christmas holiday ideas
December 4, 2011 § 2 Comments
I’ve been working hard all weekend and just finished a handful of curious Christmas crafts! But before I forget, here is a recap of all the fun and festive ideas I shared on this blog last year so you can find it all in one place! I didn’t realize I made so many (which reminds me how horribly slow I’ve been this year). If you didn’t try them last year, I hope you may try some this year!
CRAFTS AND DÉCOR IDEAS
Rolled Paper Christmas Ornaments
With some strips of paper and mounting tape, you can roll these simple paper ornaments, then go crazy with the quilling (as I wish I did).
A New Life for Old Plastic Ornaments
Grant your old plastic snowflake ornaments a new life. Print beloveds’ names on cardstock, cut stock into circles, and stick circles to your ol’ plastic snowflake to use as dazzling place cards and gift tags.
Lego-inspired Advent Calendar Treat Boxes
It’s way past December 1st, but if you still got time, you may finish this in time for Christmas. My favorite Christmas craft last year that nearly had me cross-eyed!
Why dispose of those brown shopping bags when you can cut them up and tape them together to form a ginormous brown bag sequoia cone as a table centerpiece?
What can you get from a long balloon (the ones that magically turn into poodles and swords), a doily, and some glue? Well, an stylish lace wreath, of course.
Here’s one for my fellow non-knitters! Take your old red gloves and white gloves (or your festive colors of choice), cut up the fingers, switch them up, stitch them up, and you have teeny weeny miniature stockings fit for your Hershey’s kiss. (Or a diamond ring? Or a modest diamond necklace? Or a humble pair of wee diamond earrings? Men should read this blog more often!!!)
If you’re thinking “That lady over at Paper, Plate, and Plane has lost her mind, taking all of life’s precious time to hack gloves into mini stockings”, really, it ain’t for naught! Those mini stockings are perfect to append to your handmade cards then fill with love such as greetings, or cash, or diamonds (right, gents?).
I wore this necklace recently to the One of a Kind Show here in Toronto last weekend. I was stopped over half a dozen times by strangers who were curious about such a statement piece. Upon closer inspection, they discovered it’s made of paper clips, and even more gratifying were their reactions (considering people at the One of a Kind Show pay for handcrafted items like hats for $200, I take their gleeful reactions as gratifying). Last year’s paper clip necklace was worth my efforts and I’m not afraid to keep wearing it!
Make monogram-window gift wrap. Lace-up a doily around a mailing tube. Fold and pleat a gift wrap and shape into a gift bag. Turn a gift wrap into a gift envelope with spool.
Foil pie pans turned into rosettes turned into a topiary. A surprisingly simple task with spectacular results. I still have mine as my year-round coffee table centerpiece.
Take your printy-dater stamps and some large sheets paper (I love kraft) and stamp the date away! I made stripe, criss-cross, herringbone, and snow patterns last year.
FOOD IDEAS
Po’ Boy Truffles (Grown-up Rice Krispie Treats)
Turn your rice krispie treat into a liquor infused grown-up indulgence! I’ve used in the past various rice krispie combinations such as coconut rum, coffee toffee, amaretto, Canadian maple walnut, and many others (the list is long). I made dozens of these last year (candy cane po’ boy truffles) as favors for a charity event.
Yes, two Styrofoam bowls and red electrical tape can turn into peppermint candy favor boxes. I filled mine last year with, as mentioned above, dozens and dozens of candy cane po’ boy truffles.
DIY Cookie Stamps and Pleated Cookie Wrapping
Design and make your very own cookie stamps by simply cutting out a plastic sheet (a chopping board, and a couple who wrote me last year substituted with plastic margarine lids — fantastic recycling!). Then, as something out-of-the-ordinary (for cookies anyway), wrap your cookies like you would soap!
Skewer food and place in vases to make food bouquets this holiday! Pinwheels, prepared foods, desserts, you name it. You can skewer almost anything!
Chocolate-covered Roasted Chestnuts
For easy and elegant seasonal treats, dip roasted chestnuts in chocolate. Pack in pretty little truffle boxes.
Homemade mochi using coconut milk and rolled in coconut flakes make up these coconut mochi snowmen.
