How to be Fun and Festive In Just a Few Minutes!

How do you pack as much fun and festiveness into each event your family has? Be creative and smart! Dare I say, smartly creative! Here is a decoration, a treat and a fun toy for the kids that take just minutes. I timed myself (without prior dry runs or practicing because that just wouldn’t be fair!)

Do you have an old pair of jeans, a piece of ribbon and 23 minutes? You can have this “What’s More American Than a Pair of Jeans” Blue Jeans Banner hanging from your eaves:

Do you have 16 minutes (plus the usual baking & frosting time) and red & blue dye in the back of your baking cabinet? Add a simple white cake mix & tub of frosting to this week’s grocery list and you can wow your children with these tasty and cheerful cupcakes to celebrate:

What is more fun than an old fashioned pinwheel? How about a made for the occasion pinwheel in just 12 minutes? It was created from 1 or 2 sheets of scrapbooking paper, a large brad and a dowel:

Here is what you need to know:

My Blue Jeans Banner was made of triangles about 7 ½” wide by 8” from top to tip (the corner that hangs down). I cut a paper triangle and used this as a rough template as I cut two of my husband’s old pairs of jeans. I used pinking shears to cut the triangles and a zig zag stitch when I attached them to the length of 3/8” grosgrain ribbon. So easy!

For the Multi-Colored Cupcakes, Mr. Crafty Natalie divided the batter into thirds and added about 1 ½ teaspoons of red and blue dye to two of them. He used a small measuring cup to gently add each color. The top of ours had a tye-die effect and when we sliced into one it looked more like a lava lamp. Possibly tapping between layers to work out air bubbles would make for a consistent middle. From the side the cupcakes look quite patriotic and thanks to frosting nobody has to know about our counter-culture on the inside cupcakes! I added the star made from fondant when I realized we were out of sprinkles!

And for the Pinwheel… I had forgotten how much I love pinwheels! I will have to find a way to work pinwheels into the next few special occasions we have! To make them, start with a two sided piece of scrapbooking paper. I cut the page down to about 10” by 10”. I then folded it both ways on the diagonal so I would have a guide for cutting. Cut each line ending about 1 ½” before the center.

I then poked a hole through ONE CORNER of each of the sides-use the same corner on each side! You will also need a hole through the very center of the square.

I put a brad through the holes and into the center hole. This brad then went through the hole I had drilled in a dowel-I actually used a bamboo stick out of a tomato plant just went in my garden!

It was then I decided that I needed a bright red to coordinate with the side of the paper that I liked the most. So I took it back apart, cut a piece of red to fit and put it back together as a double layer pinwheel. And there you have it!

Hope you have a festive, fun and very safe holiday!