Frozen Winter Sparkle Hair Clips

For any girl who loves the movie, Frozen, these sparkling blue hair clips are sure to bring a smile of delight.  We made these as part of a Frozen-themed birthday party gift for a friend.  I can't wait to see her reaction to this homemade gift!

These Frozen Winter Sparkle Hair Clips would make great stocking stuffers for girls too!

Materials Needed:

• Metal Hair Barrettes
• Silver Stretch Cording
• Blue Sparkle Ribbon
• Hot Glue

Directions:

1.  Cut sparkle ribbon long enough to cover the metal barrettes, with enough extra to wrap under each end.
2. Lay the ribbon on the barrette and wrap the silver cording around both the ribbon and the barrette.  Make sure the clip is open and the cording does not interfere with the clasp mechanism.
3. Tie the ends of the cording and trim.  Hot glue the ends of the ribbon over the tied cording, which should be hidden on the underside.

I'm sharing this project at Savoring Saturdays this week.

Stacked Button Christmas Tree Ornaments

Each Sunday of Advent we have planned a family activity.  Homemade ornament making was something that the kids and I really enjoyed this month.   Some of the ornaments turned out to be more durable than others, and these button ornaments are ones that I hope to keep around for a while.

Stacked button tree ornaments would also make cute teacher gifts or package decorations.  We've still got quite a bit of packages left to wrap, and I'd love to make a few more of these to add to our teacher gifts.  How about you?  Do you wrap your presents early or wait until it's closer to Christmas?

 Materials Used:

• Assorted buttons (ours were from the dollar store)
• String, dental floss, or embroidery floss.
• Beads
• Hot glue and glue gun, or craft glue, optional

Directions:

1. Stack buttons, starting with the largest at the bottom and top with a sparkly bead on top.  
2. Thread string through two of the holes of each button, separating the buttons as needed.  Tie a loop at the top of the string.
3. Glue on seed beads for additional colors if desired.

I'm sharing this at Show and Tell Saturday and more.

Homemade String Art Kit: A Great Stocking Stuffer or Last-Minute Gift

Doing it all just can't be done.  That is a lesson I continue to learn this year.  The women I admire most already recognize that and focus on top priorities, letting others go.  So it has been a while since I've done much crafting, much less posted about any.  But for the sake of friends and family, some crafting inspiration returned this month.

A new friend of mine had a baby this fall, and I was able to visit her in the hospital and meet her sweet newborn daughter back in November.  I didn't prepare a gift ahead of time, so I baked some goodies and picked up some helium balloons for her other girls.  However, I still wanted to send a baby gift, so this week I finally got a package together.

But what could I tuck in for the older children this time?  A craft kit made perfect sense (and it was one of the ideas in this article about gifts for kids). Friendship bracelets seemed a tad complicated, so I decided to print out instructions for string art stars.  To wrap it up, I notched the ends of a cardboard tube.  Here was the result:

These simple kits would work well for so many occasions!  I only wish I had thought of it before we bought gifts for the class Christmas parties at school this week.  Since I had some embroidery floss and cardboard tubes on hand already, I did not have to buy a thing!  String art kits would also make great stocking stuffers.  Or you could bring these along as gifts to open and enjoy on any holiday car or plane trips coming up (but make sure you bring along some notched cardboard discs).  Would any kids you know enjoy a kit like this?

Materials Used:

• Cardboard paper towel tube
• Scissors
• Embroidery floss or colored string
• Printed instructions* for string art 

         *I used these instructions by Creative Jewish Mom.

Directions:

1. Wrap the printed instructions for string art around the tube.  Trim the tube so that it is slightly longer than the paper for the instructions.
2. Optional: Cut notches in the ends of the tubes and wrap extra string around the tube so that the paper is tied onto the cardboad tube with decorative string art.
3. Tuck skeins of embroidery floss or string inside the tube.  Give with a smile.

Homemade Holidays with the Kids

Besides the normal holiday bustle of events surrounding Advent and Christmas, my attention has been diverted from writing at this lovely personal blog outlet.  In the month of December I was occupied with marketing my writing skills on Elance and elsewhere.   As 2012 closes, I am pondering what to do in the months ahead.  Staying at home, working from home, or taking an outside job are all options on the table.  I am waiting to see what direction is right for me and for our family.  It may be an option that I would never have predicted.  I certainly never expected to be a mother of four; yet here I am.  And my children have become my greatest blessings.

For want of a cookie cutter, we did not make roll out cookies before Christmas.
But then on Christmas Eve, some local friends dropped by with presents,
including a gingerbread cookie decorating kit.  

While I been working on other projects, my kids have still been crafting up a storm lately.  I thought I would share with you a few of the projects they have been busy making this month.  Enjoy!

My daughter sewed these fruity coasters from felt and foam for her tea-loving father.

Paper angels and a felt pocket wall hanging adorn the wall 
near my daughter's upper bunk.

Note: This post contains an affiliate link.

Simply Celebrating Christmas: Ten Traditions

We decided to keep packaged gifts to a minimum this year, which left me wondering: how are we celebrating the season?  Yet as I reflected further, a number of our family traditions came to mind.  Coming up with a list Christmastime traditions we've developed (instead of a wish list) was a valuable exercise.  It helped me see that taking the focus off of stuff and celebrating the season in other simple, memorable ways truly is possible.


Here are some of the traditions we enjoyed this year:

1.  We chose new ornaments.

My ornament this year was inspired by passages in Isaiah.

2.  We performed a dramatic reading from Luke 2.  Our 7-year-old was the director and assigned the parts.  This year she was Mary, her little brother was Joseph, and Mama and her younger sister were angels.  Daddy was the donkey (and a shepherd).

3.  We took family portraits (and sent them as gifts).

4.  We sang Christmas carols at home and at church.

5.  We watched Christmas movies and specials, such as:

6.  We opened our time capsule ornament again (from 2001).

7. We made gingerbread cookies.

8. I savored a sample of my mom's fruitcake.

9. We connected with parents, grandparents, great-grandparents and siblings via phone calls.

10. We enjoyed spaghetti made from scratch by my husband.

What was a meaningful way for you to celebrate Christmas this year?

 

Words to Ponder this Season

Image credit

In this season of Advent, I want to quiet my heart and focus on what matters most.  The wisdom in these words is encouraging me to do that.

• Lay It Down: Can You Be Fully Present This Holiday Season? @ Sorta Crunchy

• White Envelope Giving @ the Goodlife

• He Said She Said: I wanted Christmas to be peaceful @ Kyria

And finally, here's a new favorite I recently discovered, "The Wexford Carol":

I'm linking this up to Saturday Stumbles today.

The Little Bell That I Remember

Music is one of my favorite ways to celebrate the joy of Christ's birth.  The angels were the first to sing, and we get to follow their example.  That irrepressible joy is something I'd like to recapture this year and every year.  Yet it's so very easy for the bustle of activities and the weight of all the things on my to-do list to interfere.  My husband mentioned a relevant article about how even striving for a simpler Christmas can result in burnout.  That's not what I want.

Joy.  Simple joy in Jesus.  That's what's worth pursuing.  And this year it means ruthlessly cutting out things that clutter my heart and mind.  Even good things.  Like all the goodies I'd like to bake, gifts I'd like to give, craft ideas I could post on this blog...

There's a little bell in this old Christmas program who can't help but ring out the good news.  She has an exuberant happiness over the birth of Jesus that she can't help but share.  Here are a few lyrics I recall:

Ringing bell, tidings tell,
Good news on earth, of Jesus birth,
Ring-ing Christmas bell.

I'm not sure if my parents still have the vinyl LP somewhere, but I'd love to refresh my memories.  Still, the main point remains.  My heart should be filled with joy that overflows in what I say and do.  For indeed there is "good news of great joy that that will be for all people" (Luke 2:10).

Let every heart prepare Him room!

Christmastime 2009 Recap

Now that the new year has begun, you won't hear much from me on resolutions. My thoughts on the matter are captured well here by Jamie at Steady Mom. I've shared other random ideas on self improvement and attainability in this article.

Meanwhile, I am still reflecting on the time we spent together as a family between Christmas and New Year's Day. It was a rare opportunity to slow down and enjoy having my husband at home with us.

We did:

• re-enact the biblical Christmas story as a family (minus a sleeping boy).

• enjoy homemade cinnamon rolls from the frozen dough that my sister-in-law made for us at Thanksgiving.

• decorate gingerbread houses at the home of some friends of ours.

• make microwavable salt dough ornaments.

• purge the house of excess junk and miscellany when my husband organized all the toys.

• take a sudden two-day excursion to Kansas City, where my parents-in-law live. My kids also got to play with two of their cousins from Chicago who were visiting with their parents (my SIL and her husband).

• shovel hundreds of pounds of snow from our l-o-n-g driveway.

• remain safely ensconced inside our cozy brick house from the evening of December 23 to December 27.

• watch several movies at home as a couple. I'm still pondering the documentary we watched, Let the Church Say Amen. It has great potential for fostering a group discussion on the role of the church in society.
  

We didn't:

• remember to hang and fill Christmas stockings until December 26th.

• travel to Ohio to celebrate with my grandfather. I felt heartsick about not going.

• bake Swedish tea ring, Christmas cookies, or other traditional holiday edibles.

• feast on my husband’s holiday specialty—Garlic Spaghetti. The reason: I forgot to buy ground beef.

• attend a Christmas Eve service at a church.

• stay on schedule for our Advent readings from Preparing for Jesus, by Walter Wangerin, Jr. We should finish mid-January. It has been wonderfully vivid so far!

• send Christmas cards by post. A belated e-mail newsletter had to suffice—again.

• watch A Wonderful Life...yet. It’s been a yearly tradition for my husband since he was a child.

• enjoy even one bite of my family’s traditional fruitcake. I missed it.
  

I hope you were able to savor some meaningful moments and traditions with your family in the last few weeks as well. Feel free to comment and share some of what you did or didn't do as you wrapped up 2009. I'm glad to be back with the Company Girls this week!

Menu Plan for the Week of 12/20 (plus road trip food ideas)

This week's plan goes through the 25th of December and then we're headed out on a road trip to Ohio. In addition to our dinner plan, I've listed ideas for simple, healthy foods to take along in the car. And I just might have to liven up our food-to-go with cookie cutters, since we've been having so much fun with cut outs lately.

• Steamed Tilapia, Onion Pancakes
  
• Meatball Casserole
  
• Roast Duck, Stuffing, Sweet Potatoes, Asparagus
• Garlic Spaghetti (a Christmas tradition in our family)

Healthy Foods for the Road:
-Tortillas
-Avocados
-Ham
-Cheese
-Hard boiled eggs
-Ultra Simple Chex Mix (Chex + Almonds + Dried Fruit)
-Baby carrots
-Cucumber Slices
-Clementines

Craft of the Week: Pine and Willow Wreath 3.0

My one dollar willow wreath has been converted again, this time for the Christmas holiday. Previously the wreath was decked with pumpkins. And before that, it was a green ribboned wreath (as seen in this slideshow).

Materials that were used (or reused) for this 3.0 version:

• Willow wreath
• Green cotton cloth (from a shirt--see my pumpkin wreath tutorial for details)
• Safety pins
• Thin beading wire
• School glue
• Pine cones
• Long pine needles

How I made it:

1. I left the green cloth wrapped around the wreath but took off the pumpkins.
2. Before the snow came, I collected pine cones and a fallen pine branch.
3. I wired and glued the pine cones onto the bottom of the wreath.
4. Then I inserted clumps of pine needles behind the cloth "ribbon."

The result was a simple, virtually cost-free pine wreath for our front door. For more creative ideas, check out:

Craft of the Week: Christmas Quilt Door Hanging

I recently decided that covering our side door with something decorative would be less costly than new coat of paint. And I could do a project with my kids instead of fending them away from toxic fumes. While a Thanksgiving door wrap never materialized, I set about creating this quilt to add some holiday cheer to our usual entry door.

Supplies We Used:

-Red and green construction paper
-White paper for printing letters
-Christmas wrapping paper
-Card stock (preferably from used printed matter)
-Glue sticks
-Paper cutter
-Scissors
-Hole punch
-Tape to mount

More elegant options occurred to me, but I was glad to stick with my goal of using what we already have. This saves money and avoids a further influx of craft supplies. Eco-friendly colored paper alternatives would be old holiday cards and Christmas wrap. Though I lacked these options, I did wrap the colored paper around card stock scavenged from old magazine covers and calendars.

This idea is linked to Strut Your Stuff - A Week of Links at Somewhat Simple and DIY Day at A Soft Place to Land.