Transform Christmas Cards to Phone Contacts

I have been busy a good part of the day putting up the majority of my Christmas decorations. My house always looks a little lonely with all the lights, trees, and greenery packaged up. I also took down my Christmas cards and put them in a pile to save. With the surge in popularity of photo cards, I love looking at all my friends and their family that we received. I know everyone put so much effort into getting their photographs done in time to squeak those Christmas cards out.

So why waste a good photo? Capture it for the next year, or however long you please. I set my cards on the table and starting taking pictures of them with my phone one by one. I was able to assign them to their appropriate contact, so I can enjoy them each time someone calls.

 

I do have to say the pictures on my phone look much better then my attempted photographs.

It was very challenging to take a picture of myself taking pictures. Ha!

 

 

Well, this project took just minutes and it is a great way to treasure my dear friends and their children.

 

I hope you all had a fabulous holiday and a safe and fun New Year's Eve celebration!

 

P.S. The winner of the Williams Sonoma $50 gift card and free pie certificate was Valerie. Thanks for all those that participated!

 

Child's Artwork Christmas Dish Towel

Merry Christmas!! I have a tradition each year of making a present for each of my boys. In the past it has been lego tables, fire stations, quilts, etc. I wanted to pass on that love of gifting to my children. This year I helped my oldest make a dish towel for his grandma. It was a great way to transform a child's artwork into a gift. He brought home homework, that was to draw a Christmas tradition. His drawing consisted of a Christmas tree decorated in balls with a little boy beside it. It was the perfect memory to capture.

 

 

Supplies:

 

Light colored fabric

Dish Towel

Fabric Markers

Heat and Bond

 

To begin with, I took his drawing. The boy just might look a little creepy, but my son is not exactly an artist. This is his best drawing to date!

 

 

 

I used a small sheet of transfer paper layered between the picture and the light colored fabric. The order...light colored fabric on the bottom, transfer paper ink side down, and then the drawing on the very top.

I traced his artwork onto the fabric and then colored it in with the fabric markers.

 

I tried to color a bit messy so it would look like his original drawing.

 

Next, I found some cute festive dish towels on sale. Yipee! I cut my son's artwork on fabric down to a little rectangle. I then used heat and bond on the back and ironed it to my dish towel.
After a simple zig zag stitch around the perimeter it was done!

 

I loved it so much I made a second one for myself! This turned out to be a very fast way to make a personalized gift my mom will always treasure. I hope you all are having a wonderful holiday!!

 

 

Children's Christmas Party

We had the best little Christmas party play date two weeks ago. My four year old helped me plan it, because he uses any excuse to have a party these days. Of course, when I started thinking about it, I realized he won't get to be home with me much next year once he starts kindergarten. It is amazing how fast time flies. As usual, we planned games, crafts, drinks and more.

 

These sweet little reindeer juice boxes were made from brown paper, googly eyes, and red pom poms adhered with hot glue.

 

My son and his friends were so excited about their Reindeer juice. We also bought a box of 8 bells at the dollar store and tied red ribbon on them so the kids could jingle as they walked around with their necklaces. It cost us $1.50 to make 8 necklaces.

 

One of our games was a snowman snowball. I started by wadding some white tissue paper up in a ball. Then I began wrapping it in clear packing tape. Every few layers I added in some bendable snowmen until it became a rather large snowball.

 

We turned on some Christmas music and passed the snowball around. The kids began pulling off the tape and trying to reach the bendable snowmen. If the music stopped, they had to pass it to the next child in the circle. This would also work with a dice, and the kids could take turns rolling the dice until they rolled a specific number like 5.

 

Next, we covered some pieces of cardboard with foil. We made construction paper cookies covered in real sprinkles.

 

 

We also mixed up some Magical Reindeer Food. I am sure most of you have heard of it before.  I combined oatmeal, sprinkles for baking, and sugar in a small dish. The kids scooped it out, and filled their little bags. (The scooping was their favorite part). I found this free cute poem printable here.

 

I didn't take enough pictures of everything because the party went by so quickly. I also had the kids draw a simple stable on a piece of construction paper. Then I gave the kids a set of stickers with baby Jesus, Mary, Joseph, etc. I read the Nativity story and had them put a sticker around their stable that coordinated with each page. They were so attentive and quiet, and really enjoyed doing an activity with the Christmas Story.

 

How do you share the Christmas Story and spirit with your kiddos?

 

 

 

Handmade Christmas: Lego Table and Stable

Well, just as I was afraid of, my oldest son is not happy does not believe that Christmas is over. I told him today, and he said, "No Mom it is not!" I guess denial his one of the stages of grief. Ha!I hope you all had a fabulous Christmas or holiday season! Ours was wonderful...but quite hectic. I am glad the actual "Christmas Day" is over and we can go back to just enjoying the holiday season. Our house looks like Santa's sleigh crashed inside. (Mayhem) I hope Santa has good sleigh insurance because it is a complete disaster. I am not quite sure where I am going to put all of our new treasures. This is the before picture...

I started a tradition when my sons were born, of making one present for each for Christmas. Last year, I made a fire station (click here) and an I Spy Quilt.

This year I decided on a Lego table for my oldest and a horse stable for my little one. My mom found a little pink table at a garage sale for me for $4 and I spray painted it red. I miraculously found two Lego boards at another garage sale for $2 each. I hot glued the Lego bases down to the table and for under ten dollars...

As you can tell, I am a garage sale junkie, because I hate to pay full price for things. I found this stable at another garage sale for $3. With a little red and black paint and some horses, this little stable was transformed. My 21 month old adored it. He loves anything to do with cows and horses right now.

We had a wonderful Christmas. I forgot to mention, one of my three year old's favorite things, was passing out presents. My mom came up with a great idea a few years ago to label the packages with pictures, since they can not read yet. They love discovering who each present is for by the photo tag.

Happy Holidays! Did you make any special presents for your loved ones? I am always looking for new fun ideas!

Tags: DIY Lego Table, Make your own Lego Table, DIY Horse stable, Make your own horse stable, Trash to Treasure presents for kids

Magic Toffee Brittle

I am convinced my three year old is going to be completely devestated when Christmas is over. He sings Christmas carols at all hours of the day and can't stop talking about baby Jesus and Santa Claus. I wish I could live in his little world of amazement and adoration for the holiday without any stress. I have to admit, I might just love it as much as him, but I have a lot more responsibilities that go along with it.

Today I brought lunch for all the staff at the surgery center I manage. I made crockpot baked potatoes (here) and my all time favorite Christmas treat... magic toffee brittle. This stuff is amazing and soooo easy and fast to make. The incredible part of this recipe is that it is made with saltine crackers. They add just the perfect salty balance to this sweet and magical treat.

Ingredients:
1 cup butter (not margarine)
1 cup brown sugar
Chocolate chips
Chopped nuts
Saltine crackers

 

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350. Line baking sheet with foil and crackers.

 

2. Boil butter and brown sugar for 3 minutes on stovetop. 

3. Pour mixture over crackers. Bake in oven at 350 for approx 5 minutes or until crackers float.  

4. Remove from oven and sprinkle with chocolate chips on top. Let the chips melt for a couple of minutes and spread with butter knife.

5. Sprinkle chopped nuts on top. Refrigerate until hardened and then break into pieces. I like to keep it in the fridge.

6. Enjoy!!!

Santa Soap for 99 cents

I am so behind on posting! We have been so wrapped up in the holidays, that I just have not spent any time on the computer until the last couple of days. The good news is we have been having a lot of great family time. The holidays are so hectic and overwhelming at times. I am sure you understand. However, this fast and easy Santa Soap cost me only 99 cents to make (I did already have some leftover supplies at home).

This is the 99 cent soap I bought at the store to transform into Santa. Start by removing the labeling and washing off the "goo" left behind.

Next, you are ready to paint. You will need  primer, red paint, black electrical tape, and gold tape or vinyl.

This is not the first time I have painted soap bottles. Look here for full directions on priming and painting the soap container. Once my paint was dry, I wrapped the bottle in black electrical tape and cut out a buckle from some gold tape. No talent needed for this project!

Guess who is ice fishing? I think it is hysterical.

I froze some gummy fish in the ice the night before so Jingle could do some ice fishing. The ice will melt by the end of the day and your kiddo can eat the gummy fish left behind. Oh that crazy Jingle...what will he do next????

DIY Nativity Creche

My mom made an early request this December for a nativity scene for her Willow Tree figurines. Would you believe the real one is $99. I just finally got around to making her one from scrap wood...for free. Funny part of it is, I did not realize how tall the Willow Tree figurines were before I started. Joseph is a giant! The first creche I made was too small, so she ended up with two different designs. Here is the Willow Tree creche design.

It is very simple but almost elegant at the same time. I used 1x6 boards as the bottom two levels and some bead board as the backing. The rest of the wooden pieces were just scraps I had laying around that I cut to fit. I ended up using mainly wood glue and then a couple of screws to hold the creche together. Of course, like I said earlier, there was the first design that was too small.

My mom had an antique nativity set she used in this one. My boys might just get to play with this one. They adore listening and acting out the Christmas story.

This nativity was made out of scrap wood as well. I painted both nativities with light beige. Next, I used a small piece of old t-shirt to rub on some wood stain for texture. I could not believe how easy these were to make...and of course I was excited I saved $99.

Tags: DIY Willow Tree Nativity Creche, Make your own Willow Tree Nativity Creche

Elf on the Shelf Ideas

The Christmas tree has been up for two weeks...and our little elf on the shelf Jingle has been on the prowl. If you have never seen this creepy cute little elf, and the story that accompanies him, you are missing out!

Look at my son's look of surprise when he realized the lego men had captured Jingle.

This is the original story. It is now plastered in every book store window...but it really lives up to its publicity hype. The elf flies back to Santa every night to report on how your child is doing. Oh...but make sure not to touch him or he will lose his magic!

I ran out of clever and creative elf on the shelf ideas last year, so I am started my research early thanks to Pinterest. I tried very hard to give credit where deserved, but so many pictures only linked back to flickr.com. Thanks everyone for these amazing and fun ideas!

Snow Angel

Cars

Fishing for goldfish

Message in the snow

Soft place to snooze

Staying warm with the cold

Relaxing in the tub

Trying to keep out of the rain

(water dispenser)

Photo by RaeoFlight Photography 

Parachuting daredevil

Settling for a long winter's nap

Photo by Jen Mcken

Hot air balloon adventure

Start your engines!

Bubble bath luxury


Meddling with the toothpaste

Elf Kisses by Kims Kandy Kreations with Printable

Do you have any more fun ideas to share with me? I am always up for some new suggestions! Especially when they have already been kid-tested on your own little ones. Here is where Jingle will be in the morning...

And the next day...

Ice Fishing