This is the time of year when it is common to have so many greeting cards, you don’t know what to do with them all. Kara has some awesome ideas for what to do with them during the Christmas season. But what do you do with them all after Christmas?

A few weeks ago, a friend at church reminded me of a craft that I had totally forgotten existed. If you have use for small boxes, you can make boxes out of Christmas cards.

Wouldn’t it be cool next year to give each person (who sent you a card) a gift wrapped in the card they gave you this year? It would be the perfect size box for giving gift cards, too!

If you don’t want writing on the inside of your box (where the giver signed it), here’s a tip from a commenter on ehow.com. Use card stock or something similar to make the bottoms plain white.

If a Christmas card box is too small for your gift, you can make a gift bag using gift wrap. This site shows you how to make a fancy bag, but you could easily simplify it. And if you are determined to wrap a gift the old fashioned way, you could at least modernize it a tiny bit just for the coolness of it!

Happy Gift-wrapping!!

Each year at our church’s harvest party, the kids break pinatas full of candy. This year we decided to make our own pinatas and decided to share the process and results with you. Maybe in the process you will learn how to make one for your next birthday party! Stay tuned tomorrow for pictures!

Materials:

• Several largish balloons
• plenty of old newspapers
• flour (self-rising or all purpose)
• water
• paint (optional)
• creative mind (optional)

Directions:

1. Going with the grain, tear the newspapers into strips about 2 inches wide. Don’t be extra careful with size. Just have fun making a mess.
2. Decide what shape you want to make, and use your imagination to visualize how you can make the shape with several balloons. If your creative juices aren’t flowing, just go with a pumpkin, ball, or some other round shape and use one big balloon.
3. Blow up the balloons and arrange them in the shape you imagined.
4. Make a paste of flour and water, a little thinner than pancake batter (maybe even a bit thinner). It’s pretty hard to mess up the paste.
5. Dip strips of newspaper, one at a time, in the paste and use 2 fingers (usually pointer and middle finger) to wipe off the excess paste. (Pretty much get as much off as you can without spending too much time on it.
6. Flatten the wet strips on the balloon in several layers.
7. Hang the pinata (or lay it flat and rotate after a while)  until it has hardened.
8. Repeat steps 5-7 until the pinata is almost as strong as you want.
9. When your pinata is almost as strong as you want, attach a string to hang it by. If possible have the string tied around the bottom of the pinata, too.
10. Repeat steps 5-7 for at least one more layer to cover up and strengthen the string.
11. Stab the top of the pinata with a knife, and make a hole to add your candy.
12. Removed the popped balloon and fill your pinata with candy.
13. Paint your pinata if desired.
14. Hang up your hard work and let the kids beat it to smithereens. 🙂