Handmade Hanukkah

I decided to start a new tradition in our house for Hanukkah this year. This year I plan to give only homemade gifts, most of which I will make myself.

I don't mind how centered around gifts the holidays are these days. It's just a part of our culture that most of us have embraced or learned to accept. I loves me some good holiday shopping! Perhaps a little too much. I know that isn't what the holidays are about and I try to teach Lilly that it isn't all about the presents.

What I don't like is how greedy everyone is. I don't like the toy commercials and other holiday commercials that imply you are a bad parent if you don't get everything on your greedy little kid's list. Maybe it was different fifty years ago when the holidays were the only time of year when kids would get gifts. But these days people are constantly treating their kids to new toys, clothes, or electronics and finding reasons to justify it. When did this become the norm? It's ok to make a list of things you want for the holidays, but demanding you receive everything your heart desires should definitely land you on the naughty list. Remember YOU ARE NOT A BAD PARENT if you don't get everything on your child's list. Besides if you celebrate Christmas, you don't even get the credit for giving the best gifts. That jerk Santa does. He takes all the credit for all the hard earned money YOU spent and all the time YOU took picking out the perfect gifts while he kicks back sipping hot cocoa and stuffing himself with cookies. 

Above: Enormous Snowmen we made on Christmas Eve a few years ago when we were living in Missouri! This is one of my most favorite family memories :)

Lilly is still little and when we give her a sticker or a pencil she freaks out over it and gets so excited! I want to hold on to this as long as possible and to show her how lucky she is to be getting anything at all. Last year we gave her small gifts each night of Hanukkah. One night she got a candy bar. One night some crayons. One night a little Cinderella Polly pocket toy... I know one day she will see the holiday movies and TV shows, and see what her friends at school are getting and wonder why she too didn't get a power wheels Ferrari and her own 50" flat screen TV, which is why I want to start this tradition now.

To kickoff our Handmade Hanukkah I am going to give a handmade gift every night. In the future I imagine it will slowly dwindle down to one or two nights of handmade gifts. I'm hoping that starting when she is so young will be just the beginning of a meaningful tradition that will help spark her creativity as she creates some gifts of her own and helps her appreciate the time and care we put in to the gifts she receives.

Now I happen to be pretty crafty, which will come in handy, but I know not everyone is. Lilly loves the Disney Junior show Sofia the First. Sofia has an amulet necklace she wears and Lilly has been begging me for one! This is the first gift I plan to make for her. Andy and I have also decided to make her a shutterfly type photo book, but instead of just a photo album, we are writing a story about Lilly and using photos and her own drawings for the illustrations. Lilly also asked for a locket, so I am going to make her one. I just started making hair bows so I think one night I'll give her a few of those as well. I haven't come up with an idea for each of the eight nights yet, but I'm working on it!

Above: Sofia the First inspired amulet necklace I made. You can get it from my Etsy shop, the Banana Boutique

I know everyone isn't as crafty, but there are lots of ways you can start your own handmade gifts tradition. Maybe making and framing a photo collage, painting ceramics at a nearby studio (like Hands On Ceramics in Columbia, MO). Perhaps baking something is the way to go. There is always sewing or knitting... And a whole internet out there full of ideas! Craft stores like Michael's even have classes where you can learn to knit, make jewelry, or decorate cakes.

A few years ago we painted a pie plate together as a family for Andy's grandma. She makes the best apple pie! We personalized it and covered it in Lilly's handprints. When we gave it to her for Christmas she opened it and said "Finally! A gift I can keep!" Everyone else was like "Hey you aren't going to keep my gift!?" We knew what she meant though. That this gift was something extra meaningful. If we are going to take these holidays and make them all about gifts, we may as well make those gifts special and meaningful instead of spending tons of money on more junk we don't need.

Rylee's Birthday Cake!

Some nice people in my office said they heard I made cakes and asked if I would make their daughter, Rylee's, 10th birthday cake. I didn't think before saying "Absolutely I will!" Then I thought for a moment and asked when they would need this cake and learned I had just two days to make a two tiered sheet cake.

Rylee loves pink and zebra print so they asked for a pink zebra cake. I showed them the cake this morning and they loved it. I cut everything (including the letters) out by hand except for the stars (I have star cutters). So anyways here it is!

Just the beginning of the zebra stripes (which I cut out by hand)

Zebra stripes = Completed

Second tier is on!

Yay! Completed! I cut out those letters by hand.

It was exhausting, but I think it turned out well. I am pleased and so is Rylee's mom!

Lady Bugs & Fondant

I did it. I made lady bug fondant cupcakes. It took me a while and the fondant was annoying at first because I wasn't used to it. I did a little bit of research on the best tasting fondant and everything I found online said that Duff Goldman's line of butter cream fondant tastes the best. The last thing I wanted was to have disgusting, foul smelling fondant on my cupcakes. I tried a little and it tastes like candy corn! It must have been delicious because Lilly ate the entire lady bug off of her cupcake. This post will be mostly photos of my fondant lady bug cupcakes. So here they are... (I went a little Instagram crazy...)

These are just the fondant toppers before I placed them on the cupcakes

After Assembling the cupcakes

Cupcakes on display st the party

My cupcakes with the professional cake by wedding cake baker/designer Edith Hall in the background

Me posing with my delicious little masterpieces!

So I discovered I do like to work with fondant. This is good because yesterday I was asked to make a two tier pink and black zebra birthday cake for someone in my office. They need it tomorrow. I am freaking out a little bit, but I am also really excited! I hope it turns out OK. I'll post some photos after I finish which will probably be very late tonight...

La-la-lazy

(Above: Lilly just being Lilly= Awesome)

OK, I need to apologize. I haven't written in a while. Things have been crazy busy! Between filling my Etsy orders (business is actually booming believe it or not), showing our film, Marceline, for Disney D23 members, having a film in the T/F film festival, and just pure laziness, I haven't had the time. I often thought about writing, but the writing would have gotten in the way of my laziness time.

It's pretty hot out for March so every day has felt like a lazy summer day. This makes me more lazy.

I've been so lazy the past few days and I seriously need to do laundry. One good thing about not doing the laundry is it forces you to get creative and take fashion risks. Under normal circumstances I'd be too embarrassed to wear a paper bag out of the house, but at this point, I have no choice. I swear I'll do the laundry tonight. I just got tired of looking like a hobo. And by "just" I mean literally, like, three seconds ago was like, "man I am so tired of looking like a dirty hobo". Laundry. Tonight. I SWEAR.

This weekend I am going to be trying my hand at fondant for the first time. I promised to make about 50 cupcakes for Andy's cousin for her daughters first birthday. I am incredibly flattered that she asked me because she is a perfectionist and even though I know she also ordered a cake from a professional wedding cake baker, it is still a big deal that she trusts my baking abilities for Ellie's first birthday. The theme is ladybugs, which is really cute and lucky for me, also pretty simple baking wise. About 30 to 35 of the cupcakes will just be red icing with white sprinkles. But, about 15 to 20 of them will have fondant ladybugs on top. I am very excited and extremely over confident. Especially considering I've never worked with fondant before... The plan is to make everyone believe I do it for a living. I'll let you know how they turn out. Probably amazing (there's that over confident-ness again), but we'll see.

The next few weekends will be really busy. We will be staying one weeked in Marceline at the bed and breakfast, one weekend at the Lake of The Ozarks at the family condo, and one weekend at "Camp EM-A-LIL-EE-EL-EE"...

Let me explain about camp. I couldn't be more excited about it! My family thought it would be nice to take a camping trip altogether since we haven't done that, like ever. But there were too many complaints about tents and peeing in the woods (I complained about that one) and sleeping on the ground. So we looked for campgrounds with cabins and as it turns out you can rent an entire summer camp. A freaking summer camp! Like with 6 cabins, an infirmary, amphitheater, and even a mess hall! So not only is the family coming along, but we also invited several close friends to join in the fun. This is like a dream come true for me. Having our own summer camp! Everyone in the family was given a job. The jobs are mostly a joke, but I am taking mine (activities director or course) very seriously. I've planned arts n crafts, sports, and a talent show. A mandatory talent show. We'll see how that goes. I hope at least three people actually participate. I might have to offer a prize for the talent with the most applause...

Anyways that's all I have for now. Don't forget to become a fan of my Etsy shop on Facebook. Click HERE for that.

Get your copy of our film, Marceline, HERE

These are the cupcakes I plan to make. (I stole this pic from The Crafty Penguin)

Brand New Year - Brand New Goals

So I didn’t finish all the things I set out to accomplish in 2011. I completed the majority of my goals, which I am proud of. Thanks to my goals I now love sushi, know how to knit, am not scared to sing in front of people, am an award winning filmmaker, hate yoga, am making money selling jewelry via Etsy, and am more adventurous with cooking and baking. I completed a total of 16 of my 25 goals. I’d say that even though I didn’t finish, last year’s goals were successful. I actually still have one more goal coming up that was planned in 2011, but can't be carried out just yet... I'll tell you more about it sometime... Soon I hope! So here is my new list of goals for 2012… and they include some of my goals from last year as well. I omitted a few goals because I sort of just lost interest in them (damn ADHD). First goal on my list: Finish everything on my goal list for 2012.

1.        Finish everything on my goal list for 2012!

2.        Audition for CoMo Cabaret

3.        Go to at least one state I’ve never been to before

4.        Bowl a 200 (not on the Wii)

5.        Make my own sushi with Andy

6.        Build something awesome out of LEGOS

7.        Take a craft or cake decorating class

8.        Take a cooking class

9.        Make a new short film

10.     Bake a rainbow colored cake

11.     Cook a Mediterranean style meal

12.     Sew something. Anything.

13.     Run more

14.     Read a new book 

15.  Finish that dumb kids book (the book is dumb, it's not for dumb kids- the book isn't really dumb and I WILL finish it!)

I think I need some rules this time, so... I reserve the right to add to my list. And this time, I cannot take away from or change goals on my list. They can be changed as long as the goal is basically the same. For instance, run more could be changed to run a mile because the goal still involves running and running a mile would be helluva lot more than I am running currently, so the overall goal remains the same.

I will add one goal to my list that you guys come up with. Please comment here or on the facebook page with ideas and the best one will be added to my list!

So here I go! Wish me luck!

10 Goals & Only 31 Days Left!

So guess what? I DID learn to knit. And I’ve knitted myself a nice, purple, cozy 4”x 7” rectangle! I also opened my Etsy store and begun planning a big surprise for someone (that I cannot discuss on here yet because IT’S A SURPRISE). Also, I got a bike so I am one step closer to riding my bike to work. It’s really cold out though so “Have A Lemonade Stand” and “Ride My Bike To Work” are not going to be fun. And who is going to buy lemonade from me in 32 degree weather?

I have just 10 goals of my 25 left to conquer. Will I really make it to Arkansas? Judging by the busy schedule I have these next 5 weeks, probably not.

I have just felt really unmotivated to write lately. You know how that is, yes? Have you never had anything you just didn’t feel like doing? Something you wanted to do, that no one was forcing you to do, but you just kept putting it off anyway? No? Then that makes you a freak mutant and I want nothing to do with you and your freak mutant ways.

Here are some photos because I said so. They have almost nothing to do with this post, but I worked hard on the descriptions to make them seem like they fit here. Ok, I didn't work that hard.

Above: My parents came to visit a few weeks ago. They are the ones who brought me the bike!

Below: Some new things I'm working on for my Etsy shop. Andy set up this amazing work space for me. He got me a table and little storage drawer things, a drill for screwing holes into LEGOS and other toys, and some other awesome stuff. He's really awesome.

Sara, You're Really Having Your Brows Waxed Again?

(Yikes! I need a haircut.)

So I decided that it’s time for another haircut. Someone very nice in my office had a gift certificate good for a haircut and (gasp) an eyebrow waxing and she gave it to me. I know, anyone out there that remembers (how could you forget?) about my first very unfortunate eyebrow mishap which left me with an Uno-Brow (pronounced “ooo-no” like the game, and meaning one- not “Uni-brow” meaning two eyebrows united to form one) will think I am nuts for letting hot wax even come near my face. I've let my hair and eyebrows go crazy over the past 4 months or so. I look like Lanie Boggs in She’s All That before the makeover. So not hideous, just in dire need of a haircut, eyebrow touch up, makeup and maybe a new shirt. Anyways I think it’s time I just get my eyebrows taken care of. Maybe go a little crazy with the hair. Pray for my eyebrows.

(Right now I have eyebrows. 

They grew back quite nicely after the mishap thanks to RevitaBrow.

I took a picture to remember them by just in case.)

On another note, I finally opened up my Etsy Shop, the Banana Boutique. I am very excited about this because I have wanted to have an Etsy shop for a while and have been working on it since August. I only have eight items in there now, but I will have more in there as soon as I take some photos of my new pieces.

Banana Boutique has lots of handmade jewelry crafted by yours truly.  I love super cute things and vintage Disney park and film stuff. So there is a lot of that in there. I also love those plastic bell clip charms from the 80’s that were obnoxiously large and we wore on obnoxious brightly colored plastic chains. I am using them to create some fun stuff. Check it out because the holidays are coming and you will need to buy stuff for people. You may as well spend your money with me. At least you know it’s going somewhere awesome; my pocket. 

Link to my Etsy Shop: Banana Boutique

Cinderella Bottle Cap Necklace using an image from a vintage 1978 Disney children's book

Hello Kitty Large Charm Necklace on a metallic pink chain with a heart shaped toggle clasp.