Decorative Packaging

When decorating your home for Christmas, don’t forget to decorate the kitchen too.  This lovely kitchen has been decorated with fresh garland, ornaments and country ribbon and twine tied in bows.  The hand made ornaments are tied on with a natural country ribbon.  You can use what ever ribbon you like to coordinate with your ornaments for a country look or an elegant look with all gold ornaments and metallic gold ribbon.

We love this Carmel-drizzled mix of popcorn, almonds and cereal.  Make plenty to share.  A simple plastic bag can be beautifully dressed up with a perfect bow tied around the top.  They make yummy gifts for all the snackers on y0ur Christmas list.

Add a gift tag with a narrow red ribbon or use a 3 inch pre-tied elastic bow inserted through the hole in the tag leaving the bow on the tag and the looped end can be wound around the top of the bag and will help secure it since it is elastic.

Carmel Crunch

9 cups popped popcorn, 9 cups Crispix cereal, 1 cup slivered almonds, 1cup butter cubed, 1/2 cup light corn syrup, 2 cups packed brown sugar, 1/2 teaspoon baking soda.

In a large heatproof bowl, combine the popcorn, cereal, and almonds.  In a saucepan, melt the butter; stir in the corn syrup and brown sugar.  Cook and stir over med. heat until mixture comes to a boil.  Reduce heat to medium-low. Cook 5 minutes longer, stirring occasionally. Remove from heat. Stir in baking soda.  Mixture will foam up and get lighter in color.  Carefully pour over popcorn mixture; stir to coat evenly. Transfer in two 15 inch x 10 inch x 1 inch baking pans coated with nonstick spray.  Bake at 250 for 45 minutes.  Stirring every 15 minutes. spread on wax paper to cool.  Store in air tight containers.  YIELD about 4 1/2 quarts

This craft is very quick and in-expensive but dresses up the Christmas dinner table or accent table wonderfully.

I recommend using jar candles that are the same height as the candy canes you use.  Some crafts instruct you to use a pillar candle but this seemed like a huge fire hazard to me. 

We did this craft to accent all the tables at our church Christmas party dinner.  On a white table cloth with some greenery and pine cones made the whole room very festive and fragrant.  It also made very lovely party favors.

Depending on the size of the candle you use, you will need enough candy canes to go all the way around.  For a jar candle that is 5 inches high and 3 inches in diameter, you will need approximately 3 dozen candles.  Approximately 2 ft of 2 1/2 inches wide,  red sparkley, or gold  wired ribbon 2 1/2 inches wide or what ever color accent you desire. Make sure it is ample ribbon to go around the jar with the candy canes tie a nice bow. I used a 3 inch pre-tied bow to put around the jar so I could insert the candy canes and hold them in place until I could put a spot of hot glue behind them, then when the glue is dry, wrap the ribbon around and cut it just so the ends meet nicely, then hot glue the ends down its about 13 inches long.  Nest, make a 6 inch loop (12 inches total for the bow folded in half) with the wired ribbon and glue the ends, then take 10 inches of ribbon and wrap around the center of the loop and cinch the center and twist tight like a bread tie making the center narrow and the ends bow out making the bow, cut the ends of the ribbon tales in a diagonal just long enough to touch the table. Scatter around some pine greenery and possibly a few pine cones on a white table cloth.  Another variation is to use Campbell’s soup cans painted red or white, or what ever color you choose and put a tea light candle in it or a votive candle.  The candy canes will be taller than the can so the color doesn’t really matter except for a finished look.  That will also use less candy canes.  The picture in the post is not as elegant as the ones we made for the dinner at church but it’s just to give you an idea of how it will look half finished.

Another option is to turn the candy canes upside down like this…

3 D Star Ornament

This is a wood craft that is very simple.  I traced a 5 point star onto a piece of wood and cut out 2 each for 1 ornament.  I cut a slot into the bottom of the first star up to the middle, and on the 2nd star from the tip of the top down to the middle.  Fit the two pieces together like a puzzle and hot glue the joint, or Elmer’s glue if you like.  Paint the entire star with semi-gloss paint and while it is still wet, sprinkle with silver and gold glitter.  When the paint and glitter is dry, use tube paints with pointed end for writing to write the name of the desired family member or friend.  Hot glue a 3 inch pre-tied bow to the top joint with the bow end down so that only a loop hangs on the branch.  When the hot glue is dry, cut 2 pieces of shiny gold curling ribbon 10 inches long, and cut 2 pieces of shiny silver curling ribbon 10 inches long. Tie each of the 4 pieces of curling ribbon around the 3 inch pre-tied bow and curl the ends making a curly Q accent at the top of the star.  Shake off any extra glitter and hang on the tree.

This Snowman Ornament is very easy to make and can be made from a variety of materials.  I have a friend that will cut any wood shape I want so I use wood, but you can use card stock, clay, salt dough, or just about anything else you can form a snowman out of.  I drew a pattern on a piece of paper, then traced it on to 1/8 inch wood and had it cut out. I sanded the edges, then painted both sides and the edges with white semi-gloss paint.  If you are doing them in mass quantities like I do for family members, you can put a wire ornament hook on them and hang them to dry on the edge of your table.  When dry, Take Black semi-gloss paint and paint his hat.  I used Tulip paints to make the eyes nose and mouth. The scarf is crochet red yarn but you can use ribbon also for a different look.  I put a small dot of hot glue where the not of the scarf is to make sure the scarf wont slide. Then I threaded a 3 inch pre-tied elastic bow through the top  for hanging on the tree.  You could also use a narrow ribbon for a different look.  On the back, I painted the year the ornament was made and the names of all our family members and pets at the time.

Hanging Hanging Ornaments with Ribbon

Instead of hanging ornaments on the Christmas tree with wire hooks that fall off and get stuck in the carpet, why not hang the special ornaments with a decorative ribbon?  We have used many kinds of ribbon to hang ornaments.  On some ornaments we use a 3 inch pre-tied elastic bow that is easily inserted through the hole at the top of the ornament then bull the bow of the loop through other end of the end of elastic bow to secure it to the ornament.  That creates a tiny accent to the lovely ornament you want to display.  We also have used the curling ribbon to make a bow then curl the ends of the ribbon to make little spirals to add to the sparkle of the tinsel already on the tree. A delicate satin ribbon also makes a beautiful tie for an ornament, just loop it through the hole of the ornament, tie a bow and hang it on the tree.

I have about twenty of them, and they don’t just sit collecting dust in my jewelry box. I wear them, sometimes all at once. These stretchy beaded bracelets are less of a noise and sliding nuisance than bangles and they come in such a wide range of colors. They can be bulky and chunky or dainty and classy.

Not only are beaded stretch bracelets my favorite accessory, they are also easy to make. All you need is a selection of beads, available at any craft or super store, and some stretch elastic cord. Measure the cord so that once the ends are knotted together and trimmed, you will have to stretch it to get it over your hand and onto your wrist and it will be snug but not too tight.

Then, tie a knot in one end and start stringing your beads. Your creativity is the limit. Create 1 or 101, it’s up to you. Stack them on your wrists or wear them one at a time. These bracelets are fun and easy!

In my day, some might have called me a trend-setter. As a wife and mother, some of my fashion forward thinking has been replaced by a longing for ease and comfort, but I still appreciate wardrobe innovation and creativity. One thing I’ve never been crazy about are trends that are just marketing ploys for brand recognition, thinly veiled advertising.

However, there is one fad which might appear to be in this category at first glance, which I happen to like very much. These rubber wristbands with statements about faith, mantras about life or band logos are pretty cool. They are a cheap and colorful way to have the impact of a statement T and you can wear them with anything. Just a simple elastic band, these bracelets make fun party favors and stocking stuffers!

It was a simple but entertaining little invention, consisting of a rubber ball, a length of elastic string and small wooden paddle. They called it  paddle ball.  Learning the object of this one person game was easy enough: See how many times you can bounce the rubber ball off of the paddle in row, without messing up. This would be a fun skill to develop if I had ever actually been able to get the ball bouncing.

I’ve never claimed to be anything of an athlete, and I readily admit my lack of coordination, when it comes to childhood games, such as the ever popular egg-toss or even the hip rotation necessary to hula-hoop. However, I sheepishly confess a lifelong intimidation by this thing called paddle ball.  How can a person be incapable of successfully mastering a game where the ball is actually tethered to a paddle held securely in their hand?

Every summer I work as a camp counselor at Camp Scoopachop in Southwest Maine. And, at the end of every summer it seems like most of the kids are complaining that the strings that tie their sleeping bags together have broken. The kids are left to hulk their bulky bags home wrapped in trash bags, or dragging along the dirt road leading to the parking lot where their parents pick them up.

This summer I had a novel idea–why not grab some of the bulk elastic cord stored in the camp’s arts and crafts shed to use to secure the kids’ sleeping bags into neat rolls! First, I tried my idea out with my cabin. The kids loved it, and they even decorated the plain, white elastic cord with marking pens and glitter. Soon enough the other counselors were asking me how to make the elastic sleeping bag cords. By the end of the summer even the kids who didn’t need them were using the elastic cord! I even won the award for “the best original arts and crafts project!”