Ferrero Rocher

In addition to being incredibly good chocolates, Ferrero Rocher come in very nice plastic cases, particularly at Christmas.

The bells don't seem to be available in Canada anymore but they make wonderful settings for little Christmas vignettes such as this one I got from Lorry S. at our MEE Christmas party a couple years ago.

They also come in a cube that's about 4 1/2" that is perfect for settings for little vignettes such as this Christmas one. I've also done little baking vignettes in them.

I've seen the Ferrero Rocher pyramid used to display collections very effectively.

I was out this afternoon and picked up the FR Christmas tree on sale half price. Here I've removed all the packaging and labels (peel off easily) and have two plastic Christmas tree shapes.

I think if I add some shelves these will make great display units for my Christmas shop. The open side will be accessible to customers in the store and because the unit is clear, customers on the street will be able to see the merchandise as well. At least that's the plan....

Christmas party

Our miniature club Christmas party is tonight. We have a gift exchange and a Christmas ornament draw.

The last time Joanne and I went to Dollarama, she spotted wonderful little house shaped boxes which are great for gifts for miniaturists.

For the Christmas ornament draw, members who are interested bring in three Christmas tree ornaments and enter their name in a draw. Two winners get a tree (supplied by the club) and their share of the ornaments.

When I was looking through my jewellery findings the other day, I found a small bag of plastic bell-shaped earring backs (similar to these 4th down). I've put some of these on the ends of straight pins and painted them (the red with nail polish and the gold with my trusty Pilot pen).

 Here I've put the 'bells' on headpins (above).

I cut the pin about 1/4" above the bell and used needle-nosed pliers to shape the pin into a hook for hanging.

Then I made a tree topper. Started by coiling some brass wire tightly around the end of this pen:

 Pulled on it to put some space between each coil:

 Folded about 3/8" up at a right angle to the coils:

 These self-adhesive dimensional stars are from Michael's. They also come in silver.

 I attached one to the upright piece

 then glued another to the back. (While they're self-adhesive, the depth of the brass wire won't allow the adhesive to stick.)

The finished topper.