Hand Crafted Holidays 2015 : Week 6, Gifts in a Jar

Hand Crafted Holidays 2015 : The Hand Crafted Kitchen

Week 6 Cookies and Gifts in a Jar

Christmas is this week! What better time to roll out gifts a jar and cookies than the week you might need some quick last minute gifts!

I have a board on Pinterest dedicated to simple cookie recipes and decorating - though mostly decorating. Like most of us I already have my favorite recipes tucked away in my kitchen and have just recently started gathering my favorites from around the web as a traveling recipe box for my kids.

Snowman Cookies, Simple Circles BIG on Cuteness Factor

Like these cute snowmen, you can make these in a flash using your own sugar cookie recipe (or  buy a tube of dough) Whip up some royal frosting and decorate to your hearts content!  If you prefer a different cookie you'll find the Snowmen come from a recipe for gingerbread on Bakerella.

Gifts in a jar have gotten really diverse in past years as more and more people have enjoyed this simple gift that is big on taste and heart.  From cookies, quick breads and soups to mulling spices and custom tea blends the ideas are limited only to your imagination.

Cookies in a Jar

Spiced Tea in a Jar Recipe

The cookie in a jar recipe and the spiced tea recipe can be found on my Hand Made Kitchen Board on Pinterest along with many others as well as some more great ideas I didn't share here or you can click above and go to them directly.

I do hope you've enjoyed this years series! I know I have enjoyed bringing it to you. Christmas is this weekend and I do hope you are surrounded with people you love and who contribute to your happiness and create feelings of being loved and cherished in return. No matter what religion you practice I believe that sense of love and well being is integral to what we are celebrating this time of year. I wish you all Happy Holidays and a very Merry Christmas!

The holidays are about sharing and caring, and I’d like very much to get the word out that hand made is heart made as is the holiday season. 

SO, If you like this post, and I hope you do! Please feel free to share it! Blog about it, Tweet it, Pin it, Instagram it and give it a shout out on FaceBook. Don’t forget to come back each week for another post in this years series: The Hand Crafted Kitchen

Thanks for stoppin by!

We’ll see ya next week!

Week 1: Vanilla = http://magpieapproved.blogspot.com/2015/11/hand-crafted-holidays-2015-hand-crafted.html

Week 2: Aprons = http://magpieapproved.blogspot.com/2015/11/the-hand-crafted-kitchen-week-2-aprons.html

Week 3: Mixing Spoons = http://magpieapproved.blogspot.com/2015/12/the-hand-crafted-kitchen-week-3.html

Week 4 Mixing Bowls = http://magpieapproved.blogspot.com/2015/12/hand-crafted-holidays-2015-week-4.html

Week 5 Rolling Pins and Pastry Cloths = http://magpieapproved.blogspot.com/2015/12/hand-crafted-holidays-of-rolling-pins.html

Week 6 Jars and Gifts in a Jar  Merry Christmas!

Hand Crafted Holidays: of Rolling Pins and Pastry Cloths

The Hand Crafted Kitchen

Week 5 Rolling Pins and Pastry Cloths

I’ll be the first to admit my rolling pin is just a basic wooden spinner with handles. Until I started looking at the hand turned pins I really had no idea how many styles there were. To top it off the kiddo and I have been watching The Great British Baking Show on Netflix and the variety of pins they use is kind of amazing to someone who’s only ever used a spinner.

Just look at how many styles Cattail Woodworks has. I LOVE this store on
Etsy. Do yourself a favor and visit, just gorgeous functional artwork!

This mornings e-mail  from King Arthur Flour had Springerle molds and rolling pins. Springerle is a type of German biscuit with an embossed design made by pressing a mold onto rolled dough. The key to using them is allowing the impression to dry a little before baking, as that preserves the detail of the pattern. Etsy has had several rolling pins with gorgeous designs that have been featured in the newsletters recently.

Housemate Artist on Etsy

AlgisCrafts on Etsy

Another thing we watched them use on the show was a pastry cloth. Now, I’ve used a cloth to cover my dough while rising but I had no idea how many uses those have as well. I’ve found a few for you and the instructions to make your own if you’re so inclined. I kind of think I might need a real one now. In fact I think I’m going to go rummage through that box of antique and vintage linens to see if I don’t already have one. I sure know where to find one, if there isn’t!

FarmGirlCreations on Etsy

QuiverTreeBaking on Etsy

Why YOU Want one Too! and the Instructions on how to
make your own on Make it & Love it

This weeks blog post was an educational one for me, I love when that happens! Since I do enjoy baking a thing or two that’s a double bonus.

The holidays are about sharing and caring, and I’d like very much to get the word out that hand made is heart made as is the holiday season. 

SO, If you like this post, and I hope you do! Please feel free to share it! Blog about it, Tweet it, Pin it, Instagram it and give it a shout out on FaceBook. Don’t forget to come back each week for another post in this years series: The Hand Crafted Kitchen

Thanks for stoppin by!

We’ll see ya next week!

Week 1: Vanilla = http://magpieapproved.blogspot.com/2015/11/hand-crafted-holidays-2015-hand-crafted.html

Week 2: Aprons = http://magpieapproved.blogspot.com/2015/11/the-hand-crafted-kitchen-week-2-aprons.html

Week 3: Mixing Spoons = http://magpieapproved.blogspot.com/2015/12/the-hand-crafted-kitchen-week-3.html

Week 4 Mixing Bowls = http://magpieapproved.blogspot.com/2015/12/hand-crafted-holidays-2015-week-4.html

Hand Crafted Holidays 2015 : Week 4 Mixing Bowls

The Hand Crafted Kitchen

As you know, my daughter is a ceramicist and she has made several bowls for me that I use in the kitchen on a regular basis. There is nothing quite like a hand thrown bowl to mix in, you just know anything made in a hand thrown bowl is made with love. 

A hand thrown mixing bowl is just heavy enough to bring back all sorts of memories of helping Grandma in the kitchen, whether taste testing, measuring ingredients, or as head stirrer of the bowl. That solid bowl is a keeper of some of our best memories.

So I have poked around Etsy and Amazon to bring you just a few of my favorites today.

Leslie Freeman Designs on Etsy

Gentlemanly Pursuits on Etsy

Jan Fairhurst Pottery on Etsy

Paige Hickey Pottery on Amazon

Theresa Chang Ceramics on Amazon

I hope you make many new happy memories with them as well.

The holidays are about sharing and caring, and I’d like very much to get the word out that hand made is heart made as is the holiday season. 

SO, If you like this post, and I hope you do! Please feel free to share it! Blog about it, Tweet it, Pin it, Instagram it and give it a shout out on FaceBook. Don’t forget to come back each week for another post in this years series: The Hand Crafted Kitchen

Thanks for stoppin by!

We’ll see ya next week!

Week 1: Vanilla = http://magpieapproved.blogspot.com/2015/11/hand-crafted-holidays-2015-hand-crafted.html

Week 2: Aprons = http://magpieapproved.blogspot.com/2015/11/the-hand-crafted-kitchen-week-2-aprons.html

Week 3: Mixing Spoons = http://magpieapproved.blogspot.com/2015/12/the-hand-crafted-kitchen-week-3.html

Week 4 Mixing Bowls = http://magpieapproved.blogspot.com/2015/12/hand-crafted-holidays-2015-week-4.html

The Hand Crafted Kitchen: Week 3

Week 3: Wooden Mixing Spoons and helpful accessories

The official countdown has begun!  Christmas is in just four weeks.

This year I’m focusing the series in the kitchen, and today we’re talking spoons and wooden push pulls.

My oldest has moved out again and is refurnishing her kitchen. She found some spoons on Pinterest that she loved and hinted I should buy them for her. After doing a little hunting on Etsy I found some really beautiful spoons anyone would be happy to receive.

 

Gorgeous Burned Spoon from Portugal  ArtisIgnis on Etsy

California Walnut At Kitchen Carvings on Etsy

Hand Carved from Italy The Wooden Caravan on Etsy

Fun Spoons at Sue Made That on Etsy

While looking around I also found this amazing little gadget I didn’t even know I needed, but man do I want one! This little guy pushes and pulls the hot rack in the oven, no more burns! I’m all for that!

Walnut Push/Pull from Wooden It Be Nice on Etsy

I don't know where this thing has been hiding all my life but I really really want one! I also kinda want some of these spoons!

The holidays are about sharing and caring, and I’d like very much to get the word out that hand made is heart made as is the holiday season. 

SO, If you like this post, and I hope you do! Please feel free to share it! Blog about it, Tweet it, Pin it, Instagram it and give it a shout out on FaceBook. Don’t forget to come back each week for another post in this years series: The Hand Crafted Kitchen

Thanks for stoppin by!

We’ll see ya next week!

Week 1: Vanilla = http://magpieapproved.blogspot.com/2015/11/hand-crafted-holidays-2015-hand-crafted.html

Week 2: Aprons = http://magpieapproved.blogspot.com/2015/11/the-hand-crafted-kitchen-week-2-aprons.html

Week 3: Mixing Spoons = http://magpieapproved.blogspot.com/2015/12/the-hand-crafted-kitchen-week-3.html

Week 4 Mixing Bowls = http://magpieapproved.blogspot.com/2015/12/hand-crafted-holidays-2015-week-4.html

The Hand Crafted Kitchen: Week 2 Aprons

The countdown to the holidays has begun! Thanksgiving is this week and Christmas follows (as usual lol) just four weeks behind.

This year I’m focusing the series in the kitchen. What says kitchen more than the Apron?

It doesn’t matter if the kitchen is indoors or out, an apron means business!

Hand Embroidered, My Grandmas Apron

I received a most wonderful gift from my Aunt (Dad’s sister) recently. She sent some wonderful old family photos of my grandparents, aunts and uncles and some of the grandkids (my cousins, me included) But she also included my Grandmas apron. Pristinely white with hand embroidered flowers. Tucked in with the apron were hand tatted lace edged hankies and pillow cases my Grandma had made. Lace making amazes me, it isn’t something I ever picked up. Makes me wish I had.  

Once upon a time all of our kitchens were hand made!

As much as I LOVE my Grandmas apron I would be heart broken if I stained it or tore it somehow. Off to Pinterest to find the apron patterns! I am forever dropping beads and jump rings in my studio. That means umpteen hours on my knees with a flashlight hunting down the little um buggers under the armoire and dressers i use for storage. An apron might could catch those runaway items before they could ever hit the floor!

My kiddo as you know is a potter, she needs one that covers front and back - muddy hands!

I have two patterns tucked away on my boards that fit our needs beautifully.

They can be found here: on my  Pinterest Board

If you don’t sew or just don’t have the time this year, I took a few minutes to poke around and found some wonderful Handmade Aprons available for purchase.

Etsy

Bonnies Sew Crazy on Etsy

Misses Country on Etsy

Linen Sky on Etsy

and on Handmade @ Amazon 

Victoria Eggs on HandMade @Amazon

HardMill on Handmade @Amazon

Oh my I LOVE this apron, perfect for my studio! It’s a bit out of my budget for right now, so I’ll have to save my pennies and wait on it a little bit. 

In the meantime I’m pulling out the sewing machine…….just as soon as I find some suitable material. I haven’t quite decided, duck cloth or ticking or just a heavy cotton…… decisions decisions!

The holidays are about sharing and caring, and I’d like very much to get the word out that hand made is heart made as is the holiday season. 

SO, If you like this post, and I hope you do! Please feel free to share it! Blog about it, Tweet it, Pin it, Instagram it and give it a shout out on FaceBook. Don’t forget to come back each week for another post in this years series: The Hand Crafted Kitchen

Thanks for stoppin by!

We’ll see ya next week!

Week 1: Vanilla = http://magpieapproved.blogspot.com/2015/11/hand-crafted-holidays-2015-hand-crafted.html

Week 2: Aprons = http://magpieapproved.blogspot.com/2015/11/the-hand-crafted-kitchen-week-2-aprons.html

Week 3: Mixing Spoons = http://magpieapproved.blogspot.com/2015/12/the-hand-crafted-kitchen-week-3.html

Week 4 Mixing Bowls = http://magpieapproved.blogspot.com/2015/12/hand-crafted-holidays-2015-week-4.html

December's Birthstone = Turquoise

It's hard to believe an entire year has passed sine I started posting these wonderful old marketing Poems. I have enjoyed it and it makes me a little sad that this is the last of the series.

They've given me a post every month that was already planned, helping my continuity and has made me look a little closer at my own "marketing" (as passive as it is it's still marketing lol) I've enjoyed the themes and sharing so I'll be planning more posts over the next year.

I've discovered a little more about the ways I'm comfortable marketing and not. I've even discovered how wounded I feel when I'm criticized on how I'm marketing others, and now I know how long it takes to recover from that. Apparently I still wear my heart on my sleeve, thought I had tucked that away a long time ago.

While I sit down to work on my marketing plan for the coming year (including some of those blog posts) I do hope you will enjoy our final poem and know that I have enjoyed bringing them to you.

Turquoise and Turquoise colored Jewelry fromMy Shop

Decembers stone as we all know is Turquoise, but it also shares the month with Zircon and Tanzanite.

If cold December gave you birth,
The month of snow and ice and mirth,
Place on your hand a turquoise blue;
Success will bless whate'er you do.

Kind of a nice way to end the year though isn't it? A promise of success, very nice indeed.

We have once again moved the stones around throughout the ages. The original stones of the month were Ruby and Heliotrope (boy that stone gets around lol)  In 1912 they were replaced with Turquoise and Lapis Lazuli. Lapis is a pretty stone and I can imagine how pretty when paired with Turquoise. But the stone was dropped in 2013 in favor of Tanzanite and Zircon. Both beautiful stones in their own right.

Turquoise colored gifts from team LACWE on Etsy

January = Garnet

February = Amethyst

March = Aquamarine

April = Diamond

May = Emerald

June = Pearl

July = Ruby

August = Peridot

September = Sapphire

October = Opal

November = Topaz

Nose back to the grindstone...marketing, housework, blog hop pieces, and one of these days I've got to do some Christmas shopping or work on some gifts.......

Thanks for stoppin by!

We'll see ya next time!