Christmas Light Storage Idea

Christmas joy...

Holiday lights are always a tough item to put away because people don't know what to do with them. Such an easy way to put your lights away for next year, wrap them around a piece of cardboard. There is always cardboard laying around, you don't need to buy anything special. The cardboard keeps them tangle free till next year.

Merry Christmas

Where did the month go? I wanted to make more decorations, get a newer tree and so much more. Just no time at all. It seemed like the holidays just flew by. I hope everyone had a wonderful holiday season. So many ideas and plans for next year, so I guess I need to start planning sometime in June so that I'm ready for November in 2012.

Here is a great idea from the handy Martha Stewart, I love it because it is a no cost way to store and keep your ornaments safe. Check it out here.

Hope to post some holiday photos soon. If anyone has some wonderful holiday storage ideas, send them my way.

Fun quick project to do with the kids. Older kids could do this on their own y

Fun quick project to do with the kids. Older kids could do this on their own younger kids will need help. Some cardboard, holiday ribbon, scissors, glue & glitter. Cut out any shape you want from the cardboard then spread glue all over the cut out cardboard. Have the kids sprinkle glitter all over the glue. Mix it up if you want, we used red and green. After it has dried punch a hole at the top and attach a piece of ribbon. These look wonderful.

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Happy Thanksgiving. Hope everyone had a wonderful day.

Happy Thanksgiving. Hope everyone had a wonderful day.

Thanksgiving Gift From The Kids

As you know, I love working on crafts with kids. And I always adjust a craft with a child’s age. My nephew has been getting excited about turkeys and while he is still learning about Thanksgiving, I thought why not create a craft that would let me teach him about colors and the turkey.

I let him pick which hand he wanted to rub into black paint. Then with my help he left an imprint on white paper. So his hand is the turkey’s body. Then because he is 2 1/2 and his sister is a little over a year old I wanted to make the feathers out of something they both could do. So I laid out 3 coffee filters and let them use washable markers to decorate the coffee filters. And I only put out fall colors, such as red, orange, yellow and brown. They did this for about 30 minutes, they had so much fun. Then you wet the coffee filter and squeeze it out. The washable markers run and color the entire coffee filter. I then lay it out to dry. I usually stretch these projects out over a few days with the kids. The next day I laid out some white printer paper and let my nephew paint with washable watercolors on the paper. He was having a blast, and what he painted would become the background for his turkey. This is such a fun project, the coffee filter became the turkey’s feathers, and I just glued it on to the back of the turkey. And to make it a little more special I bought a frame at the dollar store. Very cute, and the kids had fun.

Halloween 2011, now on to Thanksgiving

Another Arizona Halloween has passed, it was warm but something we are all used to. What would the kids do if they had to trick or treat in the weather I grew up in during Halloween?

There were a lot of kids out considering Halloween was on a school night again, it's been a few years since Halloween was on a regular weeknight. Hope everyone had a wonderfully spooky Halloween, now it's time for Christmas. It's funny I am such a fan of Christmas, and I really look forward to the stores and decorations, but this year it seemed that the holiday music stated the day after Halloween and now a neighbor across the street just put their Christmas lights up, I enjoy the arrival of the holiday decorations but I think it might be a little too early even for me.

Halloween Salt Dough Project

When I was little we made so many crafts out of salt dough. It really is the best, simple craft projects you can make. And the variety of things you can make are endless. Growing up we had a light fixture in the dining room that hung from a chain over our dining room table. We hung salt dough bats, pumpkins and witches from it. Depending on the moisture or heat in your home these decorations can last years. But even if they only last one season, the best part is you can make them all over again next year.

This year I decided to make some with my nephew Tristan. He is 2 1/2 years old and I'm proud that he is such a lover of arts and crafts. I cut the recipe into a quarter of it and that worked fine for him. When only using a 1/4 of the recipe below it gave him 7 items to paint. If you have any dough over, place it into a zip lock bag and save for a few days.

Recipe:
1 Cup of Salt
1 Cup of Flour
1/2 Cup of Warm Water

Mix all the ingredients together. I place some flour on a cookie sheet and put the dough on the cookie sheet. Mix the dough together with some flour so its easier to handle. Roll it out to about a 1/4 of an inch thickness. We used some cookie cutters, and my wife Michelle designed her own ghost with a steak knife. I used a cookie sheet because once you have used up all your dough, you can just bake them right there on the cookie sheet. For some of my nephews ghosts I poked a hole in the top of the ghost so I can attach yarn to it for a necklace for him. I used a push pin, however you can also use a straw. Cook the Salt Dough creations at 300 Degrees for about 20 minutes. They will be done when they are had to the touch.

After they have cooled, paint them and hang for some spooky fun. Such a fun and yes, CHEAP family craft project.