Birch Button Garland

The Christmas season is here! My husband and I started the tradition last year of making all of the decorations for our tree. This year, we decided to make a new garland. I love this garland. It's rustic and quaint and it is pretty inexpensive to make. You can purchase the birch online or do what we did and put on a pair of boots and forage for it. Birch wood is easy to find. Just scan your eyes across a tree line, and it will stick out like a sore thumb.

What You'll Need:

6' long Birch branch, about 2" - 3" in diameter

A saw of some sort (we used skill saw, but you could do it by hand)

Drill

Clear finish (The finish is up to you, we like the satin finish)

2 spools of ribbon, ¼" wide

Needle and thread

- Using the skill saw, cut your birch branch into disks, about 1" wide. You can mark these if you like, but we just eye-balled it. Besides, the inconsistent widths will add to the overall rustic look.

- Using the drill, drill two holes all the way through each disk. Again, you can mark these if you like, but it is not necessary.

- Clean each disk of any residual sawdust.

- If you cut your birch from a live tree, you will need to let the disks dry out for a day or too. If not, then go on right ahead to the next step.

- Finish each side of the disks. This may seem unnecessary, but birch wood eventually turns black when it is exposed to oxygen for long amounts of time. The finish will prevent this from happening so you can reuse your garlands next year.

- Once your disks have dried, it is time to start stringing them. Cut a piece of thread about 4" long. Thread the needle. Poke the needle through the top ¼" of one of the ends of the ribbon. Pull the needle through so that the thread is strung through the ribbon. Tie the thread in a knot around the ribbon to secure the ribbon to the needle. This will make it easier for you to string your disks.

- One by one, string your disks, just like buttons - go up through one hole and down through the other. Space the disks about 2" apart from each other.

And there you have it! A beautiful garland that was easy to make and under $10.

Pillow Garland

My husband and I came up with the idea for this garland last year. It is definitely time consuming, but so worth it. As we decorated our tree last night, we couldn't help but smile as we put draped this little garland. It adds so much to your tree and looks beautiful with the Birch Button Garland posted above.

What You'll Need:

6 Quarter Flats (These are usually used for quilting. If you cannot find quarter flats, then ¼ yard each of 6 different kinds of fabric will do)

Scissors

Hot glue

Mini cotton balls

Needle and Thread (Upholstery thread works best)

- Cut each fabric into 3" by 3" squares.

- Starting with one little square, facedown on the table in front of you, place 1 cotton ball in the middle of your square.

- Fold up each corner onto the cotton ball and glue with hot glue to secure. The finished product should look like a little pillow.

-Repeat with all of your fabric squares (I told you, it's definitely time consuming).

- Once you are finished making all of your little pillows, it is time to string them. Cut about a 3' string of thread and thread your needle. It is best to string the pillows in short strands then tie them together. This way, your thread does not get tangled as you string your pillows.

- Starting at one corner of a pillow and pushing through to the other corner, string each pillow. Your pillows should be strung on the diagonal.

-Once you have strung all your pillows, secure each end with a knot.

I hope these garlands gave you some good ideas and helped to get you in the holiday spirit!

Bourbon Soaked Apple and Hazelnut Biscotti

My husband and I love to have after-dinner coffee and a biscotti every evening. Since we do this every night, it is a challenge to come up with creative variations on this humble little cookie. This is my newest recipe, and I think it is my favorite thus far...

What You'll need

½ cup of apple cider

¼ cup Bourbon (I like Four Roses)

1 baking apple (such as Cortland, Mac, or Braeburn)

2 eggs

¾ cup white sugar

½ cup butter, melted and cooled

2 teaspoons vanilla extract

½ teaspoon almond extract (optional but it makes a BIG difference)

1 tablespoon cinnamon

2 cups all purpose flour

1 ½ teaspoons baking powder

½ teaspoon salt

½ cup of hazelnuts (feel free to add more if you'd like)

·      Preheat oven to 350.

·      Lightly butter a cookie sheet. Dust with flour so it is covered and set aside.

·      Peel the apple and cut into tiny cubes, about ¼" on each side.

·      Place the cider, bourbon, and apple cubes in a bowl. Cover with plastic wrap and leave in the refrigerator overnight.

·      When the apples are ready, begin making the dough. With an electric beater or stand mixer, beat the eggs and sugar until light in color and fluffy.

·      Add the cooled butter (it is important it is cool so it does not cook the eggs…ew) and extracts. Mix until blended.

·      In a separate bowl, combine the flour, salt, baking powder and cinnamon. You can sift these together if you like, but I always just take a whisk do a real good once over - who has time to sift?

·      Add the dry mixture to the wet mixture very slowly and mix until blended.

·      Remove the apples from the fridge and strain them. We don't want any of that extra liquid in the dough. Feel free to take the extra liquid and make yourself a cocktail!

·      Using a spatula or spoon, mix the apples and hazelnuts into the dough.

·      Halve the dough using your spoon and scoop the half onto one side of the prepared cookie sheet. Take the other half of dough and do the same on the other side of the sheet. Try to get the two piles as equal as possible.

·      Using damp hands (this prevents the dough from sticking to you), form the piles into logs about 10" long and 4" wide. Smooth the edges and try to make the corners as square as possible.

·      Place the sheet in the oven and bake for about 20 to 25 minutes until golden brown and fragrant.

·      Once they are done, remove them from the oven and let them cool on the baking sheet for about 10 minutes.

·      Reduce the oven temperature to 300.

·      Once your logs are done cooling, transfer them to a cutting board. Using a serrated knife, cut each log crosswise into slices about 1" thick. Place each slice, cut side down, back on the cookie sheet.

·      Return to the oven and bake for another 18 - 22 minutes until golden brown and crisp.

·      Let these cool completely before you handle them as they are fragile when they first come out of the oven. They will harden as they cool.

·      Place in your cookie jar and enjoy!

Yield: about 24 cookies

Holiday Apron

I can't even remember how long I have had my apron. I tend to be a messy cook and this apron has saved so many of clothes from oil stains, sauce splatters, and caked flour. This apron will be a great help in the kitchen as you're rampin' up for all that holiday cooking you're about to do. These are super easy (I can make one in about an hour) and they make excellent holiday gifts.

What you’ll need:

½ Yard each of two different kinds of fabric, I like to use a thick cotton

Scissors

Sewing machine (you could stitch this by hand but it might take awhile)

Iron

2 big buttons

Pen

Measuring tape

This apron is made for a size XS/S. For a S/M, add 2 inches to the width of each piece. For a M/L, add 4”. Diagrams below are not to scale. 

1. Wash and dry your fabric. I always do this before I sew any piece of clothing. You never know if your fabric will shrink once it is washed, so it is best to do it before you start sewing. It’s also best to iron it before you start to work. This will ensure your lines are straight.

2. Decide which fabric you want to be Fabric A and which one you want to be Fabric B. Fabric A will be the bulk of the apron while Fabric B will be the waist band, neck, and bottom ruffle.

3. Set Fabric B aside. Fold fabric A in half lengthwise, right side to right side so that the wrong side of the fabric is facing out. With the fold to the right side, starting at the bottom right side of your fabric, measure up 1” make a mark. Let’s call is Point A. Starting from the Point A, measure out 12” from right to left and make a mark. Let’s call this point B. Using your measuring tape as a guide, draw a straight line between Points A and B.

4. Starting from point A, measure up along the fold 15” and make a mark. Lets call this Point C. Starting from point C, measure out from right to left 9” and make a mark. This will be Point D. Draw a straight line from Point C to Point D.  Using your measuring tape as a guide, draw a diagonal, but straight, line between Points D and B. So far, your fabric should look like this:

5. On to the next piece! Starting from Point C, measure up 2” and make a mark. We will call this Point E. Starting from Point E, measure out 5 ½” from right to left in a straight line (try to get it as square as you can) and make a mark. We will call this point F. Draw a straight line between E and F.
Along the right side of the fabric, starting at point E, measure up 8” and make a mark. Let’s call this point G. 

6. Starting from Point G, measure out 4” from right to left. Again, try to make it as square as you can. Place a mark here and let’s call this (you guessed it) Point H. Draw a straight line between Points G and H. Draw another straight line between points H and F. Your fabric should now look like this:

7. In the upper left corner of your fabric, draw a rectangle using the same method we used above that measures 2” by 5” Do not draw this piece on the fold. You will be cutting out two of these little pups. When you’re all done, your fabric should look like this:

8. Time to cut your pieces! Cut out all of your pieces, leaving about a 1” edge between the line you’ve drawn and your actual cut. These lines we drew will be your sewing lines, not your cutting lines. Leave your fabric folded while you cut. This way your pieces are perfectly symmetrical and you don’t have as much cutting to do. When you are finished you should have the following pieces:

9. Set these pieces aside and now it’s on to Fabric B! Fold Fabric B in half cross-wise (opposite the way we did with Fabric A). Situate your fabric the same way we did before with the fold on the right side.

10. Starting at the bottom right hand corner, measure up 1” and make a mark. We will call this Point A (we’re on a new piece of fabric so we can do this). Starting at the bottom left hand corner, measure up 1” and make a mark. We will call this Point B. Using your measuring tape, draw a straight line between Points A and B.  

11. Starting from Point A, measure up 2” and make a mark. We will call this Point C. Starting from Point B, measure up 2” and make a mark. We will call this Point D. Draw a straight line between points C and D.

12. Starting from Point C, measure up 2” and make a mark. We will call this Point E. Starting from Point D, measure up 2” and make a mark. We will call this Point F. Draw a straight line between points E and F.

13. Starting from point E, measure up 2”, and make a mark. We will call this Point G. Starting from point F, measure up 2”, and make a mark. We will call this Point H. Draw a straight line between Points G and H. Your Fabric should look like this:

15. Starting from Point I, measure up 4” and make a mark. This will be Point K. Starting from point I, measure up 4” and make a mark. This will be Point L. Draw a straight line between K and L.

16. We’re almost done, you just have one more piece to draw. Starting from Point K, measure up 2” and make a mark. We will call this Point M. Starting from Point M, from right to left measure 10” and make a mark. This will be Point N. Draw a straight line between M and N

17. Starting from point M, measure up 2 ½” and make a mark. This will be Point O. From point J, measure up 2 ½” and make a mark. This will be point P. Draw a straight line between Points O and P. Draw another straight line between Points N and P. Your fabric should now look like this:

18. Cut out your pieces. Again, leave your fabric folded while you cut. When you are finished cutting all your pieces from both fabrics you will have the following pieces (I have labeled them for easy reference for the next steps. Feel free to use masking tape marked with the proper number to mark each piece):

19. Let’s start with Piece 1. The thing about sewing is, it involves just as much ironing as it does sewing. This is to ensure you get nice crisp edges to your projects. Starting with the short edge of piece one (this will be the top of your apron) fold each corner down and iron as shown below:

20. Now fold the edge and iron as show below. Do this with the two diagonal edges as well. Try to get all of your folds as close to the line you drew previously.

21.  Sew each edge that you ironed as shown:

22. On to Piece 2. Starting with the long edge (this will be the bottom of your apron) fold each corner and iron. Now fold the edge and iron. Fold and iron each diagonal edges. This is all just like we did with Piece 1.

23. Sew each edge that you ironed (again, just like we did with Piece 1).

24. Onto the waist strap! Take Piece 4A. Fold up each long edge to the line you and iron as shown. Repeat this with Piece 4B:

25.  Arrange Pieces 4A and 4B wrong side to wrong side and pin them together. We will call these Piece 4 since they are pinned together. Using your measuring tape, find the mid point of the strip and mark lightly as shown:

26.  Take Piece 1. Measure along the unsewn edge and mark the mid point of that edge. Line up your marks on Piece 4 and Piece 1. Insert Piece 1 between Pieces 4A and 4B and pin as shown. Pin to secure.

27.  Starting all the way at the edge of your strap, sew along the long edge. Piece 1 will now be sewn between Pieces 4A and 4B as shown:

28. Take Piece 2 and find the mid point on the unsewn edge as we did before with Piece 1. Lightly mark. Do the same on the bottom edge of Piece 3. Line up your marks and insert the unsewn edge of Piece 2 between Pieces 4A and 4B just like we did with Piece 1. Pin to secure.

29. Sew as we did before with Piece 1. Your apron should look like this so far:

30.  Let’s finish the strap. Take Piece 3A. Fold and iron each corner as shown below. Fold each edge and iron as we have done so before with other pieces:

31. Fold the whole piece in half lengthwise and iron as shown:

32. Repeat steps 30 and 31 with Piece 3B.

33. Arrange Piece 3A over one edge of Piece 4 like so and sew each edge of piece 3A as shown below. Repeat on the other side with Piece 3B.

34. Let’s make the neck strap! Take Piece 5 and fold and iron each corner and edge like we did with pieces 3A and 3B.  Fold in half length wise and iron (again like we did with pieces 3A and 3B).

35. Sew around the perimeter of your folded Piece 5. Sew one end of Piece 5 to the upper left hand corner of Piece 1 and the other end of Piece 5 to the upper right hand corner of Piece 1. Make sure the strap is not twisted when you sew it. Your apron should look like this: 

You pretty much have an apron now! Good Job!  You can wear it like this, but if you want to add a few more details then complete the following steps:

36. Let’s make the ruffle to attach to the bottom. Take Piece 6 and pleat along one of the long edges, using pins to hold the pleats in place. Like so:

37. Sew along the pleated edge to hold the pleats in place.

38. Next we have to finish the edges. We only need to finish the un-pleated edges. Do as we have done before: fold and iron the corners. Then fold and iron the edges. Then sew. Make sure to use the bottom edge of your apron as a guide for how long the pleated strip needs to be.

39. Next, arrange the unfinished edge of Piece 6 behind the finished edge of piece 2 and pin. Sew the edges together.

40. Once that is done, all we have to do is add those buttons. Glue or sew one button in the upper left corner of Piece 1 on top of the neck strap edge. Do the same on the other side:

And there you have it! You have a cute new apron to wear while you bake either my previous or next post: Apple Barnstars or Bourbon Soaked Apple and Hazelnut Biscotti.

Apple Barnstars

Believe it or not, I got this idea after watching "Fantastic Mr. Fox". These cookies are beautiful and taste delicious. They smell wonderful as they bake and go great with coffee or tea or even under a scoop of French vanilla ice cream.

What you'll need:


1 cup of butter, softened
1 ½ cup white sugar
1 egg
½ teaspoon salt
4 tablespoons molasses (I like the robust kind)
2 ½ cups flour
1 tablespoon baking powder
1 tablespoon ground cinnamon
2 teaspoon ground ginger
3 baking apples (I like Cortlands or Braeburns)
Turbinado (or raw) sugar for sprinkling

·      Preheat the oven to 350.

·      Cream the butter and sugar until well blended.

·      Add the egg and molasses. Beat on high until lighter in color and fluffy.

·      Add the salt, spices, and baking powder. Mix until just blended.

·      Add the flour, ½ cup at a time until well blended. Do not over-mix or your poor little cookies will be stiff.

·      Portion out 1 tablespoon worth of dough onto an ungreased baking sheet leaving plenty of space between each cookie. Do not be over generous with your portions because these babies like to spread.

·      With damp hands, roll each cookie into a ball and gently flatten onto cookie sheet until it is about 2" in diameter and set tray aside.

·      Wash and peel your apples. Cut the apples in half perpendicular to the core. Slice your apples into circles. Be sure to remove any seeds from your slices.

·      Place one slice of apple onto each cookie. Don't worry if the slice is bigger then the cookie itself. As the cookie spreads, it will fill out the apple slice.

·      Sprinkle a pinch of turbinado sugar on each cookie.

·      Bake for 15 to 18 minutes until the edges are golden brown.

Yield: About 3 dozen