Friday, October 26, 2012

Oct 26, Billie's Christmas Corner

 
CHRISTMAS
 
 
~ Holiday Spice-Flavored Sugar ~

Grind together until fine:
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
1 teaspoon nutmeg
1 cup granulated sugar
12 frozen cranberries (optional)
Uses: Sprinkle onto oatmeal, a warm
coffee cake, buttered toast or coffee.
 

 
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Holiday Spritz cookies

1 cup butter, softened
1 cup conectioners' sugar
1 egg
1 1/2 tsp rum extract
2 1/2 cups flour
1/4 tsp salt
Colored sugar
In a small bowl, cream the butter and the confectioners' sugar until light and fluffy. Beat in the egg and the extract. Combine the flour and the salt. Gradually add to the creamed mixture. Mix well. Using a cookie press fitted with the disk of your choice. Press the cookies 1 inch apart onto ungreased baking sheets. Sprinkle with colored sugar. Bake at 375 F for 6-9 minutes or until lightly browned. Cool for 2 minutes before removing from the pans to wire racks to cool completely. Makes 7 dozen cookies
Recipe Source: Taste Of Home - Lisa Varner
 

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Birthday of A King

In the little village of Bethlehem,
There lay a Child one day;
And the sky was bright with a holy light
O'er the place where Jesus lay.

Chorus:
Alleluia! O how the angels sang.
Alleluia! How it rang!
And the sky was bright with a holy light
'Twas the birthday of a King.

'Twas a humble birthplace, but O how much
God gave to us that day,
From the manger bed what a path has led,
What a perfect, holy way.

Chorus:
Alleluia! O how the angels sang.
Alleluia! How it rang!
And the sky was bright with a holy light
'Twas the birthday of a King.

 

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Holiday Apron Tutorial

By: Freda Marie for Creative Chics

Sport this cute holiday apron while you prepare Christmas dinner for the family. This easy Christmas craft requires basic sewing skills. It makes a great Christmas gift or fun Christmas craft with your friends.

Holiday Apron Finished

Materials:

  • Apron
  • Fabric scraps (4" x 4" works best for easy drawing and cutting)
    • 1 piece for the snowman body
    • 1 piece for the hat
    • 1 piece for the shawl
  • Sewing Machine with zig zag stitching
  • Sharp scissors
  • Spray fabric adhesive
  • Black fabric paint or black marking pen
  • Matching threads for your fabrics

Steps:

  1. Purchase an apron at your favorite craft store that is ready for you to create your own holiday design. The apron can vary in price but seldom will cost you more than $5.00, making this entire project very affordable and fun!

    Plain Apron
  2. Decide what design you want on your apron, snowman, reindeer, a saying, etc and create the design from fabric. In my example, I found a snowman online, printed it on my printer (4 copies) and used it as a pattern to cut out my fabric pieces. Be sure you allow 1/8" overlap between pieces that touch each other.
  3. Cut out the printed image and pin it to your apron. Then sew a basting stitch around the outside edge of the design.
  4. Now cut the image into the individual pieces. In my case I had a snowman body, scarf, and hat. I cut the snowman out of the fabric I was using for his body and another cut was made from a stabilizer (pellon) the same size as my fabric cutout. I did this with each piece of the snowman design.
  5. Next I used fabric adhesive to place the stabilizer on my fabric making sure I placed it on the sewn outline for the body. Using the same technique I then placed my fabric for the snowman on the stabilizer. Now I was ready for the next layers, the scarf and hat. Using the same technique of a layer of stabilizer and then the fabric I laid all of the pieces on my apron outline.

    Holiday Apron Pieces
  6. Then, topstitch around the outside edges of each piece of fabric in the design. Use a narrow and short zig zag stitch to create a tight sewn edge on your design, changing threads to match the color of your design fabrics.
    I used black fabric paint to create dots for the eyes and buttons and orange thread in a zig-zag stitch for the carrot nose and a straight black thread basting stitch for the mouth.
  7. Finish off by using an off white thread the color of my snowman to embroidery "Let it Snow" and some embroidered snowflakes finish off the theme.

    Holiday Apron Finished


    Crafter's Tip for Moms: You can make this a fun project for the entire family by letting them come up with the designs and cut them out while you help out with the sewing and embroidery. If you don't have an embroidery machine there are lots of felt letters in the craft store that can work for your design. Happy Holidays Everyone.
 

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Things to do at Christmas time, Get your pets fresh new collars, name tags and leashes.
My dogs love new collars and new leads. they step a little higher when they are wearing "New" things.
 

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Yule log - origins & trivia


In Northern Europe, Winter festivities were once considered to be a Feast of the Dead, completeyule log with ceremonies full of spirits, devils, and the haunting presence of the Norse god, Odin, and his night riders. One particularly durable Solstice festival was "Jol" (also known as "Jule" and pronounced "Yule"), a feast celebrated throughout Northern Europe and particularly in Scandinavia...

 
 
 
 
 

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Billie C.

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