Candle holders

We decided to make a gift for their grandparents using stuff that I had around the house.  Who doesn't have a million candle holders or vases?  I used 2 identical candle holders that I had.  Why I registered for them when we got married I will never know.  I cut up tissue paper into small shapes.  We used decoupage glue and applied the tissue paper.  Once all of the tissue paper covered the glass, I applied an extra layer of the glue to seal it in.  We are placing candles in each one and giving them as gifts.  I sure hope my mom doesn't check this.....lol.  They turned out pretty.

Don't worry.  She is eating yogurt not glue:)

 

Crayon fun

I have been seeing this project everywhere on Pinterest.  I just had to try it out.  I let the girls put the crayons anywhere that they wanted and also let them choose the colors they wanted.  I secretly wish that I had limited colors and done the design myself but the pictures look cool regardless.  I used a hot glue gun to put a bit of glue on the crayon.  The girls then placed it on their blank canvases.  Once that was done, we used a hair dryer and let the magic work.  It took a bit at first to start melting and the kids started to get antsy.  Once it was running though they loved it.  Also, do not be alarmed!  My daughter-Rapunzel:)-insists on wearing this dress every day.  You may see it in several posts.  Rest assured that we do not do these all in one day and I promise I wash the dress!  Ha

Finished products!

Snow messy box

This is one of the boxes I keep stored in the kitchen to help cure boredom.  I filled it with several boxes of potato flakes (snow per the girls).  They added dinosaurs.  We change out the stuff that goes inside with the flakes.  Beware of a fun but very messy time! 

Silly "potty" aka putty

My kids love to play with play dough.   I thought it would be fun to make our own silly putty.  It is very easy to do.  All you need is glue and liquid starch.  I added food coloring to the liquid starch to make it red and green.  In a perfect world, you just need equal parts of glue and starch to get the consistency right.  For some reason, that never turns out right for me.  I started with small cups of both.  The girls mixed it in a bowl, working it with their hands.  If it is too runny and slimy-add more glue.  If it is too sticky-add starch.  We worked it back and forth until we got it right!  Fun stuff! Lila loves to make noises with hers.  She told me that it does noises because it is silly.  I find storing the silly putty in the refrigerator helps it last longer.

Easy santa

This was an easy art project that I happened to have supplies for one day.  All you need is paper, glue and cotton balls.  We used googly eyes too but you could use something else if you didn't have them.  Ho, ho, ho

Advent calendar continued

In case you were wondering how the calendar is holding up......pretty good overall.  We had 2 balloons that deflated but for the most part it still looks good.  Lila loves popping a balloon every morning and the activities keep our days busy!

Frosty the no snowman

"When is it going to snow, when is it going to snow, when it is going to snow?"  AHHHHH  "I have no idea!"  Lila has been relentless in her desire to do snow activities.  She gives me a sob story about how there should be snow and Frosty the snowman for Christmas time.  Yes, I agree but I cannot control the weather:)  We decided to compromise for the time being and make a trash bag snowman.  We have white kitchen trash bags that filled with various junk.  Some stuff came in boxes as they have been arriving and the rest is newspaper that we bunched up.  We filled 3 bags and stacked them.  Looking back, I would have put something heavy in each of the bags.  The snowman kept falling over as we were trying to construct him.  We then of course decorated him with the appropriate gear.  It was funny because our dog walker admitted that he was confused about how we had a snowman on our porch since we had only gotten a dusting of snow.  Then he saw it was fake!  Ha!  Take a look.

Bubble wrap

As packages have been arriving with Christmas gifts, we have been trying to use the various package stuffings (brown butcher paper, air pouches and of course bubble wrap).  Who doesn't love popping bubble wrap?!  Well, actually I guess the answer would be Sophia.  She gets so upset when they pop and Lila being the wonderful sister that she is, chases her around the house popping them.  We decided to make bubble wrap prints.  I cut out the shape of a Christmas tree.  They then used green paint and made the circular prints on the tree.  When that was mostly dry, we used different colors to represent lights and ornaments.  As usual, Lila did this for 45 minutes or so and Sophia lasted maybe 5.  Here are some pics:

After the painting was done, we jumped on the remaining bubble wrap!