Toddler Craft Fun

I have to say I love the smells of our house right now. In the oven drying out are our cinnamon applesauce ornaments. Our hands smell of cinnamon and so does the house. I will post pictures tomorrow.

Yesterday and today Hazel and I made some popsicle stick puppets. We started by making an elf for a gift for one of Hazel's friends. Then she wanted one for herself and we made a few others. While she was sleeping I dressed one as a princess, which we named Hazel and sewed the sides to make it look a bit fancier. Hazel has been loving decorating them. I gave her glitter glue and ribbons and trims to decorate with. These are easy for kids with a bit of help.

To start we glued a popsicle stick as arms to a tongue depressor. Then cut a popscile stick in half for the legs and glued them on. I used markers to draw on eyes and a mouth.

Then I cut clothes out of felt--a front and back for everything and glued it on. I used embroidery floss for hair or wool roving or stuffing. Then Hazel went to town decorating. She was loving cutting the ribbon and trims as well as the glitter.

I love that they are something fairly easy to make that she can decorate and play with and they can be different things for the various holidays or just a regular day.

Tomorrow is December 1st. I wanted to share a quick picture of our Advent calendar. We are very fortunate to have received it as a gift from my parents one year. This year I'm filling it with mostly needle felted figures for a nativity so we can talk about the story with Hazel and she will have the figures represented in toys she can touch and play with.

Isn't it beautiful? It is such a wonderful tradition to have.

Just thought I would share a few other "decorations" we have around.

Ornaments from Steve's House before we were married

Some pine cones I spray painted green and gold (for a craft but we had extras)

Hazel got Mail!

So today a package arrived for Hazel from Australia!! Remember how I told you Kelly over at Happy Whimsical Hearts suggested her son, Master D and Hazel exchange postcards. Well, Master D sent a postcard and a gift. Hazel was so excited to get mail let alone a homemade gift! We were just discussing send him another postcard, so now we will have to think of a good gift to make him. The best part is that Master D received his postcard from Hazel today as well.

Peg Doll Made by Master D for Hazel

I also want to share the amazing Cyber Monday Giveaway Beth over at Living Life Intentionally is holding through Dec. 4. Go over and check it out. If you win it will take one children's gift off your list. She has four choices covering various ages.

And finally!! I have updated the button codes at Sharing Saturday since so many people have been having trouble. I have gotten a good report of them working so far. And Sharing Saturday #7 is still open. Please go share a wonderful idea with us and check out all the amazing ideas already shared.

Have a great night!!

Monday, Monday

Pumpkin's Favorite Sleep Spot--Under the Tree

Mondays are weird days here. Every other Monday we have our cleaning people come at 7:30 a.m., so I rush around making sure things are somewhat picked up so they can clean. Then my mother-in-law usually takes Hazel for at least part of the day though lately it has been for the entire day. Some Mondays I have an appointment, but then I need to figure out what I need/want to do for the rest of the day. It always is a struggle to decide to do what I should/need to do or to enjoy the childless time. Today I think I will take a bit of a nap (I didn't sleep well last night) and then after lunch get organizing my craft room. I'm hoping to move most of Hazel's crafts downstairs with mine and getting it all organized so we can find things.

Advent Calendar

Today I will share a few of the things we made at the Advent Workshop at church last night. Hazel and Steve came early which worked out perfectly. Hazel and I did the crafts before dinner and then after dinner she was ready to go home since she hadn't napped.


The first craft is an Advent calendar. We cut out the picture and bow and glued them to a cut paper plate. Now we have holly leaves to glue on each day until Christmas.

The next is a Christmas tree ornament. We bought kits from Oriental Trading. They are red and green felt cut as wreaths and glue them together then glue the buttons, bow and ribbon on.



They also had wreath making with greens and also a great picture wreath making spot. I brought the supplies home to make a picture wreath. I may make one with a picture from each Christmas since Steve and I have known each other and maybe will buy the supplies to make one for Hazel for each year of her live to give her when she is older.

The final craft Hazel and I did were these beaded wreath pins. They are just tri-beads (3 green then 1 red repeated for a total of 28 beads) on half of a green pipe cleaner then close to make a loop and glue on the ribbon and the pin back.

Then we had caroling and the card making station. We made 100 Christmas cards to give the City Mission Society of Boston who will distribute them to the homeless. Our church does a lot with/for City Mission Society.

Overall it was a fun evening. And this year there was plenty of food. (Last year we ran out due to lack of signing up and still coming.)

Hope you are having a great day!

The Start of Advent

Today is the first Sunday of Advent. My church holds an Advent Workshop each year. Last year they began making it in the evening so all the families could attend. As a member of the Christian Education Committee I have been helping plan it this year. We serve a spaghetti dinner and then there are different stations to make crafts--wreaths, ornaments, decorations, Advent calendars, and Christmas cards for the homeless (that another religious charity gathers from the churches to distribute with gifts). The high school students will be making fleece scarves for the charity as well. Last year we ran out of food, because many people hadn't signed up, but came anyway. This year they didn't have a sign-up, so hopefully there will be enough food.

Hazel's decorating...all on the same branch

Yesterday we spent the day getting our house ready for Christmas. We have a few more things to do, but the tree is up. I still need to put the candles in the windows and put the swags over the family room windows. Hazel had so much fun decorating the tree. Of course we still need to teach her not to hang all the ornaments on the same branch. We had a few fatalities due to this practice, but they were minor ones.

Our Honeymoons: St. Croix and Plymouth, MA

Family Picture

Some traditions we have for our Christmas tree, if we go on a trip during the year we buy an ornament for the tree from the place we have been. Then when we hang the ornaments we have a nice memory of the trip. I started this when I was single so I have a few from those vacations, but together Steve and I have one from each of our honeymoon trips (we took a two-night one locally right after the wedding and then waited for the bad weather to get away some place farther), as well as other trips we have taken and of course one from Cape Cod since we go there every year to see my parents (usually several times a year). Steve also receives a frame ornament with the year on it in his Christmas stocking every year (usually from Michaels for around $4). So we have family pictures for each year we have been together starting with the year we got engaged right before Christmas. We also have pictures of Hazel and our cats on the tree. This year we will add Fluffy to the collection and we will do a memorial of Simba. We also have given one to Hazel each year that represents something she really likes. Her first year it was a duck and last year it was Elmo. She loved those when we found them in the boxes.

The rest of the ornaments are a combination of ones from our childhoods, ones we made, and ones that were gifts. There are still a few that were bought without much significance, but for the most part we are weeding those out each year. It is amazing how your priorities change. I didn't bother hanging the margarita glass ornament one of my sister's gave me ages ago. We share a love for homemade margaritas so it was a nice sharing moment, but now I barely drink, so hanging a glass on my tree seems so insignificant. However I do still have the engraved angel that my sister gave me when I was 7 on my tree. My mother hangs our silver teething rings on her tree. I need to get Hazel's out for ours.

Do you do anything special for your tree? I always love the look of the themed trees in pictures but when it comes down to it, I love my tree for the love and memories it holds instead of how it looks.

An ornament I made the other day. The pattern came from Living Crafts Magazine (do you know this magazine, it is wonderful)! I borrowed a few issues from the handworks teacher at school (and just ordered my own subscription). This pattern came from the Winter 2009 issue. Hazel decided she wanted it as a toy and not an ornament. I may try to make a smaller one for the tree though.

Happy start of Advent!! I hope you have a wonderful day!!

Sharing Saturday #7 and free printable

I bought these frames at Michaels for $1 each and did some prints with Christmas Carol verses in Print Shop. Here is the page I came up with (there are some I didn't use).