4th of July Treat Bags

This was a really fun project, but I always have to sorta change it to make it my own!

I got the idea for making theses cute little Treat Bags from Jessica Spragues Blog Hop last week, it's #13 of you were intersted.

To fill the treat bags I made a couple batches of Pretzel Nibbler Mix. Really yummy when you don't burn it...some of it burned and I just picked out the burned pieces, the rest taste alright.

These sticks that I used to put the recipe of the Pretzel Nibblers on are called Story Sticks, I just used Wooden Grilling Skewers. The normal use for a Story Stick, is like when you are sitting in a group, the person holding the Story Stick starts telling a story, then passes the stick on to the next person, to add to the story and so on. So you are only allowed to speak and add to the story when you are holding the Story Stick.

If you click on the phots they will enlarge and you can see the recipe if you'd like to make them.

CAUTION!!! If you plan to make this recipe, I suggest, if you have a newer microwave that has the Power settings 10 - 1, you might adjust the setting...part of my first batch burned on 10 so I set it on 7 for the first cook, 7 for the second cook and 5 for the third cook...when I make it again I may just use 6-6-6 and see how that works.

I have it all finished now and thought they turned out pretty cute! I printed out a tag to stick on the brown paper bag, cut a band from cloth to put around the folded over opening of the bag & stapeled the band to hold it together, then just slipped it on the bag to keep it closed, made the story stick, using 2 stars back to back with the recipe on it, skewer inbetween the stars, and tied cloth bows on the stick to adorn.

This was a fun and easy project...bags ready to go to the campout out this weekend!!! I'm sure this idea can be used for many different kind of Treat or Gift Bags.

4th of July Wreath

This is the 4th of July Wreath that I made and I will be teaching a class on it at our RV Rally this summer. I have made up 30 packets and hope they all sell.

Supply List: 1-12" Green Wire Wreath, 1 package 20 or 35 clear lights (Christmas Tree Lights), 16-18" pieces of Red Punchinello Ribbon, 16-18" pieces of White Punchinello Ribbon, 10-18" pieces of Blue Punchinello Ribbon, 22 pipe cleaners, & 3-5 stars cut out of craft foam. (Punchinello Ribbon may also be called Honeycomb Ribbon, and I bought it on line at theribbonsource.com) I found that this type of ribbon is hard to find when you want to make something with it...it may be more popular at Christmas time.

Take 2 pieces of the same color ribbon & weave pipe cleaner in & out of every other hole, longways, starting at one end, going to the opposite end.

Gather ribbon, bunching up to cover just the front side of the wreath frame.

Use the ends of the pipe cleaners to tie the ribbon to the frame on the back side. Repeat colors, 2 red, 2 white, etc for 3/4 of the wreath, repeat with the 10 pieces of blue ribbon for 1/4 part of the wreath.

Adorn with stars on blue ribbon by hot glueing them on.

Add lights if you desire, scattering around by poking between the ribbon from the back side of wreath, securing in place with a pipe cleaners that you already tied on with ribbon. (Start with cord hanging down from the bottom of the wreath, going around)