Freestyle Friday: How to Make a Fleece Knot Blanket

*Sometimes there's a little more to my life than food. Friday's the day I'll share, I mean, most Fridays I hope to share those bits with you. We'll cover crafts, music, travel, who knows.

Many of my Christmases growing up included a "Mom present." Since you, unless you're Big Little Brother, didn't grow up in my house, you have no idea what a "Mom present" is. I'll explain. A one-of-a-kind present from Momma is a gift bag filled with material and pins. 

Whenever I got one of these presents Christmas morning I'd ooh and aaaah over the fabric and then Momma would have to explain what she was making. 

I got used to receiving these presents and often came to expect them. There's something about a little something homemade that makes Christmas that much more special, if you ask me. It doesn't matter if it's pajama pants, a scarf or a new nightgown. If it's homemade, I'm a fan.

So with hopes of spreading this homemade cheer a bit further this Christmas, I decided to make one little girl in our life a fleece blanket. It was super simple, and I like to think this present will mean a little more to her knowing it came to her with love - and at least one solid hour of me not thinking of anything but her.

*Freestyle Friday: Pumpkin Votives Holders

*Sometimes there's a little more to my life than food. Friday's the day I'll share, I mean, most Fridays I hope to share those bits with you. We'll cover crafts, music, travel, who knows.


If you ask the husband, he'll tell you I'm full of ideas. I rip pictures out of magazines, show the husband and tell him how great it'd be if we built that walkway, painted the living room that color, put up crown molding in the bedroom or made those pumpkin votive holders for Thanksgiving.

Yes, my great ideas almost always require his assistance. Luckily, I've yet to come up with anything crazy enough for him to reject. (Although he's really fighting me on putting in one of those wall-length sliding glass doors in our next house.) 

Sometimes, though, I do come up with ideas that I'm not too sure the husband is going to be excited about helping me with. For example: pumpkin votive holders for Thanksgiving. Table settings aren't really his thing, but tools are. Perhaps that's why he helped me make these for our celebration. Actually, he even helped me pick out the pumpkins at the store. Good man.

What you'll need:
foam pumpkins
a knife or a drill with a small drill bit
votives 

What you'll do:
Outline where you'll cut your circle on the top of the pumpkin. (You may want to do this with a light pencil.) Make sure the hole you're going to cut will fit your candle snugly. 

Cut into the pumpkin - but not too deep! You don't want the candle to fall into the pumpkin and, quite possibly, catch everything on fire at the dinner table.

Insert your candle and enjoy!