Decorating and Gift Ideas

If you ever acquire a candle holder and want to do something

different with it , try putting the icicle ornaments in it--the kind

you get in a package of 8 at the dollar stores. This is a candle holder

someone gave me, and I finally found a way to display it. Wall

space is a problem, with big objects, and they have to be put out

of the way so no one will brush against them. I had seen round

ornaments in candle holders, but did not care for them as much

as the icicle type, which actually looks more like taper candles.

If you have gotten way behind in house keeping, and things have really

piled up, I would like to suggest a very effective way to motivate you. Make

before and after photographs of small areas of your house, and exchange

them over email with a friend, or put them in a slideshow.  It really does

work much better when you know you are preparing that corner, or that

piled up area, for a photo-shoot. 

If you give gifts, there are still a few ideas that might help:-

-Keep a box of things you are tired of or do not care for.  Someone else might enjoy what

you cast off.  They can be make special by packing them with glittered tissue wrapping paper, or put in a basket or box.

-Find things to make, such as snowflakes (I can include a pattern later). Once, a girl

made me a dozen glittered  paper snowflakes, which I kept in a tin for a long time, getting

them out to hang up in winter.  It makes a nice gift, when packaged in a special way

-Give away a bowl with a home made mix. People love scone mixes and other kinds of mixes

in zip-lock bags with recipe instructions

-Have someone over for a cup of tea and a snack, and give them a tea bag inside a

hand made card.  Most people absolutely love a cup of hot tea and the chance to sit in

someone else's home.

 An old fashioned centrepiece using an old silver bowl,, a glass jar, and ringed with a wired branch, set on an antique doily.
Most people have enough things around their homes to make interesting vignettes and centrepieces.