hope

xo

nessa dee  

Crafty Friday: Christmas Garland

In keeping things festive, we made a couple of Christmas banners very similar to our BOO banner we made for Halloween, as well as a simple felt garland to hang.

Here’s what you need:

-scrapbook paper
-ribbon
-glue
-scissors
-buttons
-felt
*more advanced...
-embroidery thread and needles

For the felt garland, we started by gathering felt scraps in a variety of colors. We then cut out circles about 3 inches in diameter. Next we cut out 2 inch diameter circles and glued them on the larger circles.

We picked buttons to place in the center of each circle. If your child is old enough to use a needle and thread, they can sew the buttons on and add decorative stitching if they’d like. I thought my daughter would since she loves to sew, but this time she opted for the quick and easy way.

 

We glued each circle to a long strip of ribbon, separating them about 4 inches apart and called it done.

For the banners, the steps are pretty much the same as our BOO banner steps, save a few changes. The first change we made was the shape of the pendants…we opted for squares. We decided to print the letters J-O-Y for our banner, but other options include NOEL, HOPE, PEACE, Ho Ho Ho, or Fa La La.

Then, we hung the banner vertically instead of horizontally. To do this, you can glue the letters onto the ribbon, or if you want to weave it through, as in the BOO banners, punch holes at the top and bottom of each square. We also decided to make a snowman in the same manner. For each square though, we made three different sizes, small, medium and large to accommodate the three snowman circles. We glued buttons on for the eyes and mouth, and cut out a triangular piece of orange paper for his nose. We hung him vertically just like our JOY banner.

Happy Crafting!

Nessa Dee

IF: Crunchy

When I read this week’s topic, all I could think of was the sound of footsteps walking through the snow. [Not that I hear that sound all too often living hear in Texas.] Plus, I’ve had a snowman theme lately, so I decided to stick with it. I kind of like drawing the little guys.

xo

Nessa Dee

Crafty Friday: Stackable Snowman

It’s been busy, busy around this house with Christmas right around the corner, and I wasn’t sure if we were going to get a craft project in this Friday. But lo and behold, the crafting gods looked down upon us and revealed to us a last minute craft idea… a stackable snowman.

Here’s what you need:

-three tin nut cans of different sizes
-white paper
-black felt
-toilet paper tube
-buttons
-glitter
-glue
-scrap of material
-orange construction paper or felt

For the first few steps to wrap each can, we followed the steps we took when making our fake cakes, but instead of colored paper, we used white.

Then, we put a line of glue around the tops and bottoms of each can and doused them with glitter.

Next, we vacuumed the floor for three hours trying to rid our carpet of glitter, but gave up after realizing it was a losing battle.

We glued buttons on the top can for the eyes and mouth and cut and glued on a small triangular orange piece for the snowman’s nose.

For his hat, we wrapped a toilet paper tube with black felt and secured it with glue. We then attached the piece to a circle cut out of the felt and set it atop the snowman’s head.

The final step was cutting a long strip of scrap material and wrapping it around the snowman’s neck for a scarf.

Now, I’m off to kick myself for deciding that glitter was a necessary embellishment for this project.

Happy Crafting!

nessa dee

IF: Entangled

So I have to brag just a bit because this picture inspired my son to draw his own. My daughter hasn’t stopped drawing since she first picked up a pencil, but my son’s a different story. He doesn’t have the desire to draw and most of the time when asked, he refuses. But today, he decided he would pick up a pencil. He made me leave the room until he was finished. When he finally called me in to see his masterpiece, I was in awe. This is what my three year old came up with:

Not bad for a kid who rarely draws. He even used different colors to draw the snowman’s circles, mimicking my shading of the snowman.  My favorite thing is the huge “handsome” feet as my son called them.

My daughter had to get in on the snowman action too, so here’s her take on this week’s topic, mountain climbing snowmen:

I think every girl needs  pink boots and matching pink tree.

Enough bragging for now.

xo

nessa dee

IF: Blur

Waiting on the blur of a wintry snowfall.

xo

nessa dee