818-Lancaster Firming, Saturday, November 18, 1989 Built A Tips From Lebanon BY LOU ANN GOOD PRESCOTT (Lebanon Co.) Holiday planning is just begin ning. To give homemakers a boost, the Lebanon County Extension presented an array of festive, excit ing ideas to personalize holiday traditions. Consisting of seven workshops held November 7 through 10, the program drew approximately 1,200- people. Read on for a sampling of the seasonal thoughts and touches shared by the speakers Gift and Decorating Idt'ts F rom Your Hands Meant to Touch Their Hearts Denise Ecenroad demonstrated some gift ideas that participants could make. Here are some of her decorative suggestions: •Scherenschnitz, the art of paper cutting, is an easy, attractive way to make heirloom gifts. She recommends using parchment paper for the actual shape, but the background can be made from fabric or other paper. •Make a stiffy bow by cutting a 4-inch wide piece of fabric. Brush on fabric stiffener on both sides of material. Allow to dry 20 to 30 minutes but no longer or it will become too stiff. Form fabric into bows or rosettes for decorating baskets, flowers, wreaths, and other projects. Silk flowers can be dipped into the fabric stiffener sol ution to give them a porcelain look. Spray paint them in desired color. •Make country curtain tiebacks by gluing miniature clothspin to back of wooden shapes. •Wrap gifts in clear cellophane paper and tie with a holiday bow. •Personalize a ceramic mug by mixing a small amount of deter gent and ammonia in large bowl of water. Soak the mug in this mix ture for 15 minutes. Remove the mug from bowl, being careful not to touch the area to be painted, and rinse under hot water. Let dry. Trace a design on the mug. With model paint, paint words or design on mug. Dry 48 hours. To make the mug dishwasher proof, place it in 215 degree oven for 15 minutes. Keep area well ventilated. Elegance with ease Holidays usually mean guests, and with time at a premium those special touches that say, “We’re glad you’re here” are tough to cre ate. Lois Donley demonstrated numerous quick ways to make foods festive. One way that is sure to thrill the little ones is the gelatin cutouts. Cranberry Apple Gelatin Cut-Outs 12-ounce can frozen cranberry juice concentrate, thawed l'/j cups apple juice 3 envelopes unflavored gelatin Lightly grease a 13x9-inch pan. In medium saucepan, combine juices. Sprinkle gelatin over top; allow to soften 1 to 2 minutes. Bring to a boil over medium-high heat Stir constantly to dissolve gelatin. Pour into prepared pan. Refrigerate until firm. Cut into desired shapes with cookie cutters or cut into squares. Makes 48 squares. Potpourri of Decorating Ideas Steven Stiles created a center piece, demonstrated a wreath-and showed how to put new face on your old basket to create a holiday mood. •Revitalize old baskets by braid ing paper twist and gluing it to the rim of the basket and handle or by gluing moss and dried flowers on the rim. Baskets can be filled with potpourri, hand towels and soaps. •Eucalyptus swags can be made by dividing the eucalyptus into two bunches. Join the resulting two bunches at the stem ends with wire. Lay dried flowers on top and wire them to it. Add the paper twist bow where the branches meet •Mantel decorations can easily be made by inserting greens in three blocks of oasis. Intersperse candles, cones, and Christmas balls among the greens. Nature’s Gifts ‘The woods and the fields are alive with interesting material with which to craft creatures, angels, flowers and stars,” said Christenna Stamm. She said that the best time to pick dried materials is at the peak of matu-ity before plants have dried out from weathering. Her naturally decorated Christ mas trees had milk weed pod birds angels, and teasel reindeer. Gather milkweed in late summer in its green pod state. Peel back the outer skin exposing a fuzzy whitish pod. •Milk weed pod bird - glue a half pod to each side of a whole pod. Tips should face one direction. Hot glue a chicory nut on for a head. •Teasel reindeer - head and body are teasel. The head should be one half the size of the body. Antlers are dried lilly stems. Legs and neck are twigs. The tail is a pussy willow. The nose is a little red pepper berry. •Milk pod flowers - glue together five milk weed pods that have been cut in half. Spray paint the pods and glue a small pine cone on for a flower center. •String dried cranberries alter nately with dried apple pieces. What’s New for Quilters Hetty Wengert explained how to make a Christmas wall hanging. •Cookie Cutter Applique Wall Hanging Cut six BV2 -inch squares (solid colored material) Cut four 2/4 xBl4 -inch sashes Steven Stiles demonstrated using a variety of greens and branches to give baskets a holiday touch. Holiday Memory County Extension Workshops (the print fabric between the squares) Cut three TA x2B-inch sashes (same print fabric, top and bottom Cut out six of your favorite coo kie cutter patterns using your favo rite Christmas fabrics. Cut backing material and quilt batting slightly larger than the fin ished top size. Applique one cut-out to each B'/i -inch square. Piece together the six squares and sashings. Baste your pieced front, batting, and backing together. Quilt around the applique and any additional effect you desire. Bind the edges of the quilted piece. Sew a piece of fabric 2x20-inches wide to the back of your finished piece. This forms a pocket for the hanging rod. “Steeming” Through the ages Margaret Sowers, extension agent, encouraged the audience to build positive esteem in others dur ing the holiday season. An impor tant way of building self esteem is through communicating. Sowers suggested using positive state ments such as: “neat work,” “nice job,” “thank you for picking up the papers,” “thank you for being so patient," “I’m proud of the way you did that,” “you certainly are creative,” and “I’m glad you’re part of the family.” She warned against plastic com pliments that are said sarcastically, patronizingly or that are grand iose.. Actions such as smiles, hand shakes, listening, and spending time together will communicate positive messages. Beyond the kitchen door Allelta Schadler, extension home economist, entertained the audience by demonstrating cook ing in her humorous manner. In addition to making canned pump kin bread and canned applesauce cake, Alletta hollowed out minia ture pumpkin and put dip into it. She made both a regular version of pumpkin spread and a lean ver- (Turn to Page B 21) Hetty Wengert shows that preprinted fabric can make an attractive Christmas wall hanging that is easy to make for beginning quitters. Christenna Stamm decorated a Christmas tree with milk weed pod birds and teasel reindeer. Denise Ecenroad displayed her gift and meant to touch others hearts. '
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