Little Elephants » Holidays & Parties

Winter village

Veronique Christensen — Wed, 24 Feb 2010 15:15:39 +0000

My Mom gave me the cutest little village that she’s had forever, and I always thought was meant to decorate a mantle or something. I was so excited when I inspected them recently & discovered that they all have holes in the back big enough to poke a tree light through.

If you look closely at this pic you’ll see that all of the houses have “stained glass” windows (I’m thinking plastic or cellophane), that glow beautifully when lit from behind.

I’m thinking I’ll put a bit of effort into mending these and will put the kids to work with cardboard, colored cellophane, glue, and paints to make our own little set for next year.

Valentine’s Day craft round up

Veronique Christensen — Fri, 22 Jan 2010 20:48:49 +0000

Make sparkly heart ornaments
Make easy heart toppers for red and pink pencils
Make Snow Globes with cupids and heart-shaped confetti
Make magnified gem magnets with Valentime images
Make a sweet-heart amulet with bits & pieces that remind you of your love
Sew lavender sachets
Make paper heart garlands
Sew a holiday pennant with — just use heart patterned fabrics
Sew a holiday quilt to snuggle under (another easy one is here)
Make a Valentine’s Day book
Make festive votive holders — just glue heart shapes
Make embroidered pillows
Make, and decorate, a pillow
Make finger puppets in reds and pinks
Bake a sweet Mazarine pie
Make a memory box to capture all the ways you love
Make a paper bead bracelet for your love

Snowman kit

Veronique Christensen — Wed, 23 Dec 2009 21:23:36 +0000

Tor was given the most awesomnest gift ever today — a snowman kit! One of the parents at Tor’s school made this set, and I need to meet them to tell them how much they rock.

The snow was too powdery today to make a snowman so I stuck the pieces in a big drift to give you an idea of what it looks like. After I took this picture, Tor went back outside to move the flower from “her” hair into “his” hand. Turns out our snow-drift is a he.

Each piece is hot-glued to golf tees that you just poke into the snow. The gloves are sewn fabric, and the carrot nose is a sewn and stuffed felt cone. The eyes and buttons are all Sculpy clay. So simple. So perfect!

Sparkly heart ornaments

Veronique Christensen — Tue, 22 Dec 2009 23:38:21 +0000

Last year we made a bunch of sparkly heart ornaments using salt clay. They were so easy, all we did was mix our ingredients, rolled out out dough, cut out our shapes using our cookie cutters, then baked at 250 degrees for 3 hours. The next day we painted our ornaments with tempera paints & then sealed them with glitter glue.

If I were to do it again, I might skip the glitter, but they still made me smile as I unpacked them this year.

A lazy winter Saturday…

Veronique Christensen — Sun, 20 Dec 2009 02:24:59 +0000

We’ve got a nice big storm that’s dumping some good sledding snow for us. As we waited for the blizzard today we got ready with cookies, and apple cider, and we set up our creche in the most inconvenient spot ever — right in front of a drawer that gets’ opened a zillion times a day. Today has been perfect for having good friends over and lazing about after (finally) putting up our tree.

It’s been a great day, and I’m hoping yours was, too.

Reindeer snacks

Veronique Christensen — Wed, 16 Dec 2009 15:23:14 +0000

Bjørn’s classmate handed out the sweetest Christmas treat for his buddies at school yesterday — reindeer food!

Very simply, it’s oatmeal (uncooked!) with some glitter sprinkled in for the kids to scatter on their yards as a thank you to Santa’s reindeer for all their hard work.

I love this, and plan to send the kids out to dispense it when it’s time for us to bring all the presents out of hiding (between dinner & before the dancing around the tress dancing commences).

The poem reads:

Sprinkle on the lawn at night

The moon will make it sparkle bright

Santa’s reindeer fly and roam

This will guide them to your home

Tor’s memory game

Veronique Christensen — Tue, 15 Dec 2009 20:07:39 +0000

shhh! Don’t tell him, but this is one of Tor’s Christmas presents this year. I selected some of my favorite pictures on Flickr from this past year and had a memory game made of them by Moo.com. They are Moo’s basic photo business cards. Nifty, eh?

The only thing I don’t like is that the prints came out a bit too dark for my liking, but my to-do list this week is too full to get a second set re-printed. Next time, I’ll know better.

Regardless, they’re happy cards and I know Tor (who is four now) will be tickled.

Giant pipe cleaner party!

Veronique Christensen — Mon, 07 Dec 2009 15:04:38 +0000

We had a bunch of kids running around over Thanksgiving, and my brother had the brilliant idea to purchase this Giant Pipe Cleaner Party Craft Kit. The man is a genius.

All six kids found plenty (contained) fun to be had with it & the grown-ups had some (relatively) quiet time to catch up.

Have I mentioned how smart my big bro is?

Hark the {paper and pom-pom} angels!

Veronique Christensen — Sat, 05 Dec 2009 15:45:42 +0000

Tor (4) asked to make a paper project with cones like I’d used for the advent calendar the other day and this is what we came up with: simple angels with pom-pom heads. Tor did all the cutting, taping assembly himself. I just wrapped the cone shape for him.

How to:

Wrap regular paper (or fancy if you’ve got it) into a cone shape and have your child tape it securely
Cut the bottom of your cone to make a level surface
Cut out paper wings by placing two sheets of paper one over the other & making a basically oblong shape to make your two wings
Tape your wings to the angel’s back
Fold the wings lengthwise so they stay perky
Poke a toothpick into your pom-pom & slide it into the top opening of your cone
Voila!

A CRAFTY Holiday gift guide!

Veronique Christensen — Thu, 03 Dec 2009 15:29:37 +0000

Ho-ho-ho! It’s that time of year again! I thought it would be fun to browse through our past activities and find gifts for you and your kids to make this holiday season, as well as share some of our favorite crafty store-bought gifts that have withstood the test of time — I hate it when I buy something that gets used with enthusiasm at first and then tossed aside.

As we come up with new gift ideas I’ll post them here, so do check back every now and again

GIFTS TO MAKE

Magnified gem magnets make great teacher gifts and stocking stuffers.

Christmas themed magnets are a hit, too.

Silly creature pillows are ton’s of fun for the little ones you know.

Paper heart garlands make lovely hostess gifts.

Indoor game mat for the kids to play on when it’s too cold or rainy to go out.

A holiday quilt to snuggle under (another easy one is here) is always a hit.

Decorate a pillow with fabric markers to give to someone you love.

Make finger puppets for the toddlers you know.

Make festive jewelry for Mom.

Knit a hat for Dad.

Make no-sew scarves for everyone.

Embroider pillows with your friends’ names.

GIFTS TO PURCHASE
Martha Stewart’s Encyclopedia of Crafts: This has turned into my go-to source when I’m not sure what tools to use, or when I just want to browse pretty pictures & get back my crafty mojo.

Invasion of the Bristlebots: the folks at Klutz sent me this for Bjørn (9) to test out and it was a HUGE success. The robots are super easy to assemble & you can have hours of fun building mazes and paths and road-blocks for the little critters. Awesome fun — though make sure to keep little brothers out of the way, because they tend to lessen the fun a bit when they steal your guys (just my observation…).

Paper Fashions Fancy (Klutz): Maggie (11) has 3 of these sets now, the first was a birthday gift, and the next two were from Klutz to review. Can I tell you how she BEAMS when she sees mail from Klutz? This series is particularly good for girls aged 8 to 12. I love the fact that if you buy one, you know the others will be a hit for birthdays and future holidays. I’ve written a more detailed review of the kits here.

Nature’s Art Box: We’ve had this one for years and love to go back to it when we’re planning outdoorsy fun (which is pretty often with this family!). The pine cone craetures that we make Every Year, was an activity Tomas and I started doing when the kids were too small to handle a glue gun.

Making Stuff for Kids: I just received a sample copy of this one and Maggie pretty much snatched it away from me as soon as I opened the package & wouldn’t give it back. I’m assuming it’s good. The bits I was able to sneak peeks at over her shoulder looked fun and the instructions clear enough for an older child (8+) to do on their own. Child independence is important to me, so that was a big plus in my book.

Outi of White Country in Finland has just had her Christmas book published and it is fabulous, just as one would expect after reading her blog. It’s a bit on the spendy side if you are ordering from the US, but I highly recommend it for my European readers. Also? It’s in Finish, but like the Paumes books that I adore, is so full of beautiful pictures that if you are anything like me, you will love it, too.