AMANDA'S BASKETS: A Simple Decoration for the Holidays

Wednesday, October 30, 2013

A Simple Decoration for the Holidays

Hump day!!! So how's your week going? Mine is going pretty well. Today I finished all the projects in the trailer that I had planned. Tomorrow I will be cleaning it up and beginning to organize and taking things from my office/studio to the trailer. Once I get the trailer organized, then I will be able to pack up the rest of the stuff in my office/studio.

I want to share one of the Christmas things I am putting together. Check out the photo below and you can get an idea of what I am making...

What's missing is parchment paper and cardboard. Did you guess? It's luminarias.    I love to see them around the holidays.

The golden cans are wet cat food cans.   I will fill these with plaster of paris and place a tea light (covered with vaseline so it doesn't stick) at the top leaving an indentation so the tea light is secure..

Then I will cut a simple shape out of the front of the bag, for instance, a tree.   And secure a piece of parchment paper on the inside of the bag covering the cut-out shape.

Finally, I will cut a piece of cardboard the size of the bottom of the bag to hold it open.   When I send these out, I will include two or three tea lights per bag so they can stay lite longer.

What do you think?   It's easy, inexpensive and fun to use.

As I said, packing in the living room is going well...

I have two boxes partially packed - one with cd's and one with odds and ends. And the living room is done. Wow. It's still October for one more day.

Halloween tomorrow. Are you ready for your trick or treater's?

Thanks for dropping by...
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?