holiday garland (sort of) tutorial

I put together this sweet little garland yesterday morning. Working with twine and glue. Swirling it around and around is relaxing to me. I guess maybe because it's completely different than making tiny little stitches. It's good to break away every once in a while.

The process is simple.

Cut out circles from lightweight cardboard (I made 12) and cover one side with a thin layer of craft glue. Start in the center and spiral twine around the glue side until you fill the circle.

Repeat until all circles are finished.

Let them dry.

Cut out out felt circles the same size for the backs.

Find a length of string or ribbon for your garland.

Space out your circles evenly and determine where each one will go.

Put glue on the remaining cardboard side of each circle and sandwich your string between the twine circle and the felt circle.

You can stop there and just have a circle garland.

or variations:

I cut out felt stars and sewed jingle bells and stitched them onto the string between the circles.

You could also tie strips of homespun fabric.

You could also use yarn instead of twine for the spirals.

Armies on the dancefloor....

I have this idea....
For me that's how a lot of sentences begin this time of year. My head is racing and filling with ideas and possibilities. Sometimes faster than I can do them. It is a good thing that I don't require much sleep. I just require music.

Pumpkins and corn away. Birds and berries display. This week in preparation and organizing for a weekend of trees. The trees are my favorite part of the holidays. We usually have several because I tend to split my decorating loyalties at Christmas time. On one hand I love the sparkle and shine and richness of glass balls and glitter and lots and lots of lights and plaid ribbons, but there is also the side that loves the natural part of holiday happenings.. the birds the berries, nuts and pine cones, evergreen boughs and garlands. Then sometimes that primitive country loving side speaks up too. So, on any given December, it is possible to walk through the downstairs and see ribbons and glitter in the library room, nature in the dining room, and country in the family room. And sometimes, when I'm feeling really ambitious, there is a gingerbread tree in the kitchen. It's obvious that I am a Libra girl who has trouble making decisions.

We also love to go to the area garden centers where they have all the decorated trees on display. One of our favorites is Waterloo Gardens. They have beautiful lights through all of their landscaping outside and then rooms full of themed trees and decorations inside. Ethan has always loved the room that is set up like a Dickens village. I love the room with the German glass ornaments and also the cool quiet hush of the room filled with the poinsettias.

I love December for its creative inspiration.

The nights may be long but they are lit with sparks of imagination.

. and twinkle lights .

I'm looking forward to both.

I had the calender out today planning activities.

It is filling up fast in an exciting kind of way.

One of the things that I really enjoy doing is going to Longwood Gardens in December. It is decorated and absolutely breathtaking.

a Thanksgiving debriefing...

Abundance.
I am abundantly thankful for the love of family and warm spaces and a healthy body and so happy that I could share a meal and a lovely evening filled with laughter and smiles.
Ethan sang and performed in the parade in Philadelphia this year. He had a great time and I'm glad it was a good experience for him. We had a cozy and delicious turkey dinner and talked and listened to music and made some plans for the upcoming holiday season. December is going to be just busy enough to be fun, but not stressful. Just the way I like it. I like a little bustle in my hedgerow. And my holidays.
The above picture is the bouquet of rose hips and seed and berry pods that Grandma Pat brought to Thanksgiving. I really love the interesting berry type things that are in the garden this time of year. Each season has its own special beauty.
This upcoming week I hope to get everything organized for another December of Advent Evening Crafts. Ethan and I had so much fun creating new things and special memories last year. I can't wait to do it again.

Home in your heart...

This is the pinecone turkey I made when I was in the second grade. My Dad and I sat at the dining room table in the house where I grew up and designed and built my entry for the turkey contest in my classroom. There was a harvest gold cloth on the table and a box of pinecones collected from the neighborhood and other woods walks in the area. Dad and I worked on the turkey and I remember my mom working on something in the kitchen and the three of us having a conversation back and forth. My mom saved the turkey. She displayed it at Thanksgiving for many many years. I have it now, I'm not sure how it got here, but I discovered it when I was getting out the decorations for Halloween. Today I put it on the fireplace mantle in the dining room. He's watching over our table. So, even though I can't be with all my family this Thanksgiving, I do still have a piece of Home here with me.

Potatoes

They may not have been at the first Thanksgiving dinner, but they are definitely at mine. With the skins still on. Smashed with butter and cream and pepper. If someone would like to cook me a lobster though, I'm all for recreating that part of the premier feast.

If you love your iron more than I love mine, Martha Stewart has the directions for making turkeys out of napkins. They do have that clean lines, simply impressive look about them.

I really like the finger puppet turkeys. Sweet.

Oh nuts! We'd be sunk without the gravy boat...

Two (more) of my favorite things about this time of year.
Gravy boats and nuts with their clothes on.
I love gravy boats. The gravy boat is the supporting actor of the Thanksgiving dinner spectacular. Everyone passes it around, holds it, and smiles at its arrival at their table. Without the gravy boat there would be no gravy. Without gravy the turkey, stuffing, and mashed potatoes would just be some poorly dressed protein and carbohydrates.
Speaking of naked food, I also love this time of year because it seems to be the only acceptable time in which you can set out nuts in their shells with a nutcracker and guests do not look at you like "hey where's the Planter's nuts from the can that are already shelled for me?" People actually spend the time cracking the shells and digging for the nuts inside and sharing and conversing about the experience. It's fabulous and entertaining. This doesn't happen in April. Watch and see.

a time for everything, a place for everyone...

I struggle, this time of year, with maintaining the balance between preparing for Christmas and remembering to give Thanksgiving its time and attention. I love Thanksgiving and I really want to enjoy it, but I am a planner so there's always a "what's next" on my mental horizon. This morning was all about Thanksgiving, and that felt really good. I washed and ironed all of the table linens. (yuckiest jobs first) I finished the napkin rings for the table and I think they turned out pretty cute.

I found this recipe that sounds interesting. Filed under: cranberry, not shaped like the can.

Lunch on a chilly rainy day. Apples and peanut butter topped with granola. The scent of cinnamon makes the moments warm.
It would have been a good day to curl up with a book, but it isn't January yet. I did the next best thing and played with fabric and colors and made patchwork and Cafe Mats.

One of the ornaments from my etsy shop was included in a showcase post on the Lily and Tulip design blog. Thanks Lily, that was really cool.

Ethan loves owls as much as I do.

He totally captured "cute eyes" in this collage.

Food Weekend

The FoodNetwork website was so slow over the weekend. Taking the hit for Thanksgiving meal preparation. Same with the grocery store. We went to Wegmans at 5PM on a Sunday night thinking that there might possibly be less people. It was still really crowded. I think it's always really crowded there, but they had something like thirty check out lanes open and there wasn't more than a one person wait. So, while we were there we visited the turkeys and worked out when to buy that and bought some of the staple ingredients to things.

I'm adding these recipes to my Thanksgiving notebook:

Paprika Toasted Chick Peas

Muffin Stuffin ...using pumpkin muffins for the bread in the stuffing sounds yummy, although I think we are going to go for the more traditional type. I love the suggestion of using an ice cream scoop to portion out stuffing. They have obviously never been to dinner with my family.

Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Squares. Yes, I even got out my old issues of EveryDay Food.

snow... men

Good Day Philadelphia started this week by saying that it just might *whisper* snow overnight. I don't think it's going to happen. Not this time. (but wouldn't it be crazy fun if we woke up and the lawn was white?) It's so early for snow, however, my father tells me that, according to the Farmer's Almanac, we are in for a snowy winter. I went out and bought milk and bread anyway because that's what you do in Pennsylvania when there is any mention of bad weather.

No, really, we needed them for breakfast tomorrow.

But before snow there should be Thanksgiving. I found the most delicious recipe solution for the turkey at the Wegman's website. There will be five of us for dinner now. I think it will work out perfectly.

Also, my other discovery of the day... adding the juice and the zest of oranges helps take the super tartness out of cranberries for the cranberry sauce.

Mmmm warm and cozy.

Let's save the snowmen for the felt...for now.

red leaves and read magazines...

My favorite color of autumn leaves are the red ones. The tree on the corner of Third Avenue is the most interesting combination of green with brush strokes of red. I'm going to have to get a photo of it.

I love magazines this time of year. They are filled with inspiring ideas and things to do and the pictures are filled with so many details to absorb. A lot of the time I flip through a magazine and after one read, I've gotten what I can from it and pass it along. Holiday issues are keepers. I'm pretty possessive of my collection and enjoy getting them out every year and seeing what themes or ideas inspire me this year. I always find something a little different or maybe that I like this year but not in previous years. That's always interesting.

Martha Stewart's December issue arrived in the mail today. I'm not quite finished with November yet, but the cover looks amazing. Speaking of November Martha, I am so smitten with this recipe on the cover. I really want to make it for Thanksgiving dinner. My family is big on cranberries and cinnamon, I am big on tarts.

Turkey Day

Due to exciting circumstances that I will reveal later, we will be unable to travel to attend the traditional family Thanksgiving with my Dad and my brother and sister and their families. On one hand, this is a bit sad because I think this is the first Thanksgiving dinner I have ever missed, but on the other hand I'm kind of interested to see what it is like making the whole dinner and all holiday preparations. There will be four of us for dinner and that's a number I can cook for easily. We all know I love a good holiday that requires an oven. So, this year I get the chance to give Turkey Day my best game.

being Luke Skywalker

The costume was a success, it turned out super cute, and the weather was warm enough here to be out without covering up with a coat. All good things. Best candy of the night? Someone gave out full size bags of M&M's! yum.