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Christmas Crafts

I thought I would share a little more in detail about the ornaments the kiddos and I made this year for our family exchange.


First, the glass balls:

This is what the set we painted looked like. You can buy them in all sizes though, from very small to very large.
Here's the kiddos squirting the acrylic paint into the balls. And these next ones are them swirling the paint around.We left them sitting for several days with the tops off so they could dry completely. If you're doing these as a party activity or something similar you can take/send them home with the tops on and just remove them afterwards to finish letting them dry.
We ran out of red & white paint (or should I say the kiddos got a little squirt-happy on one of the balls?), so we used some random colors of paint that I already had to do the last one. That one is for Mama (me!).
We added some pretty ribbons to the tops and they looked so shiny and festive!


Next are those adorable little houses:
This is what they look like at the store~just simple paper houses. Hobby Lobby has tons of cute paper decorations to be painted!


I used these tempera paints and just mixed them to get different colors. I'm no expert on paints, I just looked for something inexpensive that was for paper products. The houses do require several coats, but this paints dries very fast. By the time you have finish one the other is dry and ready for the next coat. Then when you're finished with all of the painting, just add your *snow* glitter to the tops and bases and glue on a miniature wreath if you like.

These are the two I gave to my mom and sister. I painted a third to go with The Princess' village that I made last year. I'll be getting all of those out this week and will post a picture of them all together.
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Comments

Lisa said…
Your crafts are so cute and look like they were a lot of fun to make.

I'm glad to hear that you had a good Thanksgiving ~ and that you got to see the snow! It made me happy just to watch it fall. I'm hoping that is just the first of many snows this year :-)
December 2, 2008 at 8:07 AM
Kari said…
They're all so cute! I'm sure the kids had a blast painting the glass ones. =)
December 2, 2008 at 1:35 PM
Shannon said…
Those turned out so cute!
December 2, 2008 at 2:35 PM
Nana Trish is Living the Dream said…
These look like such neat activities. I can't wait to make these with Avery. She will love them. The little houses are so adorable.
December 2, 2008 at 8:56 PM
Unknown said…
Aren't Christmas crafts so much fun?! It looks like you've been busy and your ornaments and houses turned out so cute!
~Kelli
P.s. Here is the link for the ribs: http://heritageschoolhouse.blogspot.com/2008/07/oven-baked-country-ribs-4-servings-1.html

I have made them many times; they are delicious!
December 2, 2008 at 9:25 PM
steviewren said…
The ornaments that you and the kids made are so cute. They will have such happy memories of making decorations together.

Later this month I will be posting how to make easy gingerbread houses from graham crackers. My kids are coming Sunday with the grandkiddies for our annual house making day. It is great fun.
December 2, 2008 at 10:05 PM
Nancy said…
What fun activities! I'll have to give the painting balls a try...Little Miss LOVES to paint. Of course, we'll have to do it out of reach of Little Man...he would LOVE to get his hands on those!

We have not decorated for Christmas yet. I'm a little less enthusiastic about it this year. We sold a lot of our decorations (including our tree--a small tree I bought when I first bought my house) thinking we would be in a bigger house this Christmas and would get a bigger tree and new decorations. (Of course, I kept all my sentimental decor.) I think we're going with a real tree this year, so we'll probably do that this weekend, and i'm sure I'll be in the mood as soon as we get it in the living room!

I can't wait to see some of your decorating ideas!
December 2, 2008 at 11:03 PM
Michelle M. said…
I love those ornaments!! I am going to have to try those if we have a chance this year.
December 3, 2008 at 3:15 PM
Lorie said…
How fun! I have seen those ornaments on a few blogs and keep meaning to buy some ornaments! It looks like fun!
December 3, 2008 at 6:19 PM
Mrs. H. said…
Lora,
Those ornaments are so beautiful. I hope to try to make some this year - thanks so much for the instructions! :-)
December 5, 2008 at 10:37 PM
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