Category Archives: Crafts

Taiwan Number 1!

1 Reply

You either know what I am referring to in my title, or you have no idea.  Look up the video for some hilarious trolling of mainland Chinese gamers.

I’m finally back!  Not that I went anywhere.  I have plenty of excuses of why I haven’t posted in so long, but no more excuses.  After a couple tries, I got my password right, and here I am typing away.  I missed some peak crafting and feasting holidays, so hope everyone had memorable and joyous celebrations with friends and family over the last few months.

My family was fortunate to celebrate one last Christmas with one of my aunts on my dad’s side.  She passed away last week, so we just had her funeral.  When I was younger, I’d excitedly look forward to being older.  Older meant being able to drive, go to college, go to clubs, earn more money, travel more, buy nice things, upgrade to even nicer things, etc.  But I forgot that growing older meant everyone else grows older too.  My family members, especially the older ones are having more health problems.  I’ve already lost several relatives, and too often I hear of friends losing parents.  That scares me because my parents are definitely not as healthy as they were a few years ago.

When my aunt passed, it was a bit of a wake up call.  Many of the photos I saw at her viewing were of her surrounded by loved ones, traveling with my uncle, and it looked like she really enjoyed her life.  I am always impressed, amazed, and a little jealous when I hear of people who live life to their fullest doing kick ass things and going to kick ass places.  It’s not like I can’t do it, but I wonder how they wade out of life’s bullshit in order to do it.  My days are a blur of humdrum routine.  I am grateful for a stable life, but as Ariel sang it, I want more.  I’m not sure how to take my first steps in order to feel more fulfilled.  Just the other day I was looking at the On This Day posts on Facebook, and I read something I wrote in 2007.  Back then, I was in grad school and just getting started with my professional life, and I wanted to do so much to help people.  (I was in social work).  I wanted to touch people’s lives, and somehow life just happened.  I turned into a negative, naysayer grown up stuck in my dull grown up life, and who have I helped lately?!  I keep looking for a lifesaver to drag me back to where I want to be, but that’s not going to work.  I need to swim my ass out, but man I suck at swimming.  I really do.

Wtf, what am I even writing.  I had this post all planned out in my mind, and I was going to write about the project I just finished yesterday.

My mom left for Taiwan yesterday to visit her sisters.  One of my aunts is an artist, like, a legit artist who went to art school, published books of her works, and teaches art class.  When I was little, she went to art school in D.C., so she stayed with us and helped raise us.  I attribute my love for arts and crafts to her early introduction and lessons.  Her health has been pretty bad for the last few years and she is unable to fly over to visit anymore.  When Zoe showed an interest in arts and crafts, I had these dreams of my aunt giving her lessons over the years.  They would certainly be more lenient and pleasant than my childhood lessons.  Somehow once a parent or in this case parent figure becomes a grandparent, they morph from strict authoritative taskmaster to cooing, warm and fuzzies, and lots of candy.  Unfortunately, we can only visit so often, but Zoe has been to Taiwan twice already, and she loves it, and my aunts obviously love her to pieces.

So a few days before my mom left, I was struck with this idea to make something for my aunt.  I’ve shown my aunt pictures of projects I’ve made, but I haven’t made anything for her yet.  I guess this was kind of like a rite of passage for a pupil to show her master how much she has progressed.  My idea was a bit involved, but I worked on it nonstop for 3 days and got it done and delivered.  I made a felt map of Taiwan with iconic images that are hopefully recognizable to people who are familiar with Taiwan.  I wanted to express my love for Taiwan and arts and crafts.

My love for Taiwan is kind of hard to explain.  I was born in America, this will always be my home, I love this country, and I have no intention of moving elsewhere.  But, I spent many childhood summers in Taiwan, and I feel a deep and heartfelt connection to Taiwan.  I think this is a sentiment that some of my ABC (American born Chinese) friends, or native Taiwanese friends may share.  By the way, I’m only talking about Taiwan.  Even though I am Chinese, I have no ties and very little love for mainland China.

It’s ironic.  My written and spoken Chinese is horrible and I’ve forgotten much of my history lessons from my East Asian studies days.  When I visit Taiwan, it’s painfully obvious that I am a foreigner, an ABC.  I may have the same hair, eye, and skin color, but I don’t dress like the natives, I don’t walk like them, or carry myself like them, and when I open my mouth, it’s just confirmation that I don’t truly belong.  When people hear me speak my Chinglish, the reactions are basically “Wtf is wrong with your Chinese?” or “Ooh your Chinese is so good…for an American.”  So it’s a little ironic and strange to me that even though I know I will always be an outsider, my heart still swells with joy when I go back, and when it’s time to go home, I feel like I am leaving a piece of me behind.  It’s also interesting that when people speak of visiting Taiwan, in Chinese they use the word for “return.”  So when translated to English, they say I am returning to Taiwan, instead of I am going to or vacationing in Taiwan.  Even us ABC’s use that word, as if we are off to the homeland.

I really want my daughter to feel a similar love and connection to Taiwan.  She is only half Chinese, and it’s been difficult for me to teach her Chinese…everything, since it’s like the blind leading the blind.  So far she has been very receptive to Chinese school and she’s already made good memories in Taiwan.  My biggest fear is that my aunt will pass away before Zoe really gets to know her.  It is a gripping, painful fear that hits me whenever I hear of my aunt having a particularly hard time overcoming some new issue, or having to switch meds, etc.  It’s not exactly an easy or cheap trip to fly around the world all the time, so it fills me with anxiety that the clock is counting down, and we only have a limited time left with her.  I mentioned plural aunts, and I love my other aunt dearly.  But I have a special place in my heart for my artist aunt, since she had a big hand in raising me, and she taught me so much.

I’ve written a lot more than I had planned, and it got a little dark, so let me wrap things up.  Like I said, the little icons I made are hopefully recognizable.  But in case you can’t tell what the heck I made, I’ll give a brief explanation.  Starting from the top left, that is the Taiwan flag.  Underneath that is the Maokong Gondola, Zoe’s absolute favorite place to visit in Taiwan.  The view from the gondola, especially if you get in one with the see through floor, is beautiful.  The bridge is Lover’s Bridge in Tamsui.  Tamsui is a great place to spend a few hours exploring: tons of vendors, street food, ferry ride, historic buildings, and scenic views.  Next to that is Taipei 101, which used to be the world’s tallest building.  Chiang Kai-Shek Memorial Hall is a national monument.  That is a cup of bubble tea next to the memorial since Taiwan is where bubble tea originated.  Man is bubble tea super cheap and tasty in Taiwan!  $1 USD will get you a large delicious cup that is normally $4-5 here.  Great for the wallet, horrible for the waistline.  Under that is a red lantern.  The mountains represent Sun Moon Lake.  Some of the most gorgeous scenery I’ve ever seen were at Sun Moon Lake.  Next to that is a steamer of soup dumplings.  I know soup dumplings are a Shanghainese specialty, but when in Taiwan, Din Tai Fung is a crucial stop.  Their location in Hong Kong even has a Michelin star, but anyways, their food is damn good.  I went last time, and I was skeptical because I heard even their fried rice was outstanding.  I tried their fried rice, and holy shit it was freaking good.  Their soup dumplings are the best I’ve had, and they have dessert dumplings with chocolate filling.  Okok, I can write several paragraphs about the place if I don’t stop now.  Under the soup dumplings is a squid on a stick.  Squid on a stick is a popular street food, actually you can find various foods on a stick all over the place.  This squid represents the myriads of street foods that have me salivating right now.  Next to the squid is a bowl of beef noodle soup, another popular food.  Next to that is a pot of tea, because Taiwan produces good tea.  The waterfall on the southern tip represents the various waterfalls and other beautiful places to visit outside of the cities.  Those are scuba fins in the water.  I’ve never been to that area of Taiwan, but I know there are amazing diving spots in the south.  Oh yeah, I sewed the words Taiwan in Chinese.  That took freaking forever!  I didn’t even know what the second character looked like so I had to Google it, and of course it’s a super complicated character with many strokes.  Those 2 Chinese characters were over an hour right there.  I wanted to add some more to the map, but I ran out of time.  I really like how the map turned out.  Maybe I will make one for my home.  Oh and props to my husband for busting out the sewing machine and sewing the edges, and sawing and drilling my dowel.  My photography skills suck.  I have to say, in person, this map looks amazing.  It really does!

Got Me All Choked Up

1 Reply

It’s been months since I made a craft project.  Summer has been a blur, but I’ve been slowly cleaning the house when possible.  As much as I wanted to start a project, it was just too much trouble to break out the materials, spread out all over the table, and then have to deal with clean up.  Plus, I wasn’t really sure what project to work on next.  There are plenty of things I would love to try making, but nothing appealed enough for me to put the effort into researching, shopping for materials, and actually making.

I was doing some browsing and shopping online, and a photo of a lace choker popped up.  I’ve never been into chokers, even though I somehow acquired a bunch of them during my middle and high school years.  I don’t like how restricting they feel, plus I think my neck is too short and thick to pull one off.  But man, I could not stop thinking about that lace choker.  It was kind of goth, dark yet delicate, and sexy.  I don’t know if I’d ever wear one, but I wanted one.

I’ve been avoiding the craft stores, but my daughter wanted to go yesterday, so I jumped at the opportunity to get some materials.  This was a really easy project, and I’m not just saying that so you’d get suckered into making one too.  It really was an easy project.

I got a yard of lace ribbon from the craft store.  There were all sorts of lace ribbon, but I wanted one that I could hang beads off of, so I got this doily looking one.  After much hemming and hawing, I picked a pendant to be the centerpiece.  Also needed are ribbon clamps for the ends of the ribbon.  There are several size clamps, so get ones that fit your ribbon.  I also got out an adjustable lobster clasp with jump rings to attach to the ribbon clamp.  I wanted to add additional little beads, so I picked some beads from my stash, and head pins.  Get a pair of sharp scissors and needle nose pliers too.

I first wrapped the ribbon around my neck to figure out how much I needed.  I left a small gap between the two ends, so someone with a thinner neck could also wear the choker.  That’s why I used an adjustable lobster clasp.  I used the pliers to attach the ribbon clamps to the ends of the ribbon.

Then I used the pliers to attach the jump rings to the ribbon clamps.

I went over this in my bead earrings post, but to attach the little beads, just slide the bead onto the head pin.  If your head pin is too long, just snip a bit off with wire cutters.

Use the pliers to curl the end of the pin into a loop.  Don’t close the loop yet.

Use the pliers to squeeze the loop shut once you hook the head pin onto the ribbon.

I attached the little beads first, and then my pendant as the finishing touch.  There you have it.  That was pretty simple, right?

Ok, so the choker is way too big (there is a ton of overlap on the back of her neck) and grown up for my five year old, but I needed a neck to model the choker, and it was either her, or her 3′ tall Elsa doll.

Terr, Ah Cot A Pot For You!

1 Reply

I couldn’t think of anything clever for the title other than drug references, so this was the best I could do.  My husband didn’t get it, but it might help if you say it out loud!

It’s been so long since my last post, it took me a few minutes to remember how to log in.  I’ve been meaning to crank out a post, but I am the lazy sort.  A lot has been going on over the last couple of months, so life has been hectic, as usual.  Right now, I am making myself get to stuff that I’ve been putting off, including writing a blog post, and doing some serious house cleaning.

I started reorganizing all my arts and crafts supplies.  I am a slob, so over the last half year, I’ve been leaving my stuff all over the floors and various table tops.  Anytime I had guests over, I’d scoop everything up and dump them in a pile on top of my work table, under it, and next to it.  My work table got completely covered, and as a result, I worked on projects on the dining table and kitchen table, and they became covered, and so on and so forth.  What a vicious cycle.  But, I just have no more space left to work on stuff, so here we are.  Hardcore spring cleaning.

Speaking of spring, how is it almost over already?  The weather here is so freaking bipolar, springtime always feels so short.  I swear, it was just snowing not long ago, now the air conditioning is on.  My daughter only has a couple more weeks of school left.  She loves school, and is genuinely sad when she has to miss school.  I really hope she feels like that when she is older!  Her teachers are all amazing, which obviously plays a huge role in her love for school.  We want to give them a thank you present, so I racked my brain for a project that my daughter could help make.

I wanted to give her teachers something meaningful that she helped make.  I walked around the craft store looking for inspiration.  I saw terra-cotta pots in the floral section, so I finally decided to give her teachers a potted plant.  I had my daughter help me paint the pots, and then I got some Hen and Chicks succulents, or sempervivum.  The Hen and Chicks are very low maintenance since they do not require frequent watering.  If you forget them for a while, they will still be alright.  I also thought it was a cute idea, since you know, teachers are like hens, and the students are like chicks.

I never painted a terracotta pot before, so I did a little research on various diy gardening sites.  We first peeled off the stickers and scrubbed the pots clean.  Some of the sites recommended using sandpaper to smooth out uneven surfaces, but as you know, I am lazy.  Plus, I didn’t notice any really uneven spots.  Here, our clean pots are drying outside.

I got several bottles of patio paint.  This paint is for terra-cotta, concrete, wood, and masonry, so they fit my need.  Patio paint is water resistant and does not need a separate sealer.  Some of the sites I visited, used regular acrylic paint, but they also used a sealer on the pots first so water would not screw up the paint job.  The sealer at the store cost more than all my bottles of paint, and I do not need that much sealer, so I just got the paint.

There were stencils conveniently placed right next to the patio paints and pots.  Even though I already have stencils at home, I decided to get these since they are stick on AND reusable.  I figure it would save some trouble to just stick these stencils on the pot instead of struggling to hold a regular stencil in place.  Yay for craft store coupons!

My daughter and I painted the pots.  I did not get a primer, so we just covered the pots and saucers with a layer of white patio paint first.  I don’t know if that really made a difference, but whatever.  I figure in any case, it would make the colors pop more if they were painted on a white surface as opposed to a reddish-brown surface.  The terra-cotta soaked the paint right up, so it took many layers of paint to achieve the color we wanted.

Notice that I protected my table with a layer of scrap paper.  That was actually a bad idea.  The paint is really tacky, and kept sticking to the paper, and bits of paper would stick to the paint, or paint would get ripped off of the pot.  So after a couple of frustrating paint layers, I finally wised up, and got out plastic place mats, and that helped a lot.

This pot is ready for stenciling.  The stick on stencils really were convenient.

Dab dab dab.  We ended up just using foam brushes.  It was easier to apply the paint than using regular paint brushes.

And the big reveal!  Ok, so it’s not perfect.  The paint does bleed a bit.  BUT, no worries.  After the paint dried a bit, I fixed it.

More smeary paint awaiting a makeover.

This is a nail art dotting tool.  If you do not happen to have one of these, a tooth pick should work too.

After the first stencil layer dried, I used the dotting tool to apply more paint, and clean up the fuzzy lines.  Now that’s what I’m talking about.  I love it when my craft supply hoarding pays off.

After following the paint instructions and allowing the paint to fully dry, I sprayed the pots and saucers with a few coats of glossy acrylic sealer.  I like things extra glossy.  Plus, the sealer made the patio paint less tacky feeling.

Finally, everything is dried and ready for the succulents.  I used fast draining potting soil for cacti and succulents, and popped a Hen and Chick into each pot.  This project took a few days because of the drying times, but it was rewarding to go from a regular blah looking terra-cotta pot to a bright customized piece of art.  My daughter was very excited to make these for her teachers.

Pat-a-Cake, Pat-a-Cake, Baker’s Man, Bake Me A…Ok, So It’s Not A Cake

Leave a reply

We had a family baby shower for my cousin recently.  Technically, she is my first cousin once removed.  But, who actually calls their family members by that?  Anyways, my cousin is having a baby, and for their shower, they requested diapers and wipes in lieu of presents.  I couldn’t pass up on an opportunity to make a diaper cake.  The last diaper cake I made was a few years ago, so I googled for some fresh ideas and inspiration.  Along with cakes, I also found some images of diaper tricycles, and they were super cute.  Diaper tricycle > diaper cake.  I had to try making a tricycle.

When I make diaper cakes, I don’t use the rubber band method.  That’s when you tightly roll each diaper and wrap a rubber band around it.  They make gorgeous diaper cakes, and I, myself, received a beautiful cake when I was pregnant.  (Love you Tahrra!)  But from a crafter’s standpoint, it takes a while to roll and tie each little diaper.  And from a new parent’s standpoint, when you have a baby who just had a massive, nasty, blowout, and you’re trying to quickly wrangle on a clean diaper…those tight rolls are a hassle to unroll and keep unfurled.  I wouldn’t have known that until I became a mom, but, now I know.

I mashed up two of my favorite activities, and used large mixing bowls and cake pans to build the diaper cake.  I used that same method to make the tricycle.  You’ll see in the photos below.

I bought a box of Pampers Baby Dry Size 1 diapers.  I ended up using 99 diapers for the tricycle.  I probably could have squeezed some more diapers in, oh well.

Here is my oh so handy, 10 inch springform pan, which will be used for my wheels.  And you thought they were only good for cheesecakes?!  If you don’t have a springform pan, you can also use a regular cake pan, or a large mixing bowl or pot.  But I really like how convenient it is to pop the cake pan apart once I’m ready.

Start stacking the diapers to spiral around the cake pan.

What a nice spiral of tiny butt wrappings.

After my rant about not liking rolled up diapers, I did stuff the middle of the wheel with 3 LOOSELY rolled diapers (no rubber bands used).  I probably could have made a small spiral in the middle, but maybe I will try that next time.

Then I tightly tied a ribbon around the diaper wheel.  I used the flat ribbon used for balloons.

POP that latch

Yeeah, freshly made diaper wheel.

I made 3 wheels.

Originally, I was going to wrap a thick ribbon around each wheel.  But, I didn’t like the ribbons I had at home, so I used strips of cotton fabric from another project.  I used regular Scotch tape to secure the ends of the fabric strips.

This is a 4 pack of receiving blankets.  They came rolled up already.  You may have to re-roll them to adjust their lengths.

I picked 2 blankets to be used for tying the wheels together.  I unrolled them, and placed a length of ribbon that is a little longer than the blanket.

Then I rolled the blanket back up and taped the sides to keep the roll secure.

I (gently) shoved one end of the blanket through the center of the front wheel, and the other end through the center of one of the rear wheels.

Then I tied the ends of the ribbon together.  This part will be covered up later.

Do the same with the other blanket, and shove one end through the front wheel, and the other end through the second rear wheel.

I tucked a bib over the middle section, so it looks like a tricycle seat.

Now, back to the front of the tricycle.  Place another bib over the front wheel, and then put a sippy cup on top of the bib.  Secure it by sliding a piece of ribbon through the center of the front wheel, and tying it around the bib and sippy cup.

Take the remaining 2 receiving blankets, and gently poke their ends into the center of the front wheel.  These 2 blankets will be the handlebars.

Tie the blankets with a ribbon right above the sippy cup, and turn the blankets out so they look like handlebars.  Cover up the ribbon and the rest of the sippy cup with another bib.

Then I stuck a mitten on each handlebar, and tied a bow.

The finished tricycle is pretty difficult to transport on it’s own, so I cut out a piece of cardboard box, and wrapped the top with wrapping paper.  This served as the cake platter.

Back of the tricycle.

Side view.

Materials:
– 10 inch springform pan
– 99 size 1 diapers
– 4 receiving blankets
– 3 bibs
– 1 sippy cup
– 1 pair of mittens
– ribbon
– tape
– cardboard box
– wrapping paper

If You Liked It, Then You Should Have Put a Mark In It

Leave a reply

My daughter is in a preschool class at a nearby Montessori school.  Back in December, she thrilled us by starting to sound out and read words.  Despite having known her alphabet since she was a toddler, I could never get her to understand how to put letters together to form words.  But thanks to the efforts of her teachers, it finally clicked.  It was like the floodgates had burst open.  Once she started getting the simple 3 letter words, she kept going full speed ahead.  Now, she is talking about chapter books, and it’s only been 3 months since she learned how to read!!

Ever since she was a baby, my husband has read her a book right before bedtime.  Now that she is moving on to longer and wordier books, sometimes it takes several nights to finish a book.  For the last year, she’s taken to using little strips of tissue to mark her place.  It’s not a big deal, but the tissue bits tend to get crumpled and torn, and make a mess.  She’s gotten free paper bookmarks from various events, but their current locations are a mystery.

Every few months, I get together with my crafty girlfriends, and we spend the day eating and working on craft projects.  For my project, I decided to surprise my daughter with magnetic bookmarks.

This is a quick and easy project, and it can be as simple or as fancy as you want.  I got a few pieces of plain cardstock (they were on sale 5 for $1), stickers, and a magnet roll (less than $1).  The magnet comes with adhesive on one side.

I cut a strip of paper that was about 2 inches wide.  I used a paper cutter since I have sucked at cutting straight lines ever since I was a kid.  I wanted to make the bookmark more durable, so I found a roll of duct tape.  I got this duct tape last summer for another project, but it happens to match my bookmarks quite well.

I carefully taped one side of the cardstock.  Then I saw that I was not careful enough, so I used the paper cutter to trim the edges that were uneven.

Fold the strip in half.

Decorate with stickers.

Cut 2 small pieces of magnet off the roll, and stick them on the ends of the bookmark.

I ended up cutting the ends to make them curved.  I kept the decorating minimal and just used stickers.  But there are so many other fun ways to decorate, like, glitter, paint, stencils, stamps, ribbon, etc.  I think this could be a future project for my daughter to do, to give away to her friends.

Yay, they don’t fall out of the book!

I Made a Vision of Love

Leave a reply

I don’t know about you guys, but my fridge is completely covered.  Some of the coverage comes from stray splatters of food, but fortunately, most of the fridge is covered with holiday cards, birth announcements, wedding invitations, photo booth strips, etc.  I love seeing that chaotic collage of cards and photos everyday.  Seeing how well everyone is doing gives me the warm fuzzies, and it reminds me of how fortunate we are to be in touch with so many old and new friends.

So, my point is, the outside of my fridge is prime real estate.  When we get a new card, it is a big production to rearrange everything to squeeze in the new addition.

Cue in Valentines Day.  My daughter had her first Valentine’s Day party at her school.  She was excited for days, and made her own cards to pass out at school.  I remember celebrating Valentine’s Day as a little kid.  It was a fun event, decorating the paper bag and bringing it home, full of cards and treats.  As expected, she came home yesterday, super happy with her baggie full of stuff to show me.  But, there is no way I will rearrange the fridge doors to cram on a whole class worth of cards.

Good thing I am an impulsive craft supply shopper, and I hoard craft supplies.  I was at Target last week, and I stopped by the dollar section.  I was weak that day.  I normally try to avoid that section, but these cute clothespins caught my eye.  I decided to make some kind of clothesline for my daughter’s Valentine’s cards.

I looked through my random leftover supplies from previous projects, and found these little wooden hearts and circles.

I painted the circles white, and the hearts red.  I did first paint the hearts white, like a coat of primer.  That way the red paint looks brighter.  Then I glued the hearts on top of the circles.  I happened to have a can of glossy acrylic sealer.  It’s not necessary, but I had some, so I used it.  I like how it gives the shapes a shiny, smooth coat.  It’s hard to see in the photo, but believe me, they are shiny.

I got a few removable mounting squares that are double sided, and some ribbon.

I cut out several strips of ribbon, and hot glued them to the back of the circles.  Then I stuck a mounting square on top.

Then I stuck the circle hearts to my daughter’s closet door.  Tadaa, cute clothesline for cards.

My daughter doesn’t know I did this yet.  I’m looking forward to seeing her face brighten up when she sees this later.

I will probably keep this up all year so she can hang up her own birthday cards, holiday cards, and artwork.

The mounting squares are removable, so you can also stick the clothesline to the wall or a cabinet door.  If you don’t have little wooden circles and hearts lying around in your house, you can also use large decorative buttons, small plastic toys, decorative tiles, flat glass beads.  Just make sure the mounting squares can hold the weight.

O Oreo, O Oreo, How Sweet and Oh So Frosted!

Leave a reply

I love eating holiday cookies.  But I have absolutely no desire to stand around in the kitchen for hours mixing, rolling, baking, cooling, and cleaning.  After discovering how easy it is to dunk Oreos into melted candy to make Pokeballs and Halloween treats, are you surprised to see my holiday edition Oreos?  My daughter wanted to give presents to her classmates, so I busted out the Costco box of Oreos (can you tell I’m a big Costco fan?), candy melts, and Christmas sprinkles.

I heated the bowls of candy melts for 30 second intervals using 50% power and stirred after each 30 second session.  It took about 3-4 minutes to melt completely.  The last two times I used candy melts, I took the advice of several sites and added a spoonful of shortening to the melted candy.  The shortening is supposed to thin out the melted candy and make it smoother to work with.  This time, I wanted to melt the candy without using the shortening to compare the results.  The candy melted just fine, but the texture was a little thicker to work with.  I ended up with slightly thicker candy coats over the cookies, which is not necessarily a problem.  But as a result, I could not coat as many cookies as I thought I would.  I used a full bag of green melts, a 3/4 bag of red melts, and a 3/4 bag of white melts, and I was able to coat about 3.5 sleeves of Oreos.

I covered each cookie in candy, and used a fork to fish them out and knock off any excess candy.  As I kept working, the candy would cool and harden in my bowl, so I just popped the bowl back into the microwave for 30 seconds or so on 50% power.

The candy coats harden quickly, so work fairly quickly to decorate the cookies.  My daughter had a fun time helping.  I would dip the cookies, and she would decorate them.  I managed to decorate a few of them too.  I put them on my silicone baking mats to harden, but parchment paper or wax paper works too.

Now for the clean up.  So now you have melted semi hardened candy stuck to the bowl.  Do not soak the bowl in soapy water.  The candy will seize and turn rock solid, and then you will have to chip away the chunks and scratch the shit out of your bowl.  Yeah, been there, done that.

Instead, microwave the bowl until the candy melts again.  Scrape out as much as you can with a spoon.  Then use a paper towel to wipe up whatever is left.  See the scratches on my bowl?  That’s from when I was a candy melt newb.

For those of you too lazy or busy to bake holiday cookies, this is a fun and fairly fast way to break out a plate of festive cookies at the holiday party.  It’s a great project to do with the kids too.

Cookies ready to pass out at school.

It’s the Final Countdown…to Christmas

2 Replies

Every year, from Halloween to New Year, life is a whirlwind of activities, events and marathon eating on repeat.  With a kid, our schedules are even more packed.  You parents know what I’m talking about.  Our kids have more active social lives than we do.  I have a backlog of things that I want to share, but unfortunately, I just don’t have time right now.

Over the last month, I was away for a week because we surprised our daughter with a trip to Disney World.  That was an awesome experience by the way.  After we returned, I had to get ready for Thanksgiving festivities.  In between all the craziness, I was cranking out a huge project every moment I could spare.  And by huge, I mean physically, and also the magnitude of the details involved and time spent on it.

I wanted to make my daughter an Advent calendar.  Not just any Advent calendar that’s slapped together in an hour.  If I was going to put my time, effort, and money into this project, then it was going to be beautiful and freaking heirloom material.  Go big or go home.  And f’ing big I went.

Most people with lives would not spend 12748 hours on this project.  As my husband can tell you, I spent nearly every free moment cutting, sewing, and gluing.  Want dinner?  Eat some peanuts and string cheese.  Laundry?  Yeah…I’ve already done 6 loads since yesterday, and I probably have 2 more left.  This project can be made a lot faster if you skip most of the sewing, and just hot glue everything together.  Also, if you are not interested in a huge 4’x3′ calendar, the ornaments themselves would give your Christmas tree a really sweet and homey touch.  Most of the ornaments are only one sided though.  If I had 2 more weeks than I would have made them double sided.

Use very sharp scissors.  My scissors were recently sharpened before I started this project.  Now, my scissors are in desperate need of another sharpening.  I could tell when they started to dull because they would snip off more than I intended, and the cuts were not as clean.

You can find step by step instructions on how to make the calendar here.  The ornaments are split into part 1 and part 2.  Scroll down and you can see closeups of the ornaments since it is hard to see the details on the tree photo.

Before December 1st

On December 25th

img_9246

Nativity scene on the tree trunk

img_9233

Bell

img_9227

Candle

img_9244

Candy Cane

img_9236

Church

img_9231

Cup

Dove

img_9230

Drum

img_9237

Gingerbread Man

img_9240

Santa Hat

img_9223

Heart

img_9235

Holly

Lamb

img_9225

Mitten

img_9229

Ornament

img_9245

Poinsettia

img_9226

Present

img_9241

Reindeer

img_9239

Sleigh

img_9243

Snowflake

img_9224

Snowman

img_9232

Star

img_9228

Stocking

img_9234

Christmas Tree

img_9238

Wreath

O Christmas Tree

Leave a reply

These are the steps I took to make the banner and tree of the Advent calendar.  I actually did not mean for the calendar to be so large.  But, by the time I realized how big the finished product would be, it was too late to go back.  The entire banner is approximately 4’x3′.  You can certainly scale it down if you don’t have the wall space for this monstrosity.  Go here and here to see how to make the ornaments.

I got a yard of green felt from Joann’s.  A yard is 3 feet.  The width of the felt is 72″, so I had a lot of green felt.

img_7087

I folded the piece in half.

img_7088

I cut a triangle.  Here, my scissors are at their peak performance.

img_7089

Bam, huge ass tree.

img_7090

Some time lapsed between the tree cutting and the next step, for it is now night.  I cut out 24 pieces of paper that measured 4″x4″.  The plan was for each ornament to be smaller than 4″x4″.  I laid them out on the tree to make sure there would be enough space for everything.

img_7091

I trimmed the tree until it resembled a gigantic pile of green poop.

img_9083

I found these cute snowflake buttons at the store.  They will serve as knobs for the ornament loops.

img_9088

I used pins to first figure out where I wanted the buttons placed.

img_9086

Here is the tree after I sewed on the buttons.  I also used green DMC pearl cotton thread to whipstitch the tree.  I wanted a thicker thread so the stitches would stand out, and it also took a lot less time than messing with regular thread.  I was originally going to paint numbers on the calendar using stencils.  But after a few failed practice runs on scraps, I decided that it was too risky, and I would probably screw up.  And then I would be super pissed off and probably tear the tree apart with my bare hands and teeth.

img_9089

For the tree trunk, I used two entire sheets of brown felt, and whipstitched the sides with brown DMC pearl cotton thread.  I forgot to take a picture, but I sewed pieces of velcro onto both sheets of felt.  It’s hard to explain here, but keep scrolling, and you’ll see why.

img_9094

These are the pieces of the Virgin Mary.

img_9099

Here are the pieces of the baby Jesus.

img_9102

Here are the pieces of Joseph.

img_9106

I know the stitches on the velcro look like shit.  I hate sewing velcro, the thread always gets caught in the teeth of the velcro.  Anyways, the velcro part won’t be seen anyways, so whatever.  So the plan is to glue the nativity scene onto one sheet of felt.  The other sheet will cover up the scene until December 25th.

img_9109

img_9111

img_9113

img_9115

img_9117

I have here a yard of white felt and two yards of a holiday theme cotton fabric.  I cut them down to the size I wanted.

I got two dowels that were 48″ long and 3/4″ round.  My husband helped me trim the dowels and drilled a hole into each end of one of the dowels.  They need to be big enough to thread a ribbon through.

My husband bought me a sewing machine for Mother’s Day, but I haven’t made the time to learn how to use it yet.  He on the other hand, knows how to use a sewing machine, thanks to home ec class back in the day.  He helped me sew the felt and holiday fabric together.  He folded the ends of the banner and sewed across the fold to make a hole to insert the dowels.

I had my husband sew a strip of white felt across the back of the banner.  This will be a pouch to hold the ornaments.  Aha, genius huh?

At this point, I stopped taking pictures because it was really late and I just wanted to hurry and finish the blasted project.  I used hot glue to first glue the tree trunk that had the nativity scene.  Then I hot glued the tree in place.  BUT make sure the bottom of the tree covers up the top of the trunk where the ugly velcro stitches are.  Also leave the bottom of the tree unglued so you have access to the velcro and can do the big reveal on the 25th.

I threaded a red ribbon through the holes in the dowels and knotted the ends.  I also hot glued strips of holiday ribbon across the banner.

Aaaaah!  It is done.

Rockin’ Around the Advent Tree

Leave a reply

Here is part 1 of the instructions on how to make the tree ornaments for the Advent calendar.  Part 2 can be found here.  Most of them were pretty straightforward and simple to make.  Like I mentioned before, most of my time was spent on the sewing.  I really need to learn how to use my sewing machine.

BELL

Scissors, red ribbon, thin gold ribbon, 2 yellow felt bell shapes, gold balloon sequin, gold thread, hot glue

Cut 5″ of the thin gold ribbon and tie it into a loop. Glue the loop to the top of the bell. Whip stitch the bottoms of each bell. Hot glue the balloon sequin to one of the bells.

Whip stitch the rest of the bell together. Hot glue the bottom of the bell together.

Make a bow with the red ribbon and glue the ribbon to the bell. I decided to add more sparkles to the bell.

CANDY CANE

Thin gold ribbon, white and red ribbon, 2 white candy cane shapes, white thread, scissors, hot glue

I glued the gold loop to the top of the candy cane. Then I whip stitched the two candy canes together.

Glue the red and white ribbon around the candy cane.

CHURCH

Gold ribbon, brown thread, gold thread, 5″ thin gold loop, brown pipe cleaner twisted into a cross, dark brown door shape, star sequin, 2 light brown church shapes, scissors, hot glue

Glue the pipe cleaner cross and the gold loop to the top of the church. Use the gold thread to whip stitch the 2 church shapes together.

Whip stitch the door with the brown thread, then glue the door to the church. Glue gold ribbon to the roofs of the church. The star sequin was too big to fit on the church, so I got a smaller circle sequin instead.

CUP

Gold ribbon, white thread, 2 cup shapes, 2 cup handle shapes, thin gold ribbon, flower sequins, scissors, hot glue

Whip stitch the 2 cup handles. Whipstitch the cups together, but leave the top unsewn. Also leave 2 holes to insert the handle.

Glue the gold loop to the top corner of the cup. Glue the handle into the holes.

Glue the gold ribbon across the top of the cup, then glue the tops shut. Glue the flower sequins to the cup.

DOVE

Thin gold ribbon, 4 wing shapes, 2 body shapes, 2 beads for eyes, rhinestones, gold thread, hot glue, scissors

Sew an eye on each side of the body.  Glue the gold ribbon to the body, whipstitch the body shapes together, and whipstitch the wings.

Hot glue one wing to each side of the body.  This is a two-sided ornament.

Hot glue the rhinestones to the wings.

DRUM

Thin gold ribbon, scissors, brown thread, blue thread, 2 drum shapes, blue felt strip, white drum top, sequins, hot glue

I whip stitched the drum top and the blue strip, then I glued them to the drum. I glued the gold loop to the corned of the drum.

I threaded the thin gold thread through the drum.

Make the M shape with the gold thread, and tie off the ends.

Finish by whip stitching both drum pieces together. Then glue the sequins to the ends of the gold thread.

GINGERBREAD MAN

Hot glue, brown thread, white ribbon, thin gold ribbon, scissors, 2 gingerbread shapes, 2 white beads, red felt mouth shape, 2 green flower beads

Glue the gold loop to the top of the gingerbread man. Sew on the white bead eyes, glue the mouth shape, and sew on the flower beads.

Sew the 2 gingerbread man shapes together. Glue the white ribbon to his arms, legs, and waist.

SANTA HAT

Red Santa hat shapes, red thread, white ribbon, white pompom, thin gold ribbon, scissors, hot glue

Glue the gold loop to the top of the hat. Whip stitch the 2 hat pieces together, but leave the bottom open.

Glue the white ribbon across the bottom of the hat, and glue the pompom to the hat tip. Glue the bottom of the hat shut.

HEART

Rhinestones, silver thread, 2 heart shapes, hot glue, thin gold ribbon, scissors

Glue the gold loop to the top of the heart. Whip stitch the 2 hearts together.

I decided to add a smaller pink heart. No whip stitch necessary since the edges will be covered with rhinestones

I glued the rhinestones around the pink heart, and in the center.

HOLLY

Gold ribbon, scissors, green thread, hot glue, holly shapes, red sequins, thin gold ribbon

I glued the ends of a little piece of gold ribbon together.

I tied a piece of thin gold ribbon around the middle of the ribbon.

Easy gold bow.

Whip stitch the holly leaves together.

I decided to add a third leaf. I glued the 3 leaves together, glued the thin gold loop to the top. Then I glued the bow and sequins on.

LAMB

Nude thread, white thread, black thread, pink thread, 4 ear shapes, 2 inner ear shapes, 2 fluffy lamb shapes, 4 leg shapes, 1 face shape, 2 eye shapes, 1 nose shape, thin gold ribbon, scissors, hot glue

Whip stitch the ears together, the pink inner ears, the face, and the black legs together.

Glue the pink inner ears to the nude ears. Glue the eyes and nose to the face. Sew the mouth and outline the nose.

Glue the gold loop to the top of the lamb. Whip stitch the lamb together, but leave a little hole for the legs.

Glue on the face, ears, and legs.

MITTEN

Hot glue, plaid ribbon, blue thread, scissors, 2 mitten shapes, thin gold thread, snowflake sequin

Glue the gold loop to the top of the mitten. Whip stitch the mitten except for the bottom.

Glue the plaid ribbon around the bottom, and then glue the opening shut. Glue the snowflake sequin to the mitten.

ORNAMENT

Hot glue, silver ribbon, 2 ball ornament shapes, sequins, silver thread, scissors

Glue the gold loop to the top of the ornament. Whip stitch the ornament.

Glue the silver ribbon and sequins on.

Advent calendar tree ornaments part 2