Our house is like Santa's toy shop with handmade projects day in and day out this month.

On December 1, Lil ran downstairs and opened the first day of this cute muffin tin advent calendar my mother made. Mom saw the idea in a magazine and found scrapbooking paper with the numbers already written and adhered them with rubber cement to top the tins. Inside each is a little gift that Lil can't wait to open each morning.

I invited friends over to see our new house and make hand-rolled beeswax candles, one of my favorite activities of the holiday season. I order wax from Knorr Beeswax; this year they even went out of their way to rush my order.

Lil decorated a gingerbread house using cake pieces made by my pastry chef sister Heather, recipe on Facebook tonight. I view gingerbread decorating as a 'process not product' activity - we will eat it rather than display, not that the pets would leave a display in tact!

Lil and I designed, sewed, and lettered new stockings for our food-motivated animals. My favorite craft has been these felt star ornaments for gifts. I printed a template from AllSortsMakery, reduced and copied for the inner star, and embroidered Lil's heart illustration. She stitched the smaller heart to the outer, stuffed the inside, and we shared stitches around the outside. I love that we made this together and hope I can talk her into creating one more for us to keep.

#STEMchat

I'll be talking (typing?) DIY tomorrow night at 9 pm EST on Twitter with Kim Moldofsky, the Maker Mom. She runs the monthly #STEMchat, a time to tweet about creating, hacking, and making. This month, the chat is about Hack-y Holidays - exploratory gifts, making open-ended presents, and gifts that keep on giving.

Kim asked me to share this about the sponsor, littleBits:

"littleBits, invented by a woman, are (cute!) little electronic modules for prototyping and play. The bits snap together with magnets, so you can't mess up with them. These colorful bits take crafting projects to a new level allowing people with little or no electronics knowledge to add lights, sensors or other bells and whistles to their projects. Ayah Bdeir set out to put the tools of engineers into the hands of artists and she's succeeding. Seriously cool stuff, people.

littleBits is hosting a creative holiday challenge. It's kind of like Design Squad for adults- dream up a creative project incorporating littleBits, sketch it out and submit the sketch to win. How easy is that? "

What are you crafting and making for the holidays? If you're a twitterer, I hope you'll join the #MaketheHolidays #STEMchat conversation tomorrow night.

Are you making handmade gifts this year? We are! Hand-rolled beeswax candles will make an appearance in several gift baskets. They are simple enough that Lillian can make a passable candle and they burn cleanly with only the slightest honey scent.

We order bulk beeswax sheets from Knorr Beeswax for $43 (shipped) for twenty 8x16 inch sheets and wick. It comes in a variety of colors and is very high quality in our experience.

To roll, lay out an art mat (aka old plastic placemat) on which to work. An old pair of scissors works well to cut the sheets to size. We use half a sheet (8x8) for a standard dinner candlestick. A half sheet cut on the diagonal makes a taper. For a pillar, roll the entire 8x16 inch sheet or cut to the height you wish.

Place the wick at one edge of the wax. Roll slowly and tightly, keeping the bottom edge aligned. Wax rolls best on a warm day and can be warmed slightly with a hair dryer if it is crumbling.

cutting wax shapes for rolled candle decoration

Lillian likes to use mini cookie cutters to cut decorations for the candles.

An adult must press the cookie cutters through the wax as it is very difficult to cut cleanly. I press with my full weight and slide the cutter back and forth against the cutting mat to be sure the wax cuts all the way through.

Once we discovered handmade beeswax candles a few years ago, we fell in love. We roll them for everyday use and special occasions. Two years ago, we helped Lil paint terra cotta pot bases and make pillars to give as a set for Xmas. She insists on making hand-rolled custom birthday candles.

For gift giving, I like to tie two dinner or taper candles together with a bit of raffia or ribbon before wrapping or tucking them into a gift basket.

Please excuse the uncovered cans in the basket. A post on prettying up home canned goods is coming soon!

What are you making for holiday gifts this year?