Nativity Birthday Cake for Jesus in Seven Quick Takes

I started collecting my nativity pieces when I was 18. Every year I added one or more. Most are just from Wal-Mart, there are a couple of special ones like my olive wood camel from Bethlehem, and the Angel Buddy bought me. It isn't really worth much, but for my family it is a treasure. I decided this year instead of buying a new piece, I would craft one with Cowgirl's help. Here's our tutorial in 7 Quick Takes. 

1

Using a Tupperware tumbler and a piece of 1/4 inch foam board, I traced and cut out four small circles (about 2 inches) and one large one (about 3 inches). I can say that the easiest way to do this is cut squares, then trace a circle on each and cut out. It is very difficult to maneuver scissors in a big piece of foam board. An exacto knife is probably the ideal solution for this, but I don't own one.

2

Using a glue gun pipe glue around the edge of one small circle, stack the next circle on top and repeat until you have a four layer "cake"

3

Glue 7/8 in white satin ribbon around the edge of the cake. I finished the end with a flame to seal the ribbon, but you could also just tuck it under. See this tutorial for explanation of finished ribbons with a flame.

4

Cut a circle of white felt the same size as the cake top and glue on with hot glue.

5

Color the large circle your choice of colors(Cowgirl chose purple for one and yellow for a second).  Then Glue a 4 inch doilie to the top. Be sure to center the cookie. This is your cake plate.

Glue your cake to the center of the plate.

6

Decorate your cake with ribbons, lace, Rick rack, beads, whatever you like. We used some scraps of matching hem tape and plastic strings of craft pearls.

To make a candle, cut a one inch piece of white pipe cleaner. Put a large dot of hot glue in the center of the cake. Stand the candle straight up in the glue and hold for a few seconds so the glue can set. We glued a ring of plastic pearls around the candle for decoration, but you can skip this if you want. If you use enough glue the candle will stay on its own.

Lastly, cut a flame from scraps of felt and glue to the top of the candle.

7

Wish Jesus a happy birthday come Christmas morning.

O come, O come Emmanuel!! 

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Our Lady of Guadalupe Statue Tutorial in Seven Quick Takes

It's Seven Quick Takes Friday!

When I was a little girl, I loved dolls--actually I still do. When my mom finished a bottle of dish soap, we would craft homemade rag dolls using the bottle as a form. I have not made one in over 25 years, but as I was finishing up my last bottle of dish soap, I had a yearning to do it once more. Perhaps it was a wish to reconnect with my memories of my mom. Either way, I wanted Cowgirl to have a taste of my childhood. So, I put the empty bottle aside and took it out today for a special Our Lady of Guadalupe craft.

1

Assemble your materials.

We raided the scrap pile and also took out a Styrofoam ball, floral wire, two cotton balls, glue gun, gold glitter glue, ribbon roses, and a couple pieces of ribbon. Please note, in the photo is a pipe cleaner, I know my mom used to use this for the arms but it didn't seem long enough so we switched to floral wire. You will also notice the knee high, that is needed for our first step, and thankfully I had a stray in the laundry area just the right color.

2

Attach the head.

Take the Styrofoam ball and place it in the toe of the knee high. Tie a knot at the base of the ball and cut off the remainder. Save this for later. Glue the ball to the top of the bottle. Make sure to run a bead of glue around the edge for stabilization.

3

Add arms and hands.

Cut a 16 inch piece of floral wire. Find the center and place it at the back of the "neck", then twist the end around and over each other twice. Secure with a little glue.

Bend the two ends up in loops to form hands. Glue a small cotton ball over each hand.then cut a two 1" lengths of knee high. Cut one side of each tube to make a flat rectangle. Cover the cotton balls with the knee high rectangle and glue around the "wrist." Adjust arms to fall naturally.

4

Add hair.

We used a scrap of black felt, but black yarn works well, too. Cut strips of black felt and glue to either side of head. We also cut and attached half moon shaped pieces to form bangs. Hair is only needed in the front because of the mantle.

5

Put on the gown.

I folded the pink fabric in half. I then cut a rectangle that was about 11.5 inches wide and 9.5 inches high, with the crease at the top so that the total rectangle is about 19 inches high.  Keep crease at top and cut a small neckline about 1.5 inches wide in the center. Also, cut a one inch slit down from the center point of the back neck hole. This will help to get the robe over the head.

Slip on the robe.Glue around neck to secure. Then with a 1/4 inch wide ribbon or scrap of fabric, make collar to cover top bottle as well as edges of fabric.

6

Tie waist band and add roses.

Us a a ribbon about 8 inches long to tie the waist band. Adjust gown to form arms and secure with glue around wrists. Glue roses to front hem of gown.

7

Add Mantle.
Hold blue sheet of felt in a diamond shape. (I realized after we were finished that her mantle should have been green. However, we didn't have any green felt. Once I get to the craft store, I am going to put on a green mantle over the blue one and make new stars.)  Fold over top corner and glue to top of head. Secure around head and in lower back to keep from it popping up. Then decorate with dots of gold glitter glue for stars.

Our Lady of Guadalupe, pray for us.

Linking up with Catholic Bloggers, hop over there for more inspiration.

A St Lucy Crown Tutorial

We began celebrating St Lucy's Day about four or five years ago when Cowgirl and I first read the American Girl Kirsten series, which is about a Swedish American Girl on the plains.  Since, I thought this would be a one time event, I made a simple crown out of a fake evergreen wreath that I had and a pack of battery operated votive candles that I picked up at the dollar store.  It was cute enough but nothing special. Once, St Lucy's Day became a fixture, I began to wish I could buy one of the beautiful metal crowns from Sweden. Alas, they were always more than I could afford and although I promised myself every year that I would save money and buy it next year, it never happened. Fast forward to this year when Cowgirl is now over a foot taller than the first year and I began to realize that the years of her serving us coffee and buns all dressed up are rapidly dwindling. Add to that, the little dress up robe I bought for $5 is now at least four sizes too small. I knew something had to be done, but I still couldn't afford what I was seeing online.

I found a beautiful white nightgown on eBay for $15 with plenty of room to grow.  Then I turned my attention to the crown. I returned to Dollar Tree and found just what I was looking for. Here is a tutorial for the crown I made that cost only $5, not counting the ribbon I already had. I purchased a package of artificial pine garland, two 2-packs of battery operated tapers, a sprig of berries, and floral wire (not pictured). We also used two inch wide red ribbon, about a foot of curling ribbon, and a glue gun.

First, I measured the garland around Cowgirl's head making sure to leave a little space for growth. I then wound the rest of the garland around my "head mold."  I secured the new wreath with two pieces of curling ribbon approximately six inches long each. I tied each tightly, then clipped the tails of the knot.

Then came adding the candles.  I took one candle and pushing up from the bottom pulled it between the "branches" of pine until the bottom of the brass holder was flush with the bottom of the wreath.

To secure the candles, I cut a sixteen inch piece of floral wire. Now, this part was difficult to photograph, so bear with me as I attempt to explain. I took the first six inches of the wire and wove it over and under a few branches to the right of the candle. I then pulled this piece around the back of the candle and had it meet the long section of wire in front of the candle. I then twisted the short end onto the long end to resemble the neck of a wire hanger.

After that, I threaded the wire through three branches to the left of the candle and finally, wound the remaining wire tightly around the brass base of the candle until all was used up.  I then put a small amount of hot glue around each of the bases to add security.

The hardest part was over and it took less than twenty minutes. Cowgirl then cut the lingonberries off the stem. (Disclaimer: My entire knowledge of lingpnberries consists of the facts that they make good jam and grow in Sweden. These may look nothing like a lingonberry should, but they cost a dollar, close enough.)  We arranged the berries around the wreath, then secured each with a little more hot glue.

Cowgirl had a little bit of holly  left over from making her clips, and decoded to add it to the wreath. We glue one piece to the base of each candle.

The last part to make was the bow. For those of you who do not know how to make your own bows, here is a tutorial to check out.  I first cut a five foot length of ribbon that we folded in half and attached to the back of the wreath for the tails.

Then I wrapped a DVD case seven times and made the large bow, this brought back so many memories of crafting with my mom who had taught me how to make bow many years ago. I attached the bow via floral wire, then reinforced with hot glue.

Voila, a St Lucy Day crown. We were both happy with how it turned out.  I will be posting more about our plans later this week. God bless.

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Pretty-Happy-Funny-Real Thanksgiving and Advent Edition

This is a two week edition, since Thanksgiving was last week. I'm linking up with Auntie Leila, hop over there for more posts fills of contentment.

Pretty

It was a white Thanksgiving, and although I am not a snow lover, I must say, the scenery was breathtaking. These pictures don't do it justice. It truly was a winter wonderland. The lake had not frozen yet, and the gentle flow of the water under the snow laden trees was postcard perfect.

Happy

The children and I visited our wonderful aunt for a day of crafts. As I mentioned before, they are working a booth at a craft fair this Saturday.  Cowgirl is selling barrettes, ornament key chains, bracelets, fancy bobbie pins, and some little fairy figurines.  Buddy is selling lego mini fig head jars, and Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle ornaments. At our aunt's, we finished the Lego jars and many, many clips. The children were happy to get their inventory stocked up and have a visit.  Look at all these clips! It was a happy, but tiring day.

Funny

Back to Thanksgiving, for a twist, our cousin decided to replace her kitchen table (which was moved to the dining room for a "kids' table") with the knock hockey table from the basement. All of the kids had fun with it, all day. One, especially amusing, game they developed was putting the babies on the hockey rink and having them knock the pucks around. I'm not sure if the big kids or the babies found it funnier.

Real

Buddy is super excitable and Christmas is the apex of excitement for him. As soon as Advent began, his energy level shot through the roof! I tested my brother in law on Monday to let him know that Buddy was up at 6:30 am to open up the first door of the Lego Advent calendar brother-in-law had given him.  I then tested"He is so wound up, if I let him go, he may reach the moon! I don't know if I can survive 24 more days of this type of excitement."

 To which my brother-in-law replied, "Jennifer, you say that every year." So, I am trying hard to offer it up, practice patience , and exercise gentleness as my boy continues to get more excited, which almost seems humanly impossible.  Below is a picture of him doing the "Charlie Brown Christmas Running Happy Happy Dance " Yup, he's REAL excited!

Preparing for St Nicholas Day

There are mere days between today and our family's favorite feast day of the year--St Nicholas Day! To say the children are excited is an extreme understatement.  I have been planning and picking up little bits and pieces here and there. So, I thought I would share my plans, and the handful of photos I took last year, and encourage you to embrace this beautiful tradition.

First, I need to put forth a disclaimer that this feast has grown and evolved in our family over a decade of time. We did not jump in with both feet the first year. Our celebration traditions began with simple gifts left in shoes. We still cling to the idea of truly simple gifts. One of the sweetest parts of this holiday is how excited the children are for tiny treats and how it helps us to turn our sights to Jesus, not to wants and desire for more.

Here is what the children are receiving this year:
Each child will receive a pomegranate lollipop (because I cannot bring pomegranates any where near this house with being found out!), a candy cane, a small bag of dried fruit (their request), and a Clementine. I also picked up a small ornament from the thrift shop for 12¢ each. The boys will each get a small car. For Buddy, I picked up a Hot Wheel that looks like a shark, and Little Man is getting a mini Viking race car.  Cowgirl will receive clip-on earrings from the thrift shop, because we have a $2 limit for gifts.   As a joint gift, because I always like to give a gift to share, I picked up a second hand copy of CCC video of "St Nicholas: The Boy who became Santa."  Not very impressive of a list, in fact as I write it out, it seems even less  impressive. But that is the beauty of it, in a culture that always wants more and encourages chasing big, better, best, these simple gifts ground us and make us thankful for all the rich blessings we have.  The last gift the children will receive is $50 in cash to donate as they choose.

Next on my planning list is food. Typically, I plan three special meals. Since the older children are working at a craft fair this Saturday, I am only planning dinner. However, here is a sample menu for a typical St Nicholas Day in our home.

Breakfast: Hot Chocolate and treats from the shoes, along with a candy cane Danish inspired by Jessica's. We use a roll of recipe crescent rolls, a package of softened cream cheese, and a can of cherry pie filling. Open and unroll the pastry sheet. Spread cream cheese on half of it, then top with cherry filling. Now, beginning on the edge with cream cheese and cherries begin to roll the pastry into a log.  Form the log into a crook shape and cut slits about every inch down the outside of the crook. Bake on 350° for about 15 minutes or until golden brown.

Lunch: This is the simplest idea. I discovered it at the St Nicholas Center years ago. Purchase a frozen pizza and some orange colored cheese slices ( we like to use large cheddar slices). Cut the cheese into the shape of a miter and place in the center of the pizza. Bake according to directions.

Dinner: We always fill a bowl with clementines and candy canes for the blessing. The clementines represent the bags of gold that St Nick tossed into the girls' stockings, and the canes his shepherd' s crook. This theme continues through our side dishes, glazed carrot "coins", baked sweet potato "sacks", and fruit salad to represent the sweetness of giving. Normally, we have fruited pork as our main dish. However, this year, we are trying chicken with spiced apples. Spices and sweets are the theme of the day. Of course, we drink more hot chocolate, as well.

Dessert: What? More Sugar? Well, yes and no. For dessert we build gingerbread houses and sometimes, happen to sample pieces of candy decorations or nibble  broken pieces. (And sometimes, Grammy who doesn't believe in too much sugar, shows up with an ice cream cake!) The past couple years we have made graham cracker houses because they are much easier to construct and who really needs that many gingerbread houses.

Last up on planning is activities. We will definitely watch our new movie. We typically watch Veggie Tales St Nicholas. We read books about St Nicholas. (Below are some of our favorites, available here.) We also craft gifts for friends and family. Many years I bought craft kits, but then we amassed so many left over kits, that we began using those and supplementing with a project or two that I found online. The older children have been making plans for projects of their own. We are doing extra crafting on St Lucy's Day this year. Pinterest is a great place to find easy, inexpensive projects, too. I am adding a St Nicholas board there, today.

St Nicholas Day is about spending time as a family, giving to others, and setting our eyes on Jesus as we quickly approach Christmas.  If you have any St Nick traditions, please share below. God bless!

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