Klowns in my Koffee

Two days of peace and quiet have resulted in the restoration of order to what was a cluttered post-holiday household. It is again possible to walk through most rooms without resorting to performing either the limbo or Twister-type motions to move in a straight line. If it didn't move quickly enough, I vacuumed it. Apologies to sleeping cats.

My countertops are where unfinished projects go to die. Strike that -- that was the old me. Now projects are often completed. And the leftover pieces remain as clutter on the countertops. Hey, it's an improvement. Continual improvement - that's the goal.

Among this dying clutter on my countertop were several unfinished candycane reindeer left when my kids got bored after the first couple were glued.

For those hyper-organized people out there who want to get a jump on next year's holiday crafts, this is how to make a candycane reindeer:

1. Materials:

Candycanes

Little googly eyes

Small pompoms (nose-sized), red if you want to make Rudolph

Brown chenille stems (These were called pipe cleaners when I was a kid. Now, apparently there are either no pipes or a limited need to clean them.)

White glue, slick or glitter paint, or any adhesive that will bond light materials

Use the adhesive to affix two googly eyes about one inch from the bottom of the short end of the candycane.

Tweezers or little fingers are helpful.

3. Glue nose.

Add a bit of adhesive to one side of a pompom and attach below the eyes almost at the end of the candycane.

It's interesting to experiment with feature placement to obtain different expressions from your reindeer.

Having already made a small herd of "normal" reindeer, I found some other reindeer from the bad side of the pole.

Charles Manson Reindeer