Merry Christmas!

We are packed and ready to go - hitting the road later and turning our SUV south headed to Texas.  Keep your fingers crossed that Sammie enjoys being in the car for 2 days!  If not, we will be "batty" by the time we reach Dallas!

Here are a few Christmas fun facts for you:

1.       Frosty the Snowman’s nose is actually a button, not a carrot!

2.       Here Comes Santa Claus was written by Gene Autry after he participated in a parade where onlookers were chanting, “Here comes Santa!” Oakley Haldeman set the words to music.

3.       What Christmas plant is “viscum” labeled? European mistletoe

4.       What Christmas food is made from “marsh-whorts?” Marsh-whorts, really??? Cranberry Sauce

5.        The #1 Christmas song of all time? It appears for the “older” songs the #1 song is Bing Crosby’s White Christmas.  For more modern music, it appears the #1 song is John Lennon’s Happy Christmas: The War is Over takes the top billing. (not so sure about that!)

6.       The #1 Christmas movie of all time? It’s a Wonderful Life.

7.        In the Philippines Christmas songs are played everywhere beginning September 1^st!  The Filipino Christmas is the longest in the world … lasting 1/3 of every year. Their holiday celebration is referred to as “Ber Months.”

Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer

Some interesting facts about Rudolph – The Red Nosed Reindeer:

1.       The poem was written by Robert L May, an advertising executive for Montgomery-Ward, in 1939. It was incorporated into a coloring book the store handed out to children. 

2.       In 1949 Robert’s brother-in-law, Johnny Marks, put music to the poem and Gene Autry recorded it; making it to the #1 spot on Billboard’s pop singles chart the week of Christmas. (I still have a CD of Gene Autry singing it!)

3.       Gene Autry’s recording sold 2.5 million copies the first year and up until 1980’s, it was the second best selling record of all time reaching 25 million copies!  Michael Jackson’s Thriller and The Eagles Greatest Hits bumped it completely off the list.

4.       Rudolph has had two brothers – Ralph (Ralph, the Infra-Red Nosed Reindeer) and Rusty (Holidaze: The Christmas That Almost Didn't Happen), a cousin Leroy (Leroy the Redneck Reindeer), and two different sets of parents – Donner and a tan doe with long eyelashes and then later with Blitzen and Mitzi.

Here are a couple of quick little Christmas projects for you today.  This time of year, we all need quick!!

This first one is just a quick little tag that holds a Hershey Nugget.

side view

SANTA TAG 

Punch 2 tags w/tag punch out of Real Red

Cut red cardstock @ 1 3/8” x 2” for bottom; Score @ ½” & 1 ½”

White cardstock – cut @ 1 5/8” x 5/8”

Black cardstock – cut @ 1 ½” x ¼” (belt)

Glitter paper – square ½” x ¼” (buckle)

I wrapped the chocolate with some Designer Paper so it would be a little more festive.

Santa Tag Nugget Holder

This is a cute little note pad made from a bar coaster.  Just adhere some DSP to the coaster with glue.  (I find a glue stick works best for this project.)  Cut some note paper from computer paper and adhere to the coaster with a cute little clip from your local office supply store.  Tie a bow onto the clip and make a tag to hand off of it.  You can also put a magnet on the back and put it on your refrigerator.

Coaster Note Pad

 

Christmas trees and tags

Let's learn about Christmas Trees!

Pagans and Druids believed the evergreen boughs would ward off evil spirits, witches, ghosts and illness. In the Northern Hemisphere, many ancient people believed the sun was a god and believed when winter came, this god became sick and weak. The shortest day and longest night  of the year, better known as the Winter Solstice, falls on December 21^st or December 22^nd, depending on the Gregorian calendar and leap years.  No matter what the group of people were or whence they came, they celebrated this day with great joy because it meant the sun god would begin to get well again. The Pagans used evergreen boughs to decorate their homes because they reminded them of all the green plants which would grow again when the sun god was strong and summer would return. Ancient Egyptians would fill their homes with green palm rushes, symbolizing life over death. The Druids decorated their temples with boughs  as a symbol of everlasting life.

Germany is credited with starting the Christmas tree tradition in the 16^th century when devout Christians brought decorated trees into their homes. Trees were decorated with fruits and nuts. Martin Luther, a 16^th century Protestant, is believed to be the first to add lights to a tree. While walking home one night, he was astounded by the brilliance of the star lights twinkling amongst the trees. In trying to recapture what he saw to his family, he erected a tree in the main room and wired candles to the boughs.

Most 19^th century Americans found trees an oddity. Although the German settlers in PA had community trees as early as 1747, the first recorded Christmas tree was in 1830 by the same people. Even as late as the 1840’s most Americans still considered the trees as Pagan symbols and not accepted.

In 1846, the popular royals Queen Victoria, her German Prince Albert and their family, were sketched in the London News standing around a Christmas tree. Being very popular with her subjects, what was done in court immediately became fashionable. Not only in Britain but also fashion conscious East Coast American Society! 

Typically Europeans liked their trees to be about 4 feet tall whereas American liked theirs from floor to ceiling. (Americans always want bigger and better!)  By the 1890’s Christmas ornaments were arriving from Germany but most American’s preferred decorating their trees with fruit, popcorn laced with berries and nuts and homemade ornaments. When electricity was introduced, that is when the big change in how American’s decorated their trees. Throughout the years we’ve seen trees in various colors, lights ranging from a color wheel to strings of icicles, and an array of ornaments. But the tall, live fir tree remains to be the popular tree for most people.

So there you have it - have you learned something today?

Here are the tags that I offered to my group this week.

These were cut using the Apothecary die and the Big Shot.  I stamped them with the Watercolor Winter stamp set.

 These large Santa tags:

• ·        Die cut 1 large Scallop Circle
• ·        Die cut 1 (or 2) large round Circle(s) – use it whole or cut in half.
• ·        Layer circles onto Scallop Circle.
• ·        Stamp Santa.  Color hat & cut him out.
•       Use Tab Punch for top of tag.  Option:  emboss tab. 

 

This ornament is made using the Ornament stamp set and dies.  

 This cute little Santa tag is made so you can write underneath his beard.

• ·        one 2 3/8” Scallop Circle  in White
• ·        one 1 ¾” Scallop Circle in White
• ·        one 1-3/4" circle in Blush Blossom (pink)
• ·        One ¾” circle in white
• ·        I punched a long strip (white) using the Scallop Border Punch and just cut it as needed for the hat trim.
• ·        The hat is a 1-3/4" x 3" rectangle, cut at a diagonal and folded over.
• ·        I did the eyes with a black pen - you could use Pearls or googly eyes instead.

Enjoy!!

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!!

It's that busy time of year!

It's that time of year .... soooo busy!  I have been working on projects for my Stamp Clubs to make this month.  I had several requests - tags, gifts, table gifts.  I tried to have several things on display for them to choose from which resulted in me having to bring most of the supplies from my craft room downstairs - most of the punches, Christmas stamps, paper, etc!  My Tuesday group was here today and they made a lot of different things even though they all grinched and groaned about how they were all sooo hard but they did fine.  I'll be sharing them with you soon.

I have been trying to also do some projects to send to my grandson for Christmas using My Digital Studio.  Here are a few games I made.  I just need to print them out with the game pieces that I made.  They can be played as is OR I could put some magnets on the back and they could be travel games played on a cookie tin!

Here is my card for the Paper Challenge this week.

All the Cuteness without All the Work!

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Talking Tags!

 

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