11.30.2011

Creative Christmas Countdown

I'm soooooooooo excited to be a part of a huge group of amazing bloggers that are working together to bring you a
Creative Christmas Countdown
Each day leading up to Christmas Eve on December 24th a different blogger will be posting a different
craft, tradition, recipe, or family activity
There is going to be a ton of creative talent posting each day so make sure you come back!

You will find this calendar

at the link above on the blog 
Creative with Kids
or click the button on my left sidebar

Alissa (the blogger at Creative with Kids) is the creative genius who gathered all of us up for this Christmas Countdown
Every day she will be filling in the calendar with the link for each post
So make sure you visit her blog EVERY DAY!
You really won't want to miss a thing!

Check out this extraordinary list of bloggers involved:

1. Let Kids Create
3. Red Ted Art
4. Teach Preschool
5. Angelique Felix
6. Rainy Day Mum
7. The Imagination Tree
8. Mama Pea Pod
9. Mom to 2 Posh Lil Divas
10. Nurture Store
11. A Mom With A Lesson Plan
12. hands on : as we grow
13. Frugal Family Fun
14. Art for Little Hands
15. Kitchen Counter Chronicles
16. Living at Whitehead’s Zoo
17. My Creative Family
18. Sun Hats & Wellie Boots
19. Toddler Approved
20. Dinosaurs & Octopuses
21. Creative With Kids
22. Science Sparks
23. The Outlaw Mom Blog
24. Creative Connections For Kids

 24 days of holiday magic starts tomorrow!!!

Click here for a printable list of the activities to place in your own calendar
To receive each day in your inbox, subscribe by email here

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11.29.2011

Christmas Ornaments


We haven't made any Christmas tree ornaments this year
but
we did make some last year before I started blogging
Unfortunately, 
I don't have any step-by-step pictures 
but, I do have step-by-step instructions!

These "sign" ornaments are made with craft sticks:

1. Paint large craft sticks with candy cane stripes to be the "pole"
I painted a white base and then red stripes over the white

2. Paint regular-sized craft sticks which ever color you'd like to be the "sign"

3. Write what ever you'd like your sign to say and write it on your craft sticks
My signs say: Santa Stop Here, North Pole, and a family name (on a large craft stick) with the two family members underneath, to give as a gift

4. Cut the craft stick signs and glue them to the pole
I cut some into arrow shapes

5. Decorate your signs
Some have white paint and cotton with a sprinkle of glitter for snow
One has a felt holly leaf with bead holly berries
One has a green wire wreath with a red ribbon bow and tiny little jingle bells

6. Glue a ribbon loop on the back to hang on the tree
and Voila! an adorable Christmas sign


These adorable "cupcakes" are made with pom poms, glitter and cupcake liners:

1. Use whichever mini cupcake liners you'd like and glue a large pom pom into it

2. Squirt glue on the top of the large pom pom and sprinkle it with glitter

3. Glue a small pom pom on top

4. Once all the glue is dry use a needle to string some thread through the middle of the pom pom

5. Tie the thread at the top to create a loop and hang your cupcakes on the tree!


This cute Christmas tree is super simple to make:

1. Paint some regular-sized craft sticks green and a large craft stick brown

2. Cut the regular-sized craft sticks so they gradually get smaller to create a Christmas tree triangle shape
You may have to place them on the large craft stick to determine how much to cut off to create a triangle shape

3. Glue the regular-sized craft sticks to the large craft stick "trunk"

4. Glue a variety of sequins to the craft stick branches

5. Glue a ribbon loop to the back of the tree and hang your mini tree onto your big tree!


I love how this snowman turned out, it's made out of a lightbulb!

1. Paint an old lightbulb white

2. Glue some little sticks to the sides of the lightbulb for arms
I wanted my snowman holding a sign so his arms stick straight out in front of  him

3. Draw or paint a face onto the lightbulb
I used Sharpie markers

4. Add a hat and scarf or your favorite snowman accessories
I made my snowman's top hat out of stiff felt and his scarf was recycled from another snowman plushie

5. Add a sign (if you want) and glue it into the snowman's arms
This snowman has a family name on it

6. Glue a ribbon loop to the top of the hat and hang him on the tree
Or give him to a friend which is what we did!


 I can't wait to make some new ornaments this year to put alongside our ornaments from last year!

Happy Holidays!
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11.27.2011

Christmas Activity Calendar


 Last year I had so much fun making an activity calendar for my girls that I decided to make it an annual tradition. 
This year's calendar is all finished and even though I made most of it, the girls were still able to add their own special touch.

I started by making a list of special activities to do with the girls
they are mostly holiday related activities like:
go see Christmas lights
visit Santa
and
make Christmas cookies

I gathered up some paint chips and wrote an activity on the back of each one
Then I stapled the paint chips into a chain
(just like the paint chip chain Melissa from The Chocolate Muffin Tree made)

Next, I cut out a Christmas tree shape from a cardboard box
I painted it dark green and then used light green to create the illusion of needles
When the paint was dry the girls completely covered the tree with glitter glue
  
Not only are the girls going to be able to cut one link of the chain down each day
but
I also printed out this fabulous list of holiday jokes from Cathy at Nuturestore 
bought a 25 piece puzzle 
(I'm the only one that knows what the picture is) 
to give them a piece each day
and 
have holiday stickers for the girls to place on the tree each day

I can't wait to see what it looks like with all the stickers on it

I'm really excited for the calendar this year, I have a lot of fun activities planned.
Be sure to follow along with the calendar here
I will be blogging about each day starting December 1! 

Happy Holidays!
Linked to:
Critters&Crayons Homemade Christmas Link Party
The Sunday Showcase
Monday Madness





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11.24.2011

Happy Thanksgiving






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11.19.2011

Family Tree Of Thanks


Thanksgiving is coming soon and
 I wanted to have something
to bring to our family feast
(besides the Spin Art Turkeys and lots of goodies)
so I decided to make a 
Tree of Thanks

First we marbled some paper with shaving cream:
put some shaving cream in a pan
squirt paint or food coloring on top
and
 swirl it around
Place paper on top of the shaving cream
pat it a little and peel it up
Most of the time I wait for the shaving cream to dry and rub it off
but this time I squeegeed it off before it was dry
I think I'll stick to the waiting and rubbing off method
After you have all the paper you want, set them aside 
and
let the kids get crazy with the shaving cream
It's hard for my kids to resist playing with the shaving cream
it's so fun to squish between fingers
 While the paper was drying we went on a nature walk to collect leaves
we traced the leaves onto the paper and cut them out

I drew a tree on a cardboard box and cut it out
then let C paint it 
 She used the end of her paint brush to drag lines in the paint to simulate bark
 We'll set the tree up at  Thanksgiving dinner with the leaves next to it and
family can write the things they're thankful for on the leaves 
then
stick them to the branches
I know we'll have a tree full of leaves by the end of the day!
Happy Thanksgiving Everyone!


Linked to:
The Sunday Showcase
Fall Fun Party
Best of November Link Up!
Monday Madness




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11.07.2023

Spin Art Turkeys

We've had Thanksgiving on the mind lately
 and 
I really love turkey crafts.
So 
we made some cute turkey table toppers out of 
toilet paper rolls and paper plates
They're really simple to make and they're two-sided!
Here's how we did it
We used a salad spinner for the tails
Cut paper plates to fit inside your salad spinner
add paint
and 
spin!
Here is the spin art the girls made!
Spin art is so fun to do
so much fun in fact that the girls didn't let me do any
:(
Look what A was up to while C was spinning
Placing a paint bottle on each paper plate
it was pretty cute
While your spin art is drying
paint some toilet paper tubes
I was looking for red ribbon
(I thought I had)
for the turkey wattle
but ended up using apple stems that we painted red
they're the perfect shape!
Cut slits in the sides of your toilet paper tubes
(one on each side)
Fold your spin art in half
(paint side out)
Fit your spin art into the slits
and
Voila!
a turkey tail
Add some eyes
a beak
(we used orange foam)
and glue on your wattle
to each side of your toilet paper tube
We only used 6 toilet paper tubes to make 12 turkeys!
Now people on both sides of the table will have a unique turkey to look at
while gobbling up their food
Aren't they cute!?

Linked to:
Best of November Link Up!





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