Fill-In Thank You Cards For Kids

 "Thank You" cards seem to be a thing of the past. I rarely receive them, but I know that they are always appreciated. Especially since the closest family to us live 1500 miles away. Our parents and grandparents aren't usually here to see us open the gifts that they send, so we do our best to help them feel a part of our lives. I made these fill in "Thank You" cards for Dallin to send out for his birthday last year. We are going to make some this year for Christmas gifts as well.

I created it in word and inserted a photo of him with the gift. Simple as that. Dallin still filled in most of the words, but it helped him format it and keep it neat.

 We just want our family to know how much we love and appreciate the things they do for us.

 I hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas. We did. We couldn't have asked for a better one. We spent all day as a family playing and hanging out in our pjs.  No rush, no place to go. Just us.

And look who joined our family. He was waiting under the Christmas tree. His name is "Slippy". The kids have been wanting a real pet....well, forever. I researched the best small pet for children (I HATE cats with a passion, so didn't even consider them) and a guinea pig seemed like a good choice. I am still trying to get the sick feeling out of my stomach from knowing that an animal is living in my house. He probably has the cleanest living quarters/cage around...
But the kids are IN LOVE and that is what matters the most...

January Ornaments

Originally posted in January 2010.
I am so glad that I forgot to use these clear plastic ornaments in December! They were perfect for making little snowmen to decorate the house with. I saw a little ornament like this on a friend's Christmas tree this year and thought it was so cute. Then, while rummaging around my craft closet, I found a pack of the clear ornaments. Perfect! Aaron had a great time making these with me. We shredded white paper, filled each ball a little more than half way, then drew eyes and a mouth with a Sharpie pen. Finally, a small orange nose with acrylic paint and that was it!

The snow on our back steps provided the perfect backdrop. Oh how I hate dealing with snow, but it sure is beautiful.

Snowball Soap!

Originally posted December 2009.

The boys had a great time making Christmas gifts for each other this morning. I found this idea on Chasing Cheerios. It was also in the most recent issue of Family Fun Magazine. I'm not sure who came up with it first, but either way it was a fun project and I nabbed it to do with my kids!

They each shredded 2 bars of Ivory soap and packed it around a small toy that they picked out from their toy bins. I figured there was no reason to go out and buy a toy since they have tons of little ones already. Besides, the surprise of seeing what the other one hid inside the soap is the best part, not actually getting a new junk toy!

We found that the more water you have on your hands, the better for molding it and helping the soap pack together.
After Dallin finished his present for Aaron, he went into the living room and watched a Christmas show while Aaron came in and made one for Dallin. They both knew that the other one was making a present, but they didn't know that they were both making the same kind of soap!
Then we wrapped them carefully in a little plastic fruit (blueberry) carton so that they wouldn't get squashed under the tree. They are both so excited to have the other one open his gift!

Paper Bag Gingerbread Man Garland

Originally posted December 2008.
Paper Bag Garland! I saw this on several different sites and it looked so cute! I used the Family Fun site for my instructions. All you need is 1 paper bag, and a bunch of fun stuff to glue on! You can make the garland out of any Christmas cookie cutter you'd like. It'd be fun to use a Christmas tree one and decorate the trees. They suggested using a cookie cutter as a pattern, that's the route I took since I can't draw!You'll need to cut the brown bag open and lay it flat. Then cut it in half so that you have two long strips of brown paper. Fold it like an accordian, the width of the cookie cutter, then trace the cookie cutter on the paper. Make sure that if the cookie cutter doesn't reach all the way to the sides to add length like I did below. Then cut it out! Don't cut around the hands, or else your gingerbread man won't all be attached together! If you haven't done accordian cut outs, you can click here: Family Fun.

Then open the folded paper and decorate!!

The boys named each of their little men. They had so much fun decorating them!

Let dry completely, tape the two sections back together and hang!

Block Nativity Scene

Originally posted December 2009.

My mom made this adorable nativity scene for my kids 4 years ago. They love it. Kaylee loves it because she likes knocking blocks over. She can't walk by a stack of blocks without practically sacrificing herself to scatter them.

I taught a class on how to make these a few years ago in Kodiak. I couldn't find the stickers in the size that my mom used so I bought them a little smaller. Derrick cut out a couple hundred 2.5" blocks and smoothed the edges on each one. What a guy. At the class the ladies applied a sticker to each block of wood, added a coat of varnish, then a clear coat of spray.

The ones my mom made were first painted in a cream colored acrylic paint, the edges were lightly sanded, then stickers were applied. Finally, a light coat of varnish went over all of it. I liked the way hers turned out better than the other ones, so if I ever make more, I'd paint them first. But either way they are cute!

The stickers are made by "Me And My Big Ideas" (MAMBI). I found all of the ones I needed on a scrapbooking site online since I was living in Kodiak, but Joann's sells them too.

Magnetic Advent Calendar

Originally posted December 2009.

Our new advent calendar is done! I think it turned out cute and was a joint effort between Derrick and I. He cut out the wood and metal for me and I painted the wood, then mod podged matching paper to it. The numbers were cut out on my Cricut as well as the circles for inside the candy tins. I found my candy tins at Joann's in the wedding section. You can buy 25 of them in a tote for $19.99, but I had a 50% coupon so it made it much more affordable. I glued magnets on the back of each one, filled the tins with candy and we were done. The kids like their calendar and now all I need to do is hang it up!

Advent Gum Packs!

I made these little gum advent books for my piano students. I have two right now, sisters, who are 13 and 11. They are so sweet and I wanted to make them something instead of just buying candy. Since I didn't have any Christmas card stock I used a girlie theme instead. I hope they like them!

Each day they can pop out a piece of gum! And what teen or pre-teen doesn't like gum? The foil gum pack slides back into the case. Each book holds 2 foil packs for a total of 24 pieces of gum.

The book is secured with 2 sets of velcro dots. Each foil pack was wrapped in a piece of cardstock and then glued on a larger piece of cardstock.
A fellow Coastie chick shared this idea. She found the tutorial HERE. The ones in the tutorial are absolutely ADORABLE. Check them out!

Dragon/Castle Birthday Party!

 Another post on our little guy's special day. We had his party this weekend and it went great! We did a Dragon/Castle theme. We sent out invites on antique looking paper with wax seals.  Aaron had fun helping with the wax stamp. They looked nice and "official" for the century we were going for :) We invited the children to come in their best knight/princess attire, and they did! Super cute!

I was happy with how the fondant turned out on the cake. I've made probably 8 fondant cakes so far and am finally getting more comfortable with it. Practice, practice, practice....

 Aaron made the poster for his "Pin the Dragon on the Castle" game. I love his castle, too cute! We also had a treasure hunt to find the princess who was locked in the deep dark dungeon (the home theater, in the basement).

 I pulled out some castle toys for the younger children, which they loved!

 Treat bags, and pixie swords & wands.

 Graham cracker castles. The kids had a great time decorating these and I love how they turned out. Derrick and I glued these together one night. 12 of them. I couldn't do these parties without my sweet husband's help!

A special day for a very special little guy!

Homemade Marshmallows

 I first made homemade marshmallows last year (posted here). They were fairly simple to make and were a hit so I made a couple more batches this year. Some plain, some with chocolate, and more dipped in chocolate with crushed candy canes. These came with me to a cookie exchange and were a hit!

 You could use store bought marshmallows and dip them in chocolate, but these are SO MUCH BETTER! Package them up with some homemade cocoa mix and it's the perfect gift this winter.

Bakugan Cupcakes

:: Taking a break from Christmas posts to celebrate our little guy::

My son's birthday is right before Christmas. Poor kid. We actually "planned" his pregnancy around the fact that we did not want to have a child around Christmas. Well, I guess I'm not that great at figuring out dates because his due date was December 25th! Oh well! We just make sure that his party is completely separate from Christmas and that we don't downsize it at all with the big holiday that follows it. His party is this weekend and he is super excited. We are doing a Dragon/Castle themed party, but he wanted Bakugan cupcakes to share with his preschool class tomorrow. So that's what we made this afternoon.

 I don't know much about Bakugan except that it reminds me of Pokemon. Annoying, but harmless. I'm pretty sure that there aren't any black and yellow bakugans, but we worked with what we had on hand. I rolled fondant balls(fondant left over from this cake) and piped on some little designs, then printed out a little logo and attached it to some cardstock and a toothpick. He loved them.

Anything for our Christmas baby.

Our Favorite Nativity Set

 I ordered this porcelain Nativity set from Oriental Trading 2 years ago. We didn't have a chance to paint them last year and I am so glad that we waited. Kaylee is old enough to help this year and so it was a project that they could all do together.

 They used acrylic paint and after the paint had dried, I touched up any spots that weren't completely covered. A couple of coats of clear spray paint and they were finished.

 They really got into the character that they chose to paint. Kaylee claimed the "baby" and "Momma" right away. They each painted a wise man since there were 3. Aaron wanted the camel, the cow (he painted the "milker" pink on it, lol), a sheep, and the shepherd, and Dallin wanted to paint the donkey and angel.

They've gathered around the set several times, showing eachother the pieces they painted. I look forward to pulling them out every year to enjoy and talk about this set that painted when they were "little".

Corn & Bean Salsa

I made this for a luncheon when we were in Utah. It was so easy and delicious, not to mention....healthy. Which is rare this time of year, lol. So after eating a pound of toffee, gingerbread cookies, candy canes, and fudge...have a serving of this. I play mind games like that and it always makes me feel better :)

Corn and Bean Salsa

1 can black beans, drained and rinsed

1 can black eyed peas, drained and rinsed

1 can corn, drained and rinsed

2 cans rotel or diced tomatoes with chilies, drained

1/2 c. chopped red onion

1/2 c. chopped bell pepper

1 tsp. garlic salt

lots of fresh chopped cilantro

Mix everything in a bowl and chill for 6-8 hours before serving to let flavors combine. Serve with chips.

Hands OFF Santa!

 Derrick brought home this jar for me yesterday and thought I'd have fun customizing it. So after the kids went to bed, I got my cricut out and here is what I came up with :)

I think it turned out cute and is different than the usual plates and jars inviting Santa to dig in. Gingerbread cookies are my favorite holiday cookies, so he can stay away from these!

I used the "Lyrical Letters" cartridge for the font and the "Paper Doll" cartridge to cut out a few tiny gingerbread men for the top.

Thanks for looking!

Painted Fleece Blankets

The kids and I made ones of these personalized blankets for Derrick last year. You can see it here.

We decided to make a bunch more this year for grandparents.

 All you need are acrylic paints and fleece! Acrylic paints are permanent. I know this because I have ruined several articles of clothing from previous projects ;) You can wash it and dry it, the same as you would any other blanket.

 We let the kids loose to paint whatever they wanted. We also helped them add their hand or foot prints. I went around, later, with puff paint and wrote quotes that the kids said about each grandmother. Things they remember doing with them, things they know about them.

 After the blankets dried, I blanket stitched the edges. That took awhile and was a good activity to work on while waiting in the truck to pick up Dallin from school!

 Grandma Candice loved hers when we gave it to her at our early Christmas celebration out in Utah.

Kaylee was excited to show her the area that she painted....the pink and purple artwork :)