Have Yourself a Retro Little Christmas: Medicine Cup Kissing Ball

I can't decide which side of the divide this post will fall, retro cool or super square.  Regardless, I decided to recreate a favorite Christmas decoration from my childhood, the medicine cup kissing ball.  I'll be curious to see how many of my readers remember these.  The one my mother unwrapped from tissue paper every December and hung in our front hallway had Christmas-green glitter and plastic mistletoe.  I've changed a few things on mine to update an old classic just a bit.

One of the reasons I love reading craft blog DIY posts is that someone else has gone through all of the trial and error for me.  This project had quite a bit of both trial and error.  I hope you will take advantage of my experience if you decide to make one of these for yourself.  You aren't likely to find any help elsewhere.  A thorough internet search turned up essentially nothing on the subject of medicine cup kissing balls with the exception of one or two posts asking if anyone remembered them.  As I have noted before, when I run across a topic that seems to be missing from the interwebs I like to cover it, since I know I am not the only person out there looking for information.

You can find the instructions over in my Tutorial section or by clicking here.  I hope you enjoyed this walk down memory lane.  I would love to hear if any of you remember these icons or perhaps still own one.  I hope you are busy making your own memories this holiday season.

Halloween at our house

Halloween at our house this year included a jack-in-the-box

and a lion

I never even got a shot of entire lion costume (there was a sweatshirt top, too) but you parents out there know how hard it can be to get a three-year-old into a costume at times.

It seems that every sewing project is an opportunity to learn something.  A too-large neckline on the lion's top (a recurring theme for me, it seems) led to the realization that sometimes it is just easier to sew something by hand.  I took a large pleat in the center back of the neck to snug things up a bit, and my attempts to sew through multiple layers of fleece by machine failed.  I picked up a needle and thread and was finished with the task in about a minute.  I really need to remember this lesson.

A Month of Tutorials and Giveaways

It’s the most wonderful time of the year!  With presents to buy, gifts to wrap, food to prepare, decorations to hang, songs to sing, friends and relatives to visit, and traditions to share, the next few weeks will be some of the busiest of the entire year.

In the Christian calendar, the period leading up to Christmas is known as Advent, a time of preparation for “an arrival that has been awaited”.  The season begins on the 4^th Sunday before Christmas (this year, November  28^th) and lasts for four consecutive Sundays.  To celebrate and prepare for the Christmas holiday, each Sunday of Advent I will be posting a tutorial for a simple Christmas tree ornament, some of my favorites from years past.  And, since this is the season of giving, I will be giving away the ornament each week as well.  Simply leave a comment on the Sunday post or tutorial and I will randomly pick a winner on the following Tuesday. 

I also have some special Bags of the Week to share with you, in keeping with the Christmas spirit, and another tutorial for a Santa-inspired tote bag.  I will be posting lots of gift ideas as I make my list and check it twice, as well as another giveaway or two.  I am going to be a busy little elf in the month of December and I am planning to share it all with you.  Check back often.  Or even better, subscribe to my RSS feed which will send you an email each time I post something new.  Click on the link on the right side of this page to subscribe.

Pretty Pantry Gifts

It’s that time of year when I start hoarding all of the gift ideas I come across.  This beautiful package caught my eye while surfing around on Save-on-Crafts website so I ordered one.  It contains a recipe book and all of the wrapping essentials needed to make beautiful edible gifts.  This set would also make a lovely gift itself, especially for a friend who loves to cook.  The $14 price tag at Save-on-Crafts is the lowest I’ve found, though this is available from a number of other online sources including Target and some of the large chain bookstores.  You might save yourself shipping costs and check those bookstores locally to see if they carry this set.

For a DIY project, cut 6” circles from cotton fabric with your pinking shears, and add some purchased hair elastics and cellophane bags.  If you have a die cutting machine you could cut some tags and add a little stamp that picks up your chosen theme.  You could also include some custom printed stickers (search “canning labels” on www.etsy.com for a large selection) or, if you really want to take the gift up a notch, you could include a custom-made stamp like this one I ordered for myself.

I ordered this stamp from Expressionery; they run sales periodically on these stamps which really makes them an affordable gift.  There are a number of appropriate designs available. 

Stay tuned over the next weeks for more gift ideas.  I’m working on some tutorials right now for the upcoming holiday season.  Check back often!

Halloween Around My House

Here’s what has been keeping me busy in my sewing studio recently.  With two little kids in the house Halloween is becoming a bigger deal each year.  My four-year-old is finally old enough to remember that he got candy last year when trick-or-treating but my two-year-old is still just along for the ride.  I do like making costumes each year (my mom made mine for many years when I was growing up – thanks, Mom!)  This year I saw a pattern for a cute ladybug costume and thought it would be great for my youngest.  When I told older son about this he immediately said he wanted to be a spider which was convenient since that was another design in the same pattern. 

For the spider costume I purchased a black waffle-weave shirt and paired it with some already-owned black pants.  All of the costume details were added to the shirt.  The front features a rick-rack spiderweb.  I tried desperately to get glow-in-the-dark rick rack but evidently Wright’s has stopped making it.  I bid on numerous Ebay auctions for some of this stuff and was consistently outbid.  In the end I used some iridescent rick rack and stitched it down with glow-in-the-dark thread.  I made the spider legs from black fleece, stuffed them and stitched them to the shirt.  The pattern called for six legs but I reasoned that with my son’s own two arms and two legs he only needed an additional four.  The final element was a hat with little antenna (not sure what the pattern company was thinking here – I’ve never seen a spider with antenna but I went with the flow).

For the ladybug costume I used the pattern to create a little jumpsuit from red fleece.  The black dots are also fleece and stitched on.  The wings are made from black netting.  The hat with antenna is the same as the spider’s hat.  I had to have red shoes to complete the outfit but these proved hard to find (good thing I started looking back in September).  I was unwilling to pay $35 for a pair of shoes that would fit for only a few months but I eventually found a pair of Converse sneakers on craigslist for about $8 which turned out to be just right.

I think my little insect farm is just adorable.

The picture in the center is a treat my oldest son and I made for his friends at school.  We called them magic wands but they are simply a pretzel rod dipped in Candy Melts with sprinkles added.  We packaged them in pretzel bags and I created a simple tag that I stapled to the top.

You can read about the treat bags I made here.

Lastly, I just want to mention the great team at Blue Daisy Designs who created the photo template I used to showcase my pictures.  I love the work that these ladies put out and their reasonable prices.  They make putting together pictures for my blog super easy.  They are so generous, too – each Friday they post a freebie on their Blue Daisy blog so you can try out their products before visiting their Etsy shop.

Now on to some new sewing projects!  Stay tuned!