This is the craft I made with the kindergarteners in my sons class for their Christmas party yesterday.  I cut a small, medium and large white circle for each child out of heavy white card stock (I used my Cricut, which saved tons of time and hand cramps) and the kids glued them to a popsicle stick.  Then they added buttons (red and green small circles I cut out) and drew on a face.  We tied a ribbon on for a scarf and taped a ribbon onto the back for the hanger.   I tore sticks off a big dead week for the arms that we glued on.

This was the treat one mom made with my sons kindergarten class yesterday at their Christmas party.  She took one cookie (I think a Chips Ahoy) and glued it to an upside down (empty) ice cream cone.  Then she frosted the tree with green icing and the kids decorated their trees with candy and marshmallows.  The kids LOVED it.

One of my husband’s coworkers gave this to us for Christmas, and I absolutely LOVE it!  I can’t believe I never thought of this idea before!  I can see so many possibilities for different holidays, celebrations, special days, etc.

Take a clear, glass plate and mod podge a cute piece of fabric to the back of the plate, making sure the right-side of the fabric shows through the plate.  Take care to get any wrinkles or bumps out of the fabric.  Add a couple extra coats of mod podge over the fabric.

{top}

{bottom}

(note: this is not dishwasher safe,

& should not be dispersed in water)

Isn’t this the cutest idea for a memorable ornament?!  Becky from Crafting Chicks posted the idea, and I knew I had to do it with my sweet Lucy Belle for her 1st Christmas.  I love the simplicity of something so sweet and memorable.

Materials: ball ornament, acrylic paint, paint brush

*Directions*

Find the perfect subject…

Paint the palm of her hand…

Spread those wee little fingers…

…and stamp the ornament (this did take me 2 tries, I’ll admit it)

Add her name and year…

Let dry on the ceiling fan cord (what, you have a better spot to dry ornaments?)

thanks for the idea, Crafting Chicks!

I whipped up two pillowcases to give my boys on Christmas.  I’m a very novice sewer, and it was literally as easy as “whipping” them together.  And they look really good.  This would be a great project for a beginning sewer if your child is interested, or you want to throw a pillowcase together for a last minute Christmas gift.  All you need is 1 yard of fabric (3/4 yard of main fabric, 1/4 yard of the border) and a few minutes.  I used this tutorial.

I took the pics of the pillowcases with my phone in really crappy lighting, but I’ll show you anyway so you can get the idea and think I’m wicked talented.  Both boys picked their own fabric.

First, Thomas the Train for my 3 year old.

and Spiderman for my 5 year old

I am embarrassed to admit that I boxed this up and mailed to our 91 year-old GG (who loves puzzles- get it?!) before taking an “after” picture!  Just imagine a beautiful red bow on the bottom-right, and another red loop at the top.  Gorgeous, right?!

*Directions*

Grab a puzzle, any puzzle, and separate out all of the middle pieces (no border pieces for this project!).

To make it easier for my kids, I cut a square piece of paper to help make the wreath somewhat circular.  You could always cut a circle out of cardboard to give it added strength, we chose to do it more free-style.

Put one layer, 2 pieces wide, in a circle.

Start glueing pieces on top (I used craft glue), connecting all of the pieces together.

Continue glueing pieces until you’re happy with the finished product.

Let dry, add a bow (or glitter, beads, whatever you’re in the mood for!), and sit back and enjoy!

I saw this cute picture on Ramblings of a Crazy Woman last year and thought the kids might like it this year since one of their jobs is setting the table.  Ours are pretty simple – I’m trying to be better at letting the kids direct their own art projects and sit back more! – but they’re cute and the boys are happy.

We used a stocking template and traced it ten times onto cheap red felt (20 cents per piece at Wal-Mart), then I free-handed a white stocking top and traced that five times.  I was going to have the boys glue the top and bottom together, but they weren’t doing so hot keeping the glue on the edges. So they glued the white to the top red piece, and I sewed the outline.  Then I put a line of hot glue on the finished stocking, and the boys glittered.  Ta-da!

This Christmas painting, hanging in our kitchen, is one I’ve been working on with the kids for a couple weeks.  It’s not done, but we are, and the painting will be good as it is until next year.

We took a 16X20 canvas from Hobby Lobby (2/$7) and painted the entire thing light blue.  Then we painted the kids hands with 3 or 4 different colors of green and made a large Christmas tree with their hand prints.

I was glad we used a few different colors green – I think it made the tree look a lot better.

They LOVED this part, even my 18 month old!  Before we cleaned up, I had them make one more hand print each on the back of the canvas and write their names so we can remember exactly how small their little hands were the year we made this creation.

Later, we used some glitter (that comes fluid, almost like glue) and swirled it around with our fingers in the sky.

After that, the boys asked to cut paper lights and snowflakes to put on the canvas. They cut them out (with the Cricut) and then left me to put them on myself. I used mod podge.

I think the floating tree still needs stuff at the bottom.  A trunk? Presents?  A train?  We’ll find out next year.

The boys and I tried to make a garland out of those pastel mini-marshmallows today, using a needle and fishing line.

Unless you’re looking for a really messy disaster, do not try that at home.

My friend, Tracy, came up with a most excellent idea – a Christmas Bath!  We borrowed the idea tonight for a long, relaxing, fun bath.  I have no plans to take the lights down until after Christmas so we can do this once a week until the Big Day.

Christmas Bath

I took an extra string of mini lights and put them around the mirror, around the top of the tub and around the bathroom. It was just awesome.  Thanks, Tracy!

obviously be careful with the electricity and the water and the kids…