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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O's Stocking is FINALLY Finished!

I embroidered O's stocking using a free pattern from Wee Wonderfuls (love that site!) months ago. Then I put it aside until just a few weeks ago. Thank goodness for Guh-guh! I told her how I wanted the stocking made, and she made it! I embroidered O's name at the top of the stocking, and Guh-guh did the rest :) Thanks, Guh-guh!


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Our stockings don't match, but they all have one thing in common...they were handmade with love by our mamas and grandmamas! This is my stocking. We had several different stockings as we were growing up, but this one was always my favorite :)

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This is Elliott's stocking (obviously!). His mom made it for him. His is MUCH smaller than mine and O's, so Santa can focus on ours :) Opening my stocking was always my favorite part of Christmas morning :)

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She LOVES Bubble Wrap!

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O has spent a lot of time popping the bubbles on the bubble wrap lately! She LOVES this, and it keeps her occupied for long periods of time :)

All She Wants for Christmas Is...

choc-choc (chocolate), kleenex, and bandaids. Hmmmmm. I could have saved myself a lot of time and money if I'd had this list a few months ago :)

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!

My Favorite Ornaments

I thought I'd share a few of my favorite ornaments. I love photo ornaments, and ornaments that have a story behind them :)
I made this ornament for O's 1st Christmas. I found the HUGE stocking at the dollar store, and we took LOTS of pictures of her laying on the couch in it before I was satisfied :) Then I cut out the picture, glued it to foam core board, cut it out with an x acto knife, decopaged it, and added a ribbon. It's a great keepsake, and O really loves it!

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This is O's 2nd Christmas photo ornament. I made it the same way that I made the first one. I need to start the 3rd one soon!

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We always try to buy an ornament when we travel, and this little wooden angel is from Poland. We bought her after hiking (and almost falling to our deaths) in the snowy mountains of Zakopane.

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This ornament came from Prague, which is one of our favorite cities. It opens and there is a tiny nesting doll inside.

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I love this felt frog. He came from Costa Rica where we also had a very scary experience. This was the trip that helped us decide to give up traveling to have a baby!

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We forgot to buy an ornament when we camped in Maine for our 2nd anniversary, so I had one made for Elliott for Christmas. This was our favorite vacation, and we can't wait to take O back one day!

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Here's our little tree. It's small and simple, but we love it :)

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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 :)