I found this sitting on my desk this morning.

With a note attached:

And they just told me they get out of school early tomorrow…

This is the 12 days of Christmas, right? This is when all of the holiday hubbub is suppossed to take place anyway. Yet, I know that, like me, you’re tired of it all, and ready to move on. And, I will — after I’ve finished with the Altoids Tin Challenges.

It was getting down to the wire — it was the day before Christmas Eve… and all through the house, all the creatures were stirring — including my 16-year old who decided it was time to start and finish his Altoids.

As I brainstormed with him, I realized then, what a great Christmas challenge this was. How trying to figure out what will fit into an Altoids Tin forces you to limit and narrow your focus to what really matters. Gifts that no gift card, cash or toy store can compare with. Gifts that say, “I KNOW you.”

Finally, he came up with this:  ”He likes to build things.” So, he creatively cut out shapes from a Quaker’s Oat’s cereal box…

made the “heart” go right where the heart fits

and put the whole thing together with some brads.

The parts of a mini-gingerbread house fit neatly into an Altoids Tin –

if you’re a bit creative. I’m not quite sure if the parts and pieces inside are enough to make a house — maybe more like a shack — or maybe even a sidewalk leading to a much bigger Gingerbread house. Who knows that will become of these parts.

He broke apart a single graham cracker, and loaded the inside with candies — as much as the tin would hold.

For the royal icing, we filled a small stamp envelope with powdered sugar (A ziplock baggie was too big) and put it inside the top of the tin.

Here’s the gallery so far:

This Monopoly Altoids Christmas gift is over the top — and there were several moments when I questioned the purpose of the whole entire project at this point.

But to by honest,  there really is nothing for me to gripe about. The son who came up with this one, I thought, was too young to handle this project. But he proved me wrong. Except for the cutting I did for him — he did all the creative work himself. He was the one who thought of finding an image of a Monopoly game board and printing it… of finding images of the deed cards and printing it so that Mom could cut them out.

He was the one who thought of using a combination of staples and magnets as game pieces… (I think he broke the stapler trying to get out all of the pieces — because they had to be bent staples.) He insists on using paper money — and I tried my best to convince him to use Pennies — and change the prices accordingly to be a true miniature game, with boardwalk selling at 3 cents. No deal.

Now, all he needs is a roll of magnet “tape” to finish the game, and we’re good to go.

Altoids Christmas Gift Gallery so far:

We will not say a word about the “backwards R,” now will we?

This gift is a “copy” of an entire set of Altoids Tin complete office supply set, that also included a couple of tin cans wrapped in cork. My little guy used cork to cover the top of an Altoids tin (cut by mom) and glued with spray adhesive.

Rubberbands were placed inside, and a big fat “R” was stenciled on to put on dad’s desk.

Here’s the collection so far:

Pipe cleaners, buttons, wine corks and felt are stuffed inside this Altoids tin….

to make this little Altoids elf.

The Great Altoids Tin Challenge: Here are 1 and 2

On a whim, we have created a new “think inside the box” way to exchange gifts this year, and it turns out that we like this so much that it will probably end up being a family tradition that will last long after the boys have cleaved to their new wives and set up families of their own. This year, it is called the Altoids Tin Challenge. In successive years — we may choose other containers for the challenge.

Altoids Tin — currently in progress of having its paint removed with acetone.

Here are the rules:

• Each person receives 5 Altoids Mint Tins. (Six people in the family.)
• You may eat your own mints.
• Create a gift for each one of the family members that fits inside the tin.
• You may decorate the tin any way you wish.

Because I’m Chief Elf, I get the inside scoop on what everyone is creating — as I offer assistance.

The origami maker has already decide we each get our own crane that will fit perfectly in the tin.

The origami maker is getting this little paint kit, containing at least all the primary colors, from his brother….

Shhhhh. Don’t tell!

He has been making paper cranes for several weeks now

– part of a current, perpetual, unending origami obsession he now holds.

One day we checked out 43 origami books from the library — but he prefers to learn how to fold directly from You Tube videos.

There is a guy — a teacher — who is his favorite.

His high school brother, who was studying Hiroshima, taught him how to make a paper crane.

Then, his obsession became “how small” can I make a crane? Amazing to watch him fold such tiny folds.

During the party, a friend told him the story of a 1,000 paper cranes.

The next morning, he told me he was not interested in making 1,000 paper cranes. “I could never do that.” I wondered, thinking back on all of the strips of paper I had picked up from snips he had made with scissors to turn paper into squares, if he already had. Then he asked me if I thought it was true, that your wish could come true?

I said, “Sure, why not?”

Then, he said, “Well, I don’t think that’s true at all.” Then, he came back later and said, “If that’s true, than you need to be very careful about your wish. That’s why I don’t want to make 1,000 paper cranes.”

This wreath is now

making its appearance on my front door — a vintage sheet music wreath. This wreath is so easy to make — I’ll make one for you if you bring me Cookies.

This is a HUGE wreath –

that is a live human being hiding behind that wreath. Yes, he’s Elf-sized… but the wreath completely covers him. To make a smaller wreath, use smaller music.

I used a twig wreath base for this sheet music wreath, but any circle form will do.

There are 23 pages of sheet music (photocopies work fine) around the circle, and four pages to make the center.

Feel free to “coffee” stain your sheet music, spray paint the edges silver — whatever you want.

Fold each page of sheet music into cones. Remember all those paper folding crafts you did in elementary school. This is where you get to use those skills.

Glue each cone to the wreath base, being careful not to smash the cone. I didn’t even use a glue gun on this — simple Elmer’s glue worked fine.

When you have a complete circle of cones glues, you will notice that you have quite a mess in the middle.

To fix that, fold sheet music pages into accordion fans and connect them into a circle with glue.

Then glue your “circle” onto the center of the wreath.

So easy! Something the kids or grandkids can help you make.

It just might make your advent calendar activity list! More on our list later this week…. but rest-assured, the boys did not let me down. One activity called for “tackling one brother… and HAVING FUN!”

Look closely.

This is an Indian Corn Husk Wreath. The corn husk are precisely what gives this wreath its flair. The corn husks are all wildly spread out around the symmetrical circle that the corn cobs create. If you attempt to make this wreath, don’t overlook the vital importance of the husks — and be sure to open them up and spread them out.

Let me be honest right now. I’m wondering if you are laughing at this wreath…or perhspa, you are disgusted, and wondering… what has gotten into her… that she would think that looks amazing…I think it looks amazing… but maybe it’s one of those things like when you hold your newborn seconds after birth, and you are convinced that this is the most beautiful thing in the world… because it is.

Yes, the inspiration for this wreath came from none other than Pinterest. I could not wait to make this. Pinterest has freed me from spending time and money searching for a fabulous wreath to adorn my door. It was tough to find a wreath that was not too frilly, and not too expensive. Pinterest has freed me from department store wreath shopping.

To make this wreath, use miniature Indian Corn. The Corn is heavy, and you will need a very firm wreath base to start with. We started with a simple cardboard base (my youngest proudly traced the circle and cut it from a cereal box), but it was woefully too weak to support the corn.

Not wanting to hurt his feelings for his contribution to the wreath, I took some wire coat hangers, 3, and unwound them, to create a circle that we wrapped, with twine to the cardboard base. A grapevine wreath would have been ideal, but in the interest of being creative and using what I have around the house — don’t buy something you don’t really need.

Next, I wrapped the cardboard base in burlap.

The second step? Be sure to treat your corn cobs with a dusting of  Diatomaceous Earth. The corn cobs are covered with nasty little bugs… and will attract them in your home.

Diatomaceous Earth is a simple powder that is safe for humans, yet deadly to insects. You can leave the powder on… I suggest you do… as all you need is a dusting, and it will keep your wreath from attracting fruit flies and everything else.

Start gluing with your glue gun.

Spread out the husks…

And be thankful. And, if appropriate, send me a gentle private email to let me know if this is hideous or not. Beauty is in the eye of the beholder.