string wrapped presents and cards and cookies!

Do you get as excited as I do about giving gifts? I love to find just the thing, and then to see the surprised, happy look on the person's face. That's pretty special! (I bet that's how God feels about giving gifts to us, too...)

Part of what gets me excited about the gift is how it's presented. Extra time and creativity put into the wrapping just makes it feel full of thoughtfulness and love! This is why it takes me a good week to wrap Christmas presents. I just want each one to look great on the inside and the outside!

This year, I closed some of the tissue-wrapped interiors of boxes with monogram stickers or letters to spell out the person's name. I added jingle bells to some, made individual gift tags, even made some of the gifts!

Each year, I like to go to the post-Christmas sales and pick up cards, wrapping paper, ribbon, tissue, and anything else to store for the next year's wrapping. I'm pretty good about guessing how much I'll need, but this year, I ran out of ribbon! Gasp!

I saw this idea somewhere, possibly here? and it sure came in handy. The last presents to arrive in the mail this year were for my brothers, and so it didn't really matter that I was out of ribbon.
(Shh... let's pretend I meant to do this all along. Yes.)

I wrapped the present in the middle with the last of the gold metallic kraft wrapping paper, and had a wide strip left over. Then, I wrapped the other two in kraft paper, using the leftover gold strip as a wide "ribbon" across the middle of each. For the gold-wrapped package, I added a strip of leftover plaid wrapping paper.

Next, I wrapped red cotton string around and around and around and around one of the kraft wrapped packages. It really didn't take very long!

The spool of string sat nicely on one of the dining room chair posts. Norah-kitty was rather delighted by this. I remembered that I have metallic gold thread, so that went on, too. Tucked in a tag, and it was done!

For this one, I first wrapped red around the middle, being careful to line up each wrap of string with the next. Then white cotton string went around the outside of the red string, followed by gold thread and another wrap of red. Pretty!

The last present is for my handsome husband. His gold-and-plaid wrapped gift was finished off with a wrapping of red and green string, with some gold metallic thread to give it a bit of sparkle.

On to the card! I feel like with each card that I made this year, I got more and more creative. I love the way this one turned out! Merry Christmas, Sarah P.!

My friend, Jamie Z. came over for cookie making and tea last Friday, and these are some of my favorite cutouts.

I took waaaaay too much time on my Santa cookie, but I love how it turned out! Look at the little wrapped present and teddy bear in Santa's sack of gifts!

This Scottie dog was supposed to have a plaid blanket, and this is the best I could do! I'm pleased.

Throughout this week, I've also made a second batch of cutout cookies, Swedish ginger cookies, pumpkin pie, and Spritz cookies. I promise I haven't eaten more than...five? or six? Most are wrapped and ready to give! I wrapped some in parchment paper, tied with red and green string, and tagged with a festive fabric label.

Did you know that tape won't stick to parchment paper? Yeah, neither did I. So that was tricky, but I like how it turned out!

So with that, Merry Christmas, friends! I hope yours is full of peace, joy, and love.

oh, the wish list!

I am a shop-ahead Christmas gift shopper... most of the time, I have all of the gifts by Thanksgiving, or at least have planned to make them! I'm always slightly disappointed when I find out that something is on super-sale and I'm missing it.

And then there's the yearly wish-list compilation. In an effort to help my family know what we're hoping for, hubby and I put together a list with presents from the $10 and below range to the we're-sure-you-won't-buy-it range: true "wish" items. Sigh. It makes me feel like a kid.

Then, I remember that Christmas isn't really about the gifts at all, but about the Gift of God-in-flesh, the gift of relationship with God himself, the gifts of peace and hope for the future complete restoration of the world.

And I feel slightly guilty for making a wish list. But, anyway. There's always something I come across after I've already sent the list, and I realize that I simply Must. have. this. please? (probably a result of too many cookies and too much Pinterest)

So, with no further ado, the additions to the wish list. Thanks to Minnesota Public Radio's advertisement on their Christmas stream, I've come across Fjorn Scandinavian. Heritage and beauty all in one.

Topping my list is this advent "wreath", a simply beautiful candleholder made of brushed metal - it's an art piece, certainly. Sigh.

I've thought for a long time about how I might incorporate mistletoe into the Christmas decorating scheme. I don't have access to the real thing, and silk flowers aren't my thing, but this ornament is just perfect!

Because my name is hard to find in English-speaking countries, I've enjoyed the prominence of "Linnea" in Sweden. My grandma gave me the matching table runner to these placemats. Wouldn't that be a lovely spring or Easter or summer table?

Finally (for now!), a throw that also bears my name.

Not that I actually need any of these things, but, hey! Now you know what I'm wishing for, right?

To balance out all these admittedly expensive wishes, here is a link I found to some beautiful free printables at Dear Lillie. She has so many lovely things besides those, too. I love the idea of spreading poetry all throughout my house and introducing high quality literature to my (someday) children from an early age.

Elizabeth - no peeking!

Happy Birthday to my sister-in-law, Elizabeth!

Elizabeth, if you're reading this, click away! Don't want to ruin the surprise... unless you're reading this after your birthday, of course. :o)

*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
Much thought went into what I could get for Elizabeth for her birthday - jewelry? cute note cards? a picture frame for her puppies? something for her classroom? a new lanyard for school? a Vera bag? But nothing seemed right. Nothing was quite what I was hoping for. Thankfully, though, I came across a blog (that I can't put my finger on right now) that had a link to a travel set. The set included a zippered case, a silky blanket, and a sleep mask. I tucked the idea away, thinking I might make one for Christmas.

Rather serendipitously, I got my Jo-Ann Fabrics coupons in the mail last week, just as I was beginning a new little project. Hubby and I headed off to see his parents for the weekend, and my MIL took me shopping. Yay! We happened to stop at Jo-Ann's, and all the ideas clicked. Bold black and white floral pattern. End-of-the-bolt fleece. It was meant to be! I purchased 2 yards of the floral pattern, and all of the end-of-the-bolt fleece - about 1.75 yards. Lucky for me, the fleece was extra wide. I was able to use my coupons on each cut of fabric. Woo hoo! I also bought a zipper foot and some elastic.

After laying the fabric out on my dining table, I realized that since the fleece was so wide, I could actually use it width-wise for the length of the blanket. Sweet - lots of extra fleece. I sewed all around the blanket, right sides together, and trimmed the corners before turning right side out. I then topstitched all the way around the blanket with white thread. I like it!

The blanket is actually twice this width - I had to fold it over so you could see the edges!

Next, I traced my own sleep mask onto a piece of scrap paper, and used that as a pattern. I cut a layer of floral and a layer of fleece, and then sewed them together with a very small seam. I notched all the edges so that the curves would be smooth. I then realized that I had forgotten to add elastic, so I ripped a few stitches, added elastic, and sewed it back up. A little more topstitching - done!

Then I had to decide how to make the travel case. I debated making just straps to go around it, and perhaps adding a pocket to the blanket for the sleep mask. I realized that I had forgotten to buy a zipper, so that case idea was out. Eventually, I settled on making a tote bag to fit the blanket. Using the extra fleece for the sides and the floral for the front and back, I fashioned a little tote! I added a pocket to the front with room for the sleep mask and an mp3 player, and I lined the tote with silky fabric.

Isn't it cute?

I love how it turned out!

Christmas has come!

At least, to our house! My husband and I celebrated Christmas this past Saturday evening, since he doesn't have any non-weekend evenings free, and we'll be with family for this coming weekend.

The day started off with a quick trip to his parents' house - his dad is an experienced mechanic and was able to fix a minor issue with our car. We drove home through a pretty snowscape and not too much snow on the roads - excellent.

We had planned to have Christmas on Sunday, but it was just getting too exciting. What could we do? :o)

I pulled out a frozen beef roast and let it defrost a bit on the counter while we snuggled on the couch and enjoyed our (almost destroyed - thank you, kitties) Christmas tree.

Dinner was served on our fine china, with glasses of festive red cranberry juice standing in for wine. I used my newly-created pinecone centerpiece, my Orrefors raspberry crystal tealight holders, and my brand new placemats from my in-laws. Perfectly festive. My husband and I dressed up a bit, took pictures, and enjoyed the feast.


...and it was finally time for presents!


My sweet husband surprised me with a cozy zip-up fleece jacket, a new journal (thank you, honey!), and a new CD by one of my favorite bands. He got a few little gifts, too - an ocarina (small ethnic flute), Farkel (a dice game), BuckyBalls (a set of 200+ rare earth magnets), the Bourne Trilogy on blu ray, a Christmas CD by one of his favorite artists, and a cute penguin that I crocheted. This is my second-ever completed crochet project...he's pretty adorable, isn't he?