Snowflake Garland
Today's Snack: Bake a pan of brownies, but before you cut and eat,
sprinkle a little mini-snowstorm of powdered sugar over the top.
When
you eat these "snow-kissed brownies," make sure you don't SNEEZE, or the
"snowflakes" will all fly off the top of your brownie!
Enjoy
with a big glass of cold milk.
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White twisted mason's cording (available at a
hardware store with the twine)
Match (to fuse the ends of the cording)
Shiny white or silver decorative giftwrap
Sparkly white or crystal hollow plastic beads
A snowflake paper punch that makes at least 1"
snowflakes
Pencil or paintbrush
Glue
Toothpick
You can make a very inexpensive and attractive winter
garland to decorate your room, your kitchen windowsill, your fireplace mantel,
around a door or window, or to make into a necklace, with just a few household
items.
At Christmastime, you can find thicker white cording in a
hobby or fabric store, but most of the year, narrow white mason's cording will
do. You may have to hold a match very briefly at the end on which you are going
to thread your paper beads so that the individual fibers don't fray, or come
apart. BE SURE TO HAVE ADULT SUPERVISION if you use matches!!!
Decide what length you are going to make for your garland,
and cut out your length of cording. Stretch it along the floor or table and lay
out the decorative parts along the length, to make sure you have the right
quantity for the pattern you would like to make.
To make paper beads, cut a 1" rectangle of gift wrap,
about 4" long. Curl it tightly around a pencil or paintbrush. Dab a little glue
on the end, and press the end down. Let dry for a minute on the pencil or
paintbrush, and then remove and let it dry completely. You can make longer or
shorter beads or try cutting different shapes such as tall triangles and
"molding" them around something more round.
For paper snowflakes, use the snowflake paper punch and
punch out two snowflakes per pair.
When you have your pattern planned out, you may want to
put a dab of glue inside each bead to make sure the cording sticks to it. If
the nose of the glue bottle won't fit inside the bead, scoop up a little glue
with a toothpick and deposit the glue inside the bead that way.
Put a snowflake underneath the cording, then a dab of
glue, then top with the second snowflake.
A good pattern is this:
White sparkly plastic bead
1" giftwrap bead
White sparkly plastic bead
3" of cording
Paper snowflake
3" of cording
Repeat pattern
Store your garland in a plastic shoebox and enjoy taking
it out to brighten up your interior space when Old Man Winter comes a-calling!
