Makeover--Christmas Card Edition

Here are all the photo Christmas cards in this year's collage.  I LOVE it and it will hang until March in our kitchen.  

As for the rest of the holiday cards, I sent them off to St. Jude's Ranch for Children for their Recycled Card Program.  This program has been in existence for over 30 years and teaches the children there how to run a business by attaching new backs to the cards and selling them.  All you have to do is carefully rip off the backs of your cards and only send the in fronts (the fronts can have no writing on the back).  For the cost of a few stamps, you can do something good with all of your beautiful holiday cards.

Making Keepsakes

Last month on Pinterest I found this tutorial and knew it was something I wanted to do. 

Sarah, from Clover Lane, took all of her Christmas card photos from over the years and made these keepsake ornaments to decorate her stairwell at Christmas.   I decided to do the same and took one of my favorite holiday pictures from the last three years and created my own ornaments for my stairwell.  Can you see one of them there between the two stockings??

I also made ornaments for three dear friends.  They were not hard to do, mine are far from perfect but  I learned a lot from the process and hope to do better next year :)   It was really fun to do and a great way to remember holidays past.

A Gift for Lil'C

I am soooo excited about the present that S made for Lil' C.  He worked very hard on it, despite his very hectic schedule...the man works 24/7.  Z really enjoyed helping him and even I had a part in the project.  I think that is what I love most about it, we all had a hand in creating it for her :)  So here it is.....

It is a handmade doll cradle and she is going to LOVE it.  S built it, Z helped sand and paint it and I made her a pillow and mattress for it.  It was a true family effort.  I wrapped it up with her baby doll in it so she would know exactly what it is :)  The cradle rocks, S painted it white to go with her play kitchen and the mattress is pink......it is PERFECT.  I hope that she keeps it forever and one day passes it down to her children.  I don't think I can wait 4 more days!

Happy Winter Solstice and Happy Hanukkah!!

Mommy the Busy Elf

Man have I been busy creating lately :)  I LOVE to be creative and this year (as always) I have taken on way too much and have very little chance of getting it all done.  But it wouldn't be Christmas without late nights elfing!!

I am jumping with joy because I just finished Z's homemade gift.  Each year we make the kids one homemade gift from the heart.  S and Z are in charge of Lil' C's gift this year and I wanted to do Z's.  I had a tough time deciding what to create but in the end settled on a reversible Super Hero cape.  I went to the fabric store, bought some cheap Satiny material and some fabric fusing stuff.  I checked out a bunch of websites to figure out how to make a cape and found this one to be the most helpful.

 I made my own pattern and free handed the super hero emblems.  I then ironed them emblems onto the fabric fuse material and fused them to the cape.

 I sewed the emblems as well to make sure they wouldn't fall off. 

I then sewed the right sides together leaving six inches at the bottom so that I could flip it right side out.  I then went around and sewed a 1/4 inch finishing stitch to finish it all off and VOILA....

I can't WAIT to give it to him....I hope he loves it as much as I do!  I also made it so it fits my neck ...that way when they ask me to play I can do so comfortably ;)

Our Tree of Thanks

In keeping with our theme of the month, Gratitude, I wanted to do something in addition to our Thankful Turkey to show Z (and hopefully C) how much we have in our lives to be thankful for.  Tsh over at Simple Mom mentioned doing a Tree of Thanks on FB and I loved the idea and decided to create one in our home.  I went outdoors, found a lovely branch from the big snowstorm, placed it in a pot of rocks, worked with Z to make leaves and voila....a new ritual was born.

Each night at dinner we light our Thanksgiving Dinner Candle (we have a special dinner candle this month) and one person has a turn to share one thing they are thankful for.  This thing is written on a leaf and then Z hangs it on the tree.  We keep track of who's turn it is by using photos in a frame :)  Z has fallen in love with this new tradition and his questions about Christmas have slowed down.  He is no longer wishing this month away and enjoying this time of thanks.  It is also kind of fun to go against mother nature and add leaves to a tree as she is busy taking them down.

Costume Time

So what are Z and Lil' C dressing up as this year???  That has been all the talk around here lately :)  Z asked to be Raphael from the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles for Halloween.  It is his latest obsession and though I would rather he be Franklin (a much more loveable turtle), he insisted on Raphael.  After investigating my costume options, I decided on the most difficult route....make my own.  With a broken sewing machine, I was looking at making it all by hand.  I ordered green sweatpants and sweatshirt online, gathered up my collection of felt, bought some more green and went to work.  I did not have a pattern, Z and I did this as a team (did I mention S and I are going as Donatello and Michaelangelo to an adult party??  We are teaming up with another couple to go as the fiercest reptile fighting team!).

It is not perfect, please don't look closely at the stitching but he LOVES it and that is all that matters.  When he first put it on he asked me, "Mom do I really look like a turtle because I feel like one?!?!?"  That made all the effort worth it right there!  When I had him try the costume on for one last "fitting" I asked him if he was sure he didn't want to go as Franklin instead.  He laughed and said, "No mommy, Raphael is way cooler."  Oh I miss the days when Franklin was cool!!!

As for Lil' C....well she was suppose to use the bee costume that my niece used two years ago.  Unfortunately she screams whenever we put her into it.  Following her lead, I took out our dress up buckets and let her pick her own costume.  What is she going as???  Bob the Builder!  (Okay, maybe Wendy).  Z was Bob when he was Two and so it is only appropriate that she follow in her big brother's footsteps.  I don't have any pictures of her yet (only naked pictures with her in a hard hat) but I will post them when I get some good ones :)  Here is Z when he was two.

A Touch of Spring on a Snowy Day

Well I haven't watched the weather this week and was very surprised to see the snow this morning! Yesterday Z and I were playing outside in the 50 degree weather, watching the last of the snow patches melt away. Today I am looking out my window at a winter wonderland.

To brighten our day a bit and really focus on the season that we are in (it is spring? right???) we decided to make a fun craft. A girl from my MOMs club showed us how to make these and they came out cute. We plan to give them to S because it is his last day at his job (he is moving on to bigger and better things). We hope he likes them :)

They are handprint flowers and very easy to do. I traced our hands on colored paper and cut them out. Then I rolled the bottom of each hand and taped it together. Next I bent one end of a pipe cleaner and inserted into our flower. Finally, I took each finger and rolled it over a pen to form the petals. It is very easy but more of a mom craft than a child craft. Z did help to trace his hand and color the hands with pen though before I turned them into flowers :)

Happy Snowy Spring!!!

Snowy Day Art Projects

On this snowy day, I thought I would share with you some art projects that Z and I have done this winter. He may only be 16 months but give him a sponge and paint and he goes to town :) We like to use 1/6th of a George Foreman Grill sponge....lots of cool texture ;)

This next one was a lot of fun! I pre-made the snowman out of small paper plates and cut the hat and arms out of a Weight Watchers frozen dinner box. I punched holes in the plates and tied them together with ribbon. Z helped me attach the arms and hat. I then asked him to point to his eyes and then I made snowman's eyes, then I asked him to point to his nose and I made the snowman nose etc. He then painted the body with the sponge. He loves "Frosty" as we call him.

I like to call this next one his Picasso Snowman :) I gave him each piece with glue on it and he decided where the parts of the snowman should go. This is my favorite!

And Just in case you forgot his real indoor snowmen......



We hope you enjoyed Z's winter gallery :) We are so looking forward to starting our spring gallery. We just need some inspiration! Unfortunately that silly groundhog said we have 6 more weeks of winter!!!