Dear Karin,

If I knew how to make a birthday cake like this one, I would make it for you.

I should clarify: first, I would make one for myself and eat the whole tower – cake, cupcakes (and any leftover frosting) – you know, to make sure that it’s perfect for you. And THEN I would make one for you.

Happy Birthday. I hope you have a day that’s as lovely as you are.

Photo: Blue Cupcake

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To all of you who come to Charlotte’s Fancy, whether every day or just occasionally, thank you for your kind comments and inspiration all year long, which I appreciate more than you know. I’m looking forward to new year of fun crafts, favorite things and interesting ideas, and — if last year is any indication — probably a whole lot of talk about desserts and letterpress cards. I hope you are too.

Wishing everyone a very Happy New Year!

xo,
Molly

Today I’m sharing handmade gifts that Santa brought the girls, as well as gifts I bought for friends and family. Some are things you’ve already seen here in my holiday gift guides or in Wednesday’s handmade picks, and some are things I’ve had to keep quiet about until now!

Custom embroidered heart by Miniature Rhino
Letterpress Philadelphia print by Louella Press

“Nest Sweet Nest” bird in nest by Sugar Elf
Turquoise nutcracker constable by Knock Knocking

Arinna necklace by Megan Kathleen
Magic fairy portal/door by Lovinglee Crafted

Apple tree winter embroidery by HARE and DRUM
White carnation pincushion by The Daily Pincushion

Doll with custom name stitched on back by Sophie & Lili
“Forest Friends” messenger bag by Mee a Bee

Appliqued table runner by Anna Joyce
“Karine” earrings by l’atelier des bijoux

“You Can’t Borrow My Notes” necklace by Gas Up the Zamboni
“The Ranuculus Gathering” print by wren & chickadee

Vintage camera appliqued t-shirt by b children’s wear
“Carnival of Elephants” pouch by Downtown Girl Designs

Merry and bright needle felted acorns by truLuxe
2010 letterpress calendar by Parrott Design Studio

Vintage “budget bank” from Every Eskimo (this was a fab gift to me!)

“Bunny with Radish” and “Tiny Chipmunk” prints by yumi yumi

“Good Friends” print by Helen Dardik/Orange You Lucky!
“Tea Cups” print by Sol Linero

Did I just inspire you to do some post Christmas shopping?

Perhaps it won’t surprise you to know that I was already thinking about and poking around for next year’s Christmas cards the day after Christmas.

Here’s the thing: I send out close to 100 cards, and buying that many letterpress cards is, well, expensive. So I usually buy them when they are on sale in January. But because I am such a paper junkie, I see more designs throughout the year that I have to buy too, and I end up with this giant mishmash of cards that I send out. I am wondering if I should be patient and wait to pick one design I like, rather than picking the best of what’s on sale. Or, maybe next year is the year I switch to photo cards from tiny prints or cardstore.com – I already have my eye on a couple of designs.

Decisions, decisions.

If money were no object, I would order 100 of these lovely lovely cards from Postal Press:

And package each and every one of them like this:

I also love this “cheers” card from Parrott Design Studio. I sent one of her calendars to a friend this year, and the January design was the same garland motif as this card. I am very taken with it.

I also like the idea of sending New Year’s cards instead of Christmas cards. Maybe next year.

Given my devotion to desserts, this card from Mr. Boddington’s Studio has my name written all over it.

And because I am completely bonkers, I’ve also spent a good chunk of time looking at Valentine’s Day cards. But I’ll save those favorites for another day.

***

Out with the old and in with the new for the New Year, right?  I’m ditching Yummy Tuesday in 2010, because, let’s face it, I don’t do most of the cooking in this house and there are too many other (far far superior) food blogs and recipes out there.

There are often things I want to write about that don’t fit neatly into one of my categories, so, starting next week, I’m introducing Surprise Tuesday, as in “Surprise! This is what I’m writing about today!”

I’ll do my best to bring you a good surprise each week. Ok?

Hellooooooo! Did everyone (who celebrates it) have a nice Christmas? I hope so.

I couldn’t decide if I wanted to write this week – most of the blogs I read are taking the week off. But I’m around, so I decided to do Charlotte’s Fancy Lite: in addition to today, I’ll post something tomorrow and Wednesday and leave it at that.

So, here’s a pretty, easy and free craft from Kind Over Matter – one that I haven’t done, but that I hope to do for Elena’s forest friends birthday party (coming up in a couple of weeks).

You can get the downloadable patterns from the Kind Over Matter website (poke around their site for other crafty projects and lovely inspiration). And if you have leftover wrapping paper tubes from Christmas, like I do, you’re all set!

Now, where can I get that acorn? I love it.

And one other thing. If you’re thinking about doing the surprise ball favors/craft from last week, I made two more – for my girls, for Christmas Eve – and I added a few things that weren’t in the original party favors. So here are some more ideas of what you could put in them:

Not in the original party favors: Chocolate coins, rubber bands in the shape of zoo animals, a ladybug/butterflybracelet (Elena got a little watch), a compass, and a bouncy ball with colorful balls inside (this was the center of the surprise ball).

I got most of these treasures at the nearby teacher supply store, with some help from Gymboree (the ladybug bracelet and watch), the chocolate gold coins,  and the butterfly stickers (American Girl Doll crafts from Michael’s).

me, c. 1979

Did you already tear through your stockings and presents? Did you have a big breakfast? Did you get what you secretly wanted? I hope so.

Merry Christmas!

I wish I had a nickel for every time the girls will say today, “I can’t believe it’s CHRISTMAS EVE!” [Cha-ching! Elena just said it to me again - that makes about 5 times already]. All this week they’ve been saying, “I can’t believe Friday is CHRISTMAS!” and “I can’t believe tomorrow is CHRISTMAS EVE!”

We’re going to bake and decorate some cookies today, I think. And do a little cleaning around the house. We’ll have a nice dinner tonight and let the girls open a present.   And then tomorrow, we’ll have a quiet little Christmas here in our home – stockings, breakfast, presents (in that order!).

I am enjoying these years when Christmas still feels magical to the girls.

Santa and his elves have quite a bit of work to do tonight.

Photo credits:
Christmas cookies by lottielulu
Santa by Ian MacPherson for lmnop
Christmas lights by Andre Cutajar

When the weather outside is frightful. (We got a foot of snow last weekend!)

Embriodered mittens 5 ($100) by dadaya
Housemade peppermint hot chocolate mix ($10) by Edible Dreams

Kimono embroidered sweater ($120) by Jo’s Knits for Kids
Golden lace diamond point shawl ($98) by K G Krafts

In-line fleece scarf ($19.50) by foil
Ruby red dotted baby booties ($34) by pedrosprout

Belgian chocolate spoons, set of 12 ($15) by Nicole’s Homemade Treats
Victorious afghan ($315) by Spiffy Spooner

Fiona and her cub ($35) by Creative Thursday
Porcelain tealight Delight N3 design ($35) by Wapa Studio

Next Wednesday, I want to share some of the handmade items that I bought for my friends and family for Christmas. It’s been so hard to keep quiet!

…are totally delicious, especially when you store them in the fridge, which enhances the mint. Mmm, chilled mint chocolate cookies. Here’s the recipe from Bon Appétit (December 2000):

Mint Chocolate Cookies

16 tablespoons unsalted butter, room temperature
1-3/4 cups sugar
2 large eggs
3/4 teaspoon peppermint extract
2 cups all purpose flour
1 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt

Preheat oven to 350°F. Line 2 baking sheets with parchment paper.

Using electric mixer, beat butter and sugar in large bowl until well blended. Beat in eggs and peppermint extract. Add flour, cocoa powder, baking soda, baking powder and salt and beat until well blended.

[I added chocolate chips and beat until just mixed in]

Form dough into 1-inch balls. Place 2 inches apart on prepared baking sheets. Flatten balls slightly to 1 1/2-inch rounds.

Bake cookies until edges begin to firm but center still appears soft, about 13 minutes. Cool on baking sheets 5 minutes. Transfer cookies to racks and cool completely.

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I made the mint chocolate cookies for a cookie swap I had with my friends. Just six of us, and look at the variety of cookies we baked! Cookie swaps are awesome. Or as Melanie would say, “Cookie swaps are my fave.”

Three gift tags I haven’t seen in any other gift tag round-ups: two from Ana Aceves and one from Natascha Rosenberg.

Visit Ana’s blog, Too Many Clicks Spoil the Broth, to download these unbelievably sweet little tags.

And from Natascha Rosenberg, this really fun little tag (that you could use year-round).

I really (really really) love both Ana’s and Natascha’s illustrations – they are so joyful and charming. I look forward to each and every one of their blog posts.

Please remember, as with all free printables, they are strictly for your personal use.

I wish I could have been a fly on the wall when Rosa’s little friends went home and unwrapped the layers of surprises and treats from their surprise balls. I just love how they turned out.

Awhile back, I saw this post on Sandra Juto’s blog about a surprise ball she received.  I resolved to make them as party favors for Rosa’s party.

(It’s staggering how many things her friend packed into that ball and how round the final shape was – that’s hard. Also, you can see how delicate and elegant hers is, with the many different colored strips of paper.)

I searched around and found this tutorial by Not Martha. At the same time, I went searching for very small, mostly flat treasures to put in the surprise ball. An unexpectedly difficult task. I also searched for a plastic ornament that I could use as the center of the ball (not totally necessary, by the way), and found it at the dollar bin at Michael’s (filled with that bathtub soap/confetti, which I dumped out).

At the center, a kit to make a small butterfly, which I got at the teacher supply store.

Pick whatever colors of crepe paper you like. I used all of these colors in each ball, so not only were the kids unwrapping treasures, they were revealing different colored layers.

Here’s what was in the balls: different kinds of stickers, a bracelet, a little animal eraser, a tiny paint set, the butterfly kit, and not pictured (I added it later), a tiny envelope with a quarter in it.

Right before I was going to make the surprise balls, I came across this tutorial by Skip to My Lou on Alpha + Mom on making a surprise ball ornament for the Christmas tree (awesome idea), and it was the one I ultimately used, minus the ornament part.

It’s an easy tutorial to follow,  but I’d recommend one small change: cut the crepe paper strips longer than 36″. Maybe add another 10″ or so. I just liked having them a little longer.

After you get one ball under your belt, you’ll see how easy they are to make. I’d say they take about 15 minutes each, depending on how many little treasures you’re hiding in each ball (i.e. how many layers of crepe paper you need).

Here are some pics from Rosa’s party. It was a very sweet, small, low-key party. We had a lot of fun.

(It’s hard to capture how I decorated with the walls with scenes cut out of construction paper)

Who doesn’t love clementines?

Rosa wanted everyone to have a candle in their cupcake.

The birthday girl is in the plaid dress.

Two other quick crafts we made that are so simple there’s no need to show a tutorial: these ribbon wands (which is now one of my all time favorite, easiest and prettiest crafts to make) and jingle bell necklaces (see Rosa’s necklace?) which I saw on My Paper Crane last week.