Christmas Crafts

OK, so this post is a little late.  But I thought I would tell you about the homemade crafts/gifts we made this Christmas.  I got to make a lot of them with Julie and really enjoyed the fact that she is now old enough to do some things on her own.

Ornament Wreath

I made two of the popular ornament wreaths.  Once I hot glued everything, it was very easy.  I hung them in my front windows on either side of my tree.  (I had saved the link and was going to link up the directions, but apparently the link doesn't work any more.  Sorry.  If you want the tutorial, tell me in the comments and I'll email it to you.)

Advent Calendar

One of my new additions to the festivities this year.  You can find my directions here.

No Sew Blanket

Unfortunately I didn't get a picture of this before we gave it away.  Every year I struggle to come up with something to give my husband's grandmother.  This year we decided on a fleece no-sew blanket. I let Julie pick out the colors (they included pink, of course).  And she helped cut the fringes and she tied almost all of them together herself!  She was so excited to give her gift and Mamaw Ruby (as we call her) was just as excited to open it.

Creative Crayons

I got this idea here at Living with Lindsay's site.  

We took regular crayons, depapered them (is that even a word??), broke them up and put them in a cookie sheet, then melted them in the oven and made new crayon shapes.  The plan was for the kids to give them away to their friends, but snow happened and we never gave them away.  But, hey, there's always next year.

 

Lowes Kid's Workshops/Crafts

So, I guess technically this may not be a craft,  but maybe.  Anyway, we have discovered the Lowe's children's worshop series and we LOVE them.  They are free entertainment on Saturday morning, give us lots of junk treasures to fill up dresser tops with and teach fine motor skills to little hands.  The kids get free aprons and patches every week for the projects they complete.  And they have little, kid-sized hammers to use.  Over Christmas, we made a wooden gingerbread house and wooden ornaments.  My favorite project was the bank they made this past Saturday.

 

 

 

 

 

We had so much making new stuff this year.  I'm on the lookout for some Valentine's crafts we can try as well.  If you have links to any great, kid-friendly V-day crafts, feel free to tell me about them.  Thanks!