Monthly Archives: December 2014

Winter Snowflakes

Do you have any snowflakes yet? We don’t have any real snowflakes in northern Illinois. In fact it just got cold enough to produce snow, not rain. I am sure it won’t be long now and we will be enjoying the quiet beauty of a winter wonderland.

To celebrate the start of winter Talyssa has a new ensemble to show you reminiscent of an icy paradise where she is the princess. Her dress is made with a cotton print in violet-ish colored snowflakes. Snowflake embroidery, crystals, pearls, a silver snowflake charm, a glittery ornament, muted shades of color (or no color) make Talyssa’s new outfit perfect to help welcome winter.

For more information on Talyssa’s “Winter Snowflakes” ensemble please visit the “Available for Sale” page on cindyricedesigns.com .

If you’d like to make some of your own (virtual paper) snowflakes you can make some online here. I love the sound affects as the snowflakes are being snipped. Here’s the one I made.

Baking Christmas Cookies

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We all know that a huge part of Christmas preparation is cookie baking! I started last weekend by baking snowballs with chocolate chips. When I was growing up my mom made these every Christmas. Everybody always loved them. This batch that I made got mailed away to out-of-state family although I kept a few behind to share here at home, with a promise to make more.

You would think that I have enough cookie recipes to choose from, but I felt like trying something new so this past week I made almond cookies garnished with maraschino cherries and chocolate crinkles. I found these two recipes online here and here. I wanted to use cocoa powder for the chocolate crinkles so I mixed 3/4 c. cocoa powder with the dry ingredients and added an extra 3T. of butter instead of the baking chocolate.

Yesterday my daughter put in her share of baking by making shortbread cutout cookies. Without fail, we make these every year. One year we even made them on Christmas Eve. This is a recipe that has been in my mom’s recipe box since the ’70s. Long ago, I made myself a copy. They are very delicate and buttery and not too sweet. The cookies are iced after they are mostly cool which gives some sweetness and a nice sugary shell on top.

I hope all of you have enjoyed or will enjoy a bit of cookie baking too.

My Favorite Doll Books

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When I go into a bookstore I almost always browse through the childrens books looking for delightful illustrations. Illustrated childrens books are one of my favorite things and if it is a sweet story that includes dolls I am hooked. I only have two in my collection, but am always looking for more.

The Story of Holly and Ivy by Rumer Godden was originally published in Ladies’ Home Journal in 1957. In 1985, illustrations were added to the story and this is the book that I discovered at my local library years ago. After checking it out for a few years in a row at Christmastime I wanted my own copy. Lucky for me it was republished in 2006. It is now in my collection and one I look through every Christmas season. I love the magical old world story and looking at the cozy illustrations by Barbara Cooney.

The other doll book in my collection is one that I had as a child and loved so much. I forgot about this book, but stumbled upon it online recently. Seeing the cover of this book on the internet brought back a flood of memories that made me want to add this to my collection as well. The Surprise Doll was originally published in 1949, but published again in 2009.