A Better Beer - Beer Can Vase

This past Saturday night we attended a Holiday Party. No not a Christmas Party, a Holiday Party. The host is Jewish, the hostess is Catholic. It was fun times for all until our friends, who my husband was riding home with, got a flat tire. And had to wait for a ride. During the wait, they managed to pick up these really interesting beer cans. Is it a can, is it a bottle?? Who cares, I thought the shape was interesting, so now it's a vase!

 See, plain old Miller Lite cans. I washed and dried them and cut off the little loose metal ring that was part of the cap.

 Gave them a coat of spray paint primer. Not sure if this was necessary but I had it on hand so I used it. Then I gave them a coat of Rustoleom's Oil Rubbed Bronze Spray Paint. I can't find a photo of the can online but I got it at Lowe's.

 Here is where I apologize for not taking more photos. I don't know why I didn't. Sometimes I just get going on something and forget. Anyway, I waited for the cans to dry overnight and then hot glued a bit of twine around the top to hide the threading from the cap.

I made two of these but here is one of them hanging out on my front table. Like that greenery in there?? Yeah, it's a piece from my old fake Christmas tree that broke a couple of years ago. I kept all pieces and use them to fill vases, cover the top of my piano, make swags. I'm actually cruising Craigslist for another fake tree!

Twine Wrapped JOY

When I was a kid one of my favorite things to pull out of the Christmas decoration box was a figurine that said "JOY" in candy cane striped letters. It had a little elf that peeked out through the center of the "O". A happy little decoration and it cemented the word "JOY in my brain as part of the holidays. That said, when I saw the tutorial at  Sense & Simplicity  for these really cute twine wrapped letters, I wanted some of my own!

So I cut some letters out of my trusty corrugated plastic sheets, fired up the DVR and the glue gun and went to work. I didn't follow the tutorial exactly but you get the idea right?? I threaded mine on another piece of twine and added them to the mantel decor. Not sure they will stay there or if they'll get a new home somewhere else!

Christmas Dinner - Stained Glass Window Jello

I apologize in advanced to those of you who are here looking for craft ideas. Why?? Because this is the time of year where I spend way too much time in the kitchen. And if I'm in the kitchen I'm not crafting. If I'm not crafting I'm not sharing them here. SO yeah, there may be a few more recipe posts here in the next few weeks because that's what I'm up too.

Today I'm sharing the recipe for Stained Glass Window Jello. This is a staple at Christmas dinner at my mom's house. We only make it once a year for that meal. In fact, making it for this tutorial was strange for me and eating it before Christmas dinner with my family was even stranger! Also, making it alone, rather than with the help of my mom and sisters was strange too. I forgot how time consuming it can be. It's one of those do a bit now, wait, and do some more later recipes. The end result is a really gorgeous jello salad for the holidays!


This is the shopping list for this recipe:

1 small pkg orange jello
1 small pkg lime jello
1 small pkg strawberry (or cherry) jello
1 small pkg lemon jello
1 big can crushed pineappple
1/4 cup sugar
1 carton Cool Whip


I pkg each of orange, lime, and strawberry jello. Make with 1 cup boiling water and 1/2 cup cold water. Pour each into an 8 inch pan (or close - can even use 8 inch round cake pans). Let set up overnight.
Then drain 1 big can of crushed pineapple. Heat 1 cup of pineapple juice and 1/4 cup sugar to boiling. Add 1 pkg lemon jello. Then add 1/2 cup cold water. Let this set up for awhile. This is tricky. You want it syrupy, but not set. Check it in an hour. Mix with 1 carton Cool Whip. Fold in crushed pineapple. Then cut colored jellos into cubes and fold into jello/cool whip mixture. Let set up for at least 6 hours.

Start by making your three flavors of jello.

You will mix each packet with one cup boiling water, stir to dissolve jello & add one cup cold water.

Stir, stir, stir and then pour into 8 inch square containers to set. Pie plates or cake pans  work fine too.

Later, after you first three flavors of jello have set up, drain the can of crushed pineapple, reserving the juice. Take one cup pineapple juice and add 1/4 cup sugar. Heat until boiling.

Remove from heat and add 1 package lemon jello.

Put this mixture in the fridge and let sit for approximately one hour, or until it is thick and syrupy. It took about 90 minutes for me. DON'T try to rush this in the freezer. I tried that the first time. It was a disaster. While that sets, cut your three flavors of jello into one inch cubes and spread in a 9 x 13 inch pan.

 If you wish, let your kids, husband or dog eat the jello "crumbs". They will be happy.

When the lemon jello has reached the proper consistency, mix with one container of cool whip.

And stir in the crushed pineapple you drained earlier.

Pour this mixture over your jello cubes and spread evenly. Refrigerate overnight or until jello is set. Cut and serve.

Really, you could use any flavor of jello in this recipe. Just red and green for Christmas. Just red flavors for valentines day. Red & Blue for fourth of July. I think it'd be tasty any time! For me it is a Christmas dish and I can't wait to have it again in a few weeks!

A Day in Bethlehem

The kids and I took a trip to Bethlehem today. We visited the leather shop, the bead works, the potter, the bakery, the weaver & the carpenter. We also saw musicians, the wise men and even Mary & Joseph and their new baby Jesus!

So Bethlehem was in the lobby our our church and each of the vendor booths had a different craft activity for the kids along with a vendor in costume who explained what their shop was like during the days of Jesus. The kids made:

Stamped Pouches - craft foam with punched holes that the kids laced and the staff stamped their names on in the leather works

Beaded Bracelets on leather cord in the bead shop

Playdough cross & star ornaments in the pottery shop

Practiced their hammer skills in the carpentry shop

Stirred and sampled bread in the bakery

Made tambourines with the musicians.

Woven craft foam placements with the weavers

We also gave coins to the beggars and had to chat with the Roman guards to pass to the shops. I wish would have taken more photos but I was too busy helping Jojo with all the crafts! It really is a fun event and keeps the kids minds on the true meaning of Christmas!

Pretty Paper Tree

So you've seen the ribbon trees around right?? The cute ones made from foam cones and covered in ribbons. Like this one from She's Kinda Crafty

Super cute right?? But what if it's Saturday night and it's cold and your kids want to do a Christmas project and you don't want to go out? You don't have ribbon or a foam cone around either but you really want to make a tree like this?? Well, around here we improvise. I made a cone of out some bent up poster board I had stashed beside the dryer, cut up some strips of scrapbook paper & fired up the glue gun.  This is how it went down.

Those are just a few of the strips of paper. This took about six 12X12 sheets of paper cut into 1X4 inch strips.

This the cone. I just rolled up some poster board into a cone shape, trimmed a bit and secured with a few squirts of hot glue. Professional huh?? It's about eighteen inches tall or so. It would make a great dunce cap.

This is the first row of strips we glued on. We glued in a ring two inches from the bottom of the cone. And yes, that is my daughter with her finger up her nose. Classy! I had another photo of the cone at this stage but this one was too funny not to share!

Then we folded the strips up and secured with hot glue. I squirted the glue and Sweet Pea folded up the paper. Be careful when folding not to squish the folds. Squishing them will result in a flat tree.

We glued the second row in a ring about two inches up from the first. I tried to vary the pattern a bit. We then continued up to the top of the tree. For the top I made a ring out of a strip of paper, turned it on it's side and secured it around the top of the tree with glue. I'm totally sure I love that you can see the white side of the paper in all those loops. Might be cool to try this again with paper with a print on both sides or gluing to papers together before making the loops?

And here is the tree hanging out on top of the TV cabinet with my monkey's all dressed up for Christmas.

Nursing & New Neighbors

Not much crafting going on around here the past two days. The husband had outpatient surgery yesterday morning and I've been busying nursing my patient back to health.  No real news as far as what is wrong until we receive biopsy results tomorrow. Nursing around here mostly means fetching food and drinks and keeping the kids busy and quiet so he can rest. And keeping him company which has given me time to bury my face in the book Sarah's Key which I"m loving!

I did want to show you this quick "welcome to the neighborhood" gift box we put together for some friends that just moved into a house in our subdivision though. It's a fancy box from a birthday gift, & a bit of tissue paper. It includes:

Bad Day Better Cookies
Pine Cone Fire Starters
Grandma's Homemade Snicker Bars
a small note from me
and some FABULOUS artwork created by Sweet Pea for her friends!

Hope they like it!

Chestnuts Roasting on an Open Fire - Pine Cone Fire Starters

Chestnuts roasting on an open fire,
Jack Frost nipping on your nose,
Yuletide carols being sung by a choir,
And folks dressed up like Eskimos.

Tis the season for making fires in the fireplace. I just love the sound of cracking wood in the fireplace and the smell that fills the house. My heart was warmed seeing my kids & husband snuggled up on the floor in front of the fire watching Rudolph last night. However, I hate the struggle of staring the fire. Especially when the wood is a bit damp like it was last night after all the rain we've had lately. We've purchased a huge box of fire starters in the past but after the kids hauled in about a million pine cones off the golf course over the weekend, I decided we'd make our own!

I won't do a tutorial here because there are MANY ways to do this all over the internet. You can soak your cones, dip your cones, add chemicals. All sorts of things. We opted for dipping ours in colored wax and giving some a sprinkle of glitter and some a sprinkle of borax or salt to make colored flames in the fire.

I think we will make a few more to give to our other fire loving friends for Christmas. Here are some links to check out if you want to make your own.

Pretty Pine Cone Fire Starters @ Suzy's Artsy Crafts Sitcom
Pine Cone Fire Starters @ About.com
Pine Cone & Other Fire Starters @ ehow.com
Info about making Colored Flames @ Spazztic Crafts
Muffin Tin Style Pine Cone Fire Starters

This was our dipping station. Check out my fancy double boiler. One empty tin can & a crappy old sauce pan. Those containers contain salt, borax & glitter. And I added a TON more foil after that. This made a bit waxy mess.

Yeah for glitter!!

Pine Cones and babies with bedhead.

See the one with "snow" that's borax. Makes the flames yellow-green.

Yes, these really do work. We tried one out last night. Have fun trying this one & stay warm!!