#throwback Christmas Projects for Children

I'm throwing it back to when I used to design craft projects for children- 

just in case you are looking for some meaningful projects for this season and a way to spend creative time with your children or grandchildren!

(Follow all of the links for early blog posts with details and/or instructions)

Oh, and these posts are very old - pardon the primitiveness of my blogging! 

First up, an inexpensive and easy Advent Wreath. It just takes a little bit of time because of drying times but it's not too late to get this going for this year and the whole family could make it together.

This Advent Calendar was a huge hit. It's reusable and cost about $2.00 to make. Seriously!

I still have parents tell me that it's the first thing they pull out when they decorate and I taught their children a decade ago! Some of them are in college! 

But Christmas traditions are strong!

I wish I had a better picture - it's so cute filled with all of the ornaments and #25 is the star!
It's so, so simple. It's made from a Dollar Store cookie sheet, some spray paint I had on hand, craft paint and some foam shapes. Most people have to buy magnet tape for this but if you have some of the free advertising refrigerator magnets people send in the mail then you might have everything you need on hand. 

And here is a tiny Nativity that anyone and everyone can make! 

I've taught 3 year olds all the way up to senior adults to create these.

I used Altoid tins for a while that I spray painted black. They were free but it became difficult to collect the hundreds I needed when my craft camps were full so I switched to the little paper mache boxes and I really liked the simplicity and texture they added to the project. They are less than a dollar so it's still economical. 

You can also put the verse sticker on the back of the box, use the lid for another tiny Nativity and add a hanger to the top and hang it on the Christmas tree.

So gather up some supplies and found items, dollar tree finds and things on hand and create some Christmas crafting memories.

Crayon Day

Today is all about the color green but when I think about St. Patrick's Day

I  also think about the rainbow that is a major player in the stories of leprechauns.

 

( I think about what I could do with a pot of gold, too.

#notgonnalie )

 

 

And rainbows make me think about boxes of crayons

all lined up in the order of the spectrum.

 

This is the way my brain works... St. Patty's Day to crayons in zero to 60!

 

 

And I never think about crayons that I don't think about this...

 

Several years ago a friend of mine started teaching 3rd grade at a school in a nearby school district. We live in the Atlanta suburbs and sometimes forget that nearby there is actual need for even the basics. My friend told me about her class and the school which was an "at risk" school and almost all families qualified for subsidized lunch. All the parents worked long hours and they were not able to come to school during the day for programs or to be "room moms".

Well, Mollie was away at college at the time and I was missing those cute and fun Room Mom days.

 I volunteered to be her Room Mom and come every month to do a special project, etc.

I was probably more excited than her kiddos!

I went for the first time that October and took a very simple cupcake treat ( that they thought was the most amazing thing ever! They had never seen those little candy pumpkins that I decorated the cupcakes with. Remember that their parents were just trying to put food on the table), a favorite seasonal book that I left with the class and a craft project for them to get creative with. We played a game and it was a great afternoon. I went back in November and followed the same format. They loved everything and thought each treat, project or new to them craft supply was simply amazing and wonderful.

It was a joy to prep and go each month.

I asked my friends from church to donate small gifts for them at Christmas and we played games and chose the gifts as prizes. Several of the children chose things that they could give their moms for Christmas because  she wouldn't get a gift otherwise. So sweet and selfless.

Many of these children had little or no expectations of gifts for themselves either.

 

So what does this have to do with crayons?

I'm getting there!

 

 

 

While the children were playing games and eating their  Christmas  Mid Winter Holiday party treats  my friend and I were talking about the children in her class and how they were doing and her concerns. They would be out of school for over two weeks. The lunch they got at school in addition to a healthy snack of fruit or veggies each day was sometimes the only healthy and hot food they got each day. She was also concerned because they had testing when they came back in January and so many were so far behind.

 And then she said something I could not believe.

She told me that the teachers at this school couldn't send homework home with the students because they didn't have even crayons in their homes to do homework with at night.
A few might but it put so many of them at a disadvantage
 to not be able to keep up with homework.
 

What??? This is America.

 Every child should be able to have a box of crayons.

I could not get this out of my mind

For weeks I thought about this.

Then I asked her how many children were in that school.

I talked to the Mission Committee at the church where I was Children's Director at the time and we started a campaign to get a box of crayons for very child in that school.

And we did.

 They were stacked everywhere.

We counted and recounted. We sorted by number of crayons per box.

One of my awesome volunteers ( never married, no children and always willing to support whatever crazy scheme I cooked up) bought a box of 64 crayons for every 5th grader in that school. I think it was the first time he had ever bought crayons :)

 

People texted and FB posted about where crayons were on sale for the best price.

It was an all out mission.

 

And then the day came when we had enough to tell the school that they were on the way.

 

Almost 800 boxes of crayons were put in boxes and bins in the back of my friends' car and hauled to that school.

 

The next day I had two messages on my answering machine at work.

The first one from my friend who teaches there telling me that they ended classes early that day in the entire school and the support staff helped to pass out the boxes of crayons  to every classroom. My friend said that there were children who cried because people they didn't know cared enough to give them a box of crayons. Many couldn't believe they could take them home.

The second message came from a very choked up and appreciative principal saying that "Crayon Day" had been the most amazing day at their school.

 

So, if you can't imagine that there are children who don't even have a box of crayons somewhere near you, I challenge you to look around and see if you can drop off a rainbow of crayons somewhere nearby and change the day for a child.

 

 

And if you find that pot of gold this St. Patrick's Day maybe you can drop off a lot of crayons!

St. Patrick's Day is a lot of fun but maybe Crayon Day should be the new holiday.

 

 

#crayonday

#itshouldbeathing

 

*This post was not supported or solicited by Crayola Crayons.

Neither was Crayon Day.

It's a true story.

 

Gray Day 1/21/2016

(This was supposed to post yesterday but THE INTERNET decided differently!!)

It has been a gray day in Atlanta.

All day.

I mean the color of the sky has been exactly the same all day.

You can't tell if it's 11 a.m., noon, or 4 p.m.

(This is the view from Mollie's Midtown office window. She's waaaay up high!)

DREARY.

And our forecast for tomorrow is that "we may or may not have snow."

How's that for succinct?

But, just in case, people here  are buying bread and milk like there's no tomorrow.

We bought our favorite ginger beer (this stuff is the bomb!) for Moscow Mules and salmon and veggies, the stuff to make 3 different kinds of GF muffins and the newly released movie, "The Intern."

That's how we roll. 

The thought of being snowed in WITH bread and milk depresses me. 

We like to party because it'll be over in no time flat.

I know that from the state line of Virginia up they are bracing for a big storm

 ( my parents are getting snow!) 

So I thought I'd post a few of my favorite "snowy" things!

You may have seen this on my Instagram

The Toms Nepal boots are my favorite for keeping my feet warm. 

They are coz-y and I got mine on big time sale with Christmas $$.

And as always, 

someone in need gets a pair of shoes, too!

If you do get snowed in and are looking for something to keep kiddos busy 

using things you have on hand, try this: 

Snowman in a Baggie

There are a lot more snow and snowman projects on the blog!

Check them out!

I think snow is beautiful.

I just like it in small doses :)

Three of my favorite "snowy" places that I have been are:

via

Georgetown Colorado.

 It's full of adorable cottages and John Denver filmed a sweet Christmas movie there years ago. We "taped" it with the VCR and it was one of Mollie's favorites when she was young!

 Chamonix, France 

 I have never seen so much snow!!

via

via

and College Fjord, Alaska.

But most of all, when it snows, I like to be at home, snuggled up with my family and pooches.

 The view from my front door during our last big snow in Atlanta!

Stay safe and warm!!

...And Coming in at Number Three!!!!

The air has been clear and crisp in Atlanta the last few days.

A change from our humid, Summer days

 (which I love and I'm not ready for Summer to go)

but everyone else  is excited for Pumpkins Spice lattes and

 Pinterest is one big Pumpkinfest!!

This blog post about this stack of pumpkins from a few years ago

 is my third most popular post of all time!!

If this seems a bit too large or involved then

 you can always make these - a much smaller scale!

But if you are into bigger and better than I "mustache" you to make this guy!!

or you can keep it simple and squishy fun

and just make these with the kiddos!!

Linking up:
at Zevy Joy's Fall Inspiration!
and  White Spray Paint Blog!



Daisies Are The Happiest Flowers

Do you know what movie that's from??

 I love Meg Ryan and I agree.

 I love cheerful, roadside daisies.

 I also loved, loved the show "Please Don't Eat the Daisies" when I was young.

 ( That'll date me, for sure.)

Someone dropped off an unwanted canvas - a large one. Yay!!

I spent a couple of cold, wintry afternoons painting a giant stylized daisy on the canvas.

It was red, so first thing - a turquoise base coat.

Then some basic shapes to create a stylized daisy.

 ( This is what I use my kitchen tools for!)

Outline in black.

My go- to Sherwin Williams paints.

Just filling in with cheerful daisy-ish colors.

 This color is Pickle.

 I want to have the job where I sit around looking at fabulous colors 

and thinking up their names.

SW, call me. I'm available.

Someone at church gave me the canvas so back to church it went.

The next daisy inspired project was painted at

 a little art camp with my favorite 4 and 5 year olds.

They made these canvases for their Moms :)

Then at the beginning of the Summer the stylized daisy painting

 inspired a project at another art camp.

The artists ranged in age from kindergarten to 4th grade 

and they created some pretty amazing line work.

Again, each one is so unique.

They definitely got creative with their colorways.

Aren't these fun? Didn't they turn out great?

I like them better than mine!

A Little Manger Scene for Everyone

A few weeks ago at 
our Starry Night event at church
we used baby in a manger centerpieces and I wanted all of the children 
who attended to have their very own baby in a manger as well. 
Remember the budget was non-existent 
so cue the craft supplies hanging around at church or that were free.
In the "free" department I always like TP roll projects :)


I had my youth helpers cut the TP rolls in half lengthwise. We used a short piece of wire to hot glue a small wooden star to the TP roll "manger" I bought a huge bag of thin, small wooden stars at Hobby Lobby and spray painted them with paint I had. The starts were $2.97 for a zillion stars. I have more than half left for another day.This prep was done in advance since hot glue was needed.

Then they cut a bunch of short pieces of raffia from an old bundle that was in the closet. 
Everyone has some raffia hanging around :)

An old white sheet that I have been using for projects for literally years was torn into strips about 3/4 of an inch by about a foot.
 It doesn't need to be exact and tearing looks great - no need to cut.

I bought this bag of little clothespins for $1.97 when wooden items were 40% off at HL. 
Then we let the children glue some "hay' in the bottom of the TP roll manger with a star. They made two little Sharpie dots for eyes on the clothespin and then "swaddled" the clothes pin with the torn sheet.
 It doesn't matter how they go about wrapping up the baby - it works every time.

They were so cute and they loved carrying around their little baby in the manger and the parents thought they were adorable. It was a quick and easy craft with low cost, small amount of prep and every age child could accomplish it!

I have been getting hang out with some 6th graders at a neighboring church once a month.
Their director invited me to come "make art' with them once a month. It is a ton of fun and she gives me a lot of freedom in choosing the projects to go with the verses or stories that are a part of their lessons.

They have a big, creative space and they are NOT afraid to get messy!! My kind of peeps. And, my friend has paid interns who will help set up and clean up whatever messy project I come up with!!! That's a bonus! 
Right before Thanksgiving we got a head start on the Advent season and made these ornaments from my favorite, Crayola Model Magic air dry clay.

 

 

 

They always turn out perfectly. 
This project is great for all ages and they can make several so they can give some as gifts!!
We challenged them to take one of their ornaments and give it to someone they don't normally give gifts to - even a stranger in a random act of kindness and bring a smile to someone's face. You never know when someone's day might be changed by even that small gesture. I can't wait to meet with them in January and see who followed through. That's kind of a tough assignment for a sixth grader.