The best gifts are made by hand, out of love

It’s my favorite time of year, Thanksgiving and Christmas. Warm, cozy homes, colorful decorations, soups simmering on the stove, homemade bread in the oven, wearing our favorite warm sweaters and making our gifts for those we love.The best gifts are handmade, aren’t they? And the awesome thing about handmade gifts is, you don’t have to be ‘crafty’ to produce gifts. We thought last year was bad financially? This year is even worse! Nearly everyone I’ve talked to is figuring out a way to make gifts. There is no thought of ‘Not Giving’… that can’t happen. No matter how bad things are, giving is the key to our happiness and that of others. Remember the episode of Little House on the Prairie when the two girls were elated about the two tin cups they received? That’s the attitude we want to promote.

Starting December 1, we will kick off a blog project here at Ruby called The Days of Christmas. Quite a few of our editors have prepared some projects, tutorials, printable items and recipes for your crafting and making plans. The Ruby Editors are so creative, you’ll love it!

We invite you to join us for The Days of Christmas, and also to help us promote it! Please take our graphic and link it to this blog. More about later!

Because we can’t wait till Dec 1 to start making gifts, I’ve put together a little list of resources for you, so you can start right now today!

Dollar Store Crafts

One Pretty Thing

Freda’s Hive

Sew Mama Sew

Yes, it’s a short little list, but don’t confuse quantity with quality! You’ll be so busy making things, you’ll be glad I didn’t add more to the list! It’s the decisions that will be hard! Enjoy!

Our Interview at Vintage Indie

I was interviewed on the Vintage Indie site…hop on over and take a peek!

The Ruby Holiday Issue is available Now!

Click Here to purchase the newest Ruby! You can also subscribe on this page.This is our super special Holiday Issue – you’ll find lots of good stuff for Thanksgiving and Christmas. Enjoy!

Welcome to a Ruby November…

Our Home Editor, Amy Cavaness, has been burning the midnight oil! Besides her regular job, she also sews unique items and sells them online and at a local French Country Market and THEN….she writes for Ruby. Not only writes but prepares projects with pictures…just wait till you see! It’s all yours Amy….

The mission: Make a Thanksgiving table centerpiece from materials collected outdoors.

I can spend a small fortune on decorative materials at the hobby and craft store. But in these days, I’m trying to avoid those trips and take a second look at what I have.

So I gathered a large basket, scissors, and clippers and headed out for a walk in my Midwestern woodlands and adjacent open fields.

Autumn offers such an abundance of color and texture for centerpieces. Fall mums and pretty leaves are an obvious choice. But an interesting arrangement of natural materials needs more contrast. I looked up in the trees, down at my feet, and at everything in between. I found pretty berries in some shrubs. The junipers that grow wild here offered some great greenery and texture contrast. And some of the summer wildflowers have left dark brown seed heads. I found a single sprig of red brown curly dock for interest. I even picked up a few acorns from the forest floor.

A trip to my farmer’s market yielded a fun $2.00 discovery: a long pumpkin or squash in a beautiful apricot orange. The vendor didn’t know what it was—she just plants seeds and sees what comes up! When I saw it I knew I had my natural vessel for an oblong centerpiece.

I cut out the top and scooped out the pulp and seeds (we’re saving a few to see what comes up!) Then I trimmed the top piece and put it back inside with the pulp side facing up. This would be my oasis to hold stems.

I am not trained in flower arranging, but I think the resulting centerpiece is interesting and shows an example of what is possible to achieve at little or no cost.

Ironed any leaves lately? I did! Everyone has heard about pressing leaves in books for weeks or months. I achieved the same effect by using my iron set on a medium-low setting with a little bit of steam. I ironed the tops and backs of fairly dry individual leaves and stems of numerous leaves, making them nice and flat.

Here’s a photo of some of the other fruits and veggies I bought at the farmer’s market. Laid on a platter with a few sprigs of berries and my ironed leaves, the apples support a couple of candles. I like using consumable table décor—all I’ll have to put away is the platter!

Almost November!

This is the last day of October, and to me, it always seems that November 1 signals the start of the Holiday Season. I get out my Autumn decorations, and ‘warm up’ the house. We recently painted our entry way, living room and are about halfway through the dining room. We chose a lovely shade of light brown that reminds me of nutmeg and hot cocoa. Miraculously, it matches everything in the house. I like my home to be ‘warm’ with warm colors, and cozy corners. If you like that too, you’re going to love our post tomorrow! I won’t say anymore, but come back tomorrow for a treat!

And of course, the new issue of Ruby will be available tomorrow!

We have a lot of plans for the next 2 months, here on the Ruby blog. If you’re not signed up to receive Ruby posts in your email, you should sign up. In the sidebar, right on top. You’ll receive every post in your email, so even if you forget to check blogs, you won’t be left out of anything. And of course, we have the usual RSS feeds you can sign up.

Welcome Holidays! Karen

And the winner is…..

Lynn Delahunty!!!! Congrats Lynn!!!! Please email me and let me know your mailing address so I can send this lovely fabric to you

Lynn wrote, “My favourite memory is from when i was about 7 years old. Santa always used to place my stocking on the end of my bed filled with lovely pressies. I woke up in the middle of the night and could see my lovely stocking stuffed full and something poking out of the top. In the half light I couldn’t make out what it was and I gingerly touched it and it was soft. I turned on the light and there was a knitted cat (that my mum had lovingly knitted with great frustration I learned later!) that I just thought was the bees knees. I had been wanting a real kitten for months and months but my mum was allergic to cats and so she gave me the next best thing. I loved that cat and cuddled it in bed for many years until it fell to bits.”

I’ll be using many, if not all of these comments in the November 09 issue of Ruby. If you’ve commented, you’ll receive a copy of the November 09 issue as a Thank You.

Have a great day!

Do you have anything you’d like to put in Ruby?

We’re down to the wire – but if you have a picture, poem, story or favorite recipe to share – this is the time! Send it to me before Friday, Oct. 23 and I’ll get it in.

I’ve posted Month 2 for the Fruit of the Spirit Stitchery BOM on the right sidebar. Joy!

Month 1 is in the September 09 issue of Ruby, and Month 3 will be in the November 09 issue.

Don’t forget to comment on the Christmas Memory post below!

Your Favorite Christmas Memory and a Giveaway!

I’m sitting here at the computer, working on the November issue of Ruby, specifically Beth Brubakers column “Footprints in the Mud” which is titled Christmas Traditions. I won’t give away any of the good stuff she wrote, but it brought some things to mind.

I remember a Christmas when I was about 10 or 11, one of my gifts was fabric! I remember to this day exactly what it looked like. It was yellow check poly knit, not a square check, but the zig zaggy kind of check…? I made myself a dress, with a mandarin collar, long bell sleeves and A-line skirt. Remember, this is the early 70’s! I thought I was just groovy That was one of my favorite Christmas gifts of all time! Becoming a seamstress and acquiring an addiction to fabric VERY early on – what could be better than getting fabric wrapped up in pretty paper and bows?

What’s your favorite Christmas memory? Share it with us, we’d love to read about it. It can be anything you like, just as long as it involves Christmas. On Oct. 20, Tuesday, at noon CST,  I’ll pick one name and they will win a piece of fabric of their own! This is 2 yards of Farmers Market by Sandi Henderson for Free Spirit fabrics. (SH-3701 Vintage Cherries) Wouldn’t this make a cute apron for some lucky person on your gift list?

Please be sure to include your email address so I can reach you if you’re the winner. Some entries may be used in the November 09 issue of Ruby, so please include your name and city/state. You can use initials if you like. (Editors and employees of Ruby can share memories with us, but they won’t be eligible to win the fabric.)

Seeds of Faith

Today we have a guest author, Katie Cunningham our WAHM Editor….

One way we found to grow our children’s faith was by saying grace with our evening meal. The one meal everyone living with us or visiting was required to share together. After our prayer & before we say Amen, Everyone is encouraged to add 1-2 blessing for which they are thankful or, asking for prayer & guidance.  As toddlers the expressions of gratitude may have been (and were) simple things such as my toys, mashed potatoes, flowers, snow, applesauce…school aged prayers may have been those asking for assistance on tests, drivers licenses, thankful for friends & family, safe travel, parties…to name a few.  It taught them to appreciate and be thankful for things or just the everyday little things life brings.  It always amazed us how visiting friends, children & adults jumped right in & seemed to enjoy the tradition.  There were times it opened our eyes to struggles our children were having & what was important to them.

One year we had quite a few extra children living with us. The expressions of thanksgiving we more basic, a bed, clothing, food, being warm…….. After super I would write down what we all were thankful for on slips of colored paper, & started a chain with all the prayers and thanksgiving.

Close to the holidays, we would hang on the tree or around the room to decorate.  It was a wonderful visual reminder to all of us of the everyday blessings we receive.

There are many prayers to be said over meals, each faith seem to have their own.  If you’re just starting on your faith journey joining hands around the table seems to draw everyone’s focus to prayer.

A very simple prayer for the very young is

“God is Great, God is Good

Let us thank him for our food.

Amen”

Do you as family say grace with meals?  How do you involve your children?

What seeds of faith do you sow?

We would love to hear from you!

Katie Cunningham

Katidids

katididscreations.blogspot.com

Come and visit our Squidoo page!

I can hear you now – what’s a SQUIDOO page? lol….. Squidoo is a really fun place with lots of single page sites on every subject. Our Squidoo page will be as interactive as the blog, but we need you all to come and visit and leave a comment if you like. There will be other things added as we go along – I only learned of Squidoo yesterday and hurriedly made our first page! Come on over!