Personalized magnet toy

I've really been looking forward to showing off all of the gifts I made for Christmas. But I forgot to take photos of the gifts we sent to Brian's family and I haven't sent all of the ones to my family, so I don't have a lot of photos to show. But I did want to show off one of my favorite gifts.


When my first niece was born, my family all lived fairly close to one another, so we saw each other often. But by the time Emmy was born, Brian and I were in Austria and her other aunt and uncle were half way across the U.S. So I wanted to make Emmy a gift with our photos. You know, so she'll know who we are.


I tried to get my family to send me photos of themselves, but I just got a lot of excuses. Maybe it's because I told them I wanted farm-themed photos. I did get photos of my nieces, which I decided to photoshop a bit. My favorite is the photo of Emmy riding a sheep.


This toy was easy to make and very well received. As soon as she opened it, Emmy started moving the magnets around laughing. When her mom asked if she wanted to open another present, Emmy said no. That's the sign of a good gift -- you don't need to open any more!

The project is pretty self-explanatory. I used a metal pencil case as the holder, but I think you can find empty metal cases of various sizes at craft stores. Of course, I couldn't find anything like that in Vienna, so I had to make do. I covered the case with a label I designed with a farmhouse and added the same image on the inside of the case. Next, I found the photos and printed them on magnet paper. I used Gimp to crop around the images and then added them to a Word document to print them. Since I was planning to cut out the magnets, I didn't waste a lot of time getting the crop just right. The animals are from a book I purchased, which I had planned to incorporate into the gift before I found the metal pencil case.

I had a lot of fun making the toy and it seems like Emmy really enjoyed receiving it. And hopefully now she'll recognize us when we see her later this year!

Edited March 4, 2009: Welcome Tip Junkie Readers! For more magnet toy inspiration, visit this post where I show off a personalized Disney Princess magnet set.

Merry Christmas!

I think this is our first year to spend Christmas day on our own. Last year we joined some friends for lunch, but this year we wanted to make the holiday our own. So we initiated what I hope will become a tradition: Photobooth Christmas. If there was a real photobooth here in Vienna I might have tried to persuade Brian and Sharkdog to venture out with me. But since the only photobooths in the city are not the traditional type that prints a strip of four photos, I decided to stay in our warm, cozy home and use Photobooth on Brian's Mac.



It's tough to get a good photo of all of us at the same time.

Merry Christmas from our family to yours!

Conquering marshmallows

Christmas really sneaked up on me this year. I haven't decorated the Christlampe or made any of the traditional goodies like sausage balls or peanut butter balls. And Christmas is only three days away! But I did manage to get most of the Christmas gifts made and some of them actually in the mail. And today I finished making some goodies for neighbors.


This year I wanted to make marshmallows. I've had a recipe from Martha tucked away for years -- probably at least 4 years -- but I've never attempted them. This year I've seen several bloggers showing off their lovely marshmallows and I wanted to join in the fun. But conquering the marshmallow wasn't as easy as I had hoped.

I decided to use this recipe, but referenced a few others. Since I don't have a candy thermometer, I figured I could just let the liquids boil for one minute as Chef Keller recommended. But other recipes recommended boiling up to three minutes, so I wasn't very confident in this method. I really believe this was the source of my problems. Problems which could have been resolved simply by purchasing a candy thermometer.


Nevertheless, I persevered.

The first batch turned out way too gooey on the bottom side. I couldn't salvage them. The second batch turned out just a little gooey, so I had the bright idea to let them sit out overnight again. That seemed to do the trick. Unfortunately, what had been the gooey side didn't look too pretty.

But I was thinking about dipping them in chocolate anyway, so I wasn't concerned. In yet another unfortunate turn of events, I discovered I'm not a very good chocolate dipper. But I'm a decent chocolate spreader, so this is what I ended up with: the Christmas S'more. It's a graham cracker-like cookie, with a layer of melted chocolate, marshmallow, more melted chocolate and topped with cookie crumbs (to hide the imperfections in my chocolate spreading).


I also just added chocolate to some of the marshmallows. I think they'll be quite tasty in hot chocolate. I hope to try making marshmallows again next week when I have a candy thermometer. Despite my difficulties, it's a pretty easy recipe.

It's that time again

Last year I wrote about Austria's tradition of Nikolo and Krampus. In case you missed it, instead of bad kids going on Santa's naughty list, they get chased around and whipped with branches by a devilish figure called Krampus. Krampus traditional shows up on the 5th or 6th of December, but tonight the Krampuses (or is it Krampi? I think I prefer Krampi.) were out in full force.

The photos below are from Krampuslauf -- or Krampus Run. As far as I can tell, it's basically an event where adults enjoy scaring the bejeebers out of their kids by exposing them to these frightening creatures. Be warned, these really are some frightening images.

The first group traveled with Nikolo. They looked scary, but they didn't taunt the crowd too much.


This guy doesn't look too bad. Look, he's smiling.


That is, until he started yelling in the face of the guy standing right in front of me. I was a little too scared to stand directly next to the barrier because I didn't want to get so close to these creatures. Moments later, the Krampus was hitting this guy's backside with his switches. But don't worry, the guy was laughing the whole time. The kids, on the other hand, had run away screaming.


Here are a few more Krampi. They don't look quite as festive, but they certainly look scary. I think seeing one of these guys would be enough to make me want to behave the whole year.

You, too, can be a winner

I'm a winner. Maybe not in any of the giveaways I've participated in, but when it really counts, I'm a winner. At least, that's what I like to tell myself. And I'm not giving up on the giveaways.

Tomorrow starts the 12 Days of Junkie, where Laurie from Tip Junkie is hosting a giveaway for, you guessed it, the next 12 days. Each morning, two winners will be selected from the previous day's giveaway. And up for grabs are handmade goods from Tip Junkie's Mom-preneur Shop-a-thon. Check out the links below for more information on how to sign up.

Relax! More handmade gift ideas

Friday I passed the Rathaus and noticed they were preparing for the Christmas markets. I think they open on Saturday! Why would I go to the Christmas markets when I'm making all of my Christmas gifts, you may ask. The food, of course. Last year they had a stand with a huge chocolate fountain and you could get little waffle bowls filled with fruit and covered in chocolate. Yum!

Speaking of making gifts... I have three gifts finished and plan to finish three more this week. Three in one week! I'm very optimistic. But for now I have some more ideas to share. I would definitely make some of these products if they were more conclusive to mailing, but since they're not, I'll pass them along to you.

Today's theme: relaxation.

Angry Chicken is one of my favorite blogs. Amy's Bend-the-Rules Sewing was my first sewing book and some of the patterns are sure to be use once again during this year's gift-making extravaganza. If you like sewing or baking or making your own personal hygiene products, I'd recommend checking her blog out. For gifts, take a look at her posts on making sugar scrubs and bath melts. She provides links to recipes and tips based on her own experience. One of those posts links to Recipezaar's Bath/Beauty list, which has a lot of bath product recipes. I think I may make a sugar scrub for myself. :)

If you're not into the bath products, check out the rice heat therapy bag from Sew, Mama, Sew's Handmade Holidays 2007 list. Or if you're ambitious, take a look at the wellness bag which includes a heat therapy bag, a cold therapy pack, and a cold therapy eye pillow.

Here's an awful photo of a rice bag I made earlier this year. I made it long so it could be draped over the shoulder or around the neck and segmented it so the rice wouldn't bunch in the ends. It was a pain to sew, but it turned out quite well.

Are you up for a challenge?

I did it. I took the pledge. The pledge to buy handmade this holiday season. Actually, my plan is to give gifts made by my hands. But there may be a little buying involved as well. And I'm really excited. I've already completed a few gifts and have a few more in progress. Mostly sewing, but I have some other things in the hopper as well.

For me, giving handmade gifts isn't about saving money. In fact, it would probably be cheaper to buy gifts. It's about spending time and energy creating something. I've been thinking about this all year. Honestly, Ive been bookmarking tutorials and gift ideas since last Christmas. I've found a lot of great ideas that I won't be able to use because they're not very suitable for mailing or some other reason. So I'm going share some of those ideas during the month of November. Not every day. I don't want to scare off the male readership. But hopefully once a week.

First up, gift ideas for children.

Homemade playdough. I made playdough about two months ago and it has held up very well. Buy a few small plaster containers, print cute labels from the computer, and voila! A cute, inexpensive handmade gift.

Tutu. I used this tutorial from Plumtickled to make a tutu for a birthday gift. It was easy, but it took a bit longer than the half hour suggested in the tutorial.


And finally, a fishing game. I haven't found a reason to make this yet, but it's really cute. I'm sure I'll find an excuse to make it sooner or later.

Happy Christmas

So this is Christmas.

According to my mom, some people are feeling sorry for us because we're spending Christmas all alone in Vienna. Brian and I thought about capitalizing on this situation and finding a pathetic-looking Charlie Brown tree and posing for a Christmas photo. You know, to get more sympathy. But then we didn't, so I just photoshopped one instead.


But really, there's no reason to feel bad for us. Brian's sister sent us a lovely package, the contents of which allowed us to celebrate The Tradition on Christmas Eve. It wasn't the same without family, but it was still nice.


And then today, we enjoyed lunch with the Haskews. So you see, we weren't alone after all.

Even Sharkdog had a jolly Christmas.


Merry Christmas!

Christmas eve hijinks

It looks like Sharkdog has found someone who enjoys looking out the window just about as much as he does.

Around Christmas, my family always has sausage balls in the house. Despite my struggle with making peanut butter balls in Austria, I decided to continue with the tradition of making sausage balls. In the U.S., it's quite a simple recipe -- breakfast sausage, Bisquick and sharp cheddar. But everything is a bit more difficult here. First, I've never seen breakfast sausage. Second, I've never seen Bisquick or other biscuit baking mixes. (Or biscuits for that matter. Even KFC doesn't have biscuits!) And finally, I've never seen sharp cheddar -- though I have heard it's available.

So what's a girl to do? I imagine you can guess -- I went over to All Recipes. I used this recipe to transform ground pork (which is readily available and quite inexpensive) into breakfast sausage and this recipe to make biscuit mix. As for the sharp cheddar, I replaced it with mild cheddar, which (gasp) I had to shred myself.


The sausage balls turned out pretty tasty, though not exactly like the ones from the U.S. All in all, I'd call it a success.

Animal kingdom

Yesterday I had hippos on the brain. I know -- hippos -- it seems a little strange. But I ran across this website and had the song stuck in my head the rest of the day. I remember loving this song when I was younger. I can remember listening to it in the car. I'm pretty sure my dad sang along.

So yesterday when I saw cute pink hippos at IKEA, I was seriously considering buying one. But then I saw sharks and decided to get one for Sharkdog. Normally when Sharkdog gets a new toy, he's very hesitant about it at first. He'll dance around it, trying to sniff it without getting too close, and eventually he'll start playing with it. But when I showed him the shark, he tried to grab it immediately. And he played with it for quite a while. He even brought it to bed last night.


In other news, the Rushers started celebrating the holidays a little early. Check out Sharkdog's blog to read about today's happenings.

How lovely are your branches

Sharkdog really enjoys looking out the window. Especially when it's snowing. I'm glad our apartment has floor-to-ceiling windows in the living room.

We didn't get a Christmas tree this year. I kind of wanted a tiny tree just because I like miniature things. But Brian said no way. The conversation went something like this:

A: [kind and innocent tone] Brian, sweetheart, can we get a Christmas tree this year?

B: [loud and mean tone] No, wicked woman. No tree, and that's final.

A: But honey, it's Christmas. Just a small tree.

B: I said no tree. But I'm in a generous mood. You can have a branch.

Ok, so maybe that is a bit of an embellishment. But I do like all of the tiny Christmas trees. And Brian did tell me that I could have a branch. This is probably closer to the real conversation:

[walking past the Christmas tree lot after German class]

A: [casually] Those tiny trees are cute. Do you want to get a tiny tree?

B: [casually] No, I'm not really interested in a tree this year.

[We notice some branches laying on the ground.]

A: What about a branch? Are you interested in getting a branch?

B: Hmm... I like that idea. Yes, you can get a branch.

But I didn't get a branch. I'm pretty sure the guy would have given me a branch, but I didn't want to carry it all the way home on the u-bahn. Plus, I didn't want to try to have the "can I have a Christmas branch?" conversation in German.

Since we don't have a tree, I decided to decorate our crazy lamp. In Austria, Christmas trees are called Chirstbaum (baum = tree), so this is our Christlampe.


Every year, Brian and I get a new ornament. We haven't bought one yet this year, but I'm hoping to stop by a Christmas market tomorrow afternoon. This is the ornament from last year. I think it's my favorite.

The big disappointment

I've been so disappointed with Christmas baking this year. Mainly because I haven't done any yet.

I had big plans of making sausage balls and peppermint brownies. And I wanted to try some new recipes like this Raspberry and Almond Shortbread Thumbprint recipe. Or possibly (in my more ambitious moments), this recipe for Brown Butter Spoon Cookies with Jam.

I had good intentions. Really, I did.

But it just hasn't happened. I actually tried to make peanut butter balls. But something went awry. I must have converted some of the measurements incorrectly. It's a little tricky to convert "1 package of graham crackers" into grams of graham-cracker-substitute. (For those in Europe looking for a graham cracker substitute, I used Leibniz Vollkornkekes.) So the peanut butter mixture turned out very sticky and not as firm as it should be. Even after refrigerating it, it was still softer than I'd like.

And I'm not going to start with the troubles I had melting the chocolate. After two failed attempts, I switched over to the melting chocolate you can buy in a little plastic cup. It was a sad day.

After all that trouble, I didn't have the heart to dip a hundred peanut butter balls into chocolate. So I decided to make peanut butter bars instead. I put some foil in a baking dish, added a layer of melted chocolate, stuck it in the freezer to harden the chocolate, added the peanut butter mixture, then added another layer or melted chocolate and stuck it all back into the fridge. It turned out ok, but not as good as I had hoped. Not good enough for a photo.

But here's the recipe if you want to try it. As you can see, the measurements are based on American packaging, so perhaps I'll have to find a recipe with actual measurements for next year. However, I've successfully made this recipe many times in the U.S.

Peanut Butter Balls

• 1 package graham crackers (this isn't 1 box, but one of the packages within a box), crushed
• 1 lb box powdered sugar
• 2 sticks margarine or butter, softened
• 1 lb peanut butter
• 1/2 pack chocolate chips
• 2/3 block paraffin wax

1. Mix crushed graham crackers, powdered sugar, softened margarine and peanut butter. Roll peanut butter mixture into small balls (about 1 inch) and refrigerate.
2. Melt paraffin wax and chocolate chips in double boiler, sauce pan or microwave. Stir until smooth.
3. Use a toothpick to dip peanut butter balls into chocolate.
4. Place dipped peanut butter balls on waxed paper and refrigerate.

I couldn't resist

You've probably already seen the "Elf Yourself" videos floating around, but I thought this one was more fitting for Brian.

You'd better watch out

Remember how your parents used to scare you into good behavior by threatening to have Santa add you to his "naughty" list. Well, they do the same thing here in Austria. Only it's not a naughty list the parents are threatening.

On December 6th, you're likely to find two characters making their way around town -- Nikolo and Krampus. Nikolo is St. Nicholas. He gives gifts of candy and fruit to all of the good children. But if you've been a bad kid, you might get a visit from Krampus. Here's how one of my friends described Krampus:

Krampus is like the devil. He has black fur, hooves and a long tail. He is very ugly. The bad kids will be beaten by Krampus, who has a switch.

So much for the lump of coal in your stocking. If you're bad around here, you're facing a beating with a switch! And these aren't just empty words. There are some pretty scary looking signs and costumes. I'm hoping to see a Krampus or two tomorrow or Thursday. (Traditionally, Krampus makes his rounds on the 5th and Nikolo makes his on the 6th, but I've heard that they travel together often these days.) Until then, I'll leave you with some frightening pictures from Flickr.


1. Nikolaus und der Krampus, 2. krampus, 3. Perchten Schwadorf 2, 4. Krampus 06' (25)

I had to repost this because the photos weren't showing up. Sorry for the double-post to those of you using a reader.

Wish list -- Christmas edition

Updated -- 1/9.
Thank you for all of the lovely Christmas gifts. I'm rarely very good at coming up with gift ideas for myself. I'm going to try to keep the original Wish List post up-to-date in the event that someone wants to buy me something. Not that I want someone to buy me something. And not that I need someone to buy me something. But I know that this is what people do.

This year, I started a new tradition of making holiday gifts instead of buying them. I'm plan to continue this tradition (that's why I'm calling it a tradition) and am really excited about the ideas I have for next Christmas. I'm telling you this just to say that I also appreciate handmade gifts.

This is a very awkward update. I'm not asking that you send me something, but if you are here looking for ideas, check out the original wish list. Or make something you think I will like. If you think I'll like it, chances are I will. :)

Updated -- 12/4.

I've been asked to update my wish list. Honestly, it wasn't my idea. When I told Brian that someone requested an update to the wish list, he asked, "Was it my mother or your mother?" It doesn't matter. A request was made, and shall be fulfilled.

So, here it is. Some of this was lifted from the original wish list, but some of it is new.

Books
Jesus and the Victory of God, by N. T. Wright

Genesis: Interpretation : A Bible Commentary for Teaching and Preaching, by Walter Brueggemann

24/7 Prayer Manual: A Guide To Creating and Sustaining Holy Space in the Real World, by Peter Greig and David Blackwell

Amy Butler's In Stitches, by Amy Butler

DVDs
Seinfeld DVD, Volume 1 (Seasons 1 & 2) and Volume 2 (Season 3), Volume 8 (Season 9)

Scrubs DVD, Season 1, 2, 3 and 6

Any of the Nooma videos (You can buy these at Christian bookstores or online at http://www.nooma.com/)

Food Items and other stuff
Reese's Candy: Miniature Peanut Butter Cups or Reese's Pieces

Peanut butter (I may use most of our existing stash for holiday candies)

Sugar-free Jello powder (Strawberry, Cherry, Lime, Orange)

Velveeta processed cheese stuff -- I can't believe I'm asking for this, but it's the only stuff that makes good cheese dip :)

Plastic ice cube trays -- We've only been able to find the silicone ones here and you can't really pop the cubes out. I think it's slowly driving Brian mad.

------------

That's all I can come up with at the moment. The last time I posted a wish list I was all worried about getting multiples of something (especially the DVDs). But I've decided not to worry about that. We can always re-gift any multiples we receive. :)

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas

Actually, it's been looking like Christmas around here for a while. I first spotted Christmas candy in the grocery store in September. SEPTEMBER! Decorations started appearing in October. Vendors selling roasted chestnuts showed up about the same time. And now that we're approaching the end of November, the Christmas season is in full swing.

One of the most famous aspects of Christmas in Austria (and I guess in most parts of Europe) is the Christkindlmarkt (literally, Christ-child Market) or Weihnachtsdorf (Christmas Village). All over Vienna, small villages of wooden stalls are set up where vendors can sell their wares -- whether it's wooden toys, hand-painted ornaments, or fresh-baked sweets. Most of the Christmas Markets opened last weekend and the remaining are opening this weekend.


Sunday evening I met Kari and Kim in the city to visit one of the Christmas Markets known for it's "artistic" handicrafts -- whatever that means. But silly me, I forgot to look up the exact address and we were never able to find it. So we headed over to the Rathaus to visit the largest Christmas Market. As we were approaching, before we could see anything expect the lights on the top of the Rathaus, Kim said, "I smell cotton candy!" And she was right. As we approached, the smell was heavenly. I first noticed the scent of candied nuts. I wasn't sure what I was smelling, but it was sweet and sugary and it made me interested in the food stall. (The fact that it was about 7 p.m. and I hadn't eaten dinner yet probably also contributed to my piqued interest in food.)

There were other smells too. Chestnuts roasting. Sausages and various types of fried potatoes. Sweet baked goods. And the punch. I didn't try the punch, but I could smell the berries. One stall had a chocolate fountain and you could get a waffle bowl filled with fruit or nuts or marshmallows covered in chocolate. I tried bananas and pineapples and they were delicious.

Some of the stalls were very nice, but many were a disappointment. Many sold the same items you can find in tourists shops. But then again, this particular Christmas Market is the one most visited by tourists. I'm hoping for more authentic goods at other markets. I liked the stalls with hand-painted Christmas ornaments. The one below is my favorite. It's hard to tell in the photo, but the glass is clear and on the front is a picture of a window and the girl standing in front of the tree is painted on the backside. So when you look at it from the front, it's like you're looking at the scene through the window.


And, of course, I also enjoyed looking at the stalls with Christmas sweets. The heart-shaped cookies you can see hanging from the stall in the picture below are very popular. Well, I see them everywhere, but I've never actually seen someone buy one. I believe you are supposed to buy one for your significant other. (They have messages like "I love you" on them.) They're on a long ribbon, which your significant other can use to wear the cookie around her neck. Maybe someone who is familiar with these cookies can give more details because I'm not sure what they're called or whether I have the story straight.


Even though some of the stalls were a bust, I had a lot of fun checking out the scene and eating the food. I'm sure I'll visit more before the season is over.