Christmas Projects - Rolo Rascal and Mr. Grinch!

 A little seasonal trivia for you before sharing the projects to get you in the spirit!

The traditions of trees, mistletoe and elves stem from Druid and Paganism roots. In fact, a lot of Christmas traditions pre-date Christianity. 

Mistletoe was believed to ward off evil spirits, much later on earning  a reputation as a healing herb. When Christianity came to be, it was ruled that all mistletoe was to be pulled and destroyed. Consequently to this day, mistletoe does not grow on its own. The seeds must be introduced to a living plant where once it takes root, it will grow and thrive all the while destroying the host plant. It takes five years for the plant to reach its full maturity! Kissing under the mistletoe branch didn’t begin until the early 17^th century, believing it would bring good luck and fortune or possibly mend a broken heart. What few people know is that after kissing, they are meant to pick a berry off the sprig. Once the berries are all gone, the sprig then loses its magical powers. Anyone partaking in the tradition this year, remember to pull those berries. And if it’s a sprig without any berries, get away from it. 

On to elves ....  There is so much information on these wee folk … some good, some bad.  Basically the Pagans and Druids perceived them to be impish little folks. Very few were ever described as being good and helpful until Christmas celebrations came into existence. Although St Nicholas was first introduced as an elf in A Visit from St Nicholas (1823), elves were not introduced until 1856 in an unpublished work written by Louisa May Alcott entitled Christmas Elves. They were also popularized as Santa’s helpers by publications such as Godey’s Lady’s Book by putting them on their front cover in 1873!

St Nicholas, was a Greek Orthodox Bishop during the 4^th century. He is best known for quietly giving gifts to children in need, especially very good ones. He did have a little man by the name of Crumpus travel with him whose job was to hand out the coal to the bad children. Throughout the years one would see St Nicholas traveling throughout the lands in either a red, white, brown or green long coat. Today everyone sees Santa only wearing a red suit with white fur trim. Do you know why? Back in the 1930’s Coca Cola was running a Christmas advertisement. The company’s colors are red and white, thus they put him in the same colored clothes. The advertisement was such a huge success that everyone has perceived Santa in his outfit of red and white ever since! Europeans deemed the 6^th of December as St Nicholas Day, which is early in advent, so that his activities would not mar the holiest of days … December 25^th.

(thanks to Karen Sullivan for this bit of info!)

Before I forget AGAIN, I have to share some good news with you about a prize give-away offered by Stampin' Up!!  EVERYDAY in December you can enter the drawing (one entry per day!)  There will be 10 winners who will get their own copy of MDS PLUS all the downloads from 2013 which is over $1900 in product!  Can you say WOW!!!!  So, head on over to Facebook and go the My Digital Site and register there and enter the contest!!!!  If they hit 10,000 hits in their contest we'll all get a free thank you!!!  So run, head on over!!!

How about a few Christmas project shares?  I just love these little candy guys!!

Mr Grinch is a Heath bar - you can use any flat candy bar - Hershey, Skor, etc.  It's really quite easy to make him.  Measure the candy bar to see what size your wrapper needs to be.  You need to double the width and add an inch PLUS add an inch for the length too.   So, the Skor and Heath  bars are the same size, 1 1/2 by 6 1/2, so your wrapper needs to be 4 by 7 1/2. 

These are the punch pieces you will need for the Grinch.  The Curly Label punch and Owl Builder piece from Old Olive.  The yellow circles and black circles are from the Owl Builder punch.  The Santa hat is from the Pennant Builder punch (folded over.)  The white hat brim is from the Scallop Square punch, the white puff ball is from the Itty Bitty Shapes Punch Pack, and the eyebrows are from the slot punch (retired) but you can just cut some strips of paper in brown.   Cut one foot from the Old Olive Owl piece to use as a nose, then glue it and the eyes to your Old Olive Curly Label Punch piece.  I used Real Red  to ink up the stamped piece (from Tags Till Christmas).  Punch it out with the 1 1/4 square punch and mount that on the Scallop square punch.  

Mr Grinch Candy Bar

And we can't forget the Rolo Rascal!  I made mine into a Santa but you could just as easy have a Grinch Rascal also following the punched instructions above.

Wrap Designer Paper (about 3 ¼” x 4 ¾” around the Rolos.  For the eyes... I colored 2  pearls with a black sharpie.   Cut the fabric  4" x 5" for the hat – I used the hot glue gun to make it stick or you can use the Red Line tape. 

 Punches:  1-1/4" Scallop  / ¼” circle for eyes / ½” circle for nose / 5 flower Punch for mustache.

Cut strip of black for belt & a square of Gold Glimmer paper for buckle.

Rolo Rascal Santa!

 Enjoy!!  I have 2 ladies coming over today from my Thursday Stamp Club to do their projects.  With just two, we should get a lot done.  I think I will be creating with them!!