Hanukkah, Oh Chanukah

Any which way you spell it, the Festival of Lights will be here before you know it.  This year, Chanukah begins Tuesday evening, December 16.  It's just two weeks away, but you have plenty of time to create unique Chanukah decor and gifts.

One of my favorite projects is this "Chanukah-in-a-Jar."  There are many variations of recipes in a jar for delicious cookies, soups, natural scrubs, and more.  In fact, I've even altered tennis ball cans for brownies-in-a-tennis-ball-can recipes. 

For this project, I use a clear plastic pail that is 6" tall with a 4" diameter.  It has a lid as well as a handle, which lends itself nicely for attaching ribbons and tags.

Start by gathering craft supplies to embellish the container.  Include printed and solid scrapbook or gift wrapping paper, ribbon, punches, stamps, ink, tags, charms, metal labels, etc.

 

At this point, embellish the pail.  This is what I did.  Cut a strip of cardstock 2" x 18".  If using a 12" x 12" piece of paper, you will have to cut two pieces and tape them together.  Then cut a coordinating piece of your printed or gift wrap paper  to 1-1/2" x 18"  Using a dry adhesive, tape these two long pieces together.  Adhere ribbon to center of strip.

Using a 2-1/2" circle punch, cut a circle with glitter paper.  Punch out two smaller circles (I used a scalloped punch, too) from the solid cardstock.  Stamp image on smaller circle.

Adhere long strips to pail.  Then adhere the circles to the pail, covering up the seams.  (This then becomes the front of the pail.)

Using varied textures and widths, cut 6" strands of coordinating ribbon to pail handle.  Cover the inset of the lid with paper using decoupage sealer.  When dry, adhere label printed on cardstock and metal label holder to lid.  Tie charm to metal holder.

Stamp "Happy Hanukkah" and "To/From" images to tags.

You can find wooden dreidels at most party stores or in the Chanukah section of your local large discount store this time of year.  Decoupage top of the dreidel, using 1-1/4" square punch.  Punch a small hole in center of the paper square, which will fit over the dreidel stem.

Then choose the "ingredients" for your jar.  I suggest an entire box of 44 menorah candles (enough candles for each night), the large dreidel, a small box of matches, chocolate gelt and candle blessings. 

For the blessings, I printed the Hebrew, transliteration and translation on both sides of a 4" x 6" cardstock, rolled it up and tied it with blue & white twine.

 The match box is embellished with cardstock and a stamped image that reads "Happy Hanukkah".

Arrange the candles and other "ingredients" inside the pail. 

That's it!  Here is the completed Chanukah-in-a-Jar:

If you would like a copy of the blessings document, leave a comment with your email, and I will be glad to send you a copy.

These Chanukah-in-a-Jar make great gifts for children, grandchildren, teachers and hostess gifts.

You may also like these holiday projects:

Display your Menorah Candles in Style

Add Color to your Blue & White Decor

Linking up here

and

Makeovers & Motherhood

After 64 Years, It's Nice to Know...

There's a song in one of my favorite musicals, "Fiddler on the Roof," where Tevya asks his wife, Golde, if she loves him after 25 years of marriage.

(Tevya)  Do you love me?

(Golde)  Do I what?

(Tevye)  Do you love me?

Golde)  I'm your wife!

(Tevye) I know...But do you love me?

(Golde)

Do I love him?

For twenty-five years I've lived with him

Fought with him, starved with him

Twenty-five years my bed is his

If that's not love, what is?

(Tevye)  Then you love me?

(Golde)  I suppose I do.

(Tevye)  And I suppose I love you, too.

(Both)

It doesn't change a thing

But even so...

After twenty-five years
It's nice to know!

My husband and I have been married 26 years, and it's always nice to hear the three words, "I love you."

And what about 64 years? Today my parents are celebrating their 64th wedding anniversary.  They have set the bar high by being a great example of a successful, loving marriage. 

Their love inspired me to create them a special anniversary card.  I pulled together coordinating paper, rubber stamps, a library pocket, tag, and twine to create this:

We all love Then & Now photos, right?  Here are theirs:

Engaged November 7, 1947

Married June 27, 1948

Happy Together 2012

 Happy Anniversary, Mom & Dad
MAZEL TOV

Sharing at these parties:
The Twinery Blog Anything Goes Twine Madness Challenge
Happy Hour Projects
Serenity Now Weekend Bloggy Link Up
House of Hepworths
Katherine's Corner Thursday Favorite Things & Linky Party
Ginger Snaps Wow Me Wednesday

Lil Luna
Cowgirl Link-Up
Coastal Charm Nifty-Thrifty Tuesday

Polly Want a Crafter

Is Chanukah Early This Year?

If you think Chanukah is early this year, you are absolutely right.  And if you think Chanukah is the same time as always, you are also right!

How can both these statements be true?  It's because Jewish holidays are celebrated by the lunar calendar.  Chanukah is always the 25th of Kislev.  Because the lunar calendar has an extra leap MONTH every four years, compared to the secular calendar's extra DAY, the Jewish holidays fall at different times on the secular calendar.  

This year, we begin celebrating Chanukah on the evening of December 1st.  Is your menorah ready?  And equally important, is your furniture protected from the hot wax which will no doubt drip from the burning candles onto the tabletop?  In the "olden days," we placed pieces of foil under our beautiful menorahs.  Although now you can buy acrylic trays and vinyl placemats, they aren't very festive.  So, why not make one that is both festive and uniquely yours? 

Plain, inexpensive charger

Start with an inexpensive, plain silver charger.  (For some reason, it looks gold in this photo.)  I chose a pretty Amy Butler blue and taupe scrapbook paper, and cut a circle the same size as the charger center.  I decoupaged the inside center of the platter and the back of the paper, and adhered the paper to the charger.  

I then scoured my sticker file and picked out some shimmery black letters to spell "Happy Chanukah".  To personalize it, I spelled our family name and year established (our wedding year).   You can spell the names of your children, pets, or write anything you want.  This would also make a wonderful gift for Saba & Safta or your Bubbe and Zayte.  This is also a great project for your children to create for their own menorah.

Using azure and black Staz-on ink, I stamped flourishes and menorah designs on the outer edge of the charger.  I accented the flourishes with tiny silver bead rhinestones.  I also added a coordinating oval shape that I punched from the same paper.  It is hard to see it in the photo, but I added a sticker that reads "festival of lights", which I adhered on top of the oval.  Seal the entire charger with several coats of Mod Podge.  

Where are the candles?

 Here is the completed menorah plate, ready for the kindling of the candles.  

Now where did I put those candles?

Happy Chanukah!

I'm linked up to:

Project Queen Holiday Craft Tutorial Party

 

When Life Gives you Lemons, Drink Up!

Remember when Sandy & Danny sang the song "Those Summer Nights" in the show, "Grease"?  They conjured up images of hot, sweaty nights and plenty of icy drinks.  This came to mind when I recently bought a stamp set with the saying, "When life gives you lemons, make lemonade, then drink up".  I found it in the dollar bin in JoAnn's.  Well, that one-dollar investment sparked my creative "juices" -- and now my new favorite color is lemon yellow!

In keeping with a lemony summer theme, I created some fun altered art in the forms of a wooden photo frame stand, a magnetic note holder and a fun greeting card. Here is a photo of the completed altered photo frame:

And a close-up of the embellishments.  Note the cute, little ladybug!

And here is a coordinating note holder.  I started with a plain, wooden 1-1/4" x 4-1/2" clothespin,

added paint, paper, Mod Podge, ribbon, a mini sunflower, and voila:

a note or photo holder matching the wooden frame.

And an extra bonus: 

I made a gift card holder using leftover paper and a library card pocket,

then clipped this onto the wooden holder!

And here's the card I created which I turned into a birthday card for a dear friend. 

So, when life throws you lemons, well....you know what to do!

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Midwestern GIrl Ready for Summer