Christmas | Beneath My Heart

Pillow Talk

December 12, 2009 AT 4:16 pm 43 Comments

December 12, 2009 By cyndi 43 Comments

I’ve seen this idea all over blogland, and it looked so easy that I just had to try it!

Here’s the idea….take a placemat and make it into a pillow.

It is as easy as it sounds!

I found these Christmas placemats at the Dollar General Store for $2.00 a piece.

Placemats are just two pieces of material sewn together. So I carefully cut the seam on one side….

…separated the two sides, and then stuffed it with batting I got from Walmart. It was less than 3 dollars for the bag of batting, and I used about half of it.

Then I used a needle and thread to sew up the hole.

And there you have it! Isn’t “she” cute?

It really is that simple. That’s why I had to try it!

And the possibilities are limitless! Have you seen all of the adorable Christmas placemats out there? You could get one with a snowman or Santa on it. Or get one with a beautiful design on it. I chose this simple pattern because it matched the rest of the decor in my den.

(And if you don’t have time to do this project before Christmas, you could take advantage of the After-Christmas sales to pick up some placemats. I know I will. And I think these would make adorable teacher gifts, don’t you?)

And you could monogram them too! This little project would be great to do year round. I may make a monogrammed pillow after Christmas, who knows?!

That’s it!

I am linking this project to Saturday Nite Special over at Funky Junk Interiors! I love that blog!

Also at Met. Monday at Between Naps on the Porch,

Make it for Monday at Cottage Instincts,

Get Your Craft On at Todays Creative Blog,

DIY day at A Soft Place to Land,

Show and Tell at Blue Cricket Design,

and Transformation Thursday at The Shabby Chic Cottage.

I hope you have a blessed weekend!

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Tagged Christmas, crafty project Filed UnderChristmas, crafty project, Uncategorized 43 Comments

Wednesdays with Wanda

December 9, 2009 AT 6:23 am 48 Comments

December 9, 2009 By 48 Comments

Last week I shared with you my favorite Christmas tradition as a child…putting up Mom and Dad’s Nativity scene.

I loved reading about your family traditions in the comments. Thank you for sharing them with me!

Now I’m going to share with you my second favorite Christmas tradition…

BUCKEYES!

Every Christmas that I can remember as a child, my mom made buckeyes.

Mom wrote about the story behind our “buckeye tradition” in the same article that I shared last week. She wrote it in 1991 for her weekly food column in our local newspaper. Here is what she wrote…”

“On a cold, winter day before Christmas, when Traci (now 21) was seven years old, she came bursting in the house clutching a margarine tub in both hands. Through her happy smile she exclaimed, “Mom, look what Michelle’s mother gave us!” We opened it up and inside were buckeyes (candy). They were so cold and tasty that I asked Traci to go back to Michelle’s house and get the recipe. She did, and these buckeyes have become another family tradition in our family. All the children help make them. Last week, my 4 year old grandson, Cory, and my 5 year old granddaughter, Courtney, helped. (That was an experience – but we had a ball!)”

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Well, now ya’ll know how old I am! :)

Yes…I have been making these buckeyes EVERY single year for 32 years!!! And I hope I can make them for 32 more!

My boys absolutely love making buckeyes. When I started making them the other night, they were smiling from ear to ear, and my son, Luke, said, “Aw, Mom….it really IS Christmas!”

So I am very excited to share this recipe with you!

It is so simple!

Here are the ingredients:

1 cup of peanut butter

1 stick of butter (margarine works best)

1 box of confectioner’s sugar

Put the above ingredients in a large bowl.

It works best to mix them together by hand. (My boys LOVE this part! And it was my favorite part when I was a kid too.)

Mix the ingredients together until they form a ball.

Then roll the dough into small “buckeye-sized” balls and place on a cookie sheet covered with wax paper.

Place a toothpick in each ball and then place in the freezer for them to harden.

Here is what you need to make the chocolate coating:

1 12 oz. bag of semi-sweet chocolate chips

1/3 stick of paraffin wax (Gulf Wax)

Melt the bag of chocolate chips and paraffin wax together in the top of a double broiler. (If you don’t have a double-boiler, use a smaller pan in a larger pan that’s half-way filled with water. That’s what I do.)

Mix together
well.

Take the peanut butter balls out of the freezer and dip in chocolate mixture.

Be sure to leave the top open to resemble a buckeye.

Place the dipped “buckeye” back on the cookie tray.

Remove the toothpicks…

Let them sit for a few minutes so the peanut butter will soften, then use your fingers to close the (toothpick) hole.

And like magic, they look like buckeyes!

And boy are they delicious!!!!!

My friends and family are always asking me to make these. And believe me…they won’t last long!

But if you have a few left over, store them in the refrigerator. I think they are best when they are cold.

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I am linking this post to Creating Christmas Blog Fest at The Girl Creative, and

Foodie Friday.

As a side note, I want to thank all of you who continue to pray for me and my family during this holiday season. Your comments and words of encouragement have meant so much to me. It is still hard to believe that Mom is gone. Though I am happy to share this recipe with you, my heart aches that Mom won’t be making buckeyes for us this year. She always made Christmas so special. There is not a day ( or hour) that goes by that I do not think of her and long to see her again. Though not having her here makes this Christmas sad for me, I am trying my best to celebrate Christmas for my children the way Mom would want me too. I can hear her saying, “Traci, stop crying over me. You take care of those boys and make Christmas special for them.” She would want me to focus on the true meaning of Christmas and be filled with God’s love and peace.

I’m trying, Mom… I promise.

I pray God’s love and peace for each of you as well!

Blessings,

(This is a weekly post that I am doing to honor my wonderful mother, Wanda, who passed away on September 22, 2009. It is a place for me to share precious memories of her…for myself, for you, and most importantly, for my children.)

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Tagged Christmas, Mom Filed UnderChristmas, Mom, Uncategorized 48 Comments

Silhouette Tiles

December 7, 2009 AT 12:18 am 44 Comments

December 7, 2009 By cyndi 44 Comments

Hey Ladies!

Just wanted to quickly share with you a project that I completed for my fireplace mantle.

I have always wanted to have a picture of each of my boys placed above their Christmas stockings. But since I have been blogging, I have fallen in love with silhouettes. So I decided to make a silhouette of each of my sons for my mantle.

Here’s how I did it…

First I took a profile picture of each of my boys. It’s works best to have a white or light colored background.

Then I made a photo copy of it on my printer. I shrunk them to 75% to fit on my tile. You could make them as large or as small as you wanted to. I also made them a little darker so I could see the outline of their faces even better for when I needed to cut them out.

(Okay, I am laughing here…is it just me, or do these look like “mug shots”? Hee, hee…my four little criminals!)

Back to the tutorial…

Next, I cut the pictures apart and placed each one on a piece of black construction paper.

Then I used my scissors to cut around the outline of each child’s head and here’s what I got…

I love them already!

Then I took my white tiles that I had left over from my coaster project and covered them with a layer of Mod Podge. I used a sponge brush to apply the Mod Podge.

(The tiles can be purchased at Lowes or Home Depot for about 20 cents a piece, and the Mod Podge can be purchase at Wal-Mart or any craft store.)

I placed the silhouette on top of the Mod Podge and let it dry completely. (I did have to keep pressing the silhouette down to make sure it was sticking and didn’t bubble up.)

Then I placed a layer of Mod Podge on top of each silhouette and let it dry completely.

I was trying to come up with an easy way to make the tiles stand up by themselves on the mantle, and here is what I found…

Little metal picture frames from the Dollar General Store! They were 50 cents a piece, so I paid $2.00 for all of them. (Duh.)

I just hot glued them to the back of the tiles.

Perfect!

I was going to add a gingham bow to the top, but it was a little to “girly” for all my boys!

So for now, I am going to leave them plain.

Aren’t they sweet? Not the tiles….My Boys! :)

I’d like to do a little more with my mantle, but my decorating skills are lacking a little right now. Too much “other stuff” going on during the Christmas season.

But hey, simple is good, right?

(I got the lanterns at Goodwill a couple of years ago, but this is the first time I have used them. They were missing the glass pieces. I think I paid 4 or 5 dollars a piece for them at Goodwill. I got the glass globes at Hobby Lobby this week for $1.5o a piece.)