Christmas Camp: How To Make A Popcorn and Cranberry Garland

A refresher course in Garland stringing (see yesterday’s slowed-down/more instructive video on how to make a popcorn/cranberry garland. What we like about this one: it gets the point across in a very short period of time and we all know how stressed for time we all are during the holidays.
Set the Holiday mood, check out the Christmas One More Time XV playlist at Spotify…just type http://sptfy.com/12dC into your browser and you’ve got music to get you through all your projects.
 
Fine Print: Video Embed courtesy of YouTube. It has not been altered in any way. We thank them for sharing. All rights belong to the respective rights holders and we thank them for making their videos available for distribution and sharing. Christmas Camp,  a guide to the essential skills of Christmas, is a project of DonaldPierce.com….. Copyright (c) Donald Pierce, all rights reserved. Enjoy the holidays.

The Nightshift: 23 December 2017

Press Clippings:
Embed from Getty Images
Good morning, it’s Saturday, 23 December 2017 and this is the morning edition of The Nightshift.
North Korea is getting a new round of sanctions for Christmas. The renegade country–which will not stop raising tensions in the Far East–will now have another round of restrictions to deal with, including limits on fuel, ships, foreign currency, and workers. Whether the latest round of sanctions will have much of an effect is unknown. So far, nothing has slowed North Korea’s progress in missile development and nuclear weapons.
As predicted, Bitcoin, the digital currency lots of people invest in and trade but few people understand, suffered a horrific 30% drop in value on Friday, the 22nd. Is Bitcoin going to go up again next week when trading opens, or continue its downward spiral.
Veteran sportscaster Dick Enberg has died at age 82.Enberg was the voice behind many of your favorite sports events over the last five decades. Dick Enberg earned a Ph.D in Health Science (Indiana University) and was known for his trademark  “Oh my!” call when commenting on a terrific play on the field or court. His smooth and knowledgeable delivery made him one of the consummate pros of play-by-play commentary. He will be missed.
Today is National Pfeffernusse  Day–that’s a special type of  Dutch sugar cookie that’s baked and served this time of year. We’ve said it before and we’ll say it again: notice how the closer we get to Christmas, the more the National Days feature holiday type foods? Have one on me.
Please check out the CNN “text news” site, which is much faster than their full multi-media site. It’s below at the end of the links.
Stay safe, stay dry, and help one other person today.
The International Headlines are all at your fingertips, below.
The Times (London
Financial Times (UK)
The Irish Times (Dublin, Ireland)
The Wall Street Journal (European edition)
Washington Post (Washington, D.C.)
New York Times (New York)
The Los Angeles Times (Los Angeles)
Daily News Egypt (Cairo)
South China Morning Post (Hong Kong)
The Moscow Times (Moscow)
Le Figaro (Paris)
Bloomberg.com (New York)
The Jerusalem Post (Jerusalem)
The Japanese Times (Tokyo)
Sputnik (Moscow)
The Buenas Aires Herald (Buenas Aires)
The Sidney Morning Herald (Sidney)
Deadline Hollywood (Hollywood)
FiveThirtyEight (New York City)
Politico (Washington, DC)
Lawfareblog (Washington, DC)
Wired (San Francisco, CA)
The Weather Channel
CNN News Text Site
 
The Fine Print: Image embed courtesy of our friends at Getty Images, who have the photographic history of the 20th and 21st century on file. This photo has not been altered in any way. We thank them for sharing. The Nightshift is a production of Perception Engineering and The Media Bunker. This post is number 1515  for this site. The Nightshift is a continually evolving experiment in news communications. It’s rapid iteration. Thanks for reading. Now–catch up on the world.

Christmas Camp: How to Make Salt Dough Christmas Tree ornaments

Paying Attention:
The beauty of having a Christmas tree and decorating it is the continuing story it tells about your life and that of your family. If you want to go the designer route, you can do a tree all in a single color, using only high end, color-matched and purchased ornaments. Or you can make everything to put on the tree yourself, including all the ornaments. Most of us have trees that combine a little of both–store bought or vacation purchased ornaments along with home made ornaments. With young children one of the great things to do is to make your own ornaments. It’s not hard–just required a little prep, a good recipe (salt dough cookies) and some cookie cutters. A couple of hours on a snowy (or rainy) December afternoon and you’ll have a tree full of ornaments and a scrapbook full of memories, which is the superb byproduct of making your own holiday decorations. To get you moving, here’s a hyper-energetic video on the art of making your own ornaments, delivered by a hyper-energetic video hostess with a very interesting accent. She moves pretty fast, but it’s all good information.
A few other tips for making the ornaments, based on personal experience. One is not to limit yourself to just using cookie cutters to make the shapes. Some of the best ornaments are those that are modeled/shaped after a big event of the year–the new dog, a bicycle, a car, family trip, etc. Also, punching a hole in the ornament to provide a place to thread the string used for hanging it is a very good idea, but you can also embed an ornament hook into the dough and “bake it” into place. And, one last pointer–if you’re creating ornaments (dogs, houses, etc.) you’ll need a complete range of paints. That’s it…like most things, the more you do it, the better you get.
Add another key skill to this holiday season. And Happy Holidays.
Set the Holiday mood, check out the Christmas One More Time XV playlist at Spotify…just type http://sptfy.com/12dC into your browser and you’ve got music to get you through all your projects.
 
Fine Print: Video Embed courtesy of YouTube. It has not been altered in any way. We thank them for sharing. All rights belong to the respective rights holders and we thank them for making their videos available for distribution and sharing. Christmas Camp,  a guide to the essential skills of Christmas, is a project of DonaldPierce.com….. Copyright (c) Donald Pierce, all rights reserved. Enjoy the holidays.
 
 

How to Make a Popcorn/Cranberry Garland

 
In past decades–before Christmas decorations could be picked up at everything from a hardware store to Target to an online website–families made their own decorations, for the house, the landscaping, and the tree. One of the most popular decorations–typically used on a tree–was a garland made of popcorn, or popcorn and another element, perhaps a berry of some kind. This video brings back the old skills and shows how to make a popcorn and cranberry garland. It’s a project that depends on a little bit of prep and active involvement, but it’s a great way to get the family together to enjoy the holiday and build not just decorations but some memories. Time to learn (or re-learn) an old-fashioned holiday skill.
Set the Holiday mood, check out the Christmas One More Time XV playlist at Spotify…just type http://sptfy.com/12dC into your browser and you’ve got music to get you through all your projects.
 
Fine Print: Video Embed courtesy of YouTube. It has not been altered in any way. We thank them for sharing. All rights belong to the respective rights holders and we thank them for making their videos available for distribution and sharing. Christmas Camp,  a guide to the essential skills of Christmas, is a project of DonaldPierce.com….. Copyright (c) Donald Pierce, all rights reserved. Enjoy the holidays.
 
 

Christmas Camp: How to Create A Perfect Bow

The Bow is the package topper. Good bows are a guidepost to good gift, and even if it only has a very short shelf life–one package–it’s the time it takes to create a good bow is time very well spent. Our presenter is young, enthusiast, and knowledgeable (perhaps not as traditional in dress as we prefer for Christmas, but the packing of most interest is the one with the bow). Good video, with tips on technique and supplies.
Set the Holiday mood, check out the Christmas One More Time XV playlist at Spotify…just type http://sptfy.com/12dC into your browser and you’ve got music to get you through all your projects.
 
Fine Print: Video Embed courtesy of YouTube. It has not been altered in any way. We thank them for sharing. All rights belong to the respective rights holders and we thank them for making their videos available for distribution and sharing. Christmas Camp,  a guide to the essential skills of Christmas, is a project of DonaldPierce.com….. Copyright (c) Donald Pierce, all rights reserved. Enjoy the holidays.

Christmas Camp: How to Wrap a Christmas Package

Wrapping a package is not hard once you get the technique. Here’s a nice, short video on the basic package wrapping technique that you need to know for the holidays and other special occasions. The same video hostess is also featured in another video on the making the perfect bow.
Set the Holiday mood, check out the Christmas One More Time XV playlist at Spotify…just type http://sptfy.com/12dC into your browser and you’ve got music to get you through all your projects.
 
Fine Print: Video Embed courtesy of YouTube. It has not been altered in any way. We thank them for sharing. All rights belong to the respective rights holders and we thank them for making their videos available for distribution and sharing. Christmas Camp,  a guide to the essential skills of Christmas, is a project of DonaldPierce.com….. Copyright (c) Donald Pierce, all rights reserved. Enjoy the holidays.

The Nightshift: 22 December 2017

Press Clippings:
Embed from Getty Images
Good Morning, it’s Friday, 22 December 2017, and this is the Morning Edition of The Nightshift, the World’s News Daily.
The UN General Assembly has condemned the U.S. declaration recognizing Jerusalem as the capital of Israel. U.S. ambassador to the UN Nikki Haley has said that the U.S. is “taking names” of those who voted against it.
Obamacare enrollment is still growing, despite the shorter enrollment period this year. Maybe, just maybe, this is a program that many millions of Americans like and want.
Dick Enberg, one of America’s finest and most prolific sportscasters, has died at age 82.
Today is National Date Nut Bread Day. We’ve said it before and we’ll say it again: notice how the closer we get to Christmas, the more the National Days feature holiday type foods?
Please check out the CNN “text news” site, which is much faster than their full multi-media site. It’s below at the end of the links.
Stay safe, stay dry, and help one other person today.
The International Headlines are all at your fingertips, below.
The Times (London
Financial Times (UK)
The Irish Times (Dublin, Ireland)
The Wall Street Journal (European edition)
Washington Post (Washington, D.C.)
New York Times (New York)
The Los Angeles Times (Los Angeles)
Daily News Egypt (Cairo)
South China Morning Post (Hong Kong)
The Moscow Times (Moscow)
Le Figaro (Paris)
Bloomberg.com (New York)
The Jerusalem Post (Jerusalem)
The Japanese Times (Tokyo)
Sputnik (Moscow)
The Buenas Aires Herald (Buenas Aires)
The Sidney Morning Herald (Sidney)
Deadline Hollywood (Hollywood)
FiveThirtyEight (New York City)
Politico (Washington, DC)
Lawfareblog (Washington, DC)
Wired (San Francisco, CA)
The Weather Channel
CNN News Text Site
 
The Fine Print: Image embed courtesy of our friends at Getty Images, who have the photographic history of the 20th and 21st century on file. This photo has not been altered in any way. We thank them for sharing. The Nightshift is a production of Perception Engineering and The Media Bunker. This post is number 1506  for this site. The Nightshift is a continually evolving experiment in news communications. It’s rapid iteration. Thanks for reading. Now–catch up on the world.