Cinnamon Applesauce Ornaments

The day after Christmas, I yelled across the house in my happy Let's-Make-Something-Cool mom voice, "Who wants to make cinnamon ornaments?"

Peyton: "NOOOOOOO!"

Ella: "I do! I do!"

There you go.

I wanted to try out this recipe, even though cinnamon is one of my least favorite scents ever. Why? Because I planned on making them for the family. And I'm willing to be a craft martyr. Look how much I care! I had my children make these for you because we love you so much and because we're awesome. Also, I had half a jar of applesauce in the refrigerator and I hate waste.

Really, I don't mind a basic baking-in-the-oven cinnamon-mixed-with-something-else smell. I just cannot stand that cinnamon-scented candle /cinnamon-scented pine cone / cinnamon-scented fake fakety fake smell. You know, that super strong smell that hits you in the face when you walk through that certain aisle in your local craft store. I was hoping these would smell real.

I had let Ella pick out some new cookie cutters the other day. Hobby Lobby had about fifty different kinds. My little sweetie picked out the princess crown and the teddy bear. So we pulled those out, plus the star that I had from making the Wired Star Ornaments, and we got to work.

I used this recipe from McCormick, but I changed it up a little bit. I also added a couple tablespoons of white glue, because I heard that it helps make the ornaments a little stronger. Six days and a 25-hour road trip later and our ornaments aren't broken yet, so maybe the glue helped.

Cinnamon Ornaments

Makes 12 to 15 ornaments

Prep Time: 30 minutes

Cook Time: 2 1/2 hours

Ingredients

3/4 cup applesauce

1 bottle (about 4 ounces) ground cinnamon

2 tablespoons Elmer's white glue

Supplies

Plastic Wrap

Rolling Pin

Wax Paper

Cookie Cutters

bbon

1. Preheat oven to 200°F.

2. Mix applesauce, cinnamon, and glue in a small bowl

until a smooth ball of dough is formed. (You may need to use your hands to incorporate all of the cinnamon.)

3. Using about 1/4 of the dough at a time, roll dough to 1/4-inch to 1/3-inch thickness between two sheets of plastic wrap. Peel off the top sheet of plastic wrap. Cut dough into shapes with 2- to 3- inch cookie cutters.

Here's Ella, cutting with all her almost-4-year-old might:

4. Place ornaments on a wax paper-lined baking sheet. Use a straw to poke a little hole in each one.

5. Bake 2 1/2 hours. Cool ornaments on a wire rack.

When they are done baking, and you go to pull them out of the oven, hold your face waaaaay back. I did not hold my face way back. I went right on in like it was nothing and the cinnamon smell came straight up out of the oven and smacked me in the face. And attacked the inside of my nostrils. Like it had something to prove. CINNAMON! GEEZ! I GET IT! YOU'RE STRONG! And honestly, I didn't use McCormick cinnamon. I used the cheapest store-brand cinnamon I could find. So I probably deserved it.

If I got in a fight with cinnamon, it would totally kick my butt. And, in fact, I think we just did get in a fight. Yay for you, cinnamon. I hope you sleep well at night.

Anyway! The first open-the-oven-door cinnamon smack-down was the worst of it. They do have a strong scent, but it's not overwhelming. After they cooled, I strung some raffia through the holes and called the whole adventure a success. They were really easy and really cute. Next year I may even have the kids paint them. I'll just make my husband get them out of the oven.

Happy Crafting!

Wired Star

When I saw this craft over at Family Fun, I just thought it was the sweetest thing ever. So I got all the supplies and my kids and I got to work.

Some things I realized:

1. The craft at Family Fun calls for 18-gauge wire. For some reason, I can never find it. I used 16-gauge and it was okay.

2. Wire is sharp. Especially the 16-gauge and heavier kind. And it can be a huge pain in the butt if you aren't a wire professional. I am not a wire professional and step #2 just about drove me crazy. I'm just not any good at using wire cutters to twist wire. After that step, though, the rest was a breeze.

3. I would recommend doing this craft with kids older than 3 and 5. We were able to finish three stars each by staggering them over a couple of days, but the wire wrapping can get a little tedious for the young ones.

Wired Star

Supplies

3-foot length of 18- (or 16-) gauge gold (or silver) colored craft wire

Small jump rings like these (or you can use a little bit of the extra lightweight wire to make a loop)

Star-shaped cookie cutter

Wire cutters

20- to 24-gauge colored lightweight wire

Ribbon

Iridescent beads

Make sure a grown-up does the first two steps. And don't yell at me if you cut yourself on the stupid wire.

Grown-Up Job: Press the 16-gauge craft wire around the cookie cutter twice to form a star shape.

Grown-Up Job: Use wire cutter to twist the ends together and cut off any excess. Stupid, stupid step.

Take one end of a piece of the lightweight colored wire and secure it by wrapping it around the star outline.

Wrap away! When you get to the end of each piece of colored wire, just twist it around the star a little.

Use whatever colors your child wants and go for it! For extra fanciness, thread some pretty beads onto the wire as you wrap the star.

Sometimes the stars won't be a perfect star-shape, but that adds to the child-made charm!

Attach the little jump ring to the top of your star and thread a ribbon through.

We gave ours to the grandparents (we love you!), so I printed up some little tags.

So pretty, right?

Peyton and Ella were so proud! I like that this is a very sturdy craft that will last forever. The second step I really, really disliked, that's true. But the end result was worth my pain and irritation. And wine helps, too. I'm just saying.

Happy Crafting!

Hand Print Christmas Tree

When Peyton was almost 3 years old, I was ambitious and we made this hand print Christmas tree:

And he loved it.

Somehow I packed it away carefully every year. And it still looks great and he's always so happy when we bring it out.

This year Ella is almost 4. We still hadn't made one for her, because somewhere along the line I lost the ambition that made me want to cut out 50,000 hand prints. But it was time for me to step up and do the right thing. She wanted one just like Peyton's, except with pink and purple ornaments. Of course.

Sometimes I'm all: "Yay! Crafts! Let's make something big!" And sometimes that's just dumb. These hand print trees are the perfect example of my stupidity. I love that they are really big - almost 3 feet tall, but the cutting, OH THE CUTTING! and the almost-blisters from all the cutting. The lesson being, you may want to make yours on a smaller scale. But since I had made Peyton's so big, you know, back in my ambitious days, I had to make Ella's the same size so that they couldn't accuse me of favoritism in therapy later. It's all about protecting myself.

Hand Print Christmas Tree

Materials

1 large piece poster paper

Lots of green card stock (depending on how big you make the tree)

1 piece brown card stock

1 piece yellow card stock

2-3 pieces colored card stock (for the ornaments - use the colors your child likes)

Pencil

Markers or crayons

Scissors

Glue Stick

Cut the poster paper into a large triangle. The bigger the triangle, the more hand prints you will need to cut out. I'm not sending you any blister salve should you choose to make a big tree, dang!

Cut a rectangle out of the brown card stock and glue it to the bottom of the triangle to make the tree trunk.

Cut a star out of the yellow card stock and set it aside.

Give your child the colored card stock and markers or crayons let the decorating begin!

For the younger kids: give your child the entire sheet of paper to mark on, then you can cut out circles when she's done.

For the older kids: Ella was able to trace a glass, cut the circle, and then decorate. I helped her out with some of the cutting, but she was pretty proud of what she accomplished on her own.

Trace your child's hands onto a piece of green card stock. Stack as many pieces of green card stock as you can and start cutting. We used three shades of green, because we're fancy like that.

Start at the bottom of the white poster paper triangle, and glue on a row of hand prints. You'll want them to overlap a little so that no white shows. Continue to glue rows of hand prints until you cover the entire white triangle.

Glue the star to the top and glue on your child's ornaments. And don't forget to write your child's name and date on the back!

Happy Christmas!

My Future Bumper Sticker

MY KID IS CRAFTIER THAN YOURS

Every time I finish a roll of paper towels or gift wrap I toss the cardboard tube to whichever kid is nearest and say, "Have a blast!" For some reason, Peyton is usually the closest one, and his eyes always light up as that tube comes flying toward him. Fortunately, he's a professional sharer by this point in his 5-year-old life, so if Ella wants to play, he usually offers to cut the tube in half.

That sharing part really has nothing to do with the story. It's just me bragging.

So I throw a gift wrap tube at Peyton. His eyes light up with glee as he catches it. He shouts through it for a few minutes and then peers through the hole, "I see you, Mommy!" Then he gets this serious look on his face.

"Mommy. I have an idea. I think I want to make this into a snake. I want to paint it with stripes. We could make a head with a ball and draw a face. And I want it to have a tail that rattles."

See that? He's crafty! I knew it! More proof that he IS my son! I mean, I know I gave birth to him and all, but this really seals the deal. He's drawn snakes before, but that he wanted to create a snake with sound effects? That is some bad-ass craftiness. He's always liked crafts, but the more involved crafts we've done in the past have always been at my suggestion. The only crafts he does on his own are the paper, scissors, crayon, markers, hole punch, glue, one-dimensional kind. So I was really impressed with this whole 3-D snake idea.

I disrobed another gift wrap tube so that Ella could make her own snake. They chose their paint colors and we got to crafting. We even rigged some popcorn kernels inside to make the rattle sound.

Peyton wanted to bring his other snake, named Wilson, into the picture, too. My mom (hi Mom!) got him that snake and he loves it. The new snake Peyton named Snakey. Peyton decided on a white face (he was tired of letting paint dry) with drawn-on eyes and mouth. Check out Snakey's black stripes! Peyton did that all by himself!

Here's Miss Ella with her snake, also named Snakey. She likes pink paint and wiggly eyes.

And then, *shiver* the fun pretend snake thing got ugly.

Peyton: "We should get a real snake. I love snakes. They're my favorite aminal." (Yes, he said aminal - so cute!)

James: "I don't think Mommy likes this idea. She's scared of snakes."

Me (laying down the freakin' law on this one): "I am not scared of snakes. But we will NEVER have a snake as a pet."

Peyton: "I want a snake that climbs all over me. Like the kind that lady brought to school. I think I'll only get it out on Fridays and Sundays when Mommy's at the store."

And then he wanted me to take a picture of him with a snake "crawling all over" him.

Ummmm, yeah.

Hey, Mom, thanks for buying Peyton his first stuffed "aminal" snake. When he decides to become a Snake Charmer instead of attending college it's on you. And the snake lady that came to his class. Not me, though. No way. I'm just in charge of the crafting.

Garden Party Paper Lantern

Put on a fancy dress and hat, get out the tea set, and have some quality time bonding and creating with the little princess in your life! These flowery paper lanterns are fun to make and will add a touch of whimsy to your little girl’s room. She’ll never forget the wonderful time she spent making the lanterns with you.

This craft makes 3 Paper Lanterns.

For ages 3 and up. This craft contains some small parts, which may pose a choking hazard. Please be careful with your young crafters.

Materials:

3 pieces colored cardstock (I chose light pink, dark pink, and green)

Scissors

Glue

Silk Flowers (about 30)

Clear Sequins (about 75)

Mounting Squares (about 18)

3 pieces pink ribbon 

3 pushpins

Flower Tip: You can buy the fancy flowers that come in the little containers from the scrap booking section of your local craft store, but that can be a little pricey.

I buy one bunch of silk flowers from the floral section when they are on sale. Then I just pull the flowers off the stems. If you do this, you'll probably even have flowers left over for another project.

This picture is from the Garden Party Paper Lantern Kid Kit in my etsy shop. Your supplies will look a little different: Your paper won't have the dotted lines, the handles won't be cut yet, your glue won't come in a little cup, and you won't need a glue spreader for your glue.

HOW TO MAKE YOUR PAPER LANTERN

1. MAKE YOUR LANTERN

Fold a piece of the colored paper lengthwise. Starting at the fold, measure in about an inch and cut toward the opposite edge. For the 1st cut you can cut all the way across because this will be your handle strip. 

After you cut off your handle strip, continue making cuts, but make sure to stop cutting about an inch away from the edge. This is great scissor practice! 

Fold the paper along each cut that you made to crease the sides of your lantern.

2. DECORATE YOUR LANTERN
Using the glue, decorate your lantern and lantern handle with the flowers and sequins.

Tips: Try to keep the glue in the middle of each flower as it can make the petals look oily. It looks pretty to place a sequin in the middle of each flower. (This is a good idea especially if you pulled the flowers off a bunch, because the sequin will cover the hole that's in each flower.) You will want to leave one end section of your lantern free of decoration because you will be overlapping the sides later on.

3. FINISH YOUR LANTERN

Using the mounting squares, connect the short ends together, creating a cylinder. Attach each end of the lantern’s handle inside the top of the lantern. To use a mounting square, peel away the tab. Place the adhesive square on the lantern paper and peel it away from the backing.

Loop a piece of ribbon through the handle and hang it up on your ceiling with a pushpin. It's a good idea to cut the ribbon in different lengths so that you can group your lanterns together for a designer effect.

Happy Crafting!

Recycling Crayons

I had been wanting to do this broken crayon melting thing for some time and I finally took the plunge! I searched online and found about a hundred and one different ways (oven temperatures, baking times, broken crayon sizes, etc.) to do it. I like living on the razor's edge, so I made up my way as we went along. 

We dumped out our bucket of crayons and then sorted through them to find all the broken ones. Then we got to the peeling. Some of the crayon wrappers were a little tough to remove, so I was in charge of cutting each wrapper down the side with a small paring knife. Peyton and Ella were then able to take the rest of the wrapper off easily. 

I lined an old muffin tin with paper liners and then we tossed in the crayon pieces. Some we color coordinated and some we just mixed. I've seen this done in the fancy shaped muffin tins - like hearts and flowers and such - and it looks super cute.  I don't have the fancy kind, but I think the paper liners made our new crayons pretty fancy anyway. Take that, Martha Stewart.

We melted them in a 250 degree oven for about 20 minutes. It probably takes a shorter amount of time for most ovens, but we kept opening the oven door because Peyton and Ella wanted to watch the melting process. 

As soon as the pieces were all melted I took out the pan and stuck it in the freezer to speed up the hardening process because I'm impatient. Look how cool! 

Although, I do have to admit that the kids were a little disappointed that our experiment didn't turn the crayons into dessert. As soon as I took the them out of the oven, Ella said, "I want eat one!" They're used to delicious treats coming out of muffin tins, not writing utensils. But once they got over their disappointment, they thought their new crayons were pretty neat. It's a brand new experience, since they have to use the side of the crayon shape to draw, and they can't be as precise as with regular crayons. But it's a fun experiment and much more efficient than throwing away all your broken crayons. Ella's favorite: Pink, of course!

Color Ice

Here's a super easy and fun bath activity for kids. Fill up an ice cube tray with water. Let your child add one or two drops of food coloring to each section. You can keep the basic colors of the food coloring or you can let your little one try out color combinations. Gently stir each cube section and freeze.

At bath time, pop out as many cubes as you want and watch your kid have a blast. If you want to be the "Teachable Moment" parent type, you can teach your child about color mixing (yellow and blue make green, etc.) while you're at it.

Ella's Technique:

Ella calls it Color Ice. She likes to "lose" her cube in the water and then call out "Iceeeee! Where are you Iceeeee?" while she tries to find it before it melts. 

Peyton's Technique: 

Peyton likes to let his melt in a bath cup before pouring the colored water into the bath. Sometimes he uses one as an ice crayon and draws on the sides of the tub.

Back in the day, I would let each of my kids have only two per bath time. The bath water would turn a pretty color and I'd take pictures. Now I sometimes let them have a whole tray in a Color Ice Bonanza. Inevitably, the bath water turns a hideous dark brown/purple yuck color. My kids think the swamp water look is hilarious. I imagine someone walking in and accusing me of bathing my kids in dirt while they dial social services. But I try to get over it, since it is only food coloring, and it's totally safe and washes right off for the most part.

Here's my extra fancy cost analysis: They're cheap.

Here's my extra fancy price comparison: 

Buy It: Crayola Color Dotz cost $4.99 for 30. That's about 17 cents for each Bath Color Dot. They are neat though - and they're great stocking stuffers!

Make It: Dec-A-Cake food coloring is about $2.00 for the 4-color pack. I'm totally guessing how many drops are in each one, but let's say there are 50 drops per squeeze bottle.  That's about 2 cents for each Color Ice. And your little monkey child gets to help make the cubes, which is an extra added bonus. 

Happy Bath Time!

"Stained Glass" Valentine Heart

Help your child decorate the windows with a beautiful Valentine's Day Heart! When the sun shines through, it looks just like stained glass. 

This craft is perfect for kids 3 and up. Kids love this craft because they get to “paint” with liquid starch and play with colored tissue paper – what could be more fun?

Disclaimer: There will be no doubt that you are the coolest, craftiest parent on the block as all your neighbors stare in awe at your child's Valentine's Day masterpiece. Don't blame me if everyone wants to be your friend after they see the Valentine Heart in the window. I really can't be held responsible for your immediate fame.

Also, if you want some major family bonus points, make a few so that your child can give one to the grandparents as well. You're welcome! :)

HOW TO MAKE A “STAINED GLASS” VALENTINE HEART

Materials Needed:

Red, purple, pink, and/or white tissue paper

Scissors

Red construction paper or card stock 

Wax paper

Liquid starch (not the aerosol kind)

Foam sponge brush

Glue

Red or white sequins

Tape

DAY 1

Prepare Your Materials

Tear the tissue paper into large (2-3 inch) pieces.

*Tip that you might not even care about: I can almost guarantee that if you give your child more than one color of tissue paper, she will want to use more than one color of tissue paper on her Valentine Heart. This technique will make a pretty mosaic-looking Valentine Heart. If you want a solid-colored version, you might want to give your child only one color. 

Fold the red card stock in half and cut out a heart. The pictures shown are from the instruction sheet included in my "Stained Glass" Valentine Heart Kid Kit. Your template does not need to have a black border. Open up your heart template and place a sheet of wax paper on top of it. Make sure the wax paper is on top of the red heart template.

Pour some liquid starch into a cup. It’s a good idea to place the liquid starch cup on a plate. That way, if you accidentally spill it, you won't lose any liquid starch.

Create Your “Stained Glass” Valentine Heart

Use the foam sponge brush to “paint” a light layer of liquid starch on the wax paper. Fill in the outline of the red heart with tissue paper. Use the sponge brush to wet the tissue paper. It’s best to dab at the tissue, since a brushing motion may crumple or tear the tissue. Add one or two more layers of tissue paper to your Valentine Heart. The tissue paper should be completely wet with liquid starch when you are finished.

*Tip: Make sure to completely fill in the heart outline. If there are gaps in the tissue paper, there will be holes in your Valentine Heart and it won't be very sturdy.

Remove the red heart template from underneath the wax paper.

Let the tissue paper “Stained Glass” Valentine Heart dry overnight.

DAY 2

Finish Your “Stained Glass” Valentine Heart

A parent may want to do this first step, as it requires some fancy scissor and finger skills. Place the red heart template underneath the wax paper and use it as an outline to cut out your Valentine Heart. Very carefully, peel your tissue paper Valentine Heart off the wax paper.

Troubleshooting: If some of the tissue paper starts to peel away from your Valentine Heart, fix it by dabbing on a little white glue.

Fold the red heart template in half and cut another heart along the inside of the first heart. This will make a heart frame for your Valentine Heart. Dab a little glue around the edge of your “Stained Glass” Valentine Heart and attach the heart frame to it.

Decorate your Valentine Heart by gluing on the sequins. It’s easiest to dab glue onto the Valentine Heart and then place the sequins on the glue.

*Tip: Sequins are slightly bowl-shaped. Stick the bottom of the “bowl” to the glue for best adhesion. Sequins will stick to the oil on your fingers. It’s easy to put your fingertip in the “bowl” and then place it on the glue.

Use tape to attach your beautiful “Stained Glass” Valentine Heart to a window and let the sun shine through!

Go Ahead! Make One Yourself!

If you want to make a really pretty grown-up version, use black card stock to make a heart frame - it's so pretty and sophisticated!

Bonus Craft

You can decorate the middle of the red heart template with crayons and/or any leftover sequins and give it to someone you love. If you have a wooden craft stick lying around, you can glue it to the back of the heart and stick it in a plant for a pretty decoration.

Ode to Sequins

So Ella's method of decorating with sequins is to carefully place a few drops of glue on her artwork and then dump the small tupperware of sequins on the whole page. It's like survival of the sequin fittest. The lucky ones get stuck in the glue, the rest are casualties that get pushed onto the table and forgotten. 

Tonight, there was a disaster in which 5 freaking gazillion various-sized sequins were spilled onto the carpet. Not surprisingly, Peyton and Ella were putting minimal energy into the clean-up effort. Not wanting to waste the next half hour of my life picking craft bling out of the carpet, I told them that they had until the count of 10 to save as many sequins as possible before the vacuum got them. Besides, I hadn't vacuumed in an entire day so there was already a variety of cereal bits on the floor. I started counting as I got out the vacuum. "Hurry, Hurry, Save Them!" I honestly thought this would be a fun solution. My kids usually respond well to this sort of tactic.

I was very, very, wrong. As I got close to the end of the count, Peyton started sobbing, "I want to pick up all the sequins! I don't want to throw any away!"

And because I'm THAT parent, "Honey, when you run out of sequins, I'll buy you some more."

Still sobbing, "No, I never want to throw them away. I never want them to go in the garbage truck. They are my favorite thing in the whole house!" He collapses into my lap, "I just need love, Mommy. All I need is love." 

I give him a big cuddly hug and because I'm teaching my child about the virtues of equality, I say, "Look, we picked up the big ones, those are the best ones anyway."

Wrong. Wrong. Wrong.

He's still crying, but it's bath time, and we need to move on.  "I'll pick up a few more before I vacuum." 

Part of me is thinking: Sequins? Seriously? Suck it up, kid. I really need to be more strict. 

But a bigger part of me feels sorry for him. I've had irrational sadness before. I can relate to how he's feeling. Sometimes it's hard to be a kid.

Five minutes later, during bath time:

"Mommy, I love sequins. They are round and I love round things. They are like sugar plums. " I totally swear, I'm not making this up. 

Five minutes later, I still haven't vacuumed and he's still in the bath. 

He starts crying, "Right now, I'm thinking about you vacuuming. Even when I was playing, I was still thinking about it. I'm still a little sad."

And because I didn't want to pay for Post Traumatic Stress Disorder therapy for my son in 15 years, when he got out of the bath I helped him pick up the rest of the 5 freaking gazillion various-sized sequins. 

Crafts Rock!

I'm a huge fan of crafts. Doing a craft with your child is a bonding experience. It's quality time in a low-pressure environment and it boosts a child's self-confidence. It helps build a positive self-image, encourages imagination and self-discipline, rewards hard work and diligence. Crafting promotes spatial development, sense of color, and hand-eye coordination. Seriously, if you take the time to make a craft with your child, you can give yourself a big "I'm a Rockstar" pat on the back.

What kind of toy can do all that? My kids will be receiving a bunch of commercial toys from Santa, I won't even try to deny it. Commercial toys are super fun and they can be very educational. But there is definitely something to be said for the immense benefits of crafting.

My kids have their own craft cabinet. I'm totally proud of it. I keep it supplied with lots of inexpensive craft supplies. It contains different colored blank paper, scrap paper and other leftovers from my scrap booking endeavors, stickers, stamps, glue sticks, liquid glue, sequins, and crayons. I keep the markers and kid-scissors in a separate location because I'm not a complete idiot. Maybe your kids can handle free range markers and scissors, but I'm not taking any chances.

My kids also have coloring books, but they rarely bring them out. That's not to say that I'm one of those "Kids shouldn't have coloring books because it limits their creativity" kind of people. I remember loving coloring books when I was little. There is something very soothing about coloring inside the lines. Peyton, who is now in preschool, does an excellent job coloring inside the lines and it makes me super proud. Judge me if you want, I'm not going to lose any sleep over it.

Having their own craft cabinet allows kids the freedom of whipping up a craft whenever they feel like it. Here's a story for you. We went to see Santa the other night. Right before we left, Ella decided she wanted to draw him a happy face. So sweetie girl goes over to the craft cabinet and gets out the necessary supplies. Does it get any cuter? Nope. Here's Ella telling 19-year-old Santa that she wants a butterfly for Christmas. This is important because she spent the majority of the day telling us that she was scared of Santa and didn't want to see him. I totally believed it because last year she wouldn't even look at Santa. But once she had the picture to give him, she wasn't scared and actually engaged him in a conversation about how butterflies flap their wings.

So yeah, I am going to go ahead and call it: The Craft Cabinet That Saved Christmas.

Also, I just love listening to the peace and quiet of my children working on crafts all by themselves. And if one of them just happens to present me with one of her works of art because she just loves me so much, well, that's an added bonus.

You know when your kid has had one of those crazy bad days and you seriously can't wait to put him to bed? And then you go in after he falls asleep and he is just a perfect little angel? To me, crafting is like that. If you are focused on doing the craft with your child (not multi-tasking), everything else can melt away. So yeah, I have an ulterior motive: when my kids craft, it helps me keep my sanity.

Anyway... On To the Crafting!

Super Cool Gift Idea:

Put together some craft supplies in a cool box and give it to your child for Christmas. Even better, put everything together for a specific craft. I sell craft kits for kids in my Etsy store, feel free to steal my ideas there. If you want to save yourself some time, buy a craft kit, there are a zillion different kinds out there. Mine are the best, of course, but do what you need to do. If you have the time and the energy (show-off!), you can make one yourself. Here's an example of a craft kit you can put together:

CHRISTMAS MOUSE CRAFT KIT

You'll need some SUPPLIES:

Scissors

Felt

Chenille Stems

Craft Glue

Small Black Pompoms

Black Embroidery Floss

Wiggly Eyes

Sequins

Here's how you can

MAKE YOUR CHRISTMAS MOUSE:

MAKE YOUR MOUSE

Cut out the mouse body and ears from the template paper. Cutting out the templates is great scissor practice for young crafters. Use the paper templates to cut out a body and ears

from felt. Cut the two slits on the body by folding the nose toward the middle of the body until the slit marks are folded in half. Then you can easily make little snips with your scissors along the marks.

Slip the ear piece through the two slits on the body.

DECORATE YOUR MOUSE

Eyes: Use the craft glue to attach the wiggly eyes.

Nose: You can use a sequin or a pompom for a nose or you can leave your mouse plain. If you would like to add whiskers, cut a small length of the black satin floss. It will fray as soon as you cut it - perfect for whiskers! Spread a little craft glue on the end of the mouse nose. Lay down the whiskers on the glue and press a pompom nose on top.

Bling!: Use craft glue to attach sequins to your mouse if you would like some extra sparkle. If you a working with a younger crafter, place some glue spots on the mouse. Then you can let your child place the sequins.

Tail: Spread a generous amount of craft glue on half of the chenille stem tail.

Attach the tail to the underside of your mouse. Curl your mouse's tail a little so that you can hang your mouse.

Happy Crafting!