Christmas Crafts

Disclaimer: Family members who may or may not be receiving these as Christmas presents, you may wish to skip this post, a.k.a. DO NOT OPEN UNTIL DECEMBER 25th! For those of you intent on peeking {JILL}, try to act surprised for the boys' sakes when you open them...

These gifts are fun and easy projects to make with your kids [at least school-age]. I cannot take credit for them. Evan actually made them when he was in kindergarten and it has taken me two years to get around to trying our own versions.

For the first project, you'll need Christmas balls, tree hooks, white acrylic paint, a sponge brush, and various colored paint pens.

Use the sponge brush to spread white paint over the fingers and palm of one hand of your child.

Have them hold their hand with their fingers flattened out and place the ball in the palm of their hand so that their fingers will be on the sides of the ball when it dangles. Have them slowly place their hand around the ball and set aside to dry. I say SLOWLY because you run the risk of creating two-headed snowmen if your child moves their hands around ~ trust me, I know :)



When the paint is dry, use the paint pens to draw snowmen faces, coal buttons, and scarves. You could also add your child's name and date on the back if you wish. Once that paint is dry, add the tree hook, some ribbon if you like, and it's ready to gift.

For the second project, you'll need empty film or diabestic testing strip canisters, white acrylic paint, sponge brushes, black paint pen, orange ribbon or felt, glue, glitter, pipe cleaners, pom-poms, and tree hooks.

First you have to paint the empty canisters white. Don't worry too much about coverage ~ you'll be covering them
with glitter later.

Once they're dry, use the paint pen to draw eyes and a mouth. Cut the orange ribbon or felt into a small triangle and glue on as a nose. Let dry.

Using a q-tip or small brush, spread glue on the entire canister, avoiding the eyes, mouth, and nose. Sprinkle with glitter, covering completely, and let dry.

Cut pipe cleaners to about an inch to an inch and a half and bend into an arch. Using a glue gun, attach pipe cleaners onto snowman's head and add pom-poms over its "ears." Add tree hook to top of earmuffs and it's ready once it's dry.

These make great family or teacher gifts. I must say as a teacher that I still have every single ornament a student ever gave me and I love getting them out every Christmas and remembering who they are from.

Happy Crafting!