Christmas Crafting

Warning...I went a little Pinterest crazy this season...I just couldn't help myself. I have been pinning to my Christmas board for months now...and when I went to my board to see what types of craft to do with the boys...I just couldn't say no.

I picked the crafts that would be the least expensive to execute and am sharing what we have done to date below...

First up...our felt Christmas tree. On our real tree, I have some kid friendly ornaments at the bottom...but I still have to say "no pulling" "no touching" quite frequently. So, I loved the idea of making a Christmas tree just for the boys so they could touch EVERY ornament.

I bought 1 yard of green felt at JoAnns for $4...and then 10 sheets of felt at Michaels for $0.25 each. (I had enough felt for two trees so I sent one to the cousins too)

I put the felt on the floor...folded it in half...and sketched a tree...



The boys told me what types of ornaments to make...heart, diamond, octagon, etc. and then they hung them all by themselves.



Proud of their work.



I think I am going to use my embroidery machine to make some additional ornaments...but haven't gotten to that yet.

Next up...Christmas trees with paper strips. You don't need much for this craft either:

various green/red/gold scrapbook paper
scissors or cutting board
glue stick
piece of white paper

I sliced the paper and cut them into long and short pieces and the boys started pasting away...



Here they are with their finished product...



I really might frame these. Or I might get them to do another set using mod podge on a small canvas. We will see...



They loved the soccer paper. :)

This next one was tough to execute...but I had all of the supplies on hand so I decided to give it a try.

I taped a piece of contact paper onto the table. Carter and I cut out green circles out of tissue paper, then we just placed the circles all over the contact paper.



Once we had placed all of the circles...I covered the first piece of contact paper with a second piece of contact paper basically creating a laminating effect. This was the tough part. That stuff is sticky and I couldnt' get a clean seal.

But, it worked well enough...we cut out a Christmas tree shape and hung it on the window. It is really pretty in the morning when the sun is rising.



We got our tree last Friday...



And the boys helped me make cookies while Adam got the tree inside and in the stand.





And here is the finished tree...



We hung some ornaments on our outside tree too...



Definitely enjoying this holiday season with my boys!