Beginning embroidery

Thank you all for the kind comments on my handprint embroidery. I've enjoyed seeing your own examples, too, as you've provided me with links. Lovely! Like some of you have said, I need to focus next on making one for our own family. Maybe in a frame. Almost too cute to give away, but luckily simple enough to quickly make one for yourself.
Here are some answers to a few questions I've received and links for those of you still wanting to embroider the handprints of your children or for those of you looking to get started embroidering anything.

I used the Backstitch with all 6 threads of embroidery floss. I thought this made a nice solid outline which is just what I wanted for this project.
I considered using linen fabric, but couldn't find a shade I wanted in my local fabric store. I ended up with a cheaper natural-looking cotton. I don't even remember if it had a name.
I don't know how long this project took me from start to finish. A couple hours for the actual embroidery? I do know it takes longer if you're watching Little Women while you work. Maybe the soundtrack would allow me to be more efficient.
The acrylic paint dried pretty quickly on the hoop, but you'll want a couple coats. So it all depends on how many fragments of time you have to yourself. It took me a couple, or a few, days from start to finish, but it could definitely be finished in less than one.

This was my first shot at embroidery and if this is the case with you, here are some instructional links for you:
Primrose Design-see the sidebar for Stitch School posts.
Sublime Stitching-see the How To section (their image above).
Instructables-Embroidery 101
YouTube-search under embroidery stitches, basic embroidery, embroidery tutorial, etc.
I saw a lot of other sites that looked helpful, as well, but didn't necessarily use them this time around. Here's a couple:
Needle'N'Thread
Needlework

I hope that helps! If you have any other questions or pictures of your own projects, let me know! I'll be sure to post my next embroidery project, too.
Merry Christmas and Happy Embroidering!

Button wreath ornaments

It's almost Christmas and I figure most of you are probably finished with your holiday projects or out of town away from your computer altogether. Merry Christmas! But, for those of you still hanging around needing something to do with your kids, here you go:
I saw these cute little ornaments last year and filed the idea away for future use. I'm glad I did. These were so simple. Perfect for another one of our afternoons confined to the apartment. The kids enjoyed making them (they strung all their own buttons and chose ribbon), and they look super cute hanging on the tree or just about anywhere. Also a great way to use up old buttons if you have too many ugly buttons hanging around. Of course, if you just have the ugly ones, you may want to get a little pack of holiday or brightly colored buttons to mix in.
See Martha Stewart and Me and My Girl for tutorials and more cute examples.

Beaded Christmas ornaments

We've been making our own Christmas ornaments again since we're still in that stage where having store-bought ornaments proves a danger to the ornaments and small children. Last year we stuck with paper. Chains, candles, stars. This year, we're stepping it up a notch to include beads, pipe cleaners, buttons, wire. And probably still paper.
Last week, while we were in the beginning stages of illness and confined to our home, we had beaded ornament-making sessions every afternoon. Now that we're still sick, we've moved to buttons, but more on those later. The first picture above includes some ornaments I made, some we made together, and a few the kids made themselves (minus the tying off and making a bow). The second picture is made up primarily of their creations. I hadn't anticipated the kids would be so excited, or at the least satisfied, with merely bending a pipe cleaner and hanging it on the tree. Shows what I know. They're proud of them all and so am I.

Personal Update: Thanks to those of you sticking with me through my sporadic posting. Our computer is still shot. Yes, I'm posting with ESP again. No, not really. I'm using something so old I can't even get the italic function to work. You know we were out of town the entire week of Thanksgiving, came home to a dead computer, all became sick, I spent a long weekend visiting my sister in California (more on that later), came home still sick to a still dead computer, and am now just waiting for our new one to arrive and be installed and whatnot. I really do plan to post more regularly once we have a working computer. Thanks to the new folks who've commented recently. I'll be back. (You can say that like Arnold if you want and I won't think any less of you).

Oh, and by the way, we recently uncovered our baby fingernail clippers, my wedding ring, and our green Thomas the Train wagon. I may have to continue posting my ads publicly if it brings that kind of luck.

Homemade graham crackers

Finally! Another cookie in my cookie-a-week series. I will be playing catch-up since I've lost time to holiday travel and computer breakdown. Unfortunately, I can't do all of my catching up right now as our computer is still broken. That means, cookie-a-week becomes more like three or four cookies in one week. As long as we have cookies, right?
Today's cookie: the homemade graham cracker. Yum! I had never made these before and now wonder why. These are simple, tasty, and versatile.
We used the recipe from Carole Walter's Great Cookies. I think. Shoot. I'm not at home and can't see it. It was a photocopy. I'll change this later, if I find I'm wrong. I hate to reprint the recipe, but can offer you two I found online. Here at 101 Cookbooks and this one at Baking Bites.
We cut ours in squares and coated half of them with chocolate, but you have a lot of options on how to eat these. You could draw lines down the middle to imitate store bought crackers, you could frost them, sandwich them, add peanut butter, etc. And really, delicious no matter which way you go.
Since I have access to these pictures, I'm going all out with a photo journal of our graham cracker making. See below for an updated 2008 Holiday Cookie list.

My holiday cookies, 2008:
#1 Molasses
#2 Cashew-Caramel
#3 Homemade Graham Crackers
To come....chocolate!!

If furniture could talk....

Attention all dressers, beds, forgotten toys, and gigantic dust bunnies:
MISSING
1 pair boys' brown pants, size 2T
1 pair women's jeans, size...let's just say "between pregnancies"
1 orange sippy cup, likely 1/2 full of soured milk
1/4 of a grilled cheese sandwich
1 green Thomas the Train wagon
1 parrot
1 cheetah
1 large canvas bag
1 recipe for pumpkin bread
1 pair men's blue shorts, size unknown
1 wedding ring...yikes!
1 round plastic Pyrex lid
1 pair baby fingernail clippers
Any possessing knowledge leading to the whereabouts of any of these items, please respond immediately. Anonymous tips accepted.

So, I wouldn't want my furniture, appliances, toys, and closets talking to me on a regular basis. I'd certainly get far too many cries of pain and domestic criticisms. But, I think if my possessions could speak strictly when spoken to, it'd be pretty beneficial.

Withdrawal: Chocolate fudge and computers

Hello! We're back! I think I'm experiencing chocolate fudge and pumpkin pie withdrawal. Not to mention, doting grandparent withdrawal.
We had a lovely holiday week. Hope you all did, too! Coming home, though, we found our computer reluctant (refusing) to function. I was fine for a week without it. Out of sight really was out of mind. But now that I'm walking past the thing every 5 minutes, I find myself experiencing withdrawal from my electronically-generated social and creative life.
I hope it won't be long, but just so you know, I haven't dropped off the face of the earth. I'm actually pretty excited to start some new projects. Especially after reading your nice comments on our embroidered handprints from last week. Thanks!
Stay tuned!