Footprint Reindeer and Handprint Trees

One of the things I LOVE doing in crafts is documenting the kids' growth.  So these two crafts are a great way to do that!!  The first one is one that my daughter did at preschool, and the second one is one we did at home with BabyJ.


Reindeer Footprints

Supplies Needed

1 large piece of green construction paper

Brown craft paint

1 pair of googly eyes

1 circle of red paper

Clear craft glue

1.  Paint your child's foot (your choice, left or right!)

2.  Gently place your child's in the center of the green paper and have them step down.  (NOTE:  You will want to have either a wet cloth or a small washbin handy to wash the paint off right away!!)

3.  Do the same with your child's hands, and place them next to the toe-prints, as the antlers. 

4.  Using your craft glue, attach the google eyes and red circle (for the nose)

5.  Let dry and enjoy!  I always attach the kids' names/ages on the back of each one, and then I have a great time capsule of how big their hands/feet are each year!  You could also repeat a craft like this each year, and compare them each year!  If you get misty-eyed like I do, keep a box of tissues on hand to help with your nostalgia :)

Handprint Christmas Tree

Supplies Needed

1 piece of white heavy paper

Yellow, green & red paint

1.  Paint your child's hands green.  I did this one-at-a-time, and it made it easier.  Place one hand (open-palmed) onto your paper.  I did it at a bit of an angle. 

2.  Before you do the 2nd hand, make sure that you wash off the first one!  I had an old wash cloth on hand with warm water.  MAKE SURE YOUR PAINT IS WASHABLE!!!  Sometimes, even when your paint says that it is washable, IT WILL STAIN YOUR SKIN!! BabyJ has had green hands all day :)  It will come off in the tub, but make sure if you have a special event or family photos planned that you don't do this craft beforehand!!

3.  Paint and place your child's other hand at a bit of an angle opposite the first hand.  This should look like a tree shape.  I re-painted BabyJ's palm and placed it at the top to finish off the tree shape. 

4.  Use your yellow paint to paint a star at the top and your red paint to do small circle ornaments just beyond the fingertips.  I chose not to do "ornaments" on the handprints themselves, so you'd still be able to see them.

SO CUTE!!!



Christmas Crafties

Recently, I was introduced to Pinterest.com.  What a fun website!! I've been having a blast looking at other people's craft posts, and have had fun making up some of my own!

Going along with our debt-free Christmas theme, my hubby's office is having a decorating contest, and the winner gets a neat prize.  So of course, I started thinking up all kinds of crafts and things to put up!  And getting BabyJ and Jellybean in on the action was half the fun!!  We've decided that we're going to decorate his area of the office with homemade Christmas items and we're going to hang this quote from the Grinch:

“And the Grinch, with his Grinch-feet ice cold in the snow,

stood puzzling and puzzling, how could it be so? It came without ribbons.

It came without tags. It came without packages, boxes or bags.

And he puzzled and puzzled 'till his puzzler was sore.

Then the Grinch thought of something he hadn't before.

What if Christmas, he thought, doesn't come from a store.

What if Christmas, perhaps, means a little bit more.”

-Dr Seuss

So we started today making all kinds of crafts, and we're going to share them with you in a few different posts. 

The first thing we made were Christmas trees. Super fun and easy; G loved it!!

Supplies Needed

Green popsicle or craft sticks

Purple popsicle or craft sticks

Hot glue gun and glue sticks

Clear craft glue

Beads, doo-dads, sparkles, glitter

Imagination!!

1.  Take your popsicle/craft sticks.  You will use 3 per tree.  On the first one, place hot glue on each end.  Place your other popsicle sticks on the glue, and use one more dab of hot glue to adhere the final 2 ends.  We used 4 different kinds of sticks.  We used large and small popsicle sticks, small bumpy sticks and large popsicle sticks with holes in them.

2.  Cut your purple sticks into 3 pieces.  The cut edges may be a bit sharp; you may want to use some fine sandpaper to sand off the rough edges.  Adhere to the middle of the bottom stick with a dab of hot glue.

3.  Using the clear craft glue, start decorating!!  We used beads, pompoms, glitter and sparkles, sequins and glitter-glue. 

Some of our finished trees!!

We've got enough glitter and bling to make Elton John proud!!

When we go to hang them, I am going to use some thin ribbon at the top and adhere it with a dab of hot glue.  I find hot glue works better than the craft glue for that type of thing, as it will hold up under the weight of the popsicle sticks and various adornments when it comes time to hang!