Painted Glass Ornaments

O and I had fun making painted glass ornaments again this year.

To make these ornaments you need clear glass ornaments with removable tops and craft paint. I removed the tops, and O squeezed the paint into the ornament. She twirled the ornament around to let the paint spread. After a few minutes, we added another color. We used lime green and hot pink paint in these ornaments since they are gifts for her dance teachers, and the dance studio's colors are pink and green. This was fun, easy, and quick, and the ornaments look great!

A Gingerbread Cottage Felt Board Scene

Here's another oldie, but goodie (originally posted in December 2008).


Photo Sharing - Video Sharing - Photo Printing
I admit it...I'm obsessed with making things out of felt :) Sadly, I was much more impressed with the felt gingerbread village than O was, so I decided to make a 2d gingerbread scene for her felt board.
I love making felt board scenes. They come together so quickly and easily, and it's nice to finish a project in one sitting :) I admit that I'm still using cheap felt, and I've realized that ecospun felt (made from recycled plastic bottles) is MUCH better quality that typical cheap felt. It's thicker and it doesn't shed (so far). I'd like to make the switch to wool blend felt, but I just haven't done it yet :)

"Thing Finder" Necklaces

I love the Bug Catcher necklaces made by Whimsy Love, and I decided these necklaces would be great gifts for O and I to make for her cousins and friends for Christmas.

We decided to call our necklaces "Thing Finder" necklaces since we recently read Pippi Longstocking and have enjoyed being "Thing Finders" when we go on walks. To make these necklaces you need stretchy elastic cord, plastic toy capsule, beads, and a thumbtack. I adapted the necklace a little (from Whimsy Love's tutorial) to make it a little safer...I'm paranoid about the possible strangulation hazard of O having things around her neck. I decided to use thin, stretchy elastic cord instead of beading cord. It's not as durable, but I think it will break easily if it gets caught on anything. Therefore, eliminating the risk of strangulation. To make the necklace, I started by puncturing holes in the lid of the plastic capsule with a thumbtack. I made 2 of the holes bigger than the rest and threaded the elastic cord through these holes (this was the most difficult part of the process) making the elastic cord equally long on each side. We then started putting the beads on the elastic cord. Once each side was full, I tied the two sides together, and it was done!

These necklaces were so easy and so much fun to make. O lost interest fairly quickly, but she did help enough to have a little ownership in the process which was my goal. O and my niece both LOVE their necklaces, and I hope the other little girls and boys will love theirs, too.

Paint Your Own Dollhouse

I've put together a "Paint Your Own Dollhouse" kit for a couple of little girls on our list this year. Included in the kit are an unfinished dollhouse (it's marketed as a cd holder and sold in the unfinished wood section at Michael's), a family of unfinished peg dolls, and craft paint. I hope the little girls who receive this gift will have lots of creative fun with it!

Peppermint Bark

O and I made peppermint bark for her dance teachers Friday afternoon. We had a lot of fun, and it was very yummy!

We started off with trying to break the peppermints into bits. I planned on hammering them, but I couldn't find a hammer. We put them under a kitchen towel and beat them with a Kleen Kanteen, but that didn't work. Next, we took them out of the wrappers and chopped them in the chopper. It worked perfectly!

We used Wilton's meltable white chocolate, and I melted it in the microwave. I poured the chocolate on a sheet of waxed paper (that was really an unfolded and washed cereal bag). We spread the chocolate out with a spoon and sprinkled the peppermint pieces on top. After we finished, we enjoyed licking the spoon and bowl (that chocolate is expensive, so we couldn't waste a drop!).

After the chocolate hardened, I broke it into pieces and put it in gift bags for O's dance teachers. This was a fun, easy, and delicious homemade gift!

Advent Snowflake Activity

Edit to add: A couple of readers pointed out that borax may be a dangerous substance. I had no idea, and I'm so disappointed because this was such a fun and easy activity. Luckily, O didn't actually touch the borax. Although she did touch the snowflake after it was finished. I guess we won't be making silly putty anymore because I think that it has borax in it, too :( Here is the link to read more about this.

I really like the idea of linking O's daily advent book with her daily advent activity, and Snowflake Bentley was the perfect book with which to start this new tradition. After reading the book, O, Elliott, and I made a crystallized snowflake ornament.

First, I made the snowflake using a white pipe cleaner. Then Elliott took over while I nursed and rocked the baby. He helped O measure and pour 4 and a half tablespoons of borax into a glass bowl. He then boiled a cup and a half of water in the microwave and poured it in the glass bowl and stirred. O put blue food coloring in the mixture. Elliott put a jar lid at the bottom of the bowl and balanced the snowflake on top of the lid. (Use 3 tablespoons of borax for every cup of boiling water. Our container needed 1.5 cups of water to completely cover the snowflake, so we used 4.5 tablespoons of borax.)

We let it sit for 24 hours before removing the snowflake from the water. We were all very impressed with our beautiful snowflake ornament, and I think we'll make more of these to give as gifts.

This was a great activity that combined arts and crafts, science, and fun!

I'm Hooked...

E is looking cozy in the Beco while wearing her new mama knitted hat (knitted on a circle loom). I've made 4 infant hats, 2 child sized hats, 1 adult hat, and 1 scarf. I'm hooked! Next on my list is another scarf (I hope my teenaged nieces appreciate the many, many hours of work that are going in to their Christmas gifts!) and probably a few more hats for my girls. I've gotten quite good at nursing while knitting. It's so nice to knit while watching E's beautiful and peaceful face while she drinks her milkies :)

"A Disaster of Beads"

For our 1st advent activity O and I made a winter beaded bracelet (using snowman beads and silver Christmas trees) and beaded necklaces (more on that later). We poured all of the beads onto the floor, and O said "we have a DISASTER of beads!" She had a great time making her bracelet and sorting the beads by color. I'm excited that she is enjoying beading so much, and I know it's something that we'll do more often now that she is older

Another Handmade Gift For Grandparents

We try to make all of the gifts for O and E's grandparents since handmade gifts are the best, especially for grandparents :) Canvases painted by O are much loved gifts that are easy to make, and O is always so proud to give the gift of her artwork.

O used washable tempera paint (the paint she uses at her easel) and painted on a 5 X 7 canvas.

A List Poem Gift

O's Grandaddy Harry had a birthday recently, and O wrote a list poem for him. She adores her Grandaddy Harry, and she was excited to write a poem for him. I typed as she dictated the poem to me. She was ready to stop after the first 6 lines, so I asked her a couple of leading questions to help her think of a few more lines. She chose the color for the words, and I printed the poem for her to illustrate. We framed the poem, and she was SO proud to give it to her Grandaddy.

The idea for writing list poems came from Amy at Let's Explore. We've enjoyed writing several list poems over the last month, and I'm looking forward to hearing more of O's poems in the future. (The clothes pin in the picture is covering O's name).

My 1st Knitted Hat!

One of my New Year's Resolutions was to learn to knit, and last night I finally learned! I knitted a hat while mom and I watched Gray's Anatomy (I find the show very annoying, so I was glad to have something to do). I admit that I cheated a little and used a Knifty Knitter. I was excited and surprised by how easy it was to knit a hat. I just wish I'd made the hat a little bigger! It fits O's baby dolls perfectly, and next time I'll make one big enough for O or E :)

O has been reminding me for months that I'm supposed to be learning to knit (how in the world did she remember that?!!!), so she was excited to see me knitting. I'm looking forward to teaching her to use the knifty knitter soon.

What We've Been Up To...

making handmade Christmas gifts, of course! My mom has been busily sewing a very special quilt for E. I chose, cut, ironed, and arranged the squares, and she is sewing it all together. I may try sewing a little myself, but I'm always afraid that I'll ruin it since I have trouble sewing a straight seam. Hopefully, we'll finish the quilt very soon...I've been planning this quilt since long before I was pregnant with E, and it's exciting to finally see it coming together.

Christmas Dollhouse Pillowcase

Ranee from Ranee Day Crafts sent us this amazing pillowcase dollhouse to play with and review. I love all dollhouses and making an interactive dollhouse out of a pillowcase is such an original and innovative idea.


The dollhouse pillowcase is completely handmade, and each one is original (I prefer for my kiddos to have original, creative, handmade toys rather than mass produced factory toys). When I unwrapped the dollhouse, I was impressed with all of the detail work. (It must have taken FOREVER to sew!) The front of the dollhouse opens to four rooms. You can roll it and tie it with ribbons while you play and button it closed when you are done playing. The dollhouse features 4 rooms...a bedroom, bathroom, living room, and kitchen. The kitchen has a refrigerator that opens, and it is filled with tiny food...cupcakes, grapes, and bananas.

O was very excited to see the gingerbread men cookies on the kitchen counter along with the potted poinsetta by the stove. The living room has a Christmas tree, and O said that the stockings hanging from the fireplace are one of her favorite parts of the house. The bathroom has a bathtub with a fuzzy towel, a pedestal sink, and mirror. The bedroom is my favorite part of the house. The beds have quilted bedspreads with O and E's initials on them.

The dollhouse pillowcase comes with a hand painted peg doll who is super cute. O also immediately moved her miniature wooden family into the house. O loves to tuck her dolls in the beds at night. The dollhouse pillowcase zips onto a pillow, and when O is not playing with it, I just zip the wooden dolls into the pillowcase to keep everything together.

The dollhouse pillowcase folds up nicely, so it is great for travel. O has also enjoyed taking it in the car unfolded with a pillow in it. She sat it on her lap for the whole ride, and she could either play or rest on it :) We are going on vacation in a few weeks and this dollhouse is one of the only toys we'll take with us (other than books and a pack of new puzzles).

O is ready to go with this fun, handmade toy!

There are only a couple of these dollhoses in the shop, so if you want a one of a kind, handmade gift for your child, you need to act quickly!

Homemade Window Paint

O and I recently made window paint, and she has had a great time with it! To make the window paint, I put baby wash into 3 containers (ketchup containers from WM). We then put a couple of tablespoons of powdered tempera paint in each container and shook. Easy enough!

The paint was somewhat translucent, but O didn't mind at all! She had a fantastic time. After she was finished, I just sprayed the window and O with the water hose, and we were good to go :)

I think this will make a fun handmade gift! (I wish I'd bought more of these baskets!) We're also planning to try the paint in the bathtub. I'll let you know how it goes :)

Handprint & Footprint Artwork

O and I painted canvases to make art using her and Ema's handprints and footprints. 1st we painted the canvases.

O pressed her hands onto her canvas to make handprints. Then we pressed Ema's feet onto her canvas to make footprints. I thought that Ema would be a little upset about this especially since we were interrupting her nap, but she didn't seem to mind at all :) Maybe she's already getting used to having painted feet!



Here are our finished canvases. Ema's footprints and handprints are very hard to see, so we may make another one using a darker background color. I'm sure we can find a grandparent to give this canvas a good home :)