Author: Launi

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Scrooge For Christmas

At our house, one of the family favorite movies in all creation is the Muppet Christmas Carol.

We love the frogs and the mice and the singing vegetables…and that kid Scrooge hits with a holly wreath. I laugh my head off and then feel guilty for laughing.

Plus, you’d be surprised at how moving a sobbing rat can be.

And there’s just something about Michael Caine crying in his nightgown over that one girl.

I bawl like a baby. Of course the wonderful Dickens-y goodness of the story comes through as well or it wouldn’t count.

Now, this is not to say that I don’t enjoy the other versions. I do. Honestly,

George C. Scott is a mighty scary piece of Scroogy meaness. Maybe it’s his gravely voice…I don’t know.

It helps too that Jacob Marley does a pretty darn convincing guy with his jaw falling off. Ewww.

And in the even more ancient Alastair Sim version, old Marley gets sucked right out the window with the other spooks. Scares the heck out of me.

lionel

When I was a kid we also had a record–yes, I’m that old–of Lionel Barrymore in the role of Scrooge. Laurie and I had the silly thing memorized..still do, I’m afraid. I think we could have worked parties. We were weird kids…needed more sunlight…or something.

Our family book club is now reading “A Christmas Carol” the real version. No singing pigs or crippled frogs–but the original, as Dickens meant it to be. It’s only about 80 pages but the language is so classic, 1840’s English that it takes a bit longer to suck it all in. So it’s a slower read for some of us. We chose it because it’s President Monson’s favorite book and because it felt important to be able to say, “Of course I’ve read A Christmas Carol. Duh…” in that snobby voice that’s meant to impress people–but rarely does.

I realize that the Muppet story and the vintage book are worlds apart in presentation, but I think it’s ok. I think Mr. Dickens would be very pleased with how many ways his little short story has been presented. Likely, he would be more pleased with the impact that his words–classic or muppetized–still have on people.

“I will honour Christmas in my heart, and try to keep it all the year.”

And I personally believe he’d even get a kick out of the screaming lettuce.

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Steiner Baby

I first saw these little dollies on a site called Sooz. They are tiny and simple to stitch together from felt scraps, T-shirt fabric and some cotton thread. They just looked sweet to me and it was easy to imagine them sneaking into a six-year-old’s pocket as she’s on her way to church. I’ll show you my adventure with this fun thing.

I folded a piece of paper and sketched a basic pattern. It wasn’t anything complicated. I’ll post a pattern here by day’s end–but really it’s quite simple. Cut two from felt–wool felt is wonderful, but I had a piece of earthy brown regular felt and I couldn’t resist using it.

This will give you a good idea of the size. Just right for your Goldilocks. Use a blanket stitch to sew the front and back together.

I didn’t have a flesh colored piece of interlock for the head and none of my kids had a T-shirt the right color either or it would have been in great danger. I finally bought a 4″ strip at the fabric store. Fold a 4″x 4″ piece and sew a 2″ wide casing. Gather the top into a bunch. Turn it right side out.

Stuff the head and body with cotton or wool batting.

Sew it onto the body.

I made a brown braid from cotton thread, and cut out a bandana from red sparkle felt.

After tacking on the bandana, sew two simple stitch sleepy eyes.

The End

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Gracious Giveaway…

Congratulations to our Gracious Giveaway Weekend Winner…

Tracy Jackson

of Orem, Utah

Tracy is the winner of our Crafty Copies Family Night Four Pack and the sheep!

Wahooo Tracy!

Merry Christmas…

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Gingerbread Man and More…In Felt

Jiffy 2-18-08

It was a frosty 17 degrees today. Even Jif is needing a blanket.

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Gingerbread Man

This little guy was a last minute project for a Christmas party a few years back. A cookie cutter makes a great pattern. Trace it onto paper and cut it from light brown felt. The cheeks were cut with a single hole punch and the heart is just free hand. Sew the heart and cheeks and face on first. Then blanket stitch the back to the front and stuff with batting just before closing him up. It didn’t take too long–and hour and a half/two hours-ish. The hardest part was that the gold thread was really a pain to work with. It’s very tangley.

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Christmas Tree Cookie

Cookie cutter works here too. Cut a smaller one for the colored “frosting.” Sew the bead “sprinkles” or french knot “decos” on the frosting before blanket stitching them together with embroidery thread. Sew cookie pieces together and stuff with batting just before closing.

felt-001Christmas Star Cookie

The directions are the same as for the Tree…except that it’s…a star.

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Clear Glass Ornaments Re-visited

Mary and Baby Jesus–on Velum

We have had so many suggestions of other ways to decorate or fill the glass ornaments that it has really inspired us. So, we’ve gathered pictures of some of the ideas and will show you how to do a couple others.

So brace yourself–

Marbleized Glass Ornaments

Rinse inside of ornament with a solution of 1 part water and 3 parts vinegar. Let dry.

Squeeze a quarter sized dollop of acrylic paint into ornament. Roll it around until paint begins to cover the inside.

Add a second color if you want to and roll it some more. Turn ornament upside-down in a paper cup or–onto a paper towel to drain excess paint. Allow to dry for a day or two.

The paint marbleizes as it dries. Now you can put the hanger back on.