Cinnamon Witches for Samhain (Halloween)

Did a little crafty project using a recipe from http://www.marthastewart.com/907577/cinnamon-bird-ornament to create a scented seasonal swag.  It's super simple to create, you only need a few things:

1 cup ground cinnamon

1/4 cup applesauce

Craft glue (Elmer's glue, PVC)

Put all the ingredients in a bowl and stir well, you will need a spatula to scrape the sides of the bowl.  

Add the glue a bit at a time until it becomes stiff and pliable at the same time, like this:

You will then need to knead it some and form into a ball & roll it out to about 1/4-1/2:

Using whatever cookie cutters (baking shapes), cut out the shapes, reform the off cuts, re-roll and cut more, keep repeating until there is no more cinnamon dough remaining. 

Using baking or wax paper on a flat surface lay the shapes

I was making quite a few and I used 3 different shapes, witch, cat and bat---Oh, and don't forget if you want these to hang you have to poke holes at the top of the shape

Allow them to dry, I'd put in a warm place as they took several days to dry just on the counter top.  Turn them over every six hours or so and you will notice that the side that was facing down will be sweating a bit or have a darker patch visible.  When you stop seeing that, you will know they are entirely dry.

I decided to kit a swag using some orange & black yarn (cotton), then after it was complete I hung the dried shapes on it and draped it on our mantle:

I also did some using gingerbread men cookie cutters and will string them up for Yule.

Happy Halloween All! 

file:///C:/Users/Marjorie%20Newson/Downloads/pinterest-e6721.html

Xmas ideas 2011---number 5 Make someone a personalised tribute

Spending more time than money can make your seasonal giving a lot more creative and certainly much more personal.  

Tonight on the BBC News a video made by all the people on board the HMS Ocean.  They have just come back to the UK after their tour of duty and just before they left they made this video for their partners back at home:

As you can see it doesn't take a film genius to make something that will be a lot more thoughtful than wandering aimlessly through the aisles of "3 for the price of 2 pre-chosen gifts" [a beer with a matching glass, bath salts, a smelly candle in the shape of a Xmas tree, etc.] like a shopping zombie.

There's a few ways you can do this without being Stephen Spielberg...

You can make a slide show quite easily, telling someone far away that you are thinking of them:

Don't you feel confident enough to try this? Just go to JibJab, you can do great greetings with their apps, here are some I made last year:

http://sendables.jibjab.com/view/cFqgzOo9UgRYYMpQ

http://sendables.jibjab.com/view/bQKlLIQdy9XEJ9f6

http://sendables.jibjab.com/view/Umj6T5KKZbz17FEF

Or you could make a documentary of a Holiday surprise:

[What a great present was this?  Dare you not to mist up when you see this one]

Hope you got some inspiration, my dears, there's still more to come shortly!

Share at will, Gabrielle, 2011

Xmas ideas 2011---number 3 Countdown to Christmas

This tidbit is a great way to enjoy the countdown to the holiday period with your children.  This idea is from my friend, Emma Rogoz, via Pinterest:

http://pinterest.com/pin/620938050/

And this idea also came from Sarah Jane's blog:

http://sarahjanestudios.com/blog/2010/11/childrens-book-advent-calendar/

"Children’s Picture Book Advent Calendar: What is it?

24 Christmas Picture Books, all wrapped up and marked for each day leading up until Christmas. This way, we will be reading one Christmas story a night!

Now don’t panic…getting 24 Christmas Books isn’t as hard as it looks. When you can check out Christmas books from the Library for 3 weeks at a time, it makes it rather simple….you may need to renew one time in there, but it still makes for a lovely tradition! And inexpensive too!"

Emma is doing this with her two daughters this holiday, and what she did was look through her girls' books to find ones they had not read for a while and also went to charity shops and bought some new ones too. [Although as Sarah Jane points out, you can always borrow from a local library].  What a win-win idea---spending real quality time with the children, spending little or no money and just a tiny bit of effort wrapping them.

I know you should have started it already...but you could always do the 12 days of Xmas and start it on the 12th of December, that's enough time.  Or just a countdown to which ever is your name for the holiday you celebrate [Yule, Winterval, Christmas, Winter Solstice, etc.] and start 10 days before it.

I am starting to get some great ideas from friends, so if you have one Please send it to me, or if you make something or have a holiday tradition you think would be good to share with others, please let me know.

Please share at will!---Gabrielle 2011