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Here’s a fun Christmas craft project. Sorry the photo is so eye-blinkingly washed out.
The short tree was the first one we (I) made, following these instructions from Crayola almost exactly. I found the gluing and the ribbon part very fiddly and didn’t care to repeat it, but I really wanted the kids to make some. Then I remembered magazine Christmas trees and decided to try it with construction paper. Since the paper wasn’t bound, I machine sewed a line right down the middle of the stack of paper (I used 8 sheets for the big, solid green tree). Then I folded each sheet just the like the magazine tree instructions described. It was easy enough that I thought the kids would like it, so I made two more little “books” with some old scrapbooking paper for them to try. DJ is 6 and it was really easy for him to catch on. AJ is almost 5, and while she needed me to sit and help her make the folds, it was fun to do together and she loved it. After we folded them all up, we added garlands of random crafty materials I had in the closet. We didn’t spend a penny on them, and now we have a lovely centerpiece for our table!
Inspired by Amy, we got out the paints the other day. D & A have Prang washable watercolors, and I–for some reason–have a box of gouache watercolors. I also had a pad of watercolor paper, but it only had one sheet left, so we satisfied ourselves with construction paper (but it really isn’t the same).
DJ went for a little color. I don’t know who this is, but he would say it’s a girl, because it has eyelashes (he ignores the fact that boys have eyelashes, too).
AJ was more subtle. She said this was herself, as a kitty cat.
And I tried to find my inner illustrator.
I drew in pencil first, then went over the drawings in pen. I chose the wrong pen at first, as you can see by the boy’s eyes. Then I painted. The people need some skin color, but this gouache is rather opaque. I couldn’t get the color diluted enough. And also, as I said, the paper wasn’t right. Watercolor paper makes a huge difference.
Get out your paints sometime…it’s fun!
Please pardon me while I briefly turn my attention to making hair adornments.
A covered snap clip, made following directions found here.
Little bug bows, also made using instructions found at the same place.
A flower snap clip to match AJ’s newest outfit, thanks to Wise Craft.
A little button-covered yo-yo clippy.
And a nice, poofy, preppy clip.
Now, where is AJ going to keep all these bows?
AJ always wears a hairbow on a clip to keep her bangs out of her eyes. For some reason, the hair in her bangs area has never grown as fast as the hair on the back of her head, which has meant constant vigilance with the scissors on my part (who wants a baby with a mullet?). I have never cut her bangs, just the length of her hair in the back.
Anyway. I used to buy the little alligator-style bow clips wherever I could find them, but now her hair is getting thicker and it needs a more substantial clip. I found some tiny little French clips when we went to Long Creek Mills the other day, so I bought them and started messing through my ribbon stash. Now AJ has three new, cute little hairbows!
The brown and blue one matches her new outfit perfectly, see?
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