25 Days of Christmas and Holiday Series - Day 16

The Gift of Health And Happiness Ornamental Bird Nest

A little bird nest that I found last year
while trimming the bamboo.

According to an old German legend, if you find a bird nest in the tree you harvest for Christmas, you will have an entire year of health and happiness.  I cannot imagine the excitement a young German family would experience if, indeed, they brought the tree home only to find that a lovely little bird had left behind this amazing gift! 

A simple, thoughtful way to send health and happiness to a friend is by conveying your well wishes by making and giving a wonderful little bird nest for their Christmas tree.  My sister told me about this legend a few years back.  I was charmed by the thought and I wanted to make a few of these little precious ornamental nests for a few friends on my list.

The following tutorial explains how to make your own nest, but of course you can buy a pre-made nest at your local crafting store, or perhaps you have a real one left behind in your yard.  Now that would be neat too! 

Supplies

Spanish Moss

Wire for the nest frame

Floral wire

Decorative birdie

Clothes Pins

Assorted accents

Narrow, small holiday ribbon

scissors, wire snips, hot glue gun

I first made a little make shift basket with the base wire.  I did this by first making a loop the circumference of the nest.  I then used three additional pieces of wire to create a basket bottom, twisting the ends of the wire around the top loop. 

I then grabbed a handful of moss and rolled it in my hands, tangling the material.  Then I gently shaped the nest, digging into the middle with my thumbs to create the bowl-like shape.

I put a big glop of hot glue on the outside bottom of the nest and pressed it into the wire frame working it around to create the basic nest. 

I then turned the nest upside down and hot glued a clothes pin to the bottom of the nest. Allow the hot glue to set up on the clothes pin.

Turn the nest back over and prop it up.  Next you will place the bird, the accents you have chosen and a little bow on the top of the nest. 



First start with the bird.  A few of my birds came on clips, some on sticks, one on nothing.  The one that had nothing, I jammed and hot glued a skewer into the bottom of that bird, cut off the excess skewer and used hot glue to place him in the nest.  The extra reinforcement matters for stabilizing the bird to the nest. 

Form the small bow and run a floral wire through the back of the knot.

Fold the wire in half and twist together.

Put hot glue on the wire and work it into the front of the nest to secure. 

You are done!  Here are my results.

A little red bird with holiday accents and a white grosgrain bow.

I little white birdie with artificial holiday greens and a thin, red satin bow.

I made this one for a friend of mine who celebrates both  Christmas and Hanukkah in her home.

This little nest is one I made for myself.  The sparkly little gold darling has collected up her treasures.  They happen to be two of my mother's vintage clip earrings.  Since I love vintag-y stuff, think they make a wonderful accent.  More personal. 

The sky is the limit with this project.  You can alter what type bird you want to use, the accents and the bows according to your recipient. Just remember to include a little note with your nest, explaining the legend.  It makes it all the more special and conveys your wishes.  I hope you enjoyed this little project.  Would love to know which one was your favorite! Here's mine...

Don't forget to come back tomorrow for my
Day 17
of

25 Days of Christmas and Holiday Ideas and Gifts Series!!

-The End-
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25 Days of Christmas and Holiday Series: Day 15

Upcycle Sweater Stockings

In blog post #5 of my 25 Day Christmas and Holiday Series entitled Upcycle Sweater Sleeve Wine Gift Bags, I showed you how to make super cool wine bottle gift bags out of sweater sleeves.  One of my friends commented that she was sure that the rest of the sweater was not going to go to waste and she was correct!  No waste here at The Homeless Finch!

 My hubby and I have never had stockings.  We always just had stockings for the kids.  I wanted to put together something for him and I.  Here is what I did...

I took the leftover sweaters and using my daughter's stocking as a template, cut out two new stockings, one red and one green from the body of the two sweaters.

Some key tips... I backed the template up to the seam of the sweater under the armpit area so that part of the sewing was already done for me.  Additionally, I made sure to utilize the nicely finished edges on the bottom of the sweater for the top of the stocking.  It's nice to use a sweater for these reasons.  So much of the work is done before you even start cutting out the stocking!

I used green heavy duty Signature thread and simply sewed the seam using about an inch seam allowance.  Sweaters are an open weave and you have to make sure and not have too shallow a seam allowance.

I did the same with the red sweater and this is what they looked like at this point.

For the loop, I cut out the finished edge where the sweater buttons together and simply hot glued the cut seam down, folding it over twice to get a nice edge. 

I then attached it with needle and thread to the stocking and added a button to create the appearance that the button was functional.  I used red thread for contrast on the button.

I decided to fashion the accents for these stockings off of my personal favorite wine bottle bag with the felt and ribbon rosettes.  Here is an image to remind you.

Using the same techniques that I address in the Wine Bottle Gift Bag, I made a collection of ribbon and felt flowers for the stockings.  Here is what I came up with...

The little red ball is just that..a ball of leftover
sweater that I stitched together.

I added a little silver bead to this grouping.

 So here are the results...

I am super pleased with my new stockings.  Now my hubby and I will have our own and it's about time! We have been together since 1988.  What took me so long?  Sheesh! 

Don't forget to come back tomorrow for my
Day 16
of

25 Days of Christmas and Holiday Ideas and Gifts Series!!

-The End-
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25 Days of Christmas and Holiday Series: Day 14

Sister Lisa's Amazing Holiday Cheese Ball

At the beginning of the series I told you that I might break with tradition over here at The Homeless Finch and share a few tried and true family recipes.  Not that I think there is anything wrong with recipes.  I just made the decision to keep to the central theme of the blog and recipes for me are getting off track.  But in the spirit of the holiday, I am going to share with you the bestest holiday cheese ball eva! 

This recipe is an old family recipe because my sister is ancient and I really wanted to share it with you today.  When my mother passed away, I inherited her recipe box.  I was always put to work in the kitchen deemed the Suzy Homemaker of the bunch, so the honor fell to me to keep the family recipes. This particular recipe found it's way into our family traditions through my sister Lisa's Home Economics teacher back in high school. (For you younger readers...Yes, we took those sorts of classes back in the dark ages.) 

As legend tells...my mother didn't like this particular teacher and once uncharacteristically stormed into school to body slam verbally rip this woman's head off for giving my sister a C for the breakfast that her group presented to the class.  You see, the assignment was a traditional eggs, bacon and toast assignment.  My sister's group went all out and made Eggs Benedict.  Seems the teacher didn't appreciate the extra effort and docked them for not following directions.  Guess Martha Stewart would have failed.

Somewhere during that year, my sister was given this Amazing Holiday Cheese Ball recipe. My mother did not like giving the teacher credit for it, so from that moment on, it was known as Lisa's Cheese Ball.

Ingredients

2-8 ounce packages of cream cheese, softened

3 Tablespoons of horseradish

3/4 Cups of Parmesan cheese

1-7 ounce bottle of stuffed olives, chopped

1 jar of chip beef, chopped very fine

Crackers

Mix the first four ingredients together.

Split in half and form into two balls. (This is kinda messy) Roll the balls in the finely chopped chip beef. 

Cover with wrap and chill until firm.  Keeps for several weeks in the refrigerator.   I prefer Pepperidge Farms Butterfly Crackers.  But you can use whatever cracker you prefer.  The best part? This recipe makes two cheese balls.  Now I have one for myself and one to take to my sister's house this Saturday a holiday party.

My mom use to say that Lisa's Cheese Ball was the perfect Christmas appetizer because the olives were green and pimentos red!! Funny gal that mom of mine.  Wish she was here today.  Would like to have her around to help me fight a few of my kid's battles.  Now THAT's a Christmas Wish worth receiving!!

Don't forget to come back tomorrow for my
Day 15
of

25 Days of Christmas and Holiday Ideas and Gifts Series!!

-The End-

Eggs Benedict photo credit: www.Twopeasintheirpods.com

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