Darla and Liz, this photo is for you. :) This is one of the boy angel Christmas ornaments that my great grandmother made for the males in the family. Happy Christmas Eve to you all!

Don’t you just love Christmas lights? As an apartment dweller, decking the yard with lights isn’t an option, so instead my living room is almost as bright as day in the evening with all the strings of lights. They’re the next best thing to sitting beside a flickering fireplace. Check out all the new growth on my little potted Christmas tree. It’s growing fast! The angel on the top of the tree was tatted by my great grandmother—the same one who made these doilies. She made everyone in the family either a boy or girl angel. My father insisted his angel needed pants, so she created the pattern just for him. Have a very Merry Christmas everyone!

Here’s a last-minute idea for us last-minute gift wrappers. I felt guilty about discarding those round, sturdy cardboard canisters that hold nuts, cocoa, and other foods. Correct me if I’m wrong, but I don’t think they can be recycled (aluminum + cardboard?). But they definitely can be reused! Here, I covered them in gift wrap and tied on ribbon—and they can be reused year after year to hold anything from cookies to socks. Or you could wrap them in everyday decorative paper and use them as pencil holders or storage containers. I just thought they were too cute to toss. (The blue and green is for you, Carolyn!)

Reusable wrapped gift canisters

Supplies and tools

• wrapping paper
• scissors
• glue (I used rubber cement)
• ruler & pencil
• round cardboard food canisters
• clear cellophane tape
• ribbon
• paper towel

1. Clean out the empty canisters with a dry paper towel. Measure the height of the cardboard portion of the canister. (You will not cover the metal part of the can.)

2. Cut a piece of wrapping paper that height, roll it around the can, and trim to fit—leaving a couple inches of overlap.

3. Apply glue to one end of the paper, then stick it to the canister. Pull the paper tight as you wrap it around, then apply glue to the other end of the paper and press down. If you wish, you can apply glue to more than just the ends.

4. Reattach the lid and tie a bow around the package. For an awesome video tutorial on how to tie ribbon to packages Hollywood style (without knots) click here. Just tape the ribbon to the bottom of round packages first—it makes the process so much easier. By the way, thinner ribbon looks better and is easier to tie around small round packages.

5. Adjust the ribbon and cut ends as desired.

6. Tape the other side of the ribbon to the bottom as well.

7. You’re all done!

I could hardly wait to show you this Popsicle stick craft! These snowflakes are fun, easy, and so inexpensive to make. The smallest snowflake is 12 inches across; the largest is 24 inches. I had some rhinestones left over from my Christmas tree advent calendar, so I glued some at the tips of each white snowflake. You could also coat them in glitter or fake snow. And why stop with snowflakes? You could make stars, wreaths, or Christmas trees decked with lightweight ornaments. Hang them in your window, over a door instead of a wreath, or from the ceiling.

Giant craft stick snowflakes

Supplies and tools

• craft sticks
• protractor
• hot glue gun and glue
• fishing line
• clear cellophane tape
• 3/8- to 1/2-inch-wide holiday ribbon
• red and white paint (I used Benjamin Moore Aura Steam [AF-15] and Caliente [AF-290])
• round 12mm rhinestones
• scissors
• double-stick foam tape
• small paintbrush
• drop cloth or newspaper

All my snowflakes are based on three basic patterns, which I will call star, hexagon, and rotated hexagon.

The star

1. Start by gluing six craft sticks in an asterisk shape at 30 degree angles. Use a protractor to make sure your angles are accurate.

2. Then add the points to the star.

3. Finally, depending on the pattern, add the final craft sticks to complete the snowflake.

The hexagon

1A. Start by gluing six craft sticks in an asterisk shape at 30 degree angles. Use a protractor to make sure your angles are accurate.

1B. For the mini hexagon, start with three craft sticks instead of six.

2. Add more sticks to expand the lengths.

3. Glue six sticks in a hexagon shape, then glue each point of the hexagon to your asterisk shape.

4. Finally, depending on the pattern, add the final craft sticks to complete the snowflake.

The rotated hexagon

1. Start by gluing six craft sticks in an asterisk shape at 30 degree angles. Use a protractor to make sure your angles are accurate.

2. Glue six sticks in a hexagon shape, then glue the middle of each side of the hexagon to your asterisk shape.

3. Finally, add the final craft sticks to complete the snowflake.

1. Using a small paintbrush, paint two coats of paint on each side, including the edges. I recommend spray paint instead because it’s easier and faster, but severe weather prohibited spray paint in my case. Let dry.

2. Glue rhinestones onto the tips of the snowflakes. Or glue on glitter or fake snow. Let dry/cool.

3. To hang them in the window, tie fishing line to each snowflake. Tape the fishing line to the top of the window frame with clear cellophane tape.

4. To hang them on the wall, tie a small ribbon bow to the snowflake, then tie a longer piece of ribbon to the back of the bow. Attach the long ribbon with double-stick foam tape at the very top of the wall.

I had a box of 1000 craft sticks and no idea what to do with them. I wasn’t about to start building 1980s Popsicle stick jewelry boxes. I eventually came up with some Christmas ideas. This advent calendar is my first craft stick project. I’ll post my other ideas next week. The advent calendar is easy but time consuming. I suggest you enlist some helpers to fold the “origami” boxes and tie ribbons and string. Technically, the boxes aren’t origami because they involve a few cuts, but they are assembled without tape or glue. Each box holds a piece of chocolate. The beauty is, you don’t have to remove the ribbon to open each box, so the calendar is reusable.

Craft stick advent calendar with “origami” boxes

Supplies and tools

• 24 craft sticks
• spray primer and spray paint (or any craft paint)
• hot glue gun and glue
• 25 sheets of letter size paper (or 13 sheets of 12×12 paper)
• box template (see #4 below)
• scissors
• 2 spools of 1/4-inch red grosgrain ribbon ( $1 each at Jo-Ann)
• 1 spool of red baker’s twine
• number stickers (I used three packages of Colorbök “Marshmallow Wacky” alphabet stickers from Jo-Ann)
• 9 round 12mm rhinestones
• thick red Sharpie marker
• double-sided foam tape
• candy

1. Glue craft sticks together end-to-end, overlapping about 1/2-inch in the following lengths: 6, 5, 4, 3, and 2. A trick to keeping each of them straight is to turn them sideways against the table while the glue cools. Then glue four sticks together in the center in a star shape.

2. Glue the “branches” of graduating lengths at each intersection along the longest strip of craft sticks, then glue the star to the top.

3. Paint the tree and star any color you want. (If you plan to paint the star a different color than the tree, it’s easier to paint the star before gluing it to the tree.) Hot glue rhinestones to each tip and center of the star.

4. For the boxes, you will need 50 4×4-inch sheets of paper with diagonal lines drawn through the center. Either use a ruler to measure and draw the lines yourself, or download and print this template onto 25 sheets of letter size paper. (Part of the lines on the template are outside of the printable area. Don’t worry about this. It was necessary to save you two extra cuts on each sheet.) Cut along the solid lines of the template. I used Hammermill 32 lb. color laser gloss paper because it’s what I had on hand. I recommend it because it’s a good weight, durable, and resists fingerprints.

5. Fold each of the four corners into the center and open back up again.

6. Then fold each corner diagonally so the tip touches the center of the opposite fold, then open back up again.

7. Cut (as shown) along four of the folds, stopping at the center square.

8. Fold two opposites sides into the center again (as shown).

9. Fold again along previous folds to form two sides of the box (as shown).

10. Tuck the top and bottom pieces over and inside the box.

11. This is either the top or bottom of your box. Repeat steps 5-10 for each box top/bottom (50 times). Told you this was time consuming.

12. Slide one box bottom/top into the other. You’ll need to pinch in the sides the first time to make it fit.

13. Each box will look like this when you are done.

14. I couldn’t find any packages of just number stickers, so I bought packages of alphabet/number stickers. Three packets gave me just enough numbers (I was one short “1″ sticker but I changed an “I” into a “1.” I couldn’t find red stickers, so I bought white ones and colored them red with a Sharpie marker. Color your stickers and let dry before peeling and sticking them on the boxes.

15. Tie a bunch of little nooses out of the red twine, then tie one noose to each box with a red ribbon bow.

16. Apply a small dot of hot glue under the knot of the bow and the string. This will keep the bow and string in place.

17. Hang each box by the twine noose.

18. Place candy inside each box. Dove Promises (one of my favorites) fit nicely.

19. Hang the boxes on the Christmas tree. Because there are an odd number of boxes and an even number of spaces, you’ll have to choose one branch that has one fewer boxes on it than the other.

20. Stick the tree to your wall with a small piece of double-sided foam tape at the top and bottom of the tree.

I told you I have a lot of doilies from my great-grandmother. I decided to frame a few more for Christmas. I bought these 12-inch square collage frames at Michael’s. I replaced the mats with $1/yard Walmart fabric. I love how the doilies look like snowflakes. (That monster wall heater is the sole—and inefficient—source of warmth in my drafty apartment. Maybe I should knit some mittens next—to wear indoors.) Merry Christmas everyone!

I love these glitter-encrusted Christmas ornaments. I plan to leave them up past the holidays. It’s nice to have a little sparkle around. Here, I mixed my mom’s antique oval mirror with a couple of large mirrors I found on Craigslist. For the small rectangle one, I cut a 12- x 12-inch mirror tile (found at Lowe’s) to fit an 8- x 10-inch thrift-store frame.

Last year, I asked for suggestions on ways to display my postcard collection. Everyone had great ideas. But this postcard “tapestry” idea came to me, and I had to try it. It would also work well for photos or Christmas cards. You can easily rotate in new ones whenever you like. I’m planning to make an advent calendar using the same concept.

Hanging postcard collage

Supplies

• 1 yard of sturdy fabric (I used cotton duck cloth)
• 16 feet of 3/4-inch half-round wood trim (available at Lowe’s)
• primer (I used Kilz2 latex primer)
• paint (I used Benjamin Moore Aura in Steam [AF-15])
• postcards or photos
• 1 yard ribbon

Tools

• staple gun and 1/4-inch staples
• miter box and pull saw
• sanding block and fine sandpaper
• scissors
• needle and thread or sewing machine
• paintbrush
• drop cloth
• ruler or tape measure
• pencil
• iron and ironing board

1. First sort your postcards by height. (Seriously, “they” need to hold a symposium to standardize postcard dimensions. Very few of my postcards were the same size!) Then lay them out in your desired pattern to determine the dimensions of your “tapestry.” I made mine 24 inches wide.

2. Using a miter box and pull saw, cut the trim into 2-foot pieces. Then sand the rough ends smooth.

3. Prime and paint. I painted one coat primer, two coats paint.

4. While the paint dries, measure, mark, and cut your fabric. I cut mine 25-1/4 inches wide (24 inches plus 5/8-inch seams on either side). Overestimate the height at this point.

5. Fold and iron the side seams flat. This makes it much easier to sew.

6. Sew both sides about 1/2 inch from the edge.

7. Fold the bottom edge 5/8 inch and iron. No need to sew this edge because it will be stapled down. When the paint is dry, staple a trim piece to the bottom edge of your fabric. Place a staple every few inches. Keep the staples parallel with the wood, and keep them as close to dead center as you can.

8. Place your first row of postcards under the stapled trim piece. Then measure where your next trim piece should go. The wood pieces should overlap the postcards about 1/4 inch.

9. Staple the next piece in place. Start with one staple at each end, then fill in the middle.

10. Continue on, measuring the height of each new row, then stapling.

11. When you get to the last row, mark the top edge. Next fold over the excess fabric and iron flat. Then staple the final piece along the top edge.

12. Finally, fold your ribbon at an angle and staple it to the top of your tapestry. Click here to learn how to make the fancy picture hanger. All you have to do now is insert your postcards and hang it on the wall.