Won't You Be My Neighbor?

I am so tired tonight that I can barely think straight. The past few days we have been working full force at the finishing touches for Christmas and then today I raked and bagged leaves for three hours straight. Plus I have two huge piles left to bag in the morning. We have an enormous tree in our front yard that drops leaves all over our yard and our neighbors yards, at least a foot deep and I am not joking. Then we put off raking it as long as possible until they have blown all over the other neighbor's yards.

Truth be told, I'm not totally sure why the neighbors still like me.

Wait... could this be why?

The loaf of Santa bread that they all received tonight?

Or this?

The box of sugar cookies and edible coal?

Surely I can't buy them off that easily... or can I?

Some of Damion's coworkers also got similar treats this year:

a box of edible coal with hand painted sugar cookies. These are the cookies that I was making when Princess Newbie turned blue.

I love how everything turned out but honestly my favorite thing this year was the Santa Bread.  Who doesn't love a good carb filled Santa?

Perfect Christmas Gift: Edible Coal

I think this is one of my favorite ideas of all time but the pictures don't really show the glory of it, so be warned and use your imagination.

My neighbors have had a bad week. They had to put their dog to sleep in the middle of the night, only to find out the next day that the landlord is putting their house up for sale and they have to find somewhere else to live. That is a rough week to me. They also have a good sense of humor and a slightly darker side than I do so I knew they would get a kick out of this gift.

What gift you ask? A bag of coal.. a yummy yummy bag of coal.  Here's what you need to make these pieces of coal:

You will need Dark Cocoa Mint Candy melts,
Black sanding sugar,
and Marshmallows.

I know black food coloring is in the picture but I wound up not needing it, so just strike that from your grocery list. You will also need straws or skewers and a glass of rice.

First melt your candy melts, following the instructions on the package.

Place your marshmallow on a straw or a skewer and roll it in the melted chocolate. Use a fork or spoon to coat the places that you missed such as the top and bottom and then scrap off any extra chocolate. Tap it on the side of the bowl to shake off more excess chocolate and then place the straw end in the glass of rice so that it can start to set up.

Don't let it harden, just let it set for a minute or two so that the weight of the sanding sugar won't pull the chocolate off the marshmallow when you dip it in the sugar.

when it's set for a minute or so, roll it in the sanding sugar to coat the whole marshmallow. You might have to use your hands to sprinkle it on the bottom, where the straw is.

Stick this back in the rice and let it set until totally hardened, about 20 minutes.

Now you'll have edible coal. My husband did not believe me that this was edible at first.

However it is edible, and delicious. It tastes like a fluffy Andes Mint. Yum. Seriously.

So now you have your coal, what are you going to do with it?

I put the coal in an extremely shiny Ziploc bag. Then I printed out the "Save Santa, Be Naughty" on white cardstock and attached it to the top of the bag. You can use staples to do this or punch holes in both the bag and cardstock and weave ribbon through the holes. Finally I made a loop on the back of the cardstock so we could hang it on their door and run.

This is the back:

Tonight Princess Goofy went and hung it on their door, knocked, and then we all ran away. Hopefully they enjoy the joke but not as much as they enjoy their treat!

Because I love you, here's the graphics that you can use to make your own. Just right click on it and save or if you do have photoshop CS and above and you want a copy of it in .psd format, just email me or leave a comment with your email address and I'll send it to you.

And remember.. Santa is getting old people. Be nice and save him a trip... by Being Naughty!

Hostess Gift Idea: Scented Hot Pad Tutorial

I have a secret, not the same one from yesterday but a different one. This one I can tell you but I'm a little ashamed of it. I never cook thanksgiving dinner. Every single year we go to my aunt's for dinner. I don't even know how to make stuffing from scratch. I'll stick with crafting, you stick with stuffing and the world will be a happy place.

So today I'm sharing this tutorial with you for a scented hot pad. It's a great gift to take to the person who is hosting you for thanksgiving if you are not cooking yourself. Plus it's also a great gift idea to take to neighbors this coming Christmas. You can wrap it up by itself or put it in a basket with some tea bags and a small tea pot.

The best part is one that you can't see. This thing smells amazing, even Damion commented on it. Then when you add a nice warm dish to the top of it, the smell radiates even more and it's wonderful and homey.

So for this project you will need:
1 piece of cotton fabric - 3ft x 3inches
1 piece of flannel - 3 ft x 3 inches
uncooked rice
cinnamon oil or candle fragrance
plastic baggie

The very first step you need to do 24 hours in advance, so make sure you add that time into your equation. Take two cups rice and add 1 1/2 teaspoons of cinnamon oil or fragrance and then sprinkle with actual cinnamon. Put in well sealed container and let stand overnight or for 24 hours.

When your rice is ready, cut your fabric into two strips that measure 3ft (1yrd) by 3 inches.  Lay the cotton fabric, right side up on top of the flannel.

Next fold the fabric over until the ride sides are touching and stitch a line along the edge.

After you sew one straight stitch, go back and use a zig zag stitch along the edge to prevent the seams from busting when you add the rice. If you have a serger, that would be the best option. If you don't zig zag the seams, you might regret it.

I plead the fifth as to how that happened.

After your seams are sewn, it's turn to turn it inside out. I used a coat hanger with one end bent to help turn the fabric to the ride side facing out.

Next you need to stitch one end closed and then start filling with rice. I did not use the full two cups of rice, you will just have to play around with it.

Then it's time to start the rollin'.

To start, measure about an inch from the end and make an indention with your fingers, moving rice out of the way. Now turn it back onto itself to start the spiral. Do this one more time for the next turn and then it should start spiraling easily.

I started the spiral and then went back with my needle and thread to start sewing it once I had it layed out. I used a needle and thread to tack it down to itself from the inside every inch or two so that it would hold the spiral shape. I also hid the seam inside the spiral.

Tack it from the inside and no one will see your stitches! Keep going until you get to the end and then stitch that down to finish your scented hot pad.

Now you can sit down and enjoy a nice cup of tea.

Remember to always store your scented hot pad in a plastic bag to maintain the fragrance.