12 Days of Christmas - Day 4

Yesterday was a good day. I had two of my grandsons for the day, and we had a good time. We left at about 1:00 or 1:30 and went in to Vegas to the Bass Pro Shop. They were having Christmas fun for the kids. There were letters to write to Santa, pictures to color, slot cars and RC cars to race, target practice....you get the picture. Plus, we stood in line for an hour for pictures with Santa. There was me and my hubby and our two grandsons, my daughter and her hubby and two more of our grandsons, my sister-in-law and her hubby and their daughter and her four kids. We were quite a bunch! After we left Bass Pro, we headed out to Callville Bay to see the lights on the boats and have some dinner. We had pigs-in-a-blanket for the kids and hamburgers for the adults. We got home and 10:13, so it was a full day.

 

When I picked up the photo, I said to the boys, "Look! There's an ugly old woman in the picture! Why didn't you tell to get out of there?" The oldest one looked really close and said "Where?" I thought that was really sweet of him!

 Here are some of the beautiful boats with their wonderful light displays.

 

 

 

So...day 4. Today's project is dedicated to my mom, and based on something she used to make when I was a kid. She called them kissing balls and hers were a lot of work! She used little clear, medicine cups (like they give you your pills in at the hospital. They used to be crystal clear and a lot heavier plastic). My dad had to drill a little hole in the bottom of each one, then she would dip the rims in glue and then in gold glitter, and use gold, pearl-headed straight pins and pin them through the little holes onto a big (and I mean BIG) Styrofoam ball. Oh yeah, she had to put a hanger through the ball before pinning all those little cups to it, or there would be no way to hang it! And I almost forgot, in the bottom of each cup was a gold paper medallion, too.  Lots of gold. I remember how carefully she packed it away each year, wrapping it in layers of dry cleaner's plastic bags and tissue paper, only to have to repair it the next year anyway.

 

Now, I'm clearly not as motivated as my mother was, but I wanted a kissing ball, so this is what I came up with. I started with a 6' Styrofoam ball, some old music, some green glitter paper and some glittery red poinsettias I found at Michael's. I used my 3" circle punch to punch the music. I think it took about 22 or 23 circles to cover the ball. I used my 2" flower punch to punch green glitter circles, one for each music circle.

 

 

I crumpled all the music circles into little balls a couple of times, so there would be lots of wrinkles.

 

 

Then I took a dark green stamp pad and rubbed it over them, which colors the wrinkles dark, but not the rest of the circle. Then I started gluing them to the Styrofoam ball.

 

 

I put each circle into the palm of my hand and kind of shaped it into a cup shape, color side down.

 

 

Then I put glue on it and put it onto the ball. You have to kind of finagle them around to cover all the spaces, and keep cupping your hands around the ball until the circles are stuck well.

 

After the ball is all covered, you start putting the glittery green circles onto the ball. I put the poinsettias on each circle first and then glued each circle to one of the music circles. There may be a spot or two where you can fit them exactly, but do the best you can and they'll look great!

 

You will probably wind up with a spot that you just can't fit a green circle, but that's the spot where you'll put the bow!

 

 

Now, isn't that pretty? And it's a lot faster and easier to make than mom's, and a whole lot better to store! And.....I don't think there will be any time spent on repairs next year when I pull it out of the box!

I hope this will inspire you to take another look at those old Christmas ideas and maybe revamp them for today. Our mother's and grandmother's had the right idea.....they just didn't have the resources we do. And I don't know about your mom, but mine was about the most resourceful woman and crafter I have ever known! I have even been told that I'm just like her, which is a great compliment to me! So get out those old ornaments and decorations and see what you can figure out, and be sure to tell your mama thanks! Even is she is no longer with you, a little thanks is still in order. I know she will appreciate it!

Until tomorrow,