Fun Decorations For Your Next Party

This reviewer received the product free or at a discounted price in order to bring you an honest review. No other form of compensation was given. All opinions are those of the reviewer.

Who doesn't like a party? Okay, I know some people don't, but for the most part, people do. I love parties and it is always fun to have colorful or themed decorations for them.

Use4Party has some fun decorations that are colorful easy to use and really add a lot to your special event. They make some really nice Tissue Paper Pom Poms in 2 sizes (12" and 14") and in 6 different colors (Red, Blue, Orange, Purple, Green, Yellow).

The Pom Poms come to you flat and in their own individual packages with a ribbon to use in making and hanging them. They are easy to get ready to hang too. It takes very little time to complete one, so getting all of them prepared and hung up is going to be quick and make your party space look fantastic.

I love the direction sheet they provide with the Pom Poms. It is detailed and even offers cautions on being careful with the tissue paper since it can tear easily.

As I did the first part of the Pom Pom, I didn't have any serious trouble. Pulling apart the layers of tissue paper was fairly easy, although I took it slow so I would not rip any of it. The second side I learned a lot on. I noticed that I was not pulling the tissue paper up far enough from the center fold, making that side shorter than the first. After looking it over carefully, it was easy to rectify and the Pom Pom started to look the way it was supposed to. There are a total of 9 layers of tissue paper to open up, so I made sure I pulled 4 to one side and 4 to the other, keeping the 9th in the center.

One thing you do need to make sure of is after doing the first side keep the ribbon out from the center so you don't have to dig around in the opened tissue paper to find it.

Side one completed!

When you are done with both sides, you can fluff the tissue paper to look more ball shaped and even. You may have to tugged a little here and there to open it up more or to get the tissue paper to pull away from other pieces more, but if you are careful it should not be too hard and the ball shape will be there in the end. Remember, they will be hanging from the ceiling, so no one is going to get up too close to see how exact your work is!

I was really pleased with the colors they had in this package. They are bright, yet not in your face neon. All of the colors coordinate with each other too, so you have a really nice color theme. I also liked that they are colors that I can find easily in my local party store, so I will be able to get table covers, napkins, plates and more that will go along with these Pom Poms very well.

Now the package that I received to review only had the Pom Poms in it, but on the one you can purchase they also have 6 Fiesta Paper Fans in similar colors. Those can offer even more variety and excitement to your decorating theme.

You can purchase the Use4Party Tissue Paper Pom Poms and Fiesta Paper Fans HERE!

Christmas Ornament Memories

I love Christmas! It's my favorite holiday. There's just something special about celebrating the birth of our Savior and spending special times with family and friends.

Decorating has always been a joy for me, and I often get teased by my husband that I overdo on it. But it's only once a year and I like to make it really special. My decorations are simple and not fussy, so I think I do keep it a lot more simple that he does.

For many years now I have made a unique ornament for my family and special friends. It's become a big tradition and every year someone or two or three, ask me what I am making each Christmas. I love to keep it a secret, and although my husband and kids get to see the whole process from start to finish, others who do not live in this house, don't! I love keeping it a surprise.

Over the years I have made things from cloth, wood, paper and plastic. You just never know what my mind is going to come up with or I might find inspiration from as I am out and about.

These are just a few of the ones I have made, and each one is signed by me and dated so I can remember that year easily.

So what is this year's? Well, here it is.....

And this is the happy bowl holding the few I have left to hand out to some local friends and loved ones. Many, many more have been mailed off to their new homes.

I hope you find a way to make each Christmas special and full of memories you can cherish for years to come.

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

Glass Ornaments To Personalize Your Christmas Tree

I know you are not going to want to hear about this, but it's time to think about things you need to make for Christmas. As an avid crafter, I make a lot of gifts for people and since I do, I have plan far ahead to avoid being crazy near the holidays. I certainly don't want to do that.

One thing I do every year for my family and closest friends is make an ornament. I love doing it and it is a special way to let them all know how much they mean to me. And they get to remember each year as they hang up the ornaments from previous years.

Sparkle Style has some wonderful Clear Round Glass Christmas Ornaments that are perfect for making all kinds of ornaments! They come in a set of 12 and each one has it's own little bubble wrap bag to keep it safe and protected. This is great for when you store them from year to year. The set also comes with a microfiber cloth to help polish the glass so they always look nice and shiny and show off how you decorate them. The ornaments are well made and are easy to use as they are or to fill them or paint them or any number of other creative things.

Now for decorating, the ways to use these glass balls is almost limitless. They aren't just for Christmas either. You can use them for all kinds of events and holidays. I've seen them for Valentines, New Years, Birthdays, Easter, and more. One wedding I knew about had a tree of these with an ornament for each guest to take home as a keepsake. Inside was a picture of the bride and groom. Cute idea!

Now to help spur you on here is one I made!

And to spur you on with even more ideas, here is a great site for ideas! 25 Ways To Decorate Clear Glass ornaments. I love a lot of them!! They are all super easy to make and add that nice personal touch to your tree or to your gift giving.

You can purchase the Sparkle Style Clear Round Glass Christmas Ornaments HERE!

This reviewer received the product free or at a discounted price in order to bring you an honest review. No other form of compensation was given. All opinions are those of the reviewer.

Incessant Divagation

“CHRISTMAS TRADITIONS” 

by Rick Jones, Husband of the Minister's Wife

It's like the Beatles said: “Christmas time again is here – ain't been 'round since late last year”. And with this holiday comes unique annual traditions. Sometimes the joyful holiday spirit is preserved only because the word”traditions” exists. Otherwise, I'd call these events “hassles”, “complications”, and “hindrances”. For example:

The Hauling of the Holiday Tubs: Lois has accumulated enough Christmas decorations to adorn three trees and two homes. These items are stored in a shed in eight large plastic tubs, each weighing as much as Santa's reindeer, Donner. And Donner is the chubby one. Every tub must be brought from the shed into the house, which also means rearranging other tubs containing decorations for other seasonal events. This is followed by the Detouring Around the Christmas Tubs ritual during the decorating process. I'm sure there is a good reason for the varying locations of the tubs, but it always seems to be related to where I plan to walk next. And since we can't have all those ugly tubs cluttering the house during the holiday season, there's the Returning of the Tubs to the Shed Knowing Full Well They'll Be Hauled Out Again in About a Month. Which is why there's another tradition:
The Cursing of the Tubs

The Festooning of the Hand Rails: Garland and bows are necessary for this tradition, which half-covers the hand rails of the outside steps during a season in which the steps are often icy. This makes entering and leaving the home much more exciting, and gives our guests who may have less than Olympic-class agility something festive to look at as they speed-dial their lawyers while lying at the base of the steps. Closely related is The Cursing of the Garland, observed at least twice a day during the season, as I use the outside steps.

The Cursing of the Lights: A nearly universal Christmas tradition observed by people who have used an old-fashioned strand of lights – the kind that had 100 light bulbs, none of which would shine if just one went bad. So we had to take a spare bulb and switch it with each light in the strand, seeking the bad one, which was usually about five spaces from whichever end one did not start with. Ironically, this cursing was accompanied by a prayer: “Dear Lord, have mercy. Please grant that only one bulb has gone bad. I further beseech Thee that the spare bulb I'm using to test this strand is not itself burned out.”

And, until we switched to an artificial tree, we observed the ABCs of Christmas trees.

A: The Acquisition of the Tree: After locating the bungee cords and saw in our unheated garage while my hands froze, we drove to a tree farm where we walked the rows while my feet froze, and debated which tree to buy while my face froze. Then I had to crawl under the tree and saw through the trunk while my hands, feet, and face froze a bit more. Then I secured the tree to the roof of the car to slowly and nervously drive home. Acquisition also involves getting the tree into the living room. As it was squeezed through the doorway, so many pine needles flew off that I was sure the tree would be bare by the time we set it up, but no, it had plenty more, which would fall on a daily basis.

B: The Balancing of the Tree: That expensive tree stand never seemed as stable as advertised, and it was my duty to produce a straight-standing tree by crawling beneath the tree among the incredibly sharp pine needles and positioning thin boards under one portion or another of the stand, being sure to hide them under the tree skirt. I then had to anchor the tree with thick string to the base of the window frame to keep it from falling. This was a necessity when we had [1] a big dog which could shift furniture with a swipe of its tail and/or [2] a curious cat that knew how to climb trees and was attracted by shiny objects. And if the cat had been declawed, it didn't matter – it would just take a running start, and leap.

C: Then, thinking of the “fun” I've already had with the tree, and “looking forward” to the adventure of getting that tree out of the house on New Year's Day, at which time every pine needle left would do its best to hurl itself into unseen locations, to venture forth and afflict my feet for months to come, there was the “C” – yes, you guessed it, The Cursing of the Tree.

The Filching of the Cookies: This one was actually enjoyable for me, but a pain for Lois. She doesn't mind me eating and appreciating a sizeable number of the exponentially larger number of cookies she bakes. But I have the uncanny ability to eat whichever kind of cookie she had planned to take to a dinner or pack up as a gift. Unfortunately, the onset of diabetes has forced me to cut back on this tradition substantially. This has led to a more recent tradition: The Very Sad Looking at and Longing for Christmas Cookies.