Gift Box

Today my little helper is sick so I am on my own with this craft.  We are going to turn that (empty) cereal box into a gift box.  Yes, make sure it's empty.  I don't think there are many people out there who want cereal crumbs for a gift. 

OK, Supplies needed? 
Empty cereal box
Wrapping paper
double sided tape (or a glue runner)
ribbon
hole punch

*This can be used for any occasion.  Choose your wrapping paper to match the occasion

OK, lets get started.  Take your box and carefully tear off the flaps on top.  (you have to keep the bottom intact)

Once the top flaps are off, you are ready to wrap your box.  Cut paper so it will cover the bottom of the box.  Make sure to leave some paper extending past the top of the box.  (This will be folded into the box to make it look a little nicer).  I extended mine 3 inches.  Yours does not have to be that long.

Work on side and bottom first.  When you get to the top of the box, make a cut into each corner (it will be like having 4 separate pieces of paper at the top)

Use your double sided tape (I used a glue runner) along the inside top of the paper and

adhere to the inside of the box

You will need to do this for all four sides and your box will look like this

Stand your box up and take your hole punch and make two holes at the top of the box

I measured how far from the sides, so I can make the other side of the box the same

Slide the ribbon through the hole and

tie a knot on the inside of the box

you might have to make several knots to make sure the ribbon doesn't slide back through that hole

The other side of that ribbon (you are going to have to use your judgement on the length) will go through the hole on the same side (or, if you want to be a little crazy, they can go on the opposite side - you just have to make sure that you can get a gift inside that box)  Cut another piece of ribbon and do the same on the other side

When you are done, you will have a great looking gift box! 

Easy to make  

A gift box that is good for the planet? 

Thanks for stopping by!

Animal Ornaments

Today we are making some animal ornaments.  Putting the GRRR in Christmas.  Don't like that one?  How about the Furr into Christmas?  I'll work on it.  Ok, I got the idea for this craft from here.  I thought we would make some ornaments for our tree.    I thought these ornaments were really cute.

Ok, Supplies needed:

Tongue depressor (wooden popsicle stick)

paint (we chose white, yellow and orange)

animal print pipe cleaners
seed beads

white cardstock paper

black marker

green tissue paper

string

glue

GLUE DOTS!!!!!

I think you know my love for glue dots.  I'm excited that we get to use them today.

Ok, lets get started.   First, let's paint the wood sticks.  We are making 3 ornaments so we are painting with orange

yellow

and white

A word to the wise.  Now is the time to paint a small 1/2 inch square of your card stock and let dry.  We forgot to do this so we used a marker in the same color and colored a square on the paper.  You might want to make two colored squares for this project.  You will need the second one later on.

Cut the dried square into a 1/2 inch square and cut the square diagonally (these will be the ears).  Glue these to the top back of the wooden stick.  You don't need much glue for the ears.

Next, we made three glue dots on the front of the stick (towards the bottom) and glued on 3 matching seed beads.  This picture is deceiving. My model didn't listen and glued her beads to the wrong side.  We just went with it.  It still came out adorable!

Add eyes, nose and mouth

Take your animal print pipe cleaner and cut it so you are only using 6 inches. 

Twirl the one side, this is the animal's tail

Using a GLUE DOT!!  attach the tail to the LOWER BACK of your wooden stick.

Here is where you can use that matching colored paper and cut a small rectangle out and place it across the glue dot (this will ensure that the tail stays on)

Green tissue paper cut into 1/2 inch squares, need to twirl onto your pencil eraser

twirl, like this

Now to make a leafy collar for our animal with the tissue.  Place some glue where you want your collar and take your twirlled tissue paper and put in place.  You can glue some red seed beads on the collar to look like red berries

Some string glued to the top back of the ornament so we can hang onto the Christmas tree

 

Ready for our close up

And, of course, my model, ready for her close up

See you tomorrow!

Decorative Wrapping Paper

I hope you're doing this along with us!  We're having a great time with our crafts.  There are so many different crafts out there, makes it difficult to choose each day.

Today we got out our Christmas stampers and decided to decorate some plain white tissue paper.  Who wants to see plain, white, boring tissue paper on their gifts?  With a little ink, we can make the gift look fancy!

What do you need?  White tissue paper, Christmas stamps, ink pad (red, green, silver, gold)

Let's get started!  Choose your stamp and ink color, and....stamp away!  We had quite a few to choose from, so we took our time and used every single stamp!  A little side note:  If you keep a wet paper towl near you, you can quickly clean off the stamper by stamping it onto the cloth, this way you can use the stamper in another ink color.  Makes the stamping process alot easier and doesn't mess up your inkpads.

decisions, decisions

Another suggestion, put down two pieces of tissue paper.  Otherwise, if you stamp too hard, it will go right through, onto your work table (we found that out the hard way)

Looks so much better!  See what a little creativity with stamps can do?

I think Bella enjoyed this one.  I think she was worn out trying to figure out which stamp to use next and which ink color would look good.   I'll have to get her to make more so I can wrap some gifts!

*this wrapping paper can be made for any occaision

Winter Scene

Today we are going to make a winter scene.  You know, snow hills, snowmen, candy canes, snowflakes.  Lots of snow, something we are missing here.

What do you need?  Blue construction paper, white paper, snowflake stickers, snowman stickers, candy cane stickers, etc.  If you don't have the stickers, you can make a snowman and snowflakes out of white paper.  (you can also use glitter for this project)

Here is what we did to make our beautiful snow picture. 

Cut snow mountains out of the white paper and glue to blue paper

Start adding some details.  We put snowmen and a little tree forest

Some clouds and snowflakes!

forgot to mention the candy cane forest

Lookin' good, Bella!

Hopefully we'll get some snow soon!

That's all for today!  See you tomorrow!

Gingerbread House cards

We've made it this far, you can do it!  I know you can!

I hope you are following along and actually making the crafts!  Let me know!  I'd love to hear from you!

Today we are making Gingerbread House cards.  You can find full instructions and a template here.  You will be happy to know that there is no glitter for this craft today. 

Today's Supplies:
Brown construction paper
Gingerbread house template (found at the above link)
Office supply stickers: reinforcement labels (white and colors), name labels (or plain rectangular labels), colorful dots (big and small)

Ok, let's get started.  Once you have cut out your template, trace the template onto the brown construction paper and then start cutting it out.

Once the paper is cut out, fold in the sides to make the doors.  We glued a square of white paper down on the inside area so we can use this as a card to send/give someone.  Next, cut your white rectangular label in half and put each half on the front flaps (this is going to be the door).

Next, cut the white reinforcement labels in half and start hanging them from the roof of the card

From here, you can then use your colorful labels to decorate the outside of the card.  We used various stickers that we had on hand.  (trying to stick to the round candy type look) (a few flowers and butterflies did grace our cards, but, only to make them even more beautiful)

I forgot to mention to put round dot stickers on the doors as handles.

Lookin' good!

Thanks for stopping by!

Pine Cones

Today's craft we are using pine cones!  We picked out two pine cones on our way to the bus stop.  Hopefully, you will have an easy time finding one for this project.

Supply list:
Pine cone (s)
Paint (we are using green)
glitter (hooray!)*

*that only means one thing, better get out the vacuum cleaner

We painted the first pine cone a dark forest green.  Because the paint was gloppy (I'm sure thats a word) we decided to use the vineyard green on the second pine cone.

Adding the glitter.  Watch out!

Many thanks to Nicholas.  He had to take a few pictures for us.  We had green glittery hands and didn't want to ruin the camera.

a minor glitter explosion

our little glitter pine cone trees

ready for a close up

By the way, Bella ditched me after all the paint and glitter.  Apparently there were more exciting things going on.

See you tomorrow!

Let it Snow, Let it Snow, Let it Snow!

We had our first snowfall today.  Very exciting!   This is a little late in the season for us.  The ground usually has some snow by now.  Its starting to get cold outside.  Bella was so excited about this snowfall that she wanted to run outside and shovel the snow!  I talked her out of it.  A little while later, the sun came out and she said it will probably melt "all of the snow."  

It was just a dusting. 

Good thing the sun came out.  That would have required a lot of shoveling.  :)