Super Easy Embroidery Thread Twist Bracelets

These bracelets are a great kids' craft. Just a little twisting of embroidery thread and a bracelet is made. It can be as plain or as colorful as desired simply by changing the colors of the thread being twisted.

Eucalyptus Essential Oil

Eucalyptus is familiar to many people as the green leaves that often end up as part of Christmas holiday décor. Eucalyptus itself tree, and the oil is derived from the leaves. The oil both cleansing and disinfectant.

Eucalyptus is an energizing oil and is a good one to use if you’ve been feeling a bit lethargic lately. A word of caution, eucalyptus oil is flammable. Also some people have been known to have an allergy to eucalyptus oil, so test it in small doses at first to be sure it does not give you a rash (this safety precaution should go for any essential oil).

Uses for Eucalyptus Oil:

Quick and Easy Gift Tags

Just a little bit of stamping and some glue and you're good to go. These little gift tags are cute name holders when you're in a pinch for time.

Don't Worry, the World Doesn't End Tomorrow. It's Just the Beginning of a New Age

People always seem to love a good doomsday prediction and the Mayan calender ending tomorrow is no exception. There's a lot of talk about it being the end of the world, but the honest truth is that the Mayans NEVER said the world was ending in 2012. It's merely their calender that stops tomorrow.

In forth grade I was totally immersed in Mayan history and mythology (ok, not exactly the most charming reading material for a 10 year old, but I admit to having always been a little weird). The Mayans believed that a cycle of time lasted for 26,000 years, and that 26,000 year cycle was broken down into smaller ages of roughly 5,000 years each. Tomorrow is merely the end of one of those ages that began just over 5,000 years ago. And since the ancient Mayans weren't around to record the next 5,000 year cycle, their calender "ends" tomorrow in a sense. What the solstice truly brings tomorrow is not an end, but a beginning, a beginning of the next age.

Decorating with Christmas Cards

There are so many gorgeous Christmas cards that go through the mail these days, each one is in itself a work of art. They're far too beautiful to just set in a pile somewhere. Instead use them as part of your actual holiday decor to display your beautiful cards and make the house just a bit more Christmas-y.

One of the easiest ways to decorate with Christmas cards to run them around a doorway or windowsill. Just affix a little bit of masking tape the back of each one and tape it to the frame of the window or the door. Cards also look good lining a fireplace mantle. Basically you create a "garland" of Christmas cards.

If you're one of those people who gets a lot of Christmas cards every year, then you'll be able to hang them as they come in and watch your "garland" get bigger as the season goes on. If you only tend to get a few every year, build a collection by saving your favorites each season. (I'm particularly partial to sparkly cards, so they always end up my favorites pile after Christmas). Soon you'll have more than enough to create a lovely Christmas card "garland" that you can enjoy year after year.

And when the holidays are over, just store the cards in a shoebox until it's time to pull them out for the next season!

Open Door Santa Sleigh Card from Used Christmas Cards

This card is a good way to recycle used Christmas cards from a previous year. You'll be needing one with a Santa and sleigh, and one with a door. The slight pop up part of this card is on the front, which leaves the interior blank for writing.

It Still Takes People to Pull the Trigger

After the senseless shootings at Newtown, it's easy to shout "gun control, gun control" and hope that will be the cure-all to the problem, but the bottom line is still that guns don't kill people by themselves - it takes people to pull the trigger. When someone has a mind for destruction, they will find a way to bring it about, whether it is through guns as this man used, or through homemade explosives, or some other method. Taking away the guns isn't going to change anything; the only thing it will change is the method in which people are killed. The problem isn't the guns, the problem is people.

Newtown, CT

Thoughts and prayers go out to all those affected by today's senseless shooting.

The History of the Christmas Tree

Every Christmas millions of people go out to the tree lot, spend hours searching for that perfect tree, cut it down and bring it home to light the house during the dark season of winter (or in the case of the ever present artificial tree today: pull out the box, put the tree together, and plug in the lights.). It's a tradition that's long been associated with the Christmas holiday, but the origins of the Christmas tree actually go back even further than the holiday itself.

In ancient times, long before Christianity, people believed that trees which stayed green all year had special meaning, therefore evergreens held a particular place of honor (this belief was also associated with holly and mistletoe, hence their later association with the Christmas holiday as well.) Evergreen, mistletoe and holly were revered as symbols of eternal life, due to the fact that they did not go dormant in the winter like so many others. The people often brought boughs of evergreen into their homes for luck and to ensure that the sun would return after the winter to make everything green again. In particular, the evergreen boughs were used during the winter solstice celebrations (in a way, the forebearer of Christmas).

How to Make a Christmas Tree Garland out of Scrapbooking Paper

I have a tendency to use scrapbooking paper for pretty much anything but scrapbooking. In particular, I love making Christmas decorations out of it. The Christmas Tree I have in my bedroom is an old artificial one that someone was getting rid of, so I took it. It's kind of scrappy (It makes Charlie's Brown's tree look good!) so it needs plenty of color to jazz it up. This scrapbooking paper garland fits the bill. It's made using the same technique as a gum wrapper chain, so if you've ever made one of those, this garland should be a cinch. But if not it's pretty easy to get the hang of.

Hand Sanitizer Will Make You Sicker in the Long Run

Hand sanitizer is one of the best ways to get sick. If you seek to be unhealthy, then by all means, purchase a bottle of hand sanitizer. I know that's contrary to what the sanitizer companies will tell you, but considering they're in business to sell their product, they're not really going to tell you anything bad about it. The truth is, hand sanitizer is actually MORE likely to make you sick. Sure it may prevent against the seasonal cold for the moment, but it makes you more likely to get sick later on down the road, with something far more serious than a simple cold.

The same is true of antibacterial soaps. Hand sanitizers and antibacterial soaps are exactly that: Antibacterial. Using them kills not only harmful bacteria, but beneficial bacterias as well. This can weaken your immune system and leave your body open to more sickness and infection later on. It is also responsible for creating stronger strains of medicine-resistant bacteria.

How to Make a Christmas Riddle Card

For years I've been making up clue games for my siblings and relatives (that usually result in headaches for them as they try for hours to solve the riddles and get to the next clue), so I thought it'd be fun to extend a bit of that cipher-making into some Christmas cards. It's just kind of a fun way to make your family and friends think for a moment when they open their Christmas cards. However, the riddle on this card is pretty straight forward and easy enough that there shouldn't be any headaches involved for the recipients. Though if you do want to make it a bit more difficult for them, you can leave out the underscore completely so it takes just a bit longer to figure out what letter is missing.