My hot chocolate obsession is well documented in the pages of this blog, so this seemed like another no-brainer in the list of must-have Christmas treats, but it was one of the last things I got around to making. I am not a softie maker ordinarily, so this was a bit of a stretch for me. The plus side of that for you is that since it was beginner softie designed, it will be a beginner softie to make.

From wool felt, cut one piece for the mug measuring 4″ by 8″. Cut another piece for the handle measuring 2″ x 4″. Match the right sides together and sew each piece into a tube.

Cut out the rest of the pieces using the downloaded pattern. Fold the whipped cream piece in half and sew down from the point.

Pin the cocoa circle into one end of your mug piece, and sew into place.

Sew the two saucer circles together all the way around, then cut a hole in the center to turn it right side out. This hole will be covered when you glue the mug on top of it. I placed a little bit of glue inside the saucer to adhere the two layers together. That just looked a little more “saucer-like” to me.

Now all your pieces are sewn together and it’s time to assemble. Turn the mug right side out and loosely stuff, stopping about an inch from the top. Cut that remaining inch into tabs.

Glue those tabs down to create the bottom of the mug, overlapping them and pulling them taut to make as neat a bottom as you can.

Glue your mug to your saucer.

Turn the handle piece right side out and fold the edges towards the inside to hide them.

Turn the whipped cream piece right side out and lightly stuff. Cut tabs into the bottom in the same way you did for the mug, just about 1/4″ and glue down towards the center.

Glue both ends of the handle onto the mug, pinning it in place as necessary while it dries. Glue the whipped cream blob on top, let the whole thing get good and dry, and it’s ready for hanging.

To download the pattern, click on the picture to go to flickr. Then select “actions” and “view all sizes” above the picture and download the original size.

I was figuring this out as I went and ended up using a combination of white glue, fabric glue, and hot glue, so I don’t think there’s a wrong way to go. I could’ve used fabric glue for everything except I was trying to save a few pennies by using the cheap white glue, and the hot glue just made putting on the handle way easier. But I think you’ll get by just fine using whatever glue you like the best.

I toyed around with the idea of decorating the mug. I think a little hand embroidery or some rick rack around the rim could be adorable. I decided I had so much going on with the tree already that it didn’t need it, but I think I would experiment with that a little bit more if I was making these as stand alone gifts.

Crosstitch was my first love, so I don’t need much of an excuse to pull it out, but it’s also such a nice way of bringing in a different medium, a little different look, a little contrast to the tree while still in keeping with the theme.

I used 28 ct linen and stitched the design using one strand of floss over one thread of the linen (instead of the standard two threads) so that the design would be small enough to fit into these cheap little frames. If you stitched it over two threads, it would be large enough to frame in a 5 x 7 frame.

If you’re new to crosstitching, here’s some great tutorials:
Animated Sampler Stitch (select Surface Stitches – Cross Stitch Danish)
Celtic Cross Stitch
Instructions from DMC

Once I had my piece all stitched up, I wrapped it around a thin piece of cardboard and placed it in the frame, and then glued a ribbon around the frame, leaving it loose at the top to act as the hanger.

To download the pattern, click on the picture to go to flickr, then click on “actions,” then “all sizes” above the photo. Download the original size, which I formatted ready to print. Hopefully flickr will think so too.

The first step in decorating a Christmas tree is adding the garland. Well, the first step on a pre-lit tree anyway. And for a tree focused on the traditional treats of Christmas, a popcorn and cranberry garland seemed a natural fit.

But have you ever tried to make one of those? It’s a total pain in the butt. Neither the popcorn or cranberries seem to want to be strung. The cranberries are as hard as pebbles as you force the needle through, and the popcorn crumbles as you try and make a hole. Then the whole thing grows stale so that by the end of the season you’re eager to get rid of it and have to start the process from scratch next year. As much as I love the iconic look of the popcorn garland, I was not eager to dedicate time every year fighting to get that made. A permanent option was required, so I pulled out the polymer clay.

This is a great project for polymer clay newbies. It’s just rolling ball shapes, you don’t need any tools or sculpting talent, but you can achieve the traditional popcorn garland once and for all and never have to make it again.

White polymer clay will pick up every speck of dirt, so wash your hands before you start and work on a clean surface. I like to work on parchment paper because it’s non-stick, makes cleanup easy, and I can use the same piece to take the work straight into the oven.

Cut the brick into quarters along those marked lines, then cut those columns into thirds.

Cut those thirds into thirds again, and then set one of those small pieces aside. Each piece of popcorn will use two of those third pieces, which by this point in our cutting works out to be 2/36ths of the entire brick. If I did my math right.

Cut one of those small third pieces into fourths.

Roll each of your pieces up into a rough ball shape. The best thing about sculpting a piece of popcorn is that you’re aiming for chaos. So precision actually works against you in this project. Wonky shapes and ovals only make things look more realistic.

Press each of the small balls into the bottom of the larger ball and arrange them as desired to get the most “popcorny” look.

Take a tiny ball of yellow clay and press it into the bottom of the popcorn piece.

Push a skewer through the middle of the popcorn to make a hole for stringing. Don’t be afraid to make this nice and big, you’ll thank yourself during the stringing process.

When you’re all done with the white clay, then break out the cranberry colored clay. Red clays leave marks on everything, so don’t even think about working on this before your popcorn pieces.

Cut the brick into four pieces along the marked lines, then fourths. I liked a little variation in the size of my cranberries, so I cut some pieces into fifths instead of fourths, but it really doesn’t have to be precise.

Roll your pieces up and run them through with the skewer. Bake all your pieces according to the instructions on the packaging, keeping the cranberries and the popcorn pieces on separate cookie sheets so the colors don’t transfer. When they’re cool, thread them onto a piece of yarn.

So I admit that this isn’t the speediest project I’ve ever designed, but what you put out in labor one year you’ll be grateful for every other year as you get that wonderful homey look without any additional effort.

When you go as ridiculously overboard as I do every Christmas, you can’t do it all in a month. It takes a lot of careful planning. So every year around this time, I make my Christmas cards for the Christmas up ahead. I only came up with this plan a few years ago, but Holy Cow is it the best idea ever. All the Christmas papers and stamps are on sale, and I have more time in the week after Christmas than I could ever hope to find throughout the rest of the month.

When I’m done, I just pack them away with the rest of the decorations. Then when the decorations come out, I just have to worry about getting a recent picture and sticking them in the mail.

Here’s 2009‘s card
and here’s 2008‘s.

Last year’s card was a little too labor intensive. I got a little carried away. So this year I’m keeping it more simple.

Here’s what you’ll need:
Cardstock that is printed on both sides, cut down to 6″ tall by 9″ wide
Cardstock in a solid contrasting color cut to 4″ wide by 1/2″ tall
Stamped and embossed center image (I’ll explain)
Stamped and embossed interior image (ditto)
Tulle cut off the spool about 4″ wide

This style of card is called a gate card, meaning the sides fold in and meet in the middle. So the first step is to score 2 1/4″ in from each end. I love the scoring blade on my paper trimmer, but you could also use a bone folder.

When you make as many cards as I do, you have to keep your costs down however possible. Adding even one brad jacks your cost up like crazy when you have do it 100 times. So I try to stick to paper wherever possible, and stamping is really cost effective when you’re talking bulk.

You’ll need two embossed images. One is for the front and center of the card. It really doesn’t matter what stamp you use, but something with a greeting makes sense. Mine is about 2″ x 3″ which worked out really nicely. I stamped it on a shimmery cardstock, embossed it with glittery red powder, and then cut the paper out to the size of the stamp.

The other image is for the inside of the card, to add a little something once the photo gets put in place. You’ll want to keep it on the small side so it doesn’t compete with your family pictures. Mine is about 1″ x 3/4″. I stamped it on coordinating cardstock and then cut around the outline. Tape it to the end of your 4 x 1/2″ cardstock strip.

The rest of the interior stuff will be done in photoshop when I get our family pictures done. I envision this little decorative strip separating the photo section from the newsletter section.

Now back to the front of the card.

Bunch up the long side of the tulle, and staple it to the right side of the gate we created earlier.

Then take your center front embossed image and glue one side of it down on top of the tulle, arranging it so that it’s centered when both gates are closed. I used a liquid glue for this. Any other adhesive I tried wasn’t strong enough to make it through the tulle. The liquid glue may warp your paper, so I’d recommend using a thicker cardstock for your embossed image, but anything else and the embossed piece will just fall off in the mail.

There’s nothing like feeling like you’re on top of things. It doesn’t happen often to me, but every year when I pack these cards away I relish in a little gloat, feeling like at that moment, I am ahead of the game.