CRAFTS WITH ANASTASIA-- PASTA ORNAMENTS

If you’re of a certain age, chances are back in kindergarten, Sunday school, or at a Brownie meeting you covered at least one cigar box with macaroni, probably as a Mother’s Day or Father’s Day gift. And chances are, you haven’t thought about crafting with pasta since then, even if mom or dad still has that cherished box sitting on a shelf somewhere.

Well, get out the pasta because I’ve got some great Christmas ornaments you’re going to want to make. These are so easy, you can do them with your kids. The most time consuming part involves waiting for the glue to dry. 

All you need in the way of materials are miniature pasta wagon wheels, tacky glue, wax paper as a work surface, a toothpick for applying the glue, and some perle cotton or thin ribbon for hanging loops.

The ornaments shown are approximately 5” - 6”. You can make yours smaller if you’d like. These ornaments were created without patterns. You can also use large cookie cutters as templates. If you decide to use the cookie cutters, trace them onto a piece of paper. Place the paper underneath the wax paper. Arrange the pasta in horizontal rows to fit inside the drawn shapes. Glue pasta together as described below.

I like the natural look of the pasta, but you can also spray paint your pasta ornaments in gold, silver, or any other desired color.

1. Arrange the pasta into the desired shapes.

2. Squeeze a puddle of tack glue in one corner of the wax paper.

3. Working in horizontal rows, glue the pasta in each row together. Allow the individual rows to dry. When completely dry, glue the rows together.

4. When the ornaments are completely dry, tie perle cotton or ribbon through hole at top of each pasta wheel for hanging loop.

BOOK CLUB FRIDAY -- GUEST AUTHOR CARIDAD PINEIRO

Back to join us today is award-winning author Caridad Pineiro, who also happens to be one of author Lois Winston’s favorite people, to talk about all she wants for Christmas this year. Read more about Caridad at her website.-- AP 

Every year my husband and I go through the same little dance at Christmas time.  He asks me what I want and I tell him nothing.  It’s a truthful answer and yet it never seems to satisfy him and so we begin the dance again.

Honestly, my hubby can’t really give me the one thing I truly want year after year.  What is that you might wonder?

Time.  Not like immortal time like my vampires in THE CALLING/REBORN series have.

More like time to just be free of work and responsibilities.

You see, in addition to the writing gig, which I truly love despite all the hard work, I still have my demanding day job.  That means long hours on a regular basis with very little free time and that “free time” is generally taken up by household chores and an assortment of other tasks.

I know I’m not alone in feeling this way.  Many people I know are in the same boat.

But this year I am going to give myself and hubby that free time.  I am going to take a much deserved break from work this Christmas season!

Being that it is so precious, what would I do in that free time?  In a perfect world, I’d travel.  I’d love to visit so many different places and one of the nice things about being a writer is that I can vicariously travel to a great many locations and take you there as well.

For example, in my latest release, AMAZON AWAKENING, I take a trip to the Amazon rainforest and explore a very unusual “sacred space” which some believe may be the Garden of Eden.

To write the novella I did lots of research on the Amazon, which is truly a remarkable place.  Besides being immense (did you know it touches 9 countries in South America?), the rainforest is one of our most important ecosystems.  It contains over 50% of the world’s species of animals, insects and plants and is also one of the biggest producers of oxygen.

Truly amazing and I can just picture myself one day taking a boat trip down the Amazon, although I’d refrain from taking a dip.  I’ve watched one too many RIVER MONSTERS television shows about the many dangerous things in those Amazon waters.

Where else would I like to go?  Well, I’ve been lucky enough to climb up a Mexican pyramid despite my fear of heights.  That helped inspire AZTEC GOLD and THE FIFTH KINGDOM.

I love the Jersey Shore and have taken you to some of my favorite places there in THE LOST and the books in the SINS series.

But I still have to visit soooo many locations, like Ireland, Scotland, Tuscany, Machu Picchu, the Great Wall of China, and the Pyramids in Egypt just to name a few.

In retrospect, as I consider the gift of time and all that I’d do with it, something occurred to me.  It’s one of those sayings you see here and again on little plaques and stuff and possibly corny, but I’ll leave you with this thought anyway, especially given the shopping frenzy we sometimes get caught up in during the Christmas season.

So here goes…

The important things in life are not things.

Have a wonderful and very happy holiday season!

TRAVEL WITH SERENA -- WELCOME YOUR GUESTS

Many of us will be traveling over the holidays; many others will have house guests. Travel editor Serena Brower offers up a few suggestions for making your guest feel welcome. -- AP

Have you ever stayed at the home of a friend or relative and spent the time living out of a suitcase on the floor? Annoying, isn’t it? Make your guests more comfortable by providing them with a drawer and closet space for their clothes.

If space is an issue, and your guests will have to live out of their suitcases, purchase a suitcase rack for your guest room. These are inexpensive and can be folded up and stored in the back of a closet after your guests leave. Living out of suitcase for several days is bad enough. Don’t make your guests get down on their hands and knees whenever they need clean underwear.

On a bedside table provide an alarm clock, box of tissues, and a small dish or tray for rings and other jewelry your guests will remove at night.

Make sure there’s a place where your guests can charge their cell phones.

Don’t forget to leave plenty of extra towels in the bathroom. No one wants a wet, naked guest making a mad dash to the linen closet.

Motion sensor night lights help guests navigate to the bathroom in the middle of the night without stubbing their toes or bashing their shins on furniture.

Splurge on some new pillows for the guest room. Don’t make your guests sleep on your lumpy discards. And make sure you provide extra blankets for those chilly night.

Thanks, Serena! Readers, do you do anything special to get ready for your holiday guests? Let’s hear from you. -- AP

DECORATING WITH JEANIE -- METALLIC SNOWFLAKE TREE

Have you noticed the proliferation of brightly colored metallic Christmas trees this year? Thanks to TV shows like Mad Men and Pan Am, trends of the fifties and sixties are back in style for both fashion and home dec. One popular decorating trend from back then was the aluminum Christmas tree. You may even find one stashed away in a great-aunt’s attic or basement. If so, haul it out, and dust it off. Originals are selling at online auctions for several thousand dollars.

Decorating editor Jeanie Sims and I team up today with an idea for a retro Christmas tree centerpiece that pays homage to the aluminum Christmas tree. -- AP

METALLIC SNOWFLAKE TREE 

Materials: 
a few branches
white spray paint primer
silver glitter paint
foam paint brush
12” assorted metallic chenille stems
clear glass container
glass floral marbles
thread

1. Lightly mist the branches with the primer. (You can completely cover the branches in white, but Jeanie and I both like the shading and nuance that occurs from a lighter coat of paint.) When dry, brush on glitter paint.

2. For each snowflake you’ll need two chenille stems. Cut one stem into three 4” pieces.

3. Twist one 4” piece around the center of a second 4” piece.

4. Twist the third 4” piece around the center of the two pieces.

5. Cut six 1-1/2” pieces from the second chenille stem. Twist one 1/2” from end of each of the six spokes of the snowflake. 

6. Place the marbles in the container. Add the painted branches. Using the thread, tie the snowflakes to the branches.

COOKING WITH CLORIS -- CHRISTMAS CUT-OUT COOKIES

Yesterday we used cookie cutters to make Christmas ornaments. Today Cloris presents her recipe for for using those cookie cutters the traditional way. -- AP 

CHRISTMAS CUT-OUT COOKIES

Ingredients:
1-1/2 sticks unsalted butter

3/4 cups sugar

1 egg

1 tablespoon vanilla

1 teaspoon baking powder

1/8 teaspoon salt

2 cups flour
1 can each chocolate and vanilla icing
 Christmas sprinkles

Bring butter and eggs to room temperature. Cream butter and sugar. Add egg and vanilla. Mix together dry ingredients. Slowly add dry ingredients to wet ingredients, mixing well. Refrigerate dough for at least 1 hour.

Roll out dough to 1/4” thickness. Cut out shapes. Line cookie sheets with parchment paper. Bake 10-12 minutes.

Bake in preheated oven at 375 degrees.

After cookies cool, ice tops with frosting. Dip in sprinkles. Allow icing to harden before storing cookies in tins.

CRAFTS WITH ANASTASIA-- COOKIE CUTTER TREE ORNAMENTS

Cloris uses cookie cutters to make cookies, but I have another use for them. Cookie cutters make great templates for making felt Christmas tree ornaments. Here’s how:

(Note: I used star shaped cookie cutters for the model, but these ornaments could also be made from tree, gingerbread man, wreath, or heart shaped cookie cutters.)

Materials:
two sizes star shaped cookie cutters, scraps of lt. brown felt, scraps of white felt, fabric marker, an assortment of 5mm pompoms, tacky glue, DMC #8 white Perle Cotton, embroidery needle, small amount of fiberfill.

1. Trace the larger cookie cutter onto the lt. brown felt. Trace the smaller cookie cutter onto the white felt. Cut out the three shapes.

2. Glue the white star centered over one lt. brown star. Glue pompoms randomly onto the white star. Allow to dry.

3. Using Perle Cotton and beginning at one point of the star, blanket stitch the lt. brown shapes together around the star, stopping before coming all the way around. Stuff a small amount of fiberfill into ornament, then finish the blanket stitch. Make a hanging loop of the Perle Cotton at top of star before trimming excess thread.

THIS WEEK'S BOOK GIVEAWAY WINNER

Thanks to everyone who stopped by this week and a special thank you to author Laura Kaye for being our Book Club Friday guest author and offering a copy of North of Need to one of our readers. The winner this week is Khelsey Jackson. Khelsey, please email your mailing address to anastasiapollack@gmail.com. I'll forward it to Laura.