by Sharon | Dec 9, 2014
I went for a little walk around the neighborhood last night to get a good look at all the light displays. Some were quite elaborate and others a bit subdued from previous years. It may be the economy or people hopefully are realizing that Christmas is not all about the commercial hoop-la. What I really enjoyed was the smell of wood burning in the fireplaces of various homes. Some may argue pollution, but it is an aroma that means family, snuggling up with a cup of hot chocolate watching television or a DVD together. Maybe some popcorn to munch on, too. It’s the family time that is so special and the crafts you make together or bring out year after year.
Yes, I do have a new craft. The picture tells it all.
It’s amazing what a bottle and a bit of imagination can do.
I love the vintage Santa’s and the calligraphy of an long ago era. Add a ribbon and some bling and you have a very impressive bottle to display.
I imagine this would work nicely with liter soda bottles, too. I recommend you go on over to http://thegraphicsfairy.com and print out some vintage Santa’s, Christmas bells and foliage, some old script or music, cut them out, place them to your taste and you’ll have a one-of-a-kind decoupage bottle.
by Sharon | Dec 8, 2014
The picture seems to tell it all. I do have my take on the best way to make this Christmas craft project work.
You’re going to need:
- vase of flowers
- a clean round container the vase of flowers would fit in
- candy canes
- two-sided tape
- large rubber band
- red or white ribbon
Let’s put it together:
- I’d put two strips of two-sided tape around the outer container: approximately halfway down the container and also about a half inch from the bottom of the container to make sure my candy canes will be securely placed.
- Attach the candy canes to the container.
- For added security, I’d slide a rubber band from the bottom of the candy canes and up under the crooks of the candy canes as in the picture where you see the ribbon.
- Next I’d tie a ribbon to hide the rubber band.
By having the vase of roses or flowers of your choice in a container placed in another container, watering will be easier and gives some space away from the candy cane decoration.
You can always do variations of this idea by using small glass or plastic containers and the mini candy canes to use as place setting cards or give as hostess gifts.
This is a festive idea that will dress up your dining table or wherever you choose to put it.
Thanks for stopping by!
by Sharon | Dec 4, 2014
I like the rustic look of these stockings. At your favorite craft store you can get wooden letters to adorn them or put names on them using fabric paints. These letters have been “glitterized”. Glitter isn’t my thing, it gets all over everything, but for those of you who are into it — go to town!
As you’ve probably guessed these Christmas Stockings are made from burlap, but you can use whatever fabric you choose. I know of a woman who used leather and vintage fur and baubles to dress them up. She also got into a denim style with pockets. There are no limits to what you can do with stockings.
I think a “western” style might be nice with interesting handkerchiefs for adornment and use denim, too. I like the idea of having pockets on the outside where you can tuck in little goodies and also put in candy canes. They make such a nice variety of them in all color combinations and flavors.
Here’s another image showing off the mantle in a rustic style. It’s nice to bring the outdoors in with your decorating. I do like pine cones and the “southwestern” style this gives. It’s amazing what can be done with garden or artificial clippings, ribbon and imagination. It’s also nice to be able to bring in some family heirlooms or go to a thrift store to find just the right things. I know many from different cultures who like to bring that into their decorating, too. People who travel have some items they picked up and this is a perfect way to display them, too.
I know I moved away from stockings, but the whole mantle comes into play as you try to tie everything together to make an interesting focal point that attracts the eye of your visitors and guests.
I do have some free templates for you. They’re of the stockings in three sizes:
Large Stocking Template
Medium Stocking Template
Small Stockings Template
Now, for the cuff, you’ll need to work that out and the burlap loop. The loop is no big deal, just a strip of fabric and sew it on your stocking. I was thinking about the cuff. You could fold it down and then sew fabric on it. You can also add to the top of the template — if it doesn’t fit on the size paper you use in your printer, you can print out another one and tape the extra section on your template to make it longer or free hand it.
You may want to do some interesting decorating with bells, garland strips, fake fur and who knows what you’ll find that will make these stockings special. I do like giving you the basics and then you get your imagination and creativity into high gear.
I hope this Rustic Christmas Stocking images and the mantle were food for thought and the article was helpful. We always get ideas from seeing what others do and then make our own to fit our taste and preference.
I included three sizes of stocking templates. You may be able to re-size them to create the size you want. I thought the small ones would be nice to put silverware in for your Christmas dinner. There are lots of things people do for that purpose. They’d also make excellent hostess gifts filled with goodies.
Thanks for stopping by!
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 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
