Lollipop, Lollipop!

Front yard lollipops!

Lollipop, lollipop!

I love putting lollipops up for Christmas decorations.   Why?  Because they look so festive without needing lights...they just feel very Santa's workshop to me.  This year, I took advantage our last day of woodshop by using the bandsaw to cut out eighteen 12-inch circles out of 5mm underlayment.

12" circles of 5mm underlayment...painted white...

Then I painted them all white and attached dowels to them.   Each lollipop was then wrapped in colored cellophane and tied off with ribbon.   Finally, we pounded (okay, Charming pounded because I took too long) PVC into the ground and inserted the lollipop into the PVC.  

See the PVC sticking up from the ground?

Why pound the pvc into the ground?  Experience has taught me that frozen ground and frozen dowels will be stuck together until March or April.  I'm hoping that sticking the dowels into pvc will allow me to pull them up after New Year.  (Fingers crossed any.)

I even put them in the pots in front of the garage (with my faux poinsettia)...so festive!

I think they turned out so well and I love rounding the corner and seeing them as I drive up the street.  It is just so cheerful.

Look at that view...isn't it fun?

 Superman-Tracker (kind of like the Santa Tracker, but better!):  Superman is stuck at LAX after his flight from Dubai was late arriving, meaning he missed his connection; but he'll still be here before Christmas...the wonderful people at Alaska Airlines helped us rebook him on flights that will do the trick.  Its all good!

Christmas Crafts

The Friday following Thanksgiving, a friend of ours hosted a craft afternoon.  (Far more fun than fighting crowds on Black Friday!)

She had gathered some little ceramic ornaments and some unpainted trinket boxes for everyone to paint.  We contributed our stash of paints and some serious enthusiasm. 

I think we did pretty well, don't you?

Buttercup painted the box with the engraving...didn't she make it beautiful?

Valiant took the time to paint brass "corners" on his box and they look so good.  He also had a mixed result experiment with crackle medium.

After everything dried for a week, I wrote the kids' names on their ornaments and their trinket boxes and sprayed everything with some clear lacquer.

 I love to see how each of them approaches their creative endeavors from completely different perspectives...I can hardly wait to see what they'll come up with.


It really doesn't take much to have a fun afternoon with some successful crafting...be brave!