Felt Gingerbread Cookie Making Kit

For O's 12th advent activity, we had a treasure hunt to find a special handmade gift :) The 1st note sent her to the ottoman where she found another note (Elliott read the notes to her). That note sent her to the sliding glass door by the stairs. She pulled the curtain back to find the note on the door. Then she headed to her seat at the table. There was a note stuck to the bottom of her seat which directed her to the pots and pans cabinet. When she opened the cabinet door, she found her special prize! O didn't really understand the treasure hunt at 1st, but once she understood what we were doing she LOVED it. I plan on having a couple of more treasure hunts for her to find handmade gifts for advent.

O's special prize is a felt gingerbread cookie making kit! I've seen sugar cookie kits similar to this on etsy and at various online shops, and I couldn't wait to make one for O. It was easy to make, but it did take a while. I did all of the sewing by hand, which I really enjoyed (I'm still a little intimidated by the sewing machine!).

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Here are the freshly baked and decorated gingerbread girl and boy. I'd planned to embroider the details, but then I realized that it would be MUCH easier, faster, and would look more like icing if I painted the details with puff, fabric paint! O immediately took these cookies to her play kitchen :)

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Guh-guh quickly made a coordinate gingerbread man drawstring bag for storing the gingerbread making kit before she left our house this morning. Thanks, Guh-guh!

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Christmas Crafts with Guh-guh

Guh-guh and O had fun making Christmas crafts for O's 11th day advent activities. They had a busy day!
They started their day of crafts by pushing whole cloves into an orange. This is one of the crafts that we did every year when we were kids, and we always loved it :)

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Mmmmmm. It smells good!

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After O's nap, they colored a picture and decorated a t-shirt by making a Christmas tree using O's handprint. O LOVES to make things using her handprints, and we've done A LOT of that lately while making handmade gifts (more on that later).

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What a fun way to jazz up an old t-shirt! O is VERY proud of her shirt :)

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Thanks, Guh-guh, for crafting with my girl and for taking pictures!!!

A Felt Gingerbread Boy Activity

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For O's 10th day advent activity, we did this felt gingerbread boy activity. This activity is identical to the snowman and turkey felt activities, just with a gingerbread boy :)

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I showed O how to dress the gingerbread boy to make him match the picture. However, she was not interested in copying the picture AT ALL. She wanted to dress him her own way, which was fine, of course :) (Just in case you happen to notice...O is wearing a leotard because she was a "baby balla-eena" and I was the "mama balla-eena." She really wants me to get a leotard!)

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She asked for the snowman after we played with the gingerbread boy for a while. She insisted that he have legs!

A Felt Gingerbread Village

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I'm so excited about this felt gingerbread village! I've wanted to make a felt gingerbread house since I saw one last Christmas, but I didn't know how to get started. I was thrilled when I saw the village and directions in Family Fun magazine. This time I did follow the directions (for the most part anyway)! I was happy with how quickly this came together. I made the houses during O's nap yesterday, the trees last night, and then I cut out all of the decorating pieces during today's nap. I hope she likes it as much as I do!

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To make the gingerbread houses,you need brown felt, glue, an empty milk carton, and white ric rac. I cut the bottom third off of my carton so it wouldn't be so tall. 1st cut the top lip off of the carton. I also had to cut off the plastic pouring spout, which was easier to do than I anticipated.

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Then I just laid the milk carton on the felt to draw my pattern. I cut the felt and glued it to the carton. It looks nicer if you let your felt overlap a little on the roof and on the sides (but not the bottom). Oh, you also need cardstock for your roof. It's easier to add the ric rac BEFORE you glue on your room, btw :)

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I used a small half and half box for the small cottage. I should have used smaller ric rac, but I didn't realize that until I'd glued it all on. To make the trees, I used styrofoam tree forms that are covered in green felt. I cut a 9 inch square since my trees are 6 inches tall. Then I wrapped the tree in the felt diagonally, cut the excess felt off the bottom, and glued the overlap (and also cut off the excess here). (I didn't follow Family Fun's directions for that part) I added a cotton ball in the top to make the point. Then I mashed the point together, glued it, and held it together with a clothes pin. It's not perfect, but I love it :)

Charlie Brown's Christmas

For O's 8th day advent activity we all watched Charlie Brown's Christmas together. This was a special treat since O only watches tv on special occasions. She was very excited, and she enjoyed the show. Elliott and I weren't thrilled by the kids on the show calling each other "stupid," hitting, and just acting mean. Hopefully, O didn't notice those parts of the story :)

Baking with Mama and Daddy

For the 7th day advent activity, Elliott, O, and I baked sugar cookies. This was a lot of fun since we rarely all bake together. O's grandparents left a bowl of sugar cookie dough at our house, so that made this activity so much easier :) We had a great time making the cookies, and then Elliott and O had fun dunking the cookies in milk (like Santa Claus!) before they ate them (I was out in the garage painting O's doll cradle while they ate the cookies).

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Snowflake Window Clings

Our 6th advent activity was to make snowflake window clings using glitter glue. This activity was a dismal failure! The *idea* came from Family Fun magazine, but I didn't follow the directions :( I usually prefer to make up my own directions, and this time it backfired :) To make the window clings I spread out my version of wax paper (an unfolded, washed cereal box bag. I use this every time anything calls for wax paper!), and we squeezed the glitter glue onto the sheet in different designs. O was curious about the activity and helped make the designs for the first minute or so. Then she had a VERY unpleasant look on her face, and her nose was scrunched up. She declared that the glue "stinks!" She stood behind me holding her nose and wanted nothing more to do with the activity. O has an extremely keen sense of smell, so I figured I'd be able to smell the glue in 10 minutes or so. I was right, and so was she. It REALLY stank! I was a little shocked by the horrible smell, and Elliott was horrified :)

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I was able to convince O to come back to the table briefly, and I traced her hand with the glue. She'll usually participate in anything if it involves tracing or painting her hands :)

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You might can tell that the snowflakes turned hard and do not stick to the window at all. However, she can play with them since the smell is gone :) I know I read somewhere that you can use glue to make window clings, but evidently I used the wrong kind! I guess I'll follow the directions next time :)

Gingerbread Playdough

For O's day 5 advent activity, she and my mom made gingerbread playdough (I was at work again). It smells delicious, and they added food coloring and glitter, so it's very pretty. We LOVE homemade playdough!


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After making the playdough, Guh-guh had to go home,so O and Elliott took the kayak out for a spin on the lake :) I was not happy when I called to check on them, and Elliott told me that they had gotten close to a mama alligator and her babies!!! When he realized how upset I was, he quickly changed his story and said they weren't really close at all. I believed him after he showed me the pictures (from his phone). You couldn't even tell they were alligators. But I'd still rather my child not be ANYWHERE near alligators!


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Baking Cookies

For O's 4th advent activity, she and Guh-guh baked cookies (I was at work). They planned on baking gingerbread cookies, but they realized at the last minute that I didn't have the ingredients they needed. They improvised and baked peanut butter cookies. They had fun, and the cookies are yummy :)

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