Holidays at Home: Holiday Fun

In the countdown till Christmas one must make time for a little fun, a little friendship.

My friend Suzanne (from Canada) came for a short visit -- partly to come to Cork Poppers, partly for Christmas shopping, partly for VERY belated birthday celebrating (my birthday is in August; we tend to do each other's about four months off. We'll do Christmas in January.)

Let the Merriment Begin!

How much fun can you cram into a long weekend? When two boys are involved -- ages 5 and 6 (although we are reminded, he's almost 7!), the answer is "a lot!"

Rick and I were kid-sitting the boys while their parents were spending time with a cousin in Indiana. We decided they shouldn't have all the fun and had quite an agenda of activities. The oldest had been asking about "doing a craft" since we last saw him, so I cam supplied with lots of crafty projects for Christmas ornaments.

Easy Ornament Craft for Kids (or Adults!)

I really wanted to have a little craft time with the grandlittles when they came. But what project would be easy enough for a four and five year-old with a minimum of mess and easy to complete before they moved on? I opted for easy matchbox ornaments and they were a hit.

Virtual Southern Exposure!

Marmelade Gypsy friends know how much my friends and I love going to Southern Exposure for their workshops, especially during the holidays.

While they do have distanced workshops on site, it wasn't the time for us to go -- but gratefully, they came up with several virtual workshops. They delivered our project bags (along with pieces of Jennifer's wonderful chocolate cake!) to our doors and sent us a link to the project video.

 All three of us got one one of the same projects, a candle holder. So Kate, Jan and I decided to zoom our creative time! First we watched the video with Micah, our teacher and the terrific designer who leads most of our Southern Exposure workshops. Micah explained that the concept behind adding the botanicals to the candle holder was based on the tussie mussie of Victorian periods, where women carried small, fragrant bouquets of blooms and herbs, in part to ease the body odor that might emerge in days with fewer bathing and laundry opportunities. As the tussie mussie would brush against fabric, it would release fragrance.

There are the supplies that came in our kit -- a very nice rustic candle holder with three tealights to add in; two faux evergreen branches; several lengths of glittery gold leaves; six sprays of red florals; three pre-cut wires and three floral picks; a long length of raffia.

Using the wire and floral picks, we made three sprays, connecting two of the red blooms together into one larger one. Then we tightly held the greens in one hand (cris-crossed) and added the gold pieces. Then we TIGHTLY wrapped the stems with the raffia to hold it together. Once done, we tucked in the red floral picks and lit the tealights. Voila!

We were proud to share our finished pieces!

Of course, then you have to decide where to put it. For me it was an easy decision.

I decided to place mine in the entrance hall, next to my Greeting Angel.  I had been a little worried about the gold glitter leaf picks, wondering if they might be too much with the rustic look of the candle holder, but it works well in the hall, with the golden angel and lower light.

We were all very satisfied with these pieces. The concept could easily be duplicated for other projects in the spring or summer (using a different holder, of course!)

It's always wonderful to do a creative project. But the best part of this one was doing it with friends. Kate said "it feels normal!" (and then we realized something has changed when Zoom feels normal!)

Wishing you creative times with people you love -- even if it's virtual! (And we didn't even have to mask up!)

Southern Exposure: A Holiday Swag

The last Southern Exposure visit of the season is always a little bit melancholy and a lot of fun! This was no exception!

It was dark when we arrived. No photos of the garden but then there was nothing much to photograph there anyway!

The Quiet Moon was out and looking beautiful between the red berries. Since we were the first to arrive (and the last to leave) it was quiet indeed!

Our first stop? The gift shop!

There were lots of pretties inside but I managed to be relatively restrained!

Time to head over for dinner!

But first, a peek into the activity tent to get a sneak peek of our project. No such luck!

We started with a lovely riff on a Cosmo cocktail, followed by a delicious dinner of Asian sweet and sour pork. Dessert? Peppermint creme brulee!

Don't they set a pretty table?

The dining room mantel, as always, was lovely!

Then on  to the tent for our project. The workshop was called "Tie it with a Bow" and we learned how to make those lovely bows floral designers use in their work.

Our work space was set out with everything we'd need.

We wired the swag pieces together with florist wire and spent most of our time making (and remaking and remaking again till we got it right -- or close!) the bow.

Here's what their version of the end project looked like!

A little better than mine, but no complaints! It was a great workshop, pretty project and now, on to the next fun holiday thing!

Merry, Merry!

Simply Having a Wonderful Christmas Time!

Just a typical week in December or two in December! (Cue the music!)

I should be decking my own halls -- and I am. But there's much to do! I said goodbye to these three felties this past week. I hated to see them go!

This is my Happy Tree. I bought the flocked tree last year after Christmas and it was the first to go up this year. It's all softies and colorful and it just makes me smile!

Speaking of trees, I spent one afternoon helping put the up Friends of Theatre tree at the annual Festival of Trees. The woman on our board who designed it was a genius. The theme of the tree is Stephen Sondheim's musical, "Into the Woods," which will be performed next year. It started out looking like this. Huh?

Then individual panels were slid into the grooves and held in place by volunteers.

There were 24 of these panels that must have been eight feet tall, carved from foam core to tell the fairy tales in the play.

 When all the panels were in place, in came the tree topper to hold it together.

Then lights.

And voila! It's incredibly impressive!

The day we were there snow was gently coming down and looking out of the ballroom's window it was all rather magical!

I did a longer, more complete post on this HERE (if you missed it). but I was delighted to attend a floral arranging workshop hosted by WKAR with "Life in Bloom" host J. Schwanke.

And thrilled with the result!

We did a little road trip to IKEA, Trader Joe's and my favorite Italian grocery, Cantoro's. This was ahead of us on the road. How's my driving, he asks. Methinks not so good!

My last trip of the season to Southern Exposure is also a post in itself to come soon!

I bought a new bird feeder, theoretically rigged to keep squirrels out (they can get their fill at the others). So far, only the squirrel has come by and been enjoying the seed. I haven't seen a bird in days!

Add to the mix making a dozen loaves of lemon bread, dealing with a broken furnace (just fixed in time for the cold snap. And coming up will be a visit to my cooking class (Brunch was on the menu).

I've been simply having a wonderful Christmas Time!

(Miss any of my Christmas posts? Check the tab on the menu bar at the top of the blog, where Christmas 2019 is archived!)

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Lo, How a Rose E'er Blooming -- An Easy Floral Arrangement

It's always fun to go back to WKAR, where I used to work, so when I was invited for a special floral arranging workshop with J. Schwanke, host of "Life in Bloom," I was eager to say yes! (Cue the music!)

The program airs in 83 markets and WKAR is the producing station. I was delighted to walk into a studio filled with tables, laid out with greens. We were given our clippers (a great take-away!) and then J started his presentation (being recorded; if it streams, I'll link it!)

After some opening remarks he walked us through our arrangement, a symphony in white!

We were given three carnations, six roses, one hydrangea and one orchid, along with the greens.

He also used black oasis. I'd not seen this before but it's great because it's unobtrusive if not totally covered. He also beveled the edges, which made inserting the flowers a bit easier.

We started placing the hydrangea in the center, then laying in the tree carnations in a triangle of the oblong piece. Then we placed six roses between the carnations. He says every arrangement has what he calls "Thriller," "Spiller" and "Filler."

You could call the hydrangea the thriller or the orchid. I thought they were both pretty thrilling. The filler is the greens and I guess everything else is the spiller. I was writing and listening too fast to be sure.

We learned some fun tricks, like how to turn the aspidistra into what looked like a ribbon (the big silver leaf). (To do that, fold the large leave over to about an inch or two from the stem and poke it through the leaf, then poke the stem into the foam.) With the grasslike pieces, if you cut them short and tightly wrap them with wire (or hold them close), you can put them into the oasis all together. (I have to watch Lizzie like a hawk around those!)

He also showed us how to run the ribbon through the arrangement rather than making a bow. This is a fun trick (it requires a polyester ribbon, probably wired). Use a chopstick or something firm to put a chunk of the ribbon into the foam, then loop it into another spot on the arrangement and stick it in the same way, and again until you're satisfied with the look.

This is a perfect arrangement for the holidays. The rose is protected by thornsand represents secrets, life, blood, death and rebirth. Virgin Mary is often painted with roses and in Christianity the blooms hold a special place to remind people of what Jesus did and the promises he made.

And, besides, like the orchid, they're just beautiful.

Our arrangement also included a silver pine cone but one could easily do a very similar arrangement or insert more colorful holiday ornaments for a brighter look. Here it is at home!

I love it! (Check out J's site for more floral ideas and tips. Oh, and he was a great guy, too!)

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