kids craft-felt Christmas trees

It must be December because over the last 3 days the temperature has dropped from 60 degrees and sunny to 25 degrees and still sunny. The sun and blue skies are very enticing for little ones, until they go outside and realize it is freezing!

Hence a lot more time in the house = boredom = a messy house. 

Time for mom to get a little creative.

So over the weekend we decided to make some felt trees for our playroom. I drew the trees on the felt and let the kids cut them out. (Practice cutting skills, very important for a soon to be kindergartener). Next we cut out little colored circles for ornaments on the tree. Then I use sticky back velcro on the back of the circles and the kids decorated their trees.

This is an easy craft that can lead to hours of fun, taking the balls off and putting them back on the trees.

Pinterest- Christmas Ornaments

There are so many great DIY Christmas ornaments out there. I love making handmade ornaments for our tree every year. I can reflect on what I was doing in my life and my craftiness throughout the years. Here are some of my favorites that I pinned this year:

Hot glue snowflakes

 Popsicle Stick Angels

 Paintbrush Ornaments

 Cookie Cutter Ornaments

 Jingle Bells on White Lights

 PVC Ornaments

 

Now get your craft on and make something new to put on your tree.

 

Gingerbread, A Family Tradition

There are some things about Christmas that bring back memories from my childhood. Certain smells, a special song, or an ornament placed on the tree. It is amazing how these things can bring the memories back into our thoughts as clear as the day we lived them. I want my children to have similar memories when they are grown and look back on our family Christmases.

One specific memory I have is making gingerbread houses with my grandmother. She made the gingerbread from scratch, warm in the oven as we walked in the door and smelling like Christmas. Then we would look at the kitchen table covered in goodies like gumdrops, cinnamon dots, tiny candy canes, and every color of sprinkles a kid could dream of. We constructed the gingerbread house together, taking hours to decorate every nook and cranny of the house.

Then later in life my first date with my husband was decorating gingerbread houses. He was blown away by my decoration skills.

Now that I have children of my own we began the gingerbread tradition, making the dough together, rolling it out, and cutting little gingerbread men and women with green cookie cutters. We decorated the people and trees with raisins and cinnamon dots. The kids loved making little men and women, giving each of their cut outs names and telling a story of where they have been. Then while the cookies were baking the kids sat by the oven exclaiming how wonderful the kitchen smelled and how they couldn't wait to taste their gingerbread people. While we waited we read the book, "The Gingerbread Man." I think this is a tradition that will be carried on for years to come.

Gingerbread Recipe:

Beat together:
1 egg
1 cup brown sugar
2/3 cup molasses
6 Tbls softened butter

Sift into a big bowl:

2 1/2 cups flour
1 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
1 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp ground ginger
1 tsp ground cloves
1/4 tsp allspice

Add butter mixture to flour mixture and beat until well blended. Cover and refrigerate for one hour. Roll dough to 1/4 inch thick on floured surface. Cut using your cookie cutter or form into squares for a gingerbread house. Decorate your cookies with raisins, sprinkles, or other cookie supplies. Bake at 350 degrees for 8 minutes (should be slightly firm to the touch for softer cookies). Cool on wire rack and enjoy!

Christmas tutu

Every year I like to make something fun for my kids to wear to celebrate Christmas. This year I only got around to making something for my daughter, but I did make a tutorial for all of you to enjoy.

A Christmas tutu. Flirty and fun.

You will need:
-1/2 a yard of top fabric
-1/2 yard of middle fabric
-1/2 yard of bottom fabric
-1inch elastic

1. Cut the following strips of the fabric:
     -2 strips 3"x44" (top fabric)
     -2 strips 4"x44" (top fabric)
     -2 strips 5 1/2"x44" (middle fabric)
     -2 strips 6 1/2"x44" (bottom fabric)

 2. Fold 1 of the 3" strips in half lengthwise with wrong sides together. Iron flat. (This is the elastic casing).
3. Sew the other 3" strip to the raw edge of the folded strip using 1/4 inch seam. Press flat.

4. Sew each of the other strips to the matching strip at the end making 1 long 88" strip.
5. Turn under the bottom of each strip 1/4th inch, press, and another 1/4th inch. Sew the hem down.
6. Sew a gathering stitch at the top of each strip and gather the strips to match the elastic casing piece.
7. Pin all the pieces together to the bottom of the elastic casing piece. This is the difficult part making sure that all the pieces are pinned securely in place. (USE A LOT OF PINS).

8. Sew the strips to the elastic casing piece and press open.
9. Top stitch along the seam where the elastic casing piece meets the ruffles.

10. Pull your elastic through the elastic casing using a safety pin and sew at each end in place.

11. With right sides together pin the skirt along the raw edges matching up each ruffle. Sew the skirt together up the side. Flip your skirt right side out and you are FINISHED!

 

The perfect Christmas tutu for prancing and dancing during the holidays.

Homemade Gifts-I Can Make That

Welcome to another edition of I CAN MAKE THAT.

Homemade gifts are tricky. I think they can go over one of two ways:
1. if done well the receiver may feel that it is a very special gift since it was homemade and full of heart.
2. if not done well the receiver might think..."oh what a cheap skate, can't even get me a real gift."

Well this year I took the homemade approach. Every year my husband's side of the family chooses a name out of a hat. That way we don't have to give to everyone. It is really fun to figure out what to give each other and since you just have one person to focus on you can really put some thought into the gift.

This year I drew my SIL Caitlin (she doesn't read this blog so I am not worried) but CAITIE IF YOU ARE READING THIS POST STOP!!! So back to the gifts. The first was the subway art with her last name on it. You can see that post here. Then I saw the perfect apron floating around Pinterest and instantly thought of her. She loves Harry Potter, we are talking the biggest fan. Read all the books several times points out all the missing parts in the movies. I bought the patch from Amazon and a genuine Harry Potter tie online (total cost for both $12). I wanted it to look genuine so I spent a little more on the items that make it a true Harry Potter item. At first I tried tying the tie but it was too big and bulky so I ended up cutting out a tie shape and sewing it on. All I did was trace a basic apron shape and curve the bottom. Then add a black gathered rectangle to make the bottom ruffle. Outline the whole apron in black bias tape, add your straps, add the little touches (tie, patch, pockets) and you are done.

Another gift that I made was a watch for my other SIL Marissa. She found this watch on Etsy for $70.

Cute watch but WOW on the price and I worry about buying something like a watch on Etsy. What it if doesn't work? So I told my MIL I could make one like it for her. I used this tutorial and it is REALLY easy to make. I couldn't find a watch face that I liked. I searched and searched (Michael's, Joann's, Hobby Lobby) no luck. So I used an old watch of mine that I never wear anymore. Then I used a skinny belt I already owned. All I had to buy was the rivets. I love it, I might even make one for myself out of another old watch.

Hopefully the girls will like the gifts and know that even though they may not cost much to make you can't put a price on something from the heart.

I have one more homemade gift to share on Thursday so please come back.