Spice up your Home for the Holiday Season

There’s no place like home - a familiar sentiment that rings especially true during the holidays. You hit replay on your favorite Christmas song, the effects of yesterday’s Christmas cookie debacles litter the kitchen floor in the form of green and red sprinkles misplaced by excited little fingers, and you’ve begun to compile this years most treasured photos for the annual Christmas card. Uncover your next seasonal must on our holiday decorating do’s list and enjoy some creative decorating fun for you and your family this holiday season!

Magical Christmas Lanterns

Create a glowing Christmas scene to be enjoyed by your family for holiday seasons to come, courtesy of Adventures In a Box.

(Image Credit: http://adventure-in-a-box.com/magical-christmas-lanterns/ )

What You’ll Need:

-Mason jars of varying sizes

-Rust Oleum Brilliant Blue spray paint

-Paint marker in black

1. Thoroughly wash jars to clean away residue for optimal paint adherence.
2. Spray paint the outside of jars blue; aim for a thin, even layer of paint with some translucency. Begin with one layer of paint and once dried, test paint translucency by lighting a small candle in the jar. We think a silver glitter spray paint would make a great addition to the blue! Apply sparingly over blue spray paint, making sure to keep a small amount of transparency for the candle’s glow.
3. Draw your own winter wonderland scene, or print a copy of Adventures In a Box’s downloadable scenery and insert the scene of your choice into jar. Trace scene onto the jar with black paint marker, or a black acrylic paint.
4. Fill in scenery with black paint marker and allow to dry. Place a small candle into jar and light.

Place lanterns on a fireplace mantle or book shelf, away from little hands and pets. Enjoy the ambiance of your new holiday décor!

DIY Holiday Card Frame Display

Make a unique place to hang all of those special holiday cards this season.  Create a wonderfully simple display idea courtesy of domesticallyblissful.com that transforms into a happy holiday wall decoration!

(Image credit: http://www.popsugar.com/home/photo-gallery/36104134/image/36104714/Create-Christmas-card-display-from-picture-frame-just-few)

What You’ll Need:

-One large wooden picture frame of any style or color

-Twine, lace, or chicken wire of your choosing

-Hot glue gun and glue sticks

-Small clothespins for hanging cards

-Colorful ornaments, buttons, ribbons etc. of your preference, for added holiday decoration

1. Turn wooden picture frame over to it’s back and measure out the distance you prefer between each piece of twine, lace, or wire. Cut twine in measured pieces and place evenly on the back of your frame, aligning your spacing before gluing into place.
2. Working from top to bottom on the left side of the back of your frame, add dabs of hot glue to the frame, pressing the end of your twine down to secure it into the glue. Continue adding hot glue dabs for each line of twine down the left side of your frame, evenly spaced.
3. Continue hot gluing your twine by moving to the right side of the back of your frame, securing the loose end of each twine piece with hot glue, evenly spaced. Allow hot glue to dry.
4. Add any finishing decorative touches to your frame art by gluing small bulbs, snowflakes, bows etc. to the frame, or individual twine pieces - be creative and let your own personality show through!

Clothespin your loved ones’ holiday cards and favorite photos onto the twine ropes, and place your frame display in a favorite room on the wall to be enjoyed for holiday seasons to come!

Angelic Prints

A simple project for you and your kids, this project is a keepsake to look back on. This DIY brilliance is exceptionally easy to create, and fun for little hands and feet!

(Image Credit: http://www.pinteresttoldmeto.blogspot.com/2013/12/on-2nd-day-of-christmas-gifts-for-my.html)

What You’ll Need:

-White canvas of your size and shape preference

-Biocolor paints, acrylic or oil paints in desired colors

-Paint brushes

1. Paint canvas desired background color and allow to dry.
2. Dip child’s foot into desired paint color and press onto canvas to form the angel’s body.
3. Dip hands into paint and press on either side of foot print to form wings.
4. Paint angel’s head and halo, and add decorations as desired.

Place on a wall in a favorite room once dry for added holiday cheer this season!

Visit our Quality Wholesale Facebook page, Twitter, or Pinterest account for more unique crafting ideas the whole family can enjoy. From our Quality Wholesale family to yours, happy holidays!

Fun Family Games for the Holidays!

It’s December, and we all know what that means… it’s the holiday season!

It’s the time of year to spend with family and friends. There are holiday parties at work, school, and home. Even the dog has a big bone hidden in their stocking. Quality Wholesale is here with some fun family game ideas that will make your holiday party go off without a hitch.

The White Elephant game, is a fun game for kids and adults alike. This timeless game is a must at your holiday party, but there are so many different twists and turns you can include in this game.

 

The most basic way to play is to have each guest attending bring a gift, anywhere from a Dollar Store favor or gas station candy to a gift card to your favorite restaurant. Each person brings a present, and each person receives a present.

A fun way to make this more exciting, is to wrap each gift in layers of wrapping paper. Some gifts can be wrapped in 3 layers, others in 10. Everyone sits in a circle and receives a present. Once the first layer of the gift is unwrapped it is passed clockwise. Whoever unwraps the gift keeps it!

 

 

Another fun twist on the White Elephant game is to put prompts under each layer- for example, “pass to the person closest to the door” or “hand it over to the tallest person in the room.” This is a fun way to get everyone at the party involved.

 

There is always an inexpensive and effective way to throw your holiday party while getting everyone involved and having fun. For more ideas visit our Season Crafts board on Pinterest, and have a happy holiday season!

DIY: Mother's Day Gift Ideas

Think beyond flowers and trips to Sears for yet another household appliance. As any mother would gladly tell you, Mother’s Day is all about the thought - so here are a few easy, fun, unique projects to choose from when considering how to make mother’s day extra special. 

1. Moms are definitely in the category of people who need to have a handle on scheduling. So, consider this handmade, rebanded watch - with this guide we found, there’s not much of a limit to what you can use to keep mom on track! (Photo courtesy diyrefashion.com)

2. Here’s a new one for this blogger; create an original jewelry holder by glueing two antique plates onto either end of an antique candlestick. Elegant and simple! (Photo from Calico Skies.)

3. Mother’s Day is all about honoring the woman who took you from square one to where you are today. With that being said, here’s a great photo-displaying  wall hanging idea. Best part? This one can be updated with new memories year after year! (Thanks to goodwillionaire for the photo.)

4. Create a pillow with a outdated sweater. For a really cool touch - choose one of your own that mom has seen you wear in the past. Making the old new again! (Idea from thewonderforest.com)

5. With the much-awaited arrival of spring, for the mom with the green thumb, consider Tin can planters. This simple concept involves - yep - tin cans of any size coupled with wrapping paper, or anything else you can imagine! (Kudos to apartmenttherapy.com for the thought)

6. CAKES. I mean, it’s cake - never a bad call. It was hard to select from the plethora of amazing-looking spring cakes on the vast landscape of the internet, so here’s a gallery of some particularly lovely ones. (Courtesy of delish.com)

7. No one can ever have too many bags, but instead of picking one out at the store, whip together a design on a simple canvas tote bag. No shortage of ideas here! (Taken from Martha Stewart Living)

8. Moms work hard, and maybe yours likes unwinding with a cup of tea. This easy project demonstrates how to create original Homemade teas with the very same ingredients found in the store-bought varieties. Makes for a pretty thoughtful gift. (Gleaned from mystrebergarten.blogspot.com) 

9. Few things are as jammed with memories as motherhood. Show mom how much she means to you with this helpful guide  and design your own photo album or scrapbook to be filled with selected mementos. Truly an example of a personalized Mother’s Day gem. (Another idea taken from Martha Stewart Living)

10. And finally, this writer’s favorite Mother’s Day DIY find: an Embroidery hoop clock. Not much more to say, except it’s just really, really cool. (brit.co provided this idea)

So, there you have it - a simple list of ideas for Mother’s Day. We’d like to know - are you considering anything on our list? Have an idea of your own to share. Leave us a message - and happy day to all the moms out there!