Christmas Craft Party

Last weekend was my third annual Christmas Craft Party. There's nothing better than spending an evening sitting around eating and chatting with friends from my art class while we make Christmas crafts.

So here is what we made this year.

1. TWIG SANTAS

What you need:

• twigs and sticks in a range of thicknesses
• acrylic paint - red, flesh-coloured, white
• corn starch
• paint brushes
• trays for the paint 
• popsicle sticks for mixing
• black Sharpie

This was probably my favourite craft of the evening. My Mom and I collected twigs at the cottage about a month ago so we could make these Santas. We chose twigs that were a range of thicknesses from about a pencil size to a couple of centimeters across. We used the large clippers to cut the end on an angle to form the hat. Then we painted the hat red and the face using flesh-coloured paint. We mixed corn starch with white paint to make the beard fluffy and we added eyes using a Sharpie. I made more Santas on the day after the party (it isn't easy for me to get much done during the party itself so I took advantage of having everything set up and I crafted the next day too before I cleaned up) and on some of the Santas I used fluffy white wool for the beard, instead of paint.

2. TWIG LETTERS

This craft really got everyone being creative and making different things which is always fun to see what everyone does.

What you need:

• twigs and sticks in a variety of sizes and shapes
• wire to hold the sticks in a round shape
• ribbon, wool, twine, baker's string, fake berries to decorate the letters
• blocks of wood
• clippers, scissors, wire cutters
• glue guns

My Mom and I gathered all the twigs we would need for this craft at the cottage too. I kept them in the garage so they would stay pliable which seemed to work. I want to give a shout-out to Lowe's and Rona as both stores gave me wood blocks for free and even cut a few scrap pieces up for me. I was so grateful as I didn't want to spend a lot on the craft projects and I had initially tried one other hardware store and they had said no, so I was very happy when Rona and Lowe's were so generous.

I made more letters on Sunday. I finished up "NOEL" which you can see in the back row of the first photo that is missing an "L" (get it, no 'L'. Ha! Ha! I crack myself up) and made "JOY" as well.

3. CARVED ORANGES

We've done this craft for three years in a row so this will be the last one, but I really wanted to do it again so I would have a bowl full of carved oranges. I only had four and that just isn't a good number to display so now I have seven and I'm good to go.

What you need:

• oranges
• carving set
• bowl to put peels in

The only trick to this craft is to make sure the oranges are really dried out before putting them on display. I do that by putting them on our floor heat vent for two weeks and then they are fine.

I have to say that this craft party is one of my favourite Christmas activities. I love sitting around chatting and visiting with people who like to play with twigs. 

By the way, if you are curious what we made in previous years, you can see them here, here, and more details here.

A Rainbow Celebration

While I was driving to the cottage this past weekend I had plenty of time to let my mind wander - to create, and dream, and plan. I love having the time to do that. 

One of the things I thought up was this pretty party.  I wanted to document it so I don't forget the details.

I would set the table with a white tablecloth and white dinner plates so that all the attention is on the centrepiece. I would line up mason jars filled with a rainbow of flowers down the centre of the table. I think it would look gorgeous and can't wait to actually try it. I even love the words - a rainbow of flowers.

The dinner would involve bright and beautiful food. We could start with a rainbow of vegetables.

Then follow the vegetables with a rainbow of beautiful ingredients laid out on trays for make-your-own tacos. Or what about a table full of bright and beautiful salads. Or how about a trio of pretty soups for dinner.

cream of yellow carrot, tomato, and cream of asparagus soups

And then for dessert we could have delicious rainbow fruit kebabs

Quick Dish

along with a bright and bountiful dessert table.  

There would definitely be a tray of rainbow-coloured macaroons,

and a rainbow cake,

Kate Landers Events

with rainbow m&ms.

Beki Cook's Cakes

And if you wanted to decorate the room some more you could make one of these rainbow balloon banners.

Design Mom

or some of these rainbow zigzag streamers.

Oh Happy Day

or some of these rainbow paper fan flowers.

Candice and Ezra

Have I gone off my rocker?  Am I channeling my inner four-year old?  I just can't help myself - rainbows are so bright and pretty. How do you feel about them?

Maybe some of it is over the top, but I can't wait for an opportunity to make the rainbow flower centrepiece.  

Christmas Craft Party

The craft party I had on Wednesday felt like the kick off to the Christmas festivities (it helps that I only had two more work days left so I was in wind-down mode).  

I invited everyone in my art class to come and do a little Christmas crafting. I made the invitations with Picmonkey using their Winterland theme borders.

Making it pot luck was such a help and it meant there was so much yummy food.

I set the dining room and family room up with tables for three different crafts.

I kept the messy craft on the dining room table (covered in a plastic tablecloth) and the other crafts were in the family room on low tables. 

The three crafts we made were:

1) Orange Carving 

We used specialty kitchen tools to carve the skins of oranges. Carved oranges are fun to make - sort of like carving a pumpkin only smaller and easier. The only thing to watch is that you don't pierce the actual orange segments themselves or the orange will go moldy.  My friend carved some oranges years ago and they hardened into hard balls, but she also carved some last year and they went moldy, so there is no telling what the secret is. I figured that we were close enough to Christmas that they would last until then and look pretty so it wouldn't matter either way.  

The finished oranges were beautiful and endlessly varied with different designs and even cloves added on some.

  

2) Paper Stars (or are they snowflakes)

I found the instructions to make these pretty paper stars on How About Orange.  The problem we ran into was that you really need a heavy duty large-size stapler to make them properly. We used paper (not cardstock) cut into one inch wide segments and trimmed so they would fit into the stapler.  The paper strips were folded in half, stapled together in the middle, and then the end of each strip was folded back on itself and attached near the centre with double-sided tape. My honest opinion is that these paper stars was difficult to make them look as pretty as they did in the inspiration photos.  They were fun to make, but a little disappointing in my mind. If anyone has made them before and has some tips I would love to know.

3) Beaded Snowflakes (or are they stars)

I made these beaded snowflakes years ago and loved them. I put them out every Christmas and have always wanted to make more using different colours so I thought this would be the perfect opportunity. I want to show you step-by-step how to make them so I'll post about them later.

The craft party was a lot of fun and just might become an annual tradition.  Have you ever hosted a craft party? 

Happy 80th Birthday Tink

When my Mom was born, her parents couldn't decide on a name so they nicknamed her Tink.  After a month of pondering they came up with her real name, but she is still fondly known as Tink by many.  

Yesterday we had an 80th birthday party for her with family and friends.   I wanted the decor to be not too Christmassy, but with hints of red as that is Mom's favourite colour and in keeping with her name I thought a few Tinkerbell things would be just the touch.

There were Tinkerbell serviettes,

and Tinkerbell cupcake decorations.  They were actually Tinkerbell stickers that came in packages with two sheets so I had my daughter stick two identical ones back-to-back with a toothpick inbetween to put into the cupcakes.

Our family is a bit chocoholic, but I recognize that not everyone is, so there were lemon cupcakes as well as chocolate ones.  Kate made and decorated every last cupcake - thank heavens as it was a lot of work and she did a fantastic job.  Kate made eight special cupcakes (one for each decade) with miniature toadstools, snowflakes and candles on them.

We didn't just eat cupcakes, though.  We started off with tourtière (meat pies), pickles and relishes, three kinds of salads, and bread.  There was also a fruit plate and frozen yogurt with the cupcakes.

Do you see the gorgeous, amazing, humongous bouquet of flowers in the corner?  Mom brought it with her for us all to enjoy at the party.  My Mother is a retired minister and a long-time and well-loved elderly parishioner passed away a few days ago.  The family asked my Mother to do the funeral, which she did.  The family knew it was my Mother's birthday so they insisted she take the flowers home with her.   So my Mother celebrated her 80th birthday by doing a funeral in the morning and having a party in the evening.  That is just how my Mom rolls. 

She's still incredibly active - going for hikes, travelling, visiting family and friends, and spending time at the cottage.  Until just a few years ago, she and my father built houses for Habitat for Humanity all over Canada and the United States taking part in several builds a year.  At first she was doing painting and some building, but gradually got more skills so was able to put up siding and even help with electrical work.  May we all be so healthy and active when we are 80!


Happy Birthday Mom (Tink)!

Sweet 16 Card

Two years ago this month, when our daughter Kate turned 16, she was an exchange student living in France.  Since she was away from home, I wanted to do something to make her birthday special, but it had to be small enough to be mailed and sweet enough to make Kate smile.

I made her a Sweet 16 birthday card - yes plenty of candy was consumed in the making of this card.  I had family and friends from school and youth group sign the inside of it.
 

I also bought 16 little gifts and wrapped them up, numbering them 1-16, so she had some fun things to open.  I wrapped up some bracelets from our favourite store, Ten Thousand Villages, some gum, TicTacs, a scarf, and other little treats.
 

It wasn't the same as having her at home, but she loved the card and little presents and we did celebrate when she got home.
 

This year she is turning 18 - my how time flies!

Linked to The Celebration Inspiration Party at Under the Table and Dreaming,
Show and Share Day at Just a Girl