DIY Handprint Hanukkah Menorah

 It's time to begin the winter holiday crafts!  Having Connor around does not make it very easy for me to get crafts done like I used to, but I loved doing this one with him!

It's pretty self-explanatory, so there's not much of a tutorial for it.  I used some blue patterned paper and blue acrylic paint (in the bathtub) to do his hand prints.  After the hand prints dried, I added the yellow flames with a small paintbrush.  You could do this with finger prints too, but that was a little too much for him to handle!

 I added his name and the date so we can pull this out each year to see how his hands have grown. 

 Really easy and a fun craft to do with the kiddos! :)

Edible Marshmallow Hanukkah Dreidels

Hanukkah is coming soon! I'm very excited this year because it's Connor first Festival of Lights! It's also later this year so it makes things a lot easier for me and I feel like I can get more into the holiday spirit.

I have a lot of coworkers that celebrate Christmas and don't know very much about Jewish holidays. Since we're taking turns bringing in holiday treats every day for the next 2 weeks, I decided to make mine into a mini teaching lesson as well as a tasty treat.

Edible Dreidels!

Thanks to Danielle at Mostly Food & Crafts for this idea I saved from last year. All you need are marshmallows, thin pretzel sticks, peanut butter, and Hershey kisses.

And if you're interested in more info about the dreidel or how to play the dreidel game, go here

My Favorite Hanukkah Projects

In honor of Hanukkah coming up, I wanted to share some of my favorite Hanukkah posts from the past few years. Those of you who celebrate know it's challenging to find fun crafts and decor ideas when everything is Christmas. Hope this helps spark some ideas!

Spin the Dreidel Wood Blocks

Stuffed Dreidel

Glittery Hanukkah Banner

And for some Hanukkah food...

Cupcake Menorah

Apricot Kugel

Sweet Apricot Kugel

My family has a few kugel recipes that have been passed down through the generations. I love them, but I wanted to try something new. This kugel was fruity, sweet, and really good! And you don't have to be Jewish to enjoy kugel...who can resist cinnamon noodles?

If you've never heard of kugel, check out this info from Wikipedia. It's basically a baked pudding or casserole that's usually made with egg noodles or potatoes. It's noodle kugel is almost always sweet, but still served with the meal rather than a dessert.

Adapted from here
Ingredients:
• 12 oz. package of egg noodles
• 1 cup apricot jelly
• 1 cup orange juice
• 7 egg whites
• 2 teaspoons vanilla
• 1 teaspoon almond extract
• 2/3 cup chopped dried apricot

Topping:
• 4 teaspoons sugar
• 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon

Cook noodles according to package directions. Drain and let cool.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Lightly grease a 9x13 baking pan or spray with a non-stick cooking spray.

In a large bowl, mix jelly, orange juice, egg whites, vanilla and almond extract. Beat with a wisk until blended.

Stir in chopped apricot. Add cooled noodles and mix well.

Spoon mixture evenly into baking pan.

Mix sugar and cinnamon in a small bowl and sprinkle evenly over the top of the kugel.

Cover tightly and bake 15 minutes. Uncover and continue to bake 20 minutes more until set.

Some people like kugel warm and some people like it cold. Serve your favorite way!

Cupcake Menorah

Hope everyone is having a great Hanukkah so far! I wanted to share this fun idea with everyone before the 8 nights are over.

Since you probably all have a menorah, why not have an EDIBLE menorah? I made chocolate cupcakes and topped them with vanilla frosting and blue sprinkles. Everyone in my family loved the idea and we lit the candles over the weekend at our Hanukkah party!

And if you were wondering, our first ever Hanukkah party (see my worried planning post here) went very well! I think everyone was actually shocked at how nice it was. For our first party, we didn't have any horrible mishaps...except that my mom spilled red wine ALL over the craft room carpet, walls, and door. Luckily, Hubby was able to get it all out before it stained. Other than that, everyone had a great time and I'm so glad we did it. Now I have a ton of leftovers to eat!

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Hanukkah & Holiday Decorations

Decorating time in our house! We actually haven't fully decorated for the past three years because our house was on the market for two and then we were still getting organized and moved in last year. I've been collecting random decorations throughout the years and was excited to see everything I had.

Since we're having our first Hanukkah party (see my planning post here), I wanted to decorate for the party. For an awesome centerpiece that I love, I took this bag of dreidels I got for 75 cents at the thrift store and spray painted them in silver.
Then I mixed them in a glass bowl with silver glittery ornaments I got last year on clearance.

I love the classic, elegant look and it mixes Hanukkah and Christmas which is perfect for our house.

In the bathroom, I hung up these cute snowman towels I got last year on clearance.

I also added a snowman to hold the soap dispenser.

The ornament wreath I made last year is back on the door! Go here for the tutorial.And here's our version : )And speaking of more clearance buys from last year, I got 12 of these pretty napkin rings at TJMaxx and I've been dying to use them.
I rolled up silver napkins and put them all in a basket for our Hanukkah party.

And for another table centerpiece, I filled a glass bowl with silver spray-painted pinecones and blue berries. Again, another good mix of Christmas and Hanukkah to decorate the table.

We also put up icicle lights outside for the first time ever, but I had to add my light-up menorah to make it even. It looks so nice from outside with our white icicle lights!
For last year's festive Hanukkah decorations & crafts, go here

Glittery Stuffed Dreidel Tutorial

Hanukkah is coming soon! It's early this year which means I had to get started in the fall with new ideas for decorating. I made this dreidel above last year, but I wanted to simplify it a little so it would be easier to explain to you and to sell at a craft fair.

Here's the simplified version below: I started out by enlarging these templates. I like the look of the giant dreidel!

I cut out the templates and traced the dreidel shape onto fabric. To make it easy, combine the triangle and square into one giant shape. You'll need 4 pieces to make one dreidel. You'll also need one more square for the top.

Using a 1/4 inch seam allowance I attached the top to one of the side pieces.

Then I attached the side pieces to one another.Then the 2 pairs were attached to form the dreidel.

Fold the top down and pin along the top edges. Sew only 3 sides closed and leave one side open to stuff the dreidel later.
I cut out the Hebrew letters and traced them onto felt.
I also cut a small rectangle about 1 inch wide to use for the handle. The piece is folded and pinned.
Using a blanket stitch and some thread, I stitched along the edges of the letters and handle. See below for the handle image.
I glued the letters to the sides of the dreidel using some tacky glue and a q-tip.
Lightly press on the letters to make them stick. Be sure to let the glue dry completely before going to the next step.
Turn the dreidel right side out and stuff.

Pin and hand sew that last edge of the top closed.

I also added a little stuffing to the handle to make it puffy.

Pin the handle to the top of the dreidel and add a few stitches on each corner to attach it.

Here's the finished dreidel!
I loved using this glittery fabric and silver glitter felt to make it really sparkle!
As you saw in the first photo, I pinned each one to a teddy bear so it would stand up. You can also make it more of a patchwork dreidel with different layers of fabric like I did last year.
It's the perfect gift for the holiday!

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