Wednesday, November 19, 2008

Penny's Candy Countdown

December first till Christmas
is the longest time of the year.
Seems as though old Santa
never will appear.

How many days till Christmas?
It's mighty hard to count,
so this little candy ribbon
will tell you the amount.

Remove a (candy of choice)
every night when the sandman
casts his spell.

And Christmas Eve will be here
by the time you reach the bell!


Supplies:

Hot glue, and glue gun
1 inch ribbon for the candy
a sewing needle
thread to match the ribbon
1/4 ribbon for hanging and attaching the bells at the bottom
small jingle bells
white paper for poem
red or green paper for backing
Candy of choice (individually foil wrapped) At least 24 pieces

You have to cut down the poem after printing and then attach it to either red or green paper before it is used on the candy ribbon.


To start, measure out your 1inch ribbon, for larger candy like Nestles Crunch Bells you need to cut a piece of ribbon 41 inches long. For candy like Hershey Kisses cut the ribbon 37 1/2 inches long. The 1/4 inch ribbon is to make the tie at the top and bow at the bottom, both need to be cut 4 inches long. You will need 3 small sized bells, needle and thread, and a hot glue gun. Before you start make a bow out of one of the 1/4 inch ribbons that you have cut.

After you have your ribbon cut, for the top you fold it over 1/4 of an inch, and again about 3/4 of an inch to make the loop to attach the remaining 1/4 ribbon to hang it. You stitch this across the back by hand.

At the bottom you make a double 1/4 inch fold, stitch it across, then keep the thread and needle intact.
Put the needle up through the center of the ribbon from back to front. Then take the bow you have made and put the needle through it, bringing the bow down next to the ribbon stitch through once (making sure you end up with the needle back out at the front of the candy ribbon again). Then take one of the bells, put the needle through the top of the bell and attach it to the bow, repeat with each bell.

Next you would take the poem, center it and hot glue it to the top of the candy ribbon. After I do this, I count out the 24 pieces of candy and place them on the ribbon so I can space them out evenly. Then I go back and glue them on one by one with the hot glue gun. After this put the other 4 inch piece of 1/4 ribbon through the loop you made at the top and knot it and your all done.

I hope these are easy to understand :) enjoy

Happy Holidays!

ADCAN nannies met on Sunday, November 16 to talk about the Holidays. We came up with some amazing holiday gift ideas for employers. Top of the list ... photos! Can never have too many photos. Ideas for photos? Mugs, placemats, frames, ornaments ... what are your favorite photo suggestions? Take photos of children's artwork and make into a book using Snapfish.

Kellie had some amazing ideas using pottery painting using children's hand prints and even their feet! Though don't comment on her drawing skills :)

We had a few ideas for making our own advent calendars using a hanging shoe organizer and one using scrapbook supplies.

Penny shared with us her mom's annual contribution of the Candy Countdown (see separate post for directions).

What do you give to your employers? Gift cards to nice restaurant, bottle wine, photos of children, book about the holidays, night of babysitting are just a few. What do you give to your employers?

What are your favorite holiday traditions? What do you do to make the holidays special for all?