sunday kids' craft and grandparent gift

Today's Sunday kids' craft also doubles as a Christmas gift.  And the best part is that you can still pull this off before the big day!  

All bapas and nanas . . . or whatever you call the grandmas and grandpas in your life . . . cherish memories with their grandchildren. When my girls were three years old and ten months old, we started working together with my brother's children to begin a memory book for grandma and grandpa. This is a simple book that kids – no matter what their age – can help with year after year.

This gift encourages your children to remember special moments with their grandparents and allows them to creatively express those memories on a special scrapbook page each year. They get to make their very own page.  Wrap it.  And give it . . . all by themselves.

Here's what you need:

• a scrapbook (You just need this for the first year you begin this gift-giving tradition.)

• various scrapbook supplies

• pictures from the year of special times with grandmas and grandpas

Here's what you do:
1) Print off pictures of your children and their grandparent from the current calendar year.

2) Allow them to pick out a few of their favorites.

3) Spread the scrapbook supplies out on the table and let the kids create their own memory page . . . just one per kid . . . for that year. Obviously, you will need to help cut or glue depending on your children’s ages and skill development, but try to allow them to do most of the work on their own. The beauty of this gift is not in perfection it’s in children making their own gifts for grandma and grandpa . . . gifts that will be cherished for years to come.

For the first year, give grandma and grandpa the wrapped book. And let children wrap their own pages and present them to grandma and grandpa when opening gifts.

Craft on!


**Have you checked out the DIY Life eZine yet?  Do it!  The DIY gals were kind enough to include these ideas of mine in this season's issue, and it is chocked full of other holiday ideas from other great bloggers.

Check out the great parties I may link to by clicking on the blog name below or visiting my "I like to party" page that shows off all the party buttons.  These gals go to a lot of work to host these parties.  If you participate in parties please take time to look through a variety of the projects linked up.  They are a great source of inspiration!


Weekend - Somewhat Simple Holiday Party, a little lovely, Craft Envy, Under the Table and Dreaming, Be Different Act Normal, A Vision to Remember, 504 Main - Tickled Pink, Funky Junk Interiors, Tatertots and Jello, I heart naptime


Monday - Keeping it Simple, Craft-O-Maniac, The Girl Creative, The Trendy Treehouse, CRAFT, Making the World Cuter, Mad in Crafts, Sumo's Sweet Stuff, Between Naps on the Porch, Tools Are For Women,  It's So Very Cheri, Skip to My Lou, Sew Can Do, Polly Want a Crafter


Tuesday - All Thingz Related, Sugar Bee, New Nostalgia, Creative Itch, Lucky Star Lane, Hope Studios, These Creative Juices, My Delicious Ambiguity, Today's Creative Blog-Get Your Craft On!,


Wednesday - It's So Very Cheri, Beyond the Picket Fence, Blue Cricket Design, Trendy Treehouse, Tea Rose Home, Someday Crafts, My Backyard Eden, Sew Much Ado, Night Owl Crafting


Thursday -  Fireflies and Jellybeans, Life As Lori, House of Hepworths, Somewhat Simple, Seven Thirty Three, The Train to Crazy, PonyTails and FishScales


Friday - The Sabby Nest, A Little Knick Knack, Fingerprints on the Fridge, It's Fun to Craft!, It's a Hodgepodge Life, Kojo Designs, Simply Sweet Home, Frou Frou Decor, Remodelaholic, Momma's Kinda Crafty

sunday kids' craft and classroom party audition: jingle bells

Welcome to classroom party craft audition THREE and Sunday Kids' Craft!  Two for one!  (Go here for audition ONE and here for audition TWO.)

By now you are seriously wonderful about my ability to make decisions.  I mean, who spends THIS MUCH TIME trying to pick a craft for a bunch of kindergartners? 

Me!  That's who!

Yesterday, we were stuck inside all day, and we spend about two hours of that at the table trying out crafts!  Most of the pics below are of me doing this particular craft because it's REALLY hard to get kids to pause in the middle of the steps for pictures.  But not only did my 5 year old make these bells, but my 2 year old did too.  So rest assured that these party crafts have been kid-tested and mother approved!  (I secretly LOVED every minute of our snowy day.  Snowed-in days are the best excuse to take a break from the world for a day!  And yes, we stayed in our pajamas ALL DAY LONG!  You can read a recap of our day here.) 
And here's number three:

Jingle Bells

Audition #3

Here’s what you need:

~an egg carton cut a part . . . each child will need two of those little egg cups

~one pipe cleaner per kid

~two bells per kid

~decorations - glitter glue, sequins, stickers, markers, etc.

Here’s what you do:

1) Poke small holes in the top of each egg cup.  I recommend that an adult does this part.  I used wooden skewers for this.  Someone gave us these as a wedding gift, and I'm pretty sure I've never actually used them for food.  I've used them for crayon ornaments, egg blowing and egg dying, and various other projects, but never as actual skewers.  You've got to get a set of these!

2)  Push the pipe cleaner down through one of the holes.

3)  Push the pipe cleaner through the opening at the top of the bell and pull it out about 1/4 of an inch or so.  Then twist this tail around the rest of the pipe cleaner to secure.   

4) Repeat with the other egg cup and bell.

5)  Decorate!

Done!

Hang these over a tree branch for a one-of-a-kind jingle bell ornament.  I made one of these in preschool 30ish years ago, and my mom still hangs it on their tree every year. 

I love these.  They aren't "perfect" or "polished" looking, but they are easy, allow for creativity and individuality.  (My girls picked mostly pink and blue decorations as much as I tried to influence them to pick the more traditional Christmas colors.  They like to put a their personality into every craft we do.)  And my 5 year old LOVED this one too.  She's been jingling her bells all day!

What do you think?  What's your first choice so far?  I have at least two more to audition before I make a final decision.  Weigh in!

Craft on!

This post is sponsored by Arise Shine Design!  Check this shop out for unique jewelry gifts.

finders keepers, losers weepers: behold . . . lightweight fusible interfacing!

Friday was the coldest day we've had in a century, and what did I do?  You might think I would stay inside with a cup of hot tea and enjoy the day.  You would be wrong.  I bundled the kids up, piled them in the car and went in search of lightweight fusible interfacing.  And behold . . . I found it.  Well, I didn't find it exactly.  I found featherweight fusible interfacing and light-to-medium fusible interfacing.  Nothing called simply . . . lightweight fusible interfacing.  Why would I expect this to be easy?  So I stood there like a horse with blinders on as my youngest started throwing everything in our cart onto the ground and my oldest started pulling her favorite fabric bolts off the shelf.  Of course, I could have asked someone for their expertise, but that would have been the easy thing to do.  Why would I do that when I can blindly choose one on gut instinct and experiment?  So after loading the cart up again and putting the bolts back on the shelf . . . the light-to-medium fusible interfacing is in my possession, and I plan to start on crayon roll number two sometime soon.  

In the mean time, I am teaching my oldest daughter to use a needle and thread.  For Christmas I put together a sewing basket just for her with a variety of age appropriate sewing projects and other sewing items.  She's been tinkering with the sewing cards and today we tackled her first project . . . a little coin purse.  About 45 seconds into the project she said, "This is hard.  My arms are tired."  But she persevered - with some prodding, and she did finish it - with some assistance.  Then she spent the next thirty minutes turning over every cushion, looking on every shelf, and peering into every bag looking for change to put in said change purse.  All she came up with was one lone penny - it was a plastic penny from the toy cash register.  Poor kid.  

I'd love to know if you have any patterns or suggestions for my next crayon roll.  A friend from the past mentioned that she makes her crayon rolls with placemats.  She called it the cheater method.  Truth be told the cheater method sounds right up my alley.  

Craft on!