Month: December 2009

Friday Fun

Friday Craft: Homemade Christmas Tree Ornaments

Karen

You can find more ornaments here.

What’s a down-home Christmas without some down-home Christmas tree ornaments?

Check out the fun, and unique, ideas from Family Fun. (And no, Family Fun has not compensated me in any way – I don’t go down that road. I’m simply passing on some interesting information, calm down).

Here’s a neat one for those that have real Christmas trees:

Tree Circles

A chip off the old block, these wooden ornaments preserve the piney memories of Christmases past.

Materials
* Handsaw
* Pine disk
* Copper wire
* Ribbon trim or cord
* Glue
* Artificial greenery and berries optional
* Marker or craft paint

Instructions
1. Saw a cross section from the bottom of your Christmas tree trunk before putting it into its stand for decorating (a parent’s job). Alternately, you can saw a smaller piece from the middle after the holidays are over. This is your pine disk.

2. Wrap a length of thin wire around the pine disk and twist it into a loop at the top for hanging. Tie on a ribbon, glue on some trim, or add greenery, berries, or other decorations.

3. Write the year across the front with a marker or craft paint. If the wood surface is too rough, sand it down a bit before writing.

4. For an extra remembrance, glue on a fun Christmas-morning snapshot before you store the ornaments away for next year.

Time Capsule Ornament

Commemorate your baby’s first Noel — and each one thereafter — with a tree ornament that’s filled with handwritten recollections of the year. The plastic balls are easy to open, so your child can reread the notes every Christmas.

Materials
* Fillable clear plastic ornament (ours is 80 mm)
* Double-sided tape (we used Terrifically Tacky Tape for its extra-strong hold)
* Rickrack or ribbon
* Scrapbooking paper cut into strips (ours are 5/8 inch wide)
* Small photos or other memorabilia that fits inside the ball

Instructions
1. Separate the two halves of the ball. Apply a strip of tape around the outside of the wider half. Carefully press the ribbon to the tape so that it’s close to but not touching the outer edge.

2. Write notes on the strips of scrapbooking paper, then roll them up and tuck them inside the ball. Add pictures, a photocopy of your child’s newborn footprint, and other mementos, if you like. Put the ball back together, then tie some ribbon and a tag with the year written on it onto the plastic loop.

Dangling Snowman

It doesn’t take a single flake to build this frosty character — you can round him up with white foam, buttons, and ribbon.

Materials
* 3 round objects (we used a spice jar lid, the bottom of a yogurt container, and a mason jar lid)
* Scissors
* Craft foam, white and orange
* Glue dots
* Monofilament
* Buttons
* Permanent marker
* Ribbon

Instructions
1. Using the round objects as patterns, cut out 2 white foam circles in each size.

2. Dangling Snowman Step 2 Place one set of the circles on a flat surface, spacing them 1/4 inch apart. With glue dots, glue a 12-inch piece of monofilament across the circles as shown, then firmly press the matching circles on top.

3. Use more glue dots to attach buttons and an orange craft foam nose. With a permanent marker, draw on eyes and a mouth. Finally, tie a ribbon scarf around the monofilament at the neck, and then knot the line above the head to create a loop for hanging.

Mice Ornaments

Sweeten up the Christmas tree with a collection of chocolate mice ornaments.

Materials
* Hershey’s Kisses
* Pink felt
* Scissors
* Double-sided carpet tape
* Fishing line
* Self-adhesive googly eyes
* Curling ribbon

Instructions
1. Remove the tags from two Hershey’s Kisses. Cut out mouse ears from pink felt, about 3/8-inch high. Using double-sided carpet tape, affix the bottoms of the ears to the flat side of one of the Kisses.

2. Tape an 8-inch loop of fishing line behind the ears to form a hanger.

3. With more double-sided carpet tape, join together the two flat sides of the Hershey’s Kisses, with the mouse ears and fishing line loop pointing up. Add a pair of self-adhesive googly eyes.

4. Slip a tail — a 4-inch piece of curling ribbon — under the foil. Now, see how they run (or disappear) from your tree!

Paper Drops

Proof of elegance in simplicity, these graceful paper shapes come together with two snaps of a stapler.

Materials
* Colored paper
* Stapler
* Ribbon or gold cord

Instructions
1. ORNAMENT: Cut two 12-inch strips, two 10-inch strips, and one 8 3/4-inch strip. Line them up in this order: 12, 10, 8 3/4, 10, 12, with one set of ends even. Staple this end. Line up the other ends evenly (bending the outer strips as needed) and staple.

2. HEART: Cut two 12-inch strips and two 9 1/2-inch strips. Line them up in this order: 9 1/2, 12, 12, 9 1/2, with one set of ends even. Staple this end. Now bend the unstapled ends into a heart shape, so a small heart lies inside a larger heart. Align the ends and staple together.

3. TEARDROP: Cut two 12-inch strips, two 10 1/2-inch strips, and one 9-inch strip. Line them up in this order: 12, 10 1/2, 9, 10 1/2, 12, with one set of ends even. Staple this end. Next, make a crease 1 inch from the unstapled ends of the 12- and 10 1/2-inch strips. Finally, align the ends of all the strips and staple them together.

4. Use the completed shapes to dress up a window or spin in midair from a light fixture or a ribbon. To hang each, knot the end of the gold cord and place it between the loose strips of paper at the top. Staple it all together.

Wishing Spool

Forget about postage to the North Pole. When kids roll their wish lists onto these cute-as-a-button spools, Santa will snap to attention.

Materials
* Acrylic paint and brush
* Wooden thread spool
* Marker
* Paper strip, cut to fit the width of the spool
* Double-sided tape
* Ribbon
* Self-sticking label

Instructions
1. Paint the spool and let it dry.

2. Have your child write her Christmas list on the strip of paper.

3. Roll the paper around the empty spool, using double-sided tape to fasten it, and leave some of the list hanging down (so Santa notices).

4.Thread the ribbon through the spool’s center and tie a knot at the top for hanging. Write your child’s name on the self-sticking label. Affix it to the ribbon.

You can find many more fun and unique ornaments here.

More from Write From Karen

Writing Stuff

Penning Holiday Letters

Karen

This was originally published on the Write Anything blog a few years back.

Well, the New Year is approaching. December is generally a time to reflect back on the past year and make plans for the upcoming months. It’ll soon be time to wipe the slate clean, move past regrets and mistakes and gear up to jump new hurdles.

In the midst of all of this reflection, I can only think of one thing to write about – holiday letters. You know what I’m talking about, those letters you receive in your Christmas cards summarizing the past year for the such-and-such family. Do you write them? Have you ever considered writing them? What do you think about them?

I have one high school friend, whom I never talk to and haven’t seen since high school, who sends me a family letter with each card every Christmas. She’s done this for years. Even though I’ve never met her daughters, I feel like I know them as I watched them grow up via photographs. Her letters are always upbeat (almost impossibly so) and her family sounds … well, perfect. I can’t help but wonder if she hasn’t doctored the events just a bit.

Don’t get me wrong, I’m all for sugar-coating the truth, but don’t you wonder if “Susie decided to forego her cheerleading ambitions to pursue her retail dreams” doesn’t really translate into, “Susie tried out for cheerleader, and didn’t make it. She was then so depressed that we had to pry her sticky, nasty self off the couch, throw her into the shower and force her to get a job in the mall just to save her sanity and make us some extra money?”

I’ve always read her letters with a grain of salt. True, her family COULD be perfect. And if that’s true, then perhaps I am just a tad jealous. But being cursed blessed with an over active imagination, I tend to read between the lines. I have to admit, it’s been fun to read these letters and put my own spin on things.

After receiving this year’s letter from her, I decided to try my hand at this holiday letter-writing thing. I had never written anything like this in the past and certainly never to her but I thought, what the hay, I’ll give it a go. I kept it short and to the point and I’m being honest when I say, I didn’t stretch the truth or sweeten the iffy areas. I simply wrote about my job and hobbies, my husband’s new job and how much happier he is, the boys’ school success and their interests.

After writing all of this down, after penning the nitty-gritty of our lives, I realized – we really do have a great family. True, she may read between the lines, roll her eyes and poke fun at us, but that doesn’t bother me. Because what I wrote was true and honest. And I’m proud of the fact that my husband and I have done a pretty good job living this little thing we call life.

At the end of the letter, I gave her my email address and suggested we catch up sometime. I really would like to see, and talk, to her. I mailed that letter weeks ago. I still haven’t heard from her.

Now I’m paranoid. Being a newbie to this whole holiday letter-writing thing, I’m thinking maybe I committed some sort of unforgivable faux pas. Curious, I Googled tips for writing holiday letters. Here’s what I found:

1] Consider Your Readers
As you prepare to compose the letter, think about some of the people who will be reading it. If they were sitting here now at your kitchen table, what would you be talking about with Aunt Vera, your school buddy Lane, and your old neighbors in Seattle? Talk about some of those things in your letter.

2] Involve the Family
Invite the other members of your family to contribute, and don’t be too quick to censor or redirect their ideas. Sure, you may be dying to tell the world that your son made the honor roll, but if he’s more interested in recalling that diving catch he made in centerfield, let him tell it—and let him use his own words.

3] Enjoy Yourself
If the prospect of writing a holiday letter makes you groan, forget it. A letter that starts out as a duty is likely to be read as a chore. Have some fun writing the letter.

4] Don’t Use a Template
If a family newsletter is worth writing at all, it should sound like you and your family. Don’t fill in any blanks or imitate any models.

5] Avoid Boasting
Your newsletter really shouldn’t sound like an application for America’s Greatest Family Award. Don’t brag about your stock options, your kids’ straight A’s, or your flashy new company car. Be real. Mention setbacks as well as achievements. Above all else, don’t be afraid to poke fun at yourself.

6] Read It Aloud
As you prepare to revise and edit your letter, listen to make sure that the language is clear and direct. The letter should sound as if you’re speaking with good friends, not directing a business meeting.

7] Don’t Embarrass Anybody
Encourage everyone in the family to read the letter before you make copies. You might have heard wedding bells when you met Junior’s new girlfriend on Thanksgiving, but those bells may have been false alarms. What Junior may not yet have told you is that the perfect couple broke up last weekend.

8] Proofread
There’s no need to amuse your friends with unintentional writing errors. Misspelling “bowl” as “bowel,” for instance, is funny only if somebody else has made the mistake. So review your letter for standard grammar and correct spelling.

9] Keep It Short
Nobody, they say, ever criticized a speech because it ran too short. The same is true of the holiday newsletter. Stick to one page, or even a bit less. Leave space for a brief handwritten note and a personal signature. If you’re including the letter as an e-mail attachment, send each e-mail individually. Real friends don’t spam their friends.

10] Be Selective
Send the letter only to acquaintances who might really care about what you and your family have been up to this past year. Your old roommate in Australia and a recently retired co-worker? Fine. But the mail carrier and your son’s second-grade teacher? Go with a card (or, better yet, a gift card) instead.

Considering I skipped steps 4 – 7, I think I did a pretty good job. Will I write any more holiday letters? I honestly don’t think so. I think holiday letters are dangerously close to bragging and don’t we have blogs for that? 😀

Thursday Thirteen

Thursday Thirteen – How to Write A Bad Novel (Part Two)

Karen

More really valuable tips from this site. Number 13 is especially important to WriMos. 😉

Thirteen Tips on How to Write a Really Bad Novel – Part Two

1. Nothing beats a catch phrase! I call Snoogity Bottom.

2. Brothers are always very different and they always argue about everything. Never portray brothers who are similar and get along unless they are twins (except if one is an evil twin). If they are twins they must finish each other’s sentences and no one should be able to tell them apart.

3. Sisters must always steal each other’s boyfriends. Additionally, one sister must be outgoing and the other must be quiet and serious. This makes no difference to the boyfriend though, he’ll gladly dump either for the other.

4. Don’t start your novel with an interesting event. Take a few dozen pages to explain everything that would lead up to that interesting event. The reader will gladly hang around until you get to the point.

5. Don’t make your secondary characters interesting. It will just detract from the main characters. Lesser characters don’t need reasons for their actions. They are just there to keep the plot moving.

6. If the plot seems to slow down, give someone a gun or a knife and kill off one of those secondary characters you don’t care about anyway.

7. If you want to write a serious novel, make sure the main character is jaded and has lost interest in life. This anti-hero must view all other people as phonies, fakes or idiots. The character should experiment with drugs and sex. At some point the character should watch someone die or at least be assaulted. At no point should the anti-hero feel any real pleasure. Happy endings are strictly prohibited.

8. Writing a mystery? Make sure the clues are really obvious or really obscure. Either way, your hero will be the only person who can piece these things together. At some point they must accuse the wrong person and be ridiculed for it. In the end though, they should deliver a speech that explains exactly how everything happened.

9. If you are writing about sports, make it clear that sports always provide important life lessons. Make sure the novel has one obsessive and one downtrodden coach.

10. Character conversations should always be used to explain what is happening and how people are feeling. It is perfectly natural to have a character explain to his office mate (whose brother is a bank president) that he used to be a safe cracker, but now he just wants to go straight.

11. Don’t forget to use italics when you want to emphasize something.

12. At the end of the book, you must have the main character reach an important and life-changing epiphany. Make that epiphany really obvious. Don’t worry about why they had one, just make sure they had it so the reader knows the book is ending.

13. Editing is just a waste of time. Spell check it and move on.

tags: thursday thirteen

More from Write From Karen

Book Corner

December is … National Novel Reading Month?

Karen

National Novel Reading Month

So, I stumbled on some people talking about National Novel Reading Month and after doing a little research and not finding anything “official”, I thought I would do my own little NaNoReaMo.

So, here’s the dealio:

I pledge to read four novels this month (which will be tough given the holidays and so forth – but come on, curling up in front of a fire and reading? What better excuse do you need than that?)

I will not only read these books, I will post a review on these books AND THEN give them away to four lucky winners for Book Swap in January!

And since I just finished writing 50,000 words in 30 days, I’m SO DONE with writing and SO IN THE MOOD to read for a bit.

Here are the books I’ll be reading this month:

Book One: New Moon by Stephenie Meyer

Description: I FELT LIKE I WAS TRAPPED IN ONE OF THOSE TERRIFYING NIGHTMARES…
For Bella Swan, there is one thing more important than life itself: Edward Cullen. But being in love with a vampire is even more dangerous than Bella ever could have imagined. Edward has already rescued Bella from the clutches of one evil vampire, but now, as their daring relationship threatens all that is near and dear to them, they realize their troubles may be just beginning. . . .

Book Two: The Time Traveler’s Wife by

Description: A dazzling novel in the most untraditional fashion, this is the remarkable story of Henry DeTamble, a dashing, adventuresome librarian who travels involuntarily through time, and Clare Abshire, an artist whose life takes a natural sequential course. Henry and Clare’s passionate love affair endures across a sea of time and captures the two lovers in an impossibly romantic trap, and it is Audrey Niffenegger’s cinematic storytelling that makes the novel’s unconventional chronology so vibrantly triumphant.

Book Three: The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo by

Description: It’s about the disappearance forty years ago of Harriet Vanger, a young scion of one of the wealthiest families in Sweden . . . and about her octogenarian uncle, determined to know the truth about what he believes was her murder.

It’s about Mikael Blomkvist, a crusading journalist recently at the wrong end of a libel case, hired to get to the bottom of Harriet’s disappearance . . . and about Lisbeth Salander, a twenty-four-year-old pierced and tattooed genius hacker possessed of the hard-earned wisdom of someone twice her age—and a terrifying capacity for ruthlessness to go with it—who assists Blomkvist with the investigation. This unlikely team discovers a vein of nearly unfathomable iniquity running through the Vanger family, astonishing corruption in the highest echelons of Swedish industrialism—and an unexpected connection between themselves.

Book Four: Vision in White (The Bride Quartet, Book 1) by Nora Roberts

Description: Wedding photographer Mackensie “Mac” Elliot is most at home behind the camera, but her focus is shattered moments before an important wedding rehearsal when she bumps into the bride-to-be’s brother…an encounter that has them both seeing stars.

A stable, safe English teacher, Carter Maguire is definitely not Mac’s type. But a casual fling might be just what she needs to take her mind off bridezillas. Of course, casual flings can turn into something more when you least expect it. And Mac will have to turn to her three best friends-and business partners-to see her way to her own happy ending.

If you would like to participate in NaNoReaMo, please feel free to do so! In fact, read the same books as I am and then we can discuss what we liked, or disliked, about the book! (A sort of mini-book club!).

My tentative reading schedule:

December 1 – 8: New Moon
December 8 – 15: The Time Traveler’s Wife
December 15 – 22: The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo
December 22 – 29: Vision in White

Happy Reading!