The Soul Sister's Christmas Party Recap!

I've kept you in suspense, haven't I? I told you all about our Christmas gift idea for this year (hand made ornaments for each other) and with all the cancellations, I never followed up! I'm sorry, but you know how it is.

Okay, here is the scoop. The Swine Flu reared it's ugly head and caused us to reschedule our party date twice. It seems the Soul Sisters were not meant to get together in the daylight hours. The was only one solution...go out for drinks! So, we tucked our kidlets in to bed, kissed our Big Guys goodbye, and hit up Houlihan's for a mini-martini sampler and some appetizers! Hoo, yeah, why didn't we think of this before???



We got ourselves situated in a round booth in the corner that was really like our own little room. Plenty of room to spread out with our many packages, private enough to gossip, and soundproofed a bit when the occasional hoot or snort escaped! Bonus!

You saw my Light Bulb Snowman last month, and here is what the rest of the girls came up with. Ironically, 3 out of five of us used the exact same photograph in the making of their ornaments!

Marzipan made this cute Christmas ball using a method she learned as a child. Remember these?



Girl in the Sticks made another type of delicate ball with the same photo with the picture printed on one side of a silvery reflective paper.



And Treat Girl framed us in that SAME photo to hang on our trees! By the time we opened the last one, we were in a blubbery mess of laughter that included snots and snorts...not pretty. (Oh, and one quick note about this photo...In my mind, I'm one of the tallest Sisters, I'm beginning to believe this is not the case.)



Finally, Joy found the cutest little birdhouses at the Dollar Tree that she embellished with birch bark, leaves, and a sequined birdie.



Then, Treat Girl and I broke the rules and pulled out some small additional gifts. Treat Girl's Happiness Jar was featured yesterday:



And I made everyone wooden spoons and rubber spatulas with their names on the handles (Walmart specials that cost me less than $10 for one of each for all of them!).



By this time, the booth was a wreck, the waitress was coming over to investigate our ornaments, and another waitress was taking our picture! Who knew so much fun could be had between 9-11:30 on a Tuesday night? For reals!

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Hand Made Christmas Ornaments - Tutorial Tuesday

My absolute favorite ornament submitted for my Hand Made Ornament Linky Party was the Paper Ball using wrapping paper scraps, submitted by Tina's Place!



I followed some links and discovered the original tutorial from Everyday Chaos using recycled book pages and I was in love! I gathered up my supplies and sat down right that minute to make one. It took one episode of Ellen and about $1.25 and I was done...want to learn?

Recycled Book Page Christmas Ornament

Supplies:

An old book (I used a cheap-o dollar store book I bought for projects like this)
Ruler
Ink pad
Hot glue gun
Old ornament
Pencil

Begin by preparing your book. Rip out the pages, then begin ripping 1 1/2 inch strips then 1 1/2 inch squares. I used the edge of the ruler to tear straight lines. I wanted a rough edge, but you could also cut these squares with scissors.



You will need MANY squares. Many more than this.



Now, rub the edges of the squares over the ink pad to age and distress them...you know I hate bright white!



See?



Here are the balls I used, gaudy glittery balls that came 5 to a tube at the dollar store:



Using your pencil, form the square of paper over the end of the pencil, like this:



Place a dot of hot glue onto the end of the paper "cup" like this:



And, stick it to the ball like this!



Repeat about a thousand times until the entire ball is covered:



Once you cover the entire surface, embellish it the way you'd like. I cut out a star from the front of a glittery Christmas card and attached a Merry Christmas banner like the original tutorial.



You could decorate yours in all sorts of creative ways!



It's so easy a child could do it...or two children could do it while arguing over the hot glue gun. Whatever.



Here is a round up of some of the other ideas you shared at the Christmas Ornament Linky Party last week!

Borax Snowflakes by Domestically Speaking:

Snowman Balls by Joy Beadworks:

And a last minute Glass Ball Ornament using rub-ons from Fingerprints on the Fridge:




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