Christmas Thought of the Day - 4/29/09

May the forgiving spirit of Him to whom we dedicate this season prevail again on earth. May hunger disappear and terrorists cease their senseless acts. May people live in freedom, worshiping as they see fit, loving others. May the sanctity of the home be ever preserved. May peace, everlasting peace, reign supreme.
~~ Author Unknown ~~

12 Days of Kid's Christmas Crafts #12

There are many resources, ideas, and content for kids' crafts online. Below is a brief list:

1. Kids Christmas Crafts
2. Christmas Crafts for Kids
3. Free Christmas Crafts
4. Kids Christmas Craft Network
5. Christmas Crafts for Kids
6. Celebrating Christmas Crafts for Kids
7. Kids Christmas Projects
8. Christmas Craft Freebies
9. Homemade Christmas Crafts
10. Christmas Ornaments
11. Christmas Crafts
12. Christmas Ornaments Kids Can Make

Have fun creating crafts, ornaments, gifts, and, most of all, memories with your kids.

More House on Christmas Street

Judy has graciously offered to give away an album an month! Whoo hoo! To enter, just leave any comment on any post throughout the month. This will need to be done each month you want to enter. Good luck to you all!

Judy Pancoast is a children's musician from New Hampshire. She is an acclaimed, independent children's musician. She has also produced a Christmas CD titled "The House on Christmas Street."

A review of this album was done previously.

It is Judy's dream for "The House on Christmas Street" to become a real Christmas hit. The song will bring back memories of your childhood and that one house that was always emphatically over-dressed for the Christmas season.

Christmas Connection #7

When the Christmas catalogs start arriving in the mail, start a section in your binder for catalog gift ideas. Tear out any pages in catalogs that you think somebody might like, circle the item and write the person's name by it so you don't forget. Make sure the phone number or website is listed. It also helps to write the catalog number or customer number from the catalog address label to speed ordering. When it's time to buy ANYTHING this year for ANYONE for ANY OCCASION, you'll be ready!

12 Days of Kid's Christmas Crafts #11

Puzzle Wreath

Old puzzle pieces
green paint
Glue gun or Elmer's glue
ribbon
Red and green sequins, optional
Picture, optional

Using a paper plate or plastic container lid as the work surface to give yourself a guideline. Make a rectangle on the "bottom layer." Pieces will just be placed there. It is the next layer that holds everything in place. Add a drop of glue on one side of two neighboring puzzle pieces, then place a new puzzle piece on top to cement the bond. This is what holds the wreath together.

Glue top layer of puzzle pieces to bottom layer so that they form a wreath that can be picked up.

Paint all the puzzle pieces green.

Add green and red sequins.

Add a picture to the back of the frame.

A nice finishing touch is a little ribbon. If you want to hang it from your tree, use a longer ribbon.

Christmas Trivia - X-mas

The Greek letter C, c (pronounced “chi” and looks like the Roman letter X) was a popular abbreviation of the name Christ for the early persecuted Christians, X or “chi” is the first letter of Christ when written in Greek and also resembled the cross.

Christmas Thought of the Day - 4/25/09

O Father may that Holy Star
Grow every year more bright,
And send its glorious beams afar
To fill the world with light.
~~ William Cullen Bryant ~~

12 Days of Kid's Christmas Crafts #10

Chenille stems make the easiest candy canes.

White chenille stems
Red chenille stems
Scissors

Hold one white and one red chenille stem side by side (they should be of equal length). Twist one end together and then twist together working your way down to the bottom.

Twist the bottom ends together to secure. Then bend into candy cane shape.

Other ideas:

• Try different sizes by cutting chenille in half.
• Try different styles of chenille, including bumpy or glittery chenille, for a different look.
• Add pony beads or tri beads.

Christmas Thought of the Day - 4/21/09

Christmas is the one day of the year that carries real hope and promise for all mankind.

12 Days of Kid's Christmas Crafts #9

Pine Cone Christmas Tree

Use it as a Christmas decoration or as a tree ornament. This is a simple craft that even young children can help make.

Large, open pine cone (pick one that is tree-shaped and stands upright easily)
Glitter
Cotton balls
Elmer's glue
Dental floss and a needle
Small beads
A small bow or star (to top off your little tree)

Glue a few cotton balls to the bottom of the pine cone. These look like snow and help the "tree" stand upright.

Put a little dab of glue at the tips of the pine cone and then sprinkle on glitter.

String some small beads onto dental floss (about 1 to 1 1/2 ft or more, depending on the size of the pine cone). To string the beads easily, tie one bead securely to the string. When the stringing is done, tie off the last bead with a knot. Wrap the beads around the pine cone and glue them to the tree.

Top off your tree with a small bow or other decoration.

Christmas Connection #6

Flip through the cooking section of your notebook. Take out any recipes you tried that you/family didn't like. Add notes on the ones you tried that you did like (such as "add more cheese next time" or "needs more peppermint").

Christmas Thought of the Day - 4/18/09

Christmas is more than Santa, stockings and surprises; it is Christ, care, and concern.

Christmas Trivia - Animal Crackers

The string attached to boxes of animal crackers were originally placed there so that the container could be hung from the branches of a Christmas tree.

Sing to Me Saturday #2

O Holy Night sung by Josh Grobin

The words and lyrics of the old carol 'O Holy Night' were written by Placide Cappeau de Roquemaure in 1847. Cappeau was a wine seller by trade but was asked by the parish priest to write a poem for Christmas. He obliged and wrote the beautiful words of the hymn. He then realised that it should have music to accompany the words and he approached his friend Adolphe Charles Adams (1803-1856). He agreed and the music for the poem was therefore composed by Adolphe Charles Adams. Adolphe had attended the Paris conservatoire and forged a brilliant career as a composer. It was translated into English by John Sullivan Dwight (1812-1893).


O Holy Night! The stars are brightly shining,
It is the night of the dear Saviour's birth.
Long lay the world in sin and error pining.
Till He appeared and the Spirit felt its worth.
A thrill of hope the weary world rejoices,
For yonder breaks a new and glorious morn.
Fall on your knees! Oh, hear the angel voices!
O night divine, the night when Christ was born;
O night, O Holy Night , O night divine!
O night, O Holy Night , O night divine!

Led by the light of faith serenely beaming,
With glowing hearts by His cradle we stand.
O'er the world a star is sweetly gleaming,
Now come the wisemen from out of the Orient land.
The King of kings lay thus lowly manger;
In all our trials born to be our friends.
He knows our need, our weakness is no stranger,
Behold your King! Before him lowly bend!
Behold your King! Before him lowly bend!

Truly He taught us to love one another,
His law is love and His gospel is peace.
Chains he shall break, for the slave is our brother.
And in his name all oppression shall cease.
Sweet hymns of joy in grateful chorus raise we,
With all our hearts we praise His holy name.
Christ is the Lord! Then ever, ever praise we,
His power and glory ever more proclaim!
His power and glory ever more proclaim!


This song touches my heart and Josh's voice is awesome in this song.





Check out the other songs and lyrics and share what songs you cherish at Sing to Me Saturday at All Things Cherished.

12 Days of Kid's Christmas Crafts #8

White art paper, kraft paper, or solid wrapping paper
Scissors
Dry sponge
Craft paint

Cut dry sponge (sponges with tiny holes work the best) into irregular shapes. Dip sponges in paint, squeeze excess paint out and blot onto paper. You can stamp each sponge several times before re-dipping in the paint.

This even dresses up plain newspaper wrapping!

12 Days of Kid's Christmas Crafts #7

Santa Face

Small paper plate
Flesh-tone craft paint
Red craft foam
Cotton balls
2 googly eyes
1 pink pom-pom
Scissors
Glue
Paintbrush
Red marker

Turn the paper plate upside down and paint it with a flesh tone of your choice. Set the plate aside to dry.

Cut a hat shape out of red craft foam and glue a cotton ball to the tip of the hat and then glue a line of cotton balls along the bottom of the hat. Once the paper plate is dry, glue the bottom of the hat to the top of the paper plate.

Glue a "beard" of cotton balls -- for a more realistic look pull cotton balls apart before gluing -- along the outside edge of the paper plate.

Glue two googly eyes onto the plate near the hat and glue a pink pom-pom under the eyes as a nose.

Cut a cotton ball in half and glue above the eyes as eyebrows.

Cut a cotton ball in half and pull it slightly to form a mustache. Glue under the nose.

Use the red marker to draw a smile under the mustache.

Optional Use craft wire to bend into shape to make glasses.

The House on Christmas Street Winner

Thanks so very much to Judy for donating The House on Christmas Street for this giveaway.

The winner is Teresa. Congratulations, Teresa!

Thanks to everyone for entering the giveaway and sharing your thoughts about your most memorable Christmas gift.

Graciously, Judy has offered to host more giveaways here at 365 Days of Christmas later in the year.

The Wrapping Paper Test

You Are Whimsical and Imaginative

You approach the holidays with creativity and imagination. For you, it's yet another opportunity to express your glorious view of the world. Whether you're decorating your house or baking cookies, you like everything to have your personal touch. You do your best to make the holidays a unique and special time for everyone around you. Of all the types, you are the most likely to give delightfully surprising and interesting gifts. You're also the most likely to wrap your gifts in an quirky, beautiful way.

The Wrapping Paper Test

Santa's Personalized Stories

Wouldn't you like to have one of Santa's stories personalized for you?!

Pick a theme:
Elf For a Day
Christmas Eve Clean-up
North Pole Christmas Party

Then, enter your personal information. Lastly, click "Read the Story" or "Print a Personalized Story Book" to create your very own book.

http://www.northpole.com/PersonalizedStories/

Christmas Connection #5

Print out a monthly calendar for each month, October through January. Its easier if you do one month per page so you have lots of writing room. What kind of grid/calendar you use is based solely on personal preference. Below are various free printable calendar pages. After you got all four months printed, take the time to write in all your holidays, birthdays, school events, etc.

Then schedule some baking days, crafting days, and shopping days. Do this in pencils since life often gets in the way and schedules need adjusted.

Calendar Pages
http://familycrafts.about.com/cs/calendars/a/122900a.htm
http://www.dltk-cards.com/calendar/
http://www.printablecalendar.ca/
http://www.abcteach.com/directory/teaching_extras/calendars/
http://www.enchantedlearning.com/calendar/

12 Days of Kid's Christmas Crafts #6

What a great way to keep your favorite Christmas cards.

Recycled Christmas cards
Clear contact paper
Scissors

Cut or tear the fronts of old Christmas cards from the back. Discard backs. Lay a 12" x 18" piece of clear contact paper sticky side up on your work surface. Arrange card fronts to completely cover the contact paper, overlapping and pressing them right side up on the sticky surface of the paper. Cover the front with another piece of contact paper. Trim.

12 Days of Kid's Christmas Crafts #5

Based on hand prints and foot prints this treasured Christmas craft is easy to do with pleasing results.

Brown construction paper, for the reindeer's face
Yellow or gold construction paper, for the antlers
Red pom-pom or small wad of red tissue paper
Googly eyes
Glue

Trace around child's foot brown construction paper and cut out the shape.

Trace around child's hands onto yellow or gold construction paper. Cut these shapes out. Glue the hands on as antlers.

Glue on a red pom pom or a ball of red tissue paper as the reindeer's nose and glue on googly eyes.

Christmas Thought of the Day - 4/7/09

Love is what's in the room with you at Christmas if you stop opening presents and listen.
~~ Bobby, age 7 ~~

12 Days of Kid's Christmas Crafts #4

Here's a new twist on an old favorite - microwave salt dough Christmas ornaments. Just follow the simple recipe, cut out your favorite cookie cutter shapes, and microwave a plate of ornaments at a time.

If you are looking for some fun and inexpensive crafts to do this Christmas, making ornaments with salt dough is a good choice. Basically, with salt, flour, water and some decorations you can make beautiful ornaments to give as gifts to family and friends.

4 cups of flour
1 cup of salt
1-1/2 cups of hot water
holiday cookie cutters
decorations - glitter, paint, beads, etc.

Mix all the ingredients together.

Use Christmas cookie cutters to cut a variety of Christmas themed icons.

Use a toothpick to make a hole for hanging, being sure to make the hole a little larger than you will want as the dough tends to shrink when baking.

Using a microwave-safe plate (not paper or cardboard), microwave a plate of your ornaments for 1 to 4 minutes, increasing the time by 1 minute increments and keeping a close eye on the microwave as the ornaments bake. Microwave power levels differ greatly, so use high power in a less-powerful oven, but the lower power setting it if your oven tends to heat things very quickly. Let the ornaments cool completely before decorating.

Properly dried the ornaments should last for years.

Christmas Gifts for My Kids

Everyone has their own reasons, beliefs, and whys for buying or not buying Christmas gifts. Do what you think is right for YOU.

I am a low-income single mother, so many years I just don't have much money so I adopted the idea of the wise men and offer three gifts for my children. If Christ only got three gifts then my children can live with three main gifts. They also get a stocking from Santa and a Treasure Bag from mom (similar to a stocking) filled with simple things like fruit, toothbrush, toothpaste, crayons, coloring book, etc.

Christmas Connection #4

This week's assignment is to make your card list, including friends, family, colleagues, children's friends, church family, teachers, children's classmates, online groups, mailman, hair dresser, etc. Complete your list as completely as you can.

If creating your own cards, determine how many you need (see above) and what date you want to have all your cards mailed. Remember that cards going overseas need to go 1 to 2 weeks earlier to arrive in time for Christmas. Divide how cards needed by how many weeks are left (depending on your own personal due date). For example, if mailing on December 3rd and its now the beginning of October, you have 8 weeks to create your cards, so each week you should be creating 25 cards if mailing 200 cards total. That means each day you should create 3-4 cards.

Use the same formula above to determine how many cards need addressed and stamped each day.

12 Days of Kid's Christmas Crafts #3

Silver &/or blue tinsel pipe cleaners, 2 per snowflake
Blue, white, and silver plastic pony beads
Scissors

Cut the pipe cleaners in half so that you have 4 pieces.Make a cross with two pieces, twist and secure. then add the other two pieces, twist and secure.

Add a few beads to each piece of pipe cleaner. Bend the ends of each piece just enough to prevent the beads from falling off. Add an ornament hanger or make a loop with the pipe cleaner for hanging.

Freebie of the Month - Printable Christmas Cards

Print some mini Christmas cards made by Canon. There are 12 designs to choose from and envelopes are included.

Barnyard Chic

Check out this totally cute and awesome tutorial for fabric eggs. Kim at Retro Mama did a fantastic job.

Food Coloring For Easter Eggs

I know there are many "do it yourself" types that can make neat colors for your Easter eggs. If you have your own dipping tools and cups, this chart will come in handy.

Following each color listed below, you will find the number of drops of each food coloring to be added to about 2 - 4 ounces of vinegar for dipping.

Lime - 24 yellow, 4 green
Purple - 15 blue, 5 red
Cantaloupe - 24 yellow, 2 red
Jade - 17 green, 3 blue
Plum - 10 red, 4 blue
Spearmint - 12 green, 6 yellow, 2 blue
Raspberry - 14 red, 6 blue
Maize - 24 yellow, 1 red
Watermelon - 25 red, 2 blue
Teal - 15 green, 5 blue
Grape - 17 blue, 3 red
Fuchsia - 18 red, 2 blue
Orange Sunset - 17 yellow, 3 red
Jungle Green - 14 green, 6 yellow

To make larger volumes, just keep the ratio the same (for example, Lime is 24 parts yellow to 4 parts green; a ratio of 6 to 1).

12 Days of Kid's Christmas Crafts #2

These are so easy to make you will be amazed. Grab some glass ball ornaments and some paint and decorate these pretty and festive tree accents.

Glass ball ornaments
Red and green acrylic paint
Paint brush
ribbon

Turn an empty egg carton upside down. This will serve as your stand as you decorate.

Place ornament upside down on egg carton, resting it between egg cups.

Using the handle end of a paint brush, dip the end of the handle into paint then dot onto the ornament. You will need to re-dip after each dot. Change the size of the polka dots by using different sized paint brushes. Dot all around the ornament and let dry completely.

Once dry, tie a piece of ribbon through the hanger hook on the ornament.

Adapted from craft found at Kaboose.com.

12 Days of Kid's Christmas Crafts

Make your very own Christmas tree to display on your holiday table.

Styrofoam cone
Green felt
Goldenrod or yellow felt
Assorted small craft items in assorted colors
3 stems of red glittery chenille
1 stem red skinny chenille
1 stem white skinny chenille
Scissors
Hot glue gun with adult supervision or Elmer's glue

Lay Styrofoam cone on top of felt. Roll up to cover, trim excess, leaving ½” overlap at the bottom of the cone. Glue felt all around the cone. Cut slits in the felt overlap at the bottom, every couple of inches. Glue overlapping flaps to the bottom of the cone.

Add garland by gluing red glittery chenille stems around the cone.

Glue craft jewels, buttons, sequins, etc., to the tree as ornaments.

Twist together red and white skinny chenille stems. Cut in to 1” lengths. Bend top of each length to form a candy cane, glue candy canes to the garland on the tree.

Cut out a star from felt and glue to the top of the tree.

Tips:

• Styrofoam cones are available in various sizes at your local craft supply store or discount stores.
• Change the color of the felt to a lighter green or even white for a different twist, or pick a different color of chenille for the garland.

Adapted by craft found at Kaboose.com.