Christmas Lights: The Ultimate Way to Decorate Your Home

Image via Wikipedia

 

 
Image via WikipediaChristmas lights; we have all seen them and most of us have used them before. When it comes to Christmas lights, we often associate those lights only with Christmas trees.  While Christmas lights are most commonly used to decorate Christmas trees, did you know that they can also be used for much more?  If you are planning on decorating this year, you should consider using your Christmas lights for decorating your entire home.

Although many people only put lights on their Christmas tree, there are other uses for them as well.  One of those uses is for decorating the outside of your home.  You can easily find Christmas lights that are designed for outside use, particular around a home. These type of lights are often referred to as outdoor Christmas lights.  One such type of light is the icicle Christmas lights that allow the lights to hang off the side of a house.  While it is possible to find multicolored outdoor Christmas lights, you will find that they are most commonly sold in the traditional white color.

In addition to decorating the outside of the outside of your home with Christmas lights, you can also decorate the trees outside of your home.  A number of homeowners, each year, decorate the trees outside their home, often exactly like their indoor Christmas tress.  Many times, these trees are relatively small in size; therefore, small outdoor Christmas lights are needed on an outdoor tree.  Decorating the small trees in your yard is a great way to bring a touch of Christmas to your neighborhood.

Some people like to hang Christmas lights along the top of their walls. This is a great way to bring extra Christmas spirit into the home. In fact, you can even use Christmas lights to decorate one of your home’s bedroom windows.  This idea is often loved by teenagers and other children; many enjoy the twinkling lights and colors. Decorating your home’s bedroom windows is a great way to bring the Christmas spirit into a room that you may have otherwise not decorated.

You may also want to decorate your office or your workspace. Unfortunately, not everyone celebrates Christmas.  This may pose a problem, when it comes to decorating your office workspace.  However, you can still, in many cases, use Christmas lights to decorate your office.  In most cases, you will find that it is the decorations that scream Christmas that cause the problems, not the lights themselves. Therefore, if you supervisors approve, you could easily hang Christmas lights around your office walls or along the sides of your work desk.

Isn’t it amazing all of the different ways that you can use Christmas lights to decorate your home or even your office? It really is amazing how just the addition of those colorful, twinkling lights can add so much spirit to your holiday cheer.

 

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Black Friday Amazon Deals!

Black Friday Deals 

Black Friday is here and are you ready?

Here in the USA, the day after Thanksgiving is known as "Black Friday" due to all the special sales and the stores opening at midnight for shoppers.  It seems pretty silly, but there are many wonderful bargains to be found if you are willing to camp out in line and be one of the first shoppers to get into the store.

I hate crowds, so I prefer to shop all year long--monitoring sales for items that may be appropriate as Christmas presents.  I also prefer shopping online to going to stores.  This is just my preferences.  More and more people are getting into the spirit of Black Friday shopping.  For months before this day, you can receive emails and circulars telling you about the wonderful "bargains" and "sales" to be found on this day.  What they don't tell you is that there is a very limited quantity of these items and if you are not the lucky few, you will probably end up spending more money buying similar items that are not on sale.  This is the ploy of all the commercial sellers on this day.

I understand that stores need to make a profit for our economy to improve, but I don't like "bait and switch" tactics very much.  I think it is dishonest.  So, I choose to shop online during the year and by Black Friday I have all my Christmas done.  It is just my way of dealing with this holiday.  You are more than welcome to deal with the stress, crowds, etc.  I simply don't wish to do so.

I hope everyone reading this has a wonderful Thanksgiving and enjoys the food and family time that this holiday stands for. 

Happy Thanksgiving to you all!

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Here's an article I wrote and published on EzineArticles.  I think it is appropriate for this blog and so I am reposting it here.  I hope you enjoy this article and I hope it gives you some good ideas for this Christmas season's gift buying.
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What Are the Hot Gifts for Christmas This Year?
By Shirley K Williams

This year for Christmas you will need to use care in spending your hard earned money on gifts. It is very important that you choose wisely, ending up with the perfect gift without spending a fortune. Christmas is almost upon us, so now is the time to start thinking about what you want to get for your loved ones. Gift giving is always a challenge, but with the economy the way it is today and so many people out of work, this year proves to be a serious challenge.

One thing you can do this year is start early. Waiting until the last minute will be frustrating and cost you more money. There is always the chance that your gift is not quite on target because of the need to get your shopping done in a hurry. There will be many really great sales between now and Christmas and if you are prepared, start early, and have a plan, then your gifts will be really appreciated because of all the thought you put into them.

I've reviewed quite a few sites online this year all touting the "Hot" gifts for 2011. There are some things that remain constant, such as the allure of the gadgets and our love of technology. Some of the really hot items this year will be the same as last year- iPads, iPods, cell phones, game systems, televisions, etc. You will never go wrong buying these items as gifts, but they usually come with a very large purchase price.

Maybe you need to step back a bit and look at other types of gifts. If your gift receiver loves to read and loves books, maybe a Kindle would be a good gift. If your receiver loves photography and video, maybe a hand-held video camera or a digital SLR camera would do. If the receiver drives an older car and gets lost frequently, maybe a GPS system that can be mounted on the dash.

The easiest way to buy for someone is to learn about what that person enjoys or likes to do in their spare moments. Usually, these activities help to relieve stress and keep them centered. Hobbies have long been an outlet for us as life gets chaotic and stressful. Look to these outlets for clues about what to spend your time and money on. I guarantee you will be glad you did.

Then there are the old stand-by's that have always been good for gift buying. Jewelry and personal care gifts are always appreciated and used. Children have always enjoyed games and toys.



This year, you should look to video games like Call of Duty: Black Ops and Halo Reach. These games will be coming out soon and many young boys will be excited to receive their own games. My Pillow Pets are still very popular with the younger children and may become hard to find if you wait too long. Lego board games are popular with school age children as are the original Lego's. Action figures will always be popular with young boys, so look at those as an option.

Mom and Dad may enjoy a new espresso coffee machine to make their own fancy coffee at home and save them time and money. Today you can spend quite a bit on the fancy coffee and may drive a distance to get to a coffee store. This gift will be seen as a thoughtful and useful gift, saving both time and money for the receiver.

Young adults will always enjoy tickets to must-see movies, sporting events, and concerts of favorite bands. This is a gift that will be appreciated and remembered for some time. You will become the best gift giver of the year. Start checking your area now for possible events that you could purchase tickets for.

Tablet computers are all the rage right now and if you can swing such a purchase, I know you will be rewarded with squeals of delight from the receiver. iPads are expensive, but there are several tablet computers on the market now that are just are good and that cost less. Explore these for ideas.

There are many choices out there this year so you will be on the money if you take your time, start early, and really think about the likes and dislikes of the receiver. With just a little thought and some extra time, this Christmas may turn out to be the best ever. Even with money being tight, you stand a chance of being the best gift-giver this year!

Christmas is always stressful, and this year will prove to be just the same. You can get a head start if you plan now and start your shopping early. Be sure to check online for ratings and availability of items that are beginning to fly off the shelves. If you start now, you may even get your shopping done online and never have to fight the crowds.

For more ideas and information about Christmas, please visit my blog. For gift ideas please visit
Christmas is coming too soon. Here's my wish for you to have a very merry Christmas 2011.

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Black Friday Specials are starting to be announced!

Image by Getty Images via @daylifeJust got this in my email and wanted to share it with you here. 

Posted: the Kmart Toy Book

It's official...The holiday season is starting! We got our hands on a copy of the Kmart Toy Book and posted it on our website right away. There are 64 pages of toys, with sale prices available both in-store and online. The sale begins on Sunday, October 30th and continues until Wednesday, November 23rd. The Toy Book is packed with popular toys like Bratz dolls, Transformers action figures, Dora the Explorer, Elmo, and many more.

Some of the highlights of the Kmart Toy Book are:

• $10 off the LeapFrog Leapster Explorer ($59.99)
• $5 off Justin Bieber Singing Doll ($19.99)
• Furreal Friends Cookie, My Playful Pup for $44.99 with coupon
• Free Nerf Ammo 16-pack with purchase of any Nerf Blaster (in-store only)

View the entire Kmart Toy Book here.
We're just getting warmed up. We can't wait to see which ads and sales break next...
Thanks for reading!

Black-Friday.net

I did find this Carol Duvall show episode about decorating your table for the holiday season, so here it is for your enjoyment.


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Make a Pyramid Box

Carol Duvall had an episode during Christmas where her guest, Mary O'Neil made beautiful pyramid boxes to use for Christmas gift.  These are perfect for small, expensive gifts, especially if you use Acetate Velvet and emboss the box.  Mary used double sided sticky interfacing to attach the velvet to her box template and then finished it off with a beautiful organza bow.  Almost too pretty to open!

I found this tutorial for making the pyramid boxes, and I looked but could not find the episode of Carol Duvall anywhere online.  This is  from Things to Make and Do and you can use your imagination to design and decorate your own boxes.

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This is an unusual box that can be used for small or large gifts. There are three downloadable templates to choose from, a large template or two small templates that will fit on a sheet of A4 card, and one small template that fits on a sheet of A5 card. There are two sets of templates for each size, one with the dotted fold lines on (this is great to practice on with a sheet of paper, or if children are making the box), and one with no dotted fold lines (these are harder to use but give a more professional finish). These boxes are easy to make with no gluing required and can be used for a variety of gift ideas including favours at a wedding or for small gifts hanging from a Christmas tree. The larger pyramid measures nearly 8 cm across the base and 4½ cm high, the small pyramid base is 5¼ cm wide and 3 cm high.

You will need:

A4 or A5 card
Scissors
Craft knife or bone folder
Ruler
Hole punch
Ribbon

What to do

1. Download the template onto card, or onto paper and trace the design onto card. Remember there are two sets of templates for each size, one with the dotted fold lines (this is great to practice on with a sheet of paper, or if children are making the box), and one with no dotted fold lines (these are harder to use but give a more professional finish).

Download Large Pyramid Box Template


Download Large Pyramid Top Template without dotted lines


Download single small Pyramid Box A5 Template


Download single small Pyramid Box A5 Template without dotted lines


Download two small Pyramid Boxes A4 Template


Download two small Pyramid Boxes A4 Template without dotted lines

2. Cut out the template.

3. Score the fold lines using either a craft knife or bone folder and ruler, if you are using a craft knife, do not cut through the card. The scoring is just to help the card to fold.

4. Punch a hole where marked near the top of each triangle.

5. Fold over the sides and narrow flaps, pressing with your finger to make crisp folds.

6. Put the small gift into the box and close the top of the pyramid with ribbon. Take a ribbon end and thread it through the punched holes. Start by threading from the front of one hole into the box then through the next hole from inside to outside the box, go into the third hole from the outside and then thread through the last hole from the inside to the outside. Tie the two ribbon ends together with a slip knot and finish with a bow.

7. If you need to make a loop to hang the pyramid up by (Christmas tree decoration) then after threading the ribbon through all four holes and tying the ends together with a slip knot, thread the ribbon back through the box, under the ribbon making a loop, tie another slip knot and finish off with a bow, this can be a little tricky so another pair of hands may come in handy. Or, after tying a bow to close the top, thread a separate piece of ribbon through and tie a knot to make a loop.