Tag Archives: christmas

Weekend Top 5

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I’m starting to think of my ‘Friday Favorites’ posts and my ‘Weekend Top 5′ posts as a before and after of sorts. Friday is filled with big dreams and expectations, and Sunday night is when I sort through and document the reality of how I spent my time. This weekend I’m going to claim success, as I knocked quite a few things off the list.

Here are a few scenes from a productive, if not a bit hectic, weekend:

Christmas at Legoland

A birthday celebration at Kent Rathbuns

Daddy’s band practice

Trifecta of goodness: Chocolate, butter, pistachios

And my favorite, snowglobes! More on that tomorrow.

Friday Favorites: A To-Do List

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Print by Lucy Snowe

Joslyn’s The List earlier this week really struck a cord with me. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve started such a list in the past couple of weeks. Crafts to make, sweets to bake, activities to do, gifts to buy. I guess I, too, am a planner. And with only 1 week left before Christmas and 2 weeks of vacation ahead of me, I am in full-on list making mode.

A few things on my list right now:

  • Making candy gifts for friends and coworkers, most likely a variation of this toffee recipe.
  • Decorating gingerbread houses. I would love to do something like this gingerbread and plaid combo as a centerpiece for our Christmas dinner
  • Going tubing in the snow – in Texas
  • Making our first snow globes
  • Printing our 2012 calendars. Last year we ordered a gorgeous one from Pinhole Press.
  • Baking and decorating cookies
  • Donating clothing, toys and books

Maybe I can check a few of these off this weekend. Happy weekend!

Fringed Paper Tree Village

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This craft is super easy and can be done with material you likely have on hand. The results are a bit quirky and fun. I started out thinking I would arrange them as a centerpiece on our kitchen table, but now I think I’ll use them for holiday gift wrap.

I started with a paper shopping bag (but any heavy weight paper will work) and cut a series of identically-sized triangles along the folded side of the bag. You can work with any size – I made most of mine about 2 inches in height.

I glued the sides together to create a 3-dimensional tree (or a rocket, as my son described it).

I painted the sides with white and green paint in a very messy manner.

Once the paint dried, I cut the edges to create the fringe.

I made a small batch to arrange on the table, but …

I think I’ll end up using them to wrap presents, like this:

Weekend Top 5: At Night

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I have a pretty good camera, but instead of taking advantage of all of the features and settings, I mostly shoot in automatic. I use the kids as an excuse – they move too quickly for me to be adjusting things – but, in truth, I just don’t like the results as much when I shoot in manual mode. I’m trying to change that, and this weekend I spent a bit of time getting better at ‘the camera.’ Low-light situations are especially hard for me, so I mostly focused on night shots – which includes early morning since my kids are up before daylight. In fact, a couple of my favorite shots are from this morning’s Candy Cane Hunt, which might just be a new annual tradition. My husband and I invented it as one of our advent calendar activities, but J+J loved it so much we’ll probably bring it back next year.

Mixed Media Wreath DIY

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This weekend we had a friend’s daughter over for the afternoon and I decided to organize a holiday craft activity to keep everyone entertained. This one took a bit of prep work, but it was definitely worth it.  Our friend’s daughter was incredibly creative, the “most creative person in her family,” as she explained to me,  and I think I got a peek into the future of what it will be like to work on arts and crafts with Jenna when she gets just a few years older. We had a great afternoon and I have to admit, I was more than a little psyched when she asked what I did “for work” and whether we did stuff like this at our house all the time.

Jenna and I started by cutting wreath shapes out of boxes and painting them apple green.

I prepped and assembled the wreath decorations: felt and fabric leaves, pom poms, pipe cleaners, ribbon (we also had a stash of green paper). You can pretty much use anything you have on hand – buttons, beads, yarn, etc.

We glued the decorations to the wreaths.

Once they were sufficiently covered, we let them dry. (We used A LOT of glue).

Jenna and I hung our wreaths on the office doors, and our new friend was very happy to take home hers home.

DIY Advent Calendar (and Printables)

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We’ve never had an advent calendar, but this seemed like the perfect year to start the tradition. Jason and Jenna are constantly asking ‘how many days until …’ so the advent calendar will provide a built-in answer to several of their most pressing concerns (how many days till Grandma, how many days till Santa, etc.).

I decided to make our own calendar this year, but if I lived closer to a Crate and Barrel (or if it wasn’t a couple of days until December 1st), I’d probably buy this one. Instead, I’m making an easy, activity-based calendar out of gift wrap/craft supplies that I have on hand.

I started by decorating a series of 4 x 2.5 inch kraft bags. Then I printed a set of numbers using Ecolier font, cut them into 1 inch circles using a paper punch and glued them to the bags. I arranged the bags in a grid on a piece of foam board (I still need to glue them, and, hopefully, arrange them in perfectly straight lines), and inside each bag, I plan to place a small card with an activity on it. For example: decorate a gingerbread house, go see Christmas lights, unwrap a bedtime book, etc.

Is anyone else working on a last-minute advent calendar? I’ve posted my numbers here and a template for the activity cards here. I recommend printing each on an 8 1/2 x 11 piece of cardstock or vellum.

Here’s a look at my work in progress:

Templates:

Graffiti Gift Wrap

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What fun this was! I had no idea when I taped half a roll of gift wrap to the floor and put out a few paint brushes, stamps and a selection of paint that J+J would be so thrilled. I was hoping to have enough gift wrap for grandma and grandpa’s presents, but based on the painting party that ensued, I think I could wrap nearly everything under the tree with their designs.

Here’s how the scene went down:

Glass, Paper, Glitter: DIY Ornaments

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We’re putting up our Christmas tree soon, and while there’s no shortage of ornaments waiting to adorn it, I like to make a few new ones every year. Last year, Jenna and I made these clay glitter ornaments, but now that she’s older, we’re trying out something a little more advanced (advanced = messy and breakable).

We started with a box of clear glass ball-shaped ornaments, decorative paper, glue, glitter, tape and a Xyron sticker machine.

Design #1: Paper Lines

I started by cutting decorative paper into large strips (approximately 1″ x 12″) and running them through a Xyron sticker machine to give them an adhesive backing. Next, I cut these into extremely thin strips of paper.
I removed the adhesive backing from the thin strips of paper and wrapped them around the glass balls, letting the paper overlap in places. 

I continued to wrap the strips until I ended up with a design that I liked. I used approximately 5 strips per ornament.

Design #2: Polka Dots

I used some of the leftover paper with the adhesive backing to create confetti with a hole punch.

I removed the adhesive backing and placed the dots on the ornament.

Design #3: Glitter

Now here’s the messy part …

I started by placing strips of Martha Stewart masking tape around several ornaments. 

I painted a thin layer of glue around the center part of the ornament and then let Jenna go to town with the glitter. I used a shallow pan to catch the excess glitter. Surprisingly, very little glitter ended up on the floor.I threaded yarn through the top of the ornaments and then taped the yarn to the side of a table while the glue dried.Once the glue was dry, I removed the tape. I’m not sure if it’s because I didn’t press down hard enough on the tape or if we just put too thick a layer of glitter on the ornaments, but the tape did not come off neatly. As a result, our lines are a little “organic.”