by Sharon | Dec 3, 2014
Your Christmas Tree is the focal point of your Christmas decorating. Here’s an image that gives you some basic pointers:
For every foot of tree height, you need 100 lights, 9 feet of garland and 20 ornaments. I have a friend with a 7 foot Christmas tree. So that means 700 lights, 63 feet of garland and 140 ornaments.
I suppose that does work out as a rule of thumb. But you can add more or less of each to your taste. Maybe garland isn’t your thing, so you add more ornaments.
It’s always fun to see how friends and family decorate their Christmas trees. Some people have more than one, depending upon the size of their house. When I had a two story house, I had a tree downstairs in the living room and one upstairs in the sitting room as my mother called it and I called it my loft. It was also interesting how I decorated them. The one in the living room was more traditional with some vintage ornaments from over the years. The one upstairs was a bit whimsical with all kinds of ornaments I picked up over the years with a particular flavor from pop culture. As I reflect on that and now have just one tree, a 4 to 5 foot tree, I go traditional and a bit whimsical and nostalgic. I go with what inspires me at the moment, not what would be a decorator’s suggestion.
I’m into pleasing me, not anyone else. From what I’ve seen, many have settled into that same mode while others are into impressing others. It’s all what one wants and feels they need to do. I enjoy hearing what every ornament means to a particular individual. It makes it much more personal and interesting than saying “My tree was designed by fancy pants decorator from fancy pants hoity toity location.” Basically, they had nothing to do with it and didn’t have time to bother with it. That’s not the message they were going for, but it was my take on it. Now, there were many who shared their vision and may have been saying to themselves, “I wish I could afford to do that.”
I was listening to a TED Talk the other day that focused on “why.” Well, that’s my take on it, it’s what I got out of it and started thinking about. Someone else may listen to it and get an entirely different message . . . but I digress . . .
“Why” gets into your feelings and core beliefs. In attaching it to tree decorating at Christmas I’m into the family traditions and the “me” element, reflecting my life. Anyone who knows me, can see in every ornament why I chose it . . . and they can relate to it, too. As I said earlier, I’m into pleasing myself. I’m living with this tree for several weeks and I want to walk past it or sit enjoying it with a smile on my face and with gladness in my heart. I can reflect on my life and those who had the most influence on me. I see it and feel it.
I also hope it reflects within TwoCansOnAString.com. I hadn’t really thought about it until now. I know when I first started the blog, it included a little bit of everything — which has now spun off into other niche websites. Although I like the other websites, this one is the one I love the most. It may have been my personal experiment into internet marketing . . . just trying it out . . . getting my feet wet. It’s not what my “marketing” friends would call a niche. I tried that after I moved the website to other hosting and lost my content, but it didn’t feel right . . . it didn’t ring true . . . it didn’t feel like “home.” My “marketing” acquaintances may not “get it”, but my friends and family do . . . and new visitors who come and feel it. . . return to this eclectic blend that could only be called “Two Cans On A String.”
by Sharon | Dec 2, 2014
Aren’t these ornaments the best!!! And they’re so easy to make. I think it will take you longer to gather up your supplies than it will take you to make these adorable Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle Ornaments.
The materials you’ll need are obvious, but humor me:
- Green Round Ornaments
- Felt Squares: red, blue, purple and orange Or you may be able to find Felt Strips
- Glue of your choice
- Wiggly Eyes
How to assembly them is also easy, but I’ll write them out:
- Cut a strip out of your felt square about an inch wide — depends on the size of your ornaments and the size of your wiggly eyes.
- Run glue all the way around the ball-shaped ornament.
- Wrap the felt strip around the ornament on top of the glue. You can overlap the felt strip by gluing the pieces together. Cut off excess if necessary.
- Put glue on the back of a wiggly eye and put it in place on the felt. Do the same with the other eye.
- Now repeat steps 1 through 4 for the rest of your Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle Ornaments.
These would make great gifts for the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle fans.
It’s so much fun to make them yourself!
Thanks for stopping by!
by Sharon | Nov 30, 2014
Bring the North Pole to your front yard!
These busy penguins are decorating their igloo. Look at their festive scarves! Wouldn’t they look great in your yard!!
I’ll tell you, my neighborhood goes all out. Actually, I think there are a couple of neighbors who try to out-do each other. It’s all in fun — not like in the movies. But it makes it difficult for the rest of us to have something different and spectacular . . .
Now, I love the Christmas decorating . . . more to look at than to actually do . . . but this year I got into the spirit and fell in love with these industrious little penguins.
This outstanding display has a wire frame base, the igloo is covered with spun acrylic and the adorable penguins are made with tinsel fabric. 200 incandescent mini lights make a delightful nighttime glow that can be seen throughout the neighborhood! Hee hee!!
This North Pole igloo sculpture measures 36 inches tall and 48 inches wide. Not too big . . . and not too small. These pre-lit mini lights are great! If one bulb burns out, the others stay lit, but you’ll receive replacement bulbs. Ground stakes are included to keep the display upright and in place.
I like it because I love penguins . . . but also because it’s easy to assemble and set up.
You may also like:
Thanks for stopping by!
by Sharon | Nov 29, 2014
Image from http://cutediyprojects.com
When I saw these candy sleighs, I knew I had to make these. As you look at the image, you’ll get the idea of how to make them. You can use mini candies or you could use homemade candies or cookies. If you want to go that route, I’d get my candy canes set and have a square cookie or brownie as the base. I’d wrap the brownie and find something non-toxic to attach to the wrapped candy canes. Some people use hot glue which is fine for them. I’m not into burning myself so I go for Elmer’s School Glue, but you find what works for you. Then as you can see, you’re building a pyramid. They make great gifts when you add ribbon and a bow on top. These are good to have around for neighbors who stop by during the holidays.
Instructions can be found at http://cutediyprojects.com
Now, get started . . . you know the children will want to give them to their friends . . . maybe even their teacher . . . you’re going to need them for your neighbors and friends . . . family will want them too . . . how large is your demand growing for this clever and tasty gift?
Thanks for stopping by! We’ll have more . . .
by Sharon | Nov 28, 2014
Here’s a wonderful Christmas Tree Centerpiece that’s good enough to eat!
I doubt it’s going to last through Christmas . . . maybe I should buy some more bags of Hershey Kisses . . .
Image and Tree Idea from http://kitchenmeetsgirl.com
To make this “Kiss-Mas-Tree” you need to begin with a foam cone from your favorite craft store or dollar store. Select the size that suits the centerpiece you want to create. I ended up going for a large one and a couple of small ones. I know I’ll have nibblers — sneaky little angels they are.
You can go for the red and green ones and add the traditional silver ones for good measure or go totally silver or divide them up as I did. I made a silver and green small tree, a silver and red small tree and my large one I did with the silver, red and green.
These little kisses aren’t as soft as one would imagine. You’re going to need to have a clean turkey skewer to use to poke a little hole in the bottom of each Hershey Kiss. I used wooden round toothpicks, broke them in half . . . to secure the kiss on the toothpick and then stick it into the foam cone.
I started from the bottom and worked my way around, then up to the top. It’s a fun project for the kids to do, but keep an eye on the kisses . . .
For the top, you can get creative with the colorful garland or ribbon or stars . . . allow your imagination to go crazy! There are all kinds of great decorative touches available that you can buy and use to top these little trees off right.
Putting these kisses in a small jar as hostess gifts is also a good idea.
I’ll need to look into finding some labels . . . but you can use any of your tree topper left-overs to decorate the lids of the jars. Something to think about.
How about this!!!!!
Printable Candy Jar Labels from http://thegraphicsfairy.com
Here are labels that will do these proud.
Click the link under the picture and you’ll have more labels than you may originally thought you’d need. I like being able to decorate the bottom of the kisses — they look nice through the jar. The jar labels for the front and also for the top and the lid can be embellished, too. Be sure to check these out . . .
Don’t forget to tell your friends about TwoCansOnAString.com
by Sharon | Nov 24, 2014
This image is compliments of http://thegraphicsfairy.com
There are times when you see something you like and you must grab it and put it in a post immediately. I like the Fortune caption. It does seem appropriate for Thanksgiving except for the stocking, but I think it would be an alternative to the ever popular Elf on a Shelf. This is a Top Hat Guy in a Stocking. Think it will catch on? I like the concept of a good luck guy more than a tattle-tale elf, but that’s only my personal opinion.
This guy reminds me of the Monopoly Man, but he’s younger. Now there’s Edgar Bergen’s Charlie McCarthy “dummy” he made popular. Huh? You may be saying. Yes, it was quite a long time ago so I’ll show you a picture:
Do you see the resemblance? Yes? I thought you might. In any event, this Top Hat Guy in a Stocking caught my eye when I was looking for another vintage picture.
See how easy it is to get side-tracked?
I can’t tell you how many vintage pictures I’ve gone through . . . didn’t find the one I was searching for, but this one works better with the story I planned to tell you.
Come back here!
My father’s Uncle Al was a real story teller. He had some great adventures growing up. He was the youngest in his family, so he was always competing with his older brothers and sisters. He decided he was going to supply the Thanksgiving Turkey for the family one year. Well, I have to tell you that Uncle Al’s best intentions sometimes didn’t work out as planned.
You see, he and a friend met a man at the train depot. The boys could always find work for a few dimes around there. I know a few dimes doesn’t seem like much money, but back it those days a dime went a long way.
The man told them that a load of turkeys was coming in and he needed to hire some boys to take them to the various butcher shops in town for him. They were going to get a quarter for their efforts.
In those days the turkeys would be delivered alive and the butcher . . . well, the butcher did what a butcher does to prepare turkeys for his customers to buy and cook for Thanksgiving.
Uncle Al had a big wagon his brothers made for him with tall wooden planks built up on the sides. He was sure he could get a few turkeys in there and be able to earn his quarter, but his friend was able to get a real horse drawn wagon they could use. The only problem was the friend’s father and older brother came along.
Now, Uncle Al was content with his quarter and his wagon, but the friend’s father was haggling over the price. And in the meantime while the men were talking, the older brother let the turkey’s out of their cages.
As you can imagine, turkeys were running all over the place.
The man yelled, “Catch ’em!”
Uncle Al took off pulling his wagon behind him. He was determined to catch a turkey or two. Even if the depot man wouldn’t pay him, maybe the butcher would . . . or at least dress one for their Thanksgiving dinner.
Those turkeys give him a mighty chase. Uncle Al was exhausted. He rested beside his wagon to catch his breath.
From under some bushes on the side of the dirt road, he heard some faint gobbles. He watched. He waited. He slowly got to his feet.
Not one, but two turkeys came at him!
He grabbed one and put it in his wagon and chased after the second one.
The turkey in the wagon was making lots of noise. Uncle Al stopped. The turkey he was chasing stopped. Then the strangest thing happened. The turkey he was chasing came up to the wagon and was trying to get inside. Uncle Al picked it up and went on his way down the dirt road for home with his two turkeys.
All thoughts of a Thanksgiving turkey dinner were forgotten. Those two turkeys lived in the back yard for many years.
Just for the record, Uncle Al did bring home a turkey for Thanksgiving . . .
I hope you enjoyed the story and can appreciate the little Top Hat Guy in the Stocking. I’ll work on figuring out how to make something with him. You may be way ahead of me 🙂
May you have a Happy and Prosperous Thanksgiving!
