Merry Christmas!!!

Merry Christmas to each of you.

I was listening to some Christmas music yesterday which led me to dwell on the baby Jesus. I wondered if he was a fussy baby, if he had croup, if he gave his parent's trouble with sleeping. Did he fall asleep easily, take naps, spit out his veggies. Then I realized how awesome it is that our Lord, our savior, our redeemer was a baby, cried and was cared for by Mary. How awesome is this that I can today ponder these questions that he was fully human and needy of a Mother's affections.

I hope that each of you are able to spend a moment reflecting this. That you are known by him and are loved abundantly. May you realize you were loved so much that God give Jesus to all that will believe in him.

Merry Christmas and may you fully realize the Lord's blessings in your life!!!

Merry Christmas

Merry Christmas to all that celebrate it!

I love making my own Christmas Cards and the Creative Memories Storybook software helps me so much in creating these. Last year I purchased a few vintage postcards and used those to create my cards using the Storybook software. I was in one of my favorite shops around Easter last year and discovered a few vintage Christmas postcards and purchased them. I have so much fun scanning these in and creating my own cards using bits and pieces of each vintage postcard. Above is actually an Easter postcard that I found of Mary. I love this picture of her and cropped her to convert her to a Christmas Card. I think it captures the true meaning of Christmas so wonderfully.

Below are the other three cards I created using the software, our own family pictures and bits and pieces of the vintage post cards. I love the modern card of just the two kids, very different from the traditional feel of the other two. I used some of the tools in the Storybook software and I think this took me literally 2 minutes to create. Sometimes simple is better!

Enjoy!!!

New Craft Venture . .this is why I have been absent.

I found the idea for this craft in a holiday craft magazine. I will have to scan the picture in to share. The craft used instant paper mache which I have never worked with before. Well at least since grade school!

I called them snowmen tassels and they came out very unique and very eccentric. They each had a their own personality and should have each had their own name. I would have named each individually if I had time more time! These were a labor of love to say the least. I enjoyed working with the paper mache and the more I made the better I became at working with the medium. I found the fast dry paper mache is better to work with and only takes a couple of days to dry! :-)

I would have taken some action shots but your hands get really messy and honestly no one else was around! I had to make these during naps or bed times as this was not a 3 year old friendly project. Or I should say not a project for a 3 year old while you are trying to sell your house at the same time! :-)

So here is the before picture:

And here are their pictures from their photos shoots. I made about 14 in all. This is just a sampling! I may try and perfect this as the medium was very fun to work with.

Gingersnaps!

I love a good Gingersnap, it has to be crunchy on the outside, and soft on the inside. My father-n-law also loves Gingersnap. We had my mother-n-law and father-n-law over for dinner Sunday night and to decorate the tree. I re-discovered the recipe when looking for a cooking recipe other than chocolate chip cookies. This is a great easy recipe and one of my tried and true. Thought I would share this recipe since it is that time of year when you are invited to cookie swaps! Enjoy!!!!

I should note that this recipe was in a publication called The Dinner Bells which was a collection of recipes benefiting St. Jame's church here in Richmond.

The Inn At Little Washington's Gingersnaps

3c flour

1 1/2 T. baking powder

2 tsp. cinnamon

2 tsp. ginger

1 1/2 tsp. ground cloves

1 1/2 tsp. salt

1 1/2 cup sugar

1/2 cup plus 2 T. unsalted butter, softened & cut into pieces

1/2 cup dark molasses

2 eggs

Extra sugar for dipping dough

Mix all ingredients together. Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Roll dough into 1 inch balls. Roll balls in sugar. Bake for 10 - 12 minutes. Loosen cookies with spatula. Cookies will be soft but firm up as they cool. Cool for 30 minutes then transfer to paper towels. Freezes well.

Yields 3 dozen.