Holiday Craft Ideas

A fun way to spend time with your friends over the holidays or throughout the year is to plan a craft day!

A friend recently organized a group of women at her house during the day while the kids were at school. We paired up and each of us brought a craft for everyone to make. These are easy craft ideas you could do yourself at home or with friends. She served us lunch with mimosas and we had a grand time!

Cinnamon Stick Candles

2 packs cinnamon sticks ( can be found at Michaels)

Scented Candle (they used Baked Cookies scented candle from Michaels which is a 6″ candle and about the same heigth as the cinnamon sticks)

Hot glue gun

Ribbon (thick festive ribbon is pretty)

Put hot glue on one side of the cinnamon stick and also on the candle. Place cinnamon stick on the candle and hold for a few seconds to let it set. Be careful – glue gets HOT! I burned myself several times on the hot glue and had to keep a cup of cold water nearby to soak my fingers in!

Continue glueing the cinnamon sticks to the candle and try to push them together until you have gone all the way around the candle. It is okay if some of the glue shows. It dries clear and adds to the natural look.

Tie a pretty ribbon around the center of the cinnamon sticks/candle and you have a beautiful present for someone or yourself!

Decorated Tree in a Vase

6 heart shaped card board pieces (approx. 2″x2″)

Craft glue

Different dried pasta (elbow macaroni, stars, mini penne and/or rotini

Red maple twigs (Items used were found in their yard. Item can be purchased if prefer)

Clear vase tall enough so twigs stand out @ 1 foot (ones used were @ 10 inches tall)

Hot glue gun

Thin ribbon

Krylon Metallic gold spray ( can be found at WalMart and probably Michaels as well)

Mini balls or ornaments (pack of 12 can be found at Michaels)

Use craft glue to completely cover each star shaped card board. Glue the macaroni onto the cardboard in various designs. Some simply glued all stars shaped pasta to the cardboard. One idea is to put rotini pasta along the edge of the cardboard and do a pinwheel shape with the elbow macaroni in the center. Let dry.

Once dry, spray the decorated cardboard stars with the Krylon metallic gold spray.

Take your red maple twigs and place in clear vase. Arrange to your liking. You can put festive marbles or fake snow or other in bottom of vase if you like.

Hang the small colored balls on the twigs.

Cut ribbon, fold in half and use the hot glue gun to glue the folded part to the back of the cardboard stars. After drying for a few seconds, tie the top ends into a bow and hand on the tree.

This makes for a great decorative piece in your home or a gift!

Festive Trivet

Holiday fabric cut into 6″ or 8 ” squares

Cinnamon or allspice

Hot glue gun

Batting or felt item (we used batting but in hindsight something thicker will probably hold up better)

Pinking shears

Use pinking shears to cut the fabric so you have two pieces of 6″ or 8″ squares.  Pinking shears help so the material doesn’t fray.

Place material in between the two pieces thick enough so there is some padding.

Gently pinch (not pour like me) enough cinnamon or allspice onto the badding or felt used in between the material.

Hot glue the ends together.

Decorative Ornaments

Clear class (pack of 6 – can be found at Michaels)

Assorted colors of Acryllic paint (small bottles can be found at Michaels)

Batting if desired, Fake snow if desired

Colorful thin ribbon

Paint pens

Decorate the ornaments to your liking. Some of us put batting inside the ornament then painted the outside with a wreath, snowman or snowflakes.

An idea is to use the acryllic paint and color the entire ball one color then paint a snowman or other once dry.

An idea is to put one or more decorated ribbon inside the ornament and use paint pens to draw small dots on the ornament.

An idea is to draw different colored stripes on the ornament and draw an initial on one side.

We had fun comparing each others’ painting and decorating skills!

Christmas Tree

Tomato plant stand

Garland

Ornaments

Ribbon

Wrap garland around a tomato plant stand. Decorate with ornaments. Make a bow with ribbon and tie to top of tree. Let ribbon from the bow dangle down the tree.

Fun and festive!

The Avenue Forsyth

The Avenue Forsyth offers a wide variety of outdoor shops, restaurants and a movie theatre. Join their A-list to receive emails of their events and promotions.

Barnes & Noble storytime Tuesday’s at 11:00 a.m.

Jim ‘N Nick’s Bar-B-Q:  Taco Tuesday. All pork, chicken, beef and catfish tacos are $2.49 each all day.

Check under their promotions link to find great offers at many of the stores.

The Forum on Peachtree

The Forum on Peachtree is another great outdoor shopping area. The popular gift store, Limetree,  can be found here by Trader Joe’s.  Lots of great women’s boutique stores can be found here as well as Barnes & Noble for the readers. Sign up for their email alerts for events and promotions.

I ate this at a luncheon a few years ago and we all asked for the recipe. It is so easy and yummy!

Chicken – Crockpot Recipe

6 boneless chicken breasts

1/4 C. butter softened

7oz. pkg. dry Good Seasons Italian Dressing

1 can Golden Mushroom soup

1/2 C. dry white wine

1 small tub cream cheese with chives

Line crockpot with chicken. Mix butter, soup, cream cheese (nuke to soften).

Add wine and salad dressing. Pour over chicken. Cook on low for 4-5 hours.

Serve over rice or pasta. I like to serve it over orzo pasta!

Rhonda’s Pumpkin Bread

Ingredients:

·                        3 Eggs
·                        1 cup Sugar
·                        2/3 cup Pumpkin
·                        1 teaspoon Lemon juice
·                        3/4 cup All-purpose flour
·                        1 teaspoon Baking powder
·                        2 teaspoons Cinnamon
·                        1 teaspoon Ginger
·                        1/2 teaspoon Nutmeg
·                        1/2 teaspoon Salt
·                        .
·                        Filling:
·                        8 ounces Cream cheese — softened
·                        4 tablespoons Butter — or margarine
·                        1 cup Powdered sugar
·                        1/2 teaspoon Vanilla
Preparation:

In large bowl, combine eggs and sugar, beating with an electric mixer until thick and light yellow in color. Add pumpkin and lemon juice, mixing until blended.
In separate bowl, combine flour, baking powder, spices and salt. Add to egg mixture, mixing well. Spread batter into greased and waxed-paper lined 10-by-15-inch jelly-roll pan.

Bake at 350 ° for 15 minutes. Remove from oven. Cool for 15 minutes. Place cake on clean tea towel sprinkled liberally with powdered sugar. Cool 10 minutes longer. From 10- inch side, roll cake up in towel. Set aside.

While cake is cooling in towel, prepare filling. Beat together cream cheese and butter; stir in powdered sugar and vanilla and blend until smooth.
Unroll cake. Evenly spread filling over cake. Roll up cake (without the towel). Wrap in plastic wrap. Cover and chill at least 1 hour. Slice before serving. Keep leftover slices refrigerated. This pumpkin roll freezes well.

Tips from Monica Leighton (President of the National Association of Professional Pet Sitters in Venice, FL) on how to help your pet get their Zzzzz’s:

Making sure your pet eats a healthy diet helps your pet sleep better. Keeping your pet from people food helps as well.

Walk your dog daily or throw the ball with your dog in your yard so your pet can get the excersize it needs to stay healthy. Try not to walk your pet too late at night because it can increase their heart rate and make it harder for them to settle down for sleep.

Ever hear the saying, “Never wake a sleeping baby “? The same applies to pets. If they are sleeping, don’t bother them.  Explain to the kids that just as they need their rest, the pet does as well.  A good nights rest helps to reduce the pets stress and to keep them healthy and happy!!

Screening for Colon Cancer is very important and most people should begin screening at age 50.

Colonoscopy is the ususal procedure done to screen for colon cancer.  A colonoscopy is when a doctor views the colon, or large intestine, through an endoscope which is inserted into the rectum( once a bowel prep has been done). This procedure may be be able to detect if there is blockage in the colon or find growths such as polyps. 

St Joseph’s Hospital  (www.saintjosephsatlanta.org) has been trying a less invasive screening called the CT cologography.  The body is scanned with a CT (computerized axial tomography) scanner.  Once a bowel prep has been completed, a small tube is inserted into the rectum to inflate the bowel with carbon dioxide while they scan. This procedure does not require sedation whereas the colonoscopy does. 

If a polyp or questionable growth needs to be removed, one still needs to undergo a colonoscopy or other procedure.  One important note is that the CT colonography is not covered by all insurance companies so you would need to check with your insurance carrier to see if the procedure is covered.

Read more….www.saintjosephsatlanta.org

Emergency Numbers

Fire, Police, Ambulance 911

Medical Advice 404-250-5437

Poison Control 404-616-9000 or 1-800-222-1222

General

Northside Hospital 404-851-8000

Northside Hospital Forsyth 770-844-3200 (Cumming)

North Fulton Hospital 770-751-2500

Childrens Healthcare 404-250-5437

Alpharetta Police Non-Emergency 678-297-6300

Alpharetta Non-Emergency Fire Dept.  678-297-6300

Alpharetta City Hall 678-297-6000

Ocee Public Library 770-360-8897

Alpharetta YMCA 770-664-1220

Lifetime Fitness 770-664-9696

Alpharetta Parks & Rec 678-297-6100

Publix (Old Milton) 770-751-7991

Kroger (State Bridge) 770-751-3000

Fulton County Board of Education 404-768-3600

Theatres

Regal North Point 770-663-0770

AMC Mansell 404-816-4262

Regal Medlock 770-814-8437

Studio Movie Grill 770-992-8411 (Holcomb Bridge)

AMC Avenue Forsyth 770-781-0636