Mommy Octopus

We’ve been busy with the Kids in the Kitchen again with our friends at Dixie Crystals.  This time, we are making the Holiday Fabric Ornaments!  This was a rather simple project with minimal mess and a lovely keepsake for Christmases to come.  The kids really enjoyed making them and are hoping to make a few more as gifts.  Now that we see how simple it is, we can definitely work making more into our busy Christmas week.

Supplies: 

• Small strips and squares of holiday themed printed material, brown muslin or burlap.
• 1 1/2 cups flour
• 1/2 cup Dixie Crystals Extra Fine Granulated Sugar
• 1 teaspoon oil (grapeseed, olive, etc.)
• 1 1/2 cups water
• Styrofoam balls
• Paint brush
• Pins
• Twine or ribbon

First up, you need to make the decoupage glue. Simply mix flour, sugar, oil and water in a pot over low heat until well combined and smooth in texture to make the decoupage.  I used half of the ingredients listed and we had plenty of glue.

Next, cover your styrofoam ball with a generous amount of decoupage glue.

Layer the fabric strips however you wish and allow them to overlap each other for maximum coverage.  After each strip, cover it with another layer of decoupage.  My kids found it easiest to have one of them hold the ball while the other layered the strips and glue.  The ball was easier to make when they went hands on and smoothed out all the strips and glue.

Once the styrofoam ball is completely covered, make sure there is a final coat of decoupage glue over the entire ball.

Using a few inches of ribbon and a craft pin, attach the ribbon to the styrofoam ball.  Hang somewhere to dry before adding it to your tree or gifting.  We hung ours on the back of our patio chairs.  It took a few hours to dry and then was tree-ready!

For more fun recipes and activities, visit Kids Kitchen.

My friend Rebekah sent me the absolute cutest photo showing me what her and her little man were up to today.  They made these adorable baby footprint Christmas trees!  I am definitely going to do this with Simon!  I asked her to do a write up for you guys so you all could see!  This is a cute idea to give as a gift or make for yourself as a keepsake of your little one’s footprint!  See below:

 

Supplies you will need:

• Green ink pad – make sure it is washable and non-toxic!
• Card stock paper – I used a nice ivory color. Cut the paper down to your preferred size.
• Red & brown paint
• Gold calligraphy pen
• Thin paint brushes
• Clothespins
• String or twine
• Baby wipes 🙂

Steps:

1. Pick a time when your baby is happy and lying down. Have lots of wipes handy! Press the ink pad onto your baby’s foot a couple times to get a good coat of ink. Then press your card stock paper onto your baby’s foot, centering the foot where you want on the paper. Repeat as many times as you want (or baby will allow), adding more ink each time you do a print. Once you are finished, wipe all the ink off baby’s foot and tell him or her what a good job they did!

2. Now wait for your baby to go to sleep, or be happily entertained by someone else.  🙂 Using the brown paint, make a small “tree trunk” at the bottom of the footprint.

3. Next, using the red paint, make small dots to look like ornaments throughout the tree. Wait for the paint to dry. Then use the gold calligraphy pen to draw streamers of tinsel going up the tree.

4.  With the gold calligraphy pen, write whatever message you’d like above and below the tree. Make sure that you leave space to put the clothespin at the top! I made personalized ones for grandparents, great-parents, and auntie, as well as one for us with the year on it.

5. Cut a piece of string or twine, about 4-5 inches long. Make a loop with it and then use a clothespin to attach the string to the picture. Alternatively, you could just use glue to attach the string, but I thought the clothespin looked cute. The picture can hang on the tree, or be framed if you take the clothespin off. Enjoy!!