Christmas Stocking

Initially I wanted to make a version of a pillow inspired by this one:

 

but then I thought that it might look really cute in a simpler form on a stocking!

 

For the stocking material I used Painter’s drop cloth! It is so nice to work with!

 

The most labor intensive thing is probably cutting the felt circles, but you can find pre-cut felt circles on ebay and other places. They are often sold as scrapbook embellishments!

I used about 50 x 1 inch circles for my little tree and then another 12 for the cuff.

First I drew out the basic shape of my stocking on a folded drop cloth. Also positioning the tree, so I would know what size I was going for. I didn’t worry about the pen lines as all this was going to be on the inside of the stocking anyway!

Then I cut it out, leaving about 1/4 –1/2 inch seam allowance around the drawn line.

I stitched the two parts of the stocking together and just went over the edges with a zig-zag stitch. I’m not sure it was really necessary but I wanted to avoid too much fraying!

 

Next I drew my tree outline on a different piece of drop-cloth fabric and cut that out, again leaving some seam allowance, so I could quickly stitch down the edges of the tree.

I forgot to take a picture of that step for some reason, but you can see it on this one. Basically I just folded over the edges a little and ran a very quick stitch along it.

And then I just started sewing on the circles. As I went I figured there were several good ways to go!

I think the pictures will show you much better what I’m talking about.

Basically you tack each circle down with 1 or 2 small stitches, preferably in a place where it won’t be seen later. Sometimes it helps to fold them up first in half or quarter circles, sometimes you start with it flat, facing left, right, up or down.

{Click image to enlarge}

You want to slightly overlap at the edges, so your stitching won’t be visible once you sew the tree onto the stocking!

And very soon, you’ll have this going on:

 

Next I folded up a length of silver ribbon and attached it to the back of the tree with a few stitches. This will be the tree trunk.

Now for the finishing touches. I made the cuff and the loop for the stocking, sewed that onto the stocking. I turned the stocking inside out, then I pressed all the seams with an iron. This is important to do before you sew the felt tree on as it won’t lay flat anymore after that.

Then I positioned the felt tree on the stocking and stitched it on, making sure I was stitching down the triangle fabric backing, rather than the felt circles.

I also used some leftover felt circles to embellish a length of dollar store ribbon.

  Last I stitched the dotted ribbon onto the cuff!  And it was finished!

And here’s the finished stocking again!

 

I’ll be linking this project to a variety of link parties over on the side bar! Visit them for great crafting and DIY ideas!

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Santa Brings Goodies Blog Train Starts Tomorrow!

Don’t miss it!

Starting tomorrow!

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Elisenlebkuchen – A Bavarian Christmas Specialty

As many of you know, I am German. For the most part that doesn’t really show all that much, but come Christmas time, it shows big time Once advent is upon us there is usually no stopping me and I spend quite some time baking, crafting and decorating, with and without the children.

Wonderful smells fill the house, tins upon tins of German Christmas cookies start piling up on top of the refrigerator and snitching little fingers are constantly on the prowl for little goodies!

One of the things I really look forward to making every year are Elisen Lebkuchen, also know as Nürnberger Lebkuchen. Nuremberg being the city this particular type of “gingerbread” originated from.

They are not just ordinary gingerbread rounds though, far from it. They are moist, nutty, fragrant and utterly delicious. They are pretty easy to make and for some of you maybe best of all, they are gluten-free!

 

Anyway, lets get to it.

One of the really important things for german christmas baking are “Oblaten.” They are very thin baking wafers that are quite tasteless by themselves, but they have oh so many functions. First and foremost they keep your cookies soft! Second they help with uniform sizing and make your cookies slide off the baking tray so easily. But, first and foremost … they keep your cookies moist!

This is important for Elisenlebkuchen, as they really need to sit for a while to reach their “prime!”

I generally have some on hand, either from Germany or from local stores that carry German ingredients. I tend to use round because that is what I can get, but square or rectangular works just as well! And they can be cut to size really easily with a pair of scissors!

They keep forever! I mean literally. I found some in my pantry from years ago and they were still perfectly fine! So if you get some, stock up! I also have a couple more recipes where these will come in quite handy!

Should you not be able to find them but still want to try this recipe, there is a way around it. Granted it won’t work quite as well, but it is a passable substitute. I will explain it in the directions later.

 

First to the ingredients. Since this is a German recipe, everything is not only in grams, but it is also precise Baking with “unreliable” measurements like cups is just not the done thing!

So please, please use kitchen scales! Success is so much easier to achieve in baking when the ingredient amounts are correct!

 

Elisenlebkuchen

Ingredients:

• 470 g Sugar (16.6 oz)
• 6 Eggs; approx. 55 g each (1.9 oz each)
• 1/2 tsp EACH of the following ground spices:

Cinnamon, Cloves, Coriander, Allspice, Nutmeg, Cardamom

• 1/2 tsp Vanilla extract
• 240g Hazelnuts; coarsely chopped (8.5 oz) *almonds/pecans/walnuts work too, but it’s not nearly as good :)*
• 240g Hazelnuts; finely ground (8.5 oz)
• 50g Walnuts; coarsely chopped (1.8 oz)
• 100g candied orange peel; finely chopped (3.5 oz)
• 100g candied lemon peel; finely chopped  (3.5 oz)
• peel of one lemon
• peel of one orange
• baking wafers (50mm)

For the coating:

Bittersweet and/or milk chocolate, melted (I usually add some coconut oil or cocoa butter to make the coating a bit smoother and thinner, about a tsp per bar of chocolate)

Powdered sugar  + water (1 cup of powdered sugar and 2 tbsp water whisked together does about half of these)

 

Preparation:

Chances are you can only get the hazelnuts whole. Grind them as fine as you can in your food processor! For the coarse chopped nuts, put the whole nuts in the food processor and pulse a few times. Then add the candied peel and pulse a few more times until the peel resembles finely chopped consistency. For an extra boost in yummy nuttiness, toast half your hazelnuts prior to chopping/pulsing!

{The candied peel and the chopped hazelnuts in the food processor.}

Add all ingredients to a bowl and mix well.

Cover the bowl and let it sit in the refrigerator for 24 hrs. It may seem a little runny at first, but it will thicken up quite a bit in the next 24hrs.

When you are ready to bake, preheat the oven to 400 F.

Lay out the baking wafers on a baking sheet, lined with parchment paper. Scoop equal amounts of the nut mix onto the wafers and smooth out. I find that the easiest way to get the round ones uniform is to use an ice cream scoop. Scoop some nut mixture into your slightly moistened hands, makes a smooth ball and then press it as a disc onto the wafer and smooth the edges down. Make sure that the disc is just slightly smaller than the wafer, as the dough will rise some.

Bake for 12-15 minutes or until the Lebkuchen are lightly golden brown. It is important that they are not quite done in the middle though.

Place them on a cookie rack to cool slightly.

If you are going to be icing them with the sugar glaze, it is better if they are still a little warm. For the chocolate coating they need to be entirely cooled however. Try and brush the coating on as thinly as you possibly can!

If you have used baking wafers, just brush on a thin coat of chocolate coating  or sugar glaze. Let completely dry and store in a cookie tin.

If you didn’t use baking wafers, you will need to dip or brush your entire cookie. First a coat at the bottom, let dry, then a coat on the top of the cookie. This will also seal the moisture and flavors inside!

 

Lebkuchen need to sit for a while to develop their prime taste and texture. They need a minimum of 10 days in that cookie tin, so take that into account when planning to make these!

They will however keep for several weeks in a cookie tin and personally I think they taste the best after they have matured for about 2-3 weeks!

 

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Great Black Friday Offers

I hope you all had a wonderful time with your families yesterday!

So, I thought I’d list a few great Black Friday deals I have come across today!

 

1. Get FREE MP3 Downloads on Amazon!

 

2. Get a free 8”x 10” canvas! Or if you already did but need another canvas, check out their Black Friday Sale which gives 50% off ANY canvas and FREE Shipping!

 

3. There’s also a lot going on over at Snapfish.com

• Check out their Deal of the Day!  They have 60 % off a bunch of items, including photo magnets, ornaments, skins, blankets, posters and address labels!  Use code THANKS1126 (offer good until Nov 26th)
• They also have 35% off photos books and cards! Use code BFSALE35 (offer good until Nov 26th)
• Get 2 FREE PHOTO MUGS when you order holiday cards! Make sure you put the mugs in your cart with the cards you are ordering and use code BFCRD2FR (offer good until Nov 28th)

 

4. And of course, Amazon.com has been having their Black Friday Deals and Gold Box Deals for a few days now! They have been having some great discounts going on!

I got a Flip MinoHD Video Camera - Brushed Metal, 8 GB, 2 Hours and it arrived the next day, which meant we were able to make little Thanksgiving videos! It’s so much fun, so small, so handy! I’ve been eyeing one of those up for quite some time and figured now was the time to go for it!

 

I will continue to update this list as I find things, so stay tuned!

If you have found any great deals in cyberland, please let us know in the comment section too!

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Holiday Printables!

First off, Happy Thanksgiving!

I am so grateful to have such amazing customers and blog followers.  I am wishing all of you a Thanksgiving day filled with lots of fun, love, good food and lots to be thankful for!

 

Next I would like to introduce you to a new line of mine: Holiday Printables!

I just put the first two in the store and there will be more to come over the next few weeks!

Basically they are predesigned templates that you print out on your home computer, cut them out (they are easy to cut even without a craft cutter!) and then you assemble them to make favor boxes, place card/boxes, treat boxes, filled gift tags or ornaments for your Christmas Tree.

They are such a sweet way to personalize dinners, parties, school treats or anything else you can think of! You can even use them as  gift box for very small items!

They come with full step-by-step text and picture instructions!

Here is the Santa version:

And here is the tree version. This pack comes with two templates, one with a cream background and one which allows you to choose what color background you want to print on. However, bear in mind that you still need to see the printed details when choosing your background color!

I priced these already pretty low to begin with, and for this weekend only, I’m taking off a further 16% as an introductory rate! Be sure to check them out!

 

I hope you have a most excellent time with your loved ones this Thanksgiving!

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German Sand Cookies (Heidesand)

These are absolutely divine!

They have a really unique taste which comes from caramelizing the butter solids prior to creaming the butter. So, no, these cannot be done with margarine. It NEEDS TO BE BUTTER. That’s the only way to achieve the unique taste! And as the name may suggest, the texture is like very fine sand  - delicious buttery, sweet, delicious sand!

I may have forgotten a lot of things from my childhood, but I vividly remember having these cookies for the first time! After all the wonderful Christmas cookies I was used to around Christmas time, these seemed so amazing!

Anyway, do try them – you won’t regret it! Well, your hips might, but you won’t!

 

Oh, before I get to the recipe, here’s something I want to introduce you to – in case you haven’t heard of it yet: Madagascar Bourbon Pure Vanilla Bean Paste.

This stuff rocks! I started using it about a year ago and it’s been my go to Vanilla ever since!

 

Ingredients:

250 g Butter

200 g Sugar

scrapings of 1/2 Vanilla bean or 1 tsp of the Vanilla Bean Paste

1 pinch of salt

375 g flour

1 tbsp milk

 

Preparation:

1. Place the butter in a sauce pan and melt. It helps for this pan not to be a dark coated pan, as you can’t really see the butter change color. A stainless steel pan would work better. Keep the melted butter at a simmer, stirring the foam away occasionally so you can see the bottom of the pan.

DO NOT WALK AWAY from the pan – the darkening will happen pretty quickly!

As soon as the butter solids on the bottom turn a darkish golden brown, take the pan off the heat and pour the melted butter into a heavy glass dish. Don’t leave it in the saucepan as it might continue darkening the butter.

Let it cool at room temp for 1 hr, then in the refrigerator for at least another hour or overnight.

 

2. Place the caramelized butter, sugar, salt and vanilla in a mixing bowl and beat (with the whisk attachment) on medium high for 2-3 minutes.

Add the flour and milk and combine the dough with the paddle attachment. The consistency of the dough should be like fine, damp sand. It should be crumbly, but when you pick some up and press between your fingers it will just hold together!

3. When thoroughly combined, empty the dough onto a sheet of aluminum foil, plastic wrap or parchment paper. Form a log of about 2-2.5 inches in diameter. Make it as even as possible. Twist the ends of the paper and place the dough log in the refrigerator overnight.

 

4. The next day, take out the dough log about 15 minutes before you are planning on baking the cookies. Preheat the oven to 320 F.

With a very sharp knife, make 1/4 inch slices and place on a cookie sheet. You can put these relatively close together as they won’t really rise.

If your log ended up a little messy and you like the cookies to be more uniform, just use a round cookie cutter to cut out rounds of the slices.

5. Bake for 10-12 minutes or until the edges of the cookies turn just golden brown. Once done, take the cookie sheet out of the oven, but DO NOT touch them until they are cooled down completely. They will totally fall apart when they are still warm but start to hold together quite nicely once they are cool!

 

They are best within the first 3 days of baking! Not that they usually last any longer anyway

Makes about 35 cookies.

See all the buttery, “sandy” goodness? See the caramelized butter solids and vanilla bean specks? YUM!

Enjoy!

 

I’ll be linking this recipe to many of the link parties on the side bar! Please visit them for some great recipes, crafting ideas and DIY projects!

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And the winners are …

The 3 winners of the Christmas Cards are:

 

belle007 who said:  Great cards. I really love the multiple photo version!

 

Serenity Sheri who said:  These cards are beautiful! Hard to pick a fav, but I'm really drawn to the bottom!

 

Steph who said: These are great Christmas cards! :)

 

Congrats ladies!!

Please contact me to claim your prizes!

My email is one of the top buttons over on the side bar!

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My Mercury Glass Tutorials Made the TOP 10!!

Woohoo!! What a great way to start the week!

I just saw that my Faux Mercury Glass tutorials made the Top 10 at the

How awesome is that?!

Please be sure to go on over there, have a look and help them decide on the winner!

There are some great entries in the Novembers DIY Club this month!

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Other than that I’ve been sooo in the mood to start the Christmas baking, but I’m trying to hold off, since I just know that none of it would make to Christmas! Then again, I may just start the Lebkuchen anyway and make a huge batch! They need to “rest” a while anyway to become extra yummy!

Ok then, stay tuned for some Elisen Lebkuchen goodness! They are by far my favorite Christmas cookie and Christmas just wouldn’t be Christmas without it!

And btw, they are also naturally gluten-free!

 

Have an awesome day everyone! I’ll be back later to announce the Christmas Card winners!

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Oh and don’t forget that Amazon's Week of Black Friday Dealsstarts TODAY!!

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