Cookie Decorating

When my mom was growing up, my grandma would bake sugar cookies and mix up colored frosting to decorate them. When my mom had children, she continued this tradition with us. Now, I do this very thing with my children and I hope to continue the tradition for years to come. Let me warn you, our cookies are not elegant or beautiful and would never win any sort of award for them. But they are fun to decorate and eat and we look forward to this tradition every year.

This year, I am going to make one change to the tradition. I am going to switch to gingerbread cookies instead of sugar. We don't care all that much for the taste of plain old sugar cookies but I have a fabulous gingerbread cookie recipe that we love (I'll be sharing the recipe with you in a couple of weeks!). So, I'll use the same cookie cutters my mom and grandma used, the same colored frosting and tools (good old butter knives and toothpicks) with a new cookie recipe this year.



Here's a layout I created a while back about Joshua's first year helping to decorate cookies:


I'd also like to share some sites I found about Christmas cookies. Enjoy!
http://www.karenscookies.net/shop/cookie-decorating-tutorials/info_7.html
http://www.christmas-cookies.com/bakingtips/decorating.php
http://www.marthastewart.com/cookies


Have a great Sunday!

Holiday traditions

Does your family have any holiday traditions? Traditions don't have to be elaborate and you can start new ones anytime! They make the holidays extra special and give everyone something to look forward to. Today, I want to share a new tradition we started last year as well as some ideas for your family.

Growing up, my parents always let us open a gift on Christmas Eve. It was something we could use right away such as an electric blanket for a cold night, new pjs or a necklace to wear to church. Last year, we decided to give the kids new pj's to open and wear every Christmas Eve. I plan on continuing this tradition every year.

Here are a few ideas for your family to do together this holiday season:
* Sing Christmas songs while trimming the tree.
* Bake and decorate cookies.
* Drive around town looking at Christmas lights. you could even bring some hot cocoa with you!
* Make ornaments for the tree. They don't have to be fancy!
* Cuddle up and watch a favorite holiday movie.
* Write and mail a letter to Santa.
* Donate toys and food to a family in need.

We'd love to hear about your family traditions. Leave us a comment and share a bit about what your family does every year together. Tomorrow, I will share a family tradition that my grandma started years and years ago as well as some sites that will help you create beautiful holiday cookies.

Winner Challenge #4 - Holiday Greetings

We had a great time getting started on our holiday cards. Thank you to those that played along with us! Without further delay, the random winner of our fourth challenge is...

DaisyMeh - Megan!

Congrats Megan Please email us at feelingscrappy@yahoo.com with your mailing information by Monday so you can receive your prize package!Be sure to check out our next challenge on December 5th!

Have a great weekend!

Happy Thanksgiving!

Wishing you a day filled with the people you love, enjoying each other around a bountiful table while you count your blessings and make memories to relive in the future!

Sincerely,
The Feeling Scrappy team

Get started now on this quick gift idea!

With Thanksgiving tomorrow and holiday gift-giving upon us, I thought I would share this idea for a quick and easy gift that is perfect for teachers, friends, neighbors and family alike. I made these dry erase calendar boards for my mom and mother-in-law for Mothers' Day this year, and they were a hit! I managed to put two together in under an hour, which makes this a perfect last-minute project to tackle. And as an added bonus, the materials other than the photo frame are likely already a part of your current stash. How nice is that?

Materials:

1 8x10 photo frame with glass

1 8x10 sheet cardstock (preferably a neutral color, but this is just a base layer that won't be seen, so any color will do)

7 strips of colored cardstock, each 1.4 inches wide by 8 inches tall

7 1-inch squares white cardstock

Letter stickers

Ribbon

Up to 7 thumbnail-size photos, each approximately 1 inch square (optional)

Dry erase markers

Directions:

1. Trim your colored cardstock to the specified dimensions and adhere to your 8x10 sheet of cardstock to form 7 columns.

2. Adhere your white cardstock squares in the top portion of each column, then adhere letter stickers representing the days of the week on each square (S, M, T, W, R/Th, F, S).

3. Adhere your strip of ribbon just below your letter blocks, forming a border below which dates will be written.

4. If using, arrange your thumbnail photos in the bottom portion of your columns as you desire. Adhere. (I used four photos, placed in the first four columns.)

5. Place a message like "To Do" in the bottom right portion of your calendar, being sure to leave plenty of space for your recipient to write in his or her appointments.

6. Place your finished calendar sheet into your frame as you would a typical photo, and voila! A quick and easy gift!

Be sure to include a dry erase marker with your board, and pencil in a few dates/holidays so your recipient can see exactly what the board is intended for. When I went to visit my mom a month or so ago, I was thrilled to see hers that I made her still sits on her desk, filled with her appointments and commitments for the week!

If you decide to put one (or more!) of these together, we would love to see your creation! Feel free to share a picture in the comments below. :o)

And the winner is...

A few days ago I offered up a small blog candy here: http://feelingscrappyclasses.blogspot.com/2008/11/blog-candy.html

The winner is:
Beth said...
My favorite Thanksgiving things are the Macy's parade and Jellied Cranberry sauce!

Beth, please e-mail your mailing address to me at feelingscrappy@yahoo.com by next Monday to claim your prize! :)

Winter 2009 Classes - Sketchapalooza 3

Sketchapalooza 3!
March 2 - 30, 2009

Back by popular demand! Do you like using sketches when creating layouts for your scrapbooks? Do challenges and prizes motivate you? Are you looking to do some "catching up" in your scrapbooks? Then this is the class for you!

You will be provided with tons of brand new original sketches (5 per week!) with examples from our talented designers during this four-week course. This fast paced exciting class is suitable for any level of scrapper (paper or digital) who wants to get a lot of pages done and have a ball doing it! This class runs from March 2nd until March 30th 2009.

Cost: $25.00