boy involved in doing whatever craft I'm working on. I've tried my hand at embroidery lately and have made a few towels. On previous towels however, I've used a pattern bought from a store. This time, I let my little boy draw a simple picture and write the words. He drew it on a regular piece of paper, and I traced it on to the towel with fabric chalk pencils. I had to reconfigure the spacing a little so that it was centered, but really he was the one to "design." He felt really special. I think it turned out cuter and much less expensive than the store options.

Baby Shoes

Aren't these cute!?! I thought I'd try my hand at making my own baby shoes since they are so expensive and babies just don't wear them very long. I found HomeSpun Threads, which is a fun blog with lots of tutorials. She also has a shop where she sells patterns, but she's been having a sale where you can download certain patterns for free. You can find the pattern to these shoes as well as a few others here. I thought they were so cute!

I think sewing baby shoes can be tedious since they are so small, so I it did take me a while. These are a size 0-3 months. I want to try her ballet shoes in the next size up, 3-6 months, and see if they are any easier. I do like the versatility of making my own though since there are more fabric choices than shoe choices out there. I can't wait for my little girl to try these on when she gets here!

The Pleated Pouch

I've gotten my sewing groove back after a nice holiday. I made this pleated pouch from a great tutorial at Skip to My Lou, which is a great website for lots of things, not just sewing. You can download the pattern and instructions here for free.