Tuesday, December 13, 2011

A Handmade Christmas Week 11 {Crafts for Children}

 I think one of my favorite things about Christmas is the fun times that I have crafting with my children. We craft throughout the year but we do more of it at this time and we do have fun making special surprises for others and that is always fun.
Even while Mega was sick (and wearing PJ's) we had fun doing some crafting.
We were working on a snowflake inspired by this blog.

Here are some of the kid friendly things we have been making lately, maybe you would enjoy doing them with your kids too.

Bird Feeder Pine Cones

 These are quite easy, inexpensive, fun and fairly practical. So several things are going for this project. It can also be a bit messy- so I will warn you on that account- but messy is often pretty fun!

  Around here it is pretty easy to gather pine cones from the woods. If that is not the case for you then this might not work as well.

  After you gather the pine cones then attach something to hang them with (we used yarn or ribbon- you could also use wire). Then take your pine cone and spread peanut butter all over it. (This is the messy part!) Then roll them in birdseed. That is all it takes. They are then done and ready to hang. If you want to give them away then you will want to wrap them in something to keep the stickiness from going everywhere! I used some cellophane wrappers that my flowers come in and cut them up and then wrapped the pine cones up in them.
 Frosty Pine Cone Ornaments/Decorations
These are really simple to make- you simply brush some glue on your pine cones and then roll them in Epsom salts. Then you can display them just like that or add something to hang them with (we used wire ornament hangers or ribbon) and then if you want you can also glue on a pretty little bow as we did.

Nativity Scene from Recycled Products

 On the day Megan was sick and we were crafting- she had fun making part of the Nativity Scene. We were inspired by the picture here. She only got one wiseman done (and afterwards- I was kind of kicking myself for encouraging the crown on him- It bugs me to have biblical incorrectness but I encouraged it in this case.) and then of course the main characters- Baby Jesus, Mary and Joseph. The adults were made using toilet paper tubes and baby Jesus was made with a spool all wrapped up in fabric. Maybe later we will make more of the scene.

That is a few of the things we have been having fun working on. What are you doing at your house?

PLEASE SHARE YOUR IDEAS!
If you have a blog I would love it if you would share the link of your post, And for everybody I would love it if you would leave ideas in the comments.


TO LINK UP:
I can't wait to see what you make!

-Please link up a handmade idea that would work for a Christmas gift, decoration or for eating.

I have decided not to use the linky tool but rather if you would include your link in a comment or send it to me in an e-mail, I will then put the link to your blog post in this post. Thank you!

-Please make sure it is family friendly.
- Please link back to this blog. I would love it if you also would display my button (grab it from my sidebar) either in your post or on your sidebar so that others can learn about and join this carnival too.


Check out these fun ideas that others have shared....


 Sorry I am late getting this up- I was working on my decorating post instead and this one got put off. I will be linking this post up to The Inspired Room's Christmas party post. Also- this is the last official week of A Handmade Christmas. I may post something on it next week but I might decided to take the week off instead.
Great Holiday Barn Hop

14 comments:

The Tripletts said...

Congratulations for getting posted on moneysavingmom.com. I was suprised to see a your blog posted on there, but proud when I thought...that's MY cousin!! :) I'm doing some handmade gifts this year too and wanted to post and link up but I haven't been able to finish any of them yet, maybe next week!

Momma Marketer said...

I keep meaning to get a post together about this, but haven't yet, so I'll leave it here. For my son (age 9), I crocheted a small lap blanket in a granny square pattern. The center is bright yellow, and its edged in navy blue.
For my co-workers, I made a batch of mixed berry jam (strawberry, blueberry, blackberry, and raspberry) using berries I grew and froze over the summer. For tags, I traced Christmas cookie cutters onto red card stock, cut them out, then used one of these verses:
"We wish you a berry Christmas"
"have yourself a berry little Christmas", or "may your days be berry and bright." The back of the tags had "from the E___ family".

For my husband, I bought a set of plain white handkerchiefs, and embroidered vintage cars on them. My grandmother is getting assorted homemade mixes (biscuits, pancake, etc) in individual-serving size portions.

Aiming4Simple said...

I've got 3 ideas for simple things to make:

- mixes in a bag
- paper sleighs
- Christmas birth announcements

They are pictured in this recent post:

http://roots-of-simplicity.blogspot.com/2011/12/recent-christmas-crafts-for-moms-and.html

Color Lesson Plans said...

Looks great!!!

robbie @ going green mama said...

Hello! I stumbled on you from Money Saving Mom.

Attached is a link for directions for nativity scenes made from toilet paper rolls. They were great for my toddler and kindergartener to color: http://going-green-mama.blogspot.com/2010/11/recycled-nativity-for-kids.html

Wishing you a blessed Christmas!

HoneySage said...

I am new to your blog. I really enjoyed the journey through it. I would like to offer this idea for handmade gifts. I just gave a set to my mail lady, yesterday. I am happy to follow your blog.
http://sageendeavors.blogspot.com/2011/12/christmas-tea-towels.html

Nola said...

My kids are making a calendar for my mom. Its actually for her birthday though right after Christmas. We were given a calendar that was never used (given some craft stuff someone we know had grown out of). The calendar is from a craft store but works for any year, there is a section to design a picture/put a photo and then a section with the month and squares and you fill in the dates. So my girls have been making pictures (on card stock which I am taping on with some free scrapbooking special sticky stuff we were given too). I've been encouraging them to correspond them with the month as much as possible. They are using markers, stickers, and some paper shapes too. My oldest did a cute one with a picture of our family with the new baby for March :)

I think these calendars could easily be printed off the internet somewhere, and put together, or purchased at some craft stores I am sure. It was nice for us since we aren't spending anything really (12 sheets of card stock and the use of some markers, everything else we were given).

Abbi said...

Thanks so much for all the ideas you all shared! I loved hearing about them.

Melissa said...

I've been wanting to do the bird feeders for a long time - some time I will find time. :)

The nativity is darling.

Carmen at Old House Homestead said...

I love your ideas! I love handmade things!

Blessings,
Carmen

nannykim said...

I love the manger scene--really a cute idea! My crafty gift is sock monkeys. Here is a link that shows some: http://monkeybusiness-nannykim.blogspot.com/ I have a blog where I show the monkeys most of which I have made for my family. Directions are found on links located on my sidebar --such as http://www.supersockmonkey.com/catalog/howtomake.html and here http://www.craftbits.com/project/sock-monkey

Jackie said...

Those are great ideas, Abbi! I am thinking of having the kids make something with birdseed for the grandparents. I have seen some birdseed ornaments, but your pine cone idea is great, too. I love the little nativity set. So cute!

nannykim said...

So cool about you getting a Janome sewing machine. I like it because it is happy and simple to use. It should be easy for kids to use too---

CE marking Consultant said...

Fabulous photography!

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