Homemade Marshmallows

Last year after Christmas, my bff and I made plans to start a tradition (this year) of making homemade marshamallows and decorating gingerbread houses at her house each Christmas.  Luckily, I remembered this plan just in time and called and invited myself over.  We had a great time, and the marshmallows were delicious!  She used this recipe from Smitten Kitchen.  EB used homemade vanilla extract which she says is the trick for making them extra yummy!

When I told my sister about our plans, she pointed out that marshmallows only cost a dollar for a bag...clearly, she had never had homemade marshmallows!  Unfortunately, she had to work and couldn't join us, but my niece along with my mom, my kiddos, and our friend from college and her sweet boy were able to join us. 

Marshmallows in progress.



The kids were amazed by this giant marshmallow!



O enjoyed mixing the marshmallows around to coat them in powdered sugar.  She worked happily until EB told her she could eat a marshmallow, then it was all over.  As soon as she found out she could eat them, that was ALL she wanted to do!



Homemade marshmallows are GREAT with hot chocolate!






While EB made the marshmallows, the kids worked on their gingerbread cottages.  Unfortunately, the gingerbread cottages in these kits were not prebuilt.  O did not want any help with hers (this was fine with me because I really don't like building the houses), and she was quite creative...she made a gingerbread sandwich!  She didn't eat it, of course, but she was VERY proud of her creation!



I also had a gingerbread tree kit.  It's made up of stars that you stack to form a tree.  It was really fun to build the tree, and the children took turns placing the stars on the tree (it reminded me a little of building the pink tower).  E even joined in and stacked a few stars.  After we finished building the tree, the kids had a great time decorating it.



We did lots of fun activities, but I think that the kids enjoyed playing under the table and blankets more than anything.



They ventured upstairs and found an empty room with just a bedspread and a few pillows.  It's amazing how entertained they were for quite a while with these simple things.  (they are all hiding under the blanket)




We had a great day, and we are looking forward to doing it again next year!  Thanks, EB!

Christmas Pillowcases and Tablecloth

My mom made the mistake of saying that she felt bad that she hadn't made many handmade gifts this Christmas.  I immediately set her to work on various projects!  She made Christmas pillowcases for the girls with this super cute Christmas cat fabric.  E points to the cats saying "cat, cat, cat, cat,......."  Love it!



I love the stitching at the bottom.




She also made a little tablecloth for the small table where the girls and I eat our meals.



I guess I should admit that I usually remove the tablecloth before we eat so that my messy eaters won't destroy it!

Santa's Runaway Elf

Our Christmas book of the day for Saturday was Santa's Runaway Elf  Santa's Runaway Elf.  This book was given to Elliott when he was a baby, so it's been around for a while!  It's a sweet story about a tiny elf that is too tiny for any of the jobs that the other elves do, but he fits perfectly on Santa's shoulder.  I had a Martha Stewart elf puppet kit, which went along perfectly with this book.  O loved putting the puppet together as I read the directions to her, and we've had fun playing with our "Tiny" puppet ever since!

Our Gumdrop Tree

This is the 3rd year in a row that O and I have made a gumdrop tree (using the same styrofoam tree form...I think we can get one more year out it before throwing it away).  This is usually one of her favorite activities, but she didn't love it quite as much this year.  I think the main reason it wasn't quite as enjoyable this year is because we had to rush.  Nothing is quite as much fun when you have to hurry, and it seems like we've been in a constant state of "hurry" for the past 2 weeks.  I'm ready for things to slow down!

To make the gumdrop tree, we broke toothpicks in half and stuck them in the styrofoam tree form.  We then stuck gumdrops on the toothpicks.

Gifts that Give Back

I recently received an email asking me to post about UNICEF's Gifts that Give Back. I remember collecting pennies for UNICEF at Halloween when I was in 3rd grade, and this organization has always been one that I like to support. Take a moment to look around the UNICEF website to see how you can help. It can be as simple as buying a stuffed toy from IKEA...I did that this week! Here's the blurb and a picture that were sent to me to share with you...


UNICEF has created Gifts that Give Back, a lineup of holiday items that will benefit millions of children around the world. UNICEF’s Gifts that Give Back include UNICEF Inspired Gifts like medical supplies and nutritional supplements for malnourished children, the UNICEF card and gift collection, and collaborations with some of the world’s top brands such as Gucci, H&M and Delta Airlines. Each purchase support UNICEF’s efforts in lowering the number of preventable deaths in children each year.

Magnettis for O

A few months ago, I asked O what she wanted more than anything for her handmade Christmas gift.  She immediately answered that she wanted a "collection of magnettis."    These magnetic necklaces are easy and fun to make.




I bought unfinished wooden hearts, circles, and rectangles from Hobby Lobby and/or Michael's.  I painted them, and put cute stickers on them. 
















Since the letter stickers are flat, I painted over them with a layer of mod podge.  (the other stickers are puffy, so I left them as is).  I glued a strong magnet to the back of each decorative piece using E 600 glue.  These magnets make me pretty nervous since I have a baby who puts everything in her mouth, so I used super strong glue and will check the necklaces often to make sure the magnets are secure. I made a set of magnettis for O and for my niece. 

A Pet Softie

E LOVES our cat, Gracie.  She wants to pet Gracie and hug and kiss her.  Unfortunately, Gracie is scared of E, so E never gets too close to her before Gracie runs away.  Poor E.  She is completely obsessed with cats, but her own cat will have nothing to do with her....Mama to the rescue!



This Gracie will never run away from E, and she can hug and kiss her as much as she wants!  I know she is going to love this, and I can't wait to see her reaction when she opens it!

To make the Gracie softie, I took a picture of Gracie (this is easier said than done!) and printed it on iron-on transfer paper.  I cut the picture out and ironed it onto a piece of white cotton fabric.  I cut around the image and sewed it right side to right side to a coordinating piece of cat fabric.  I left a small opening for turning, snipped around the edges, and turned it.  I stuffed it, and my mom sewed the opening closed.  Easy and fast!  

It felt really good to finally make this Gracie softie since it's something that I've planned to make since O was a cat obsessed toddler who could never get very close to Gracie!

Easy Crowns for Wisemen (or Wisewomen!)

Both of my girls were wisemen in our church's Christmas program, and they were adorable!  When I first heard that they needed crowns, the thought (very briefly) flitted through my head that I could make felt crowns for them.  That thought was gone before it fully formed because the lady in charge of the play told us we could just get paper crowns from Burger King and spray paint them.  What a great idea!

Here are the Burger King crowns.





I spray painted them with metallic gold paint.





I planned to let O decorated them with jewels and glitter, but we ran out of time and I had to finish them while she was asleep.   I made some squiggles with glue and shook on gold glitter...done!  Both girls love their crowns!




The folks at Burger King gave Grandpa a stack of crowns when he stopped by last week, so I may buy silver spray paint, glue on jewels, and glitter glue for a fun activity in a few months.  Oh, and maybe I'll paint a couple of them pale blue, and we can glue shells on them when we are at the beach this summer, or we could paint them a leafy green and take them with us on a walk along with a glue stick and make an "on the go" nature crown...the possiblibities are endless.  All I know is that we are going to have fun with these crowns!