The adorable, always humorous MBA Jane is my way of honoring our Sisterhood Merit Badge program, now with 6,102 dues-paying members who have earned an amazing number of merit badges so far—8,722 total! Take it away, MBA Jane!!! MJ 

For this week’s Stitching and Crafting/Homespun Christmas Expert Level Merit Badge (Part II), I lovingly wrapped up the triplets’ homemade holiday gifts, and got to work on the grownup people of my life. There are so many friends I want to shower with presents, it’s hard to know where to start. Thank goodness for large cookie recipes, am I right? It never hurts to have extras lying around the kitchen during the month of December for those drop-ins you might have forgotten to shop for (I mean, craft for). And it never hurts to eat them.

The cookies, I mean.

Ideas …

Heat Therapy Packs for Gramma Barbie
• 1 pillowcase (will make three heat packs)
• Rice
• Essential oils or dried herbs

Cut pillowcase into three even rectangles. Sew bottom(s) closed. Stuff. Hand-stitch opening. Personalize with applique or ribbon/lace, if desired. Include directions to microwave for two minutes.

Photo, http://creativecaincabin.com/2014/07/august-felt-patterns/

Porcupine Pincushion for the sewers in your life
• Felt
• Needle and thread
• Stuffing
• Collection of pins

Cut out the shape of your porcupine, using free Internet downloadable patterns or freestyle your own. It doesn’t have to be a porcupine, of course, but they look adorable with pins … instead of disturbing.

Photo Coasters for family
• 4×4″ tiles (they’re about .16 each at home-improvement stores, such as Lowes, but I see them offered for free on Craigslist.com quite often. Or you might have a stack left over from your last tiling project)
• Mod Podge
• Sponge brush
• Felt
• Photos
• Clear acrylic spray

Trim your photo and felt to exactly match the size of your tiles. Glue felt to the bottom of the tile with regular glue, and the photo to the top with the Mod Podge and your sponge brush. Mod Podge the top of your photo as well. It will dry clear, so just use a nice, thin coat. After it dries, waterproof your masterpiece with the clear acrylic spray. Adorbs!

Coffee/Tea Hot Cup Sleeves for your warm beverage drinkers
• A coffee sleeve from your friendly neighborhood barista to use as a pattern
• Felt
• A cute button
• A small piece of grosgrain ribbon
• Hot glue, or needle and thread

Using your cardboard sleeve as a pattern, cut your felt to size. (If you’re a knitter, you could skip the felt and knit your coffee sleeve instead). Glue or sew your button on one side and your ribbon on the other. Mmm! Did somebody suggest a Candy Cane Mocha with whip?

Photo by MarissaHuber via Flickr.com

Leg Warmers/Boot Socks for the Fashion Divas in your life
• A sweater
• A bit of lace

Remove the arms of your sweater for the legs of your warmers. Attach lace to the top. (An alternative adornment to lace would be a couple large buttons.) Hem edges to prevent fraying (depending on fabric).

What’s more fun: making these gifts, giving them, or getting them? Let me know!

The adorable, always humorous MBA Jane is my way of honoring our Sisterhood Merit Badge program, now with 6,102 dues-paying members who have earned an amazing number of merit badges so far—8,722 total! Take it away, MBA Jane!!! MJ 

For this week’s Stitching and Crafting/Homespun Christmas Expert Level Merit Badge, I had really exercised some patience. I had to wait a whole year after earning my Beginning and Intermediate Level badges!

Luckily, Christmas comes each year, on the dot, lickety-split, ready or not, and I was prepared. (Not like a few holidays past, when I kinda forgot to be prepared and had to do my shopping at the Quick-E Mart on Christmas Eve. Nothing says Happy Holidays like a can of soda and an air freshener, am I right?)

Having made a whole tree-full of ornaments already, I only needed to add to my collection. Because, let’s be honest, when it comes to Christmas and merry making, more is more, right, girls? You know it’s true.

In addition to strictly decorating my Blue Spruce with handmade adorableness, I was also making all my gifts. Yep. These two hands of mine were going to be busy this season—and happy, too. You know the old expression, Idle hands are the devil’s handiwork Busy hands are jolly hands. That’s a saying, right? Hello?

To focus and share a few favorites of my handmade goodies this year, I concentrated first on the little rugrats of my life: Midge’s triplets. Three different homemade presents for three different kiddos. Here’s what I came up with:

A Fort Kit

• A queen- or king-sized sheet (Okay, okay, you got me. I didn’t exactly make the sheet, but I was fresh out of silkworms, all right?)

• A headlamp (These are inexpensive at around $5. I thought of going more old-school and using a candle, but I was fairly certain Midge would have my head. Right after the firemen left.)

• A stack of art supplies or books

• A pillow

• Clothespins and thumbtacks (for anchoring the sheet)

• Snacks (homemade, naturally)

The fun part of these Fort Kits is customizing them. You can use a gingham or calico sheet, a lace pillow, and a stack of Little House books for the little girl in your life, or you could use a Star Wars sheet and a glow-in-the-dark LightSabor instead of a lamp for your little men. A striped blanket, some Circus coloring books, and a box of Animal Crackers would be totally adorable … how cute are these?

Spy Kit

In a homemade bag similar to one you would use for keeping knitting needles (you know the kind—folds flat, has seams for sliding in needles), put:

• A makeup brush
• A stamp pad
• Scotch tape
• String
• A magnifying glass
• A small penlight
• A collection of disguises (cut-out mustaches, masks, a pair of old glasses, etc.)

Homemade Christmas Playdough

• 1 cup flour
• 1/2 cup salt
• 2 t cream of tartar
• 2 T coconut oil
• 1 cup water

In a medium saucepan, whisk together dry ingredients. Next, mix in the water and oil and stir until a thick batter is formed. Cook the mixture over low/medium heat until a thick dough forms. Turn out onto parchment paper and knead until smooth. Makes about 2 cups of dough.

Christmas customizations:

• Gingerbread Playdough: Add cinnamon, cloves, ginger, and nutmeg to your ingredients.
• Peppermint Playdough: Add peppermint extract and red food coloring (optional, they do make an organic version) to your ingredients.
• Pumpkin Pie Playdough: Add pumpkin pie spice and orange food coloring (optional, they do make an organic version) to your ingredients (the more, the better when it comes to your spices)
• Glitter Playdough: Add one bottle of glitter to each batch and knead in.
• Snickerdoodle Playdough: Add lots of cinnamon to your ingredients.
• Chocolate Playdough: Use half cocoa powder and half flour.

Now that the littlest minions were taken care of, it was time to make some more grown-up gifts … stay tuned!

Welcome New Sisters! (click for current roster)

Merit Badge Awardees (click for latest awards)

My featured Merit Badge Awardee of the Week is … Kristie Bulla!!!

Kristie Bulla (#3679) has received a certificate of achievement in Each Other for earning a Beginner Level Farmgirl Gratitude Merit Badge!

“My mom had sent me a seriously blinged-out blank journal with my initial on it. This thing was so silly and shiny and sparkly, it made me giggle. I didn’t know what I would do with it until I read through some of the merit badges and saw the part about keeping a gratitude journal for the Farmgirl Gratitude badge. How perfect!! I was not in a position to purchase The Book of Awesome, but I did read a lot of entries from the Amazon site, and I read from www.1000awesomethings.com when I ran out of things to read from my first source.

On the day I started working on this badge, our oldest dog, Dakota (our practice kid right after we got married), passed away. Although heartbreaking, I was able to find a gift in that he went peacefully in his sleep with no suffering. Just last week, my purse was stolen while shopping with the kids, and I was yet again able to find the gifts and lessons in that less-than-positive experience. I think actively focusing on gratitude really helped me through both scenarios and then some.”

Welcome New Sisters! (click for current roster)

Merit Badge Awardees (click for latest awards)

My featured Merit Badge Awardee of the Week is … Linda Van Ausdell!!!

Linda Van Ausdell (#4347) has received a certificate of achievement in Cleaning Up for earning an Intermediate Level Recycling Merit Badge!

“I have been recycling for many years. When we had our kitchen redone, I put in a recycling center. I take my recycling every 2 weeks or so, and we only take in one garbage bag a week.

I works great and I don’t mind the extra time it takes. It’s worth it.”

Welcome New Sisters! (click for current roster)

Merit Badge Awardees (click for latest awards)

My featured Merit Badge Awardee of the Week is … Sherrilyn Askew!!!

Sherrilyn Askew (Sherri, #1350) has received a certificate of achievement in Make it Easy for earning a Beginner Level Make It! Merit Badge!

“I obtained a used toolbox on wheels, cleaned it up, and stored my tools inside, making sure I labeled the drawers with the types of tools within.

I also made a planter out of cedar.

Having the tools on wheels is very handy, as projects are often done based on space available.

I also learned that cedar is a soft wood that will split if you put the screws in too deep, but the drill has speed settings. Once I slowed the drill down, things went much better. (Drilling holes first did not stop it from splitting.)

My daughter and I made the first one together, then I made the second one. I am going to line them both with plastic, then plant my garlic in them.”

This week, I was thrilled to get a box from my dear friend and fellow farmgirl April Choate (Sister #658, sonshine4u). Enclosed were supplies for a project, a video CD, and the following handwritten letter:

Dear MaryJane and Meg,

I’m sitting on the floor in my craft room, buried by my current project of making aprons. It’s a glorious place to be! Thread bits and fabric cuttings, hissing iron and shiny shears. I’m having a blast!

The reason I’m writing has nothing to do with aprons, but it does have to do with being a farmgirl. You see, I have had this special project in various stages for over a year. In fact, I was inspired a month after I saw you in Kansas. Anyway, I finished it and can now share it with you.

I made a video tutorial for you, and have some of the supplies for you in the package. The rest, I’m pretty sure you’ll have around the farm. Open the package to find out what the fun is!

Much love,
April

I first met April a few years back when I was asked to be the keynote speaker at the Creative Connection Event in Minneapolis. After the event, Megan and I took a hired car and drove for about 45 minutes to April’s house, where she hosted a farmgirl chapter get-together that included Farmgirl Beer served by her husband! (I had no idea there was such a thing so I brought my bottle home in my suitcase.)

Here’s a video of the festivities. (But don’t get distracted from making it all the way to the bottom of this post to watch April’s surprise video:)

And now … here is April’s farmgirl genius video so you can see what all the henquarters cackling is about.

Welcome New Sisters! (click for current roster)

Merit Badge Awardees (click for latest awards)

My featured Merit Badge Awardee of the Week is … CJ Armstrong!!!

CJ Armstong (ceejay48, #665) has received a certificate of achievement in Cleaning Up for earning an Expert Level Home Insulation Merit Badge!

“Our home is not in need of different or replacement insulation. We have, however, replaced weather stripping around doors due to sun damage or because our former cat tore it all to pieces.

My sister, who is handicapped, and her hubby built a nice enclosed sun porch on their house and I assisted in installing the insulation in the ceiling and around the windows and doors in that room. I’m envious of this room, as it’s wonderful.

I have also assisted my daughter in utilizing curtains, blinds, etc. in her home to help insulate. She lives in the Arizona desert, so the main thing there is the blazing, three-digit, summer heat.

It’s always good to reassess insulation issues over time due to things wearing out, etc.

I’m glad our house is still in “good shape” regarding insulation in the walls, ceiling, and floor and we have insulating “honeycomb” blinds on all the windows, which makes a huge difference.”

Welcome New Sisters! (click for current roster)

Merit Badge Awardees (click for latest awards)

My featured Merit Badge Awardee of the Week is … Kris Sievert!!!

Kris Sievert (#6020) has received a certificate of achievement in Stitching & Crafting for earning a Beginner Level Cross-Stitch Merit Badge!

“I have been doing cross stitch for years, so I tried something different, I tried perforated paper. I had never used anything other than fabric.

It was hard because you can’t wash the item when done. I had to be particularly careful. I am giving them as gifts to some girls in my life for Halloween.”