Cross Stitch

My friend Lisa tipped me off to this website so I signed Hannah and myself up for it.

It doesn't matter if you're a beginner, Intermediate, or expert cross stitcher, I'm sure you'll find something here for you.

Once you have received confirmation of your registration and are able to log in, you'll be able to get in on their lessons plans and register your student. Also, you'll receive a free cross stitch kit for signing up!

Thanks, Lisa, for sharing this with Hannah and me. I'm looking forward to getting started.

Cinnamon Baskets

I finally found my camera! So here is a picture of the cinnamon basket. These baskets are really cute and will help to fill a room with the fragrance of Christmas. It's another craft for children to make or for an adult to make and give as a gift.

For one basket, you will need:

3 1/2" X 2" food can
Founder's Adhesive glue
35 (4") cinnamon sticks
1 yard (1"-wide) grosgrain ribbon
Individually wrapped candies

1. Remove the top and the label from the can (DUH!) Wash the can and let it dry.

2. Apply the glue to the outside of the can, covering the sides completely.

3. Place 1 cinnamon stick on the side of the can, making sure the bottom of the stick is even with the bottom of the can. Continue gluing the sticks in place, one at a time until the sides are covered.

4. To decorate, tie the ribbon around the sticks and into a bow. Trim the ribbon ends at an angle. Fill the basket with candy.

This would be cute with the a Christmas colored or decorated saran wrap and homemade gift tag.

Getting Excited

Christmas is, without a doubt, my absolute favorite holiday. It's a beautiful time of year with all the warm lights at night and greenery. Cups of hot cocoa and wassil. Visits with friends and family. But it's mostly my favorite because it's the time of year where we celebrate the birth of a King, born to die.

With just a few weeks before us, I wanted to do several different types of posts on Christmas. I know what you're thinking....But we haven't even celebrated Thanksgiving yet! I know. But I'll be doing some posts on Thanksgiving too. Next to Christmas, Thanksgiving is right up there at the top of my list.

So this post will be a kids craft post. It doesn't have to be just for kids. As a matter of fact, I saved a batch of dough just for me. But I did let my two younger children do it this week and they had a ball. It took us a few days to complete the craft, but only because we had so many irons in the fire this week. So we ended up doing it in spurts.

I got this idea from Be Not Conformed. Mrs. R posted the recipe for ornament making and I must say it was very simple, turning out quite nicely.

The recipe is simple:
2 cups of flour
1 cup of salt
1 cup of water

*Mix the ingredients together.
*Roll it out and cut with cookie cutters.
*Make sure to poke a hole in the ornament with a toothpick, so you can put the string through. We used the flat end of a scewer. They do rise a little, so take that in account when making the hole.
*Bake the dough at 300 for an hour. Turn the ornaments over halfway through baking.


The dough. I doubled the batch so I could make some later.
It's still in my fridge.


Rolled


Harrison cutting.


Harrison painting. He's concentrating hard, isn't he? He is amazing!
I put down an old sheet over the table AND vinyl place mats to work
on. He STILL managed to get paint on the table. It was washable
paint, but Hannah and I couldn't figure out how he did it. LOL


The painted pieces.


Hannah is putting on the ribbon.


The finished products.

And by the way, these ornaments are very hard. Harrison deliberately tried to break one and couldn't. So they should last a few years.

A Cup of Kisses and Hugs

I forget where I found this idea, but when I was teaching the two and three year olds at our former church, I ran across it and thought it was cute. I've used it several times since then and it's always a big hit.

You probably recognize the cup above as being in your powdered clothes detergent box. Save several of them and fill them each with Hershey's chocolate hugs and kisses. Wrap them in a seasonal saran wrap and tie a ribbon with a gift tag to it. It makes a cute gift for a teacher or friend and it's not at all expensive. I like it because it's versatile throughout the year.

And honestly, who doesn't enjoy hugs and kisses?? ; )

The Shirt

Here is the shirt I made for the game today. As you can see, there are no orange splats. But you must admit, that would have been cute. :)