Tag Archives: Christmas

Shared by my aunt, Amy, several years ago, Candy Cups have become a gift-giving standard for me. I’ve made them for Christmas and birthdays and with all sorts of candy.

They’re easy, inexpensive, and make gorgeous gifts for the hard-to-shop for. Think teachers, friend,s and anyone who likes candy. Sugar-free candy works, too!

Once all your supplies are gathered, it’ll take you about an hour to make one candy cup.

You’ll need:

Glass or Mug (I prefer clear, but any kind will work, the heavier the better!)
Candy with loose or twisted wrappers (example used approximately 40 oz. of peppermints)
Styrofoam ball (size depends on your glass or mug)
Filler for the cup – recycled paper or candy
Bamboo Skewer
Scissors
Hot Melt Glue
Greening Pins (also available at the hobby store with the floral accessories)
Ribbon
Cellophane

Push the bamboo skewer into the Styrofoam ball, all the way through the top. Put it in the glass to and push down until the ball is snug in the glass.

Snip off the excess skewer with your scissors. You can also use large fingernail clippers, a utility knife, or pruning shears.

With the skewer still in the glass, fill the bottom with candy. Ideas are like M&Ms, Hershey’s Kisses, or Peppermints (though you could really use any candy). Another option is shredded paper, but the candy on the ball will make the cup top-heavy, so having a heavier filler keeps it from tipping over and gives the gifted a sweet bonus.

Place a small dot of hot melt glue on either side of the rim of the cup. Gently press the styrofoam ball onto glue, holding in place until it sets. You don’t need much, just a touch for stability.

candies in twisted wrappers

greening pins

Use greening pins to add candy to ball by poking pins through the loose end near the twist of the candy wrapper. Depending on the candy, you can get two or three on each pin.

Start at the bottom and work your way up to the top, moving in a circular pattern.

First Round complete.

Second Round.

Third Round.

Fill in any holes with more candy & greening pins.

Final round complete, all the holes filled in.

Wrap in cellophane and embellish with a bow or ribbon. The cellophane is optional, but it provides insurance that your candy will get from point “A” to point “B” intact.

Gift it!

Variation with M&Ms and Coca-Cola glasses

Variations by Amy Maxey – toffee coffee & bubble gum soda glass.

Find my free patterns on Sewhooked & Fandom in Stitches.

♥ Jennifer O

Posts on this blog may contain affiliate links to help cover the cost of my website. I thank you for your generous support. ♥

Smiling Santa Gift Bag

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I’ve been making these Santa bags for a lot of years now, but this is the first time I’ve ever shared a how-to for it.

Other similar bags I’ve made include Rudolph, Christmas kitties and Christmas trees. Change the basic bag to any color and add polka dots or stars for an easy birthday bag!

Smiling Santa is reusable, giftable, and darn cute. He’s fast to make with simple embroidered stitches and a button nose. If hand stitching isn’t your thing, fabric paint will work in a pinch!

You’ll need:

Smiling Santa reference
9″ x 12″ acrylic felt – 2 white, 1 red, 1 flesh
scissors
large needle
embroidery floss: white, red, blue & green
red button
ruler
optional: sewing machine
optional: rotary cutter

supplies

I use eco-friendly acrylic felt. It’s easy to find, cheap (20 cents a sheet) and sturdy.

Find the bottom of your bag and cut 1″ squares out of the opposite corners for each white sheet. This will create a faux gusset and allow your gift bag to stand up.

Cut the flesh-colored felt sheet down to 8″ x 5 1/2″. Fold in half and cut a gentle curve.

Open flesh-colored felt. Align 1″ from top of bag, centering so that each side has approximately 1/2″ of white felt showing.

Using the white embroidery floss, hand stitch a running stitch around the two sides and bottom of the face.

Add eye details with a straight stitch (eyebrows) and chain stitch (eyes).

Add button nose with red embroidery floss. Add mouth, also with red embroidery floss, using the chain stitch.

Pin two pieces of white felt together, face inside. Machine stitch 1/4″ seam on two sides and across the bottom.

Optional: hand stitch on the inside OR hand stitch on the outside using red embroidery floss.

Fold the open corners on the bottom together, matching outside seams. Fold seams in opposite directions to reduce bulk. Pin in place.

Machine stitch bag corners.

Turn bag right side out.

Fold 1″ down on top of bag, overlapping face. Pin, then straight stitch around. Stitch under side seam.

Finished stitching on the top of bag.

Cut two 12″ x 2″ strips from red felt.

Fold straps lengthwise. Straight stitch along the length with green embroidery floss.

Pin handle to outside of bag 2″ in from the sides.

Straight stitch snowflake or asterisk to hold handles in place. Repeat for the back of bag.

Stuff with goodies and gift it!

Feeling creative? Try your hand at a Christmas Tree!

Find my free patterns on Sewhooked & Fandom in Stitches.

♥ Jennifer O

Posts on this blog may contain affiliate links to help cover the cost of my website. I thank you for your generous support. ♥

Jennifer’s Best Peanut Brittle

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If I could make one candy to give away every year, it would be peanut brittle.

This is probably my most miraculous of recipes due to it’s ability to cause sheer happiness in it’s recipients. I’ve actually made friends by sharing this at parties and functions.

Every year someone tells me that this is their favorite peanut brittle recipe, which of course gives me a reason to keep making it for them!

You’ll need a good, heavy saucepan and a candy thermometer for this. If you’ve never owned a candy thermometer, it’s really worth having. I recommend investing a few dollars (a very few, really!) in a good quality thermometer. Glass thermometers are cheap, but they tend to break easily. I have a professional metal candy thermometer that I picked up at a local restaurant supply store, but they’re easy to find online and at other stores with cooking supplies, too.

Peanut Brittle

2 cups sugar
1 cup light corn syrup (Golden Syrup works if you don’t have access to corn syrup)
1/2 cup water
2 cups raw peanuts (I like Spanish peanuts)
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 tablespoon baking soda
real butter for greasing pan

Grease a 10″x15″ baking sheet thoroughly with butter.

Combine first five ingredients (sugar, corn syrup, water, peanuts and salt) in heavy saucepan. Stir using a long-handled wooden spoon.

Boil until candy thermometer reaches 293 degrees F.

Remove from heat and cool for a couple of minutes. Add vanilla and beat. Sprinkle baking soda into the mixture and beat will. It will foam and change colors, which is just what you want it to do!

Immediately pour into baking sheet. Be very, very careful because liquid candy at high temperatures is like lava! Make sure the baking sheet is on a towel or cooling rack because it will be extremely hot.

Allow to cool completely (time will vary, usually an hour or so) then flip over and give it a whack! Break the pieces up however you like, then store in an airtight container at room temperature.

Do not store peanut brittle with other candies because it will absorb moisture and become sticky, sticky, sticky.

For best results, share with friends!

more of my recipes

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Paper Piecing: Holly Jolly Christmas

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Last week, I shared three paper pieced patterns for Lil’ St. Nick, Mrs. Claus and Santa’s Elf.

ETA July 12, 2010 – These patterns will be available again November 2010 through the Sewhooked Shop.

Over the weekend, those three patterns were combined with a new pattern, Little Wonky Christmas Tree to give you the wall hanging shown, made for our friends, Eric & Dominae.

Little Wonky Christmas Tree

5″ paper pieced pattern
©Jennifer Ofenstein
http://www.sewhooked.org

The wall hanging was created by sewing the blocks two by two with a 1.5″ strip of fabric in between the two rows.

The border is also 1.5″, in the background fabric.

Echo quilted by machine.

The star on top of the tree (which was received as part of a craftster swap!) is attached with fabric glue.

Hand stamped label on the back and large jump rings for hanging.

find more paper pieced patterns on sewhooked

As always, if you make any pattern or craft from sewhooked, I’d love to see a photo. Email me or add it to the Friends of sewhooked flickr group.

Happy crafting

also posted on craftster, cut out + keep and deviant art

Recipe: Bon Bon; Bon Bon

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O! Christmas Candy! My house smells like chocolate…and peanut butter…and coconut…and sugar and and… Christmas!

I grew up with my mom making Coconut Bon Bons (which we called Bon Bons) every Christmas. My mom still makes them and it’s one of the candies I make that my friends start asking about in mid-November.

Peanut Butter Bon Bons are a more recent family favorite. My hubby calls them Peanut Butter Cups on Steroids. It’s a fairly apt description of spherical pb and chocolate goodness!

Coconut Bon Bon Filling:

2 pounds (or 7 1/2 cups) of powdered confectioner’s sugar
3 cups coconut
14 oz. sweetened condensed milk
1/2 cup butter, room temperature
2 cups of chopped pecans

Chocolate Coating:

12 oz of semi-sweet chocolate chips
1/4 pound of food grade paraffin (optional – but the chocolate will look nicer and hold together better if you use it)

Mix all ingredients thoroughly. The mixture should be firm and hold together. If not, add a little more powdered sugar.

Using a cookie dough scoop, scoop out balls. Round them with your hands and place on a cookie sheet lined with parchment paper. Refrigerate for about an hour.

Melt the chocolate chips and paraffin in a double boiler over low heat. Using a toothpick or skewer, dip each of the coconut balls into the chocolate and place back on the parchment paper. Let stand to room temperature and store in an airtight container (unless you eat them all first!).

PB Bon Bons Filling:

2 cup creamy peanut butter
1/2 cup butter, room temperature
3 3/4 cup powdered confectioner’s sugar

Chocolate Coating:

6 oz of semi-sweet chocolate chips
1/8 pound of food grade paraffin
(if you make Coconut Bon Bons, too, you’ll have plenty of chocolate coating left for these, too)

Mix peanut butter, butter and sugar. It will look crumbly, but it’ll hold together.

Roll into balls place on parchment paper. Refrigerate until firm, about 1 hour. Melt the chocolate chips and paraffin in a double boiler over low heat. Using a toothpick or skewer, dip each of the coconut balls into the chocolate and place back on the parchment paper. Let stand to room temperature and store in an airtight container.

Look for more holiday recipes later in the month!

Add your Sewhooked-related photos to my flickr group and you might be featured in a future post.

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Paper Piecing: A little more Christmas

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Lil’ St. Nick was such a hit that I had to give him some friends! I hope you like Mrs. Claus and Santa’s Elf just as much.

While I’m here, I’ll let you in on a little secret. I rarely design a pattern with a final project in mind. I draw whatever makes me happy and it ends up being wherever it needs to be.

Today, it’s Christmas!

Santa’s Elf

Mrs. Claus

ETA July 12, 2010 – These patterns will be available through the Sewhooked Shop November 2010..

For more paper pieced patterns, be sure to visit sewhooked.

Just for fun, I created a Christmas Quilts group over on flickr. Post yours and oogle, too!

As always, if you make any pattern or craft from sewhooked, I’d love to see a photo. Email me or add it to the Friends of Sewhooked flickr group.

Happy crafting

also posted on craftster

Paper Piecing: Lil’ St. Nick

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Lil’ St. Nick

This adorable wee Santa jumped right out of my head today. I carried him all through the supermarket, telling him to hush, we’d go home soon. The moment the last grocery was put away, my laptop was out, Photoshop fired up, and Lil’ St. Nick was having his say.

I love the way he turned out and I hope he puts you in the holiday spirit!

As always, if you make any pattern or craft from sewhooked, I’d love to see a photo. Email me or add it to the Friends of Sewhooked flickr group.

Happy crafting

also posted on craftster

Blanket Stitched Christmas Stocking Ornament

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December is almost here and that means a couple of things for my family.

We eat too much, get to see family we haven’t seen for ages, and we craft. While crafting in itself is a daily thing for us, December crafting is different. We make ornaments for friends, family and ourselves. Just something about the cold weather, hot chocolate and waiting for Santa makes the crafting a little bit more special.

On that note, today’s craft is an old favorite of mine. It was originally designed to be an easy ornament to make during my kiddos’ elementary school days. I wanted something that was inexpensive, took few materials and would be easy to teach kids how to do.

This simple blanket stitched Christmas Stocking is all of these things. The knots might take a little adult assistance, but other than that, it’s a craft easy enough for anyone old enough to thread a needle!

Make it as is and you’ll have a 4″ stocking ornament. Enlarge for a larger stocking; personalize, decorate or embellish!

Supplies:

felt stocking pattern (free to print or save)
felt in two colors (I used red and sparkly white)
scissors
pattern
embroidery floss
needle with a large eye
ruler or ruler and rotary cutter

Cut pattern on the fold of red felt.
Cut a strip of white felt 1 ” wide by long enough to go across both sides of stocking (4″ shown).

Align white felt across top of red so that the tops are flush.

Attach the white felt by stitching across the bottom with a blanket stitch.
(How to blanket stitch from futuregirl.com)

Optional – personalize or decorate while the stocking is still open. I’ve left this one plain.

The back should look like this.

Fold stocking so white felt is outside. Pin in place.

Starting on the open side of stocking, stitch using a blanket stitch. You can hide the knot by starting under the white felt. Push the needle through the three layers of felt and then take another stitch through all four layers before beginning the blanket stitch.

Continue around all the way around.

This is what we have so far!

Continue blanket stitching around the top of the stocking, catching both the inside and outside layer in the stitch. Make sure to leave the stocking itself open.

Once you’ve made it all the way around, knot off the embroidery floss then make a loop about 1 1/2″ – 2″ long. Make a knot inside the stocking. Take a stitch and knot again.

The pattern is for a 3″ stocking, but it can easily be sized up or down depending on your needs.