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