Hi everyone, it's Amy here today, bringing up the tail end of this awesome Home for the Holidays Project Parade. I've been so impressed with the variety of inexpensive gift ideas! Hope this parade has given you some fun, new ideas to try out this holiday season!I have an easy project to share today that could work as either a home decor item or a gift. I found these glass jars on clearance at a local fabric store (Hancock) earlier this Fall for only $20 for a set of 3. The pedestal style and the glass knob on the lid make for such an elegant presentation. I usually see these types of jars filled with various things like key limes, cranberries, acorns, and such, but holiday sweets work well, too! Wouldn't it be fun to group a few of these together, all filled with different treats, for a {partly} edible centerpiece?
For today's project, I decorated the medium-size jar (without the lid, the jar measures 8" tall and about 4 1/4" in diameter) with a fairly simple belly band and medallion and then filled it with one of my favorite holiday sweets: Mexican Wedding Cookies.For the medallion, I stamped the sentiment (from Christmas in the Air) onto heavyweight ivory paper in a dark green pigment ink, clear embossed, and die-cut using one of the Spellbinders fancy tags dies. Behind that is a red "donut" cut with Spellbinders circle dies and stamped with the snowflake wreath (also from Christmas in the Air) in white craft ink. Then behind that are two Spellbinders Labels 4 die-cuts from various Basic Grey holiday papers.
For the belly band, I found that even strips of 12" designer paper were not long enough to go around the full circumference of the jar, so I designed the band in two pieces and connected them with a narrow band of light green paper and burlap string tied between two brads. Because the jar is ever so slightly tapered, I adhered the belly band along the top edge only, using 1/4" Scor-tape. Last, I tied some olive ribbon around the knob on the lid for a splash of color up top. Add a small tag to the ribbon for gift-giving.So, the cost breakdown: less than $7 for the jar, say $1 for paper and ribbon (I used scraps), plus the cost of the ingredients for the cookies. I've probably busted the $10 budget just a bit (I do that with budgets, you know {wink}), but only because those darn pecans in the cookies were so expensive!
So, now it's your turn! We'd love for you to play along with us and show us your homemade goodies for the upcoming giving season! Verve stamps are not required, but if you've got 'em, why not use 'em?
And, as with all of our project parades, we've got prizes! To enter, just link up your Home for the Holidays creation to the Mr. Linky widget at Day One's post before midnight MST on Thursday, November 26. One lucky stamper will win a $30 gift certificate to the Verve Store. And for another chance to win, be sure to give the Divas a little shout out in the comments as they parade their fabulous creations inspired by this month's theme. One lucky commenter during the course of the parade (Nov 11 - 25) will win their choice of any Verve set.
