Artfull Crafts: Jessica - Hostess or Neighbour Gift

Saturday, December 6, 2014

Jessica - Hostess or Neighbour Gift

Good morning to you all! Jessica here with you today.

I hope you have been enjoying the Christmas Countdown as much as I have. So much inspiration!

It is almost a week into December already, so it is definitely the time to get onto those Christmas Crafts if you haven't done them yet, and why not link them up to the Countdown Challenge over in the gallery since you've put in the effort to make them? There are two prizes from each category (maximum of three entries per category, all entries to be uploaded by Sunday the 21st of December).

This week is Handmade Gifts, and I have a quick and easy gift to show you. It is a great host or hostess gift, or something to give your neighbour. Cover and embellish a drink holder box, and fill with your drink of choice (or sauces, marinades, herbs, rubbing salts, drink flavours, etc). I told you it was easy!

(Truth be told, I had fully intended to buy lemon, lime and bitters in green bottles to have them in Christmas colours, but I forgot!!!)

I used the Teresa Collins Candy Cane Lane patterned papers and stickers on this project.

I used the pennant stickers, and simply glued two rows of white ribbon along the top of them and tied it in a bow. I added buttons and round stickers on the bottom right.

Make sure you add something to each side, not just the front. The right side had a Christmas sentiment cut from the patterned papers, while on the left I added some more pennant shapes and border stickers towards the bottom. The back has a lovely piece of patterned paper added to the centre.

The bottles themselves can also be embellished. I used a 1 inch punch for patterned paper circles for the top, and you can use patterned paper to wrap the bottles themselves too if you wish. You could include a little quip like "Soda-lighted you're my neighbour".

And don't forget to embellish the top section of the box too. On the front I used the same as on the bottom - pennants and buttons. On the back I used pieces of red doily. And to finish it off I will add a name tag, instead of putting the name on the box, that way they can re-use it for someone else if they choose to (no point in wasting!)

That's me for today. I'll see you again in a few days for week five of the Christmas Countdown!

Thanks for looking. Jessica