Recycle holiday cards as labels for presents.
With a pencil, kids can draw (or stencil) the recipient's initial onto a card, and cut it out. Punch a hole in the letter, and tie to gift with yarn or ribbon.
Who says Christmas trees have to be fir? Inspired by the bonsai collection at the Arnold Arboretum in his native Boston, Martha Stewart Living's Kevin Sharkey created this enchanting roost using an artificial bonsai.
Spray-painted gold and accented with glitter, it rises out of a traditional pot topped with moss and snow. Japanese-lantern ornaments provide a pleasing change of scale, but the crowning glories of this tree are the birds -- coated in glitter and grouped in flocks of like colors.
No need to go to excess this holiday season. Small glints and gleams make the greatest impression. Use the most precious metal, real and faux, to highlight and amplify natural beauty and your celebrations are sure to be filled with golden moments.
Horn of Plenty
Flocking Together
In Full Feather
Glimmer and Shine
This Saint Patrick's Day, enjoy a cocktail version of a root beer float: vanilla ice cream topped with Irish stout. With the ice cream sweetening the rich beer, the float is as much a dessert as it is a drink. Scoop ice cream into a pint glass, and pour in enough stout to fill it. One pint of ice cream and one 12-ounce bottle of beer will yield 2 servings.
Fold a piece of tissue paper in half three times, forming eight layers. Using a heart-shaped craft punch, cut out hearts. Cover the surface of an ironing board with paper towels; place a sheet of waxed paper on top. Arrange hearts on waxed paper, and cover with another sheet of waxed paper. Cover with more paper towels. Run an iron, set to medium heat, lightly over the layers to set.
Serve a meal in miniature: a sunny-side-up quail egg atop a piece of cocktail bread.
(Quail eggs are available at specialty-food stores, including some Whole Foods markets, and through LocalHarvest.)
