A Cubee Kinda Gift

It’s Christmas Eve! I can’t believe it’s already here. If you're anything like my family, you have a house filled with happy people and—surprise!—you have an unexpected guest! Okay, things may not be that drastic but maybe you need the perfect little “smile!” gift or stocking stuffer.

The answer? Cubees!

I love Cubees. I’ve given them a few times as gifts and after the initial shock of getting a blockhead, people get a chuckle out of them.

There are calendars and pop culture icons and even holiday cubes to bring smiles to people’s faces.

So, check out this site and have an amazing, happy, healthy, Merry Christmas!

http://www.cubeecraft.com/

The Write Kind of Flowers

Winter can seem so dreary. It goes on and on and, besides the wintry white (and brown), there isn’t a lot of variety of colors to see. These pens are just the thing to brighten your day plus they’re useful so you’ll want to make a whole bouquet of them! I'm sure you've seen these at stores to keep people from walking away with them; when they're done well, they really are pretty neat.

I once made these with a Young Women’s group and talked about individual worth and how we’re each unique and special just like the flowers we were using. That’s one of the really great things about this project—you can find the specific flower that you or your giftee loves or the flower that best represents your relationship with them. A pink rose or a bright, happy sunflower…any flower would be perfect!

Floral tape comes in a lot of colors. I usually use green but you can pink any color you want. If you're doing this for a girls' party or bridal shower, pick a color that goes with the theme.

Flower Pen

Materials and Supplies

~ Bic ballpoint pens

~ Floral tape (comes in a variety of colors but I generally use green for obvious reasons)

~ Fake flowers

~ Wire snips

Directions:

1. Decide if you want your flower to have a leaf or not. You can attach it separately or with the flower head depending on where its location is on the stem.

2. Cut the flower stem about four inches from the head of the flower.

3. Hold the stem against the end of the pen making sure the head is just above the very end of the pen. Add a securing piece of tape around the flower stem and the pen

4. Begin to wrap the tape around the pen and the stem. Pull tightly but not too tightly or it will tear. You want the tape to change color slightly, get a bit lighter. This way you know that the tape is sticking to itself.

5. Continue wrapping in a spiral to toward the tip. I stop just before the shaft tapers to the point.

Extra idea?

These are so quick to make, I suggest making several and placing them in a glass vase. If this is too big, grab a small terracotta pot, fill it with beans and stick the pen, or pens, out of it like flowers.

Don’t forget to include cards!

Old School 'Rapper

Sometimes giving the actual gift is a hard task to do. When someone asks for a fish, you can’t exactly wrap up the little buddy and place him under the tree until Christmas day. So giving a stand-in gift can be a fun way to give the person something to open and not have to worry with air holes and potty breaks.

How ever you choose to present the present, the wrapping can be just as special. Martha Stewart and the little elves working for her have come up with these amazingly cute little gift bags.

http://www.marthastewart.com/photogallery/holiday-gift-bags

When I say these bags are little, I really mean it! They measure about 2” x 2” x 1” and have lots of patterns to choose from. It suggests using wax twine for the little bags but I use curl sheen ribbon and it’s really pretty. I use a glue stick to glue all the paper parts to each other and hot glue to glue the handles on.

Little gifts are really neat. Maybe it goes back to our childhood cubbyholes, being able to tuck little things into little spaces. How pretty would it look to have little gift bags tucked all over the tree?

Think of the special things you could put into the bags—hugs and kisses, special time, candy, jewelry, photos…lots and lots of smiles! They make lots of things in miniature, too. Just imagine how much you can put in such teeny tiny bags…

Extra Idea?

Why just give them the money when you could fold it in a unique way?

http://members.cox.net/crandall11/money/

This site is full of fun ways to fold money!

I Heard the Bells on Christmas Day

Craft projects are all about using or reusing and recycling items around the house in unique and creative ways. Sometimes all it takes is to flip something upside down and all’a’sudden it’s something completely different!

The bells for today’s craft are like that. The thing I like about terracotta chimes or bells is that their tone is so uniquely theirs—they aren’t shrill like metal wind chimes can sometimes be and little Zuzu Bailey will still be able to say her iconic line when you hear these bells ring!

Terracotta pots come in lots and lots of sizes from the very small to gigantic and you can get them from craft shops to home improvement stores. The nice thing about this project, too, is you don’t have to have an ounce of painting abilities (though I know everyone does!). The technique for this project is to glue ribbon around the bell or decoupage by cutting an image out of a piece of material—like a snowman, candy cane, snowflakes, or other wintery things—and glue it down to the side of the bell.

Terracotta Bells:

Materials and Supplies:

~ Terracotta Pots

~ Wood beads (about an inch)

~ Ribbon (try to get thick ribbon or maybe even cording)

~ Hot glue

~ Scissors

~ Paint brush or foam brush

~ Mod Podge or Elmer’s glue

~ Image from material

Directions:

1. It’s always a good idea to wipe down the pots to get rid of any dust or dirt left on the pot during the firing process.

2. If you wish, you can paint the pots a base color like green or red and even a metallic color like silver or gold.

3. There are two decorating techniques. I went with the simpler ribbon embellishment but you can add a picture or decal or material.

Ribbon:

Use a hot glue gun and glue the ribbon around the rim of the pot making sure you're gluing it right side up while the pot's mouth is down. At the end of the ribbon, fold the end under so that the edge is clean looking.

Decoupage:

Cut out the design or decal you are going to glue to the side of the bell. Make sure it’s smaller than the bell so that you can see everything and there won’t be any creases or wrinkles when you glue it on.

Mod Podge the back of the material. If you’re using Elmer’s glue, cut it with a bit of water so that it’s soupier but not watery. It’s about a 1 to 3 ratio with 1 part water to 3 parts glue. Place the material onto the bell and decoupage over it. I cover the whole bell so that it looks uniform when dry.

Let dry about four hours.

4. Thread the ribbon through the hole in the pot. I do a loop so it can hang the bell from things. You’ll need to glue a stop on the inside of the bell through the ribbon so that the knot stays in place.

5. Knot the ribbon on both sides of the stick so that the ribbon doesn't go anywhere and the pot is secure.

6. Place the inch wooden bead onto the ribbon end and tie in place making sure that it will rest inside the bell when done—otherwise it won’t clang! If you're brain-frazzled like me and get a doll head bead instead of a bead with a hole all the way through it, just knot the end of the ribbon and fill the hole in the bead with glue and

Extra idea?

Christmas bells are special. Henry Wadsworth Longfellow wrote a moving poem that was turned into a Christmas carol. The poem is below so maybe you could print it off on nice paper and include it with your gift.

Christmas Bells

by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

I heard the bells on Christmas Day

Their old, familiar carols play,

And wild and sweet

The words repeat

Of peace on earth, good-will to men!

And thought how, as the day had come,

The belfries of all Christendom

Had rolled along

The unbroken song

Of peace on earth, good-will to men!

Till, ringing, singing on its way,

The world revolved from night to day,

A voice, a chime,

A chant sublime

Of peace on earth, good-will to men!

Then from each black, accursed mouth

The cannon thundered in the South,

And with the sound

The carols drowned

Of peace on earth, good-will to men!

It was as if an earthquake rent

The hearth-stones of a continent,

And made forlorn

The households born

Of peace on earth, good-will to men!

And in despair I bowed my head;

"There is no peace on earth," I said:

"For hate is strong,

And mocks the song

Of peace on earth, good-will to men!"

Then pealed the bells more loud and deep:

"God is not dead; nor doth he sleep!

The Wrong shall fail,

The Right prevail,

With peace on earth, good-will to men!"

There's No Man Like a Snowman

Snowmen inside the house bring a smile to my face. Especially when there’s no threat of them melting. I know I suggested the wooden snowmen a few days ago but I couldn’t not suggest this project—he's just too cute!

The first snowman like this I ever saw was made by our dear next door neighbor. There’s something therapeutic about these little guys. They’re filled with rice and they’re soft and lumpy and fun to play with. You can make them tall and skinny or short and fat or whatever you want!

Sock Snowman

Materials and Supplies:

~ White Socks

~ Rice or polyfill

~ Yarn

~ Craft Glue or hot glue

~ Scissors

~ Scraps of material

~ Puff paint, craft supplies (pompoms, ribbon, googly eyes, buttons etc)

Directions:

1. Fill the sock about 2/3s full. If your sock is a bit thin, you may have to put a sock inside a sock. Tie the sock closed close to the top of the rice making sure it’s really, really tightly and securely.

2. Just like a snowman, section the body off into three sections making the head slightly smaller than the middle and the middle slightly smaller than the bottom. Tie a piece of yarn at the two points where the three sections meet.

3. Roll the top down so that it looks like a hat.

4. You can glue buttons onto the body or hat, add a scarf at the neck, or lots of other things. You can either use puff paint to draw on the face or stitch it on, if you have the knowledge. : ) I cheated and used a sharpie for the mouth and glued on googly eyes.

Extra Idea?

There are loads of sweet books about snowmen but my absolute favorite this year is Stranger in the Woods: A Photographic Fantasy (Nature) by Carl R. Sams.

http://www.amazon.com/Stranger-Woods-Photographic-Fantasy-Nature/dp/0967174805/ref=cm_cr_pr_product_top

The photographs in this book are so magical! And the story is very, very sweet. Just be prepared to provide seed, nuts, and carrots to whoever you give this gift to!

One is Silver and the Other Gold

I’ve actually been really excited about suggesting this one! Old School Friendship Bracelets seem to never go out of style and it’s really a nice quiet Sunday activity that doesn’t require any skill but knowing how to knot.

I love this website.

http://www.friendship-bracelets.net/index.php

Craftier people than I have come up with a million suggested patterns for bracelets. This may not be your exact brand of craft but if you’re going to have a houseful of children it’s a cheap way to keep them entertained for (hopefully) a couple of hours.

Materials and Supplies:

~ DMC floss

~ Scissors

Extra idea?

There’s nothing like wanting to start a craft without the materials to do it. You can get an assortment of floss colors for not much money to give to your little crafters so they can go off and make their own friendship bracelets!

Not So Puzzling Craft

Can you believe Christmas is a week away? I have some friends that haven't even started shopping and are going to the mall today to find their gifts. I don't envy the craziness they will face! Instead, I'll stay in and craft by the warm fire and maybe make these easy-"piecey" wreaths.

I think everyone has at least one puzzle that it missing at least one piece. What to do with all the left over pieces? Make wreaths, of course! Well, that’s one of the many things you can do with the pieces but this post focuses just on making little wreaths with fun embellishments.

This project could be turned into tree ornaments, door hangings, package embellishments, and so much more! Imagine an apartment door completely covered with these little ornaments. Anther great thing about them is they're pretty flat so they're easy to store.

Everything, it seems, these days is made in miniature form. Bells, holly, ribbons, bows, berries, snowflakes, penguins, snowmen…just wander down the winter crafting section at the hobby store and see what you find. I personally like the little bells because they add a bit more festive cheer.

Puzzle Piece Wreath

Materials and Supplies:

~ Old puzzle pieces.

~ Acrylic paint—green (maybe red, gold silver)

~ Fuzz balls

~ Craft glue or hot glue

~ Ribbon

~ Scissors

~ Paintbrush or Q-Tip

Directions:

1. Start by painting several puzzle pieces green. You can paint the front glossy side or the mat rougher side, it doesn’t really matter. You can get a few greens, green with sparkles, metallic green...whatever you wish. Let dry.

2. Arrange puzzle pieces in a circle. I lay down a base of several pieces not glued together then glue pieces on top to “fill” out the wreath. You can do as many levels as you want. I usually do three or four.

3. Glue on the embellishments.

4. Add a ribbon at top to attach it to things.

Extra idea?

Make several and paint them different colors to make them look more like a collection. You could make an advent calendar of sorts and put numbers on each wreath, counting to Christmas day.

Add a photograph in the middle of the wreath to make it extra unique and special.

Organized Thoughts

Do you have someone in your life that needs a little help getting organized? Or do you have a gob of Christmas photos and cards and no where to display them? Corkboards are great ways to get organized and don’t cost very much. Plus they’re even better when you decorate them!

The great thing is that you can personalize this to the person you’re giving it to. If they’re a pink and green kind of person or have lots of team spirit, you can pick the specific colors that will bring a smile to their face.

Another great thing about this project is, if you’re making it for yourself, you can change out the colors and patterns every season and you’ll stay organized for years to come!

If you can’t find corkboard, you can alter the project by using a lightweight piece of wood or even a heavy piece of matboard. It’ll just have to be a bit more permanent this way.

Fabric Bulletin Board

Materials and Supplies:

~ Corkboard

~ Material

~ Ribbon (lots and lots)

~ Scissors

~ Stapler or staple gun or glue

~ Pretty thumbtacks

Directions:

1. Measure a piece of material that’s about two inches bigger all around the board (4” wider and 4” taller). This really is a project that you can use anything you have around the house. If you have any batting left over from yesterday’s project, you can add that in between the material and corkboard for a fluffier looking board.

2. Place the material face down on the table (place the batting on top of that if you have it). Place the board on top of the material.

3. If you’re using corkboard and you have short staples, staple the material around the back of the board. If you’re using matboard, glue the material in place. A hot glue gun will be your best friend for this project. I was using corkboard and just used the hot glue gun.

4. Flip the board over. Take strips of ribbon and lay them criss-cross over the board. There is no right or wrong way to do this but if you want a pattern, go from corner to corner, making a big X for the first two then add ribbon at the halfway point on each side, connecting it to the halfway point of the top or bottom of the board.

5. Glue or tack down at the points the ribbon cross. It's important that you only glue down the ribbon at the points where they overlap, otherwise you won't be able to put photos under the ribbon. Where the ribbons cross, place a drop of glue under the bottom ribbon on the material and then under the top ribbon on the bottom ribbon ( material, glue, ribbon, glue ribbon).

Extra idea?

Once you figure out how to make these, they're pretty easy. You can include with this gift the materials to change the look of the board later on in the year. If they have any questions, you can refer them to this blog. :)

Family Tree

Genealogy work is something that lots of people are doing these days. It’s really neat to find out who you are through your relatives and it’s important to make sure no one’s forgotten through time. It is something that’s great to do with family members, too, so for the extra idea, might I suggest spending time with your giftee and doing some research about their family tree.

Even if you don’t know your family tree very far back, this gift is great for the immediate family in your life. If you don’t have a big family, include several pictures of each member, friends or places that are special to you and yours.

Stores like Hallmark have little kits that have the picture frames and wire tree stands ready to go and all you have to do is print off the pictures and insert them into the frames. You use wallet-sized images and it's a very regal way to present family photos.

I thought long and hard about what kind of tree to make for this project because I wanted to make those little trees....I still haven’t come up with anything that doesn't involve a soldering iron or bandsaw. But then when I was looking at the Christmas tree I thought, “How neat would it be to have ornaments for your tree with different portraits of your family members?”

So today’s project is a picture frame ornament to put family photos in.

Picture Frame:

Materials and Supplies:

~ Sturdy cardboard or matboard

~ Box cutter or Xacto knife

~ Felt or thin quilting batting

~ Material

~ Scissors

~ Glue

~ Ruler

~ Tape

~ Photographs

Directions:

1. Measure and cut the cardboard pieces. There’s a front and back to the frame so there should be two pieces that are the same size—say 5” by 5”—and one of those should have a hole cut out of it. If you want a circle, trace around a glass. If you’re using a 4 x 6 photo, don’t cut the hole bigger than 3.75” x 5.75” (of course, if your frame is on 5” x 5”, your measurements will be smaller!). It’s a good rule to leave about an inch of frame around the picture so the hole will be about 3” x 3”.

2. Cut batting or felt to the size of the front frame, cutting out the hole just the same. Use a dot of glue in a few places to keep it in place.

3. Lay a piece of fabric right side down on the table. Make sure it’s bigger than the frame on all sides, about one inch all around is good. Place the frame batting side down on the material. Trace all around the outside edge and around the frame opening.

4. Cut the aperture out of the fabric. Make sure you leave about an inch of material so that you can tuck the material back around the frame, make it nice and pretty.

5. Glue the material onto the frame. Place it back within the guidelines and carefully pull the material snug as you go.

6. Glue material onto the back piece of matboard. Follow the same process of laying the material right side down on the table, place the board on top of it and glue the edges to the board.

7. Tape the photograph to the front piece of matboard so you know it’s secure and won’t go anywhere.

8. Glue the back board to the front board. Don't forget to glue in a piece of ribbon to hang it from!

Extra idea?

If you’re using photographs of relatives that have amazing stories, create a companion book to go with the ornaments that you can read for years to come.

Frosty the Snowman was a Jolly Happy Soul

Though there’s snow-a-plenty this year, bringing snowmen inside isn’t exactly the best of plans—I haven’t found a way yet to keep them from melting and making a mess. So this trio of chums is a happy replacement that can be put out for years to come.

The thing I love about these little guys is that, for blocks of wood, they really have a lot of personality! I wish I could take the credit for these but we did them at a Super Saturday for church so I’m just passing the idea on to you.

Since I own a saw (I realize a lot of people do not), I cut the blocks of wood myself so that I can determine the sizes that I want. I’m not certain if you can buy scraps of wood or have them cut it for you at Lowe’s or Home Depot but it’s worth asking about because these guys are worth it. If anything, you never know when you may need a hand saw so pick up a cheap one for five dollars. : )

Wooden Snowmen

Materials and Supplies:

~ 2 x 4 wood blocks at various heights

~ Material

~ White paint

~ Newspaper for easy clean up

~ Black, orange, pink paint

~ Buttons

~ Hot glue gun

Directions:

1. Cut the 2 x 4 wood to various heights. Remember, if you make them too tall they’ll be wobbly. Mine are about 12”, 9”, and 5”

2. Paint them white and let dry.

3. Paint a sweet little face. Don’t forget the carrot nose and eyebrows!

4. Cut the material for the hats. Since the blocks of wood are all 2 x 4, the material should be about 14” wide and about 6” tall. Roll up the bottom edge (for a little brim) and glue to the front of the wood block over the face making sure there’s an overhang at the top to gather the material to tie off the hat. Glue around the block in different places making sure it’s secure.

5. At the back, fold over one side (like you would to make a package look nice) and glue in place.

6. Cut off a strip of material, either from the same material or contrasting, and tie off the hat close to the wood. Fluff the top so that it looks nice and pretty and warm.

7. Glue on buttons.

8. Cut a bit wider strip for a scarf and tie it around the snowman’s neck.

Extra idea?

The more the merrier! Have a big family? Make one for every member of the family! Think of how cute a little baby block snowman would be!

Good Fortune

I’m not a huge fan of fortune cookies but when I get them at the end of a meal, I always have to take one and see what my quirky little fortune will be. My favorite? “You like Chinese food.” How can you not love a cookie that makes you laugh?!

The great thing about these cookies is there is no baking at all. In fact, they aren’t even edible! They are made out of cloth and you don’t need to worry about burning, breaking or ruining them in any way.

Why make cloth fortune cookies? Well, for one thing they’re pretty quirky. Have you ever gotten one before? And can you imagine getting one? It’s a gift that would stick in your mind, definitely!

The really cool thing is that there are gift boxes shaped like Chinese food take-out containers that you can put these in. And you don’t have to make up fortunes at all. Think of your favorite memories with the person, or give them promises that they can open and use throughout the year—“Good for one breakfast in bed.” The neat thing about this plan is that it’s a surprise to both of you when it’s opened what the task will be!

Cloth Fortune Cookies:

Materials and Supplies:

~ Pieces of thick material or felt

~ Craft glue

~ Pen and paper

~ Scissors

~ Craft wire

~ Wire snips

Note about the craft wire: You can find this in several sections like floral or general crafts but if for some reason you live somewhere where you can’t find it, try the hardware section. They sell that stuff you use to twist-tie up bags of things by the roll and since it’s not seen in this project--that would be okay to use. You might need a double-thickness of it or about 20 gauge wire.

Directions:

1. Cut circles out of the material. A really good size is the mouth of a plastic, 9 oz drinking cup.

2. Cut pieces of wire slightly smaller than the diameter of the circle and glue in place. If you’re like me and impatient, you can use hot glue but remember it will dry hard so you want to be neat in your application because you will be able to feel it.

3. Glue a second piece of felt on top of the other, sandwiching the wire in the middle. I use glue all around the edge leaving about .25” from the edge. Hot glue dries quickly so do about a half or less at a time.

4. Let dry. While they’re drying (do lots at a time!) you can either write your “fortunes” or memories or promises.

5. Place the fortune inside. Fold up like a taco shell then fold the two ends back toward each other. You may need to “fluff” them by putting your finger inside to push out the sides.

You also may need to put a drop of glue between the parts that touch, just to make certain it stays together.

Extra idea?

Slip a gift certificate for a yummy meal into the gift box.

If you want to do fortunes, here’s a fun site that can give you lots of ideas.

http://www.fortunecookiemessage.com/