AMANDA'S BASKETS: FOURTH OF JULY IDEAS

Wednesday, June 18, 2014

FOURTH OF JULY IDEAS

Well, I have to say the although there was a ton of snow before I went to bed last night, after a day of partly cloudy weather, most of it is gone except on the mountain tops. Unfortunately, though, the sky is looking rather ominous!!! Those dark clouds very much look like yesterday's clouds and the temperature is not very warm. Stay tuned...

FOURTH OF JULY FRUGAL IDEAS

1. TOILET PAPER DECORATIONS. Cover or paint toilet paper rolls with red, white and blue, add a cap by cutting out a circle about 1 inch larger than the tp roll, mark the center and cut to the mark, overlap parts of the circle and tape. Pull a string through the center top and knot. Glue the top to the tp rolls. Allow to dry. Glue some streamer to the bottom of the tp roll. Make several and decorate by hanging them with the string.

2. TIN CAN CANDLE HOLDERS. Fill cans with water and freeze to prevent denting. While frozen using a hammer and nail, make holes in the cans in the shape of stars. Remove ice, dry and paint using red, white and blue colors. Add a tea candle and set around.

3. MASON JARS. Using ribbon in red, white and blue, glue to the mason jars. Add a bow at the top. Uses include holding picnic utensils, straws, or breadsticks, eta.

4. NECKLACES OR NAMEPLATES. Cut a star out of white construction paper (or cardboard and paint white). Punch a hole at the top and add a red ribbon. Write the name on the star in blue and place on the appropriate chair.

5. DESSERTS. Any combination of blueberries, strawberries or raspberries and whipped cream in a clear container serves not only as decoration but as dessert.

6. TABLE COVERING. Begin with a white sheet. Using either blue or red ribbon, cut several lengths and lay them loosely down the center of the table. (Use the tin can candle holders grouped together as a centerpiece!). Then take sheets of construction paper, the opposite color of the ribbon (i.e. blue ribbon, red paper and vice versa) and use as placemats.

7. STAR STREAMERS. Cut large stars out of red, white and blue construction paper. (You can also cut the stars out of cardboard (I.e. cereal boxes) and paint in the red, white and blue colors.) Attach three or more pieces of ribbon in contrasting colors to the bottom of the star either with glue or staples. Then staple to a strong white ribbon or twine and hang.

8. WINDSOCK. Use a paper towel cardboard roll. Decorate in Fourth of July motif. Punch two holes at the top and attach a string through both to hang. Glue or staple crepe paper (or ribbon) streamers at the bottom. Hang in a windy area.

9. ADHESIVE BACKED BOWS. (as in the type to use when wrapping presents). Attach several in red, white and blue colors around a clear punch bowl. OR, make a red punch and attach blue and white bows.

10. FINALLY, look around your home and find objects in red, white and blue colors and use them to decorate, thinking outside the box. Inexpensive and fun. For instance, use a clean red plastic toy bucket for ice cubes. Extra white sheet? Use it to hang behind the star streamer. A clean blue planter can hold napkins. You got it. I bet you can come up with tons of ideas.

ZENTANGLE CHALLENGE: DAY TWENTY-NINE:

Three new designs. I like all of them. What about you...

ROCKS:

I love rocks. This one has some very unusual markings on it...

And these are really purple...

No, this is not a rock...it's a small fish, about three inches long...

Here's the latest on my journal page for this week. Can you see what I added?

There's moisture in the air... :(

Hope it's not going to snow again... :(

Thanks for visiting... :)

See you tomorrow... :)

CRAFTING IDEAS

I am always looking for a small piece of paper to write down something which will later be disposed of. I decided to use some of the scrap paper of which I have a ton. I mostly use the paper for glueing projects. I decided to cut the paper into a small size. (Six pieces from a piece of copy paper.). But just having them sitting on my desk would get messy without a container. So, using a cardboard box, I cut it down to size and using a hot glue gun I glued the ends together. Using a picture from a magazine cut into pieces and stick craft glue, I glued the pieces to the box inside and out. I also used some decorative tape for the outside edges. And to finish the top corners which were not covered, I used straight pins with colorful tops. Looks nice and works well.

MAGAZINE IDEAS

(New) One article in the Farmer's Almanac 2024 is a list of trends. One I knew about is the trend to downsize in just about every area. Another trend that I was surprised about was called ''The Human Library' which offers people on loan to talk about specific subjects. Finally, more folks are adding pets to their family and as a result, stores are adding more pet food, toys and medication to their offerings. There's also a nice garden article which suggests mixing vegetables and flowers together for success.

RECIPE IDEAS

Have you every made Cherry Dump Cake. It calls for 2 cans of Cherry Pie Filling (21 ounces), a white cake mix, 1/4 -1/2 cup butter, melted & 1/2 cup coarsely chopped pecans. In a 9 by 13 pan, spread both cans of cherry pie filling. Add the melted butter to the cake mix and break apart the resulting mixture and crumble it evenly over the pie filling. Sprinkle the pecans evenly over the mixture. Bake in a 350 degree oven for 35 - 45 minutes until the topping is golden brown. Serve with vanilla ice cream. Fast, easy and very delicious.

THOUGHT FOR THE DAY

What if you want to establish better habits, then decide what habit you want to work on. Again, try an easier one first for that good feeling of success. Let's consider more exercise. Start small. Don't try to run a marathon right away. Set the amount of time, the type of exercise and when to do it to begin making sure that it is within your reach. If it works for you each week add a bit more. Walking is one of the best ways to get good overall movement but there are many exercise videos on YouTube of varying lengths and difficulty to check out. Change your exercise routines to eliminate getting bored. For hardcore exercise with weights, give yourself a day in-between to recover. Even on days you would rather not exercise, do it and see if you feel better. It takes an average of 66 days to establish a habit. Just think 66 days to establish a good habit for a lifetime. Sounds like a good thing to me...how about you?