HOME |
DINING |
MOVIES |
LIVE SHOWS |
ARTS |
UPCOMING EVENTS
ARCHIVES |
ABOUT |
ADVERTISE |
CONTACT |
DISTRIBUTION
entertaining u newspaper: your weekly guide to entertainment
<<
Holiday Artwalk
|
Main
|
Cutting Your Own Christmas Tree
>>
|
|
by erin thursby scopes1925@msn.com
The holidays are a great time to get crafty and creative. That do-it-yourself touch is always appreciated, making a holiday that can be plastic and fake into something more genuine and fun. Here’s my collection of DIY ideas for decorations and gifts.
you’ll need:
oranges or tangerines
whole cloves
straight pins
ribbon
scissors
These can be used as ornaments on a very sturdy-limbed tree or used as centerpiece decorations. They’re easy for anyone to make. You’re only limited by your imagination. Use the pins to hold the ribbon in place and, on particularly thick-skinned oranges, you’ll need to use them to punch holes in the orange skin before you put in the cloves.
you’ll need:
popcorn
needle and thread
optional: spray paint
This classic DIY garland should be on every tree! Add a twist by spray painting your garlands gold or silver. First you’ll need to pop up a batch of popcorn. You’ll want to get the “natural” kind with no added butter. Then, with a needle and thread, just thread through the center of the popped popcorn. Some of the popcorn will break in the process, but don’t despair: popcorn is cheap.
Knitting is a fun way to pass the time and whatever you make can be made into gifts. Scarves are the easiest. If you’re a first time knitter, don’t be so ambitious that you decide to give all your friends a scarf. You might find that the pace of your knitting is slower than you’ve anticipated. When I knitted my first scarf, I just kept going and going …and going until I ran out of yarn. Learn from my mistake—know when to stop!
Beading is another great hobby you can turn into gifts. Necklaces are not very difficult to make and beaded necklaces are great stocking stuffers for all the girls at the office.
Scrap booking isn’t just a hobby, it’s a mission, and it can get very expensive, especially if you buy ready made kits from the scrapbook stores and craft stores. Weigh the cost against how important it is for the pages to be acid-free. If you don’t care about the book lasting for twenty-five years, just get construction paper.
If you bake, you can turn that hobby into gifts for the neighbors and nearby relatives. Almost everyone appreciates a freshly baked loaf.
you’ll need:
clear pebbles
round magnets
superglue
small images or words that will fit on the back of the pebble
Buy clear pebbles (flat on one side rounded on the other) at the craft store or the dollar store. They come in an assortment of colors and sizes. I found mine in the fake flowers section of the craft store. Next, pick out the image you want to use and make sure it fits on the back of your pebble. Simple is good. You can use stickers, tiny pictures or single words printed from your computer and cut out. Then, super glue image to the back of the pebble. Wait for it to dry and afterward, glue a small round magnet to the back. You’ll want a strong magnet, thick instead of thin. The flexible strip and stick magnets won’t hold your pebbles on the fridge.
If you’ve got a great recipe, just layer all the dry ingredients into a jar and put a handwritten label indicating the liquid ingredients missing from the mix. Most of the Mason Jars you’ll find will be in quart sizes, so if you have a favorite recipe you’d like to share, the dry ingredients must be 4 cups or less. You can do everything from tea and hot chocolate mixes to elaborately layered cake mixes. Non-food items like an herbal bath mix in a jar are also fun. Just tie the instructions on with a pretty ribbon and presto: you’ve got a brilliant DIY gift. Smaller jars are available at craft stores but the quart jars are the best size for recipes.
If you want to get elaborate, you can build a gift basket around a jar gift. For example, if you’re doing a cookie recipe in a jar, you could bake a batch of the cookies and wrap them in cellophane to include in the gift. Instead of packaging the gift in a basket, you could artfully arrange it in colorful mixing bowl, with extras like a wooden spoon and cookie cutters. Always make sure you include a recipe card.
Go to http://www.geocities.com/giftsinajar/ if you want to explore the myriad ideas for gifts in a jar.
½ cup butter
¾ cup sugar
1 egg
1 cup white chocolate chips
2 ½ cups cake flour, sifted
½ teaspoon nutmeg
¼ teaspoon ground cloves
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
½ teaspoon baking soda
½ teaspoon salt
½ cup milk
½ cup pumpkin purée, canned or homemade
Butter and flour a 9x5x3-inch loaf pan; set aside. In a mixing bowl, mix butter and sugar well; add eggs and continue beating until light and fluffy. Add white chocolate chips and stir. Sift together the flour, nutmeg, cloves, cinnamon, baking soda, and salt. Add about 1/3 of the sifted ingredients to the creamed mixture; mix well. Stir in milk. Add remaining sifted ingredients alternately with the pumpkin purée. Pour batter into pan; bake pumpkin cake at 350° for 50 to 60 minutes. Cool in pan for 10 minutes, then turn out onto cake rack. Wrap it up and take it to the neighbor’s.
· www.craftster.org
· www.allcrafts.net
· familyfun.go.com/arts-and-crafts/season/minisite/christmas-main/
· www.squiglysplayhouse.com
· www.knitty.com
· www.thimble.ca
· allsorts.typepad.com
· December 14th at the Cummer Gallery Café Nights Holiday Hoopla for Adults, create your own art and enjoy food, beverages and great music at this unique holiday event. 6-9PM, The Cummer Museum of Art & Gardens, 829 Riverside Ave., Jacksonville. Call 904-356-6857 for additional info.
· At Anomaly in Five Points, you can attend a free workshop that will give you the basics on making DIY gifts (felt pins and other things), cards and more on December 3rd at 3PM. They are also holding a December 10th workshop on making creative gift wraps, also at 3PM.
|
|
|
by kellie abrahamson kabrahamson1@aol.com
While kids always enjoy receiving presents, they also take great pride in picking out gifts and giving them to their friends and family. Instead of taking my children to the Dollar Store and letting them pick out gifts, I decided this year we will be making homemade presents for our loved ones. Here are a few ideas we’ve come up with:
I found a terrific sugar cookie recipe perfect for decorating. With the help of your pint-sized assistants, you can whip up some of these yummy treats, customize them with your choice of toppings and give someone on your list a cookie that’s almost too pretty to eat!
1 cup butter, softened 1 cup granulated sugar 1 large egg 1½ teaspoons vanilla 3 cups all-purpose flour 1¼ teaspoons baking powder
Beat together butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Add egg and vanilla and mix until just combined. Add flour and baking powder in intervals. The dough will seem as if doesn’t have enough moisture but continue to mix with mixer until combined (it will come together when chilled). Divide the dough into four equal parts, shape into disks, wrap with plastic wrap and refrigerate about an hour or until firm. Preheat oven to 375 degrees Fahrenheit. Lightly grease baking sheets. Roll out dough between 2 sheets of waxed paper, about 1/4 of an inch thick for crispier cookies and 1/3 of an inch thick for softer cookies. Cut out shapes with cookie cutters and place on prepared baking sheets. Bake for 7-8 minutes or until edges just start to turn a golden color. For softer cookies, do not allow the cookies to take on color. Remove from oven, let cool for one minute and then transfer to wire rack.
Yield: 2 dozen cookies
Decorate cookies any way you like. Some favorites include sprinkles, jimmies, nuts and colored sugars, all of which can be added before baking. If you choose to decorate after baking use icing and frosting to affix your decorations to the cookie. Remember, the more creative you are, the better the treats will turn out!
Instead of wrapping your Christmas cookies in cellophane, why not serve them in a special cookie jar painted by your little Picasso? Once the treats are gone, the lucky recipient will have a beautiful piece of art they can use again and again.
Make it!
Large empty jar with lid
Acrylic or liquid tempera paints
Paintbrushes or cotton swabs
White glue
Clear glaze (available at craft stores)
1. To make the paints stick to the glass, first mix the colors with some glue. Keep the paint thick so it won’t run.
2. Use brushes or cotton swabs to paint a design on the jar. To erase a mistake, use a paper towel to wipe off the paint before it hardens.
3. Let the paint dry then seal the finished design with a coat of glaze.
Once you fill the jar with goodies, cover the lid in a piece of coordinating fabric and tie in place with a pretty ribbon. You may also want to affix the cookie recipe to the ribbon so they can make the addictive treats at home.
If the person on your list doesn’t have much of a sweet tooth, you can have the kids decorate a clay pot instead. Once the glaze dries, add a pretty potted plant and you have the perfect gift for a nature lover or green thumb.
A couple years back we helped my daughter (then 2) make her “Abuelita” (that’s “Grandma” in Spanish) a one-of-a-kind apron. The simple gift has become one of her favorite things and she still uses it today.
Make it!
Solid-colored apron
Fabric paints
Paper plates
Fabric pen
1. Cover a work area with newspaper, and lay the apron right side up. Pour a little paint into a paper plate. 2. Have kids press their hands in the paint, move them around until the palm sides are covered, then place their handprints on the apron. Continue until the apron is covered with prints. 3. Write each child’s name with a fabric pen under his handprint. Let dry for at least one day before wrapping.
Make the apron even more personalized by adding a special phrase to it using the fabric pen. We decided to pay our favorite chef the highest compliment by writing “I Love Abuelita’s Rice and Beans” across the front. The extra touch made the gift even more special and got a few laughs.
Believe it or not, there’s more to paper toys than paper dolls. A blogging author and artist named Marilyn Scott-Waters has created a wonderful website filled to the gills with downloadable paper toys. Fun toys for every occasion can be downloaded, printed and put together in no time. Head over to www.thetoymaker.com and share some of these creative inventions with folks on your list. These are particularly nice when your child wants to give a present to all 36 kids in her class!
If your kids are like mine, no one will be left out come Christmas morning… Not even the dog! Here is an easy homemade gift for the furriest member of the family!
1 1/4 cups of grated Cheddar cheese 1/4 pound of softened corn oil margarine 1 1/2 cups of whole wheat flour 1 crushed garlic clove Combine all ingredients and mix well. Add enough milk to form the dough into a ball, then cover the ball with plastic wrap and chill for 30 minutes. On a floured board, roll out the dough to a 1/2-inch thickness. Cut out bone shapes and bake on an ungreased baking sheet at 375 degrees for 15 minutes or until slightly brown and firm.
Yield: 2 to 3 dozen, depending on size.
|
|
