Quick and Easy Kidmade Christmas Cards!

**These are the cards we made last year!  Not sure what we will do this year yet!**

Nothing fancy, just cute, kidmade cards!
We got some Christmas sponges the other day at Hobby Lobby and decided to use them to make Christmas cards! 

What we used:

Christmas Sponges: on sale for $1.49
(these would be easy to make - just buy a sponge and cut it into the shape you want)

Tempera Paint

Cardstock

Plastic plate for the paint

No instructions needed for making these cards!!

And the finished product:

I love that the tree is so crooked!! It's truly her creation!!

Have you been doing any Christmas crafts with your kiddos?  Please share!!  I'm looking for ornament ideas!!

Homemade Christmas Gift........Family Picture Matching Game

While looking for some cute crafts to make for Christmas this year, I ran across this tutorial from My Little Gems for a matching game using our family pictures!  My girls LOVE to play their matching games and to have one with their pictures....perfect!  Also, inexpensive and easy to make!

Here's what you're going to need:

*Wood Rectangle Shapes (4pk) from Hobby Lobby @ $.99 each - These are in packs of 4 so you'll need a few packs depending on how many cards you are making.  Unfinished wood products do go on sale for 30% off .
*Acrylic Paint - The 2oz paints are on sale at Hobby Lobby this week for 30% off.  The Anita's Acrylic is just $.67 regular priced!
*Scrapbook paper - Also on sale at Hobby Lobby for 50% off!  Regular price for the 12x12 sheet is just $.59! 
*Mod Podge - I got the small container for $4.99 (I think).  Use a 40% off coupon on this one as it doesn't go on sale.  You will have plenty left for other projects!  I'm using it to decorate clipboards for Cailynn's teachers!  Another project I will share with you!
*Sponge Brush - Hobby Lobby has packages of these for $.99.  You can use a brush that you have at home as well!
*Scissors or a Cutter of some sort - whatever you have at home!

Now it's time to make them!!
*Some of the edges of the wood shapes are a little rough so you may want to sand them.  You could also just pick off the stray pieces.  This step is entirely up to you and the shape of your wood pieces.

*Paint the edges of the wood shapes.  You won't need to paint the entire thing because it will be covered.

*Cut your scrapbook paper into small rectangles.  I didn't use exact measurements, just estimated.  I used my cutter but scissors would be just fine!

*Brush a thin layer of Mod Podge (as an adhesive) on the back of the scrapbook paper (or on the wood piece) and place it on the wood piece.  Place it on slowly and make sure to smooth out the bubbles right away.  Let it dry for about 30 minutes.  This step is important......trust me.  When I didn't let it dry, it bubbled up quite a bit.

*Once it has dried, brush a thin layer of Mod Podge over the same side to seal it.  You will want to get the Mod Podge on both the wood and the paper. 

*Once that side has dried, you will do the same thing on the other side but with the picture.  I used regular printer paper for the pictures and they turned out great!  I printed them as a wallet size.  Used my cutter to cut them (scissors would be just fine). 

A few extra notes:
*You can certainly do this on paper and laminate it or a few other variations but the wood pieces are really nice. 
*I did buy the wood shape packages one at a time with a 40% coupon so that helped me save quite a bit.  But I also happen to be there quite a bit.
*Use what you have on hand - scrapbook paper, paint, etc

This was a really easy craft to do!  Took just an evening!  Grab the folding table, set it up in front of the tv and put a movie in!  You'll be done in no time!

Don't Want to Spend Lots on Wrapping Paper.......

**This post is from last year but we've still been making wrapping paper for this Christmas as well!  Just can't bring myself to pay for something when I can do it for close to FREE and it turns out SO cute!!**

Make your own!  That's what the girls and I did earlier this week!

I was sorting through all of the stuff that had piled up in our hallway and found the box that my One Kings Lane order came in (did you get yours?).  For stuffing they used brown paper.  I pulled it out and saw that it would be perfect for wrapping paper!  Of course, plain brown paper is boring so the girls helped to change that!!

Everything that we used were things that we had on hand.

*Newspaper to cover the floor - I actually taped it down to the dining room floor!

*Brown paper - reused from packaging (you could also use newspaper)

*Tempera paint - we use this often for projects

*Paintbrushes - nice to have on hand!

*Plastic plate - we just rinse and reuse for other painting projects

I was not worried about Cailynn.  We use paint quite a bit and she is always very careful!  Just put an apron on her just in case!

Ellie is another story!  I stripped her down to her diaper and put an apron on her!  She had it all over the apron (and in her ear) but I, surprisingly, didn't find it anywhere else!

I think it turned out great and I'm sure it will be a hit at Christmas!

Save Money on Cards!!

Do you pay attention to the price of cards or do you just grab one on the way to a birthday party or wedding?  Some cards are $4.99 or higher!  Why not make your own or have you kiddos make one.  Not only are they cheaper but they are much more meaningful!

Cailynn made these cards for her cousins.  The candle (cut out by Cailynn) and cake were cut from some fingerpaintings she had done.  And the handwriting and spelling are all Cailynn!

 

And here's the Father's Day card we made for Daddy this year!

So put those kiddos to work!!

Father's Day Gift Idea: Homemade Paperweight

Find some large rocks, paint them and decorate them!! The girls have had so much fun with this project. Give your kiddos some buckets and head out to search for large rocks.

(Don't you just love the concentration!)

Paint them a solid color. We picked orange and black as the base color for the rocks we will be giving to my dad for his office. This is actually a dual project - Father's Day gifts and to outline our flower garden!

 

Once the base color has dried, decorate with cotton swabs! The cotton swabs made it so much easier for the girls to decorate.

This is one of the rocks we will be using for our garden. We haven't finished the orange and black rocks yet but I wanted to give you an idea before Father's Day arrived!!

Supplies: tempera paint, paintbrushes, cotton swabs, rocks, finishing spray to protect the paint

Sock Monsters!!!

Aren't these just the cutest little creatures!?!  My sister in law, Danielle, made these for the girls for Christmas and I just had to share!  And if you are interested in learning how to make your own sock monster, check out this great website with a detailed how-to (and pictures)!

And Danielle included these modifications:#1. I didn't use yarn b/c I didn't think it was a tight enough seam to keep the stuffing in. Plus you could see the yarn and I didn't like that. I'm sure they used yarn so kids can sew them. You could actually probably sew them w/ a sewing machine, but I did them by hand.

#2. I liked the smaller ones better than the really big ones. I used knee high socks b/c the only other option that I had was the really short ones. The mid-calf socks I found were much more expensive and not nearly as cute of designs. I bought the socks from Target so they were inexpensive.

Thanks, Danielle!

Have Broken Crayons Laying Around the House?

Don't throw them away!  Make Muffin Tin Crayons!  They're easy to make and they don't cost a lot!!

What you'll need:

crayons (old, broken)

foil muffin liners

Just peel off the paper from the crayons.  Sounds easy and it is....for the most part.  Some of those papers do not want to come off!  Place them, by color, into the muffin tins.

Put in the oven heated at around 250 degrees until the crayons have melted.  Pull them out and let them cool completely.

Once the crayons have cooled, peel off the foil liners.  Place in a bag - I had no treat bags so I just grabbed some Ziploc bags and cut the top off.  Add a bow and a coloring book and it makes a great gift!

Huge thanks to Life as Mom for this great idea!!

Homemade Hula Hoops

Photo Courtesy of A Few Short Cuts

Looking for some inexpensive, homemade gift ideas for Christmas this year.  My friend, Amanda over at A Few Short Cuts, made these adorable hula hoops!  What a great gift idea for your kids, grandkids, nieces and nephews or even the neighbor kids!

Be sure to check out Amanda's post on how easy it is to make these!!