Cool Things I Got For Christmas

I need to point out before you read any further that all of these gifts were given to me. I had absolutely nothing to do with buying them--I didn't even make a Christmas list this year--so I can't take any credit for how cool these gifts are. I just had a lucky Holiday season and generous family members!

1. Jewelry Kit from French General--from my sister Holly

I hadn't even heard of French General before receiving this jewelry kit, but I've since checked them out online and made a very long mental list of all the goodies I want to buy! Their jewelry kits are beautiful and include everything you need to make the piece of jewelry shown except pliers, glue, and wire cutters. But their offerings don't stop with gorgeous jewelry kits! They also have beautiful fabric, amazing trims, paper goods, aprons, etc.

2. Printing by Hand by Lena Corwin--from my brother Chaz

One of the things I've been wanting to learn to do (I've made it an actual resolution this year) is screen printing. I've had a lot of fun over the past few years making things with freezer paper stencils, but they can be a little limiting. My brother took a class in LA on silk-screening, and I've been bugging him to come up and visit me, help me build a silk-screen set-up, and teach me how to use it (you know, just a quick trip, haha). In the meantime, he bought me this fantastic book chock-full of inspiring techniques and projects. It has ideas from custom rubber stamping to screen printing, and the whole book is beautifully styled and gorgeous to look at.

3. Plaid Cowlneck Shirt from Banana Republic--from my husband, who always buys me cute clothes (good job, Love!)

So, I have to admit that I had to look the shirt up online to figure the neck out, but every time I wear it I get loads of compliments. I wear it tunic style over skinny jeans, but I'd love to get my hands on a cute skinny belt and try it as shown above.

4. The SoNo Baking Company Cookbook by John Barricelli--from Santa

I love baking, and I love anyone who has anything at all to do with Martha Stewart, so this gorgeous cookbook from Everyday Baking guy John Barricelli is perfect in every way. Although there aren't a ton of pictures, every recipe sounds mouth-watering and fairly easy. I think the first thing I'm going to make is the Cornmeal Bread. Or the Strawberry Thumbprint Corn Muffins. Or the Tart Tropezienne. Or the Apple Spice Cake with Brown Sugar Frosting....

5. A Macbook--from my husband, who always spends way more on me than I do on him

This one was a true stunner. My husband has been having fun with woodworking this year, and he made my mom and one of my sisters beautiful wooden cutting boards for Christmas. He wrapped my Macbook similarly and had us open them at the same time. So imagine my shock when I opened up a laptop instead of a cutting board! Good job, you. In all honesty, the Macbook freaks me out a bit, but I'm learning to deal with it.

6. The Selby is in Your Place--from Santa

A very, very cool book. Todd Selby has photographed a whole bunch of creative people in their homes, and it is so fun to look at each picture and see how their personal spaces are a reflection of them. It makes me feel like I need to rethink my whole house!

**Dear Family Members: If I didn't include your gift in this list, rest assured that I loved it anyway. There were a few things I couldn't find on the internet, plus I got tired and wanted to take a nap!**

Christmas Cookie Plate

If you are looking for our giveaway, scroll down to the next post, or click HERE.

I think there is no Christmas sweet quite as iconic as the Christmas cookie. When we were little, we always made cookies for our friends and neighbors and delivered them on Christmas Eve. Over the years, we've added a few new stars to the line-up, but our favorites remain unchanged. Click HERE to see a few of our favorite Christmas cookies, the recipes we return to year

after year.

You can also see a list of our favorite holiday treats to share and a list of our favorite savory snacks!

December Giveaway Day!

Comments are now closed. Congratulations jhitomi! We'll be contacting you shortly. Thanks everyone for entering our giveaway, and Happy Holidays!!

We at Max and Ellie have been participating in Sew Mama Sew's Giveaway Days for a few years now, and we are thrilled to once again offer up a fun prize from our store. If you're new to Giveaway Day, here's a quick synopsis: hundreds of bloggers, some associated with generous online shops, some just associated with their own generous selves, all do fantastic giveaways on the same day. The sponsor, Sew Mama Sew, has link lists of all of the participating blogs, and you can spend literally hours checking out new blogs and shops, leaving a comment, and entering to win fabulous prizes. Click HERE to go to Sew Mama Sew's master lists.

Now, onto our prize! We have tons of lovely, new items in our shop, and we'd love to send one of them to one of you! The winner of our giveaway can choose one of the following from our shop:

an itty bitty boo-boo kit in their choice of color (we have lots of new colors not yet listed in the shop, like orange and lavender; just ask!)

or

a bobbi pin trio in their choice of color

or

a set of blossom earrings in their choice of color

or

a set of cute-as-a-button earrings in their choice of color (not currently listed in the shop, but you can see them in the picture below, and if that's the prize you choose, we can send you lots more pictures!)

All you have to do to enter is visit our shop, pick a favorite item (or 2 or 3!), and leave us a comment on this post telling us what it is! Be sure to include your email address in your comment so that we can get in touch with you if you win. The giveaway will end sometime on Friday, December 17th, at which time we'll announce and contact the winner and ship out their prize. We'll actually be out of town while that last part is going on, but we have a sweet, helpful husband who will be dealing with packaging and shipping the prize. But because of that, we are only opening this contest to US residents.

Happy Holidays and Good Luck!

love, Max and Ellie

Holiday Treats to Share

Giving homemade treats to friends and neighbors during the Holidays is one of my favorite things about this time of year. It's easier on the wallet than store-bought gifts, and the time and effort that go into making a gift for someone show a level of caring that is far greater. Growing up, we always gave cookie plates (tune in next week for some of our favorite Holiday cookie recipes), but in the past few years, we've tried to be extra creative with our homemade treats. Click HERE to see what we've given, gotten, and gobbled up!

Winter Woolens Advent Calendar

First off, I have to admit that none of these socks and mittens are made from wool. I'm pretty sure they contain no wool whatsoever. But "winter woolens" is such a cute phrase! I first read it on SouleMama a few years ago and it has stayed with me ever since. And you are certainly welcome to use wool socks and wool mittens if you make a similar advent calendar.

I've been looking for an advent calendar for about 5 years now, ever since our oldest celebrated her first Christmas. We have a cute poster of a house with numbered rooms and a Santa sticker we move from room to room, but I wanted something that I could stuff candy and little notes into. After seeing lots of beautiful but expensive store-bought calendars, and many, many beautiful but time-consuming handmade calendars, I finally spotted this one using baby socks on Martha Stewart and decided I could easily crank it out in about an hour (shopping time not included)! Here's how I did it (slightly differently than dear Martha):

Materials:

• 24 or 25 holiday baby socks, toddler socks, gloves, and mittens
• 1 or 2 sheets white card stock
• various circle punches (I used a 2" scalloped circle, a 1 1/4" plain circle, and a 1 3/8" plain circle)
• black stamp pad
• various number and letter stamps
• clothes pins (I used standard ones, but those little tiny ones would be awfully cute too)
• elmer's glue or other craft glue
• about 3 yards of jute, twine, ribbon, yarn, or rope (basically, something to hang these little darlings from)

How-To:

1. Punch 24 or 25 circles out of card stock using the various circle punches. I did 25, but I've noticed lots of count-down calendars only go to 24; it's your choice!
   
   
2. Lay the circles out on your work surface in the order you'd like them to go in, then start stamping each circle with a number. I did a mixture of numerals and written-out letters.
   
   
3. Place a single dot of elmer's glue on each clothes pin, then gently stick on the numbered circles. Set them aside to dry.
   
   
4. Put your twine (or whatever you'll be hanging your socks on) up where you want it and make sure it is securely attached. I put some of those 3M sticky hooks on the wall in our entry way, spaced them about 100 inches apart, and tied each end of my twine to a hook.
5. When the clothes pins are dry, use them to hang up the socks in number order. You can fill the socks with Christmas candy, love notes, small ornaments, holiday activity ideas, etc.
   
   

I'm so excited to have this sweet advent calendar in our house this year to help us count down the days until Christmas. And if we get tired of the socks and gloves, or if we need them in the future, we can use the numbered clothes pins for a new advent calendar!

Happy December 1st! and Savory Holiday Snacks

When I was little, my mom threw us a little party on the first of December every year. We divvied up the Christmas decorations, ate festive snacks, did little holiday projects, and were officially allowed to start singing Christmas songs. It is a tradition I have continued with my own children, and one that I look forward to every year. Today, we have plans to bake Molasses Crinkles (one of the best holiday cookies ever--promise), decorate little foam gingerbread houses, make an advent calendar AND a red and green paper chain, and possibly watch a Christmas movie or two!

Now that the holidays are in full swing, I thought it would be fun to share some of our favorite holiday recipes each week throughout the month. This week, we'll focus on

I have a major sweet tooth, but I also love me some salt. Click HERE to see just a few of my most favorite savory holiday snacks.

Photos from Bliss Handmade Boutique

After months of planning and creating, our third trip to the Bliss Handmade Boutique is finally and successfully over. We are tired and happy. In case you didn't make it, here's some of what you missed:

Blossom Earrings--we're sold out of black, but still have hot pink, red, cream, coral, and aqua

adorable full and half aprons

colorful bobbi pin trios--1 resin flower, 1 fabric-covered button, and 1 hand-cut, hand-stitched felt bloom with a little green leaf

an amazing turn-out! this picture was NOT taken at the busiest time; there was a time when it was completely packed and you had a hard time getting around to all of the tables!

We are participating in another holiday show in two weeks, Treasured Home in Springfield, OR, December 3rd and 4th from 10am-6pm. Fabric, bags, wall art, bath and body goodies, jewelry, clothes, quilts, holiday decor, and more, plus all of the Max and Ellie stuff you know and love! We'd love to see familiar faces there, so plan on stopping by!