So pretty I could EAT them!!

We make a new ornament or two each Christmas for our tree.....including our annual Christmas photo on the tree.  There is just something about a Christmas tree full of handmade ornaments that sets the Christmas spirit!  We cherish each and everyone that our children craft!

This year we have made apple cinnamon ornaments that smell so divine!  We made these when the girls were little before Thumper was born.  This is an ornament he has been wanting to make for a couple years now.  Our original cinnamon ornaments that we made in 2004 still smell of cinnamon!

You will need:

• Cinnamon
• Elmer's glue
• Unsweetened applesauce (store brand is fine)
• Drinking straw/tooth picks
• Christmas cookie cutters (we used heart, gingerbread man, & snowmen cutters in 2004)
• rolling pin
• wax paper
• cookie sheets
• paint (we use fabric paint b/c it stays so vibrant once it dries)

First, in a big mixing bowl, mix 1 cup cinnamon, 1/4 cup Elmer's glue, 1 cup applesauce together with a rubber spatula.  It will be a bit wet, so add more cinnamon until it comes to the consistency of cookie dough.  If it becomes too dry it will flake apart when you try to roll it, so add a little bit of applesauce until you reach the right consistency.  I've never found the exact receipe for this....I just play with it until it's easy to pick up and doesn't stick to me.
Before rolling it out, add some cinnamon to your surface or roll the dough out between layers of wax paper. Then choose your cutters and place each shape on a wax paper covered cookie pan to dry.

**Make sure to put your hole in the top of the cut out for your string.....I use a straw for the big cut outs and for the small ones, I use a toothpick and just go around until I get a big enough hole I need.  You will want it big enough because as it's drying, it will shrink.**

Try to leave your cut outs in a warm, sunny area if you have one.  They will dry faster!  This takes usually 3-4 days, turning the cut outs a couple times a day. (Morning & Evening)  The kids are in charge of this job....but be careful to not break the wet cut outs while turning them.

You could opt to stick the cookie sheets in the oven on 200 degrees for 2 hours or so......this can speed drying but I usually like for them to dry on their own.

When they are completely dry, decorate with paint.....The kids decorate the fronts of the cut outs and once they dry we use paint to write their name & year on the back.  I like to use fabric paint because the colors are so bright when they dry....they dry pretty quickly, too.  They come in little squeeze bottles and are easier to handle with little hands.

Add some hemp string for the hanger or small ribbon and garnish your tree with them.  We make plenty for gifts as well.

For a surprise to Dad, I traced around each child's hand & used my straw to make the hole.  They will shrink a bit and get a bit smaller than their hand, but they look so beautiful.  They each put their name & date on them for Dad......this makes a wonderful smelling Christmas gift!

Happy ornament making!!

Let the Christmas Goodies Begin!! (and the extra holiday pounds)

We are a house of BAKERS!!  I think this is one of our favorite times of the year because we can get away with doing an excessive amount of baking without feeling guilty!!  We make lots of different cookies, cakes (decorating cakes), breads, & our annual gingerbread houses!

We usually have an annual gingerbread house decorating party, but this year we are not.  This year we are going to change things up a bit with our gingerbread houses......You can go back to last years post about our gingerbread house party to see how I made the little houses.  We always make our main gingerbread house out of gingerbread, though, and not the graham crackers like the little houses.  So, this year instead of "gingerbread" we are going to use "sturdy cardboard"!!  I know, some of you may say that is cheating, but it will still have the same effect and even help with adding more detail.  We have decided to make row houses so each of us will have our own to decorate, but it will all be connected.  Merry Christmas!

Making the rooftops

Hot glue wax paper on the windows...tedious job!

  

  

We designed a cardboard gingerbread chapel for my mother & grandmother to decorate for their home!  

I am so pleased at how beautiful it turned out....more than I had expected!  

Christmas Tessellations

For our art lesson today we discussed Tessellations and read about M.C. Escher who incorporated his animated tessellation into his woodcuts and lithographs.  This is a really cool website that shows his work and there are also some interview videos of him talking about his art.  We decided to make some tessellation drawings in our lesson today using Christmas designs.  We will be making our Christmas cards this year using this technique!  You will need:

• Christmas cookie cutters
• Tag board or card stock
• pencils, sharpies, markers, crayons, colored pencils
• scissors

First start out tracing your cookie cutter shapes onto tag board.  Then cut the templates out.  For Christmas cards, I used my paper cutter to cut different sizes of card stock (We will just draw on one side & write on the other).  This would work great for using as gift tags, too!  You could also fold a sheet of 8.5"x 11" card stock to make an opened card and then stick your family photo & message inside!  There are too many options here to list......get creative!  Here are some of our 1st practice runs......they look pretty nice!

Place the template in the left corner and trace around it.  Move your template to the right and fit it into the edge of the first tracing.  Try to not leave any gaps and continue tracing & moving until you fill the entire paper with your shape.

Excited about Christmas.......

Christmas is such a merry time in our home with the smells of fresh baked goods, the sounds of festive music, and the glow of the warm lights!  Starting on December 1st we load our reading basket up with at least 25 Christmas picture books and every night until Christmas we take turns choosing one to read aloud before bed.  For our family read aloud chapter books for the month of December we plan on reading The Very Best Christmas Pageant Ever, The Children of Noisy Village (we will focus on Swedish Christmas traditions), The Best Christmas Stories Ever, and we may read The Family Under the Bridge again.  The Family Under the Bridge is such a sweet book and just reminds us of how important our family is.  Thumper doesn't remember this book too much from reading it a couple years ago so it may be time to reintroduce it to him.