Note: because this easy Christmas ornament uses a glass light bulb please do not leave your child unsupervised while working on this project.

Materials:

• burned out incandescent light bulb
• dishwashing liquid cap
• water or soda bottle plastic cap
• decoupage items such as photos, magazine pictures, etc.
• ribbon and decorative trim scraps
• gold, silver or copper wire
• heavy duty crafters or jewelry glue
• metallic paint pen or metallic paint to match your wire
• acrylic enamel paint
• crackle medium (optional)
• clear shellac or varnich
• hot glue
• old color beads of choice (1 for the bottom of ornament and 1 flat bead for the top center)
• rubbing Alcohol or white Vinegar

Wipe the light bulb with a little rubbing alcohol or white vinegar and a piece of cotton from a vitamin or med bottle or a soft cloth. Allow to dry.

Wash bottle caps with hot soapy water and allow to dry.

Using a small nail, poke a small hole in the center of the soda cap. Bend wire into a U-shape and thread both ends through the hole in the cap. Secure the wire ends on the inside by twisting together. Now you have a hanger for your ornament.

Using heavy duty craft or jewelry glue, glue the soda cap to the socket of the light bulb and the dishwashing liquid cap to the bottom center of the bottle cap. Allow the glue to dry.

Paint the glass portion of the light bulb with enamel paint. Paint the socket section, the bottle cap and dishwashing liquid cap with a metallic paint. Allow paint to dry and apply additional coats if needed.

Glue your decoupage items to the painted light bulb.

Follow the manufacturers instructions to apply a crackle finish. When crackle finish is done apply a small amount of an antiquing medium such as burnt umber paint. Allow this to dry and then apply 2 to 3 coats clear shellac or varnish. Do not apply clear protectant to the metallic painted areas, as the varnish will dull the metallic paint.

Use hot glue to apply small pieces of decorative trim to hide the socket area and disguise the dish-washing cap.

Glue a bead to the bottom center of the ornament.

Note: you can leave the dish-washing liquid cap either open or closed. If you decide to leave it open, place a dot of glue inside the cap to keep it from closing.

Ribbons and Bows

Cut each recycled candy wrapper to the same width and tape to package as a decorative ribbon. You can then loop each length of candy wrapper and tape or glue it to the package as a bow. You can face the shiny side out or the writing side out.

Decoupage

I hardly ever buy silver leaf anymore. I just use recycled candy wrappers and recycled potato chip bags.

When carefully opened and washed the shiny side of these wrappers can be used in a decoupage or collage project, or to simulate a body of water in a doll house or Christmas gingerbread house.

I like to use recycled candy wrappers to cover smaller surfaces or surfaces like a frame where a long skinny shape is best. I use recycled potato chip bags for larger surfaces such as pots, trays, etc.

Antique Foiled Frame

I’ve covered scratched wooden frames with the shiny side of recycled candy wrappers. First crumple the candy wrapper. Smooth with your hands. Cut to fit, and glue to the frame. Wipe the foil with brown or black shoe polish to age it.

Contemporary Foiled Frame

Cut wrappers into squares or rectangles. Glue pieces to frame, butting together or overlapping.

Mod Frame

You could use the packaging label side to cover a frame for a retro mod look.

Decorative Tray or Box

Any of the ideas above can be used to cover a tray or box. I’ve used candy wrappers to cover a tissue box, then I use the box to store spare change.

Materials:

• white clay
• toothpick
• plastic fingernail (a true IA devotee would use a fake fingernail that had fallen off and was too damaged to be re-glued on)
• glue
• dark fingernail polish

I do not like those pens that businesses give away. They’re unattractive and they don’t write that well. This project is a good way to make use of those pens. Ghastly Pens make great party favors or a fun take-along for school during the month of October.

For each Ghastly Pen, cover a ballpoint pen with approximately a ¼-inch thick layer of white clay or similar material, leaving the tip of the pen exposed. Use your hands to mold the clay into the shape of a finger, using your own finger or a willing hand as a model. Use a toothpick to make wrinkles and creases for the knuckles.

Glue a plastic fingernail near the pen tip making sure to leave enough room to be able to write with the pen. Trim the nail so that it’s a bit ragged. Use the toothpick to form lines for the cuticle area. Paint the nail with a ghastly shade such as green or black. Let clay dry completely before using.

Glamour Pen – use flesh colored clay instead of white clay. Don’t trim the fingernail to make it look ragged. Paint the fingernail a bright red, or do a French manicure on it.

Teen Scene – use flesh colored clay. Paint the nail a cool color such as light blue or bright orange. While polish is still wet carefully place a decal, sticker or charm on the nail. When polish is dry cover entire nail with a couple coats of clear polish.

Storing Candy

Most candy can be kept at room temperature without spoiling, with the exception of chocolate. Because fat can turn rancid (ever detect a slight soapy smell on your chocolate?) any chocolate candy that you plan to use thirty days or more from the date of purchase is best stored in an airtight container in the freezer.

RePurpose Candy

Use candy corns to decorate Thanksgiving baked goods, or fill a cornucopia with them.

All types of candy bars can be buzzed into milk-shakes, chopped and stirred into home-made ice-cream, as an ice-cream topping, chopped and stirred into baked goods batter, chopped or sliced and used to decorate the top of a frosted cake …

Gum drops, gummie shapes, candy corns, peppermints, Lifesavers, lollypops – all kinds of candies can be used to decorate Christmas gingerbread houses.

Any red candies can be saved for Valentine’s Day.

Any chocolate candies that can melt down completely can be stirred into hot chocolate or coffee.

Didn’t think you could do anything with that cheap patio umbrella you bought a few months ago? If you have an umbrella that is broken, ripped, or otherwise unusable you can use it to add to your Halloween or autumn decor.

Strip the fabric off the umbrella spine. Invert the spine so that the handle and post of the umbrella now look like the trunk and the spines look like branches sticking up from the trunk.

Place the umbrella in a pot and attach with hot glue or wire whatever decorations you choose.

Paint the box pink or cover with pink construction paper or tissue paper. Add eyes, nose and mouth using markers, paint pens, or buttons.

Add whiskers made from thin strips of paper or pipe cleaners.

Cut two ears cut from pink paper. Cut two inner ears from white paper just a little smaller than pink paper ears. Glue one white inner ear to one pink outer ear so that you end up with 2 sets of ears. Glue ears to inside of basket so that they face outward.

Add a pipe cleaner handle.

Check out these Easter goodies!

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Chocolates can be frozen whole, chopped or sliced to be used up to six months later.

Chop or break chocolate into small pieces and use them instead of chips to make chocolate chip cookies.

Melt chocolate down to make chocolate coated fruit, chocolate-covered popcorn or pretzels. One of my favorite things is to stir cereal into melted chocolate. Let set to a semi-soft consistency and cut into squares, allowing to completely harden before eating.

You won’t have leftovers with the goodies below!

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Instead of using aluminum foil once then tossing it; wash it and use it again. You can even wash it in the top rack of a dishwasher. Read on for easy ways to decorate your home with aluminum foil and you won’t BELIEVE how classy it will look!

Confetti

If it becomes too soiled to reuse, cut out and discard the soiled portions then using a paper trimmer, scissors or paper punches cut through several layers at a time to make confetti. Bonus: your paper trimmer blade, scissors and paper punches will be sharpened after you do this.

Christmas Decorations

My first year on my own the most I could afford to ring in the Christmas season were four strings of miniature lights. A roll of aluminum foil became my ally that year. I saved the aluminum foil bows in a box to use for years afterward, even as I added more conventional decorations, they helped to fill out the tree.

Shape the foil into bows and position each bow behind a light on your Christmas tree for a romantic glow.

Kitchen Scrubber

Use a ball of aluminum foil and a bit of dish soap to scrub baked-on food from a glass pan, oven rack or grill.

Painting Helper

Protect knobs and other hardware during painting by wrapping them with aluminum foil before starting to paint.

Sharpener

When your decorative paper punches, paper trimmer or scrap booking scissors no longer cut well don’t throw them away.

Fold a piece of used and clean aluminum foil four layers thick. Then punch or cut into it until the punch/scissors are sharp again. Punch or cut about 10 times into the foil, then punch/cut into a piece of scrap paper to check the sharpness. If it’s still not sharp go another ten rounds with the aluminum foil. If the punch gets stuck in the paper use a pencil eraser to push the back side of the punch through until it releases.

You may have to do 25 to 50 punches/cuts through the foil before it’s sharp again, but eventually you’ll have a like-new hole punch or pair of scissors again.

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