Terra Cotta Gumball "Machine" Project

Today we made some absolutely adorable Gumball "Machines" using terracotta pots and small fish bowls. Right now, they're holding candy, but later, I'm sure they will hold other things for the girls, like marbles or rocks or whatever they are thinking of collecting.

For this project, you'll need terracotta pots, terracotta saucers (we used a size smaller than the pot), small round fish bowls (sometimes these can be found at the dollar store), and knobs (a package of wooden knobs will work).

We painted the pots and saucers and then used stamps to decorate the pots with dots and flowers and ladybugs. Oh my!

Glue the fish bowl to the bottom of the upside down pot. We used E6000 glue. Glue the knob to the bottom of the upside down saucer. The saucer becomes the lid for the Gumball Machine. What do you think? Are they not simply adorable?





“For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.” Jeremiah 29:11

Funnel Christmas Tree Craft Project

What a fun craft Gran had planned for the girls today. We made Christmas trees from a stack of nesting funnels! These are simply too cute not to share.

For each girl, Gran had a set of cone-shaped funnels
in four different sizes.

We painted each first with a coat of Kilz.

When the Kilz was dry, we painted them green.

We used two different colors of green and alternated the colors
for the tree layers.

Then we glued the pieces together to form a tree.

We added a miniature tree topper star.

For ornaments, we glued on plastic gems.

A super simple and cute Christmas
project for the kids to enjoy.

Matthew 1:23 “Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and they shall call his name Immanuel” (which means, God with us).

Adorable Snowman Craft Projects

Christmas Break is here, and that means Christmas baking and crafting at our house. Today we made snowmen. Not the kind involving snow. After all, it was just 70 degrees today.

No. We made ours with paint.

I found these two ideas on Pinterest, and my girls loved the first one best.

FLOWER POT SNOWMAN

I didn't have all the supplies on hand for these cuties, so when I stopped to pick up some flower pots and heads at Hobby Lobby, I couldn't find the size of terra cotta pots I wanted. But I did find a package of small wooden flower pots that were the perfect size and match for the package of wooden balls. Of course the balls have a flattened bottom making them set easily atop the pot.

We used a stash of baby socks for the hats, ribbon for the scarves, and small buttons, all of which I had already in my craft closet. The girls and I painted the pots and balls white, then painted the eyes, nose and mouths. 

Tip: We used the wrong end of the paint brush to make dots for the eyes and mouth.

We made the hats by cutting the foot from the sock and tying at the top to form into a knit hat. We tied the ribbon around the neck for the scarf and glued on the buttons.

It was an easy and fun project for our rainy Saturday afternoon.


When I was at Hobby Lobby looking for the items for the above project, I also found a package of wooden spools.

How did I not know they sold these things??

I remembered seeing a project using spools for snowmen ornaments and I couldn't resist.

WOODEN SPOOL SNOWMEN

I'm not totally sure why, but I really like the spool projects I see on Pinterest. And this one is super adorable. We painted the spools white and then I distressed mine with sandpaper. The girls didn't want to do that part on theirs. We used ribbon to thread the spools.

Tip: Wider ribbon works best.

Each ribbon is knotted at the bottom of the ribbon and then knotted again just under the bottom spool, knotted between each spool and finally knotted above the top spool. Any extra ribbon can be used to create a loop for hanging on the tree.

Finally we painted our faces and buttons.

If the ribbon is too narrow, the knots may not be big enough to hold the spools in place. For one of our snowmen, I had to add a bit of glue to keep the spools between the knots. This may also be necessary if the spools want to rotate around the ribbon instead of staying lined up with each other.

He's a perfect fit with the other ornaments on our tree.

Merry Christmas, 2013! And may you have a blessed 2014.





For to us a child is born, to us a son is given, and the government will be on his shoulders. And he will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. Isaiah 9:6

The Amazing Christmas Race

My family started watching The Amazing Race this year. We didn't intend to watch it, it just so happened we saw the first episode of the season and the girls asked if we could set it up on the DVR. They wanted to see the race to the finish.

We (I) enjoyed it much more that I thought we (I) would as we celebrated wins and mourned losses.

This Christmas, we have two over-sized gifts for the girls that will be difficult to wrap. Both items are shared gifts and neither will belong to one child over the other. For a little Christmas morning fun, and as a way to present these gifts, I created a scavenger hunt for them in the style of The Amazing Race.

When they get up Christmas morning, they'll each unwrap the gifts they find under the tree. As they finish, they will discover one final gift, wrapped in yellow paper with a red ribbon that they must open together. Inside this package, they will find the first piece to the game, complete with my feeble attempt to rhyme.

The first clue will send them to another room where they must search for the next clue, which includes a little treat.

The new clue sends them to yet another room where they must search for the next clue, but instead they will find a Detour.

Inside those two packages, they will find small Lego Friends sets. The Detour requires them to each build the Lego Friends set, and when they have both completed the task correctly, they will receive the next clue.

That clue will send them to yet another room where they will find a clue that sends them to another room. And there they will find a Road Block.

This Road Block invites them to the fireplace where they will see what treasure can be found inside their stockings. When they have finished with their stockings, they will receive the next clue.

This final clue takes them back to the Christmas Tree where they will discover their final two "big" gifts.

I hope they enjoy their Amazing Christmas Race as much as I enjoyed putting it together, with fond memories of our Christmas fun for the rest of their lives.







Luke 2: 8-16
And there were shepherds living out in the fields nearby, keeping watch over their flocks at night. An angel of the Lord appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were terrified. But the angel said to them, “Do not be afraid. I bring you good news that will cause great joy for all the people. Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you; he is the Messiah, the Lord. This will be a sign to you: You will find a baby wrapped in cloths and lying in a manger.” Suddenly a great company of the heavenly host appeared with the angel, praising God and saying, “Glory to God in the highest heaven, and on earth peace to those on whom his favor rests.” When the angels had left them and gone into heaven, the shepherds said to one another, “Let’s go to Bethlehem and see this thing that has happened, which the Lord has told us about.” So they hurried off and found Mary and Joseph, and the baby, who was lying in the manger. 

Our Clay Ornament Fail, Sort Of

Each year for Christmas, we make something to give as a gift for friends, family and teachers. Sometimes it's something we bake, sometimes an ornament we make. When I think about the clay ornaments we made this year, this is how I feel...

I guess they weren't all THAT bad, but they certainly didn't turn out as amazing as I had imagined. Really... my calling it a fail was simply because the result didn't meet my own personal expectations. We still gave the best ones as gifts, so it really wasn't a complete fail.

These are the clay ornaments we tried to make - click the link for instructions if this looks like something you'd like to try. They are just so plain and simple and I really loved them. Or I love hers. Hers look so perfectly round and perfectly stamped and perfect.

I have never really worked with this type of clay before (oven bake clay). My older daughter didn't like the feel of the clay in her hands, so she did not stick with the project. My younger daughter and my neighbor's granddaughter who happened to be over stuck with the project and helped roll, cut and stamp ornaments. They enjoyed it, so I guess that's the important part.

I was disappointed to discover that I ruined my pastry roller. If you decide to work with this type of clay, do not use utensils you want to continue to use for food. The blogger did not mention that in her post (and it was not mentioned on the clay packaging), but I noticed later that it was mentioned down in the comments, which I did not read until after we'd done it. Really... I'm not disappointed. I'm kinda mad. But it's just a pastry roller and not worth the effort of being mad.

So these are some of ours. Actually they're the worst of ours, because I have already given away the best of them. Some of them are very obviously not the same thickness around. Some of them have the stamp too light, or pushed in too heavy. I guess we didn't HAVE to bake all of them, because we could clearly see how they would turn out. Baking them didn't change how they looked. So I guess we could have scrapped some of them and started over. And in some cases we did.

I know... I'm being too hard on myself. And I wanted it to be a project the girls helped me with, not a project by myself simply so they could meet my personal level of perfection. But I did have quite a few that I didn't feel were okay to give as gifts.

However, these three were perhaps my favorite, so they ended up on my tree. We were running out of clay and instead of cutting perfect circles (for the two on the left), I just slapped a little clay on the table and stamped it. Strange how these imperfect ones became my favorite. Maybe we should have skipped the round cookie cutter and done them all that way. 

The one on the right was a bigger circle with a larger stamp, and I thought it turned out pretty nice, too. These were the kind we gave away.

Merry Christmas!






How blessed is God! And what a blessing he is! He’s the Father of our Master, Jesus Christ, and takes us to the high places of blessing in him. Long before he laid down earth’s foundations, he had us in mind, had settled on us as the focus of his love, to be made whole and holy by his love. Long, long ago he decided to adopt us into his family through Jesus Christ. (What pleasure he took in planning this!) He wanted us to enter into the celebration of his lavish gift-giving by the hand of his beloved Son. Ephesians 1:4-6