Knitting and Paper Crafting in One!

 The other day our dear neighbor called to tell us it was her birthday.  She was inviting us over for a big party she was having. She also hoped it would be okay if other guests parked on our lawn.  Dear One and I had already talked about it.  We also thought it would be easier for people to park in our driveway.  They could get four cars in there.  And they did.

Because Dear One is not as comfortable in situations where he knows virtually no one, we begged off.  Instead I spent half the afternoon knitting up a cloth for her and made the coolest box!!

This was a regular Grandmother's Cloth plus a new pattern I found for knitted scrubbies!  I love them.  

It is always nice to figure out some kind of container for a gift.  This time I made another hinged box.  The thing that tickles me the most about it is that I remembered to put in a thumb hole so it was easy to open.  These are not glorious but I did actually love the box.  It was a beige and cream paper with a lace pattern across it.  So nice.  Sadly, I did not get a good picture of it.  You can see a little of it on the keyboard.

With the imperfections, it was still fun to make and fun to give.

AND when I walked over and dropped off the gift, after a sweet hug, she reiterated her invitation but I told her we would not come over...partially because of the vegetarian issues.  She asked if she could give us some collards.  Well, yes she could!  I love collards.  Her collards were fantastic.  I could have eaten the whole plate at once but restrained myself and put most of it in the refrigerator.  The next day I ate the rest.  

You are right, Dear One is not a collards fan.  No problem.  More for me.  But one day I will figure a way to make some he will like.  Maybe on my death bed he will eat a bite or two just to please me...!

Busy Paper Crafting Morning

This morning while I was listening to scriptures, not studying, just listening to and enjoying the story, I did a bang-up job on paper crafting.  Moving on from Thanksgiving cards to Christmas cards, I found some Dollar Tree cards that I liked and brought them home.  I wanted to make tiny gifts for the kind ladies who "took me in" when we moved to the area.  Each month we have a Girls' Night Out so, with the double purpose of using up our remaining few pieces of Halloween candy and making a gift, I got right to work.

NOTE TO SELF AND OTHERS:  Sometimes mass production has its flaws.  I guess if you had a Quality Assurance agent working beside you there would not be as many problems, but, if you, like me, work alone, well...sometimes errors are also mass produced.

For example:  in this nifty little box, there is meant to be a thumb hole to help open the box.  Knowing where it was supposed to be placed, I cut them all at once.  When I began the gluing process, there was a problem.  I folded up the bottom of the box first...where the thumb notch was housed.  When it came time to close up the box, the thumb hole was on the INSIDE not the outside of the box, thus it was totally worthless and a true indication of the ineptitude of the maker.  Oh well.

Nice thumb hole, just where it should go.

So...all of a sudden it occurred to me to glue the top of the box first.  What a lucky inspiration!  Now all the boxes fit properly together. I do not know what the difference is because they are all the same size, I just know it worked for the last half of the boxes I made.

Box folded and thumb hole ready to go.  The other boxes do not have the thumb hole showing...

Now for the table decorations for the Christmas party...

In Relief Society an announcement was made that there was going to be a table centerpiece contest at the ward Christmas party.  I passed by the sign up sheet.  I am not at all good with that sort of thing.  When we went to my sister's house for Thanksgiving, I had a change of heart because some ideas came to me.  Even more came to my sister, so now I decided I will do it.

Since we will be sitting at rectangular tables seating eight people, I now know how much space there will be for the centerpiece.  As part of the evolving plan I decided to make little favors for each place-setting.  This is what they are...little green pyramids with a treat inside.  I am pretending they look like trees...!

The idea for these came from Linda Parker at her YouTube channel.    She gives all the information but I will duplicate it here.

Cut card stock 7 7/8" square.
Score at 2 5/8" and 5 1/4" in both directions.  Also make a little mark at the 4" spot on all four sides.
Next score from the 4" mark diagonally to the score at 2 5/8" and 5 1/4" which will make a little triangle.

Score lines barely perceptible.

Cut off the four corner squares and set aside for some other purpose.

The only cutting necessary is to cut out the four corner squares.

Fold on the score lines.

One each pyramid-to-be I fold back one of the squares/triangular sections so I won't forget to cut wider flaps on that side.

On three of the four sides, cut the paper at about 1/4" then also make a cut almost to the corner, which is to remove some of the bulk for when you fold up the box.

You will notice that three of the triangles have 1/4" flaps but the bottom one has about 1/2" flaps.

On the side opposite the side you did not cut yet, punch two holes with a paper punch. I used a 1/4" punch.  (That is really too large unless you are using wider ribbon.)
Now, on the side you did not cut yet,  go ahead and cut a wider tab.  I cut close to half an inch wide, then cut notch at the top of the triangle as you did with the others.

When you pull up on the ribbon and slide the little flaps into the final sides, the box becomes a pyramid.  Glue is only needed on the very first triangle's sides.  Very handy!

At this point insert a piece of ribbon in the side opposite the wider-cut notched piece.  Put glue on both sides of that triangle and attach to the triangles on either side.
When that glue is dry, if you are using wet glue, or if using dry glue or hot glue, insert the treat inside the box-to-be, pull the ribbon in the opposite side, close up the box using those wider tabs to make the final side of the pyramid, and tie off the bowl.

Done.  And fun!

Eight boxes ready to go and the party is not until the 14th!  I hope some disaster is not awaiting me.  Usually I am way behind the eight-ball.  The white box above was made from foam-core I got at Dollar Tree and has cards in various stages laid out.  Very convenient.