Talk about the party you're planning!| Crafts Made From Recycled Christmas Cards | | Do you recycle your Christmas cards (other cards work too)? When I was a child my mother bought some sandwich bags of decorations that were made by some church group. They were made with construction paper, Christmas cards, and curling ribbon. We had those for years and hung them up around the house every Christmas. When I was an adult, I made some of my own. Basically they were the cut out pictures on the Christmas cards, cut out with pinking shears. You could use any of the fancy scrapbooking scissors also. Then you cut two pieces of contrasting colored construction paper, also with the fancy edging, but the first piece just slightly larger and of the same shape as the Christmas card, and the second piece slightly larger than that piece. You can cut the Christmas card to any interesting shape that goes along with the picture. Then you take a paper punch and punch a hole through all three pieces of paper, and then tie the ribbon through the hole for hanging the finished decoration.
Later when I worked as an activity director in nursing homes I found other ways to recycle Christmas cards and other greeting cards. These were used to make... | |
| | Pampuuurrrred Pet | | I dont know what to get my Cat for Christmas this year. It is my first Christmas with a Cat! She seems indifferent to all her toys and much prefers to play with a bit of curling ribbon!! she loves pouncing on things but when i start up the remote control mouse i bought for her she runs away!! Has anyone bought a toy for thier Cat that has been really successful? i would like a puzzle feeder but cant find one anywhere. Any ideas folks? | |
| | Create Your Own Christmas Wrapping | | You can spend a fortune on Christmas wrapping paper and bows! I was behind a lady with my shopping cart at Walmart, last night. All she had in her cart were bags of ready made stick on bows, rolls of Christmas wrapping paper, rolls of curling ribbon and some of those rolls of stick on cards for the gifts. She didn't seem to have a lot of stuff; one reason why I got behind her in line, but her total came to $67.31. I couldn't believe it! Can you imagine what you could buy for $67.31?Please don't get me wrong, I save those ready made bows from packages given to my family. If there's a nice piece of Christmas paper that survives being unwrapped in one piece, I put it away. And I do buy those rolls of curling ribbon. I've found, however, that with a little creativity and much less money, you can individualize those packages you're wrapping..and it's fun!Don’t spend a fortune on gift wrap this year! Here are some thrifty alternatives:Red, green or holiday fabric from the clearance section at your local fabric store.
Tie with a spool of inexpensive ribbon. (This can be used over and over again.)Use brown paper shopping bags for a natural look.Use your child’s artwork... | |
| | Teacher Craft Ideas | | This year, with money tight, I'm planning on making most of the gifts I give to people outside the immediate family. We always try to acknowledge my kids' teachers at Christmas with a little token of appreciation - and I try to avoid things like "A+ Teacher" fridge magnets. Last year, I got lucky and found these great "fruit jar mugs" - coffee mugs made in the shape of classic canning jars - hand-painted with snowflakes and snowmen for 25 cents apiece! I invested in a couple of bags of chocolate kisses, a spool of curling ribbon and a sheaf of red and green tissue paper and voila! In less than an hour, I had fourteen Christmas gifts for teachers and coaches for less than $10.This year, I'm looking for some kind of simple craft item that my high school age boys can make for their teachers. Any suggestions? | |
| | Gift Wrapping | | Do you love it or hate it? People seem to usually fall into one of the two camps, either you revel in it or it's a horrid chore that you get over with A.S.A.P.I'm in the "love it" camp. It makes me feel so seasonal and I spend time curling ribbon to make them look extra special. I know it'll be ripped open in 2 seconds flat, but a pretty present is really exciting and they look so nice under the Christmas tree.The only downside is that I'm really not very good at it! I always seem to make a lumpy, uneven job of it! At least you can see that I made the effort though I suppose! | |
| | We finally got some rain....do you believe in rain dances? | | After talking to my neighbor yesterday morning, he suggested that my kids get out and do a rain dance as we are in a drought condition here in West Virginia.
Well, they thought it was a great idea...donned a feather and painted up their faces. Kurt grabbed an empty paper towel center and stapled curling ribbon on it and Kami had a blanket wrapped around her.
I was laughing at them doing circles and chanting, EYE ya ya ya EYE ya ya ya oooh la rain oooh la rain boom boom boom.
All of the sudden we heard a big crack....you guessed it thunder and lightening. We all got inside of the house and within 10 minutes we got the most rain that we have had in the last 2 months. 1.2 inches in about 2 hours.
I know that this is a coincidence, but I have to tell you...the kids really think that they have something here! | |
| | Sparkle Wand Instructions | | Supplies:
1 inch diameter clear plastic aquarium tube. Approx 1 1/2 to 2ft long
2, 1-inch plastic chair leg caps
Light Corn Syrup
Assorted plastic confetti (grocery or greeting card store)
Cold water
Curling ribbon
Hot glue gun and sticks Instructions:
1. Secure the cap on the bottom of the tube with hot glue.
2. Fill the tube 3/4 full with light corn syrup.
3. Add some confetti.
4. Fill to the top with cold water.
5. Glue the remaining cap onto the tube.
6. Attach the curling ribbon to the wand to decorate. | |
| | Should have gotten a creativity award | | So yesterday we went to Dearra's school after work to check out the science experiments. Dearra's didn't win an award. It was interesting looking at them. For example, one was all pink with glitter and curling ribbon. I asked Dearra if the girl who did it was a cheerleader. She laughed and said she sure was.Most of them were very serious, of course. A couple caught my eye because they were just different. The first one was somebody who watched the other students at lunch and kept statistics on whether the boys or the girls were more likely to pick up their trash. The girls won by a slight margin. Maybe this one should have gotten a creativity award?But the funniest one was the one right next to Dearra's. Would you survive a zombie attack? And he had a graph that showed how fast the zombie was going and whether you were likely to survive if crawling, walking, riding a bike, riding a skateboard, driving a compact car, a Mercedes or a Maserati. We laughed so hard. Now that kid should have at least gotten a few extra points for creativity![em]rofl[/em] | |
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