Christmas crafts!

Christmas Crafting!

Popsicle Sleds:
We love making our own decorations for the Holidays!  The kids get so excited when it's getting close to Halloween because suddenly it becomes almost an every night "thing" to craft!  So, this season we're going to share!  Tonight we're making popsicle stick sleds!  The idea came from ..well, my Dad!  He found an old ..I mean made in 1992, by a really awesome gal name Ashley McIntosh ( By the way....that's me)  OLD ornament and brought it over to share.

I'm pretty sure my preschool teacher, a lovely Ms.Starla, is to credit for the candy canes and painting my name.  The rest...all me!

They're really cute!  SO...here's what you'll need
*Popsicle sticks-you can find these for $1.00 at The Dollar Tree(I really LOVE that place) or at Walmart for maybe .10 more.
*Your choice of paint- I'd go for acrylic...it's like plastic and just rolls off their little hands and your table when it's clean up time.
*Paint brush/es- You can buy a pack of 100 of the type that come with the water color pallets in the craft aisle at Walmart for around $2.00.  Yes, I buy them in bulk because we're always painting something.
*Glue- Now, you can use Elmers glue and let your little ones do the work.  OR you can use wood glue or a hot glue gun and put it together for them.

Step 1: Get your stuff!

Step 2: Get your artists!

Ace saying "HI!" with his little broken pinkie!
We spent part of Thanksgiving day in the ER
but that's another story.

Step 3: Pass out 10 sticks each!  I laid down white paper for them to paint on to try and manage a bit of the mess.
Step 4: Put them to painting!

I know it may seem odd having them paint the sticks before the sled is together....but it will makes sense once it's together.
Step 5: LET THE STICKS DRY!
Step 6: Place the "seat" part of the sled together. You don't glue these pieces to each other. Notice my helpful and VERY handsome hand model!  This will be the bottom of the sled.

 Step 7: Make a strip of glue across the top like this...

 Step 8: Attach a popsicle stick to the glue :)

 Step 9: Make a strip of glue along the bottom of the sled..

 Step 10: Attach a popsicle stick to the glue :)

 Steps 11 & 12: Place a thin layer vertically up the inside of the sled on both sides....like so...And place popsicle sticks to each line of glue.

 ALLOW TO DRY! 

Step 13: Gently flip the sled over.  Place a line of glue across the top (pointy part) of the sled....like this....

Step 14: Place your last remaining popsicle stick on the line of glue.

 Allow it to dry and decorate however you like!  I hope you and yours have as much fun making these cute little sleds as we did.  Let me know how they turned out!

Here's Weston's finished sled.  I painted his name, the year, how old he is and what he wants for Christmas this year! I did this for each of the kids.

Little Feet Reindeer Keepsake:
There's no real tutorial for this.  It's a flat canvas, you can buy a 4 pack in this size for $3.00 at Walmart.  I used acrylic paint because it's clean up friendly.  And of course 4 of the sweetest little feet I know!  Paint the bottom of your little ones feet..stick it to the canvas and decorate your reindeer.  To hang i'm hot gluing red ribbon to either side and tying a normal not at the ends of the ribbon to secure.

Salt Dough Ornaments:
They're durable, cheap to make, FUN and did I mention really cheap to make? All you need is...
*1 Cup of all purpose flour
*1/2 Cup of regular salt
*1/2 cup of water

Preheat your oven to no more than 200. Mix these 3 ingredients in a bowl.  If the consistency of the dough is still sticky after you've mixed it well....add a touch more flour.  Do this until the texture is less sticky and more smooth.  This is a step you should do yourself.  Especially if you need to kneed the dough with your hands.  Salt will dry you out and crack your hands.  For that reason I never understood why anyone would give a kid a box of salt and call it sensory play.  Stick your hands in and grind them in salt for awhile and see how comfy you are.  ANYWAY! Your dough should look like this.

 I always keep a spoon and butter knife handy to help me mold.  You can use cookie cutters, tops of cups...many different ideas to cut the dough.  Shown here is the top of a mason jar lid.

I don't really stress too much about molds and cutters when it comes to the kids ornaments...the goal for them is to have fun.

To make the holes for ribbon and hooks in the salt dough you can use a straw....I personally prefer a bamboo skewer.  It comes out smoother and I can wiggle it to make the hole bigger and it not collapse the way a straw does.

I like to place the dough on the cookie sheet they'll be baking on before stamping or making prints.  I DO spray a little no stick spray to the bottom of the pan...you know...so it won't stick. :)  This year we're doing thumbprints for our two older kids and hand prints for the toddler and baby.

Baby Sawyer's little hand prints!



Once you have all of your ornaments on your pan..they're ready to be placed in the oven.  The goal is to dry the dough out NOT to cook it!
They'll need to stay in for 2 to 3 hours.  Until they're good and dried out.  Then take them out..allow them to completely cool.  Decorate..loop your ribbon or string through the holes..hang and enjoy for years to come!

Natalie's, from 2011!!