Don't miss this!

Today is an exciting day for me.

Many of you may have seen the fun series going on over at Life In Grace: Edie's been doing an exciting series called "12 Days of Handmade Christmas." She started on November 1, and she's featured a different craft each day. Such good ideas! If you haven't seen this series, go here to start at Day 1 and work your way through.

Well, today is my day to guest post for Edie! And my Christmas craft is one that anyone can try: homemade fudge. Not just any fudge, though--my fudge recipe originated with Mamie Eisenhower. It's from an old Kansas cookbook, and the recipe title proudly adds a subtitle: "Mamie made this fudge to woo Ike." I like Ike, and I like fudge, but I don't like candy thermometers and confusing directions. Well, this recipe is not confusing. It's simple to follow, and it produces the most delicious, creamy, wonderful fudge. I've made it every year for the past 20 years, and I'll keep making it as long as I'm able to hold a spoon.

Now go on over to Edie's and read the post for yourself. Print that recipe and give it a try. You'll love it. Promise.

DIY Day

My latest DIY projects have been geared toward to making my middle son's room a bit more inviting.

Here's a photo of me and my son.

I love this picture because you get an idea of what a cutie he is--and just how huge he is. I am also shamelessly loving this photo I look so cute and tiny, but that's mostly because my son is 6'8". Anyway, my vanity aside: those of you who have little boys, take note. Some day--a day which will come soon--you'll be smaller than they are.

Back when my boys were small, I found decorating their rooms so much easier. For instance, when they were really into fishing, I hung cafe curtains at the bottom of their windows and bamboo fishing poles across the tops of their windows. It looked cute (which pleased me) and it reflected their interests (which pleased them). Now that my guys are older, most of the decorating of their rooms is up to them.

Recently, though, my 16-year-old asked that we pay some special attention to his room. He has a large bedroom down on the "terrace" (aka walk-out basement) level of our home. The first decision was a color to paint his walls, which were previously a very dirty version of the neutral used throughout the non-colored parts of our house. We chose to paint the walls the color of the bags from Restoration Hardware. Very scientific, huh? Actually, I've learned since then that Restoration Hardware carries a paint called "Silver Sage" that's pretty much this color. At the time we did the job, I was in a bit of rush at the paint store and ended up just choosing a color from the Benjamin Moore fandeck, and we were happy with the result. We went with HC-144, Palladian Blue.

He was using an old headboard from a Swedish furniture store--blond wood slats, stainless steel frame.

A good quality bed, but not the traditional look he wanted. So I stapled foam and then leather-looking vinyl to the frame to create an upholstered headboard. Nothing special, but better than the slats.

While I was at my discount fabric store shopping for vinyl for the headboard, I spotted some wonderful striped fabric in the remnants section. Now, my fabric store charges just $7.99/yard for decorator fabrics--and that's the REGULAR price. Remnants are discounted to $3.99/yard. So I bought 3 1/2 yards of striped fabric for just $14.00. Here's what I made:

Large Euro shams for his bed (using the elementary sewing skills I posted about here) and valances for his windows.

Here's a closer look at the valances. They're very simple: I folded up and hot-glued a hem onto a length of fabric, then just folded in a simple box pleat. The only sewing involved was to sew a rod pocket for the curtain rod.

Some of my favorite bloggers, including Nester and Sarah, have stressed the importance of hanging window treatments ABOVE the windows, thereby not blocking the natural light. Why, they have asked, do people place their window treatments where the natural light from the window is blocked? Well, while doing this project, I discovered one reason why. Because the curtain rods say that you should mount the rods to the casing around the windows. After all, you can't just hang curtain rods on drywall, can you? So I dutifully hung these valances right on the window casing. . . and I discovered that Nester and Sarah are right! You do lose some of the priceless natural light! Solution? Use drywall anchors to mount your curtain rods, and put them wherever you want them.

I'm tickled with these fun little touches that I've added to my son's room. And I think that he was pleased that I spent my time working on this project just for him.

Check out all the fun projects at DIY Day!

I can make that!

One of my favorite bloggers, Chris at Just a Girl, is having a party! Chris has a lot to celebrate--she just unveiled a beautiful new blog design, and she's decided to take the plunge into attracting blog sponsors. So it's a good day for her to have a party. And it's a good day for all of us, for her party idea is a great one. Here's our chance to share ideas of all kinds of things that we can make. . . and there's plenty of time for us to learn from one another and make lots of wonderful gifts and decorations in time for Christmas.

What I'd like to show you has the most humble of beginnings:

scraps of fabric and a wire coat hanger.

That's it. That's the entire list of materials required to make a ragamuffin wreath!

You've seen the adorable ragamuffin garlands made wildly popular by the Nester. Nester even did a tutorial on these for Edie's 12 Days of Homemade Christmas series.

I took that idea, but instead of tying my fabric scraps onto a string or wire, I tied them to a wire coat hanger. As much as I prefer padded or plastic hangers, I still have lots of wire hangers in my house. I chose a sturdy wire hanger, removed the paper from the hanger, bent the body of it into a circular form, and began tying. (Don't worry about getting the hanger into a perfect circle. It's going to get bent some as you go, and you can always tweak it after you've finished tying on your fabric.) If you like, you could use wire cutters to remove the hook from the top of the hanger. I find the hook useful for hanging the wreath, so I don't cut it off.

For this project, I suggest you cut your scraps of fabric or ribbon around 7" to 9" long. Anything less than 6 or 7 inches will be hard to tie. Pieces longer than 9" or so will be a little too long, since the pieces need to follow the circular form of the wreath. Of course, you could always trim pieces off a bit after you've completed the wreath.

Here's a wreath that I'm making for Thanksgiving. When it's finished, I'll probably add a little something to it--maybe a small sign that says "Give thanks." In a perfect house, this would be finished and hanging somewhere really cute. In my house, it's only half finished. But here it is:

And here's a little different one. It's made with scraps of just one flannel fabric, all cut exactly the same length. I added a bow and the rustic jingle bells.

Isn't it cute? I hang it on the inside of the glass door leading in from my front porch. I always hang a pine cone wreath on the outside of this door, so having a wreath on the inside of the door is nice.

This photo is terrible, but you get the general idea.

I'll bet you have a bunch of fabric and ribbon scraps lying around. And if you don't have a wire hanger, you can easily get one. And I'll let you in on a secret: I cut the fabric strips for this wreath, but my six-year-old tied them to the hanger. Yes, he did. That six-year-old is now 16, so it's been awhile. . . but what sweet memories are tied up in this wreath! So this craft really is something you can make yourself or get your kids to make with you.

Be sure to look at all the great ideas at Chris's party!

Changing focus

I am one of a group of eight women called "The Birthday Girls." Okay, "girls" is a bit of a stretch, since we're all in our 40's and 50's, but somehow "The Birthday Women" just doesn't have the same zing. Anyway, we started getting together regularly several years ago when we all had kids starting high school. Those same kids are now in college, and we've leaned on one another for support a lot through the years, but we've also had lots of fun.

One of the most fun things we do is to have lunch together to celebrate each woman's birthday. We used to meet at a restaurant and give one another elaborate gifts. This year, we've scaled back a bit--we're now meeting in one another's homes for salad potlucks and we're sticking to a spending maximum of $5 for gifts. The scale-back is good for our wallets, and we have just as much fun as we used to.

Today I had the chance to host the group for lunch. As I was setting the table for the six of us who could come to today's luncheon, I was whining to myself that I don't have any pretty fallish napkins. My dishes are white, and my best napkins are white, and I had myself a little pity party as I looked at all that whiteness. I even thought briefly about running out to see if I could find some inexpensive seasonal napkins. And then it occurred to me that although my napkins were white, I had plenty of colored ribbon. You know what I mean. I know that y'all have a stash of ribbon, too. So I cut lengths of pretty green ribbon and tied some around each white napkin. Each place setting looked like this:

Actually, the green ribbon looked kind of nice with the silk flower arrangement I had made:

This photo shows the whole table:

You can probably guess what happened. As my friends and I were taking our places at the table, one of them exclaimed: "Look at these napkins! How cute!" There followed a conversation about what I had done with the ribbon and just how I had achieved that look.

It surprised me that the thing about which I was complaining and with which I was just "making do" was one of the hits of the party. Later, as I was washing the dishes, it occurred to me that I was looking at the napkin situation all wrong. And I wondered how often I do this with other things in my life. How often do I grouse and complain about all the things I want but don't have? And while I'm complaining, am I stopping to be thankful for all the wonderful things I DO have?

During this season of giving thanks, I think I need to change my focus. I think I need to change the lens through which I'm viewing things and choose to be thankful for all of God's abundant provisions rather than focusing on the things I don't have. So I'm going to make a concerted effort to do just that. Here's a first try:

"As I was setting my table for today's birthday lunch, I was reminded how much I enjoy my versatile white dishes. They truly go with anything! And I just love to use these snowy-white napkins. I received this as a gift several years ago, and they're so luxurious. . . and, as an added bonus, I can always bleach them if they become too soiled! So they're practical as well as pretty. To make them a bit more fallish, I tied a bit of green ribbon around each one. My guests loved the look, and the honoree of the lunch told me that the table setting made her feel special."

How's that for looking at the same situation with a little different focus?

How about you? Is there anything in your life that you need to view a bit differently? Join me this month as we try to do that together.

Holiday Decorating

I love to decorate for holidays. Especially Christmas. Love, love, love it. And based on what I'm reading around blogland right now, I'd say that most of you share my enjoyment.

It seems to me that we all decorate in a cool, relaxed way for summer, then really get back into feathering our nests when fall arrives. Halloween, hello! We enjoy pulling out the pumpkins and all the other paraphernalia that welcomes autumn. And then, after we've eaten the toasted pumpkin seeds, we are ready to rock and roll on into Christmas.

And yet, there's another holiday in there that we all love. As much as I adore Christmas decorating, I'm trying to reserve these few weeks to keep my house decorated for this month's holiday. What I do is simple--I just tweak my autumn decorations by removing the jack-o-lanterns and bringing in a few special Thanksgiving pieces.

For instance, my dining room table now holds our cornucopia. Still using my burlap runner and homemade sconces.

Filling the cornucopia is always fun for me. I found this beautiful horn way back in 1991, when my oldest son was just 10 weeks old. I've loved using it ever since. Its look has changed over the years. When I bought it, it was peach-colored papier mache', which was really something 18 years ago. Not so much today. Its current finish was achieved with espresso spray paint topped with a feather-light dusting of gold; I think I like it. Some of the cornucopia contents are special to me and I pack them up each year: a sheaf of wheat from my mother's native Kansas; a boll of cotton from my father's native Tennessee; buckeyes that my son and I collected on a nature walk 'way back when we lived in Hillsdale, Michigan. Sweet memories.

The table on my porch traded its candy corn hurricanes

for a warmer look: a table runner and a fun lantern.

Actually, the "runner" is just a piece of fabric folded to look like a runner. And here's a closer look at the lantern:

I found it on clearance at Target last year for $9.

The move away from candy corn is actually a very good one for me. I am crazy about candy corn. I mean, certifiably nuts about it. But since August I've had one root canal and two porcelain crowns installed in my mouth. I think my tummy likes candy corn more than my teeth do. It was time for it to go.

In the breakfast room, my dough cabinet is one of my favorite spots for seasonal decorating. I just removed the jack-o-lanterns from my pumpkin collection and added a couple of terra cotta pilgrims and some "Give Thanks" blocks.

These simple changes took just a few minutes of time, but they help me to stay focused on November rather than rushing ahead to December. And since November is the time set aside for giving thanks, it's a good place for me to stay focused.

What about you? Do you decorate for Thanksgiving, or do you like to go ahead and get started on Christmas decorating?

Linked to "Show and Tell Friday" at My Romantic Home

Complications

When I was a little girl, I listened to a lot of music. My parents loved music, and we always had music playing. Now, I'm 46, so when I was a kid, the source of music was the stereo--a fancy wooden cabinet that contained a record player and an eight-track tape deck. The speakers to the stereo, housed in similar fancy wooden cases, doubled as end tables in our living room. No kidding.

I especially liked the music of the Statler Brothers. My mother would put on a stack of Statler Brothers LP's and we would be treated to hour after hour of their music. One of my very favorite songs of theirs was called "Class of '57." The Statler Brothers were about the same age as my parents; maybe that's why my folks liked this music so much.

Anyway, I particularly loved one Statler Brothers song called "The Class of '57." I especially remember one line from that song:

The class of '57 had its dreams

But living life day to day is never what it seems

Things get complicated when you get past 18.

I must have heard that song 500 times, all before I myself was 18. Never quite knew what it meant. I know what it means now, though.

This past weekend was an example of how things don't always go according to plan. I had been planning a Halloween party. For weeks I'd been working out the details in my head. This past week I'd been working out the details in my home. I sent invitations, bought food, bought paper goods, finished projects, cleaned house. All in preparation for Saturday night's party. Like these napkins, for instance. I don't know if I've ever told y'all that I have a bit of a napkin fetish. Some girls like shoes; some go for earrings; some drool over handbags. For me, it's napkins. And just look at these:

Did you ever see anything so cute?

After a difficult weekend last week, I was looking forward to the fun celebration. Then on Saturday morning, my husband woke up sick. Sore throat, headache, severe body aches, fever. Yep, you guessed it. The 'flu.

Thank God, I have a close friend who is a healthcare pro. She has a Ph.D. in nursing, for crying out loud. I talked to her, and she told me exactly what to do. An hour later, we were picking up a Tamiflu prescription from the pharmacy. She explained how Tamiflu works and why my husband should take it right away. He took it, and he's much better now, and everything worked out just fine.

But. The party. The party to which I had looked forward and for which I had worked so hard to prepare. The party had to be canceled.

You know what, though? It's just one party. Yes, I was looking forward to it. Yes, I hated to cancel. Yes, I especially hated to tell my guests that their plans for the evening would have to be canceled. But it's okay. There will be other chances to have parties. There will be other times to enjoy with those friends. The napkins will keep until next year. It's just that things don't always go according to plan. Things get complicated when you get past 18, don't they?

Unwrapped with Emily at Chatting at the Sky