Getting Crafty

Here is a great site with tons of iddeas on it. You will not want to pass this one up.

Enjoy!!!!!

http://www.imagitek.com/xmas/crafts/

I can remember making this tree when I was in Girl Scouts. It’s great to see this is one craft that has made it through the years!
Parental supervision is recommended.

This project is rated AVERAGE to do.

What You Need

33 (4 oz.) Baby food jars with lids
2 strings of gold star wire garland (used to decorate packages)
Strand of 35 miniature Christmas tree lights
Gold or green spray paint
Hot glue gun
Hot glue (dries clear not white)
Wire clippers
Sturdy box cutter

How To Make It

Spray paint outside of baby food jar lids. Let dry.
Hot glue the baby food jars arranging them as in photo.

Using the wire clippers, cut 33 pieces of the gold star garland in about a 7″ length.
Wind each piece of garland in a circle to fit inside the jars. Place in the bottom of each jar.
Take each baby food jar lid and make a large “V” cut using the box knife. (see close-up photo)
Note: Please be careful! The jar lids are now very sharp!

Screw on all the lids onto the jars.
Place the first light on the string of lights through the cut in the lid of the top jar.
Place the remaining lights in the jars, weaving back and forth for the rows.
When you get to the last row of the tree (before the tree trunk), you will need to double up 2 lights in 2 jars in order to get the lights into the tree trunk.
Plug in your tree and enjoy the beautiful lights!

Tips

You may want to find a way to prop your tree on a table in front of an exterior window. It makes for a very beautiful display! Enjoy! Merry Christmas!

COMPLIMENTS OF: kidsdomain

craft, project

As the holidays are upon us, we find ourselves running around aimlessly looking through every store to find the perfect gift for all those on our chistmas gift list. I am usually one of those people but not this year. This year I am going for the old tried and true gift basket. I used to make gift baskets all the time till all my friends and relatives were sick of them then I quit for years on them. This year they are back in my agenda. I am making them all pretty much the same but will include something special for each basket making them each uniquie. I went the the store where everything is $1 and bout great baskets for my gifts. and I got the celophane bags to wrap them in, there as well. I bought 1 pot coffee samples at 2 for $1 and got a coffee/tea mug for each basket. I also bought a box of individually sealed assorted flavors of tea (so I can just add 2 tea bags per basket with the coffee samples). So all of this stuff will go into the baskets with the home made cookie assortments (thumbprints, chocolate covered pretzel logs, PB cookies and sugar cookies). I also have some movies to thrown in the baskets as well. All in all I think it will be a nice gift. I bought enough for 10 baskets and I will have spent a total of $40 for all the supplies. But for that $40 I have a gift for evveryone on my list.

You can put just about anything in a gift basket and they are much enjoyed as there are many special treats inside each one. Use your imagination, I am making coffee/tea baskets with some movie goodies to enjoy while the gift reciever watches the movies I included. You can taylor the baskets to what ever the need is. Have fun with them and include your kids in making them. They will love it!

Stationed in a window or up against a door this winter, these charming homemade draft blockers will help keep indoor temperatures up and fuel bills down — provided they don’t get coaxed off the job for a playdate, that is. Both are simply fashioned from a pair of tights and filled with rice, which makes them posable enough to tuck tightly into nooks and corners. CRAFT MATERIALS:
HEAT-SAVING SNAKE
1 pair striped women’s tights
Uncooked rice (ours took a full 5-pound bag)
Needle and thread
Fabric glue
Felt
Googly eyes
Scissors
DOGGY IN THE WINDOW
1 pair women’s tights
Uncooked rice
Needle and thread
Fabric glue
Felt
Googly eyes
Scissors
Paper clips
Button
Old belt or bracelet

Time needed: About 2 to 3 Hours
1. HEAT-SAVING SNAKE: Cut off one leg from a pair of striped women’s tights and fill it with rice (ours took a full 5-pound bag). An easy, spillproof method is to use a plastic cup with the bottom cut out for a funnel (A).

2. Pinch the open end of the leg into itself to form a tapered snake tail and stitch it closed (B).

3. Glue on googly eyes. Lastly, sew on a felt tongue, using the same technique described for attaching the dog’s ears (see step F for Doggy in the Window, below).

4. DOGGY IN THE WINDOW: Cut one leg from a pair of women’s tights and fill it with rice. Leave enough room to tie the open end into a tight knot (C).

5. For a tail, apply fabric glue across the base of a felt triangle (ours was about 2 1/2 inches wide and 7 inches tall) and sandwich it around the knot (D).

6. Apply more glue to the sides and then fold the felt in half. Secure the tail with paper clips until the glue dries (E).

7. Glue on googly eyes. Attach felt ears by draping each one over the head, as shown, and then sewing the base in place (F). This way, when you flop the ear down, the stitching won’t show.

8. For the finishing touches, sew on felt feet and a button nose (we used a triangular shank button). Then use your hands to shape the nose and body. Don’t forget a collar: an old belt trimmed to fit, or even a bracelet.
www.familyfun.com

I haven’t made this, but I saw it while walking through my neighborhood the other day.  It was a planter made out of an old tire.  The tire was still attatched to the hubcap and had been cut in serrated edges and turned out on the top and bottom and painted and the plant was inside it.

Might be something cute to try!

Filled with favorite photos, this is just the present for a relative or special family friend, particularly one your family sees less often than you’d like. CRAFT MATERIALS:
Assorted photos
Craft knife
4-ply and 2-ply rag board (sold at art supply stores)
26-inch-long piece of ribbon
Colored paper
Glue stick

Time needed: Under 1 Hour
1. Choose seven favorites from a stack of family photos.

2. Use a craft knife to cut two 5- by 6 1/2-inch rectangles from the 4-ply rag board for the book covers. For the inner pages, cut one 5- by 39-inch rectangle from the 2-ply rag board. Lightly mark 6 1/2-inch increments along the long edges of the 2-ply rag board, and accordion-fold the sheet at those marks Use a ruler edge to press the folds into sharp creases.

3. Lay the ribbon on a tabletop and center the folded rag board on top so that the side with three creases is on the left and lines up with the midpoint of the ribbon Apply glue to the top of the folded rag board. Then lay the left side of the ribbon over the glued page and top with one of the book covers, pressing firmly until well stuck. Flip over the book and use the same method to attach the right side of the ribbon and the back cover.

4. Now, cut the colored paper into seven 4- by 5 1/2-inch rectangles. Glue one onto the center of each page and the front cover. Then glue the photos onto the colored paper. Finally, print the year on the front cover.

Tips:
Open the album into a full circle, tie the ribbon binding into a bow and it’s ready to display on an end table or dresser.

www.familyfun.com

A tiny treasure chest is a thoughtful gift, especially when filled with the kind of treasures kids have access tosuch as fairy stones, skipping stones, acorns, marbles, shells and pinecones. Send your kids on a search for these things while you decorate a small box (or vice versa) with paints or a collage. When you fill the box, be sure to leave a little extra room for future treasures the recipient might want to collect. Kids can also decorate larger containers for more sizable treasures. A shoe box can become a house for paper dolls or a garage for Matchbox cars.

source: www.familyfun.com

Wrap up recipes
Foolproof recipes are always welcome gifts. If you had time, you would make a little notebook and handwrite 20 of your favorites. Here’s a speedier version: Pick one recipe, have your child write it on an index card, and package it with some of the ingredients. Give a play-clay recipe, for example, with a cookie cutter and balls of starter clay wrapped in plastic. Give a bubble recipe with glycerin and a wand, or pancake mix with the dry ingredients sifted into jars.

idea from :www.familyfun.com

Wrap up recipes