DECK THE HOLIDAY'S

What you need: clear shatterproof Christmas glass balls sea glass or glass gems clear silicone adhesive glitter spray tile nippers Step 1:   Fasten the sea glass to the ornaments with the silicone adhesive. Attach in segments to allow each area to dry before moving on to the next.  Step 2: Affix the sea glass all the way around the outer perimeter of the glass ball and use the tile nippers to crop the sea glass to fill in any small spaces. Step 3: Use the glitter spray as a finishing touch by lightly spritzing it around the ornament. The picture featured below is what the ornament looks like applying gem stones instead of the sea glass.

I always enjoy having DIY Christmas decorations in my holiday decor. It adds a personal touch and I love displaying things I have created. This year I saw the cutest 3D polka dot presents at Tai Pan Trading and instantly fell in love until I saw the price tag at $40. Granted they are a good 3 feet high, but $40 for foam core?! I knew then and there what my DIY Christmas decorations would be. Our Version $10   Tai Pan Trading's Version $40 SUPPLIES: 2 sheets foam core (Do not buy at the dollar store! It has a paper finish and will bubble.) X-ACTO Z series blade (This baby was awesome! It cut like a charm.) Pencil X-ACTO Self Healing Cutting Mat Painter's tape Red Satin Craft Paint Foam Brush Foam Pouncer (for polka dots) Clear Glitter Finish (Martha Stewart's is indoor/outdoor if you want to put them on the porch) DIY Christmas Decorations INSTRUCTIONS: 1. Lay the foam core on the cutting mat and using your pencil hand sketch t...

Besides all the popular winter holidays, there are lots of other reasons to celebrate throughout the month of December. Check them out. December 1: Special Kids Day  - If you have any special kids in your life, make this a day for them to remember. December 2: International Day for the Abolition of Slavery  - You may have thought that slavery was abolished long ago, but it still goes on. December 3: International Day of Disabled Persons  -  Spend the day like a disabled person would. I bet you will appreciate everything you are able to do that other people might not be able to. December 4: National Cookie Day  - What else would you do on National Cookie Day? December 5: Bathtub Party Day  - A party in the bathtub? That just sounds wrong. December 6: St. Nicholas Day  - It's like having a Christmas before Christmas. December 7: National Cotton Candy Day  - Try to not get sick from eating too much sugar. ...

Christmas Eve in a candlelit cemetery    At  Christmastime many Finns visit cemeteries to place candles by the graves of relatives, or by monuments such as this one in memory of war veterans. Visiting the local cemetery is very much a part of many Finnish families’ Christmas rituals. Hey, it’s not as morbid as it might sound.    Although going to a graveyard might seem an unlikely activity for the festive season, the sight of hundreds of graveside candles glowing in the snow in a serene wooded cemetery can be surprisingly uplifting. Placing candles on the graves of deceased relatives at Christmastime is a deep-rooted tradition followed by non-churchgoers and members of the Orthodox faith, as well as believers from the majority Evangelical Lutheran Church of Finland. “As many as three-quarters of Finnish families visit a cemetery at Christmas, mostly on Christmas Eve, and we even have to make special traffic arrangements to accommodate the crowd...

   Santa knows whether you’ve been naughty or nice, but he doesn’t know how much he’s hurting the environment. In one night, Santa uses as much carbon as Qatar does in one year! I like getting toys for Christmas, but I don’t think I need them that badly!    Maybe we need to raise our standards on who makes the ‘nice’ list.    Not sure what else to say about this infographic. Santa’s a carbon glutton and needs to be put away. In this kind of economic recession we need to cut down on spending and we are wasting too much on Santa. Or maybe get him a hybrid sleigh?    Well I guess this infographic is a good exercise for thinking critically about our energy usage. Although I’m not sure where they got the statistics. But now you know to limit the amount of wrapping paper you use to help offset Santa’s ridiculous carbon usage. 

   This dify comes from  www.theletteredcottage.net   Many get ideas on how to add that extra detail to your holiday dinner. Enjoy! Christmas Craft: Festive Napkin Ring Ideas Hey there! Are you having a nice December? Hope so! We saw our niece and nephew sing at church tonight and it. was.  wonderful ! There’s something about little ones signing & singing songs about Jesus that always makes me teary. Speaking of Christmas and fellowship, if you’re hosting a family dinner and you’re looking for some inexpensive and easy ways to festify (get it? festive? fy?) your dining room/kitchen table, how about creating some  holiday napkin ring bling ! All ya need are some napkin rings… …a hot glue gun, glue sticks, and some “holiday bling” from the arts & crafts store… Everything in the photo above was marked 50% off, so each item only cost between 50 cents and $1. Normally, I wouldn’t have purchased so many different options, but I want...

    In Russia ,  Christmas  is annually celebrated on January 7th, thanks to the Russian  Orthodox Church  that has made it an  official   holiday in  the country. Previously the occassion was observed on December 25th in much the same way as it was in the rest of the world, complete with  Christmas trees  and  Christmas gifts , Saint Nicholas and the like. But after the 1917  Revolution , Christmas was banned throughout Russia, along with other religious celebrations. It was much much later, in 1992, that the holiday began to be openly observed again. However, the  church  in Russia still uses the old Julian calendar which is 13 days behind the Gregorian calendar used in the Western nations. This is why, Christmas is celebrated in Russia on January 7th. But these days, a few Russians have begun to celebrate Christmas on the 25th of December. A Christmas tree in Red Square    Tod...