Christmas Tree Hair Bow

My daughters love wearing hairbows, especially around the holidays. This Christmas tree bow is very festive and can be made easily with scraps of ribbon.  

 First cut 2 pieces of ribbon in the three different sizes. Fold into loops and glue the ends together. Next cover a hair clip with brown ribbon to make the trunk and serve as a base for the rest of the hair bow to adhere to. Glue the two largest loops at an angle starting at the base of the tree.  Layer the remaining loops on top.  Finally add a complementary bow to the top of the tree.

Money Christmas Tree Card

My least favorite gift to give at Christmas time is money and gift cards. Unfortunately when you have a lot of teenagers on your shopping list; it quickly becomes your only option. Still, there are a few ways to make it a more thoughtful gift.

This is what some of my husband's younger cousins are getting this year. A crisp $20 bill on a card. If you can't find a crisp bill, you can just iron an old one. This works amazingly well and also allows you to retry your folds should you make a mistake.

The instructions for making the tree can be found on this blog.

After I folded the tree, I taped it to a red piece of card stock using double sided tape. I then used my mini-paper cutter to trim around the tree. Then I layered the red paper on a larger sheet of green card stock and trimmed again. I then taped the entire stack-up to a blank card. Finally, I used my Cricut (TM)  machine to cut mini-stars out of yellow card stock and taped those to the tops of the trees.

Marshmallow Creatures

I got the idea for making marshmallow creatures one day when trying to entertain a snowed in precocious toddler with a quiet activity since the newborn was sleeping. Having just watched Frosty the Snowman, the craft project started out simple enough as making a snowman out of a stack of marshmallows. Next thing I knew I was being asked to make the cast of the movie, including Karen and the rabbit Hocus. The marshmallows are "glued" together using powdered sugar and water mixture. "Painting" is done with food dye and a toothpick.

 

Snowman:   Attach two large marshmallow together. Add a small marshmallow to the top of the stack. Painting the small marshmallow and the top of the larger marshmallow black. Add eyes, mouth, nose, and buttons.

Teddy Bear: Attach two large marshmallows for the body. Use mini yellow marshmallows for the ears, arms and legs. Use a pink mini marshmallow for the nose.Paint eyes, nose and paws.

Pig: Turn a large marshmallow sideways for the body. Attach 4 pink mini marshmallows for the legs and 1 for the nose. The ears are made by cutting a mini marshmallow in half.

Julia enjoyed adding flower sprinkles to her snowman's hair. Unfortunately they didn't last too long. In what I am sure was Julia's most reasonable 2 year old logic, I had been convinced that our marshmallow creatures needed to be eaten.

Decorating a Gingerbread House

 Decorating a gingerbread house is one of our favorite holiday traditions. I say "decorating" because that is the only fun part for kids. The baking and construction part should be done by the adults and at least a day ahead of time to allow time to dry.  I learned to the hard way one year when I tried to do this project with my niece and nephew. There was a lot of crying every time the house fell down. By the time I had my own children I had a foolproof system for making things proceed without tears. Here are some of my hints....

1. Make sure the structure is very sound before putting it in front of the child. They will press hard when gluing on the candy.
2. Open all candy packaging ahead of time and transfer a small quantity to a bowl or plate. Hide the rest. It is very difficult to convince a child that an entire bag of m&ms won't fit on the roof.
3. Make the icing pretty thick. Royal icing works best, but powdered sugar and water works just as well too. Just make sure it isn't runny. Store bought icing doesn't work well at all.
4. Give up on the idea of a story book ginger bread house and just go with whatever they want to do. It's easier to accept the sideways candy canes glued to the roof of the house then convince a three year old that they were supposed to adorn the doorway. 
5. Display the house for all to see, but make sure that it isn't within a child's reach.  One year my nephew made several meals out of the candy he picked off the house throughout the week. We didn't notice until Christmas day when we went to show visitors.

The Christmas Tree Skirt

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In 2008, we spent our first Christmas at our own house. With two small children it was no longer feasible to fly all over the country during the holidays. It was our first full-sized tree and a chance to start new family traditions. Needing a tree skirt and not being able to find one I liked, I decided to make my own and thus our new family tradition was started. Each year I add a decoration to the skirt that holds a special meaning for our family along with the date to remember it.

  

2008 was a wonderful year. We welcomed our second daughter into the world and Julia, who was two, was really starting to understand Christmas. She watched Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer on TV and was infatuated. Someone gave her a little Rudolph figurine and she carried it everywhere she went. Reading the book became a nightly routine, and often I would find her asleep cradling the book. No surprise, the year 2008 was commemorated with a Rudolph design on the tree skirt.

In 2009, Claire was 18months and hadn't started talking yet. You could tell she understood a lot, but just didn't feel like expressing it. Imagine our surprise when she pointed to a picture of Santa Clause and said "Ho, Ho, Ho".  We were very proud of her and documented the achievement by making Santa Clause our design for 2009.

Now ages 2 and 4, both girls enjoyed watching the same Christmas classics that my husband and I watched when we were children. While our parents only had to sit through it once a year as a TV special, thanks to the invention of DVD, we could endure it on a daily basis. Dr. Seuss' "The Grinch That Stole Christmas" became their favorite movie, book, and thanks to a remake by the Cast of Glee, their favorite song. Thus he because our 2010 Christmas icon, made of felt with fabric paint detailing for the black lines.