We’re headed to our first family holiday party today and I’m feeling like I could really use a little more time to prepare. I have yet to figure out how to freeze time, so I have to go with what I’ve got. I’m sure you know the feeling.
Today Abby, Amelia and I are sharing some of the last-minute projects we did this year during our 9 a.m. TV segment on “Take 5 & Co.” on WZZM Channel 13. I’m posting the links and directions below so you can whip up something great before the company arrives or, better yet, make something fun with your guests.
Treats!
Ok, the first order of business is to make peppermint bark. I did not know how much merrier this treat can make the holidays until I finally tried this excellent recipe published over at Orangette. If you love mixing your chocolate with mint, you will LOVE this.
Holiday Party Favors
I was going to post a tutorial for making traditional Christmas crackers, those tubular holders of treats and goodies that pop when the ends are pulled in opposite directions. However, I quickly realized that the friction strips that make the crackers to pop are difficult to come by on deadline. So the girls and I decided to go with the silent night version of this project, and simply load treats into decorated tubes and skip the noise. Truth be told, we actually prefer the quiet version.
Here’s how to make your own party favors for Christmas or New Years. (Keep in mind that if you do this project for New Years, you can use recycled wrapping paper, tissue and the tubes the wrapping paper comes on.)
Supplies:
• Toilet paper or paper towel tubes (Cut the paper towel tubes in half.)
• Wrapping paper or other decorative paper or newsprint
• Tape
• String or yarn to gather paper at tube ends
Step 1: Wrap the tube with tissue paper, leaving about 3″-4″ of tissue paper on each end of the tube to gather and tie. Tie one end of the tube closed.
Step 2: Tape a band of decorative paper, wrapping paper or newsprint around the outside of the tube. Add additional embellishments as you see fit.
Step 3: Fill the tube with holiday treats. For the Christmas favors, you can include candy and a small ornament.
For New Years, we recommend filling the tube with a mini 2012 calendar (printable version found here), Hershey’s Kisses, a mini-2012 banner, a favorite quote, joke or words of inspiration for the coming year. We’re including the pocket of printable monthly goal lists designed by Linda Tieu for CraftSanity Magazine Issue 5.
The PDF link is given in the print copy and part of the electronic file available for instant download on the left side of this page, too. Linda’s goal sheets modeled after library card card pockets are very cool, but feel free to write your own 2012 bucket list prompts, too. And check out this post, if you’re looking to share what’s on your to-do list for 2012.
Handmade Holiday Ornaments
Popsicle Stick Ornaments. If you’re looking to keep the kids occupied before dinner and the big gift exchange, get out some popsicle sticks and challenge them to make snowflakes or stars. We did the super-basic version of constructing what looks like little asterisks by gluing three sticks together at their midpoints and fanning them out. Paint white or encourage them to paint one turquoise like I did. : )
And if you think you’re too cool to glue popsicle sticks together, you may want to reconsider. While the project i just described is super simple and great for young children who know better than to splatter paint, older children and adults will probably enjoy this super-sized adult version of the project. In fact, I’ve been wanting to try out the tutorial for lovely grande snowflakes for a very long time. Maybe we’ll get to that during week 2 of winter break. If you try it, please let me know how it goes.
3-D Paper Reindeer Ornaments
This was a late edition to the TV craft line-up. I spotted one on my friend’s tree and she kindly made me a template to share with all of you. (Thanks, Cyd!) Print the template here. And then trace it onto heavy card stock paper. Cut out the pieces, attach the legs and antlers. Then punch a hole for the hanger, attach some yarn and you’re ready to hang the reindeer on the tree or stand up as a decoration on your holiday table.
To make my newsprint reindeer, I used Mod Podge to adhere newsprint to the front and back of the card stock. I attached the newsprint to one side of the card stock, then traced my template on the side without newsprint and cut out the pieces. Then I painted Mod Podge on the unfinished side and pressed it down on newsprint before cutting out the pieces one more time.
Note: You can make these out of double-sided scrapbook paper without decoupage medium, but they will not be as sturdy.
German Stars
I planned to tell readers about my foray into German star making, too, but that project is too long for a 4-minute segment. If you missed that tutorial, you can find it here.
Alright, now I have to go whip up some more stuff for the party.
Happy holidays!
3D Paper Snowflakes These stars rank among my favorite to make. See the full tutorial here.
59 comments
I love kiddush cup in the photo! It's very beautiful and ornate and so often holds such mystery that even we miss in our Eucharist sotuOimes.mer families who gather for the Eucharist are suppose to be the family of God around the altar table, but I think the Jews also have it right with their carrying it down to the individual family weekly as well.
It's interesting how baby brains and behaviors are so similar to elderly / dementia brains and behaviors. "Plesantly confused" patients are easy to care for, just go with the flow, don't argue or correct about factual things, just agree and all is well. DrumMajor
Hello my family member! I wish to say that this post is awesome, great written and include almost all important infos. I’d like to peer more posts like this.
oui sauf que la maxidress quand on mesure 1,58m ben on oublie sinon c’est sac de patate fleuri assuré ^^ ou alors je veux une photo preuve : 1,58m, taille 50 et maxidress
Opa.. Daniel.. que “lindeza” essas fotos.Cara. sempre gostei do teu trabalho.Nas fotos, dos enquadramentos, tratamento, momentos. enfim..Quem sabé né.. daki uns tempos se veja por ai..“Workshop – Como fotografar um casamento – by Daniel Nobre… inscrições encerradas, turma lotada, hehehabs brother. muito sucesso..
I like your point about the integration between crowd sourcing and structured content. You’re right that forms help structure content. The neat thing is that forms also simplify the authoring experience as well. I think I’ll look for more form-based methods as I work with community authors. One extension I want to implement on the wiki (Mediawiki) is something called Semantic Forms.
need to be an expert on a…subject to blog about it! you can even blog about things you hate as long as you’re passionate about it.some blogs have “how-to” tutorials, some have photos, animations, cartoons and videos as their content. the most popular blogs are the non-fictio…
Personally, I think there has been too much money spent on Mars and too little spent on exploring the surface of the lunar poles and the surface Phobos and Deimos. During these hard economic times, we should be focusing our space efforts on places that have long term economic value. Marcel F. Williams
Beautiful sketch! I could totally recognize the Dom, and the TV station tower(the WDR tower right?) I totally missed the days when I would spend a weekend just walking around Neumarkt and Altstadt
My coder is trying to convince me to move to .net from PHP. I have always disliked the idea because of the expenses. But he’s tryiong none the less. I’ve been using WordPress on numerous websites for about a year and am concerned about switching to another platform. I have heard very good things about blogengine.net. Is there a way I can import all my wordpress posts into it? Any kind of help would be really appreciated!
Não! Agora acho mesmo que deves ir fazer exames clÃnicos. 4 posts em 4 dias? :oDe certeza que não tens febre? LolMas obrigado por divulgares esta obra que doutro modo passava desconhecida para mim. :DAbraço. :)
I learned about the Holocaust and anti-semitism through t.v. mini-series, documentaries, movies, museums, newspapers, magazines and billboards. I feel saturated with ‘anti-semitism studies’ and I suspect the motives of the people promoting it. When I hear NPR announce that their next guest will be an author who has published yet another volume about the Holocaust I push the ‘off’ button.
CON WILFRIDO Y CON MORELIA… POR MEXICO Y CON ENRIQUE PEÑA NIETO, VAMOS POR EL RESCATE DE MEXICO, MICHOACAN Y MORELIA, VAMOS CON EL PRI QUE ES EL QUE NOS ESCUCHA Y APESAR DE QUE LO NIEGUEN ALGUNOS, MEXICO TIENE HISTORIA Y EN SUS 70 AÑOS DE GOBIERNO NOS OTORGO AVANCES, INFRAESTRUCTURA, RESPETO DE LOS DEMAS PAISES Y SOBRETODO SEGURIDAD, VAMOS CON TODO POR EL AMOR A MEXICO, MORELIA Y MICHOACAN… VOTO LINEAL AL PRI.
i think the bbc should finish rock n chips as a tribuite to the legand that was john sulivan, i mean there is so much more to come freddy hiding hes gold , albie little wood takeing the short cut across the railway line and loads more personally i think they should carry it on as a tribuite !!
Ethan – whose frequent use of the words “bomb†and “terrorist†had gotten both he and Peter booted off their plane – tries to make amends by offering him a ride in his rental car to Hollywood (where he hopes to get a role on Two and a Half Men).
I’d like to hear more about your writing. What have you written in the past. Has anything been published? What are you working on now. What’s your favorite genre. All the good stuff.
Estoy hasta los santos cojones de ver el nombre de Kafka utilizado en vano. Como Murakami; como Vila-Matas cuando pone añade a sus tÃÂtulos alguna referencia pop cool para hacerse el moderno. Y no, no es intertextualidad ni pollas: se llama impostura. Intento pobre de seducir a base de una mentira sazonada de una referencia cultural dificilmente contestable.Qué desgracia de paÃÂs.
Chris — to connect your comment to this post…What you seem to be saying is that the “stimulation” of entrepreneurship always outweighs the decrease in stability. The problem is many people never taste that stimulation and are stuck in megacorp. For those who do, the tradeoff is easy.
Biofreeze has been the most effective pain relief I have ever used for arthritis for my back, my neck and my hand. I have tried many different products and this is the only one that works. I strongly recommend this product to anyone with pain as this provides hours of relief.
"…paradoxically the fight is over restraining Islamic power as embodied in the regime's domestic authority"Do you mean like a dog biting itself for biting itself?