The Mark of a Handmade Holiday

Well, the machine is packed up, fabric scraps are tipping over the edge of the garbage can and these empty spools of thread littered the crafting table. It's official, the handmade holiday season has ended. Now, time to sit back with a hot drink and enjoy the holiday season. Happy hoidays all!

Red velvet goodness

I officially feel like a genius. Red velvet cupcakes with coconut cream cheese frosting always seemed like a summer bite to me. But, guess what! By being RED they easily become a nice holiday treat. Made these for a holiday party and topped them with festive sugar bits. The party was snowed out but we delivered the treats anyway.

The recipe is the tried-and-true recipe of a friend from Southern Ohio.

Red Velvet Cupcakes with Coconut and Cream Cheese Frosting
1 3/4 c self-rising flour
1/4 c unsweetened cocoa powder
1 1/2 c sugar
2 sticks butter, room temp
2 eggs
1 TBS red food coloring
2 tsp vanilla
1 c buttermilk
1 tsp distilled white vinegar
1/4 tsp baking soda
2 8-oz packages cream cheese, room temp
1 1/2 c powdered sugar
2 c sweetened flaked coconut

Preheat oven to 350. Line 18 muffin cups with paper liners. Sift flour and cocoa into small bowl. Using electric mixer, beat 1 1/2 c sugar and 3/4 c butter in a large bowl until smooth. Beat in eggs one at a time, scraping down the bowl after each egg. Then add red food coloring and 1 tsp vanilla. Mix in dry ingredients in 3 additions alternately with 2/3 c buttermilk in 2 additions. Make well in center. Pour in remaining 1/3 c buttermilk, vinegar and baking soda. When bubbles form, stir into batter.

Divide batter among paper liners. Bake cupcakes until tester comes out clean, about 20 min. Cool 10 min. Transfer to a rack and cool completely.

While cooling, beat cream cheese, 1/4 c butter, and remaining 1 tsp vanilla until smooth. Beat in powdered sugar; fold in 1 c coconut. Spread frosting on cooled cupcakes, sprinkle with remaining coconut.

Lovin' the boy gifts.

I had so much fun making these gifts for my son. The book took a lifetime; picking the pictures, transferring to fabric, different background fabric on each picture, and lastly embellishments. It turned out really fun, though. And, the best part is that I gave him a sneak peak and he enjoyed listing off everyone's name, which was the whole point.

Of course, he will forget he's ever seen it when it's revealed on Christmas morning. Overall, the book is pretty sloppy and was a test for the old machine but I kind of love its haphazard design and mismatched pages, it suits the chaos of our family life I think.

The magnets, well. These were a necessary follow-up to these magnets I had made earlier. Not only were they a huge hit originally but I had missed the essential tractor and garbage truck...had to redeem myself. Also, my personal favorite: I transferred a shot of a mobile hot dog stand into a magnet (2nd one down). Willie's Hot Dogs...cannot resist it! Makes me laugh.

The best part of all of this, though, is that it so pointless! I mean at this stage, I could wrap some of his current toys and take them out of circulation for a few weeks and they would seem like the most super fun this he had every seen! So, the whole time I putz away at these individualized creations I have to laugh at myself.

Gift baking

Granola tastes better when it looks so cute.

I finally got around to packaging the food gifts for my dad before I ship them off next week! I grabbed some containers to make it kind of a double gift. Wahoo, here come the holidays!

For Me? Or You?

These pictures are of my entire gift to my mother's mother, my maternal grandma. She has had alot of change in her life since last Christmas and alot of it has been difficult. She has, however, had a chance to come out of her shell a bit and show off more of her adventurous and funny side.
I thought about this alot while making her lap quilt and tote. I picked out bright, flowering colors and retro designs because I knew she would enjoy the throw-back. I realized that this is what makes handmade holidays so wonderful. I get to spend hours thinking about her rhubarb jam and her jokes about big-breasted women and gossip about neighbors. I thought about how she always had Twizzlers stocked in her pantry that she would sneak to the grandkids when we visit. I thought about her applesauce and how I got the recipe once and it was equal parts apples to sugar so I decided not to make it and just eat hers and not think about it. I thought about her life and what she gave her kids and what she held back from them. I got this chance to spend time implanting in my mind a cohesive picture of her and it made me realize how much I care about her and how amazing she is. Handmade is what gave me this gift, after all these years of buying her cute sweaters and utilitarian kitchen stuffs at the mall. And, I really can't decide what is a better gift, what I'm giving her or what I got.

Might be that I'm the one with the best gift. (Especially since I'm only half-happy with how the quilt turned out, but that is kind of beside the point.)

This little artsy clutch I am happy with and I'm filling it with etsy goodies that I hope will make her smile as much as I am, thinking about my lovely grandmother. Am I lost in a sea of pregnancy hormones? Is anyone else having this kind of handmade holiday gush-of-love feeling?

Breakfast is covered...forever

Finally, a handmade man gift!! I decided to make my dad's gift a kind of book-readers companion type thing. It was sparked by a suggestion by Beth. Along with the Sherlock Holmes collection he wanted I'm adding a custom made mug with a photo of his grandson on it (similar to this), some biscotti (yet to be made), fair trade coffee, and my sister's granola. The granola was completed this afternoon and is officially my new breakfast till the end of time. It's sooo good and better yet, simple. My sister is a vegan who loves food and she has perfected the craft of cooking/baking. It's very impressive. I knew her granola was good but I had forgotten HOW good until making it today.

I've already divided the full batch into a section to stay with us and the remainder for my dad. I think this is the handmade world equivalent of holiday shopping where you come home with more that remains unwrapped than ever gets wrapped. If you are interested in this recipe, let me know and I will check with my sister. It's a little bit of a secret recipe but I can try.

Yikes! Save Handmade Toys...

Apparently, in the rush to protect children from unsafe toys filled with phthalates and lead, Congress passed the Consumer Product Safety Improvement Act in August. Great, right? The only problem is that the new regulations, which are easy for large toy manufacturers to follow and include third party testing, are also applied to handmade toys sold in the U.S. Congress simply forgot to exclude handmade toy makers in this law. This could leave many handmade toy makers (can you say etsy!) either in danger of breaking the law or out of business. There is more at handmadetoyalliance.org. Please do look at it and then let Congress know how you feel about the handmade toy industry.