Santa Clause Christmas Countdown

Here's a fun way for your children to count down the days until Christmas!

-First find a Santa image on line. (Make sure it has a nice full beard!)
 -Put the numbers on the image before you print it, or write the numbers on the Santa after you print it.  The numbers will be covered up so it doesn't matter. 

-Have your child color the Santa.

-Then for every day of the month have your child glue a cotton ball on that number.

(We pulled the cotton balls apart and only used half for each number.)

In the end Santa will have a beautiful white beard and nicely trimmed hat.

Happy Counting!

Photo Wreath

What better way to decorate for the holidays than with this photo wreath of your loved ones.

 

What you'll need:

-Photos

-Paper (2 colors)

-Cardboard

- Glue

-Ribbon

-Scissors & Pattern Scissors

The how to:

-Use a cup to trace the circles around your pictures.  Cut them out.

 -Glue the photos to your first paper choice and cut a circle, 1/4 inch larger than your photo.

-Glue photos second paper and cut around it with the pattern scissors.

-To make your wreath more stable you'll need to cut a cardboard circle to glue your pictures onto.   To do this place all your photos in a circle and find a plate or dish that can be used to trace the cardboard circle.  Make sure the dish stays within the picture ring.

-Cut out the cardboard ring and glue your photos onto the ring.

-Glue or tape the ribbon onto the back of wreath and tie the bow.  

Gift Toppers

An adorable way to put some of your cardstock to use as a gift topper.

What You'll Need:

- Card Stock

- Scissors

- Glue Gun

The How To:

-First cut a square out of your card stock. It doesn't need to be a perfect square. (This one is 5x5)

-Next draw a swirl filling the whole square. The farther apart the lines the 'taller' the flower and the closer together the lines the 'shorter/flatter' it will be.

-Now you can either cut or tear the paper along the line.

-Then, begining with the center of your swirl, start rolling it. I started by rolling it tightly at first and then looser as I went on.

- When the flower looks how you want it to, put a drop of hot glue on the end and push it to the flower so it won't come loose/unraveled.

-The next 2 pictures show the difference of if you cut the swirl or tear the swirl. Look at the edges of the flowers to see the difference.

-Now, if you noticed you can see the table through the flower. So I cut a circle and hot glued it onto the bottom of the flower.

-Then hot glue it onto the present you want to decorate.

Window Decorations

This is such an easy and beautiful way to add some holiday cheer to your windows.

What You'll Need:

- Ribbon (2 or 3 in different colors, textures, and/or widths)

- Ornaments of various sizes

- Existing window with a curtain rod in it.

- Fun ornament hooks (optional)

- Strand of Beads (optional)

The How To:

- First cut various lengths of the different ribbon.....one for each ornament.

- Tie them onto an existing curtain rod. Be sure to mix the different lengths and color of the ribbons around as you tie them on.

**Note** If you are not using ornament hooks, you will need to string the ribbon through the ornament before you tie it on the curtain rod.

- Put a hook on the ornament and then hook it onto the ribbon. Again, mix the different sizes and colors of the ornaments up....so 2 of the same are not next to each other.

-For an added touch, I put a strand of beads on the curtain rod. Kind of twisting and draping it as I went.

And here's the finished product. Very simple to do and it used things that I already had on hand around the house.