Leave the pinatas for the kids and treat your New Year's Eve guests to another form of "break open" surprises: party poppers.

Officially, these little accessories are known as "Christmas crackers," and they were originated during the 1800s in England. But they also will liven up things at the stroke of midnight. The idea is for a person on each end of the popper to pull until they hear a "pop" - and then all sorts of goodies will fall out. How much fun is that?

Party poppers are just as entertaining to make. For an elegant look, use wrapping paper - perhaps metallic or glittered - and then find tiny trinkets to go inside the tube. After the holidays, revamp the process to brighten a wedding shower or children's party.

New Year's Eve Party Poppers

Supplies

- 1 empty paper-towel tube.
- Glitter, fortunes, horoscopes, confetti, mints, funny notes, chocolate coins, small party favors.
- 12- by 12-inch piece of wrapping or tissue paper.
- Scissors.
- Glue gun or tape.
- Ribbon.

Directions: Cut the cardboard tube in half, then cut one of the halves in half. Fill all three pieces with glitter, confetti and other festive accessories. Lay the wrapping paper face down on a flat surface, then set the three cardboard tubes in an even row at the edge of the paper, leaving a 1/2-inch space between each tube. Carefully glue or tape the edge of the wrapping paper in an even line across the tubes. Roll the paper over the tubes once and trim excess paper (also on each end of the tube). Gently twist tubes at the disconnected points and add ribbon for flair. Add them to the table place settings, place a bunch inside a large glass bowl or hand out right before midnight.

Tips and variations: Before giving poppers to guests, use a pin to poke holes around the edges of the tube so it will break open easier. For smaller poppers, use cardboard tubes from wrapping paper. Use color copies of family photos for a personalized look.

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* All content/photos copyright, Kathy Cano Murillo, 2006. Photos property and courtesy of Arizona Republic and AzCentral.com. For more artsy goodness, check out CraftyChica.com *

Labels: collage/paper, holiday, New Years

There are two ways to approach this idea. You can do it yourself, or you can use it as a way to keep the kids busy so you can finish wrapping the gifts.

Either way, the result is a tasty, sinful and delectable treat for everyone to gobble up during family gatherings or parties of any sort.

Supplies

Sweets such as marshmallows, fruits, chocolates, licorice, fudge, pretzels, gums, soft-center chocolates, gummies, etc.

Paper plates

Bamboo skewers

1 block of Styrofoam (to hold skewers while preparing)

Squeezable frostings with assorted tips

Candy decorations such as sprinkles, edible glitter, etc.

Alternative: Baked goods such as minibrownies, banana bread, soft cookies.



Directions: Sort the candy pieces on paper plates. Slide the pieces on the skewers, alternating them for contrast in texture and color. Once all the skewers are filled, insert the skewers into the foam. Next, remove one skewer and use the frosting and small candy decorations to embellish the candies in red, green or any other colors you like.

Stick the skewer back in the foam so the icing will harden.

Variations: Use all the same candies for a uniform look, or just use marshmallows and paint them in desired colors with thinned icing.

You also can get creative and use a plastic foam tree as a base and cut the bamboo skewers in graduated sizes and insert them sideways into the tree base.

Tip: If you are having the kids make this project, use scissors to snip the sharp end off the skewer. The candies still will slide on easily. For smaller kebabs, cut the skewers in half or use toothpicks for miniversions.

Here are the directions.

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* All content/photos copyright, Kathy Cano Murillo, 2006. Photos property and courtesy of Arizona Republic and AzCentral.com. For more artsy goodness, check out CraftyChica.com *

Labels: back to school, food crafts, holiday, kids

You put all that effort into finding the perfect gift. Now, it's time to think about the wrapping. Sure, you could go the easy route and pick up a package of roll-o-wrap, or you can devote time to making a statement. If the latter is what you are aiming for, there are plenty of options from which to choose.

My favorite is to make custom collage paper. You cut out pictures and phrases and add small objects such as buttons, pins, charms and any fun memorabilia to fill in the white space, creating a flat assemblage. For a slick finish, have laser copies made (Staples' are 39 cents each), or if you are in a pinch, use your home computer printer. The paper can be used for anything from gift-wrap to card-making, scrapbooking, decoupage and more. Here are other methods to the madness of extraordinary gift-wrap.

Basically to make the collage wrap, I first laid items on my scanner and made a print. and then I made a collage on top of that and color copied it. Check out the link above for more specific directions on size and such.

STEP ONE:

STEP TWO:


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* All content/photos copyright, Kathy Cano Murillo, 2006. Photos property and courtesy of Arizona Republic and AzCentral.com. For more artsy goodness, check out CraftyChica.com *

Labels: collage/paper, holiday

Have you checked out Craft TV Weekly yet? It's even more addictive than Perez Hilton. CTVW is chock full of "webisodes" of step-by-step DIY ideas. It's mostly paper craft oriented, but if you are into that, there are lots of tasty nuggets to gobble up - especially at this time of the year! Here is a link to the archives.

Also, you must stop by Cathie and Steve's site for even more happenin' holiday inspirations!



This is a super swift trick for a gift (if you have a wannabe scrapper on your list). Instead of just giving him or her some supplies and an empty book, give them a head start by completing a few finished scrapbook spreads for them. You can make them with or without pictures. On this sample, I left it so the pictures can be plopped right in. If you don't have time, check out the pre-made goodies on eBay.

Have a great Monday. I'm off to celebrate the last few minutes of my birthday!
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* All content/photos copyright, Kathy Cano Murillo, 2006. Photos property and courtesy of Arizona Republic and AzCentral.com. For more artsy goodness, check out CraftyChica.com *

Labels: holiday, paper, scrapbook

Here is an article I did for Saturday's paper on throwing an ornament party!



Here are some branch-worthy ideas to get you started. The key to making this party a success is to think simple. Come up with designs that are easy, but still pack a holiday punch. Everyone brings supplies, makes the ornaments and then swaps them with each other.


This is my fave and you know why, don't you? Pick up a box of glittered chipboard letters. I featured these earlier in my blog and I've found yet another use for them. All you do is hot glue these little babies together to spell out your name. You can even create words and then hang a "sentence" on your tree or wall, or from the ceiling. Ooooo, I like that...


I had some faux fur scraps hanging around and I could not bring myself to chuck them. They were just the right size to make a mini pillow ornament. I used some other fabric scraps for the center and then added glitter for some twinkle power. This is a great way to make use of fun fabric that is too cool to toss out. I used the sewing machine, but you could also use fabric glue, like Aleene's No Sew Fabric Glue. Or heck, even hot glue if you are in a time crunch!



This one I used iron-on appliques and applied them to sheets of starched paper. You could also make your own appliques with Heat N Bond. I am a total HNB junkie. I have rolls of the stuff. It is paper-backed adhesive. However, this week, I got some of Aleene's new Fusible Web that is an alternative to HNB, no iron needed! I'm excited to try it out on some more of these ornaments! By the way, use a fabric pen, and these ornaments make great gift tags!



This is the easiest yet, and looks great. All you have to do is buy some snowflake ornaments (I got this one at Michaels) and then hot glue whatever you want on the front of it. For this picture, I have an original pair of Goldie Garcia bottlecap earrings with pretty guardian angels in them. I sacrificed one of the earrings for the front of this ornament. After Christmas is over, I plan to turn it back into an earring because they are one of my favorite pairs and I miss them. Anyway, you can glue anything, like an antique button, a small toy, photo, mirror, etc. If anything, you can always buy some of Goldie's earrings!


My friend Judy Walker sent me this lovely treat. An artist made it in New Orleans. It's a seashell! It has a picture decoupaged in the center and it is trimmed in gold paint. Genius! I have been wanting to make a seashell shrine for ages, maybe this dangling bauble will motivate me to actually do it.


And last, this is just a piece of cut embossing tin that I glue a picture on and then coated with transparent glitter. Photo is from ArtChixStudio.com.

OK, go have your ornament party!!

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* All content/photos copyright, Kathy Cano Murillo, 2006. Photos property and courtesy of Arizona Republic and AzCentral.com. For more artsy goodness, check out CraftyChica.com *

Labels: holiday, paper, recycled

This is the project I did on Good Morning Arizona this morning. What you do is take two 2x3 inch trading cards, and then accordian fold a strip of card stock seven times. Glue each end flap of that to the edge of the cards. Take some coin envelopes or any other kind of mini envelopes and glue them inside the folds. Insert gobs of gift cards!

The fun thing about this project is that you can make a little look and feel like a LOT! Buy three or four gift cards and put $10-15 bucks on each. It will make the gift recipient feel rich!! Better yet, you can also insert happy notes, cash, small gifts, etc.

Here are some pictures of the "love letter" version I did for my Art de la Soul book. It has specific instructions and even templates!






Me with Brad Perry!


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* All content/photos copyright, Kathy Cano Murillo, 2006. Photos property and courtesy of Arizona Republic and AzCentral.com. For more artsy goodness, check out CraftyChica.com *

Labels: collage/paper, holiday

More holiday craftiness from Kathy Cano Murillo, the Crafty Chica!

CLICK HERE to listen to this episode.

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* All content/photos copyright, Kathy Cano Murillo, 2006. Photos property and courtesy of Arizona Republic and AzCentral.com. For more artsy goodness, check out CraftyChica.com *

Labels: holiday, podcasts