22
Dec

Christmas Stockings

I have always loved my Christmas stocking.  My Mom had a beautiful velveteen stocking that her Grandmother (my Great-Grandmother) made for her.  It was beautiful – with all the hand-sewn bead work – you could definitely tell a lot of time, effort and love went into making that stocking.

When I was a young child, my Mom decided to make my brother, Dad, and I a version of her stocking.  It was SO exciting to have our beautiful stockings with all the special ornaments sewn onto the Christmas trees.  And even to this day, there is something so comforting to me about reaching way down into that velveteen stocking on Christmas morning……it just feels like Christmas.

So this year my Mom made a version of my stocking (and her stocking) for Brett, Savannah and Matilda.  They are gorgeous!  Again, you can see the love that was sewn into the stockings!  And I plan to keep this tradition alive and hope to make stockings like these for my Grandchildren someday.

Brett, Savannah and Matilda’s New Stockings
(we will be having their names embroidered on the top)

Some people don’t care much about stockings, they just purchase one and don’t think much about it.  But to me, it is one of the really special parts about our Christmas morning.  Every time I see my stocking, it makes me think of my Mom and my Great Grandma and I feel comfort, love and joy!

My Original Stocking
(made by The Cottage Mama’s Mama)
21
Dec

Handmade Christmas Gifts

Ok, there’s still time!  We have four full days until Christmas, so if you don’t have all your Christmas shopping done – why not go handmade?  Handmade gifts are a wonderful way to show people how much you care about them.  I love handmade because as I am working on a gift, I am constantly thinking about the person I am creating for, imagining how they will enjoy the gift and often reflecting on my relationship with the person.

While there is nothing wrong with purchasing a gift, by all means, I have purchased some gifts this holiday season, but if you have the time (and trust me, some of these things don’t take too much time), try going handmade.  I guarantee you will get SO much more satisfaction out of giving rather than receiving this holiday season.

Since we just had our first Christmas celebration (of three) I can reveal some of my handmade goodies.  So to inspire you – here are some of the things I have crafted over the last month for some special people in my life (more to come after Christmas #2 & #3)!!

Modern Baby Booties (for Savannah’s Godparents little guy, Luca)
For these baby booties, I used the pattern from Amy Butler’s: Little Stitches for Little Ones book.  I used wool suiting material for the exterior and a nice soft brown cotton for the interior lining.  The booties fasten with a velcro closure.
Ornament, Decoration or Pin Cushion (for my Mom and good friend Lara)
I LOVE how these turned out – SO cute!  These can be used as a decoration hung over a door knob anywhere in your home.  Or they can be an adorable Christmas tree ornament or they can even be hung on your bobbin winder and act as a pin cushion.  Here is the pattern for these cutie little hearts (www.thepatchworkorange.com) – the pattern is on the right side-bar.  This is a great pattern for a beginner sewer.  There are no curves in the sewing (all straight lines).  The heart is formed by the ribbon.  If you are new to sewing – give it a try!!
Pillow for the Cottage Mama’s Mama
This pillow was made from Mary Engelbreit’s fabric (Recipe for Friendship).  I used a fabric yo-yo to embellish the pillow.  This pillow will make a great accent in my Mom’s new sewing studio!
Picture (for my father-in-law)
I got this idea from a blog I read (Little Birdie Secrets).  I love this picture and was trying to think of something creative to do with it – when I saw this idea, I knew this was it!  I used an unfinished wood plaque and painted it.  I then added scrapbooking papers and the picture with Mod Podge. The letters are stickers that I Mod Podged over and I then used a strong craft glue to ahere the felt ribbon.  I am posting this now because I’m quite sure my father-in-law doesn’t read my blog (so don’t show him this Gigi, if you are reading).
Giant Fleece Fish (for my daughter, Savannah)
This was an original idea I had.  I was searching around the net and didn’t see many stuffed fish.  My daughter loves fish so I thought I would make her this neat one with lots of scales.  Fleece doesn’t fray, so this works perfect because you don’t have to finish the edges.  If you would like to make this fish for your little one, here is my tutorial: (www.thecottagemama.com/2009/12/fleece-fish-tutorial/ ).
Cottage Mama’s Note:  If you would like a tutorial for anything you see here (that I haven’t already posted), please email me or leave me a comment and I would be happy to give you a “how to”!!
20
Dec

Prime Rib

My Mom, Allen, and brother (Ben) were visiting this past weekend to celebrate an early Christmas.  As my Mom says, “Christmas is not about the day, it’s about the season.”  And yes, this has already been a magnificent holiday season for us and there still is lots more fun yet to come!  We had a wonderful time during my family’s visit – we ate, drank, and had lots of laughs.  For our “Christmas” day dinner we decided to make my Mom’s recipe for Prime Rib.

Many people find prime rib to be an intimidating dish to prepare; however, my Mom’s recipe is fool-proof and is some of the best prime rib I have ever had.  I prepared this last year when we hosted my in-laws on Christmas Eve and they loved it as well.  It is excellent served with homemade horseradish sauce.

My brother, Ben (the professional chef in the family)

So if you are looking for a really special dish to prepare for your family during this holiday season, here is my Mom’s recipe for Prime Rib with Horseradish Sauce:

Prime Rib
Serves 6-10 (depending on roast size)
Ingredients:
2 minced garlic cloves
1 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons dried thyme
2 teaspoons ground black pepper
2 teaspoons olive oil
5 lb. – 7lb. standing rib roast
Directions:
Preheat the oven to 325 degrees.  Mix all of the first 5 ingredients and make a paste.  Place rib roast in a roasting pan with the fat side up. Spread the paste on the top and sides of the roast.  Cook for 20 mins. per pound of meat.  Your meat will be finished cooking when the meat thermometer reads approximately 150 degrees (for medium-rare).  Allow the meat to rest after cooking for 30 minutes (remember: the meat will continue to cook as it rests).
Horseradish Sauce
Directions:  Combine 3/4 cup sour cream, 1 tablespoon horseradish, a few drops of Worcestershire sauce, and salt and pepper to taste.  Serve chilled.
Cottage Mama’s Note:  We served our Prime Rib with mashed potatoes (click here for link to my recipe), roasted asparagus, and a really nice cabernet sauvignon.
18
Dec

He Makes Me……..

………….want to be a better person.

Now that I am a mother, it is so important for myself and my husband to set a good example for our two little girls.  They may be small, but our oldest picks up on EVERYTHING.  She does the things I do, she says the things I say, she dances the way I dance……..so I mean everything.

As I go about my day to day life I quite often end up in certain situations where there ends up being two paths: the high-road or the low-road.  It would be so easy to take the low road sometimes, but I find myself saying…….”What would my husband (Brett) think?” or “What would Brett do” or “Brett wouldn’t approve if I did (blank)”.  And these thoughts have made me realize that my husband makes me want to be a better person.  He holds me to a higher standard than sometimes I even think I hold myself, but yet I am continually rising to meet his expectations.  If he weren’t in my life, would I be the person I am today?  I would hope so, but I don’t know, because like I said, he challenges me to be the best person I can be; thus bringing out the best in me.

My wish is that everyone has a person like Brett in their life.  Someone that brings out the best in you, someone that challenges you to be the best you, you can be, and someone who you love and respect so much that you constantly are wanting to make them proud.  We should all be so lucky to find someone like that in our lifetime.

So thank you my dear, sweet husband for bringing out the best in me and helping me to be the best for our girls.  You are my “it” and I am so thankful to have you in my life!

16
Dec

Fabric Covered Button Magnet Tutorial

Recently I have been accumulating large bags of fabric scraps since I have been sewing my little heart out over the last several months.  Some of the fabric is just gorgeous, but what to do with the little scraps?  So I decided, what better way to enjoy the fabric that I love so dearly then to make fabric covered button magnets and have these little gems on my fridge year-round.

I’ve seen these for sale on etsy.com, so I thought I would give it a go at making my own.  There are many tutorials out there on the web for making these, but I thought I would show you how I went about making mine.

Fabric Covered Button Magnet Tutorial
Supplies:
Covered Button Kit (7/8″)
7/8″ uncovered buttons (aka 36)
Fabric Scraps
Pliers
Craft glue
Plain round magnets
Directions:
Cut circles of fabric according the the cardboard template that comes with the covered button kit.
Remove the shank from the back of the button with pliers.  You will remove this because you will need a flat surface to adhere your magnet.
Cover your button.
Place a dab of strong craft glue onto the back of the covered button.
Place magnet on top of glue and allow to set overnight.  As you can see, the 7/8″ buttons work perfectly with your standard round magnets!
Now you have a beautiful set of custom covered button magnets for your fridge or anywhere else in your home that has a magnetic surface. Enjoy!
Cottage Mama’s Note:  To give these as a gift, use coordinating designer fabric.  I used Heather Bailey’s “Freshcut” and Mary Engelbreit’s “Recipe for Friendship” for two separate sets.
11
Dec

Classic Sugar Cookies

Today I baked Christmas sugar cookies with my two girls.  Well, mostly with my older daughter, Savannah.  Matilda (my 5-month old) sat in her boppy chair and watched us – she was there for moral support.

I wasn’t quite sure how this was going to go.  I liked the idea of doing something Christmasy with Savannah, but when I say she is my older daughter……she’s not that much older at only 21-months.  Anyway, I thought we would give it a whirl – if things started to go south, I would just abort the mission – no harm done.

I made the sugar cookie dough while the girls napped and let it chill in the fridge for a couple hours.  Then I rolled out the cookies and off we went.  To my surprise, Savannah did AWESOME!!  I showed her how to use the cookie cutters and she followed my instructions perfectly.  Then I showed her how to use sprinkles which she thought was great fun!  As each batch came out of the oven, she had to try a cookie to make sure we didn’t have any faulty batches – even more fun!!!  All the while, shouting, “yay, yay”!!  She had a blast and so did I.  Here’s my little budding chef in the kitchen:

She had to try one of her cookies!!  I just think she looks adorable in her apron – it says “Please Kiss the Cook!” – how could I not kiss that little face!?
Very precise with her decorating.
Using the snowman cookie cutter (that was her favorite)!

I had such a great time teaching her the ways in the kitchen and I can’t wait to do it again!  I’m not sure if you have a great sugar cookie recipe, so if not, here is my Classic Sugar Cookie recipe (comes from The Chopping Block Cooking School in downtown Chicago):

Classic Sugar Cookies
Ingredients:
2 cups flour
1 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
5 ounces (10 tbs) unsalted butter
3/4 cup sugar
1 egg
1 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
Directions:
Combine the flour, baking powder, and salt with a whisk.  In a separate bowl, beat butter and sugar with an electric mixer until creamy.  Add egg and vanilla.  Add flour mixture until combined, then divide the dough into 2 disks and chill 2 hours or overnight.
Roll dough and cut into shapes.  Bake on un-greased cookie sheets in a preheated 350 degree oven until edges are golden, about 7-9 minutes.  Cool on sheets for 5 minutes, then transfer to racks to cool completely.  Decorate as desired.
Makes 2-3 dozen cookies.
Cottage Mama’s Note:  If you plan to decorate your cookies with colored sugars (like we did) then brush the top of the cookies with egg white before adding sugar (do all of this prior to baking).  If you plan to decorate with frosting, wait until cookies have fully cooled.
11
Dec

Fleece Fish Tutorial

My daughter loves fish – she particularly loves “Dorothy” (that’s Elmo’s fish……for those of you that don’t know).  I haven’t seen too many plush fish on the market, so I decided that I would make her a giant stuffed fish for Christmas.

This fish is made entirely from fleece.  A lot of this project involves free-hand drawing.  It is very easy (beginning sewing) – it just takes some patience due to all the fish scales that you will be sewing on the body (but that’s what makes it cool!).  Remember, the raw-edges of fleece doesn’t fray, so that’s why this is the perfect material for this fish!

I made this a girly fish, but you could change the colors around to make it more primary for a boy or more realistic by using blues, greens, and browns.  Let your imagination guide the way!!

Fleece Fish Tutorial

Supplies:
4 different colors of fleece (1 for the body and 3 different colors for the scales)
Scissors
Sewing Machine
Straight Pins
Fiberfill (or whatever stuffing material you choose)
Thread
Hand Sewing Needle
 
Directions:
Cut out scales.  I drew these free-hand and used about 1/4 yard of each color fleece (so that would be 3/4 yard total) for my large-sized fish.
Draw (free-hand) your fish onto fleece.  You can make it big or small – mine was about 36″ long. Cut out 2 fish from fleece (one for front and one for the back).
Pin the top of the right sides of the fish together and sew the top. Turn right-side out (the sides and the bottom of the fish will still be open).
Open up your fish.
On the right side of the fish, pin your scales all in a row, alternating colors.
Stitch scales in place (1/2″ seam allowance).
Layer next row of scales on top, covering about half of the previous row and stitch in place (1/2″ seam allowance).
Continue to do this until your fish is completely covered up towards the face.  I chose to leave the top and bottom fin as well as the tail without scales – you can cover them or not – it’s up to you!
Then cut a strip of fleece to finish your final row of scales (about 3/4″ wide).  
Stitch the long piece of fleece on top of the un-finished edge of the final row of scales.
Cut out two half circles for the mouth (draw freehand). Pin and sew.
Cut out eyes (draw freehand). Pin and sew.
 
Now turn fish inside out so that the wrong sides are together and stitch around the entire fish – 1/2″ seam allowance (leaving about a 6 inch opening – I left part of the tail open).
 
Turn fish right side out.
 
Stuff fish.
 
Close opening by hand sewing.
 
Now your happy fish is complete!!
Cottage Mama’s Note:  If you have any questions about this tutorial, feel free to leave me a comment or send me an email!
10
Dec

Three Things

“I’ve learned that you can tell a lot about a person by the way he/she handles these three things: a rainy day, lost luggage, and tangled Christmas tree lights.” 
-Maya Angelou
This is one of my favorite quotes.  So simple, yet so true.  There are so many people in this world that get upset over such little things in life.  And I often wonder, are those that sweat the small stuff truly happy?  If one is able to let themselves get so frustrated, angry and upset over little things, perhaps there are bigger issues at hand that are manifesting themselves in small day to day activities.  


I’ve lost my bag (and our carseat) several times while traveling and yes, it is frustrating, but I know that no one intentionally tried to have me lose my bag…….sometimes things happen.  Is it really worth ruining someone’s day over something so small and trivial as lost luggage?  I mean really the person at the baggage claim wasn’t the one that actually lost the bag.  They are just there trying to help remedy a situation where someone else made a mistake.


So this holiday season, I ask you this…….before you sweat the small stuff in life, ask yourself, is it really worth it?

8
Dec

Cloth Baby Doll Diaper Tutorial

I have had several requests for a cloth baby doll diaper tutorial.  These were the diapers that I recently made for my daughter’s friend Ava’s 2nd birthday.  So ask, and ye shall receive!!

The diapers were incredibly simple to make, so if you are just a beginner sewer, go ahead and give these a whirl – you will definitely be able to handle this project.  If you have a little girl (or boy) in your life, these would make a perfect Christmas gift!!

I used the cloth diaper template from Skip to my Lou (www.skiptomylou.org ), but then just did things a little differently to make them adjustable.  Here is the link to the Skip to my Lou template:  http://www.skiptomylou.org/wp-content/uploads/2008/09/baby-doll-diaper-11.pdf


Supplies:
Fabric (yardage depends on how many diapers you plan to make – 1 yard of each would make plenty of diapers)
-Outer fabric: Snuggle Flannel
-Inner fabric:  Fleece
–Skip to my Lou pdf template
Velcro
Matching Thread
Sewing Machine
Straight Pins
Scissors
Iron

Directions:
Print out baby doll diaper pattern (pdf link above).  Pin pattern on fold of fabric.  Cut 2 diapers (one from the outer fabric and one from the inner).

Pin the two pieces of fabric (right sides together) and stitch (1/2″ seam allowance) almost all the way around, but leaving about a 2″ opening.  Turn diaper right side out (through the 2″ opening) and press with an iron.

Then top-stitch (meaning stitch around entire diaper 1/4″ from the edge).  This will close the 2″ gap you left open that was needed to turn the diaper inside out.  Press with iron again after top-stitching.

Pin velcro in place.  Use a long strip of velcro (the rough part) across the front of the diaper (on the flannel side).  The long strip of velcro will allow these doll diapers to be adjustable to fit many different sized baby dolls.  Pin two small squares of velcro (the soft part – one on each side) for the tabs (on the fleece side).  Stitch all velcro in place (1/4″ seam allowance).

Now your diapers are complete!!  Wasn’t that simple?  I made these diapers in about an hour and you can too!

Then get out your baby doll and make sure they are a good fit – we had to try Miss Ava’s baby doll diapers out on Elmo.
Yep, a perfect fit!!
5
Dec

Baby Doll Kit

Today was my daughter Savannah’s friend Ava’s 2nd birthday party and we had such a great time!  It just so happens that the playgroup we attend is pretty much dominated by boys, so it’s really nice for Savannah to have a girlfriend here and there.

Savannah has known Ava since she was 4 weeks old and Ava was about 4 months old, so pretty much 95% of her life :-).  Ava is such a sweet girl.  She is tiny, petite, a little on the shy side, beautiful and very smart.  I’m so happy that Savannah has Ava as one of her first “girlfriends”.

I was trying to decided what to make sweet, sweet Ava for her birthday.  I had two ideas; one was a baby doll kit (all the accessories for her baby dolls) or a dress up princess box (i.e. tutu, wand, crown, ect.).  Savannah recently had a “girls only” play date with Ava and I realized that at 2 years old all they want to do is be “Little Mommy’s” so the baby doll kit was the winner!

I had so much fun making all of these little things.  I got my inspiration from the most recent Potterybarn Kids catalogue.

The baby doll kit consisted of:

-Three cloth diapers with velcro closure (flannel outside and fleece interior).  I used a large strip of velcro across the front so they would fit multiple size baby dolls.  We had to try them on Elmo to make sure they fit properly!!

-Chenille changing pad that rolls and ties with a ribbon (one side is flannel and the other chenille)

-Wipes case (made of felt) with white, flannel cloth wipes.

-A bag with an appliqued “A” for her to carry everything in.

I really hope Miss Ava enjoys her gift (I think she will!).  I am absolutely in love with anything that helps children pretend play – I think that is the gateway to true adult creativity and imagination.  I know Ava is going to be such a good “Little Mommy”!!

Happy Birthday Miss Ava!!

Cottage Mama’s Note:  If you would like a tutorial on how to make any of these items, please leave me a comment or send me an email and I will be happy to post one!