Christmas Angel

December is just rushing by. With Christmas programs, Christmas shopping, stomach flue...I just haven't had time to post. But we are enjoying the season, and squeezing in as many crafts as we can.


I made this little angel with the baby. I brushed paint on the bottom of her foot and helped make a foot print on the paper (which is the body of the angel), I then brushed paint on her hands and made prints for the angel wings. I drew the face and other embellishments with a metallic marker. I added a verse and placed the picture in a frame to be part of our Christmas art wall.

Little Guy and Big Sis have art to share too. I hope to get it up soon.

Have a delightful day!!

The Legend Of The Candy Cane

I love Christmas and reading all kinds of Christmas Stories. We read my childhood copy of The Night Before Christmas, and we share fun new stories like The Auntie Clause , and many others that I hope to share in the weeks to come. But The Legend Of The Candy Cane is up at the top of my list of must read Christmas stories.I read this book to my children last night. My oldest has heard this story many times before, but always looks forward to hearing it again. My 3 year old had never heard the story before, and while there are parts of the story that are perhaps a bit old for him (but maybe not), we focused on the parts of the story that he could relate to. Like the candy cane looks like the letter J (for Jesus), but if you turn it over it looks like a shepherds staff (who were the first to see the New Born Babe).

If you don't have a copy of this book and can't find one to use, you can find a text only version at The Legend Of The Candy Cane . This is not quite the same as the book, but still is a wonderful story to share with your children. I have received candy canes as a small gift with the printed legend attached. We may give them with a poem (found at the link mentioned above).

We have also been reading This Is The Stable . What a simple but wonderful way to tell the Christmas story to very young children. It is simple enough that my Little Guy is able to remember the words and say them along with me.

The thing I find most wonderful about reading these stories is that Big Sis (in the 6th grade and 11 years old) will stop what she's doing and come snuggle with us as I read.

What's a story with out a craft?

As an extension of The Legend Of The Candy Cane. We did some simple marble painting to create fun candy canes of our own.

All you need for this activity are: paper cut outs of candy canes, marble (or other round object), red paint, and some sort of container to place candy canes and paint covered marble in. Pour paint into a small dish and roll the marble in the paint, place paper candy canes in large dish, box...now you are ready to add the paint covered marble, and roll it around. Add paint to the marble as needed.

As an extension of This Is The Stable we made a bundle of Christmas Hay. We used Raffia and red yarn to make our bundle of Christmas Hay.

Little Guy and I will do something special for Big Sis (perhaps hang Christmas Lights in her room) and leave the Christmas Hay. When she comes home from school she will find the lights and the hay. Now it is her turn to do something special for someone else in our house and pass on the Christmas Hay.

Have a delightful day!!

Construction Paper for Big Girls and Chrismas Card Making

My 16 year old niece and Big Sis (my 11 year old daughter) love to make cards. But not just any old cards, fun glittery cards made cute scapbooking paper.

I like to call it construction paper for Big Girls. I'm sure that many of you are scrapbookers or card makers and can relate to the fascination that is scrapbooking paper, I find my self wanting to buy more and more of it (it's almost like wanting to buy new fabric). My mom bought them 2 big stacks of paper to use for making Christmas cards. I can not tell you how happy it made them. It was as if they had died and gone to card makers heaven

These are some of the card my daughter made. It is fun to see how her ideas and creativity change and grow as she practices her craft.

I think the rick rack is a fun addition to this card.

I pulled out all of my Christmas stamps and we borrowed some from Granny too.Some of the lettering is achieved by the use of stickers or rub-ons. I have been trying to encourage them to cut out simple shapes, like the tree below. It's less expensive than using stickers, and just as cute.I love the way the girls use double sided tape, and glitter to create glittery boarders and edges.Both of the girls have a tendency to be a little wasteful. So I really encourage them to use their scraps. The book marks and gift tags are just a sample of what my daughter came up with.This year she will be making all of our Christmas cards, and gift tags. She was so existed about this idea. I think she feels like she is really making a meaningful contribution, and she is!!

Card making supplies are at the top of these Girls' Christmas lists!!

Have a delightful day.