Silent night creation

I am exhausted and coming down with a head cold. I've been so busy cleaning, cooking, packing, and crafting gifts, that I think I might actually be able to sleep on the plane tomorrow! Since I can never sleep on planes, this would be monumental. It's been a full, yet good, past few weeks.


Last night, as I was wrapping up some details and talking to my mother on the phone, I fiddled with some things lying on my project table. A Christmas cd played in the background. Our conversation covered a series of unrelated events: a venti coffee getting spilled on somebody's white carpet, the hiring of cadaver dogs, successful Christmas recipes, Christmas presents, marriage highs and lows, my brother's awesome GPA, crying in public, dogs peeing on carpet, how my little niece can now play peek-a-boo, the rear-ending of decorative lawn ornaments and driving off after knocking them over....

and staying focused on God despite
the distractions or trials life brings.

I hung up the phone and the cd finished playing. Stefan was still grading in his office and the house was quiet. I fiddled some more at my spot on the table. Bits and pieces from our conversation, and meditations I'd read earlier, were swirling in my head. I finished my tiny wreath. I think it's my favorite yet. It's made from all the leftovers. I hung it on my closet door before going to bed.

I think of the star that shone brightly
the night that Christ was born.
A holy night, at times a silent night.

Merry Christmas

To hear my two favorite Christmas hymns,
click here and here.

I'll return to blogging on January 10th, after my trip.

Furoshiki

I had to try this out on one of Stefan's presents this year. It's not official furoshiki, but I had it in mind when I did this. The box had a metal handle on it that would rip through any of the paper we had, so I grabbed a small square table cloth and wrapped up the box and tied it w/some ribbon I'd had rolled up in my stash (hence the ripples, which I kind of liked).


Turned out pretty well I thought. I wrapped it like I would if it were being wrapped in paper, and it worked for the size of fabric I had on hand. Said giftwrap is now back in the linen closet since we celebrated the German end of Christmas this past Sunday since the other half would be in the US.

To learn more about furoshiki, click here.

Coming in second: cast a vote?

So for the heck of it I threw my hat in the ring at a handmade wreath contest. Stefan heard about this today and said,

"um, your picture is horrible. I mean, the wreath was really cool in person, but you think you're going to win with that horrible picture of it?"

thanks babe.

I actually don't care. I was pretty surprised to see that it's currently coming in second in it's little group. Who would've thought?

Wanna try to bump me to first?
Click here to vote: scroll down to the last group and
vote for Wreath 28.

Let's see if I win anything. If not, shoot, no biggie.
I'm already seeing family and friends in the US for Christmas, and that's prize enough for me!

2 wreaths and a dose of perspective

I made these as Christmas presents that have since been given to their happy recipients. More yarn wrapped around wreath forms with fun things attached.

Two things to note:
1) As these pictures show, I am in dire need of a real camera and I think I'm getting one for Christmas, so I'm excited!


2) Giving something handmade is kind of scary. You put all this time into thinking what the person would like and what might look best in their home, and then you put all this time into making it. As you make it, you realize your limitations and this can spiral into a "this looks like some kid's camp craft project - this is almost embarrassing! I can't give them this!"


At some point you remember they are your friends, your good friends, who, like you, like when people put time and thought into a gift. Good friends are usually not too far off in their gift giving. Good friends don't need Martha Stewart perfection, and good friends don't expect these to be re-hung every year until you die, ha ha ha!

Are these totally perfect? No. Is that ok? Yes!

Creating and then actually giving something risky, something handmade, was a good reminder that Christmas isn't about what we give to people (and obviously not about what we receive, even if it is a new camera!); Christmas is about something bigger - something God-sized - yet small enough to humbly come to us in a human infant form.

Even handmade things can get incredibly consumeristic. In light of the "season of giving", let's re-think how we celebrate the reason that started the season.

Meter-long Bratwurst

This week's Corner View theme is 'evening'. Evenings here are currently filled with shoppers wandering around the Christmas markets eating things like Lebkuchen cookies:

or meter-long bratwurst:


or crunching on candied toasted almonds:


downtown in Germany can smell really good on a December evening!

For more evenings from around the world, head over to Spain Daily.

Crafting for Advent

This week's corner view theme is 'corners of your home', so since we just celebrated the first Sunday of Advent this past weekend, we spent Friday and Saturday of last week getting all the Christmas decorations out. We also stocked the fireplace with wood and tried out our fireplace for the first time! (the house still smells very campfire-y after a rough start...) I also put up last year's Advent calendar for some filler since we're still plotting what to do with that wall.


Saturday I made this year's Advent wreath. This is still a very popular tradition here in Germany. Last week I had purchased a pre-made wreath of greenery. Work has just been too busy for me to try making my own this year. I did all the decoration parts. Allison has a good tutorial on wreaths if you need one, though!


Stefan's also in the habit of wanting a typical Advent calendar, even as an adult (who can blame him?), so after a meeting yesterday I ran around in a panic looking for something suitable. We'll be away for nearly half the month, so I wanted something that we could take with us, and something that wasn't a big cardboard and plastic frame. The ones with the prettiest designs and guaranteed good chocolates were starting at 16 Euro. No thanks.


I didn't feel like going to the tiny dept. store fabric selection and dropping a small fortune, so I picked up some green napkins and did a quick zig-zag stitch with red thread up two sides, leaving the fold for the bottom. Instant little bags for the less than 2 Euro.


I printed out some cute labels from my stash of free printables, stuck them on the bags with my tape pen, filled with various chocolates, and tied with another drugstore find: cheery, red satin ribbon that says "Merry Christmas to a dear person" - sort of schmaltzy, but since I was in a rush and knew this year's Advent calendar wasn't of the critical sort, went with it.


It's nice to see them all lined up on the living room window sill. We have a big white Moravian star hanging over them that we turn on at night, lighting everything up all cozy-like.


I also picked up this Advent card. Something different, but fun. I'm having a friend come over tomorrow to do some cookie making, so I'm off to prep some dough!

Fore more corner views from around the world, head over to the sidebar on Spain Daily.

Corner View: Bee Sting Cake on the Menu

Today's Corner View theme is about your local menu. One thing you can certainly find everywhere in Germany is an Italian ice cream shop (eiscafe). Our local favorite has this dish with ice cream surrounded by a ring of a sort of warm chocolate pudding.


Thankfully the menu had a great color shot of the dish, as I forgot to take a picture of mine before we polished it off!


Another thing on this weekend's menu was Bienenstichkuchen (bee sting cake). We had cake and coffee over at my mother-in-law's house on Sunday. This is quite possibly my favorite German cake. Simple, not-too-sweet layers of cake sandwiching a frothy white layer of whipped cream, topped with crunchy, honey glazed, toasted almonds. Perfect!

For more Corner Views of menus around the world,
head over to Spain Daily!

wool = cozy decor

So I can't stop. Well, I stopped enough to do a rush job for work-work and that sort of thing, and I stayed up late to fix a dog jacket and finish some sewing bits of Christmas presents, but otherwise I'm stuck on these:

No more details because they're also destined to be gifts of sorts...maybe...Stefan thinks they look so cool and we keep thinking we could keep them all. Or not. We'd look pretty silly with so many, don't you think?!

Now, I have to give a MAJOR plug here for the lady who inspired me to give this a whirl myself. Her designs are SO much cooler than mine and she's basically got this down to a science. It's her job and it shows. Check out Knock Knocking's Etsy shop. She has a cute blog, too.

She's so creative, isn't she?!

I love the felt flowers she makes to put on them as well. I'm not so sophisticated. I'm going to go with imitation is the sincerest form of flattery and be happy for a good idea. I'm not selling mine, nor is my gift budget such that I could afford to gift so many of hers, but it's fun, no?

To see more posts on yarn wreaths hop over to Holly's post on Decor8 and the how-to tutorial that inspired her. Remember, if you want the look without the DIY, buy your own here (she updates her shop often).

Mixing yarn with 'shrooms: twisty

I've been wanting to try my own yarn wrapped wreath for a while, but had a really hard time finding a foam wreath. However, between a random specialty shop where foam wreaths were all less than 2 Euro and the 1 Euro yarn bucket at the grocery store, these two wreaths came in at under 3 Euro each! I love this one - it's going in my living room somewhere.


I think I may want to add something else to it, but I'm not sure. This wreath took me less than 20 minutes to wrap up. It's only roughly 7"/17cm in diameter. The next one took a whole ball of yarn and took about an hour and a half or so. It's much bigger at roughly 12"/30cm in diameter.


This guy definitely needs more work, and I may remove the pilze (mushrooms). It was really hard to get a good picture of this green one thanks to the typical gray and rainy weather we're having. Ignore the leaves on the balcony... There's just no good light anywhere!

You could easily do these while watching a movie. I got nearly caught up with friends and finished mine over the course of 5 different phone conversations. So for those of you I still need to catch up with (you know who you are!), you'll know what I'm working on while we talk!

Twisting and turning: yarn and thread

I've been busy working on non-creative work-related things, but I've managed to squeeze in some top-secret Christmas projects.


I've also started trying out some fun ideas with yarn. I found some great colors in the 99 cent bucket at the grocery store and today was able to procure a few more items necessary for my trial runs. I'll have to do some non Christmas-y things first, to see if my idea can follow through more, so stay tuned - hopefully tomorrow there'll be more to show!

The Berlin Wall: then and now

Today is a big deal kind of day here in Germany. It marks the 20th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall. Regardless of how and when this all exactly came about, today is the day of celebration.

Here's a look at the first border crossing to open - watch how things change in less than 9 minutes. Realize that you are literally watching people walk into freedom. If you understand German, it's even better because the translation, while fair, misses a lot of things.

Where were you when you heard the wall was down?

(my answer's in the comments)

Free Printable: 2010 Calendar

I was over here originally admiring this free printable moving card (even though we're past that point ourselves) and then checked out her list of free printables (always fun) and found this gorgeous printable 2010 calendar from Gleaux.


Normally I operate on a 2 calendar basis: a big one in the kitchen for everything so Stefan and I are on the same page, and a second one in my purse to write in appointments as I book them when I'm out running around. Now that I have my own little office space, I was wanting a small visual to have on hand. This free download perfectly matches my office space aesthetic.

To get your own, head over here.

Autumn Window Shopping in Germany

We've been out and about the past two weeks thanks to the fall vacation break for the schools. In that time there's been some wandering around, enjoying the fall colors, weather and, for me, the pretty fall displays. Would you like to come along?

First up is the floral arrangement at our table in a little cafe we went to. I just love how creative this is!

Here's my favorite Einrichtungsladen (interior decorating shop) in our town. Lots of purple, the big hit for this year:

I liked this tablecloth but I don't think Stefan could handle
that much pink in our house!

A blurry shot of the fall browns and oranges (sorry!):

Dishes in a rainbow of colors:

One of my favorite flower stands in a nearby town
sporting the purple again:

And giving a wink towards the upcoming Christmas season:

We ended up in Bamberg one evening and I spotted some of the Pip Wallpaper china collection - really lovely! I could easily enjoy the whole set, but Stefan said he'd weed out the pink stuff. Surprise surprise.


There were also some bags and satchels from the same line. So sweet! To enjoy clearer, non-phone pix of the Pip Wallpaper line, click here. *Be sure to hold your mouse over the music box on their main page, lovely little tune to enjoy as you look at what must be one of the most beautiful websites ever! There are lots of little 'hidden' gems on there, play around with it for a minute!

Back home I spotted a display of the fun Christmas china pattern Villeroy & Boch put out this year. It makes me want to host a huge Christmas party!

I really like the serving plates and the tall mugs! Can't you just picture some spiced hot chocolate in them? To enjoy clearer, non-phone pix, see the My Winter collection here.

That's it for the window shopping tour. It's always fun to see what's out in the stores and, by taking pictures and posting it here to share, it's like shopping without spending money!

Little Girl's Bag: Take 2

So I made another bag, this time for an almost-2yr old who acts so much older than 2. She's a very girly-girl who puts on her own 'make up' when her mom is getting herself dolled up. I thought she could use a purse. I even added some pom-pom trim because I had a feeling little fingers would love to play with the soft little pom-poms, and I was right!


I mistakenly thought the trim would hide my crooked stitching, but the trim itself proved hard to stitch on straight. Short pom-poms and the sewing machine presser foot = eng (tight fit).

Then I realized it only added to the mess
that was going on inside the bag! grrrr...

However, I did a much better job on the shoulder strap this time (even though attaching it wasn't as pretty as last time). It turned out to be way too long for her, but oh well. I hate straps because you have to turn the whole thing inside out after sewing it shut, but after much tugging and sighing and trying various methods, it came out the right way. Phew!

I also had a reoccuring problem that I think has to do with the bag liner being too big or small compared to the outer shell. It bunched up here on the side again. Super annoying. I'd already had a mishap that required 4 separate uses of the seam ripper, so I gave up on this problem and just left it. I should've just taken a break and come back to it again.

I was pleased with the bag liner and
the little inside pocket I added.

I also tried something a little different with the flower on the outside, making the inner layer more daffodil-esque. I used a skinnier and much shorter length of fabric than I used on the bottom layer.


Altogether it was a successful venture. It was an improvement over the last bag and I think it was good to try the same thing again so I could see where I still need some practice. These little projects are great for encouraging me to keep trying: they're simple enough to be do-able within a short amount of time. Of course, seeing a little person's eyes light up and watching them continually use the item is an encouragement as well! Off to cut some fabric for a new and different project!

Corner View: Love

This week's Corner View theme is love. I don't have much to say on this because the one I love has 2 weeks vacation right now so we've been busy doing projects around the house, running errands, watching movies, and just hanging out.


One of the things we've done so far that I love, is enjoy the fall German specialty of Kürbis Creme Suppe - pumpkin cream soup. Along with Pflaumenkuchen, Kürbis Creme Suppe is another typical dish served during the autumn season here in Germany. I don't have a recipe for it, but I found this one and it looks tasty!

For more Corner Views on love, head over to Spain Daily and check out the link list on Jane's sidebar!