Valentine's Candy Jars

I may have mentioned before that I am not a huge Valentine's Day celebrator. I know, I am kind of bah humbug about it, but it seems like such a retail holiday. I love the people I love EVERY day, not just on Valentine's day. But for some reason this year, I was feeling the love and I wanted to celebrate it.

I happened to be in Northern California spending time with some of my biggest loves and so I thought, "I don't get this opportunity very often, I want to do a little something." So, the BFF and I headed out to the stores after the kids went to the school and got creative.

My niece, aka "Princess" is like her mom and I in that she loves all things peanut butter. So her jar is filled with peanut butter M&Ms and her card says, "You're the peanut to my butter."
My nephew JP likes just about any candy so I got him Starburst and told him he was my "shining star." Awww!
And my other nephew, who I don't really have a nickname for without giving away his name, likes chocolate mint stuff so I got him York Peppermint Patties and told him we were "mint" to be together. Schmoop!
(The Reese's hearts were from their mom.)

I also made similar ones for my sister, brother-in-law, and nephew - theirs just had different kinds of M&Ms. Oh, and my sister and bro-in-law got a bottle of wine with theirs too. And then they fed me a delicious steak dinner.

OH! And I almost forgot the best Valentine's/Birthday gift ever! My sweet nephew, JP, gave me this:

It says, "I love you so much, I will build you a house of money." Ugh! Just melt my heart, why doncha! He has a heart of gold, that kid. It was agreed that I couldn't spend it until he came down to So Cal to visit me. That middle part? That's a $20 bill folded into a shirt. That's 25 dollars that kid gave me. I mean, I have to wait and spend it with him, but what 11 year old do you know that would give away $25 of his own money? He's the only one I know!

Baseball Flip Flops

I recently traveled up to Northern California for some much needed friends and family time. While there, my BFF and I were crafting machines! We made these really cute candy jars for Valentine's day (stay tuned!) and a few days later, we made these cute flip flops!

The BFF got the idea from this pin, which doesn't link to a blog or any place I can give proper credit to. We winged it and made them our own and since we were figuring it out on our own, naturally they got cuter as we went along. 

See? We were so excited to just get the first shoe done! One down, five more to go. 

Here's what you need:

• Flip flops. (We got ours from Old Navy and Target.)
• Leather Hole Punch Tool
• Ribbon
• Baseball beads
• Some rhinestone embellishments (from the scrapbooking section)
• Super Glue
• Patience

This is the first pair:

Cut the ribbon long enough to go on both sides of the shoe with extra to at the end to tie. 

We punched five holes on each side. 

Tied one end of the ribbon. (As you can see, this part was the key part to figure out. My concern was that the knots would not only loosen when walking, but might even irritate the skin/foot. I think we nailed it on the next attempt.)

Weave the ribbon through the holes, putting a baseball on when the ribbon is on the outside of the strap.

Repeat till you get to the other side of the shoe and tie off. 

Then we super glued the embellishments down (this is the part where you need patience) and we even glued the baseball beads down for good measure. 

Here's our second attempt: 

We did these the same way as the other ones except we tied the ribbon (and super glued for good measure) to the little prong thing on the bottom of the flip flip. After tying it on there and securing with super glue, we just pushed the prong thingy back into the shoe for a smooth transition! Genius if I do says so myself. (I wish I could take the credit here too, but it was technically my sister's idea.)

And last, but not least, these ones were my favorite! 

The only thing we did different on these is instead of 5 holes, we punched two. One on each side of the thing that goes between your toe then tied off the ribbon into a bow. They are both really cute, but the less busy is just my personal preference. 

We'll see how well they hold up. I mean, they're not made to play baseball in, they're made to look fashionable while you watch someone else play baseball! So they should be fine. 

 As soon as the BFF posted them on her Facebook page all the other baseball and football mom's wanted a pair so I think she's jumping on the opportunity and will perhaps make a buck or two making them!

I am proud of both of us for making our (really, her) vision come to life. 

And thank goodness she painted her toes the day before we made these!

Roasted Potatoes

I may have mentioned before that I haven't met a potato I didn't like. This was no exception.

I modified the recipe from McCormick's website.

I didn't have any of the seasoning's they suggested, so I improvised.
I also didn't add onion like they suggest. 

Here's what I did: 

• Preheat oven to 425 and spray a baking pan w/cooking spray. (I used a 9x13 Glass Pyrex.)
• Cut six red potatoes into bite-size cubes and put them into a gallon sized zip lock. 
• Dump the following ingredients into the bag w/the potatoes:
•  3 tablespoons Olive Oil
• 1.5 teaspoons Garlic Powder 
• 1 teaspoon Lawry's Seasoning Salt
• Sprinkle in some pepper. (I use McCormick's Peppercorn Medley.)

• Shake it all up until the potatoes are nicely coated and dump it into the prepared pan.
• Bake for 45 minutes or until golden to your liking. Stir occasionally. (I stirred about every 10-15 minutes.)

Throw it together with some chicken and asparagus and you have a le gourmet meal!

Bottle Cap Magnets

I don't really get along with this project and it seems so simple to do!

1.) Drink some beer and save the bottle caps. (I'm really good at this part.)
2.) Use a 1" circle punch to punch the pic.
3.) Glue pic to bottle cap and allow to dry.
4.) Put glossy substance over pic and allow to dry.
5.) Add magnet on the back of the bottle Cap.

Simple.

Or so it should be. The first time I attempted these, I half assed glued them down and didn't allow for drying time so when I added the glossy substance the pictures moved and sort of floated into weird positions. And there were bubbles in the glossy substance. This attempt, my glossy substance was a liquid glass of sorts I use for scrapbooking.

So this time, I filled the cap with a layer of glue and let the glue dry overnight. It still didn't really seem like it was dry but I'm impatient. Plus if it didn't dry in 12 hours I'm nit convinced it was gonna dry. Haha Anyway, I added the glossy substance. This time I used Mod Podge Magic Dimensions (or something like that) and, well, it dried wierd. Kind of concave. And with bubbles. :o|

Whatever. I was over it. I slapped a magnet on the back and sent them off to their unexpected recipient. She'll love them because she's not the anal critic I am and probably won't see all the flaws like I do. :o)

Not sure where to give the original credit to because the idea came from multiple pins on Pinterest and I probably checked out all of them to see where I was making mistakes sooooo - for original cred see various pins and blogs on Pinterest.

School House Treat Jar

So, I made another one of these guys. (You can find the instructions here.) This one was for one of my BFF's that runs her own in-home day care, hence the school house theme. My thought was it could be a special treat jar for her kids as a reward for when they have good behavior or do something kind, but of course she's welcome to use it however she sees fit! :o)

This is a left over from my pay it forward post from 2012. ("Pay it forward 2012. I promise to make something hand made to the first 5 people that comment. Then post this to your status and do the same... It can be as simple as a coffee, hand written note, or something more. Just has to be done in 2012.") The beauty of being a procrastinator is that the people that were promised these things have likely long forgotten that they've had it coming. So when it does finally come, they aren't expecting it and it becomes a random act of kindness that hopefully puts a smile on their face. 

She likes the "Live, Laugh, Love" saying so I threw in those cards to go with it. I think she was pleasantly surprised since this is the Facebook post that followed after she got it:

Basil Chicken Orzo Soup

Looking for a healthy, easy, comfort soup? Look no further. This recipe that came from "gimme some oven" is scrumpdilicious! I made some slight modifications.

Ingredients:

• 1 tsp olive oil
• 2 stalks of celery, diced
• 2 carrots, peeled and diced
• 3 cloves of garlic, minced (I used 3 cubes of Dorot frozen garlic.)
• 8 cups good-quality chicken stock or broth
• 2 cups cooked, shredded chicken
• 2 bay leaves
• 5-6 fresh basil leaves, chopped (I used 3 cubes of Dorot frozen basil.)
• 1 cup dried orzo pasta

Directions:

• Heat olive oil in a large cooking pot over medium-high heat.
• Add carrots, celery and garlic then stir for 60 seconds. 
• Stir in chicken stock, chicken, and bay leaves. 
• Let simmer for an hour (or 30 minutes if you're rushed). 
• Bring soup back to a boil.
• Add basil and orzo - cooking according to package directions. 

Yum! I have made it twice now and it's a dish K and I both like. 

It's a bit on the salty side as is so be sure to taste test before you add any salt! 

Also, if you have leftovers, be forewarned that the Orzo seems to soak up all the broth making it less soupy. K eats it as is, but I add a little water to mine before heating it up and it's fine. 

P.S. This recipe is Weight Watchers friendly!

6 Points Per Serving: 

Calories:  259

Carbs:  32

Fat:  3

Protien:  23

Interchangeable Picture Plaque

This lil guy couldn't have been more simple and less cost effective! I got the plaque from the dollar store for - you guessed it! - $1! I had the paper, Mod Podge, paint brush, photo corners, and pictures.

All I did was remove the wire hanger. Then I Mod Podged the paper to the plaque. Let it dry, then put a couple more layers of Mod Podge to seal it. Once that dried, I pushed a tack through the paper where the holes already were on the plaque and re-threaded the wire. Then I put the photo corners on on the picture and attached the picture to the plaque.

I could definitely be embellished more if you wanted to. I love that the picture can be changed out. Once I started this project, it took everything in me to not run out to the dollar store and buy 16 more plaques because I suddenly had several pictures I could use and multiple ideas for gifts for people!

Weight Loss Reward Chart

As I mentioned the other day as part of my 2014 Goals, weight loss is one of them. My ultimate goal is to lose 50 lbs. My realistic goal is to lose 30-50lbs.

The other day, I was spending some quality time with my virtual BFF, Pinterest and came across this pin for a weight loss chart with rewards. I realize this is not a new concept, but I thought it was a great way to keep me motivated and reward me in a healthy way. Usually, I would reward with myself with a soft serve ice cream or a McDonald's Big Mac. And well, that just seems counter productive... doncha think?

Here's what I came up with:

5 lbs  =  New Scale (I want a digital. The dial one we have now sucks!)
10 lbs = New Book
15 lbs = New Jeans
20 lbs = New Shoes
25 lbs = New Hair
30 lbs = New Tops
35 lbs = New Outfit (I may substitute this with a pedicure or massage.)
40 lbs = Dress Shopping (Me? Dress shopping? Only for a special wedding! :o)
45 lbs = Weekend Getaway
50 lbs = New Bathing Suit
55 lbs = TATTOO!!!

Ok, so, after breaking it down that way, apparently my math skills need a little refreshing. I guess I want/need to lose 55 lbs to get to 130.

All of these things will cost a good chunk of money so, obviously, it will depend on how quickly I lose the weight and how quickly I make some money.

I hung this baby on the back of the closet in the bathroom so it's a daily reminder to keep working towards being healthier.

I have been watching what I eat for about a week now. The first few days were excruciating because I constantly felt hungry. Then a good friend suggested I incorporate more protein into my foods and that seemed to help. I am not seeing results yet, but I'm not giving up just yet either. I have a plan B if what I'm doing doesn't work. If plan B doesn't work then I guess I am just meant to be fluffy.

Coffee On Me

I completed my first Random Act of Kindness in 2014!

It was nothing big, but perfect for getting the ball rolling.

"No act of kindness, no matter how small, is ever wasted." ~ Aesop Fabulist

2014 Goals

Well, I failed at the daily gratitude for November, let's see if I do better with my 2014 goals!

I am not big on New Year's resolutions because, for me, they don't get much thought beyond January 2nd. So this year I decided to just make some 2014 "goals." I know, I know... It's just semantics, right? Isn't resolution just a fancy way of saying goal? Yes, yes it is... however, it's January 14th and I am still thinking about these goals so I am already way ahead of all my past resolutions!

In order to try and keep myself accountable, I thought I would share my goals on here. My intent is to blog my progress on them as I go along to help keep me motivated and interested! 

Here's what we're looking at:

This is something I have been wanting to do since my Pinterest infatuation. First, I must acquire a sewing machine. If you have one that's collecting dust in the back of you closet, I'd be happy to take it off your hands! :o)

I want to read 52 books in 2014. That's a book a week... I am already behind on this one, but I get on reading kicks where I read a book every few days so I am pretty sure I can make up lost time for this one. I will blog my progress and provide reviews. You can also check out what I'm up to in the book world on Goodreads.

I already volunteer a couple times a week walking rescue dogs at the shelter we got our cat from, but I want to do more. I really want to work with the elderly somehow. And maybe get back into Relay for Life. I just want to do more. I cant do much financially, but there's no reason I can't give my time. 

If you know me, you know I have a passion for Random Acts of Kindness. My goal this year is to do at least one a month. Obviously more is welcome, but one a month is my goal. Can be anything - send a card to a friend to brighten their day, pay for a stranger's coffee, leave change on a vending machine, feed a parking meter, take baked goods to a local fire house... You get the gist, big or small, just do something unexpected for someone. 

Multiply that by about 10 and that's my goal! I am tired of being unhealthy and feeling like a busted can of biscuits when I get dressed every day. If I can shed 50 lbs this year - even 30 - I'd feel sooo much better. And if I can actually make this happen by October, that'd be even better since I have to get into a dress for one of my best friend's weddings. :o)

Yoga isn't easy for a big chested girl. Especially one that has some extra rolls around the middle! LOL But I took yoga for one of my college PE credits and I remember my body just feeling better when I did it. I ached less, I moved more easily. Plus, with my career change, I could use a little stress relieving breathing and meditation. Whether it be yoga through the local college, at a studio, or at home in front of my TV, I want to give yoga another try. 

Idk if it just became over all trendy or if it's normal that when you hit your 30's you start running 5k's, but it seems like I hit my 30's and all of a sudden, running a 5k was the thing to do. All my friends were doing it. I kid, but at the same time, they all inspire me. Now, I despise running. I am not graceful when I do it and this is another one of those big chested girl issues. It's uncomfortable (and a little painful) to run with those things bouncing to and fro, but I want to give it a shot. If I don't make it to a 5k, I will be ok with being able to run just a mile. 

I think it would be fun for K & I to take a class together. Perhaps an art class would be fun. Although, I'm not going to lie - K is really talented in that department and I would be afraid I would get discouraged by her skills and my lack there of. I also think it would be fun to take a language class together. Spanish would be most beneficial considering where we live, but I have taken a semester of sign language and really enjoyed it. Such a beautiful way to communicate. Plus, if K likes it I think being an interpreter would be a perfect career change for her!

And last, but certainly not least... I want us to have special, meaningful dates at least once a month. It says date night, but with our funky schedules it's subject to change. Couples tend to get complacent in relationships and sometimes I think that we are getting there. We get so caught up in the daily grind and surviving, we forget to have fun. So my hope is that we get creative and think outside of the box so we can connect in love and laughter and not get stuck in the daily grind rut! 

So there you have it folks. Stay tuned for progress updates throughout the year!

Did you set any goals for 2014? If so, feel free to share them and share your progress too! 

DVRocks

Being thankful for DVR is lame, I know. But I seriously love it and cant imagine life without it. I even wonder what we did before it!

Actually, I know what I did. I set my VCR timer to record shows. But it was such a pain. And if you forgot to make sure you had room on the tape, you were SOL. It actually makes me chuckle because K is so old school she asks me if I "taped" shows. Well, no, no I didn't, but I did record it. Haha

The DVR allows me to have a life and still watch all the bad TV I want. It's allows for quality time with the wife. And it helps me with my procrastination issues. How, you may ask? I will often be sucked into something on live TV knowing I have something else I need to do or somewhere I need to be. With DVR, I can press record and walk away from the TV and not feel like I am going to miss something. Most of the time when I do this, I rarely even go back and finish watching it, but it makes it easier for me to walk away knowing I have the option. LOL

The downfall of DVR is it makes me think all aspects of life should have it. Driving down the road, I will miss something they say on the radio or want to listen to a lyric in a song again and I want to rewind it like I can on TV. I even do this in real life. Someone will say something, or maybe someone will do something funny that I missed and I want to be able to rewind it. But I cant.

So, thanks to the genius that discovered DVR! It rocks!

Scarf with Pockets

Forgot your mittens?? No problem! 

A name buddy of mine had one of these when we worked together in Sacramento about 4 years ago and I thought it was the coolest thing! So ... fast forward 4 years and I finally made one!

The ironic thing about this scarf is I now live in So Cal... Where winter doesn't really exist. Sure, it gets cold... but not scarf cold. Unless you head to the beach and it's windy, then maybe it could be considered scarf cold.

I did the photo shoot for this blog by myself. I tried to get K to help me, but we just never found the time - or rather - never made the time together. I tried to make it happen on a day we were headed to the beach for a lunch date. It was probably 80 degrees out and I was in a tank top, shorts, and flip flops. I thought that outfit would carry quite a bit of irony considering where we live. Ha! No?

Perhaps I will send it to my cousin back in Indiana. I still owe her a hand made gift from 2012!! 

It's super easy and generic. I used "Loops & Threads" brand yarn. It took just under two skeins, so be sure to grab two from the store. (I had to go back.) I used an I/9 -5.50 mm hook.

Scarf
Chain 18
Row 1: Double crochet in third chain from hook, double crochet in each chain across: 15 double crochets
Row 2 - ??: Chain 3 (counts as first double crochet from here on out), double crochet in back loop only of the next 14 double crochets across.
Repeat until you get to your desired length. Remember you need about 8-10 inches longer than your desired length so you can fold over the ends and create the pockets.

I folded the bottom up about 10 rows. Lined up the two sides and sewed the sides together to the best of my ability. Repeat three more times on each side of the pocket, leaving the top open for access.

I would tell you how to sew it, but I don't have a clue what I am doing when I am sewing. I just run the needle and yarn through holes on the side and hope it doesn't come undone anytime soon. Ha! I am pretty sure you could do a better job than I can instruct.

Whether you use the pockets to keep your hands warm, perhaps to tuck your phone into, or a place to store your mittens and beanie when it's hung up... I think once you have pockets on your scarf, the regular scarf will never be the same again!

As usual, if you have any questions, I am here for you.

Treat Jar

How freaking cute is this little gem?!

Sooooo cute!

This was probably one of the first pins I pinned on Pinterest. I remember thinking we had a bunch of those fish bowls left over from our wedding center pieces and this was the perfect project for them!  

When I first pinned this, I was working in an office environment in a cubicle that was known to have candy for those in need. I thought this would be perfect for my desk. Since then, I have changed jobs and while it's still an office setting, I don't have an assigned desk so it makes it kind of hard to host a candy dish.

Anyway, the pin leads to a couple different blogs which then leads to a couple different tutorials. The tutorial posts are this one and this one. I used a combination of the two.

Here's what you'll need: 

Fish bowl

Terra Cotta pot & saucer

Wood nob for lid handle

Paint

Ribbon

Glue Gun

E6000 Adhesive

1. First I painted to terra cotta parts and the wood nob and let them dry. I only did one coat, but it probably wouldn't hurt to do more than one.
2. Then I let it sit for days because I never went back to the store to get the E6000 adhesive. 
3. I suppose you could spray the painted parts with a gloss/sealant. I didn't because I wasn't sure if I was going to further embellish or not, but since I went with not I kind of wish I would have sprayed.
4. Once I got the adhesive, I adhered. I adhered the bowl to the pot and the nob to the saucer/lid. Read the directions on the adhesive package before adhering. I got a little nervous after reading my package because it gave all kinds of scary warnings like don't breathe the fumes or you'll get cancer kind of warnings. There was another brand of adhesive at the store that was made for glass... that might have been less scary to use. By all means, if you know of a better, safer, cancer-free way to adhere - I recommend doing so. Cancerous fumes are no joke. 
5. Figure out the ribbon. For me, it was at this point I figured out who I was making it for.
6. Anyway, most of the ones I've seen just have the ribbon/bow around the bottom of the fish bowl. My fish bowl was one of those with the wavy edging (for lack of a better description - see picture below) leaving a weird gap between the lid and the glass that I didn't care for.
   I thought it would be too much to put another bow up top so I just gave it a collar. I adhered all the ribbon with the glue gun.

I wanted to embellish it a little more by writing "Treats" or "Sweets" in silver glitter, but I was going to have to free hand it and that scared me. I knew if I kept messing with it, I would press my luck, screw it up, and hate it. Why go there when I loved it in it's current state?!

I often start my projects not really knowing who I am making them for. I always have people cross my mind as I am creating, but there is usually an ah-ha moment when I discover who its intended recipient will be. For this project, it was the ribbon. I knew immediately I was giving it to my friend, Ms. Rink from Bows and Leopard. (I am sure you can figure out why.)

Initially, I thought, "She has a cubicle like I used to, maybe she'll use it for candy." And then I remembered, she doesn't really like people that much. Well, at least not as much as she likes animals... So then I thought maybe she could keep it at home and put her precious Buffy's treats in it! We shall see what she decides to do with it!

Hooded Scarf...

...because I love hoods and not all things are hooded. 

Note: I was left to my own devices for the photo shoot so they leave something to be desired. Please just focus on the cuteness of the scarf!

I am not one to buy books on how to crochet things since there is already sooo much available on the internet, but I guess there's always an exception.

While browsing in Michaels one day, I came across a gem called Hooded Scarves to Crochet by Leisure Arts. I had never seen anything like them and I knew I needed to make one!

This pattern is called "Warm & Woodsy" and I am not sure about the plagiarizing laws/rules as far as sharing the pattern, but I am gonna go out on a limb and share it with you. YOLO! 

Materials:

• Medium Weight Yarn - (5 oz, 244 yards / 141 grams, 233 meters) - 2 skeins
• Crochet hook - size H (5 mm) or sized needed for gauge

Gauge: I'm lazy and don't ever do the gauge and since I am too lazy to do that, clearly I am too lazy to type it out... so here it is:

Photo of print from book noted in above text.

Scarf:
Chain 281

Row 1: Sc in 41st ch from hook (fringe loop made) and in each ch across: 241 sc
Row 2: (Right side): Ch 40 (fringe loop made, now & throughout), turn; sc in back loop pnly of each sc across
Note: Loop a short piece of yarn around any stitch to mark Row 2 as right side
Row 3: Ch 40, turn; dc in back loop only of first sc * ch 1, skip next sc, dc in back loop only of next sc; repeat from * across:121 dc and 120 chs
Row 4: Ch 40, turn; sc in back loop only of first dc, (sc in next ch, sc in back loop only of next dc) across: 241 sc
Row 5: Ch 40, turn; sc in back loop only of each sc across
Rows 6-17: Repeat Rows 3-5, 4 times: 241 sc
Finish off.

Hood
Row 1: With right side facing, skip first 80 sc ad join yarn with dc in back loop only of next sc; * ch 1, skip next sc, dc in back loop only of next sc; repeat from * 39 more times, leave remaining 80 sc unworked: 41 dc and 40 chs
Row 2: Ch 1, turn; sc in back loop only of first dc, (sc in next ch, sc in back loop only of next dc) across: 81 sc
Row 3: Ch 1, turn; sc in back loop only of each sc across
Row 4: Ch 4 (counts as first dc plus 1 ch), turn; skip next sc, dc in back loop only of next sc, * ch 1, skip ext sc, dc back loop only of next sc; repeat from * across: 41 dc and 40 chs
Rows 5-9: Repeat Rows 2-4 once, then repeat Rows 2 and 3 one more time: 81 sc

Joining Row (Back Hood Seam): Ch 1, turn;with right side together, matching sts on Row 9, and working through outside loops of both thicknesses, sc in first 34 sc, decrease 3 times, finish off.

And that's it! The only thing I might change for next time is take away the "fringe" at the bottom.  If you give this a try and have any questions - fire away! I will do my best to help! Happy hooding!

 

P.S.

 

Santa's Belly

I know, I know! It's toooooo early for Christmas! Can we please get through Halloween and Thanksgiving before we start on Christmas?! Trust me, those that know me know that I despise how the retail industry shoves Christmas down our throats so it's the last thing I want to do to you... But look how cute this guy is!!

When I bought the glass ornament balls for my niece's Invitation Keepsake Ornament, I of course couldn't buy just one, I had to buy four. So when I saw this little guy on A Crafty B's blog, I couldn't resist making one.

• Paint black strip around the ornament (I used regular acrylic paint - I think Crafty B used puffy paint)
• While that dries, cut red card stock into strips. I did various widths and lengths. I also lucked out because I had a ton of strips already left over from a different project I had done so I didn't have to cut that many! :o)
• Touch up the black paint strip/Santa's belt. Allow it to dry. 
• I used some silver glitter glue stuff that I had in my scrapbooking supplies. (Crafty B used white puffy paint.)
• I was impatient and didn't want to wait for all that to dry before I started putting the paper in so I used a roll of masking tape as a holder so the ball would stand straight and there would be no damage to the drying paint. 
• Roll the paper strips tightly around a pen or a paint brush or your finger or whatever you see fit. Slide the paper off the contraption you use and then drop it into the top of the ornament. Don't worry - it will unravel a little. You can also roll them a little less tight to give it varying degrees of tightness. I also rolled some of mine in a spiral around said apparatus just to give it a different texture in the ball.

I think this little guy is just precious, so simple, and inexpensive! I would be surprised if everyone in our family doesn't get one for their tree this year!