Give the Gift of Time and Presence!

The Christmas Activity Tree

Some of you have asked about this tradition of ours.  Well, here it is!

During November, I get out my calendar for December and plan a family activity for each day of December 1st through Christmas Day.  I write the activities down in a special secret calendar, so only my husband and I know the activities.  Then, I cut out little slips of paper and number them from 1-25.  I write down each activity on the appropriate slip and fold it and loop it before attaching to the tree, making sure the number is visible.  On December 1st, your children can take turns finding the number, taking it off the tree and seeing what the activity will be. Since we are all busy people, sometimes evenings are not good.  Some of our activities have been in the morning and have been 5 minutes long.  It should just work around your schedule and be something fun, memorable and/or inspirational for the Christmas season!  If you have to make changes, it is not hard to look in your calendar and change out a slip of paper to something else.  Here is a sample of some activities that our family has done in the past:

Make a Nativity scene out of pipe cleaners!

SNOWBALL FIGHT!  Beforehand, crumple up lots of newspaper
 into "snowballs"and gather them in large garbage bags.
Dump them out and let em' fly all over the house!

Make and decorate Christmas cookies!

Package up the cookies and deliver them to neighbors
with the whole family and wish them
a merry Christmas!

Get some new clay or play dough, go to your favorite
coffee shop and mold something together!

Choose a compassion plan or cause that your family will give to.
 Then come up with a plan to raise money for it.  We have had a
hot cocoa and hot cider stand out in our court and let people
 know to come by and get a drink for a good cause.

Attend a Christmas Eve church gathering together.

Go early to a donut shop and play your
favorite card game together!

Make a fort out of furniture and blankets
 and sleep in it together!



Other ideas we've done:

*Drive around neighborhoods with great Christmas lights
*Christmas Caroling with friends in a neighborhood
*Buy and wrap a present for a child in need
*Invite a family over for dinner and watch a Christmas movie
*Read a Christmas story and drink eggnog together
*Make up Christmas Mad Libs to Christmas songs

Have a fun and memorable Christmas season as you give presence to your family!

The Flower Scarf Challenge!

I recently saw a scarf that grabbed my attention.  "Oh, I love those large fabric flowers!", I said out loud when I saw it.



Last night, I thought about that scarf again and remembered some old, thin, white fleece material crammed in the bottom of a bag of fabric scraps.  Even though it was late, I couldn't stop thinking of ways to make that amazing scarf.  I gave in, found the fleece and got started!


Here's what I decided to do:

I started by cutting a piece for the base about 

4 feet long and 6 inches wide.  

I cut the base piece in a scalloped pattern
all the way around.

I cut the remaining fleece into ten 1 1/2 inch
wide strips for making the flowers.

I took the strips, cut them in a scalloped pattern as well and formed them into circles starting
from the outside and working toward the middle.
I used hot glue to hold it together and then eventually
to attach it to the base.

My first idea was to fill up some of the space between flowers by
adding a tiny strip tied in a knot.  I ended up using hot glue to
attach the flowers to each other so that there were no gaps.

I love the way it turned out even though it was a
little different than what I had seen. So soft and cozy too!

The Plastic Cup Challenge!

 I have hundreds of tiny plastic cups.
 

A big box with these old cups were at my husband's work and were about to be thrown away when my husband said, "Wait!  My wife will figure out something crafty to do with these!"

The box has been in our garage for the last 4 weeks and I decided earlier that TONIGHT IS THE NIGHT!  I will figure out something to do with these cups!

Tri-Shade Garland Lights!

I must still be in "lamp shade mode" because my thoughts turned to making little chandeliers or tri-shades.  Since Christmas is coming and I want to decorate the house, I figured these tri-shades over Christmas lights would be perfect!

I still have left-over fabric from several other projects and hot glue, so basically
anything is possible, right?





Here's the process:

I cut my fabric in little rectangles (4 of them) instead
of doing a perfect pattern to cover the whole cup.
I used a glue stick to attached the pieces around the cup.

 

I made 3 of them to make a tri-shade.

I attached the 3 with hot glue both at the top and bottom.

I used several different fabrics.

After the tri-shades were finished, I pushed the little white light through
the center of each tri-shade.    I added a red bow on the top of
the white light.

I love the look of all the fabrics together with the consistency
of the red bow on top to tie it all together!

I also like the look of all one fabric on every other light.

I love these!  Can't wait to start decorating for Christmas after Thanksgiving!

Trash 2 Treasure - The Ugly Lamp Make-Over

It was an ugly pink and gold lamp.


My friend saw it on the side of the road with a sign that said "free" on it. She knows how much I like free stuff and how I like to decorate things, so she made me keep it! "Gotta come up with a great idea to transform it!"  I decided to get some help from friends on facebook and Pinterest!  Here's the post:


Ok, Pinterest friends and other creative friends, I have a challenge for you! My friend, Jill Loya, found this free pink lamp on the side of the road and gave it to me! I want to transform it from ugly pinkish-mauve/gold 80's lamp into something beautiful! Help me with your ideas!! Post your idea and even links and if I use your idea, I will send you a SB card! Ready, Set, Go!!!


I got some great ideas and links for its transformation.   My friend Tammy Lindstrom who knows me well gave me a great place to start, enticing me with a cute black and white colored lamp shade.  I decided to go with it as my inspiration!  


Here's my lamp's transformation process from ugly 80's to a modern beauty!

I started by removing the long pink
 plastic strip that wrapped around the
base of the shade. 

I decided to go with the same idea of wrapping
 a long strip of fabric around the base.  Since I had
short pieces, I hot glued the strips together.

After the wrapping of the strip was
complete, I added a black trim with
hot glue to the top and bottom
of the shade.

I made flowers out of fabric that I twisted
around and hot glued to the shade.

Then came the work on the base of the lamp.
 I took it apart and realized that I would not be
able to take it completely off of the cord. 

I did my best to tape of the cord with masking
 tape and cover areas with newspaper while
I spray painted others.  I chose white for the top
and bottom of the base.

I chose black for the middle of the base.

The end result!  A beautiful black and white lamp that matches the decor in my house!
What a fun challenge!