Crocheting - Christmas Ornament: Star/Flower

I decided to crochet an ornament for my in-laws for Christmas. I found a Crochet Star Ornament Pattern to try. Needless to say my star turned into a flower!  I started off okay but during the second round I made a mistake.  In the third round I made another mistake but I figured out how to make it look like a flower instead by completing the main step in the third round a couple of extra times.  Not bad for my first try.  Next time I will try to actually make a star!

Creatology Holiday Traditional Christmas House Kit and Candy Shop Kit

We have been working on various ornament kits for fun Christmas craft projects, but I decided to try out a couple 3-D kits I've seen on display.  I chose the Traditional Christmas House and the Candy Shop.  My 2 1/2 year old son "helped" with the house and my 4 year old daughter helped with the candy shop.  They are a little hard to put together.  My daughter wanted to take it apart and remake the candy shop a couple of times but each time it was harder to put together. Not every piece is a sticker, some pieces need to be glued on the structure.  Also there are a lot of pieces and we misplaced a few.  We decorated in our own way when there were missing pieces or when there was a part that kept falling off.  Overall they came out very cute and we'll keep them displayed for the holiday season.  They would not last until next year, so we'll just make a couple new ones next year.

Christmas Photo Card Background - Wrapping Paper and Crafts

I didn't feel like getting professional pictures taken for our Christmas cards this year and I've already posted our best photos on Facebook.  I came up the idea of using wrapping paper as a background and taking our own picture of the kids in front of it.  I looked on Pinterest and saw a few people had the same idea and it looked like the pictures came out well.  I let the kiddies pick out which wrapping paper of our stock they wanted to use.  I had just enough of the penguin paper but used red paper at the bottom which did show up a little.  My daughter had decorated little wood Christmas trees the day before and my husband taped them up at the top to add a personal touch to the pictures.  I dressed up the kids in their Christmas outfits.  My daughter's favorite stuffed animal "Piggy" ended up in the picture as well but I didn't mind.  It was super cute.  Having two toddlers take a good posed picture is not easy but having them involved in the planning helped. Here are a few of the best shots.  The close-up shot was cropped from a larger picture and used for the photo card I ordered through Picaboo with a Groupon.  I definitely recommend this super easy way to have a cute background for your pictures!!

Crocheting - Polar Bear Hat

Since I learned to crochet earlier this year, I have made bear loveys and a few coasters.  I just made my first hat today.  I found a free Polar Bear Pattern through Pinterest.  The pattern was very easy to follow and the stitches were easy.  I made in a few hours.  I changed the snout part because I didn't want the snout sticking out and I molded the nose part on my bear loveys.  I'm very happy with the finished project and I look forward to making more hats!

Make It Christmas - Foam Ornament Kit

We were working on making Thanksgiving cards when my daughter noticed I had Christmas foam activity kits as well waiting in the wings. I told her she could choose one.  She picked an ornament kit and in what seemed like no time, she had finished the whole kit!  She didn't use every single piece and some ornaments are "minimalist" but they're cute and later she wrote each family member/friend's name on the back which is great practice for letter writing at school.  She can use another kit to make enough ornaments for all the children in her preschool class next month.

A sampling

My daughter made this one for herself.  It's my favorite of her ornaments.

Toddler-Made Thanksgiving Cards - Handprint Painted Turkeys, Makers and Foam Stickers

We are back to making crafts after a little hiatus.  With the holiday season upon us, both my four year old daughter and my two year old son worked on a Thanksgiving cards to send to family members.  My son made brown handprints with both hands on one side of the construction paper and my daughter made one purple handprint on the other.  We let them dry overnight.  The next day I modeled how to draw a black dot for an eye and a red gizzard for each handprint turkey.  Then I let them decorate their side of the paper with foam stickers from a Creatology canister filled with leaves, turkeys and pumpkins.  Cute and easy especially when we need to make more than one.  

 Three samples of the cards

Two year old handprint turkeys

Four year old handprint turkey 

Example - Cute toddler work

Crochet Bear Lovey - Yellow Blanket

I recently completed work on my 6th crochet bear lovey.  I created this one for a friend who recently had her third baby.  It's because of her that I became a crocheter.  We each used a Groupon to attend a crochet or knitting class together.  I'm excited to give her a product of my new skill.  I should have placed the ears more on the side of the head (otherwise it looks more like a mouse than a bear) but it's still cute!