Advent Calendar 2012

Every year after Christmas I carefully take down and store our advent calendar because I always plan on using it the following year.

And at the beginning of the next Christmas season I make a new advent calendar.

I can help it.  I'm a compulsive crafter.  

(You can see our 2010 calendar here and our 2011 calendar here.)

This year I wanted to use the silhouette.  

And chicken wire.

And old fencing.  

This is what we celebrated with this year.

Each tag is actually a pocket which held our daily activity.   

The pockets have a front piece and a back piece that were sewn together.  (Did I mention that I also wanted to use my sewing machine?)  

 We used ribbon and twine to tie the tags to the chicken wire.

 I made the frame with some old fencing and staples.

Definitely my favorite yet.  This may actually be fantastic enough to ward off my craft addiction and need to reinvent the advent calendar next December.  Perhaps I could pour the effort into homemade stockings... or a tree skirt... or ... hmm...

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P.S. I have already uncovered my Valentine's Countdown Calendar already.  Come on February!

Pinspiration and a Happy Handmade Christmas: the Boys

Pinterest can be a bit... girly.

Pink.  Cute.  Ruffles.

Shoes.  Scarves.  Hair.

Cookies.  Cakes.  Suppers.

You have to really hunt for the boys stuff.  But when you find it, oh, it's good.

This year for Christmas the boys got two necessary things for boys...

Beards.

Yes, this is a picture of me... 

finishing the beards... 

late at night... 

or early in the morning... 

giddy and greasy haired.

It was knitted with some crazy yarn by a pattern of my own.  Since it fit me, it was a bit large on their little faces so I'll have to spend another evening knitting some more.  Maybe I'll wear this one when I'm doing chicken chores or getting the mail.  Might cause some neighbors to do a double take.  Fun.  

and bows and arrows.

(tutorial here)

I will say, these little things shoot far!  I'd say 20 feet. Unbelievable.  Also after a couple days of normal boy usage the dental floss tend to get stretched out but its easy to swap out.  I got to use my wood burning tool again to freehand some tribal-ish designs.

I also did a t-shirt for a boy who got a real pair of youth boxing glove (for use on our heavy bag, not his siblings!)  His shirt is a white print on a black shirt of gloves hung around his next and the distressed word CHAMP on the back.  I think it is his new fav.  Yay!

(another blurry Christmas morning photo... 

what can I say?  We are up sooo early...)

My first total success.  Every child got a handmade gift.  Hope I just started a new tradition!

My Chocolate Covered Peppermint Marshmallows

Remember these from last year...it technically may have been this year but you know what I mean.  I said something like "you can bet I'll be making these babies next Christmas."  But December came and I forgot!  One night I was snooping around my own blog (such a nerd but sometimes it's fun to see where we were a year ago) and I found that post.  My mouth began to remember and water.  For inspiration I searched images for the recipe (what can I say?  I'm very visual) and found this beautiful tutorial.  Aren't your taste buds simply aching to make this!

I splurged and bought three bags of mallows and two semi-sweet chocolate chips (the candy canes were already at home - I needed 14 of them). This made just over 100 confections.  Not quite candy, more than a cookie...  When you indulge just try and remember it is puffed sugar dipped in chocolate sugar covered in peppermint sugar.  Whoa!

 

Plenty for gifts, parties and some snacking for those late-night wrapping sessions.

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We still have gifts to make but the shopping is done!  The gift wrapping sessions begin tonight but the homemade gifts are still being cranked out.  I still would like to make some paper wreaths, lemon curd and homemade version of Bailey's Irish Cream.  Hey, I still have three days!

Tonight our advent activity is to dine by Christmas and candlelight.   The kids have gathered candles and plugged in all the lights.   We are waiting for daddy to come home so we can eat supper.  (We are having this tonight!  Yum!)

How is the Christmas season looking at your place?

Lovey Dovey Christmas Wreath

Well, we might as well call this "wreath week" here at Two Blue Houses.   We are keeping things simple and real on the blog and at my home the welcome of a new season always begins with a wreath.   

This is indeed the same wreath I did here and yet once again at a "Friends" supper we hosted in the fall (geesh, I'm embarrassed to admit that I have not posted pictures...).  I'm not sure when I'll give it up and move on.  There are so too many possibilities.  I was still loving the all white (from its most recent upgrade).   

Red felt roses, moss and a few twigs... The ornament is a dove and I'm pretty sure it was given to me by Lauren (because all my favorites are from her).  How do you think it looks against my yellow door?

A few notes about our Advent Calendar... I know it is only a couple days into the plan but I'm happy to say it is so much fun.   I catch the glitter shimmering off the handmade snowflakes strung across the kitchen window and actually caught the sunset peeking through them.  This very evening we did Christmas puzzles and challenged the boys to create scenes with their vast Lego collection.  

Let me tell you, these creations are not as simple as they look.  I consider myself pretty crafty and thought it would be no problem to enlist my crew to build a brick nativity.  I tried to build a manger for a Lego baby Jesus and after only moments gave up and instead opened up a Lego guy hospital.   As you can see, they gave up and had a Santa making contest.

Then spent a few minutes in front of the seasons first fire... with peppermint hot cocoa of course!

That is our advent calendar hanging over the stove.  As you can see, it operates on a day to day basis.  Last year we planned the whole month ahead of time and then each night had to rearrange.   Not sure which I prefer, but it is working and all the stress is on me; the kids couldn't care less.  They are simply so excited to turn the card!

Lots planned for this weekend... two kids birthday parties, a shopping trip, round one of decorating, and a Sunday supper with the extended family.  Whew, I need a nap just thinking about all of that.  Hopefully there will be plenty of cuddling time by our fire too!

Deck of Cards - Christmas Advent Calendar 2011

I'm not a big fan of leftovers (unless of course it involves the take out kind and even then it usually doesn't make it to the morning).  So even though I meticulously saved my advent calendar from last year, I knew deep down I couldn't use it.  Again with literally hours before December was to begin I gathered some supplies and headed my little studio in search of some inspiration.  Want to see what I came up with?  No fancy tools or punches, with the most ordinary of supplies... just a glue gun, stickers and a deck of cards.

The stickers were free (the kind that come in mailings) and I stuck them to card stock and cut them out.  I added a bit of dimension with wood circles so the stickers seem to pop out.   Add random bits of twine, ribbon and buttons and they were finished.  Then I glued clothes pins to a old piece of fence (yet another purpose for that fence) and clipped on the cards.  On the back of each of the cards is the activity for the day.  We tried to remember all of our activities from last year but couldn't of course.  That is one reason a blog is wonderful.  I used all the ideas from last year plus a few new ones.

• pack and eat a red and green lunch
• make a paper prayer chain
• make gingerbread houses out of graham crackers and frosting
• go for a chilly walk outside and warm up with cocoa after
• purchase toys to donate
• camp out under the Christmas tree
• send a package to a friend 

The cards are not even hung yet, (I was excited and hung them just for these few shots) awaiting a planning and scheduling session for the parents, but the kids are already asking if they can turn today's card.  I love to see that kind of excitement.  To spend time with each other, to unplug from all the technology around us.  To choose quality time over empty minutes.  To get this family back on track, away from the consumerism and the wants.  To fill this Christmas season with sweet little moments that cause us to pause and to hope to never forget.

p.s. I think these would make adorable mini Christmas cards to hand out this year!  What do you think?

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Gluten Free White Cake

I don't do cakes. I never have. In my mind, cakes and cupcakes are always a total disappointment. The presentation lures me in, with its fancy frosting and picture perfect display but it's just that, a facade, like an empty promise. The actual taste always lets me down. It's either way too sweet and dense or so dry you wish you could rewind and choose the brownie instead. And it goes that if I won't eat it I surely will not bake it. Well, I broke that rule this past holiday weekend. Seriously, you can not avoid cakes for the fourth. Apparently the most respectable way to show your patriotic spirit is with a red white and blue cake. What really wore me down was the presentation. I wanted to be the one to show up to the party carrying a cake worth envying. So there I was in the kitchen hours before a big party attempting my very first gluten free cake. How did it turn out?

Gorgeous and tasty if I do say so myself. I don't even like cake and ate two slices. The crumb was excellent and the taste was perfectly delicate without too much sweet. The key to seeing this one disappear is not telling all the guests how much butter you used because that will shake the faint at heart. Cakes aren't as scary as I thought so maybe I will become a fan yet.

Gluten Free White Cake

Ingredients:

• 1 cup milk, room temp
• 3/4 cup egg whites, room temp
• 2 teaspoons almond extract (I used amaretto flavored organic syrup)
• 2 cups rice flour minus 2 tablespoons
• 1/4 cup tapioca flour/starch plus two tablespoons
• 1 2/3 cup sugar
• 4 tsp baking powder
• 1 tsp salt
• 1 stick butter
• 1 1/2 teaspoons xanthan gum

Directions

• Preheat oven to 350*. Grease and flour two 9 inch round cake pans.
• In a small bowl, combine milk, whites and flavoring. Mix until blended.
• In a large bowl combine flours, sugar, powder, salt and xanthan gum with an electric mixer. Add butter and mix at low speed until it is no longer powdery, but looks like crumbs. Add milk mixture and beat until combined, scrape sides down once and beat again.
• Pour batter into pans and bake for 22-25 minutes. Test with a toothpick at 22 minutes and adjust your time accordingly. The toothpick should come out clean.
• Let the cakes cool slightly so the cake comes away from the sides of the pan, about 3-5 minutes. Invert cakes onto a plate then again onto a cooling rack. Allow to cool completely before frosting.

inspired by classic white layer cake recipe from the best recipe by cook's illustrated

This pretty cake was frosted with two sticks of butter and about a pound of powdered sugar. Whoa! Don't see that very often in this kitchen. Funny thing is that the original cake and frosting recipe this is adapted from called for over one pound of butter. That is one of the awesome things about cooking gluten free. You can use way less butter! Who knew? Well, I guess I did and now so do you!