Nov 27, 2013

Elf Craft Stick Ornament

I love Christmas time... the lights, the trees, the decorations, the music.....the food...I can not wait to see how they celebrate Christmas in Cabo.  We stay in downtown Cabo; we do not have a vehicle so we walk everywhere.  I discovered a craft store about ten blocks away, they have the cheapest crafts supplies I ever seen.  For all the supplies I bought, the foam (8 sheets), the paint's (7 small jars), the paint brushes (2), the ribbon (3 yards), the Christmas decorative pieces (2), the pack pom poms, a pack of jingle bells, the sharpie marker, the glue;  I spent under $10 usd.  I manage to find everything I needed to make my craft stick ornaments...except felt, as it turns out the color foam works better for me.
Trying to take picture of my Elf hanging from a tree is a trick, downtown Cabo is mostly dust and concrete, with very tall palm trees. I found a little park three blocks down, two blocks up, with trees.  Yes, the people watching me take pictures of this little guy think I am crazy....  My Elf is little more detailed then my Christmas Bear Craft Stick Ornament, but he is fun to make.

Elf Craft Stick Ornament
What you need:
Craft stick (if pre-colored green, no need to repaint)
Paint - green, flesh color, red and white, black
Foam - green red, brown, flesh color
Decorative object: ie, small package, garland, small golden balls 
in center of flower 
Ribbon
Glue, Scissors, Paint brush, toothpick 



1 Paint stick green,
2 Draw line on bottom center.  Cut and glue on shoes, draw line down center of shoes.
3 Paint face and neck.
4 Cut out ears, hat, hat band, collar, hair, arms and mittens.  Glue hat band to hat. Glue mittens to arms.
5 Glue on ears, paint red checks and red neck line. Paint white checks.
6 Cut small gold balls off decorative objects glue onto tips shoes and tip of hat.
7 With toothpick, dot eyes and draw smile.
8 Glue on collar.
9 Glue hair, hat, and arms onto stick.
10 Small package came off of decorative object. Glue package below collar.
11 Pull arms around small package and glue.
12 Cut and tie small ribbon, glue to back of stick.

I've made three so far.... I was thinking an entire tree with just Elves would be so adorable....just not sure we will be able to have a Christmas Tree here in Cabo..... this year.





FYI:  I went to trouble to make a pdf file, if anyone would like one for the craft collection, please email me at cgammeter@yahoo.com and I will be happy to email.


















Other Variations of Elf



Happy Crafting
And Happy Holidays!

Nov 23, 2013

Christmas Bear Craft Stick Ornament

I love spending Christmas with my daughter and the grandchildren. Every year before my trip I would spend endless hours searching websites and blogs for fun Christmas crafts to share with the kids.  After doing crafts with the kids and they are in bed, My Daughter and I get busy with some craft of our own.
Time for Cocktails and Crafts!  Our favorite late evening crafting is making these craft stick ornaments.

Credits:
The Snowman and the North Pole sign from Squidoo
The Penguin from Better Homes and Gardens, The Reindeer from Craft Ideas.
The Christmas Bear is Mine.
To add to the collection, I been working on the 
Christmas Bear Craft Stick Ornament 
He's so easy to make:
Here's what you need:
Craft Stick
Brown paint
Brown foam, red foam, white foam
Black paint or marker
Pom Pom
Red ribbon
Scissors, glue, toothpick, paint brush.

         

1  Paint stick brown
2  Cut diamond shape for face, glue on stick about an inch down.
3  With black paint, dot eyes and draw nose
4  Cut shapes for hat, ears, and arms
5  Glue ears, wait for it to dry.
6  Glue hat band, fold hat down and glue, then glue to top of stick. Glue Pom Pom to tip of hat.
Tie red ribbon around neck.
7  Glue arms, wait to dry,glue garland on stick, fold arms to center and glue.  Glue ribbon to back of stick to hang.

 


He really is so darn cute.  People here in Cabo think I'm nuts running around looking for trees to hang him from for a photo. 


FYI:  I went to trouble to make a pdf file, if anyone would like one for the craft collection, please email me at cgammeter@yahoo.com and I will be happy to email.








Nov 12, 2013

Mother's Cranberry Bread

This recipe has been in Mother's recipe box for as long as I can remember.  Mother bakes this bread every Thanksgiving holiday.  It's the best cranberry bread, ever.  Not being home for Thanksgiving so much anymore, I bake it myself, only I add mini dark chocolate chips to the recipe.

Mother's Cranberry Bread
Bake at 350 for 50 minutes
Makes 1 loaf.

2 cups sifted flour
1/2 cup orange juice
3/4 cup sugar
3 T. melted butter
1 1/2 tsp. baking powder
2 T. hot water
1/2 tsp. baking soda
1 1/2 cups fresh cranberries halved
1/2 tsp. salt
1 egg
3/4 cup chopped walnuts
2 T grated orange rind
*optional - 3/4 cup mini dark chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
1. Sift flour, sugar, baking powder, soda and salt into a large bowl.
2. Beat egg lightly in a small bowl; stir in orange rind
and juice, butter and hot water. add to dry ingredients; mix thoroughly.
Fold in cranberries,nuts, 
and chips. Turn batter into a well-greased 9x5x3-inch pan.
3. Bake 50 minutes or until cake tester inserted in center comes out clean. Cool 10 minutes, remove from pan; cool on wire rack.


Nov 9, 2013

Lethal Holiday Cocktail

In honor of my temporary holiday header, I would like share an awesome holiday cocktail.   I named it Lethal because they taste so good you don't notice how much you've drank.

Lethal Holiday Cocktail
Ingredients:
·         1/2 Oz. Cointreau
·         1 Oz.  Vodka
·         5 Oz. Cranberry Juice 
·         Squeeze Lime Juice Fresh


Mixing instructions: Place all ingredients in a shaker with ice. Shake and strain into a chilled glass. Option: To garnish, float a frozen cranberry in glass.

To the holidays!


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