Homemade Gift #3: Candy Cane Playdough

Today's mission was to make the Candy cane playdough found on The Artful Parent (here is the link to the playdough post). I loved the idea and thought that would be a perfect addition to the little gifts I'm giving my day care kids. They turned out super cute. I used a playdough recipe that I've had for awhile and have never tried. It turned out a little too oily so I'm not going to post it (I have a few more I want to try so I'll post one when I find the perfect one). I used peppermint extract for the scent and I love it. Then added a little glitter for fun, twisted it up and stuck it in a jar. How fun!!!

I started off twisting them all cute like this...

...then got lazy and finished them off like this.

Homemade Gift #2: Child-made Books

My kids are so lucky to have 2 sets of wonderful grandparents who they spend lots of time with. With my husband being gone as often as he is (this last time it was 2 1/2 week straight!), I don't know what I would do without the help! For Christmas, my kids make all of their gifts for their grandparents. One of the gifts to my parents is a book about all the fun things they do when they spend the night there. It turned out cuter than I imagined it would and I can't wait for my mom to open it. I wrote what my son told me and then they colored the pages. I laminated it and then had it bound into a book at the office supply store. Here's a few pictures of what it looks like.

Cinnamon Ornaments

So I was trying to think of a cute way to label some family gifts and thought it would be fun to make ornaments and then it's not only a tag, it's a gift! What better than an cinnamon ornament. Super easy and they smell amazing!

Pin It

What you need:
1/4 cup of applesauce (and then a little more just in case)
1 cup of ground cinnamon
1/2 cup of glue (note: a typical bottle of kids glue is 4oz so you will need a full one of these)
Cookie cutter in desired shape
Rolling pin- I add this because, as embarrassing it is to admit, I do not own one. This would have been MUCH easier if I did. It is now on my shopping list!

How to:
1) Mix together the ground cinnamon and applesauce
2) Add the glue and mix to make thick dough (add more applesauce if too dry)

3) Roll out on a flat surface, approximately 1/4 of an inch thick. Too thick, they wont dry, too thin, they will crumble
4) Cut out shapes and move to cookie sheet

5) Using a straw, make holes













6) Bake at 200 degrees for 2 hours, flip over half way (or air dry for 24 flipping over every 4-6 hours)
7) Add ribbon and enjoy.

Oh Noodle Tree, Oh Noodle Tree...

Last minute effort to throw together a craft project resulted in these:
(Hubby is home this week-Yay!! But our schedule is WAY off)

We call them "Noodle Trees".  :) Thankfully I had a bunch of random pasta in my pantry! Then I just drew a tree (not the best but they worked) and the kids decorated.

Now we're off to dance for Christmas parties. Should be fun! :)

"Hand"-made card

I again, found this on Pinterest and knew that I just had to make them sometime. I figured Christmas was perfect since we are trying to do as many hand-made gifts as possible. And what's more hand-made than a "hand"-made card. :)

Process not Product

One of the things I have been learning over and over in my classes is how art should be about the process and not the end product. Process Art. I've got a few great books with tons of fun ideas that I can't wait to try out. Here's today's:

What you need:
Paper
Ruler
Something to color with (we went with markers)

How to:
Draw lines all over the paper (lines must go all the way to edges of the paper)
Color in the areas

Pretty simple huh?

My son did this one on his own. Next time, I'm going to do all the lines and then have all the kids help color it in. 

My 3 year old's attempt

My 5 year old is having fun with it!

Another Process Art idea:

Put a few dots on the paper and using a ruler, draw lines going out to the edges of the paper from the dot. This is my son's. This one was his favorite (mostly because he likes using a ruler). :)

Homemade Gift #1: Scrub

So I've seen ideas all over pinterest about homemade stuff to give as gifts. I found a bunch of body scrub ones and after researching a bit, I've discovered it is super easy to make. We don't really go all out exchanging gifts with the other adults in my family so I thought this was something that would be simple and inexpensive to make for all the special woman in my life. This literally cost me under $5 each. I picked up the cute little jars at the local craft store (Michael's) for $3.99 and had most of the other ingredients.

I used 2 1/2 cups of sugar (plain white sugar), 3/4 cup of olive oil and a few drops of essential oil. I decorated the jars with paper, mod podge and some ribbon. :)

My son and I tried it out before he went to bed and we both could not believe the results. My hands are beyond smooth and 3 hours later, they still smell amazing!!

Pin It