Crafty Ornament Exchange

Another year, another ornament exchange on my craft message board.  I couldn't decide what to make (too many choices thanks to Pinterest), so I fell back on an old favorite.  I love the way they turned out.

I even loved the gift tag I made using card stock and my Sizzix embosser.

Crafty Christmas Ornament Exchange

I was excited to be a part of my Craft message board's ornament exchange again this year.  Using the leftover felt and instructions from the wool candle mat that I made, I was able to whip up these cute snowmen ornaments.  I love, love, love the way they turned out!

Crafty Christmas Ornament Exchange

For the second year in a row I participated in a crafty ornament exchange on a message board that I frequent.

Here's the adorable ornament that I received. His body is made of a light bulb!


This is the ornament that I sent to my secret draw:

It's a felt ornament that I embroidered and jeweled. I'm pretty happy with how it turned out. Next time I'll add colored crystals though instead of clear. I think that would make it pop a bit more. The tutorial is from here at BHG.

Jesse Ornaments, Days 3 and 4

Our first snowfall and Wild One's second birthday left us a little sidetracked on our Jesse Tree adventure. We caught up tonight by making 2 ornaments. Wild One colored her ornaments too, but I don't planned to include a picture of hers every day since they're all essentially the same. I'll post a picture of all of them when we're finished.

Day 3 led us to the story of Noah and a rainbow ornament.



To make these, I first cut out a rainbow shape from white cardstock. The kids then went on a hunt for different colors to cut out from old magazines. (This was a fun way to work in color recognition for Chaos as well!). The kids glued down the squares they cut out and I trimmed the rainbow when they were finished. Easy peasy! Chaos was pretty thrilled to have Lightning McQueen on his rainbow too. ;)

Day 4 was the story of Abraham's faithfulness to God. To represent Abraham's new home, we made origami tents.



We used this tutorial, but at the end, we tucked in the sides to make the tent more square.

Click here to see our other Jesse Tree ornaments

Jesse Ornaments, Day 2

Today's Jesse Tree Ornaments were based on the story of Adam and Eve. We read "The Sneaky Snake" in Pinky's Beginner Bible and then made an apple and snake ornament.



To make these, first I had the kids do apple prints on cardstock. Once they were dry, we cut them out and glued on a stem and leaf. Next, I made each of them a ribbon snake using this tutorial. We wrapped the snake around the apple and added a ribbon for hanging.

Wild One joined us today and colored two ornaments. I mounted them on scrapbook paper and added a ribbon for hanging.



Click here to see our other Jesse Tree ornaments

Our Jesse Tree

Have you heard of a Jesse Tree? It was new to me when I stumbled upon it at 1+1+1=1. I followed her links to the (free) e-book at Feels Like Home. I was in love! I try to create a handmade ornament with the kids every day during December. What a better way to combine our tradition with the true meaning of the season?

If Jesse Trees are new to you too, there is a great description in the e-book. Simply, it's a way of celebrating advent by highlighting a bible story each day starting at creation and leading up to the birth of Christ. Each day's story is then represented by an ornament.

Pinky, Chaos and Wild One each have their own mini Christmas tree in their rooms (like these from Walmart). We decided these would be our Jesse trees. We are using the free e-book and Pinky's Beginner Bible for our Jesse Tree adventure.

Today we read Genesis and made our first ornament - the Earth and stars. (I decided to do different ornaments for Wild One, I'll get to those in a minute).



To make these ornaments, we first cut out a square of black foam and glued an Earth on it (don't those continents look exact? ;)). We added stars using glitter glue and silver sequins. To finish we punched a hole in the top and added a ribbon. I think they turned out really cute!

I wanted Wild One to be included in this activity, but I wanted to do something that she could be more hands on with (instead of me making the ornament FOR her). I found the idea of printing out coloring sheets (I'm using cardstock) and mounting on scrapbook paper from Christmas Your Way. I'm going to combine the printables on that site with the ones I found here at Catholic Icing. Wild One took an extra long nap today (I'm not complaining!) so she'll start her ornaments tomorrow.

Our plan is to do an ornament (or 2) each day. I'll do a post for each of them. I also have some other winter/Christmas fun crafts for this month. I can't wait to share them with you!

Pompom Garlands and Christmas trees

As a final touch to the kids' Christmas trees this season we made pompom garlands. I gave them each a blunt tip needle with a double strand of embroidery floss. We had a large assortment of pompoms to use, and we found that some were easier to thread than others. Pinky had no issues doing this project on her own while Chaos needed help with the harder poms (they had a more solid middle than the others). I had him tell me the color of his poms as he handed them to me and we sorted them by size as we worked. This was a fun activity to do while watching a Christmas movie together.

And now that the last of the ornaments have been made and hung on the trees, the only thing left is for Santa to visit. Here's a view of our trees, with the garlands we made, one last time before the big night.


Pinky's mini tree


Chaos's mini tree

Wishing you all a very Merry Christmas!

Salt Dough Ornaments

During our most recent blizzard (yikes!), we made salt dough Christmas ornaments to relieve our cabin fever. There are tons of tutorials and recipes out there, but the one we used was 2 cups of flour, 1 cup of salt and 1 cup of water.

Chaos and Pinky had a great time cutting out shapes (there's even a "snow plow" in there - how appropriate!). We painted them with acrylic paint and sealed them with two coats of Mod Podge. Even Daddy had a good time getting involved in this project.


Pinky's favorites. She made Rudolph, Clarice and Coach for her tree.


Chaos really wanted to use our truck cookie cutter so we call this one the snowplow.


Daddy's Michigan State ornament


Mommy's favorite - my snowman!


A look at all of the ornaments!

Glitter Yarn Ornaments

I tried a quick, but messy, ornament craft with the kids today. I found the tutorial here on scrumdilly-do. These really turned out cute, but were just impossible to photograph.

We had 3 different types/color of yarn cut to varying lengths. Chaos chose only blue yarn for his ornaments while Pinky preferred to to use all colors.

Here are the best pictures I could manage:

Felt and Fabric Christmas Ornaments

I found this tutorial at A Spoonful of Sugar. I used fabric scraps leftover from the busy bags I made this summer. I know the fabric isn't traditionally Christmas, but I love the bright fun colors. I couldn't resist using it!

I made one for each of the older kids to hang on the trees in their bedrooms. I may make one for Wild One too if time allows.


Pinky's heart


Chaos's star (he's using it as his tree topper)

Snowmen Ornaments for Kids

The kids wanted to make an ornament for their Christmas trees today. In honor of all the snow we've gotten this weekend, I decided that snowmen were a great idea! I found the idea here at Little Family Fun. We decided to make our snowmen just a bit smaller since they would be adorning small trees. I think they turned out cute!

Our snowmen (Pinky's is on the left and Chaos's on the right):

Our first Advent Ornament!

Tonight we made our first ornament of the season for the kids' Christmas trees. I picked up some jingle bells when Hobby Lobby had them 50% off. Let me say, the kids were IMPRESSED with the bells. They were so excited that they got to make something with them! We simply strung bells onto silver chenille stems and twisted them into a circle. It's a simple, no mess activity that really works on hand-eye coordination.

Pinky's finished jingle bell wreath (Chaos ran off with his before I could take a picture):

I think it would be super cute with a little red bow glued on the top too.

Ornamant Exchange

A message board that I post on semi-frequently had a handmade Christmas ornament exchange that I just had to be a part of. The rules were simple - you could buy $5 in supplies and had to send a handmade ornament or ornament set.

I had SO many ideas of what I wanted to send, but finally decided on a version of these adorable ornaments. I couldn't wait to post a picture, but had to wait until I knew they were received!

I found the canisters 50% off at Hobby Lobby (the last package too!). I added some scrapbook paper and embellishments and a ribbon for hanging. I love how they turned out. They're simple, but cute (I apologize for the poor picture, I was in a hurry to get them mailed):


Since my wonderful husband commented how much he liked them, I plan to make a few for our tree too!

Late or Early?

Okay, don't get mad, but I have a Christmas project to post. I'm either late or really, really early on this one.

Ever since I ordered Wild One's first Christmas ornament from the Land of Nod (a felt bird), I've been eager to try my hand at crafting some ornaments out of felt. Next Christmas we plan to put up a second tree in our (hopefully) finished basement. We want it to be a tree that the kids can decorate, touch, and rearrange without fear of broken ornaments. So, what better to decorate with than felt, right?

I saw this ornament on etsy and thought I'd try to make it myself (is that allowed/ethical?). I like the etsy version better, but still, I'm kind of fond of this one. I love all things robots and spaceships, so I crafted this little ornament for Chaos:


Well, I intended it for Chaos. Pinky took off with it to hang on her Christmas tree which is still up in her room (we *may* convince her it's time to pack it away before the 4th of July).

Hopefully this fulfills my urge for Christmas crafts for at least a few months. I have so many other felt projects I want to tackle...

Advent Ornaments, cont'd

Today we did made ornaments inspired by this post at No Time For Flashcards. I couldn't find adhesive backed foam, so we used glue with these. I think they turned out really cute! They were fun to make and even Chaos made one.

Advent Ornaments, cont'd

Today, Pinky decided to craft with her Daddy. They had a lot of fun and made some really great ornaments!


First, a prepackaged craft foam snowman


Next, more candy canes - this time with glittery pipe cleaners


After that, they got creative and made a tree topper and a star


And I had to get involved and helped make a snowflake


Finally, a picture of the tree with all of Pinky's ornaments so far.

Advent Ornaments, cont'd

After a great trip to the craft store, we have some new ornaments today!


I got the idea for this ornament from here: Twinkle Ornament Pinky wanted to use different sized pom poms (we had small and large) in all colors. I think it turned out cute! We did add craft glue to help the pom poms stick and to prevent the pins from popping out.


I also picked up some quick craft sticker ornament kits. Pinky had fun putting these together while the glue dried on her pom pom ornament.

Advent Ornaments, cont'd

Today we jumped back into making Christmas ornaments. We kept it simple. I cut basic bulb shapes from felt and had Pinky glue decorations to them. Very easy and quick.

Advent Ornaments, cont'd

While I was in the hospital, the kids stayed with friends of ours. While they were there, they made some cute Christmas ornaments. I thought I'd share them here.


Chaos's contact paper Christmas tree


Pinky's beaded wreath


Pinky's beaded snowman (I LOVE this one!)

Advent, Day One

Our first day making ornaments was a success! I may have been alluding myself thinking that making only one ornament a day would fly with Pinky! I presented her with several options today and she (as I expected) picked all of them.

First, we made pipe cleaner candy canes. This was simple, but Pinky did have trouble twisting them together. We did the traditional red and white and added some pink and purple for good measure.


After making the candy canes, Pinky decided they would look better as hearts. So we twisted a few to make heart shaped ornaments. Pinky called them "love ornaments."


Then, the pink and purple candy canes made her think of butterfly antennas. She decided we needed butterfly ornaments. I swear, she came up with this all on her own!



Finally, we made a Christmas tree out of craft sticks and some simple decorations.



Here's what the whole lot looked like when we were done. Six very different ornaments.


We might run out of tree before we run out of ornament ideas! I will try to take a picture of her tree about once a week so you can see how full of ornaments it gets!