Christmas vacation

So, I don't know about you, but I took a vacation, even though I still had to work.  My vacation was from the computer and TV mostly and spent my time with my son, when I wasn't working that is.

The hedgehog, raccoon and bone we made together

The stormy skies

One of the seven turkeys in the neighborhood.  Who knew they slept in trees?

Beautiful sunsets

Another of the turkeys as he joined us while I worked around the corner from my house.

And all the drawing and paper crafts we enjoyed this week.

So, all in all, my vacation was a success.  What did you do that was artistic or crafty  the Christmas vacation?

Pip-a-neir

Well, as hard as I tried, the pip-a-neir did not get made the day after Thanksgiving. It did however get made that Saturday.  I will tell you, that it is a task usually set aside in my family for as many in the family to join in as possible.  We have the Christmas tunes on, we laugh and joke, and have lunch together after.  It makes for a lot of great memories. Some of my favorite actually.  For the last- I don't know how many- several years I have been the one to finish off the dough (getting it to the perfect rolling consistency) and rolling out the ropes to pass on to everyone else to cut and place on the cookie sheets for baking.  This year, not even Will would help me.  I did it all on my own.  I'm not complaining mind you, I love pip-a-neir too much, but I didn't make any great memories this year, it was kind of lonely.

For those who have forgotten, pip-a-neir is a danish cookie.  It is like a molasses cookie, but has some anise in it too for a little spice to the flavor.  It also looks like kibble.  Don't let this be off-putting!  It is actually a great selling point.  I will bring a small bag to work, (and used to bring it to school back in the dark ages) people never want to try it, they think I'm crazy for eating dog food.  That's OK, see, that means there's more for me!  What did I tell you--- great selling point!

So for those interested in learning how to make it, here goes....
Ingredients

1/2 c crisco
1 dash salt
2 eggs
2 c molasses
1 c sugar
9 c flour (more or less)
1 teaspoon anise seeds or cardamom seeds
1/3 teaspoon cloves
1/3 teaspoon cinnamon
1 dash white pepper
2 teaspoon baking soda
3/4 c walnuts chopped

Cream together crisco, salt and eggs.  Add molasses and sugar mixing well.  Combine anise, cloves, cinnamon, white pepper, baking soda and chopped walnuts with one cup of flour.  Add to molasses mixture.

Continue to add flour one cup at a time.  I find that every time I make this I use different amounts of flour.  It is usually between 6 1/2 and 7 1/2.  Once you can't stir any more, start mixing it with your hands.  Kneading the dough till smooth and you have a great consistency for rolling it out into ropes.  Roll into ropes and slice into bite size pieces.  Bake on a grease cookie sheet at 375 degree oven for approximately 7-10 minutes, or until golden brown.  DO NOT OVER BAKE.

If you like a softer cookie, cook for about 7 minutes, or if you like crunch cook for 9-10 minutes.

This is the disclaimer found at the bottom of my recipe. ;-)
*This is an old Danish Christmas cookie recipe that we always made between Thanksgiving and Christmas.  The oldest children rolled out the ropes while the younger ones sliced them..... lots never made it to the cookie sheet, but Gram never gave us the devil for it.

Here is one rope made, always want to have some flour on the board.

you wat to have a little space between pieces on the cookie sheet or they stick together.  Not that that's a bad thing.  We always look for the largest cluster.

And this is about a third of a batch cooling on the rack.  We usually let them sit in the cookie sheet for about 5 minutes after coming out of the oven because they should still be pretty soft, then transfer them to the cooling racks to finish the cooling process.

Making the dough can be a great sensory project for kids who like and/or need that sensory input.
I mean, who doesn't like to get a little messy and knead some dough?  Trust me, it can be a great stress reducer for adults as well........

The day after

Traditionally today is the day that the Christmas tree, and decorations go as well as making the pip-a-neir. ( a danish cookie, however in recent years this has been pushed back to Saturdays or Sundays)  Well, I got the tree and decorations up.  I think I counted at least 2000 lights on my tree.  Seriously.  I like a bright tree.  The sad truth is, I really want to go out and get another 400 lights, the top of the tree is looking pretty dim to me.
Remember all those snowflakes I made?  Well, before decorating the tree, I put up several and took a picture.  It looked so pretty, I think I may have to make a few hundred more for next year and only put up the snowflakes. 

with just the lights, see?  Doesn't the top look dim compared to the bottom?

I think next year the tree will be full of snowflakes like these!

I love decorating for the holidays, My house has changed over the last few years.  I seem to have less space to decorate, as my son's needs have taken over the whole of the dining room, and half my table space in the living room has been taken over by Sophie (our hamster).  But what I did do I think looks cute, I didn't take pictures of the pictures on the walls though.

Handmade wooden santas, made by my grandfather, and painted by my grandmother and mother.  These were left over from the days when our family used to have a big Christmas craft sale at Ledgeview Farm.  I miss those days.

My only spot in the once dining room- now Will's therapy room.  I may loose this soon, here's hoping it stays till Christmas!

Some of my colored snowflakes ended up in some windows.  Including my front door, thanks to a friends suggestion.

The Christmas tree is always my favorite.  I dread putting it up because I sneeze the rest of the day, and this year was no exception.  -sneeze- (bless me) And the lights drive me crazy.  I hate putting the lights on, but they look so pretty when done that it's totally worth it.  This year, after the lights were on and 3/4 of the decorations were up, the lights started to act up.  I had 3 fuses blow, and a string that's temperamental, oy vey!   Well, at last they seem to be working, I hope they stay that way!

Will was such a big help putting up the tree, decorating it, and making me take breaks throughout the day to spend quality with my favorite person in the whole world.  Who could ask for a better day than that?

Will put up the garlands by himself, did NOT want my help!

And here's our tree this year.  It's so beautiful.  It's hard to see all the ornaments with this blinding light though. ;-)

My favorite part of the day was putting up this wall display.  Now dad can see what I did with all those 4"x4" blocks of wood he cut for me.  And yes, I meant for it to look random.  I'm hoping to add to this wall in the future.

What did you enjoy today?

Thanksgiving

Now is the time to be thankful, I hope most remember to be thankful throughout the year and not just today.  I have a wonderful family, we have our fair share of crazy, but when needed we come together and support and love each other, for them I am thankful.  My wonderful son, was able to find ways of coping throughout the hectic day that did not involve a full, or even partial, melt down (verbal or physical) he was polite and patient, and able to use his words.  For all this I am thankful.  

I did miss my parents at Thanksgiving mealtime, however, was able to bring a plate (more like a very over-sized bag FULL of food) to them so that they didn't miss out on the wonderful food because of my mothers health.  I also was able to visit for a short while before my son quietly explained he needed to get home.  For that I am thankful.

I was able to start the process of decorating for Christmas, the bulk will be done tomorrow.  I have placed the colored snowflakes in the windows, pictures to come, and a few other items were placed.  For that I am thankful.

From my favorite Christmas movie, Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer.

Complete with book trees that I made earlier this fall

I love the Bumble.  'Cause Bumbles bounce!

Had to give the misfits a home......I will love you Charlie!

While driving home I was treated to the most beautiful sunset I've seen in a very long time.  I was enchanted.  For this I am thankful.

Yes, I was driving, I don't recommend anyone take pictures and drive at the same time, but how could I pass up this view?  Sorry mom.

What are you thankful for today?

Christmas presents

It's that time of year again, although it has been unseasonably warm so far, there is still a crispness to the air, (at least in the morning) the Christmas music is already playing at the stores.  Christmas displays have been in stores for a few weeks now.  Yikes!  My family has decided (mostly because no one has money, but also because family time is so much more important that "stuff") that we can only spend $5 on each other this year.
This is a wonderful idea, it means more presents from the heart than from the store.  There will be more thought and intent behind the gifts than just the idea that we need more stuff.  (I'm going to win!!)  Wait, it's not a contest! (but I'm going to win!)  I have started, or continued, a tradition of giving ornaments as part of my gifts.  I've always received an ornament first from my grandmother, then by my mother.  She still gives us one, I always look forward to what she's picked out for us.  Last year I crocheted ornaments.  I made trees, Christmas mice, gnomes, and snowmen.  I wasn't sure yet what to make this year and then I was told about the $5 limit!  I already had a lot of plans for different things I was making.  I had most of the supplies around my home, but all things considered, I didn't have the budget to buy anything for ornaments.  What to do, what to do.
This is what I decided to make.  I think they came out beautiful.  I went a little overboard, a lot of the colored ones will be decorations in my windows, but who knows.  All I did was laminate them.  Now I'll punch a small hole to string some ribbon, or whatever I can find. ( I really don't have anymore money to spend!  In fact, I think I'm slightly over, but that's not my fault as I already invested money in ideas before I was informed of the money challenge.)

I know these were already in above pictures but these are my favorite colored snowflakes!

There are actually many more white snowflakes than colored, but I picked out my favorites.

And these are my absolute favorites.

Talk about a cheap ornament.  Luckily I had the laminate at the house and didn't have to spend money on it!  Otherwise I'd be in trouble!  What are some of your Christmas/ holiday traditions?

Fall Harvest Festival

My son's school has a Fall Harvest Festival every year.  This is to raise money for the schools PTA.  I've never been able to go but it looks like they have some wonderful things going on there.  I do know that every year each classroom is in charge of a themed basket to be raffled (auctioned?) off.  I try to help out with this every year, some years I can't afford anything, didn't think I would be able to help out this year until I saw the theme.  I was so excited!!!  It is a spa basket.  Everything to do with pampering yourself.  At first I thought: I'll give a gift certificate for a free 1 hour massage.  I mean I am a LMT and it would be for a great cause. My son's education and that of all the other kids there.  Well, I decided against that because I've been struggling lately and I was worried that I wouldn't be able to offer the highest healing and intent with my massage.  (I have a feeling it will be a while before I'm feeling confident that my clients will be offered that.  So I don't feel it's right to offer a possible mediocre massage.) 
So what to do??  I really think this is my forte.  If I had paid more attention earlier to the themes I could have made a whole bunch of stuff.  As it was, I've been so preoccupied with my own life that I left it to the last minute.  This is where divine intervention happened.  I  found a few inexpensive facial masks at the store.  I also happened to be surfing all the blogs that I now follow, and was led to a site that had simple recipes from ingredients I have in my kitchen.  Perfect!  So I made some of the most amazing sugar scrubs I have ever used.  Yes, I made enough for me to have some too.  I made a brown sugar and vanilla scrub that smells wonderful, however I have to say my favorite of the 2 I made is the peppermint sugar scrub.  Wow, it smells so good.  The funny thing about them is they are all natural and edible.  I have to confess to trying just a dab of both.  Yup, peppermint won out big time!
I forgot to take pictures, but as these will also be Christmas presents for family and friends, have no fear.  If you want to see the end results (including the clumsy packaging)  I will be sharing in the near future.  I don't want to make them up in advance as the only preservative is some vitamin E, so I don't really know the shelf life.  ( I don't think that will be a problem, if people enjoy them as much as I have the last few nights.  Wow, what soft skin I have now! )  Yum, peppermint.......;-)
And if you are a family member reading this or a close friend, act surprised!  Trust me you'll love it.

What do I make?

 You may remember that my brother got married just over a month ago.  Well, did I tell you that I cleaned up the church after the service?  Did I mention that they had wheat tied in a bow with purple and whites ribbons?  Or that they had see through tubes with willow limbs, twinkle lights and potpourri? Well, they did, it was beautiful.  However all they wanted was the columns.  So what was I to do with this?

left over potpourri

the wheat. ( there was a LOT more than this)

And the ribbons

 I couldn't bring myself to throw them out.  It seemed like such a waste!  But what could I do with them to commemorate their big day? 
My family has also taken up the challenge of giving Christmas gifts for $5 or less.......
This was my first attempt:

I know, not that great.  Although I can't bring myself to throw this out, as I might be able to add to it and salvage it.

Well, wasn't what I wanted.  I walked outside and grabbed a few more vines and wound them into a wreath, wrapped it in purple ribbon and tried 2 rows of wheat, and a few more pieces of potpourri.  I think it looks a lot better.  I'm still not convinced it can't be improved, but it's much better.  I might even give it to them.  And all it cost me was about 20 cents in glue sticks.

hanging on my wall for now

close up so you can really see the wheat and potpourri.

Any ideas on how to make it better?  I'd love to hear them!
And I still have plenty of ribbon, potpourri, and a little wheat left over.  What else can I create?

Christmas card

Sorry, this has been a very busy week. I haven't managed to do much in the way of art, however I did manage this cute little Christmas card. Now I just have to make an envelope.

Book Tree

I found this idea on one of the blogs that I follow,  http://creativetryals.blogspot.com/2011/09/book-tree.html.     If you like mine, you should check her out!  I guarantee you'll love her blog!

I think my next one will have a star on top.

The funny part is that the book I used is A Christmas Carol.  I want to get different sized books and make a forest for Christmas.
Today my son and I have been busy making Halloween candy too.  Will made little pumpkins and I made some "leaf bark"  I made 2 different kinds.  Milk chocolate with toasted coconut, and milk chocolate with toffee bits.  Not sure which sounds better, might have to try both!!  Yum.....

Canning

I have tried my hand at canning for the very first time this fall.  It is very exciting.  I have to admit to the very real satisfaction to hearing that "pop" when the jar seals.  I have been making mustard pickles for a few years now, but it is just not the same.  For those who do not know, mustard pickles are a VERY strong pickle, and are not for the feint of heart.
This year I picked many peaches from a tree at one of the homes that I work in.  Then I thought......what now?  I was looking at one of the blogs I follow: Sue@creativetryals.blogspot.com    she posted about canning, I thought I'd give it a try.  I did not follow her exact instructions as I was not just canning the peaches, but decided to try my hand at peach jam, but she did give me the desire to try.
To date, I have made 14 jars of pickles, keeping 6 for myself, 10 small jars of peach and honey jam, 2 jars of peach/brown sugar sauce, 2 jars of peach/cinnamon sauce, and now 6 small and 1 pint sized jar of apple cider glaze.  I must say I am quite proud of myself, and just wait till I make my homemade Christmas presents!
So it started by seeing these delicious peaches on the tree.

Here is the peach/brown sugar sauce I made.

This is the apple cider glaze I just finished canning.  Here they will sit for the next 12 hours to finish the sealing process.  I've already heard my first 'pop' from this bunch!

And here are all the jars of pickles, sauce and jams I have accrued over the last couple of weeks.  Yum.

People who have inspired me

Today, I feel like contemplating why I feel the need to fill my life with art and beauty.  I've always felt this way, but haven't necessarily always followed through.  This summer I met a beautiful young woman named Eileen Palmer who is very artistic, she draws and paints and I'm sure does many other wonderful and beautiful things.  I met her at my camp Empire Grove at camp-meeting.  She came with her mother who was the guest minister for the week.  She was sitting on the chapel stairs sketching one of the camps on the grounds.  We started talking, she gave me her blog address and I've been following and been inspired ever since.  You can go to my profile and see her blog there it's called "nature, whimsy, reflection"  I'd add the link here but I'm not that technilogically advanced.
Now while Eileen definitely renewed my passion, it was always there.  There are many others who have inspired me.  For example, with crocheting, although I've been doing it for a while my friend Sarah was the first to inspire me to make animals, before it was only afghans and scarves, with a few dishcloths, mittens and hats thrown in for variety.  But now, when I know someone is having a baby, out comes the yarn and an animal is on it's way!  Well, maybe not all the time, but you know what I mean.
I have a very dear friend (through my mother) who is amazing.  Whatever I have seen through pictures or in real life that she has created inspires me to learn to do it for myself.  She has just started her own blog, and although there is nothing posted as of yet I'm sure it will be amazing and I will be bothering her to teach me in the ways of art.  I think of her as the mixed media master, and I want to be her "grasshopper". Her blog, again I don't know how to add a link but it's "thingz take thyme"  I'm sure once it's up and running it will be a very inspirational place to visit.
For photography, my father has done the most to inspire me, although our family friend Steve Phillips is also a huge source of inspiration.  These two men in my life take some of the most beautiful photos I've ever seen.  I started out wanting to learn how to take beautiful photos as a way to have more in common with my father, something we could share, enjoy and talk about.  But throughout the years it has morphed into more for me.  It has become a passion in it's own right.  Not only do I want to do it for some common ground with my dad, but I want to do it because it is a great source of pleasure for myself.
As for the other crafting stuff I do, I have found my family a great source of inspiration, both grandfathers were into carpentry. (something I have not really tried my hand at but am very interested to learn), my grandmother was a seamstress, must be where I got the skills to sew some of the period pieces of clothing I did a few years back.  My other grandmother and mother were/are very talented at needle point.  My whole family got together every year for a craft sale at "the Farm" every year before Christmas.  We made Christmas decorations, from painted wooden Santas to tree ornaments to baked goods.  It was always a success and a joy to create with and spend time with my family.
My mother is (although she will tell you "not anymore I'm not") very skilled at crafts of all kinds.  She can knit, sew, needlepoint, bake, cook, scrapbook, create cards, draw, paint, stencil, calligraphy, and the list goes on.  We have been known to get together to create and share resources, though not lately, I'm hoping to start making the time to get together with mom and others who like to create.  I love learning new things and passing on techniques that I know to others who are interested in learning and growing in artistic talents.
There are others who have inspired me along the way and I'm sorry for not talking about everyone, but I just don't have enough time to extol the virtues of everyone I know and how they inspire me.  Just know that you do and I am grateful.  With out you I would not be the woman I am today.  Thank you and I love and appreciate you all.
Of course, Will is my biggest inspiration.  Trying to see the world through his eyes, and leaving something beautiful to inspire him to continue the family legacy of an art-filled life

Where do you get your inspiration?  And will you inspire others?