Decorative Packaging

Make the entry to your home very inviting with garland and bows.  You can tie your own bow with wide velvet ribbon or purchase pull bows. Make a beautiful bow every time! Pull Bows are available in a variety patterns and colors. Pull Bows are easy to use, convenient to store, and are great for any occasion. These are just a few ways to use pull bows.  I love them because they save me a lot of time trying to tie them.  You just choose a spot, and pull the bow and tie it on!

Decorate your home-baked goodies as tastefully as the yummy gift inside.

Use holiday plastic wrap to wrap the loaf of bread.  I like to put my bread in a zip lock baggie then decoratively wrap to keep the bread fresh.  After the colored plastic wrap is neatly taped and finished, choose a festive Holiday Ribbon to wrap both ways and tie in the middle.  Curl the ends for an extra special touch.  Your friends will be so excited to open this beautiful package and see what was made special just for them!

I have gotten these many times for gifts and just love it.  They are so cute and easy to throw together in a pinch.  The Jar can be washed and re-used to send some yummy treats to someone else too.

You will need

• Quart Size Canning Jars with Lids
• Scrap Fabric
• Narrow Decorative Ribbon
• Glue
• Paper
• Recipe and Required Ingredients (below)

Wash the jar and lids, make sure they are completely dry.  Here is a recipe for Chocolate Chip cookies but you can use any recipe you want just layer the dry ingredients as listed below but alter them to your recipe.

Follow these instructions to make chocolate chip cookies in a jar gift and then print out the recipe card to include.

Jar Ingredients:

• 2 cups flour
• 1 tsp salt
• 1 tsp baking soda
• 3/4 cup brown sugar
• 3/4 cup white sugar
• * chocolate chips and nuts

 Decorate the Jar

1. Fabric: Cut a circle out of the fabric that is 6 – 8 inches across. (I traced around the top of a bowl!) Place the round section of the jar’s lid on the jar and center the fabric on that. Screw the other section of the lid in place to hold the fabric. Fluff out the fabric where it comes out from under the lid.
2. Recipe: Print out a recipe card/gift tag that goes with the recipe you chose. Trim closely around the recipe. Put a small piece of tape on the upper right-hand section of the ‘Printable Gift Tag’ recipe. This is to give it a little extra strength. Use a hole puncher and make a small hole in the taped corner.
3. Ribbon: Cut an approximate 3 foot piece of ribbon. I actually used 2 pieces of ribbon with colors that matched the fabric. Thread the ribbon through the hole in the ‘Printable Gift Tag’ recipe. Wrap the ribbon around the metal of the jar lid and tie it into a bow. Secure in place with a small dab of glue behind the bow and in the back.

 You could also use a 3 inch pre-tied elastic bow to attach the recipe card to the jar and hold the fabric on the lid.  Be creative and make them many different ways.  Have fun!

We love to give homemade items as gifts to friends, neighbors and family.  It is a fun family project where every one can help and know the joy of giving the gift of their time for others enjoyment.

This recipe is my mother’s old Boy Scout recipe for hot chocolate.

2 large Nestlé Quick

2 large coco

2 large vanilla creamers

2 lbs powdered sugar

2 large boxes of powdered milk

Mix completely and put into a quart jar or any other container you can find, top with a peice of fabric and bow or a decorative ribbon. Add the recipe with a narrow decorative ribbon and they will love it!  

Recipe makes enough dry mix to fill 2-2lb ice cream containers.

I love the fragrance of Oranges and Cloves, especially at Christmas time.  But this can be a decorative pomander for anytime of the year with the choice of decorative ribbon you decide on.  It always reminds me of my dad’s house as a child because he was always eating oranges and there was always a ham in the oven with lots of cloves in it! Yum!

2 containers of cloves

One large orange

2 ½ inch decorative ribbon

Start by using the toothpick to make holes in your orange. This hole will be used to put the whole clove into. Keep adding the cloves until your whole orange is covered.

Use some ribbon to tie a large bow around the orange for hanging.
These make great end of year gifts for kids to give teachers and make nice table decorations for Christmas functions and parties.

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…

Materials

Light bulb

1 inch Styrofoam ball

Cinnamon sticks cut into 3 inch pieces

Small straw hat for a snow lady

Small black top hat for a snowman

Polymer clay

½ inch glittery ribbon

2 ½ or 3 inch Wide ribbon

Small button

White glitter

Hot glue gun

Hot glue sticks

Black Tulip or Scribble Craft paint

Blush

2ply cord 1/16^th inch thick or3 inch pre-tied bow

Decorative beads and greenery

This craft is fun, simple but time consuming. Fit the Styrofoam ball on to the metal part of the light bulb, making an intention, then using some hot glue, press it onto the bulb.  Let dry,

Next, Pour the white glitter into a bowl, hold the Styrofoam ball, take a craft sponge or paint brush to spread glue evenly all over the light bulb except for the metal part. Roll the light blub into the glue until completely covered.  Tap the top of the bulb to knock off the extra. 

Let dry,

Form the clay in to little cones for the carrot nose and bake according to box directions.  I used white clay and painted orange when dry, but they sell orange clay so what ever you choose is fine. When dry and cooled off, press the nose into the center of the Styrofoam ball making and indention, then hot glue it on. Let dry,

Make a ring of hot glue all around the inside edge of the straw hat and press it on to the Styrofoam ball, let dry, cut 7 inches of the cord and knot the ends forming a 3 inch loop, hot glue the knotted end to the back edge rim of the hat. Or you can glue the bow of the 3 inch pre-tied bow on the back edge rim of the hat. Let dry

If you have some tiny beads and some holly leaves you can glue them to the side rim of the hat if your snow man is a girl, I make snow ladies and snow men for Christmas gifts, the girls get lady snowmen and the guys get the snow men.

Cut 6 inches of the shiny ribbon and tie a bow leaving the ends long for snow ladies, or short for a bow tie look for the snowmen , and set aside

Cut approx 6 inches of the wide ribbon, or fabric for the vest, depending on the size of the light bulb, it will need to over lap a bit and have enough to fold in a 1/16 the of an inch for a finished edge.  Fold down the top edge ½ inch for the top edge of the vest; fold both ends in to form a V or point for the closure of the vest.  When you have it positioned, place a dot of hot glue at the center back top edge of the ribbon and then at the two points where the vest meets. It will be a little loose so you can slide the cinnamon sticks up under the folded down edge of the vest to form the arms, when you have them in position, squirt some hot glue up under there too hold them down and a dot of glue under the bottom end of the sticks onto the light bulb.  Then hot glue the bow tie just under the neck and place a tiny button on the center of the vest where it closes.  Use the Tulip tube paints to dot the eyes and mouth to look like coal,a small paint brush and some blush make up just lightly dusted on each side for the rosey cheeks and then 3 tiny dots for the buttons on his/her belly. I painted the date on the back of the bulb since I make different ornaments every year as gifts.  Time consuming, but very unique and will be a great surprise and added ornament to your collection.  Have fun! And be careful with the hot glue gun, I think my fingers took a lot of abuse during this craft but was well worth it.

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.

Handmade Ornaments for All Occasions
Making ornaments has always been one of my favorite arts and crafts traditions. We have been making them and personalizing them for years. I started making them when our family grew in leaps and bounds and with 30 grand kids and great grand kids, buying Christmas presents for each of them became very difficult.  Ornaments are a gift for every age and wont just be tossed in the corner when they are done playing with it.  They can be packed in special boxes so when the kids are grown up and have a place of their own, they can take them for their own tree. 
These lovely and versatile ornaments are a very easy Christmas craft and
look great on a Christmas tree, but also are appropriate for any holiday or
season. Just like the previous ornaments, you can be very creative and use many variations. 

Materials
Clear glass ball ornament (any size)
For the pink ornament in the photo, I used an 83mm bulb, which is about
3-1/4 inches in height not counting the cap.
Shred (shredded, crinkled paper or metallic foil) (your choice of color)
Decorative Ribbon
Length of the pieces depends on what size ball you use. For the 83mm bulb,
you will need three pieces of ribbon each approximately 9-1/2 inches, plus
ribbon for tying a bow around the cap and another piece for making a ribbon
loop for hanging the ornament.
Glue stick or double-sided tape
If you use double-sided tape, it should be the same width or slightly
narrower than the ribbon you use.

Instructions
Remove top of ornament.
Stuff the shred through hole in top of ornament until the ornament is full.
(Be careful. Sometimes the glass edge has a sharp spot. It is best to use
the eraser end of a pencil to push the shred through the hole.)
Cut three pieces of ribbon. Each needs to be long enough to extend from base
of the cap on one side, around the bottom of the ball, to base of the cap on
the opposite side. Length depends on size ball you use.
Attach ribbons to ball, equal distance apart (see photo at top of page).
·         They need to cross each other at the very bottom of the ball. The
ribbons will create six “stripes.”
·         Use glue stick or double-sided tape instead of squeeze-on glue to
attach the ribbons (to avoid making a sticky mess).
·         Cover the entire length of the back side of the ribbon with glue
or tape. Be sure to cover the very ends of the ribbons. (Be careful not to
let any of the tape extend beyond the sides of the ribbon. Trim it if it
does.)
·         Then stick ribbon on the ball.
·         Don’t press it down too hard until you have placed all the
ribbons. You may need to move them around a bit to get them spaced the way
you want them. If you are using glue instead of double-sided tape, it is
more difficult to move the ribbons without making the glass sticky where you
don’t want it to be!
·         When the ribbons are spaced to your satisfaction, press them down
so they are completely taped to ball.
Replace cap and wire.
Tie a bow around top of ornament.
Tie another ribbon through the hanger top to hang it on the tree.

For many more ideas for ornaments like this one see the link below.  I use this site for many of my crafting ideas.

http://www.how-to-arts-and-crafts.com/handmade-ornaments.html

The only spiders I like is this sweet little google eyed spider ornament.

I found the pattern from a web site linked below.  There are a wide variety of places I have found craft patterns to use for my yearly Christmas ornament gifts.  I substituted some optional materials when I made them.

They are fun, unique, easy to make and will make a great gift for the person who has everything. 

Materials
55 mm clear glass ball ornament (approximately 2-1/8 inches from top to
bottom, not including the cap)

The glass ball needs to have a cap with seven “leaves” or flaps, with spaced
grooves in between, as shown in the photo to the right. Not all ornaments
have caps like this, so be sure you get the right kind.

4 12-inch red sparkly pipe cleaners (”glitter stems”)
Red metallic shred
Two green sparkly (”glitter”) pompons
2 wiggle eyes
Glue
Sparkly Ribbon to hang ornament
Very narrow  shiny ribbon for bows on spider’s legs
For the bows, I use ribbon that is about 1/8 inch wide. I cut each of the
eight pieces about 8 inches long.
Christmas spider ornaments do require tying little bows on all
those legs, using very thin ribbon.
My instructions below describe making a red spider with green eyes. Feel
free to reverse the colors.,

Instructions
Remove cap from the glass ball.
Fill ball with red metallic shred. (Use the eraser end of a pencil. The rim
of the glass ball may have sharp edges.)

Legs

 Fold each pipe cleaner in half and pinch it, making a “V” at the fold to
mark where the middle is.
This step helps keep the legs symmetrical when you attach them to the cap.

Turn the cap upside down. Work each of the four pipe cleaners into slots of
the cap so that eight “legs” extend out symmetrically, four on each side.

The cap has seven slots. One slot will not have a leg extending from it and
will be placed in the very front of the spider when assembled. Because a spider has eight legs, two of the remaining six slots must house
two legs each. I use the back two slots for this purpose.
Feel free to arrange the legs some other way if it works better for you. I
sometimes arrange them a little differently myself.

After you have placed all four pipe cleaners into the slots, put the cap
back onto the glass ball.
Holding the cap on with one hand, insert the wire into the slot. The wire is
“spring loaded,” so this step is not easy. You will need to press the two
prongs together to fit them though the slot. Once inside the ball, the
prongs will spring back open and the cap will be secure.

Now bend the pipe cleaners to look like spider legs as shown in the photo to
the right.

Eyes and finishing touches
Glue the two pompons to the ball where you want the eyes.
Glue the wiggle eyes onto the pompons.
Tie bows on the legs using very thin ribbon.

Tie a ribbon through the hanger wire. Tie the knot tight so it will not come
undone under the weight of the hung ornament.

Variations: You can make Christmas spider ornaments in other colors too. For the purple spider’s eyes, I used blue metal beads instead of pompons and wiggle eyes. 

You can make spiders for all occasions, Halloween, Easter, Birthday, Autumn, just adjust the colors to fit the occasion and season.  Have fun!

for more pictures of these ornaments and others like them see the link below

http://www.how-to-arts-and-crafts.com/handmade-ornaments.html