Green Room - Week 8 - Day 6

[clauderainsrm.livejournal.com]

Now that I've gathered you here, I can unleash my true plan - picking your brains for homemade Christmas ornament ideas that are fun for kids to make! Yes, 8 seasons of Idol have all been an elaborate ruse to get you to this point!

Either that or I completely spaced on putting together some ideas, and we are going to be going to make some this afternoon! So the sooner you post them, the better!

The person with the best idea will win imm. . . the praise of everyone who sees the idea!


Oh yeah, there's something about a poll too http://therealljidol.livejournal.com/508975.html but mostly I'm curious about kid friendly homemade Christmas ornaments!

Comments

[anastoff.livejournal.com]

Hello everyone. I was eliminated 2 weeks ago but never had time to say my farewells with end-of-semester school responsibilities, but I just want to thank all who read my entries and supported me. It was a great experience even if I didn't go as far as I would have liked, and I will be back for season 9! But until then, for reasons totally unrelated to this competition, I wanted to let all my fans know that I have decided to switch my blog to wordpress. So if you would like to continue following me post competition, my blog will now be at http://gilbertandme.wordpress.com.

[serpentpixie.livejournal.com]

... I'm not big on home-made things. Not unless you're very very good at making stuff... There's nothing charming about wonky ornaments and half-stuck-on tat in bright colours (except maybe to the parents, and that's got to be sleep deprivation talking). The one thing that I thought was nifty that I've seen a child make were spray painted pine cones. Although that wasn't so much "home made ornaments" as messy fun with a by-product of cool things to put in the tinsel that goes under the tree. And snow-flakes, obviously.

Christmas Card Ornaments

[jem0000000.livejournal.com]

You need something you don't have to buy materials for? Christmas card shapes! Re-uses the ones you're sent. :)

1. Take two Christmas cards and cut off the fronts (with the design). Trace a shape on the inside of one of the fronts. Do the same to a second front.

1a. Recommended shapes: snowman (three stacked overlapping circles, if you want to get fancy trace a hat-shape on top); angel (small circle for the head, wings on the back, half-oval for the rest of the body, and folded hands in front; you may want to Google a stencil); candle (rectangle with rounded bottom and a flame-shape on top); Christmas tree (jagged triangle with a star shape at the point and a narrow rectangle shape centered underneath). All of these are cut the same for both cards, so use the first to trace the second.

1b. Not recommended: cutting out the middle of the card, as it makes it hard to keep them together.

2. Cut out the shapes. Cut a slit in one from bottom to middle and the other from top to middle, vertically.

3. Punch a hole in the top of both card pieces (this works best with a hole punch; if using scissors, you can gently bend the card until it's almost folded, then make a small cut on the almost-fold. Insert the point of one blade into the cut, gently lift ever-so-slightly, and make a tiny cut crosswise. Then fold back the two flaps and cut them off; you'll have a triangular hole).

4. Hold the two cards vertically stacked, the one with the slit cut from the top on the bottom. Line the cuts up and slide together. Loop ribbon, string, or yarn through both holes and tie in a loop, or if completely ribbon-substitute-less, use an ornament hook but bend the loop that you put through the holes so it's stuck attached. This holds the two cards together.

5. Fan the cards out so that, from the top, they make a rough X shape. This makes the ornament look 3D-ish.

Storage: fold flat and store on bottom of box against flat surface to prevent bending.

Chenille Stick (Pipe Cleaner) Ornaments

[jem0000000.livejournal.com]

It's occurred to me that it's already your afternoon now... but here's some for next time. Someone's already mentioned Rudolph.

Candy Cane:

Fold a red stick in half and twist it until it's secure to make a thicker, shorter red stick. Do the same to a white one. Lay the two beside each other, grip at one end, and wrap them together in a swirl pattern. Bend the ends to hold them that way, then bend the swirled stick into a large J shape. Flip over.

Angel (small):

1. Gently bend (not fold) a stick in half. Place a finger (doesn't matter whose) on the center point of the stick and bend it around the finger. Twist it together on the other side to form a small circle.

2. Gently bend one of the free ends so that the end is touching the spot where it's twisted together (to find the midpoint of the end). Mark the point that's farthest out -- this should be the middle of this side. Release the cut end and fold the marked center of this side in; twist the center together with the same end at the point that it comes out of the circle. You should have an oval-ish shape attached to your circle now.

3. Repeat step two for the other long end.

4. Take both short ends, bend out, and place them together from opposite directions, overlapping slightly. Twist the overlap to hold it in place, then bend the resulting circle into a triangular shape with the point at the top (next to the small circle).

5. Do any necessary adjusting to make sure the small circle (head) is on top, the triangle (body) on bottom, and the ovals (wings) on either side.

Angel (large):

1. Bend (don't fold) a stick in half. Place two fingers (still doesn't matter whose) at the midpoint, wrap the stick around them loosely, and twist to secure. Remove the fingers and make sure it's pretty much a circular shape.

2. Bend the remainder of the stick and lay the ends together from opposite directions. Twist to secure. Fold the resulting shape into a roughly triangular body. For added detail, leave the very tips of the ends untwisted and bend them down to make feet.

3. On another stick, fold both ends in to the middle. Twist together loosely, then twist around the neck of the first shape securely. Arrange the resulting wings into a wing-like shape.

4. You can add a bell at the neck during step three if you like.

Wreaths:

1. Bend approximately a third of a chenille stick into a circle; twist to secure.

2. Wrap the remaining two-thirds around it, creasing points into it as you go, to make it look spiky like greenery.

3. Optionally, you can decorate it with tiny pom-poms or short pieces of chenille stick.

4. For a large wreath, use three sticks, twist one into a circle, and wrap the other two around it.

Christmas Tree (large):

1. Lay three brown chenille sticks side by side. Twist all but the last inch or so together. Fold the three remaining ends out to make a rough stand (you may have to bend them a bit to make it more stable).

2. Cut several green sticks into various lengths. Starting with the shortest green chenille stick and the top of the brown ones, twist the center of each length around the brown tree trunk and bend the ends out to be branches. The more cut sticks you have, the more branches your tree has.

3. Loop red, silver, or gold chenille sticks around the tree for garland. Use pom-poms or very short lengths of chenille stick for ornaments.

4. A red/gold/silver stick twisted onto the bottom of the trunk at one end and spiraled outward can mimic a tree skirt. Twist the end together with the final spiral to hold it.

5. For presents, clean and dry some round plastic bottle caps, and wrap short lengths of chenille stick around them for ribbon. Twist at the top and leave the ends free for a bow. (To secure to tree, catch one of the spirals of the "tree skirt" in the "ribbon" when wrapping the bottle cap.)

Christmas Tree (small):

1. Cut a brown stick in thirds; lay side by side and twist together all but the last bit or so. Fan the ends out for a stand.

2. Repeat steps 2-4 of the large Christmas Tree.

3. For presents, use pom-poms, or foam squares, or stacked felt squares, and wrap chenille stick pieces around them as ribbon.

[whipchick.livejournal.com]

Is it me, or is this prompt being more, ah....widely interpreted... than topics past? Not saying that's a bad thing, but I feel like I'm reading a lot more entries where I'm going, "hey, that was fun! But wait...did I read the right thing? how does this connect to the topic?"

Personally, I care less about whether it sticks to the topic than about 1) whether it's good and 2) whether I enjoy reading it (often but not always congruent categories). But is this a trend anyone else is noticing?

[jacq22.livejournal.com]

Yes had that feeling, had to go back and make sure once or twice. The heading and the comments comfirmed it! As I have not been involved have no comparison, but get your drift.

Right back to check wonderful smelling cake ...haven't baked one with booze and seriously decadent things in for a while...

[honeybeewriter.livejournal.com]

I need my last 2 grades of the semester to come in, I believe they have to be put in today. I'm expecting one A out of the last two and the other to be about a B-/B. Really hoping it's a B but it depends how awful I did on the final. Thankfully my paper writing skills will bring it up.

So far I have a 3.67 for this semester (2 A's and a B). I really don't want to see it lower then that!