I know what you’re thinking.  “Why elephants?”  And I would say to you, “Why not?”

Elephants are cute. And they don’t really have pink ears that I know of. And that’s ok. Because when you hold the paintbrush, you can live in your own pink-eared elephant world if you so choose. And I do. (Better than rose-colored glasses.) I also live in a house full of men, so I have to sneak in the pink where I can. (Yup, pink toothbrush.) I also have to represent myself on a Christmas tree laden with soccer balls, basketballs and baseball bats. That’s one reason why I made pink-eared Clay Elephant Christmas Ornaments this year.

I also participate in an ornament exchange each Christmas season. So I try to choose an ornament that means something personally.

Elephants seemed the natural choice after Jon’s recent trip to Nepal and his horrific ride on a naughty elephant who was having a horrible, no good, very bad day. If you missed that saga, click here and read (or listen!) to Near Death by Elephant.   http://throughherlookingglass.com/?p=1291   That will fill you in on the sordid details.

I’m going to stop rambling so we can talk about making Clay Elephant Christmas Ornaments.

My cousin gave me these fun animal cracker cookie cutters last year. I love them. They work great for making animal crackers, and also ornaments. The little plunger imprints the top. You can buy animal cracker cookie cutters online at Amazon http://www.amazon.com/Chicago-Metallic-5-Piece-Plunger-Cutters/dp/B00K2S2AEE/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1418190758&sr=8-2&keywords=plastic+animal+cookie+cutters  The set on Amazon also has a cute seal and a tiger. (But beware: it doesn’t have the zebra.)

Materials:

• Clay (airdry or regular)
• Rolling pin
• Animal cracker cookie cutter
• Acrylic craft paint
• Craft paint brushes
• Mod Podge water based sealer
• Embroidery floss or twine for hanging

Directions:

• Roll out clay on a rolling mat or parchment paper. (Grease lightly with Crisco first, it helps keep the clay from sticking)
• Don’t roll too thin. They’ll be sturdier and less likely to break if they’re thicker.
• Stamp with cookie cutter.
• Punch a hole in your ornament for hanging. (The blunt end of a kitchen skewer worked well for me.)
• Transfer to parchment paper to air dry, or bake in the oven according to your clay’s directions.
• Paint with gray paint. Paint the ears pink if you want.
• When dry, shellac with Mod Podge.
• String with matching embroidery floss or twine.

 A group of elephants is called a herd or a parade!

(I sure hope you have electricity on the day you roll your clay out. I didn’t. I was doing it by candlelight on Thanksgiving Day. Thanksgiving Day (and week) was another saga, similar to an unpleasant elephant ride, but within the confines of my own house. If you don’t know about that yet, you can read my Wild and Wooly New England Thanksgiving post. http://throughherlookingglass.com/?p=1569 )

The post Clay Elephant Christmas Ornaments appeared first on Through Her Looking Glass.

Hello friends, and happy weekend! Hope you’re out tooling about, enjoying fun Christmas activities today. Exciting things are going down at Through Her Looking Glass this weekend!

Several years ago, on a frosty December morning, I came down and discovered this sweet scene…

So we’re having a fun Christmas Photo Caption Contest  for the above picture, complete with an awesome prize pictured below:

Christmas gift package from Through Her Looking Glass:

• Yarnball Christmas Ornament    http://throughherlookingglass.com/?p=1530
•  “An Orange for Frankie” by Patricia Polacco  http://throughherlookingglass.com/?p=1677
• Vanilla Bean Maple Syrup    http://throughherlookingglass.com/?p=1156
• Homegrown Mint Extract
• 2 Christmas DIY Bookmarks   http://throughherlookingglass.com/?p=1133

CHRISTMAS PHOTO CAPTION CONTEST Rules:

(Yup. We got rules. Just like “Always (!) Follow the Rules”. Did you miss that funny post? Click here…  http://throughherlookingglass.com/?p=1076 )

• The Christmas Photo Caption Contest runs from the publish of this post, Saturday, December 6th until Sunday, December 7th, 2014 at midnight. Entries after Sunday night midnight don’t count.
• You may enter twice per person. (Additional entries after the second don’t count.)
• My hubby Jon will be the impartial judge. He’ll judge all entries, but won’t know who authored them.
• A winner will be announced on Monday, December 8th, 2014 on the Through Her Looking Glass blog post. Also on Facebook. The winner will also be notified by e-mail.
• My immediate family (my five guys) may submit entries, but are disqualified from winning the prize. (Sorry guys, I’ll bake you a cake or something. Or peppermint bark?)
• Other relatives can participate. (Why should you be penalized just ‘cuz you got stuck in my gene pool?)
• The only entries that count are comments listed here underneath this post, in the order they are received. (Facebook comments, e-mails and Tweets don’t count.)
• Don’t be grinchy, share the fun! Let your friends and family join in on this Christmas Photo Caption Contest. Share this on e-mail, FaceBook, Twitter and Pinterest. Get in the Christmas spirit, the more the “merrier”!

Can’t wait to see your clever captions! AND GOOD LUCK!!!

Update:

Many thanks to all who took time to think of so many fun, creative captions for the Christmas Photo Caption Contest this past weekend, December 6-7, 2014.  It was so entertaining to see your entries come in.

Big congratulations to Linda (pictured with husband Jack) for her winning entry:  “I’ll just close my eyes for a minute…”  

The post Christmas Photo Caption Contest appeared first on Through Her Looking Glass.

It’s a simple, sweet DIY Yarnball Christmas Ornament. This would make a great stocking stuffer for the knitter(s) in your life. Or the eclectic ornament collector. Or just an unforgettable gift tie-on.

A few years back I was really into knitting. OK, truth. I’m still really into knitting. I just don’t get to do it as much as I’d like. When I was learning the art of sock knitting just a few years back with a few of my knitting buddies (you know who you are!), my mind was constantly on knitting. I was always trying to learn the next step of my sock. And that’s when this little ornament idea came to mind. I was working on teeny tiny sock knitting needles all the time, likely the inspiration for this ornament. I swapped these Yarnball Christmas Ornaments at our ornament exchange and they were a hit.

Materials List for DIY Yarnball Christmas Ornament:

• 2 to 2 1/2 inch craft foam ball
• yarn
• matching embroidery floss
• tapestry needle
• 2, 10 inch wooden skewers (found in baking section at grocery store), cut down to about 4 1/2 inches each
• round wooden craft bead, that will slide onto the end of your skewer. (Bring a skewer with you to the craft store to make sure you have the right size bead hole that will slide onto the skewer end.)
• white craft glue

Directions for DIY Yarnball Christmas Ornament:

1. Wrap a 2 – 2  1/2 inch foam ball with yarn of your choice, just like you’d wrap a ball of string.

2. When the foam ball is covered and looks just like a yarnball, snip and tuck in the end. Secure with a dot of glue.

3. Cut 2 skewers down to about 4  1/2 inches. Use the pointy ended piece for your “knitting needle”,  save the remainder for another use.

4. Insert the flat end of the 4  1/2 inch skewer into the wooden bead. Secure with glue. Repeat once more so you have two “knitting needles.” Dry.

5. If you’re ambitious, take size 2 double pointed knitting needles and knit the beginnings of a little scarf with the same yarn, casting on 8 or 9 stitches and working 7 or 8 rows. If you don’t knit, skip this step. If you want to learn how to knit now, watch this:

6. If you didn’t knit the beginnings of a scarf, go to step 7 now. If  you knit the scarf, transfer the stitches to the skewer “yarn needles” you just made. Then push the “needles”  from the top down, through the foam ball at opposite angles. (Look at mine.)

7. If you didn’t knit the scarf, just push the needles down through the foam ball at opposite angles. It’ll still be SUPER CUTE!

8. The last step is simple. Thread your embroidery floss on the tapestry needle and push up from the bottom through the foam ball, knotting securely at the bottom and again at the top, leaving room for a hanging loop. You’ll have to play with this a little to get it to hang just how you like because of the weight of the “needles”.

Have fun gifting these Yarnball Christmas Ornaments and be sure to save one for yourself. Have a very MERRY CHRISTMAS season!

The post Yarnball Christmas Ornament appeared first on Through Her Looking Glass.

Don’t you love these whimsical DIY Bookmarks? A perfect dose of cheer, they make me smile. I’ve been making, using and gifting them for years. The receivers seem to appreciate and use them too. There are many uses besides holding a book page. Here’s how I use mine, I’m sure you can add to the list.

• Gift tag for wine bottle
• Party favor
• Luggage tag
• Stocking stuffer
• Gift tag
• Diaper bag tag
• Attach to a wooden skewer in a flower arrangement or plant
• Party place setting
• Care package
• Stuffed in a card/letter
• Christmas ornament
• Refrigerator magnet

Here’s the best part: I use my day to day calendar as the source of the artwork/quotes, saving my favorites as the days pass. Every so often I spend a few hours, make bookmarks in bulk, and keep a pile ready to add to cards, meals, gifts, etc. A small calendar works great because there are so many seasonal scenes, holidays and quotes. I usually have a book mark on hand for any occasion.

MATERIALS:

• A small day-to-day tear off desktop calendar
(I love Mary Engelbreit – fun artwork, whimsy & great quotes http://www.amazon.com/Mary-Engelbreit-2014-Day-Calendar/dp/1449428509) or other artwork or day-to-day calendar of your choice
• Gros grain ribbon (8-9”) that coordinates with colors
• Laminator and laminating sheets
• Hole punch
• White all-purpose glue, small paint brush

DIRECTIONS:

• Trim your calendar page to the desired bookmark/tag size. (If you want to personalize or add a name/address on the back, do it before laminating, or use a sharpie pen afterwards.)
• Place in a laminating pouch, and run through the laminator following manufacturer’s instructions. (I can usually get 6-8 bookmarks out of one 8½ X 11” laminating sheet.)  If you don’t have a laminator, you can go to an office supply store like Staples or Office Depot.  (Our local UPS store laminates.)
• Cool, then trim plastic evenly around each bookmark.
• Punch hole in the middle at the top.
• String 8-9” of gros-grain ribbon through the hole. Tie a knot. (I keep both ribbon ends together, make a loop, and pull both ends through that loop to make a tidy knot.) Play with the knot ‘til it’s to your liking. Leave tails long or short.
• Angle the ribbon ends or cut a “V”.
• Using a small paint brush, dab white glue on the cut edges of ribbon and set aside to dry. (The glue dries clear and keeps the ribbon from fraying.)

(In honor of my mom!)

TIPS:
• I use and gift these bookmarks often, so it was a no brainer to invest in an inexpensive laminator and laminating sheets. I’ve never regretted it.
• If you don’t have a laminator and don’t want to buy one, go to your local shipping or office supply store that laminates.
• If you’re on a shoestring budget, consider neatly applying clear packing tape to both sides of your artwork, carefully matching seams. Then trim and finish off following directions above.

Have fun making, using and gifting these bookmarks/gift tags. Let me know how you use yours!

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