Beaded Wind Chime

A couple years ago, my neighbor made wind chimes from silverware and pan lids. He made them for the folks who worked at their church's VBS, and there was an extra that he gave to me. After this summer, the lines he used to string the forks (spoon) disintegrated, so it needed a little repair.

I decided to upgrade and add a little BLING as
I repaired it.

Before. I don't have a photo of it put together the way my
neighbor made it. This is what it looked like after it fell
apart. He drilled holes around the lid and in the handle
of the forks and spoon to recycle these yard sale finds
into something new.

To begin, I purchased a fancy drawer pull and
replaced the lid handle. I found this pull at Hobby
Lobby when they were having a sale on them.

I gathered together a lot of medium sized beads... some of them from my
own stash of random beads, some from the clearance section at Hobby Lobby,
and I also took apart a bead necklace that we were no longer wearing.

I used fishing line to string each fork (spoon) to hang from the lid. The fishing line will not fall apart like the line my neighbor originally used. But on the line, between the fork (spoon) and the lid, I strung beads the entire length of the line.

To get the bead on the top of the lid, I doubled
the length of the line I needed and threaded it through the hole
in the lid, then through a single bead, and back down through
the hole. I strung the rest of my beads on the double line,
and then to finish off was able to tie the lines together to secure it.

I strung a small beaded line from the handle so
I could hang my creation. This caused
the lid to hang a little off center, which is okay by me
because now I can see my pretty drawer pull.

Completed wind chime... and it really does
chime! I love it!

Charm is deceitful and beauty is vain, But a woman who fears the LORD, she shall be praised. Proverbs 31:30

Food Craft: Melted Snowman Cookies

It's warm enough here today... our snowmen melted. Of course that would assume we had snow to make a real snowman in the first place. Around here, we have to come up with snowless snowmen. This idea came from hanging out on Pinterest.

For this fun snack, you just need some sugar cookies, frosting, and marshmallows.

Spray a bit of Pam on a plate first to keep your marshmallows
from sticking, and cook them for a few seconds. Long enough
so they start to puff out, but you don't want them to
double in size.

Spread white frosting on the cookie...

... and place marshmallow to the side of the cookie, off center.

Decorate the cookie as if the marshmallow and frosting is your
snowman melting to the ground.

Then eat one, and enjoy!

Know therefore that the LORD your God is God; he is the faithful God, keeping his covenant of love to a thousand generations of those who love him and keep his commands. Deuteronomy 7:9

Craft Review: Cozy Bird Cottage

This craft comes from the December/January 2012 Special Holiday Issue of FamilyFun. I really love birdhouses, so of course this project caught my eye. We started out by taking a fun, relaxing nature walk in the woods behind our house to collect materials to decorate our birdhouses. Things like small twigs, pine cones, bark, moss, acorn caps, even tiny rocks. We found most of what we needed right in our own yard, but it was fun to take the walk in the woods anyway, especially on such a pleasant final day of Autumn.

For this project, you will need a small wooden birdhouse,
painted white, tacky glue and/or glue dots, and the items
collected on your nature walk.

Decorate your birdhouse with the collected natural materials,
in the same way you might decorate a gingerbread
house. Use tacky glue for the light weight items, and
glue dots for the heavier items.

This is the birdhouse I made.

My 7 year old made this one.

My 5 year old made this one.

Both of my girls found this project a tad frustrating. I would expect that from my 5-year-old, as she's not as into the projects we do. She asked me for a lot of help and I glued much of it for her as she told me where to put things. But my 7-year-old goes after these projects with much more gusto, and usually desires much perfection. Don't know where she gets that... She tried several different things on her roof and was becoming frustrated that the items were not adhering as she desired. For that matter, I changed out my roof's materials about 3 times as well, minus the frustration. Finally I suggested she cover the roof with the moss, and with that she was able to finish the project without much more trouble. With that said, I do not think this a project for young children, though they will certainly enjoy collecting materials!

The heavens are telling of the glory of God; And their expanse is declaring the work of His hands. Psalm 19: 1

Craft Project: Snowman Jar Lamp

This is a cool Snowman version of those Pumpkin Jars we made at Halloween. I made two versions, one with a top hat and one with a stocking hat.

For this project you will need a clean jar with a lid, white paint, electrical tape, masking tape, orange Sharpie (optional black Sharpie), empty thread spool, scrap of fabric, and an old sock.

First, paint the inside of the jar white.

For the top hat version, cover the lid and spool with electrical
tape, and glue the spool to the center of the lid.

For the stocking hat version, cut a sock just above the heel.
Discard the toe section and tie a small hair scrunchie on the
cut end of the other section.

To make your snowman eyes and mouth,
cut circles from the electrical tape and place
them on the outside of the jar. For the carrot
nose, color a piece of masking tape with the
orange Sharpie and cut into a triangle.
Another option would be to use Sharpies
to draw the eyes, nose, and mouth,

Cut a strip of fabric to make a scarf. I also
cut a little fringe into each end.

When the paint is dry, add the lid top hat...

... or the stocking hat.

Then place a battery tea light inside to make him glow. He's very cute... you don't need snow and you don't have to put on lots of clothes before you make him, and he won't melt.

Therefore there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has set you free from the law of sin and of death. Romans 8:1-2

Craft Project: Macaroni Christmas Tree

Friday was a half-day of school for my two girls with the beginning of their Christmas break, and I was also keeping Neighbor Girl that day. As things started to get a little crazy, I decided we needed an activity. The day before, my youngest brought home an ornament she made at school. So I thought we'd try to make something similar.

You'll need a sturdy card stock/cardboard cutout of a tree or star
(or both together), paint, dry pasta, glitter, glue.

I made my cutout on my computer, printed it on card stock, and cut it out. Just make sure your paper is really sturdy. Of course, you can make your cutout be whatever shape you'd like it to be. It doesn't have to be a tree. If you are making an ornament, go ahead and punch a hole in the top.

I used Elmers glue and we just made a lot of glue trails
all over the tree, and then the girls started to add their pasta.
Make sure each piece of pasta is laying flat and not piled on
top of each other.

Take a little break and allow the glue to dry. I used a hair dryer to speed this process up a bit. I didn't want the natives to get too restless.

When the glue is dry, it's time to paint. We just used regular craft paint. The trick is to get the kids to dab the paint brush, with lots of paint (instead of strokes), to cover the whole thing and get paint into all the crevices. It was a little more difficult to get the 3-year-old Neighbor Girl to understand this. My 5 and 7 years old understood a little better.

After painting each color, while the paint was still wet,
we added glitter.

We used lots of different colored glitter
to give the appearance of colorful
lights and ornaments on our tree, but
only yellow and gold glitter for the star.

So I really just made this up from looking at the ornament my daughter brought home. Later, I looked online to see if I could find actual instructions. One I found suggested spray painting the whole thing after the glue was dry. Spray paint would be a job for the parent, so in my case that would have been contrary to my intentions. Another suggested painting the card stock/cardboard first, then painting each individual piece of pasta different colors for ornaments and glue them on. Sounds cool, but I could see that getting really messy with little ones.

I don't think there's really a right way or wrong way. It kept the kids entertained and out of trouble. They enjoyed it, and that's what counts. Neighbor Girl's PawPaw thought it was pretty cool, too.

For to us a child is born, to us a son is given; and the government shall be upon his shoulder, and his name shall be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. Of the increase of his government and of peace there will be no end, on the throne of David and over his kingdom, to establish it and to uphold it with justice and with righteousness from this time forth and forevermore. The zeal of the LORD of hosts will do this. Isaiah 9:6-7

Craft Project: Glitter Ball Ornaments

This is a super simple but oh so pretty Christmas ornament craft to do with the kids... and what kid doesn't like to do something with glitter?

For this project,  you need glitter and clear ball ornaments.

I would prefer to have used clear ornaments instead of these iridescent ones, but these are what I could find and my preschooler would tell me, "you get what you get and you don't throw a fit." So there.

Remove the ornament hanger from the ball, and using a funnel
pour in your glitter. I like to fill just under half full, but you
can do it however you like. Replace the hanger when
you're done.

I have also done this with larger size ball ornaments using sequins and larger glitter, and I've seen it done with small white Styrofoam balls and even small buttons, as long as it will fit through the hole of the ornament. There are lots of different options to make each one unique.

The small blue is the one I just made, and the
larger two are ones I've made before with
multicolored sequins and larger glitter.

But Mary treasured up all these things and pondered them in her heart. The shepherds returned, glorifying and praising God for all the things they had heard and seen, which were just as they had been told. Luke 2:19-20

Craft Project: Bottle Cap Snowman

My daughter's second grade class is having Ornament Day next Wednesday. Her teacher invited parents to come and help the children make some ornaments to take home, and invited those who could to also provide the supplies so each child could make one ornament. Of course this is right down my alley, and my first thought was that I needed to count my stash of bottle caps. And I had JUST enough! Recently I found a Bottle Cap Snowman idea on Pinterest, pinned from whatilivefor.net, and I thought it would be the perfect thing for the kids to make.

I made one ahead of time so the kids could have one to look at.

Supplies needed for this project are 3 bottle caps per snowman,
white paint, Sharpies, ribbon, hot glue.

Begin by painting the inside of each clean, dry bottle cap.
You may need to apply more than one coat. I have done
this step ahead of time for the kids in my daughter's class
because they won't have time to let the paint dry before
drawing their snowman's face.

If you want to have a glossy finish, do it now. For my sample snowman, I drew the face on first with a Sharpie, and then added a glossy finish. Even though more than 12 hours had passed since drawing the face, the Sharpie still smeared with the gloss coat. So... I painted over that face and started again.

When the paint/glossy finish is dry, turn the bottle caps
over and hot glue the ribbon to the caps as shown, leaving
a bit of space between them so the ribbon will show. Use any
color ribbon to give your snowman some color and personality.
I am providing the kids a couple different colors to choose
from: hot pink, blue, green, and red.

And do be sure to do this step before drawing the face. It is much easier to draw the face once the caps are attached to the ribbon, than it is to try to make sure your face and buttons are, and stay, straight as you glue. Also, hot glue seems to be the best option. I used tacky glue on my first snowman, and it did not hold the bottle caps securely enough (and dried slowly). But be ready, the hot glue will dry very fast, especially if you have a low temp gun like I do. And of course, this will need to be highly supervised during our class Ornament Day.

When the glue is dry, turn your snowman
over and use colorful Sharpies to draw a face
in the top cap and some buttons in the
middle cap. I'm providing various colors for the kids
so they can choose eye and button color to their liking.
You can see when I repainted my snowman,
I also changed the color of the ribbon from
green to hot pink.

I give this a super cute snowman two thumbs up. I really hope the kids like it, too.

Come now, let us reason together, says the LORD: though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they are red like crimson, they shall become like wool. Isaiah 1:18

Craft Review: FamilyFun Homemade Paper Stars (Ornament)

Last year, I saw this craft idea in the December 2010/January 2011 issue of FamilyFun. I decided way back then that these Homemade Paper Stars would be our craft ornament project that would also be our gift to teachers and a few other people around us. The "recipe" makes 3 stars, so I will give instructions for 3 stars first. However, we made 25 ornaments (stars and trees), and I will also detail our experience with doing the 25.

For this project you will need sheets of construction paper, glitter,
3 inch star cookie cutter, blender, hot water, sieve, plate,
paper towels, cloth towel, baking sheet, oven, and thin ribbon.

Recipe according to FamilyFun: Tear 3 (9-by 12-inch) sheets of construction paper into small pieces, about the size of a domino, and place them in a blender. Pour in about 1-1/2 cups of very hot water and let it sit for about 5 minutes. Meanwhile, put a folded cloth towel on a plate, add a paper towel, and top with a 3-inch star-shaped cookie cutter. Heat the oven to 200 degrees. Pulse the blender until the mixture is pulpy, about 30 seconds. In a sieve set over the sink (or bowl), drain the pulp, then spoon some into the cookie cutter to the top, taking care to fill the points. Sprinkle with glitter. Use a rag to press the pulp down into the cookie cutter until most of the water is gone, then gently push the star out onto a baking sheet. Repeat to make two more stars. Bake them for 2 hours or until the moisture has evaporated (they should be firm and lightweight). Let the stars cool, then glue ribbon loops to the backs for hanging. Makes 3 stars.

Tear Construction Paper.

According to the directions, 3 pieces of paper will make 3 stars. My cookie cutters (we made some trees and stars) are about 4-inches instead of 3, so I decided to tear about 1-1/2 pages per ornament that I planned to make. We needed 10 trees, so we used 15 pieces of green construction paper. We needed 8 yellow stars, so we used 12 pieces of yellow construction paper. We needed 7 red stars, so we used 12 pieces of red construction paper. We had enough pulp to make one extra tree and one extra red star.

Soak and Blend Paper to Pulp. 

Because we were making so many, I did this in small increments, just making sure to use plenty of water. I placed all the pieces of torn paper (by color) in a bowl and poured in hot water to allow the paper to soak. Then I moved the wet paper a little bit at a time, adding extra water as needed, to the blender to pulse it into pulp.

From the blender to the sieve.

From the sieve to the cookie cutter.

Add glitter and squeeze out water.

Is there such a thing as TOO much glitter?

Adding glitter was the best part. It allowed my girls to get creative with what color(s) of glitter to use for each ornament. After you add the glitter, use a rag to press into the cutter to squeeze out extra water.

Bake. 

Okay... this is the part where doing more than 3 threw off the recipe. We started with the yellow stars, and had 8 of them when all was said and done. All eight of them on one baking sheet into the oven for 2 hours at 200 degrees. In the back of my mind, I knew it would take longer for 8 stars to dry out. They'd been in there for a little more than an hour when our trees were ready, so I put them in too. When the two hours for the first batch of stars was up, they were not dry, so I let them stay in there longer. Finally, after who knows how long, I just took them all out to let them dry on a rack.

I had to fix about 3 stars where the paper pulp didn't hold together throughout the process. I also feel that the red stars, even though they spent the shortest amount of time in the oven, look a little bit like they are burned. Just a tiny bit browned. They're not ruined, but it makes me like them a little less.

So as I write this, our ornaments continue to dry. And they do look good, but I think this craft project would best be served sticking to the recipe and just making 3 stars, or trees, or whatever shape you might choose.

The important part is that we had fun making these gifts together. My girls enjoyed pushing the button on the blender, smooshing the pulp into the sieve to drain out water, filling the cookie cutters, and adding glitter. Beware... this will get messy, especially if you decide to make 25 of them.

And she will have a son, and you are to name him Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins. Matthew 1:21