Christmas Elves

Christmas Elves

I have just put up my first Christmas decorations of the year. I am very lucky that my kids still believe in Santa, and the first thing we do each year is make pictures of Elves and put them on the windows. These are the Christmas elves which the kids believe will watch over them and report back the Santa if they are ‘naughty’ or ‘nice’.

Originally we just had pictures which I printed off and the kids colored them in. Now we have got a bit more advanced.

Remember when you were little you – did you make chains of people; snowmen holding hands? Well, we do the same, but with elves. I use standard printer paper. I divide it into 4 strips lengthways, so I get 4 rows of elves. Each row is then concertinaed up to create 6 elves. These are the perfect size for us.

I stick them on the windows so they look like they are peeping in and watching. They are small enough that they don’t block out the light and all our guests go up and comment on them. They are a great talking point and everyone loves them.

My eldest son is rather into flags at the moment – he has a book with the world flags on and is constantly asking questions about the different symbols and colors. So for this year we went and bought a sheet of little flag stickers. When he colored in his elves he put a little sticker on each of their tops.

We had such fun making them and it was even a little educational as well.

For those of you who are following the current European crisis you will probably find it funny that he had England and Europe (one of the flags was the blue EU flag with the gold stars in a circle on it) together and France and Germany at opposite ends – great insight from a 6 year old!

Now our Christmas Elves are complete I think it will be the beginning of snowflakes on the weekend.

Below is a book which you may find helpful when planning your kids Christmas activities – remember to get some round ended, soft handled scissors as well.

Paper Scissors Glue: 45 Fun and Creative Papercraft Projects for Kids

• ISBN13: 9781845979751
• Condition: New
• Notes: BRAND NEW FROM PUBLISHER! BUY WITH CONFIDENCE, Over one million books sold! 98% Positive feedback. Compare our books, prices and service to the competition. 100% Satisfaction Guaranteed

Get your kids folding, snipping, and sticking with “Paper Scissors Glue”. Kids love crafting, and paper-based crafts are particularly popular, as they require no specialist equipment or hard-to-find craft supplies – just this exciting new book and some paper, scissors and glue! “Paper Scissors Glue” is divided into four vibrant sections containing 45 funky projects. Cutting features decoupage, collage-making and mosaics. Folding contains simple origami projects as well as cute hanging mobiles and classic paper planes, hats and fans. Printing and Painting includes paper-plate masks, treasure maps and marbling paper. And Modelling contains a papier-mache piggy bank, doll’s house furniture and a supersonic cardboard space rocket! Every project can be completed in four steps – just follow the simple instructions and you can’t go wrong!

How To Include Your Christmas Crafts In Your Christmas Decorations

How To Include Your Christmas Crafts In Your Christmas Decorations

Once you have started on the route of Christmas crafts you will need to find places for all your projects. If you are doing these with young children or toddlers you will either have just one or two items which they did, or you will have absolutely millions of bits of paper to find homes for. So where do you put them all?

With kids there is always a balance needed. I love having their items of the tree, but I still like it to look good, and there are only so many snowflakes before the tree looks like it has been somewhat attacked! So this is what we do now with the snow flakes.

I divide the snow flakes into groups. If they are very big, they sort of take over the tree, hence they go on the windows. You will want to put them really high up so that they don’t block the light. You can overlap them here, put a line of the biggest ones on first and then layer the smaller ones or those on different colored paper over the top.

I like the smaller snow flakes on the tree, partly because I love the way the kids point out to guests which ones they made. However, from my experience it seems that the smaller the child the more paper there is left in their snow flake. So, I combine two snow flakes. My youngest is only just getting competent with scissors, so his tend to be circles or squares with a few holes cut into them. My oldest on the other hand creates really intricate ones which are so fragile that they need support. Hence I put the two together. There are two ways to put snowflakes together, either with glue, but sometimes this doesn’t really work – you end up with a rather stiff looking snowflake. The other method, and my favourite is to add a few strategic stitches to hold them together, this just really seems to work. (I discovered it one year when I ran out of glue, but it was one of those great discoveries)

Now you have a home for your snowflakes – but what about your chain men, normally Santa or snowmen? Well, if the snowflakes are at the top of your windows, the obvious place for you characters is at the bottom. Every year our windows are lined with elves, Santas and snowmen.

In my books Christmas is all about family – and I like to show off the kids creations, but I like to get a bit of a balance with some style and order. I was really pleased this morning, as my 7 year old headed out to school he didn’t talk about presents he wanted to receive he talked what decorations he was going to make and how he was planning on decorating the whole house!

If you are looking for some more inspiring ideas for your Christmas crafts – then check out the book below.

A Homemade Christmas: Creative Ideas for an Earth-Friendly, Frugal, Festive Holiday

Making something with your own hands—whether it’s a plate of just-baked cookies, a handcrafted stocking, a homemade wreath, or a hand-folded origami ornament—is a great way to connect with the true meaning of Christmas.

From holiday decorating to gift giving, A Homemade Christmas is chock-full of projects, recipes, tips, and helpful hints that are guaranteed to add a homemade touch to your holiday season. Open this charming volume to any page and discover a wealth of practical and easy-to-accomplish ideas for a homemade holiday:

• create personal, distinctive holiday greetings

• deck the halls with festive, handmade trimmings

• cook simple but memorable homemade dishes

• make unique, handcrafted gifts

• share the joy of the season with friends and family

Packed with inspiration and how-tos for ideas that are family-friendly and eco-conscious, festive and meaningful, A Homemade Christmas will put homemade back into your holidays!

Kids Christmas Crafts

Kids Christmas Crafts

It is getting cold, and although I am happy for the kids to wrap up and head out the evenings are too dark. I am not a big fan of television for kids, mine seem to get bored and can never manage to agree on what they want to watch. Hence we now spend the evening getting ready for Christmas. Over the last couple of years I have tried lots of different kids Christmas crafts, and some have been amazing successes – while others were a complete disaster.

In the evenings I find that the most successful kids Christmas crafts are paper based ones. This is mostly for me, I don’t want to have to get out food colorings (for marzipan fruits), or paints. Messy activities are fine if you have a whole afternoon or morning, but if it is just a little while in the evening then paper is by far the best.

What you will need for kids Christmas crafts nights

• Two cardboard boxes. One to keep supplies in and one to put the finished products in.
• Lots of paper. This can be anything, I always pick up colored paper if I see it on offer in the shops, but I also keep packagings and anything which I think may be useful (and that includes cereal boxes). If you have ordered from Amazon you may have got your box stuffed with brown paper, I even fold and iron that and keep it – it is great for making into stars and then spraying with colored paints.
• Scissors – I always have a couple of pairs of kids scissors in the paper box. It means that they don’t get lost, they are never used for other projects, and have a couple of pairs means that there is no fighting over them.

What to make?

This is an unending list – but here are a few things to get you thinking:
1. Snowflakes. You probably made these are a child, you simply get paper, fold it in half, fold again and again until you have a triangle. Then simply cut out some notches and open up. You may not want your tree covered in these, but they are great to put on the windows! I have found that getting the kids to decorate one side of the paper before cutting can create some great effects. Keep it simple; lines across or diagonal on the page, or draw around coins to get circles. If you have toddles, just let them loose with come crayons and then get the older kids to turn them into snowflakes.
2. Paper folding. This can be really impressive and very simple. I have been doing origami for years and always use it on my tree. Guests tend to think that it is really difficult – but really, if you have a look in some of the kids origami books you will find plenty of simple stars and other items which can be used or adapted for Christmas.
3. Chain people. I love these – a real childhood memory. We make elves and Santas. We stick these along the bottom of the window frames so that it looks like they are walking along hand-in-hand. I tell the kids that the elves are keeping an eye on them and will report back to Santa if they are naughty or nice!

The one thing I will warn you about kids Christmas crafts are that they are totally addictive. My kids want to get the paper out every night, and it is great to see them concentrate on it and then go to bed tired, but really pleased with their creations.

I have added a link to a basic origami book. There are some which are specifically for Christmas, but you don’t need these. I think it is better to have a general one, and they you can use it all year round – after all paper folding is a great activity, even for warm summer muggy evenings.  For a couple of dollars you can guarantee hours of entertainment.

Easy Origami (Dover Origami Papercraft)

• DOV-27298
• 9780486272986
• Brand New Item / Unopened Product
• Dover

Christmas Decorating Ideas

Christmas Decorating Ideas

Halloween has been and gone and now it is time to start the preparations for Christmas. The first thing to do is make a cup of coffee and get together some Christmas decorating ideas. I like systems – so this is how I go about it.

Where do the decoration need to go?
To do this I think of a friend who I have not seen for a long time and imagine that they are coming to visit. I imagine them pulling up outside and seeing the house for the first time, I think about what they are going to see as they head towards the door. I write down what they are going to see and this is the basis for my outdoor Christmas decorations.

Then I imagine them coming into the house and I write down, not what they are going to see, but what I would like them to feel. That may sound a little strange, but let me explain further. I have a friend who I speak to or email most weeks, but I haven’t actually seen for five years, hence she has never met my youngest son. If she walked into my house at Christmas I would want her to have an immediate sense of warmth and family. There are some people who would want more ‘wow’ things, or most stylish – you have to find the emotion you want to create in people.

What decorations to use?
I am a big believer in not wasting things, so I always start with what I already have. Firstly, I divide up the good and damaged decorations. I never throw away decorations when I pack up in January. For example, if you are making a wreath, you only see one side of a bauble, perfect use for baubles which have got dents in them!

Once I have got my ‘good’ decorations in a pile I return to the effect I want to create. What do I need to add to these to make it more; family bases, kiddy, stylish?

Once you have made these decisions and define what you need to it is time to start collecting – and I don’t mean in a shop. I remember one year I had a great tree which was all blues and silver. My husband had a pair of pjs which I had moved to the rag box as they were getting old. When I realise what colors I would be using that Christmas, the first place I headed was the rag box. In it I found several blue rags and also these pjs. This is what I did with them:

• I cut out rectangles of about 18 x 10 cm.
• I then put two together, right side in and sewed around the edges, leaving a small space of about 1cm in the middle bottom.
• I then turned them back to the right way out – through the little unsewn hole.
• I then bought some silver ribbon of about an inch and a half wide. I cut a piece of ribbon about 25cm long for each rectangle.
• I then tied the ribbon around the centre of the rectangles and with a bit of arranging I had the most beautiful bows for my Christmas tree. The bows had blue (or pj plaid) ‘wings’ and silver ribbon tails.

Since the kids came along I find that I have a much more multicolors tree and home, but it works well with us as the kids love the run up to Christmas and are always keen to choose remnants in a shop and paper from their craft boxes. (Admittedly we did have one Christmas which was rather Mickey mouse dominated, it was not our most stylish Christmas but it is great to look back on).

So where ever you start with your Christmas decorating ideas you must look at who you are going to be inviting, what you want them to thinks, and also how you are going to achieve that with the most fun!

If you are looking for some craft ideas to use check out the book below.

Christmas Crafts Marzipan

Christmas Crafts Marzipan

Most people, when you mention Christmas crafts think of making things with paper. But this is just as much fun, the results are great and its simple enough for even the smallest hands – Marzipan.

Firstly, let me explain the different types of marzipan. There is obviously the shop bought marzipan. This is great and easy to use, but if you want to get the most out of the project then you can make the marzipan as well.

If you are going to make your own marzipan there are two ways. The first is a no-cook option. If the kids are helping then this is the one I would suggest. The cook option makes a much smoother marzipan, which is much better for modelling, but if your kids are little then it doesn’t really matter too much. As they get more experienced over the years you can always sway to this.

This is the recipe I use:
200g Ground Almonds
100g Powdered Sugar
1 Tbsp Fresh Lemon Juice
2 Tbsp Maple Syrup
1 Tbsp Cold Water
1 tsp Almond Essence

Most recipes will have raw eggs in them, but since I make this with the kids I don’t like to use that. Here’s what you do:

• Mix together the ground almonds and powdered sugar.
• Make a well in the centre of the marzipan mixture and add all of the liquid ingredients.
• Mix thoroughly.
• You can add a tiny drop of lemon juice or syrup if the marzipan is a little dry.
• Do not add too much liquid.
• You should be left with an almond pastry textured dough.
• Cover and place marzipan into the fridge for an hour.
• Use your homemade marzipan recipe for baking and making sweets.

Now you have the marzipan, you can start the really fun bit.

I think the best thing to start with is fruits. This is because even the youngest of children can make these and older kids can add details to keep them challenged.

There are several things you will need for this. The first is a cheese grater with all the different options on it. This is a great way to create texture. For example if you are making an orange you roll the an orange ball round and round on the smallest grate option until you have covered the orange in small dents, making it look very realistic. (similar for strawberries)

The next thing you need are a couple of cocktail sticks. These are used to create the create the indents at the top and bottom of the fruits and also to attach stalks and leaves to the fruit.

Finally, and most importantly you need food coloring.

You are now set for many fun hours, and lots of yummy treats to eat.

If you are feeling ambition you can check out some of the techniques here.