Holiday Paper Star Ornament

Get the whole family involved in this charming holiday craft project,

compliments of Elizabeth W. Gift Baskets.

Happy Holidays!

3-D PAPER STARS

These delicate stars are far simpler to make than they appear. Hang them on your Christmas tree or decorate the party room with them by hanging several at varying lengths from a chandelier, doorframe or light fixture. For a variation, cut bell shapes from holiday sheet music and assemble in the same way as the stars.

You’ll Need:

Star cookie cutter or stencil

Art paper in holiday tones

Scissors

Stapler

Squirt-out glitter glue or puffy paint, (optional)

Assorted thin ribbons

Craft glue

1. Use cookie cutter or stencil to trace around and cut out three identical stars from the art paper. With point at top, fold two stars in half vertically.

2. Place folded stars on either side of remaining (flat) star and staple together along vertical fold with a single staple. Decorate with glitter glue and/or paint, if using; let dry. Cut ribbons for hanging stars and attach with a dot of craft glue.

OUR “HOLIDAY STRIPES” BASKET IS THE PERFECT GIFT FOR THE SWEET TOOTH ON YOUR LIST!

Easy Flower Placecards

Another easy tabletop decoration idea,

compliments of Elizabeth W. Gift Baskets

EASY FLOWER PLACECARDS

This place marker idea is a byproduct of a piece I did for “The Knot” that I had to buy a lot of flowers for. It epitomizes what I call “easy elegance.” And, if you have a flower garden and a few plain, utilitarian ramekins, you can make that cheap, easy elegance. Use these botanical beauties for weddings, summer dinner parties and holiday celebrations.

Almost any large, flashy blossom will work. Choose flowers that coordinate with your table setting or, for weddings, in your wedding theme colors. Simply cut the blooms off, leaving about a half-inch of stem. Arrange the blooms (or, just a large, single blossom) in a ramekin filled with water. Loosely tie a beribboned nametag around the flowers or the rim of the ramekin.

My rosebuds had a bit of height, which created a perfect place to tie on the tag. However, if you use flatter flowers, just drape the tag’s ribbon on top of the flower or let it encircle the ramekin and drop onto the plate. Tying ribbon around the rim of the ramekin can be tricky, depending on what kind of ramekin you are using. If you plan to do this, be sure to do it before you add the water and flower.

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Patriotic Placecards for the 4th

Happy 4th of July from Elizabeth W. Gift Baskets!

PATRIOTIC PLACECARDS

To make festive placecards for your July 4^th party, just glue a dried starfish and a scrap of red ribbon to a blue card. I used a glue gun, but in a pinch craft glue like Aleene’s Tacky Glue will work. Just be sure to give it a little time to dry. Write each dinner guest’s name on a card and stand it in the center of each plate. How easy was that!

FIND A GIFT FOR EVERYONE ON YOUR LIST AT ELIZABETH W. GIFT BASKETS!

Place Card Favors for Mother’s Day

Happy Mother’s Day from Elizabeth W. Gift Baskets!

If you are making a fancy meal for your mom for Mother’s Day, take an extra 10 minutes and put together these sweet take-home place cards. Tiny vases (about 4 inches tall) can be found at craft supply stores, flea markets and big box stores for about a dollar. Fill one for each guest with tiny spring flowers like violets or grape hyacinth. Tie on nametags and place one on each guest’s plate.

For those of you who are NOT making a fancy meal for your mom, get over yourself! Any fool can put together a nice meal even if you can’t cook. If you can hunt and gather, you can make a lovely meal. Here’s how.

Visit your grocery or specialty food store and pick up a rotisserie chicken, a bag of pre-washed salad greens, a bottle of vinaigrette style dressing, oil-cured olives, dried figs or dates, whole almonds, walnut halves and some fresh grapes.

From the deli section, get a pound or so of roasted vegetables and pick out several cheeses to make a cheese board. Include some firm cheeses and some soft; some intensely flavored and some milder. A good combination might include, Grafton Village Cheddar, Camembert, Maytag Blue, aged Mimolette, a goat cheese, an aged sheep’s milk cheese, and a triple-crème cheese, such as St. Andre.

From the bakery section, get a loaf of crusty, country bread and a pretty pie or cake for dessert. Some ice cream to go with that? Up to you. I vote yes.

Pick up your favorite wines or champagne from the liquor store and you’re good to go.

Instead of serving the meal in courses, put everything but dessert on the table at once; even the cheese board. It will look more impressive and you’ll be able to nosh and relax with Mom and your guests rather than jumping up and down to get things.

Put the chicken on a platter and surround it with the roasted vegetables. Put the olives and the nuts in small bowls and arrange them, along with the cheeses, bread, grapes, dried fruits and knives for slicing, on several small cutting boards or platters. Just before serving, toss the salad greens with the dressing in a large bowl. That’s it. Dinner is served!

For dessert, put the cake or pie on a cake stand, if you have one, and serve with ice cream and coffee, if desired.

Cake stand or not, Mom will love this meal. She will love it for the same reason she loved that goofy dinosaur diorama you made for her in third grade, or the very strange vase you created in pottery class. She will love it because she loves you… and because you made it yourself!  

FIND A GIFT FOR EVERYONE ON YOUR LIST AT ELIZABETH W. GIFT BASKETS

Bird Nest Place Cards for Easter

Happy Easter from Elizabeth W. Gift Baskets!

How easy is this! Dye a bunch of Easter eggs. If you have nice handwriting, use a Sharpie marker  to write the name of each of your dinner guests on an egg. If you don’t have nice handwriting, do as I did and use rub-on letters to spell out each name. Buy craft store bird nests, one for each place setting. Line each nest with excelsior or Easter grass, position the place card egg in the center of the nest, and surround it with jelly beans and candy Easter eggs. You’ll be amazed at the childlike glee these simple place markers bring to your dinner guests. Speaking of children, this is a great project to share with kids. You write the names on the eggs and let the kids arrange the candy and eggs in the nests.

FIND A GIFT FOR EVERYONE ON YOUR LIST AT ELIZABETH W. GIFT BASKETS!

Easter Party Favors for Kids

Happy Easter from Elizabeth W. Gift Baskets!

Get the whole family involved in this easy, economical, Easter craft. Repurpose peat pots and paper cones or cups into charming take-home favors for kids. Grown-ups will love them too!

Use scissors to cut fused peat pots apart to make individual “baskets.” Line with Easter grass and fill with eggs and candy.

To make the paper cone baskets, punch a hole in either side of the cup, thread pretty ribbon through to make a handle and knot it on the inside. (Make the knot nice and big so it holds the handle in place.) Hand the filled baskets out as party favors, or add a nametag and drop one into each person’s glass to create place cards for the Easter dinner table.

FIND A GIFT FOR EVERYONE ON YOUR LIST AT ELIZABETH W. GIFT BASKETS!  

Egg Centerpiece for Spring

Happy Spring from Elizabeth W. Gift Baskets!

If you’ve got a cake stand or footed bowl, and a handful of excelsior or Easter grass, you’ve got all you need to showcase dyed eggs in a gorgeous centerpiece. Don’t wait until Easter. Make one now and keep it on your kitchen table. It will provide refreshing eye candy as you usher in spring and new beginnings. You’ll be amazed at how happy it makes you! And, as long as they don’t get any cracks, your eggs will last until Easter and well beyond. (But they won’t be edible!) Simply make a grass nest on the cake stand and nestle your eggs inside. Add jellybeans and/or malted milk Robin’s eggs, if you like. Now wasn’t that easy? 

FIND A GIFT FOR EVERYONE ON YOUR LIST AT ELIZABETH W. GIFT BASKETS!

Ornaments Made From Nature

Ornaments made from an old cardboard shipping box and some of nature’s art supplies. More photos below.

 

Everyone seemed to love last week’s paper snowflake ornaments so here’s another ornament idea. These rustic beauties take a little longer to make, but order all your holiday gift baskets from Elizabeth W. Gift Baskets, and you’ll have plenty of time left for crafting.

To make an ornament: Use cookie cutters as templates for ornament shapes. Trace onto corrugated cardboard (I used an old shipping box, but craft stores have heavy art paper that will be easier to cut.) Cut out shapes with a craft knife or scissors. Using photos as a guide, arrange assorted natural elements (list follows) on front of cardboard shape and glue in place. Cut an 8” length of country twine or cording. Fold in half; glue ends to wrong side of ornament for hanger.

Here’s a list of some of Mother Nature’s art supplies. Take a walk through the woods or a spin through the kitchen spice cabinet and I’m sure you’ll find some new ones that I didn’t think of.

Feathers

Acorns

Oatmeal

Small twigs

Red, white & black peppercorns

Dried beans, berries and split peas

Cardamom pods

Star anise

Tapioca pearls

Dried starfish

Tiny pinecones

Whole cloves

Star Anise makes a great tree-topper or ladies hat. Cardamom pods and Tapioca decorate the tree.

 

Green split peas and red peppercorns decorate the moose and trees. Use country twine for a garland.   

 

Craft a Paper Snowflake Ornament

Many of my holiday gift baskets are highlighted with elegant, glass snowflake ornaments. Traditionally however, my own tree is decorated entirely with handmade items… some made when I was just a child. In fact, the snowflake ornaments shown here, are simply a grown-up version of those fold-and-cut snowflakes we all made in grade school. The only difference is that I used fancy vellum instead of those sheets of manila paper from 3rd grade.

To make a snowflake: Cut a square of vellum paper. Fold the square in half, then in half again to make quarters. Cutting along the unfolded edges, cut spokes of snowflake. Unfold paper. Sew hanger onto one spoke with silver embroidery thread. Glue a craft store gem into the center, if you like. Use the snowflakes to decorate a package or greeting card, or to hang on your tree.

FIND A GIFT FOR EVERYONE ON YOUR LIST AT www.elizabethwgiftbaskets.com

Craft a Holiday Wreath

COOKIE RECIPE! A few months back I mentioned that my recipe for Crunchy Peanut Butter Cookies had  been  chosen to run in a round-up of best fast recipes in Food & Wine magazine. My sister emailed me and said a friend had  just seen it, so I guess it is in the current (December?) issue. Check it out. Meanwhile, you can  also find the recipe here.

HOW TO MAKE A RUSTIC HOLIDAY WREATH

I am including fancy wreaths in some of my holiday gift basket designs, but when it comes to my own front door, I lean toward something a bit more rustic. This will be a snore for seasoned crafters, but the recipe for making this festive wreath couldn’t be simpler. What’s more, the wreath shown here will take you from fall through winter and all the holidays in between.

Start with an inexpensive vine wreath from a craft store. Assemble all the items you want to decorate your wreath with… pinecones, feathers, unshelled nuts, tiny dried gourds, paper or silk leaves, dried citrus or quince slices, acorns, dried berries, etc. Now simply hot glue them to the vine wreath with a glue gun. You’ll find that once you make your move and glue on that first item, all the rest will fall into place. Really! In fact, that’s the best part about this little craft project. It is virtually impossible to make a mistake! It’s perfectly OK that parts of the vine wreath show through. That’s the beauty of working with nature’s craft supplies. When it feels finished simply tie on a fancy ribbon and hang your masterpiece!

FIND THE PERFECT GIFT FOR EVERYONE ON YOUR LIST AT www.elizabethwgiftbaskets.com!  

Wreath Detail: