{Sing Holy} A Nativity Video

Okay, so I am now allowed to share this sweet little video with you!

It is a nativity video made by some very talented people at our church.

My daughter Brooklyn is Mary and my son Travis is the Cow with the juice box.

Happy Cows drink juice...true story.

Sing Holy from the Stirring on Vimeo.

Mary had a little, uh, cow?

My daughter was asked to play Mary in our church's Christmas video
which meant that I needed to come up with a costume!

I found a pattern that had Mary, as well as many other Nativity costumes at Joann's and was so excited because now I have costume patterns for future years for my boys as well.  

Simplicity 4797.

It just so happens that Joann's had their Simplicity patterns on sale, 5 for $5!

I was one happy mama:)

My daughter Brooklyn as Mary.

She sat so patiently and did such a great job.

I am so proud of her:)

I had to sew this costume TWICE because I am a dork and thought that if I went up a size then she could wear it for longer, not realizing that it jumped from a 7/8 to a 10/12! Uh, yeah, there is a pretty big difference between a size 7 and a 12. The first one could have fit me in all my pregnant-ness and was ginormous on my 8 year old, so I had to go back and remake it. Thankfully I had just enough fabric for my redo and now I have TWO Mary costumes! I wouldn't have planned it that way, but whatever. Now when I need the bigger size I will look like the awesome Mom who thought ahead;)

No one needs to know the truth, right? Ha!

She did this pose all on her own:)

I have this other kid who we decided to dress as a cow:)

Isn't he adorable?

I found some great cow print fleece at Joann's

and made the little lamb costume with it to come up with a cow.

Oh, and I started sewing it The. Night. Before. the video shoot.

Yep. I am a procrastinator.

(New Years Resolution? I think so!)

Thankfully I didn't have to sew this one twice! Mama learned her lesson with Mary;)

He did such a great job in the video, sitting and smiling.

I just love his face!

My sweet Mary and little cow.

I am DYING to see the finished video!

I will post it after Christmas:)

Linking up with some of these blogs:

Fingerprints on the Fridge, Making The World Cuter, Dittle Dattle, Mad Skills Monday, Skip to my Lou, Craft O Maniac, Delicate Construction, Ask Anna, New Nostalgia, House of Grace, Sassy Sites, Not Just a Housewife, Today's Creative Blog, My Craftie Life, Sew Much Ado, Seven Thirty-Three, Someday Crafts, A Diamond in the Stuff, My Girlish Whims, Somewhat Simple, Momnivores Dilemma, Paisley Passions, Fun to Craft, Make it, Wear it, Gluesticks, House of Hepworths, What Allie's Making Now, Finding Fabulous, A Little Knick Knack, Mommas Kinda Crafty, Its a Hodgepodge Life, Inspiring Creations, Be Different Act Normal, Wildflowers and Whimsy, Tatertots and Jello, The Idea Room, My Repurposed Life, Sew Many Ways, I Heart Naptime, Thirty Handmade Days, Under the Table and Dreaming, Creative Itch, Oops I Craft My Pants, Addicted 2 Decorating

Mug Rug Tutorial

 This is a Mug Rug:

Basically it's a coaster that is big enough for a cup of something(COFFEE)
and a treat of some kind. Yum! 

Seriously, if you can sew a straight line you can make this!

For this project you will need:

Sewing Machine
Matching or Contrasting Thread
Fabric

Self-Healing Mat

Ruler

Rotary Cutter

Pins

Thread Scissors

Iron

Cup of coffee

I wanted my finished project to be 5"x10" so all these measurements are for that.

All seam allowances are 1/2 inch.

 Cut:

Top Border (2) 2"x11" (Polkadots)

Side Border (2) 2"x4" (Polkadots)

Window (8) 2"x8" (I used 4 different fabrics and did 2 of each one)

Back (1) 6"x11" (Snowmen)

Batting (1) 5"x10"

 Lay out your window fabric pieces in the order that you want them.

Take the piece on the left and flip it over so that it is 

top-to-top with it's next door neighbor.

Pin on the left side.

Do the same to the rest of the pieces.

Run the pieces through your machine. Don't bother back stitching or stopping between pieces. If you look at the picture above you can see that I did one piece and then just sent the next piece behind it. When you have done all 4 pieces you can cut them apart. 

It saves time and thread:)

Press each piece open with the seam to one side. I pressed my seams to the pink side because I am a freak like that. First born, remember?

Lay them out again and then repeat what you just did.

Pin the pieces top-to-top and run them through the sewing machine.

Press open. Make sure that you press the seams in the same direction as before (at this point I was pressing toward the green fabrics). 

Pin the final two pieces top-to-top, sew and then press.

See? Aren't the seams so pretty?

Here is the front so far. Adorable, right?

I had been planning on doing a diagonal cut, but then changed my mind once I got my clear ruler over it and saw the fabrics. Straight up and down showed off 

their adorableness so much better.

Cut it down from the 8 inches to 4 inches.

I put the scraps aside for another little project that I will share with you soon.

Pin and sew the side border pieces on.

I really could/should have done this before I made that last cut, 

but whatever, it worked;)

Here it is all pressed and ready to add the top/bottom border pieces.

Pin top-to-top and sew with 1/2 inch seam. I used a ton of pins here because I didn't want my gorgeous seams to flip up when going through the machine. Yeah, I know.

Press open again. The seams naturally wanted to go out, so go ahead and let them.

Here's the back.

Take your back piece and lay it top-to-top with your pieced front. Pin and sew, leaving a wide opening along one of the long sides for turning and to insert the batting.

Snip the corners, being careful not to cut through the thread. This makes it easier to turn and helps your corners to be nice and square.

Turn it right side out and use something pokey to get your corners nice and sharp.

Press a final time, making sure to press the edges of the turning opening inward so that it will line up with the rest of the piece. Does that make sense? I hope so! Insert batting and make sure it is flat inside your fabrics. I am sure there is some sweet quilty way to do this, so if you know of one please share it with me!

Top stitch around the outside with a small seam allowance to close the turning opening, and then stitch along the edges of the fabric pieces. I stitched along the side that the seam was pressed to for extra staying power.

Now get yourself a mug of coffee and a stack of cookies! You deserve it! (Sorry for the Starbucks add...this is just happens to be my favorite mug)

Oh, and I have to mention that the cookies were made by my husband!
Isn't he great?



Muffin Tin Advent & Activities

This is our Advent calendar this year:

It was a gift from one of my sisters last Christmas and I just love it!  

Since the boy is too young for daily candy and tiny things, this year the treats are all for the girl. Each day she gets a chocolate and a couple Silly Bandz...she LOVES them!

Next year I plan to make the boy his own Muffin Tin Advent so that they each have their own with age appropriate things inside.

Something else that I am doing is putting a slip of paper with an activity for the day. Little things like watching a Christmas movie or playing a board game and then bigger things like going rollerskating or visiting Santa:) For a few of the days I have her open a little activity gift.

This is one of the activity gifts...Did you make these things as a kid? I did and when I saw them at the Dollar Tree I had to scoop them up! I found the tin and key chains there as well. I don't remember how to do this, so I will have to google it:)

Nostalgic.

This mug was also at the Dollar Tree and is for the night we go looking at lights. She can have her own little mug of HoCho(Gilmore Girls reference) while we drive around.

Christmas sun catchers! She gets to open these tomorrow.

Tinkerbell is a favorite around here, so I had to get this:)

Do you do things like this during Advent?

Linking up with these super rad parties!

Christmas Traditions

Marni from Sassy Sites posted a blog with several questions about holiday decorating and traditions and instead of answering her in a comment I am going to do it here!

-How do you transition yourself from one holiday to the next?
I have never really though about it! When I was younger there was a box or set of boxes for each holiday and when the holiday was over that box was packed back up and the next set was brought out. Now I do more of a gradual change and I tend to move things around the house to keep it fresh.


-When do you put up your Christmas decorations?
Our Christmas decorations start going up the day after Thanksgiving, and continue all through the month of December.


-Do you wrap all the presents throughout the month and put them under the tree, or do you wait until Christmas Eve?
If I wrap the presents too early, then I forget what I have bought and end up overbuying. Instead I like to group each family members gifts in my closet where I can see at a glance what I have and what I still need to get for people. I also keep a list on my Blackberry of what I have bought so that when I am out shopping I don't duplicate anything.


-Do you warn your kids that Santa might NOT be bringing them what they want for Christmas this year?
Yes! Sometimes what they want is just too expensive, is the "gift of the year" and is nowhere to be found, or is something that I know they will play with/use for all of 17 minutes before they are on to the next thing.

I am not a fan of all the walking/talking/pooping dolls and the like. In my experience, kids will play much longer with a plain simple doll than they will with a flashy doll. They have to use their imagination more and are not told "how" to play with the toy.


-Do you decorate your Christmas tree with colored lights or just white?
We are a white light family; On the tree and on the house. I think it makes the ornaments stand out a little more. I do like seeing colored lights during the holidays, but I just like the white ones in my home.


-Have your children watched all the old Christmas movies that you watched when you were little?
Oh yeah! Miracle on 34th Street(both versions), and It's a Wonderful Life are holiday staples around here. I have tried to find the original Babes in Toyland with no luck. Boo!


-Do you let your children open a gift on Christmas Eve?
Yes. We go to my parents house for Christmas Eve and they always get the kids new pj's that they open and wear that night. It's the only time that my kids wear something new without it getting washed first;)


-Does everyone have the same stocking each year, or do you purchase new ones every Christmas?
Do people seriously buy new ones each year? That's crazy! We have had our current ones for 6 or 7 years now and I would love to replace them but feel like these are still too new! ;)  Ours are silver and we bought them at Pottery Barn, but now I think that they are too boring and would love to make some with bright colors. I think we were trying to be all sophisticated when we purchased them, but have now come to accept ourselves for the colorful people we are. Maybe this will be the year I replace them.


-Does your Christmas tree have a different theme each year?
Nope. Not really a theme at all. We just hang up ornaments that we love and have collected over the years. This year I would love to try to stick to our more colorful ornaments, but who knows!


-Artificial tree or real?
Real and super fresh! We drive into the mountains with hot chocolate and a box of cuties and cut down our own tree. They last so much longer and then we have a great memory of the hunt.



Okay, now it's your turn! Here are the questions so you can copy and paste them easier:)

-How do you transition yourself from one holiday to the next?
-When do you put up your Christmas decorations?
-Do you wrap all the presents throughout the month
and put them under the tree, or do you wait until Christmas Eve?
-Do you warn your kids that Santa might NOT be bringing them what they want for Christmas this year?
-Do you decorate your Christmas tree with colored lights or just white?
-Have your children watched all the old Christmas movies that you watched when you were little?
-Do you let your children open a gift on Christmas Eve?
-Does everyone have the same stocking each year, or do you purchase new ones every Christmas?
-Does your Christmas tree have a different theme each year?
-Artificial tree or real?

If you do these, then post a link to your blog in my comments section so I can come over and read your answers!

Haul Out the Holly!

Gwen of Gwenny Penny is hosting a holiday event from November 29th to December 10th and she invited me to participate!

Oh my gosh! I am so touched and honored to be a part of this...

it's going to be a blast!

Go over to Gwen's blog to see who the other bloggers are.

Gingerbread and Family Traditions.

With the beginning of the holiday season comes all the gingerbread stuff which reminds me of my experience of baking gingerbread cookies for the first time. This is a blog from December of 2006:

Before Thanksgiving I was reading a magazine and there was an article about people's favorite things about Christmas. One woman wrote that there was nothing better than the smell of Gingerbread baking. I have never made them. My family has never made them-at least not when I was around. I decided that I was going to start a new Culp Family Tradition for Christmas-Baking gingerbread men (and women).


About a week ago I was talking to my sister Fish on the phone and I told her about my newest tradition. She asked me if I had ever tried them and I said no. She laughed at me and suggested that perhaps I should try them before I decided to make them a tradition. I told her that I just didn't care. I liked the idea of Gingerbread men(and women) being a Christmas tradition for my family; that Brooklyn would one day grow up and make them for her children and that the smell of them would bring back memories of Christmas Past. I even told her that even if they were nasty I would make nasty cookies every year because it was a tradition-I think I may be a little stubborn:)


Today I drove to a couple different stores looking for the cookie cutters...the gingerbread man shaped one was everywhere, but I couldn't find the one shaped like a woman-with a skirt as opposed to wearing pants as if that really indicates the sex of a cookie, but it was the principle. I finally found her in a 20 pack of christmas cookie cutters at Bed Bath and Beyond. Score!!! I went to the grocery store and got all the ingredients that I would need to bake gingerbread cookies as well as sugar cookies. I pulled out my cookbook and flipped to the recipe so excited to start my great new tradition. I made the dough for the sugar cookies and put them in the fridge and then I started on the gingerbread. Halfway through the mixing I noticed the nastiest smell but ignored it hoping that it would get better-it just had too! When I finished mixing the dough the smell seemed even worse but I thought, "Well, it is supposed to be refrigerated for at least two hours, maybe the smell will be not so bad then. Or maybe it smells oh so much better once it's baking in the oven. That is what that lady in the article said....that the smell of it baking was wonderful."


Fast forward a couple hours.....I finished baking the sugar cookies-yummy!!! Now on to the gingerbread!!! I pulled the bowl out of the fridge and opened the lid expecting to inhale this heavenly scent-despite the fact that three hours prior the smell had made me want to jump out a window. What I smelled hit me like a brick wall and sent me into a gag attack that would make any bulimic proud. It was even nastier then before! All I could think of was the poor woman whose fondest memory of Christmas was the stench of this wretched stuff baking. Oh the poor woman! What kind of torture has she endured in her life to make this seem pleasant? Once my stomach stopped turning I laughed at myself and dialed my sister Fish. I knew she would get a kick out of my new "tradition" and what a flop it had turned out to be. We laughed and then I would smell it again(out of morbid curiosity-you would too)and then the gagging would start again which would make Fish laugh harder. I threatened to smear some on a card and mail it to her so she could share in my pain, but decided that the postman did not deserve that. Needless to say Gingerbread men will not be a Culp Family Tradition, but this story will be told every year at every family gathering and pretty much any time gingerbread is mentioned.