Nativity Cookies

 I have been wanting to do this for several years.  Gingerbread Nativity Cookies.  I bought a pkg of nativity cookie cutters...and I lost them.  Finally, this year, after going through my garage-I bought a different set on Amazon.  Oh well.

 I used this gingerbread recipe-they are soooo good.  Soft and flavorful.  And I used this icing recipe.

 I iced the cookies by simply creating a border, letting it harden.  I added about 1/2 T to the rest of the icing and flooded the cookies and then let them dry.

 I packaged them up individually and put them in boxes with crinkle paper with a star ornament on the outside.

Gingerbread Cookie Decorating Kit

 I did this a few years ago, and I decided to do it again-gingerbread house cookies with diy decorations.

I used my favoriting soft gingerbread cookie recipe.

 I got some little jewelry containers and filled them with candy.  For the packages I mailed.  I secured the sprinkles in a little baggie so they wouldn't shake around.

I added icing, individually packaged cookies, a plastic knife and all the decorations and mailed or boxed them up

Gingerbread Face Jars

 A friend of mine gave me a ton of old baby jars she found in her attic.  So far I've made pumpkin jars and snowman jars, but...I've got a lot of jars left.  Now....gingerbread face jars.

I have about fifteen of these now that can be filled with Christmas treats.  After painting them I put a layer of clear polycrylic paint  so it won't scratch, and the shine really makes everything look better.

Gingerbread Fan Blade

 It's August.  I'm back at work.  I'm trying to look at my glass as half full.  Sure...I'm working again, but this means that cool weather is on it's way.  Fun holidays.  Good food.  So...in honor of that...here's a little Christmas craft I did this summer.  I have a ton of fan blades I've painting I'll be posting soon...one for each season it seems.

I replaced a fan in my house and took a feather from my friend, Terry, and repurposed them.  I've been working on my painting skillz....once I get down some good techniques I'll do a video...I think the key is...I need more brushes!  I'm also learning...less is more on the paint....I used to have huge globs..not in that Starry Night way..more in the...where is the closest trash can sort of way.  I originally saw some gingerbread men like this painting on a rolling pin...I've added it to my list, but since it's fan blades and not rolling pins I had on hand....that's what got painted.

Gingerbread Clothes Pins

I'm slightly (completely) obsessed with gingerbread men, so when I saw gingerbread clips at eyeballs I know I had to add this project to my gingerbread collection.  Really, a collection I house here on pinterest. Just a few dozen gingerbread themed crafts...because admitting you have a problem is the first step.  

The clips were super easy-I took wooden clothes pins and sprayed them brown with paint, then added some face-I put the black on with a permanent marker and the rest with a thin brush per the instructions.  I'm going to use these to clothes some cookie bags.

Gingerbread House Cookie Decorating Kit

 I saw the idea for making decorative sugar cookies at beeintheirbonnet, where I got the free kit card printable.  I have a friend that loves a sugar cookie recipe make a lot (again, a recipe from another friend-where all the best recipes come from).  Here is that recipe for the cookies and icings.  I found a little house cookie cutter via Wilton.

 I used the little plastic organizers in the jewelry section of craft stores to fill with misc. candies for decorating.

 I added a bottle of icing and cookies.  You could add several colors of icing, but....I figured my friend and her grandkids would get a kick out of this...

 I found this little gingerbread house box to put it all in (at a craft fair).  Much easier than the traditional means of trying to keep those walls up with lines of royal icing.

Gingerbread Crafts

 Last Christmas my cousin brought his precious kiddos into town.  I had them over one morning for a gingerbread brunch.  Blythe and I have been crafting together since she was 6 months old.  Really.  She was more a victim at the time-paint a hand/force her to stamp something with it, at the time, but now she loves crafting and she has a little brother, Jonathan to join her.
I found some bird houses for a dollar and sprayed them brown to look like gingerbread houses.  I decided this would be easier than the 'real thing' this year.

 I found a bunch of glittery foam stickers and jewels and let them go forth and decorate.

The thought is they can maybe even hand these little treasures on a tree of their own....or at least keep them for a fun memory for a month or two.

 We also decorated gingerbread cookies.  I used store bought gingerbread dough and a canned icing.  I bought a bunch of misc candy.

 ...and they put their artistic skills to work.

 I also had them paint some little wooden angel ornaments.  Yes, gingerbread men would have been better, but Blythe and I already did a gingerbread themed ornament one year....

 Blythe wrote her name with a silver pen and I added a bell and a bow to the front.  I appreciate that as long as all the letters are present, it counts as her name.  Cutest.  Name.  Ever.

Gingerbread Brunch Invitation

 When I found out that my family was coming into town for the holidays for the first time in 4 years....I went a little nuts.  And the base in which I measure 'nuts' is already pretty far off the scale.  One of the 7,564 things I did in the 6 days they were hear was throw a gingerbread brunch...mostly for Blythe and Jonathan, but I let others attend...they just didn't get the shirts.  Blythe is all about the party as well.  A few years ago when she came I threw a princess party and when she came over that evening and I asked her what she had been doing all day she said she had colored and 'waited for the princess party.'  I knew I had to send an 'invitation' and some fun stuff to get her and Jonathan (as much as a two year old can be...) excited about the brunch...and more importantly the gingerbread crafts we would be doing.
I typed up a little invitation to mail....watch out Dr. Seuss....

 ...and then I made some party shirts to wear.  I hunted down some cute shirts I liked, then designed my own in paint using some free clipart.  I used some tshirt transfers to print them on and then iron them down to some shirts I grabbed at the craft store.  The thing I ALWAYS forget is to flip the rotation so it's the mirror image you press down so the name is written correctly on the shirt.

 Ta da.

 I also bought a book so that they would be familiar with the story when we put together our cookies and crafts.....though I was a little disturbed when I reread this book, but.....I think they can look past the morbid details towards the end for a few more years.

 I tied together my shirts, books, invite and some cut outs and sent them at the beginning on December.

Party details to come....lots and lots of party details.  

Gingerbread

I have 20 or so gingerbread related crafts through the years.  I've linked most of them on my gingerbread pinterest board here.  This year I'm hosting a gingerbread themed brunch for my niece and nephew who are visiting.  I'm sharing some of the gifts, that are easy to put together last minute, and a few of the activities we will be doing after brunch.  I'm also linking a few of the recipes I'll be putting together to share with the attendees.  I prerecorded this segment on GMT which airs today at 9 am.  :O)
I'll be making these little cinnamon scented soaps in the shape of gingerbread men.  That process is here.

I made these little felt gingerbread cookies a few years ago.  It remains one of my favorite gifts...here is that process.
A few of the activities the kiddos are doing at my gingerbread party include gingerbread scented playdough. That recipe is here.

...and these little houses...

I'm serving gingerbread pancakes.  I blogged about that recipe here.

...and we are decorating gingerbread men.  My very favorite recipe is here.

 I love it because they are soft and they hold their shape.