Popsicle Stick Sled Ornaments

Growing up, my mom had one of those Flexible Flyer Sleds. Somehow she would manage to fit herself with four kids on it, and we would go flying down the mountain sides! So, this year, I decided to make her some little Popsicle Stick Sled Ornaments to put on her tree since we're too far away to enjoy her sled with her this year.

All you need to make your own is: Popsicle sticks, wood glue, something to cut the sticks with (I use a small garden pruner), red paint, and twine or yarn.

DIY Pokeball Ornament

I never thought that fads I loved in middle school would be what my children are into, but Pokemon is one of those that my boys are obsessed with. My 2 year old daughter knows more Pokemon names than I thought possible thanks to her big brothers! So, this year we made some Pokeballs to decorate our Christmas tree with:

Felt Mitten Ornament

These felt mitten ornaments are perfect for making as little add-ons to Christmas gifts this year, or for having your kids make to teach them basic sewing skills!

Simply cut out a basic mitten shape from two pieces of felt. Cut out some rectangles of white felt for the cuffs, and start sewing the pieces together (or have your kids do it).

Leave a hole big enough to stuff some poly-fill inside, sew a ribbon to the top to hang it with, and sew the opening shut.

You can easily add embellishments like buttons, lettering (I did my son's initial and the year-14).

Here's my inspiration for this ornament.

Hand Print Snowman Ornament

I've seen the ornaments that have children's hand prints turned into snowmen for years and just barely made a hand print snowman ornament with my 2 year old. I love it!

Handmade Owl Ornament

How cute is this felt owl ornament?!

I made one for my daughter since her brothers have light-saber ornaments this year. 

To make your own, go to Juicy Bits for the directions and template.

Felt Light-saber Ornament

Is your house as Star Wars obsessed as mine is right now? Our family dressed up in a Star Wars theme for Halloween, we have tons of Star Wars Legos, and my boys begged me to make them light-saber ornaments this year...

I'm pretty pleased with how they turned out! I free-haned the whole thing, but the handle was a grey rectangle, which I stitched the black details on. The blade was cut like so:

Once all the pieces were sewn together, I started sewing it closed at the tip of the blade, and stuffed with cotton as I sewed. I sewed in a piece of yarn to hang it with (my boys picked purple yarn of all colors!), and tried it in various places to find the best balance point. The ornament is about the thickness of a pencil.

I also added their first initial and '15. I hope these are something they enjoy pulling out each year and that these ornaments will remind them of my love for years to come.

Christmas Card Wreath

If you’re trying to figure out how to display Christmas cards this year, whip up a Christmas card wreath! Take a large piece of cardboard and cut out a large circle (mine is 10 inches wide). I used one of my biggest bowls to trace. Then trace and cut out a smaller circle inside. Paint it white, or whatever color you want and let dry.

Sharing the Holidays with Febreze

Disclosure: This is a sponsored post for SheSpeaks/Febreze. I received products and compensation for this post. All opinions expressed are my own.

This will be my baby girl's first Christmas and I am so excited! I can't wait to see all three of my children during the holidays. There are so many wonderful things to look forward to from winter/Christmas crafts to the Christmas parade in our town. This year I just want to soak it all up, because time only seems to be going faster and I don't want to miss the wonder and awe in each of my children's faces.

Reindeer Food

In both Pre-K and Kindergarten, my son K came home with reindeer food and I just love how simple, but fun it is for the kids!

All you do is put some oats in a plastic baggie with glitter or sugar sprinkles and add a cute poem like the one in the picture above. The poem says:

“Magic Reindeer Food-

Be sure to take this magic food and sprinkle on the lawn,

On Christmas, Santa’s reindeer travel miles before the dawn.

The smell of oats and glitter path will guide them on their way

And you’ll wake up to Santa’s gifts next morn on Christmas Day!”

Have your kids sprinkle the food outside on Christmas Eve and watch the magic in their eyes. For another variation on the poem, visit How to Have it All.

Merry Christmas!

Clothespin Ornaments

Last week I had a bunch of girls from our church over to make ornaments for the tree at church and these are what I came up with…clothespin ornaments: I was really pleased with how they turned out and how easy they were to make…

Santa just requires the bottom 2/3rds of the clothespin to be painted red. Cut out a thin strip of black felt for the belt and draw on black buttons. Cut out a white felt beard and a red felt hat. Add some eyes and you’re done! Clip it to your tree.

The reindeer needs to be painted brown first. Then hot glue on a small red pom-pom, paint on some eyes (or add some googly eyes), and hot glue a pipe-cleaner folded into antlers on. My boys insisted my reindeer needed to be a bit more feminine with a pretty little flower.

For the snowman, paint it white. Then use a toothpick to add dots of black for the buttons, mouth and eyes. Paint on a carrot nose. Hot glue a felt hat and you’re done!

I’ll be linking up to: Works For Me Wednesday,  Mom’s Library, Let's Hear it For the Boy! Clever Chicks Blog Hop,Share it Saturday, Fine Craft Guild,Share Wednesdays, TGIF. Kids Get Crafty, The Mommy Club

Ornament Round Up

I am definitely not the type to have an elaborate, coordinated Christmas tree…I love having random ornaments that we have collected over the years. I especially love the ornaments we have made! Here’s a round up of some of those ornaments (hover over the picture for a description, and click the picture to be taken to the link):

Simplify the Holidays with Cardstore

I participated in an Ambassador Program on behalf of Mom Central Consulting (#MC) for Cardstore. I received complimentary cards and a promotional item as a thank you for participating.

Honestly, I was seriously considering skipping sending out Christmas cards this year. We get very few cards from friends and family each year, and I think that is due to the frequent use of social media in this day and age. Christmas newsletters are hard to write when all of my friends have seen our regular updates throughout the year online. For me, in past years, the effort, time and cost of Christmas card seemed to outweigh any benefits associate with sending out those cards. Plus, I hate licking envelopes! 

Popsicle stick Christmas tree

I love popsicle stick crafts…they are easy, the kids love them, and they are very affordable! Last week we made these cute little popsicle stick trees:

My 3 year old loves the color pink (in case you couldn’t tell by the tree) and my 5 year old is becoming more and more detail oriented in crafts…it’s so much fun seeing both of their personalities as they grow up :)

To make the tree, take 7 popsicle sticks and cut each one slightly shorter than the other…I just cut them with pruning shears and estimated how long I wanted each stick. I also cut off the rounded ends so the sticks would all have flat ends.

Have your kids paint the branches, and another stick which will be the “trunk”.

Hot glue the branch sticks on to the trunk and let cool. You can also glue on other “ornaments” such as beads, pom poms, sequins…my 5 year old found a random star bead so we glued that on top of his tree.

Glue a ribbon on the back and you have a cute ornament!

I’m linking up to Works for me Wednesday, Kids Get Crafty, Mom’s Library, Mommy Solutions, What are Little Boys Made of? Creative Share Blog Hop,

Christmas Movie Giveaway! (Ends 12/17)

I was just thinking how sad it is that we don’t have any Christmas movies to put on for my boys, especially with how much they LOVED the Christmas Snoopy movies we checked out from the library…

Well, one of my lucky readers is going to have a chance to win one of the following (chosen randomly by the sponsor):

Popsicle Stick Nativity

My boys were thrilled when I told them it was time to paint a project and they really went to town with their nativities! My 3 year old still has paint on his ear, but he sure had fun :) Here’s our nativities:

I think the middle one is my favorite…the one my 5 year old made. He insisted that Jesus needed to lie down in his bed and had to have hay to lay on.

Fruit Loop Wreath

Just another quick, easy craft to do with your kids as you’re in full gear for Christmas…Fruit Loop Wreaths! Just have your kids string some red & green Fruit Loops onto a pipe cleaner and twist the ends together to make a festive wreath that the kids can enjoy (especially the devouring part after!).

Pipe-cleaner Candy Canes

I know Christmas is coming and time is definitely running out for cute Christmas crafts to do with your kids, but if you need a quick activity during the winter break, make some cute candy canes with some pipe-cleaners and beads :)

My boys got very into this. My 4 year old understood the pattern concept right away, and my 2 year old got to work on his hand-eye coordination. Plus, these are super cheap to make and look really cute on the tree!

Just cut your pipe-cleaners in half, twist one end around a bead and have your kiddos put the rest of the beads on. When the pipe cleaner is almost full twist the end around the last bead and voila!

I’m linking up to Mommy Ideas, Works for Me Wednesday, Penny Pinching Party Wednesday and Kids Get Crafty.

Photo Transfer Ornaments

If you’re looking for a last minute, meaningful gift for someone in your life, make them a photo transfer ornament. These are fairly simple to make and can definitely leave a lasting impression!

I made this ornament for my aunt using a picture of Munich I found online because she took me there just before I got married. On the back I transferred the words Merry Christmas…We love you!

To make your own ornaments, just follow the directions for Mod Podge photo transfer in my Light Switch Cover post, or my Popsicle Stick Puzzle post using a small wooden disc you can find for super cheap at Hobby Lobby or other such stores.

I’ll be linking up to Fun Stuff Fridays, Christmas Craft Link Party, Frugal Friday, Frugalicious Friday, and Friday Fun Finds.

Make your own Pinecone Wreath

I love wreaths…they’re so festive and make any door look cuter, but wreaths just aren’t something I can justify buying so I try my best to make them with my boys, and this one actually turned out pretty well for being stuff I found on the sidewalk and in my closet :).

All I used was a wire hanger, hot glue, a red ribbon and pinecones…

I untwisted the hanger and reshaped it into a circle.

Then I placed pinecones on the underside of the hanger and hot glued them to the hanger. At first they slide around a bit, but once you have several glued on next to each other they stay put.

This would be so fun to add dried leaves or acorns to, or other things you can find in nature and the best part is, it’s totally free! Plus, my boys and I had a blast collecting all of these pinecones at the local duck pond :).

I’ll be linking up to DIY Project Parade, Motivate Me Monday, Market Yourself Monday, Homemaker Monday, Making Monday Marvelous, Craftomaniac Monday, and Mommy Monday.

Spice Ornaments

I think I made spice ornaments as a kid and when I saw the “recipe” to make them in my Everything Christmas book (page 14), I thought it would be fun to make them with my boys…sure enough, we had a blast and my kitchen smelled amazing for days!

All you need is equal parts cinnamon and applesauce. I used one cup of applesauce and one cup of cinnamon which was perfect to make several ornaments. It makes a very thick, crumbly dough…

Just roll it out on some wax paper and have your kids use their cookie cutters to make their ornaments. We had to use a spatula to transfer the ornaments so they wouldn’t break. Use a toothpick to poke a hole in each ornament.

Lay them out on a cookie sheet to dry for several days. Once they’re dry, your kids can paint them, or you can just hang them up with some thread on your tree…a fun, simple craft that you can keep for years to come.

I’ll be linking up to What Are Little Boys Made Of? Crafty Soiree, Making It With Allie, Show Off Your Stuff Party, Strut Your Stuff, and Christmas Craft Link Party.