{"id":52855,"date":"2014-12-01T00:09:48","date_gmt":"2014-12-01T08:09:48","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.raisingjane.org\/journal\/?p=52855"},"modified":"2014-12-01T00:09:48","modified_gmt":"2014-12-01T08:09:48","slug":"homespun-christmas-merit-badge-expert-level-part-i","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.raisingjane.org\/journal\/52855","title":{"rendered":"Homespun Christmas Merit Badge, Expert Level, Part I"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>\t\t\t\t<span style=\"color: #800080;\">The adorable, always humorous MBA Jane is my way of honoring our<\/span> <a href=\"http:\/\/www.farmgirlsisterhood.org\/\">Sisterhood Merit Badge program<\/a>,<span style=\"color: #800080;\"> now with\u00a06,102 dues-paying members who have earned an amazing number of merit badges so far\u20148,722 total! Take it away, MBA Jane!!! MJ\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<div>\n<p><span style=\"color: #339966;\">Wondering who I am? I\u2019m Merit Badge Awardee Jane (MBA Jane for short). In my<\/span> <a href=\"http:\/\/www.raisingjane.org\/journal\/10477\">former life<\/a> \u2026<b>\u00a0<\/b><b>\u00a0<\/b><b>\u00a0<\/b><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p>For this week\u2019s <a href=\"http:\/\/www.farmgirlsisterhood.org\/badges-sc-homespun-christmas.asp\">Stitching and Crafting\/Homespun Christmas Expert Level Merit Badge<\/a>, I had really exercised some patience. I had to wait a whole year after earning my Beginning and Intermediate Level badges!<\/p>\n<p>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?)<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter wp-image-52860 size-full\" src=\"http:\/\/www.raisingjane.org\/journal\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/10\/christmas-tree2.jpg\" alt=\"christmas-tree2\" width=\"360\" height=\"536\" \/><\/p>\n<p>Having made a whole tree-full of ornaments already, I only needed to add to my collection. Because, let\u2019s be honest, when it comes to Christmas and merry making, more is more, right, girls? You know it\u2019s true.<\/p>\n<p>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\u2014and happy, too. You know the old expression, <span style=\"text-decoration: line-through;\">Idle hands are the devil\u2019s handiwork <\/span>Busy hands are jolly hands. That\u2019s a saying, right? Hello?<\/p>\n<p>To focus and share a few favorites of my handmade goodies this year, I concentrated first on the little rugrats of my life: Midge\u2019s triplets. Three different homemade presents for three different kiddos. Here\u2019s what I came up with:<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter wp-image-52861 size-full\" src=\"http:\/\/www.raisingjane.org\/journal\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/10\/playing-2.jpg\" alt=\"playing-2\" width=\"360\" height=\"354\" \/><\/p>\n<p><strong>A Fort Kit<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>A queen- or king-sized sheet (Okay, okay, you got me. I didn\u2019t exactly make the sheet, but I was fresh out of silkworms, all right?)<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<ul>\n<li>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.)<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<ul>\n<li>A stack of art supplies or books<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<ul>\n<li>A pillow<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<ul>\n<li>Clothespins and thumbtacks (for anchoring the sheet)<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<ul>\n<li>Snacks (homemade, naturally)<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>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 <em>Little House<\/em> books for the little girl in your life, or you could use a <em>Star Wars<\/em> sheet and a glow-in-the-dark LightSabor instead of a lamp for your little men. A striped blanket, some <em>Circus<\/em> coloring books, and a box of Animal Crackers would be totally adorable \u2026 how cute are these?<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter wp-image-52862 size-full\" src=\"http:\/\/www.raisingjane.org\/journal\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/10\/scan0172.jpg\" alt=\"scan0172\" width=\"360\" height=\"199\" \/><\/p>\n<p><strong>Spy Kit<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>In a homemade bag similar to one you would use for keeping knitting needles (you know the kind\u2014folds flat, has seams for sliding in needles), put:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>A makeup brush<\/li>\n<li>A stamp pad<\/li>\n<li>Scotch tape<\/li>\n<li>String<\/li>\n<li>A magnifying glass<\/li>\n<li>A small penlight<\/li>\n<li>A collection of disguises (cut-out mustaches, masks, a pair of old glasses, etc.)<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.raisingjane.org\/journal\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/10\/play-clay-utensils575W2188.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image aligncenter size-full wp-image-52865\" src=\"http:\/\/www.raisingjane.org\/journal\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/10\/play-clay-utensils575W2188.jpg\" alt=\"play-clay-utensils575W2188\" width=\"360\" height=\"244\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p><strong>Homemade Christmas Playdough<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>1 cup flour<\/li>\n<li>1\/2 cup salt<\/li>\n<li>2 t cream of tartar<\/li>\n<li>2\u00a0T coconut oil<\/li>\n<li>1 cup water<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>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.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Christmas customizations<\/strong>:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Gingerbread Playdough: Add cinnamon, cloves, ginger, and nutmeg to your ingredients.<\/li>\n<li>Peppermint Playdough: Add peppermint extract and red food coloring (optional, they do make an organic version) to your ingredients.<\/li>\n<li>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)<\/li>\n<li>Glitter Playdough: Add one bottle of glitter to each batch and knead in.<\/li>\n<li>Snickerdoodle Playdough: Add lots of cinnamon to your ingredients.<\/li>\n<li>Chocolate Playdough: Use half cocoa powder and half flour.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Now that the littlest minions were taken care of, it was time to make some more grown-up gifts \u2026 stay tuned!<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;\t\t<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The adorable, always humorous MBA Jane is my way of honoring our Sisterhood Merit Badge program, now with\u00a06,102 dues-paying members who have earned an amazing number of merit badges so far\u20148,722 total! Take it away, MBA Jane!!! MJ\u00a0 Wondering who &hellip; <a href=\"https:\/\/www.raisingjane.org\/journal\/52855\">Continue reading <span class=\"meta-nav\">&rarr;<\/span><\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/www.raisingjane.org\/journal\/52855\">Continue reading <span class=\"meta-nav\">&rarr;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-52855","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-gladsome_sisters"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.raisingjane.org\/journal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/52855","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.raisingjane.org\/journal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.raisingjane.org\/journal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.raisingjane.org\/journal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.raisingjane.org\/journal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=52855"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.raisingjane.org\/journal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/52855\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.raisingjane.org\/journal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=52855"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.raisingjane.org\/journal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=52855"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.raisingjane.org\/journal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=52855"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}