Christmas Crafts REVEALED...

This year was a big year for homemade gifts. I ruffled scarves, sewed and tied blankets, stitched ornaments, knotted a tutu and dried spices!

Isn't this sweet? It was a free pattern from Happy Together!

And finally, the girls designed and made these ornaments for Doug with my help:

Christmas Crafting

There's been a lot of craftiness going on at our house lately. Unfortunately, I can't show you most of it since they are Christmas gifts. :)

But this is a fun little craft that the girls and their friend made last week:

The little containers were left over from the pantyhose I bought to make the fairy wings for C's 5th birthday party. We put cotton balls inside to look like snow and then broke out the hot glue gun to attach the accessories. C felt very grown up, as I let her use the glue gun on her own.

Do you see the one on the left? That would be E's. She added a jewel on top and strand of pearls. :) And the one on the far right is C's second one. She came up with the idea to twist two pipe cleaners together. Pretty creative!

Fairy Wings

Since C wanted a Fairy theme birthday party with her friends, I decided to make some dress-up fairy wings for the kids to paint as a craft. I found a tutorial by Threadbanger that inspired me.

They turned out better than I expected!

Wire Hangers:

Knee-high panty hose (Walmart):

Shape the hangers,

and wrap with ribbon:

repeat again and again!

There you have it!

Ladybug Craft

I found a cute little craft on Frugal Family Fun and decided to try it with the girls.

I drew leaf shapes onto construction paper and had the girls cut them out. This was great cutting practice for E! Then, we drew on the veins, branches and stuck on some ladybugs.

A great spring craft idea!

Oodles of Artwork

Someone asked me the other day what I do with all the artwork that the girls (particularly C) generate. To be honest - I throw it away! (or recycle if possible.) But first I take a digital picture of it so I still have the memory and record of the art.

Here are some of C's latest pieces:

Our Neighborhood

Giraffe by Waves and Rainbow

Cat Sitting on Back of Couch (inspired by Allie, our friends' cat)

Aunt Michelle and Uncle Greg's Family (from left to right: Styles, Michelle, House, Shasta, Em [riding Shasta], and Greg [wearing his headphones])

Animals riding in wagons and E riding a duck overhead

Our House (I love the detail she put into this. Notice Sadie on the upper left hand side with her kennel as black squares. Also, the John Deere looking vehicle is actually our green Sienna minivan.)

Family Portrait (left to right: Sadie, Daddy, Mommy, C and E)

The Three Wise Men on their Camels visiting the Stable

And one from E (she's in a multi-medium, abstract phase right now...):

Christmas Crafting

The girls and I have been busy making many different ornament crafts this month. Observe:

Felt ornaments



Foam ornaments:

Wood ornaments (with friends):


Not an ornament, but a work of art nonetheless:

and tree ornaments:

Funny Faces Game

I was inspired by this game on Chasing Cheerios (and a Silly Faces Stick-Ons Game my mom has) and had the girls help me make our own version.

C and I cut out face parts (and necklaces) from old magazines and I printed out some flesh colored ovals from Word for the blank faces. Then I made a spinner (can't remember where I saw the idea blogged) and a box to sort it all away.



You take turns spinning the spinner and picking about the corresponding face part. If you already have it, then you lose your turn. (Kinda like Cooties - remember that one???) The girls REALLY like playing it. The faces actually do turn out pretty funny!

Venturing into the Land of Mod Podge

I got inspired to make some art for C's walls. They are bare right now, and need a little decoration. So, I cut up some scrapbook papers, arranged them on two canvases and Mod-Podged them on (is that a word???). This was my first decoupage craft, and it wasn't too bad. :-)

Mosaic Masterpiece

C wanted to do a special craft this morning, so I found this idea for making your own mosaics.

I printed out a butterfly image and then glued it to a paper plate for each girl. Then I cut out little "tiles" from magazines and let the girls glue them on. This activity was really too much for E. She didn't last long, but C had just enough patience and coordination to have fun with it. And she did a great job, too!



E's:
C's: