A Custom Christmas: Mrs. Claus, Pink Conversion

Welcome, welcome, welcome to my 6th annual Christmas Open House! I am so glad you're here, and I'm so glad I'm here! It's been a challenging year and there were times when I wondered if I would get this done, but I was determined not to let this tradition lapse, and I was too excited about this year's theme to skip it.

Y'all know how much I love color conversions (there's a tab at the top of the page you can check out), and last year while working on A Christmas Tea, I was mugged by an idea, and A Custom Christmas was born. This week I'll be sharing Christmas projects that I've customized to fit Christmas at my house, and as I do every year, I'll also be sharing some of my favorite recipes. This year, I'm focusing on really easy recipes that go together quickly with ingredients it's easy to keep on hand, to leave more time for stitching and relaxing this holiday season. So join me here every day through Friday, bring your favorite hot beverage, and just wallow in Christmas! The kitchen and the sewing room are open!

Without further ado, here she is... my pink Mrs. Claus! This is Spirit of Mrs. Claus by Brooke Nolan and she's available in Brooke's Etsy store.

Here are the details of my pink conversion (original color--->my substitute):

border of dress:
3713--->369
3716--->368
335--->320

dress (I used Cosmo threads for the dress, but DMC has a couple of pink ranges that are similar):
666--->Cosmo 431 (lightest shade)
321--->Cosmo 432 (medium shade)
815--->Cosmo 433 (darkest shade)

collar:
676--->white
680--->762

belt:
700--->369
890--->368

mug:
164--->368
913--->320
321--->Cosmo 432

cake stitched in ecru and 433

Kreinik #8 braid:
3202--->101
003--->007
3509--->089

Mill Hill beads:
02011--->silver

DMC Memory Thread (roses, details on wings, glasses, braids): white, pink, white luster, silver

I omitted the lazy daisies stitched on the bottom of her dress, as I wanted more of the pink sparkles to show. As I always do, I gave her brown eyes instead of green, and I skipped stitching the puppy. And I changed the cake to white with chocolate frosting because that's Mr. Wonderful's favorite.

I used Cosmo for the dress because I wanted a muted, dusky pink and DMC doesn't have the exact range of pinks I was looking for. The range on the right is close, but richer and has more red. The range on the left is pretty, but much rosier than I wanted. Either would make a lovely pink Mrs. Claus, if you can't get hold of Cosmo threads.

UPDATE: A very helpful update from reader Joanne--she found a reliable online source for Cosmo threads! Thank you so much, Joanne!

And here are instructions for how I finish perforated paper, and my thoughts on the joys of perforated paper, in case you've never worked with it. 

And now for a recipe! As I said at the beginning of this post, this week's recipes are all about quickness and convenience. If you've been reading for a while, you know that I am serious about slowing down the holidays and making them quiet, cozy, and enjoyable. (I rambled at length about this subject a while back: Part 1 and Part 2.) With that in mind, I'm sharing a few of my favorite throw-it-together-and-get-back-to-stitching recipes.

This one is wonderful for breakfast or snack time. Get some bagels (I like the mini ones), toast them, spread this goodness on them, and enjoy. Scrumptious.

Orange Cream Cheese Spread

1 (8 oz.) package cream cheese, softened
1 1/2 Tbsp. orange juice
1/2 tsp. orange extract
3/4 c. confectioners sugar
bagels

Beat cream cheese til fluffy, then beat in orange juice and orange extract. Gradually beat in confectioners sugar. Store in the fridge. Try not to eat it all the first day.

*****
Hope you've enjoyed the first day of this year's Christmas Open House. Come on back tomorrow to see Mr. Wonderful's Christmas ornament for this year!