Merry Christmas with Christmas Carols!

The children all wanted to sing Chrismtas carols as their present to our family and friends this year.

Gabriella and Isabella:


Gabriella:


Isabella:


Isabella:


Connor (with a song he spontaneously made up for the occasion):


Kayla & Connor (Connor didn't think he culd remember the words without Kayla's help.):


Cameron (He insisted on joining in even though he doesn't really know any songs by heart yet.):


Cameron:



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Make Your own Faux Fireplace

When our family moved into this new house of ours, we were pleased to have more space, but one thing we didn't have anymore was a fireplace. With Christmas coming, the children were very concerned about their not being a fireplace for hanging the stockings onto or for Santa to magically appear through.

He rolled the sides of the cardboard to give it edging and to help it stand upright.

He cut the A4 paper in half and glued it on as "bricks" for the fireplace. He used the yellow and orange tissue paper to create the flames of the "fire."

He even created some logs for the fire by rolling up some shorter pieces of cardboard.

He rolled and then flattened the roll of some cardboard to make the mantle above the fireplace.

He says it would have been even better if he had painted it and added a vine-styled garland across the top of it, but I think it turned out pretty great as it is!

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Make your Own Popsicle Stick Butterfly Ornament

These butterflies can be made in a wide range of styles depending on the talent of the person painting them. The above photo was of a butterfly painted by a seven year old child.

This is really easy to do and all you need is some acrylic paint, popsicle sticks, gitter and a small piece of yarn.

First, you lay four popsicle sticks side by side. You can put a tiny bit of glue between the sticks (on their sides) to help them stay together.

Then you glue four more popsicle sticks, side by side, across the previous four at an angel (forming the two wings of the butterfly).

Next you glue one popsicle stick across both layers down the middle for the body of the butterfly.

When the glue dries, you paint the butterfly, adding colors and glitter to create the look you want. Allow it to dry.

Once your butterfly is dry, add two posts of glue on the backside at the tops of the wings. Affix one end of the yarn to each side and keep in place until the yarn feels firmly glued in place.

Wait a while to give it time to set even further. And then you are finished!

These butterflies make pretty Christmas tree ornaments and also make pretty Spring decorations for hanging around the house. They can also be affixed to gifts as an added personal touch to gifts.




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Make Your Own Christmas Tree Ornaments

Some of our most cherished ornaments that we hang on our Christmas tree each year are the ones that the children made themselves. It makes our tree unique and adds a bit of sentimentality to our decorating of it each year. I thought I'd share a couple of the methods we used for the children to make their own Christmas tree ornaments so that you could do the same.








Make your own ornaments out of homemade clay using cookie cutters and acrylic paints. You can make homemade clay using flour, salt and water.

-Roll it out until it is about ½ inch thick. Get out cookie cutters, preferably Christmas-themed, and your child can cut make as many as they can fit onto the surface.

-Using a sharp pencil, poke a small hole through the top of each one.

-Once these are done baking until they are hardened, paint them all white on both sides using white acrylic paint.

-When the paint dries, your child can use different colors of acrylic paints to make each ornament colorful and unique.

-When the ornaments are dried, put a tiny ribbon or string through the holes in the top of each one and tie it into a loop.

Now the ornaments are ready to either be hung on the tree or to be wrapped as presents.

Note, when not hanging on the Christmas tree, these ornaments need to be stored in an airtight and dry environment or the clay can become very crumbly.

Salt Clay

Ingredients
2 cups plain flour
1 cup salt
1 to 1 ½ cups cold water
2 tbsp vegetable oil

Directions
-Stir ingredients together. Knead it together well until it forms a soft ball.
-Cut out the cookie shapes.
-Bake in the oven at 300F for an hour or until hard.





You can also make tiny bell ornaments out of egg cartons, pipe cleaners, paint and bells.

-Cut the bumps out of the egg cartons.

-Poke a hole through the top of each one.

-Using pipe cleaners, create loops through the “bells” to hang them from your Christmas tree, sliding jingle bells through the loops on the inside of the egg carton “bells.”

-Let your child paint and decorate them.

Now they are ready to hang on your Christmas tree!

This post is part of Get Your Craft On Tuesday at Today's Creative Blog.

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