I figure this is likely to be the only Christmas I'll be a stay-at-home mom. So I've been having fun playing a little Martha Stewart and actually doing some of the Christmas crafts and activities I've been pinning on Pinterest. :)
One of the projects I did with the kids was a handprint Christmas wreath, inspired by
this pin. (Though there's no way I was going to introduce glitter into the equation -- hello, crazy mess...) I traced out both of the kids' handprints onto pretty green cardstock -- which was a little harder than I had anticipated. Sophia doesn't have the best limb control, and Joshua kept wanting to lift his hand so he could see what on earth his crazy mama was doing to him this time. ;) And then one Friday evening while David was at PEF, I cut out and traced and cut out and traced and cut out a bunch of handprints. The project wasn't particularly difficult, but it was a lot more time-intensive than I thought it would be -- cutting around tiny finger tracings takes a long time. :P But I had already started, and wanted to see the project through, so I spent a few hours hanging out on our couch, watching old episodes of "Friends" and cutting out handprints and gluing them together into a wreath circle. :)
The next morning, I showed Joshua the wreath, and had him stick gold star stickers all over it. He went around a put a sticker on each of the light green Sophia hands, put a few on the red bow, and then threw a minor fit when I tried to convince him to put some stickers on the dark green Joshua hands. So I sneaked a few little stars on the dark green myself and then hung the wreath up on the wall before Joshua could crumple it in his zeal to protect it. :)
But I think all the effort was worth it! Look at the cute wreath over our TV!
Thankfully, my other Pinterest-inspired project was much easier. Inspired by
this pin -- and by "inspired by," I mean "completely blatantly stolen from." :) I got a length of holly garland from Michaels and wrapped it around our dining room chandelier, and then tied a bunch of mini ornaments to the chandelier with white ribbon. Super fast and easy, but with high visual impact -- exactly the kind of project I love!
And finally, a simple holiday card display idea. We used to put all of the photo cards we received up on our fridge, and leave them there the entire year. But that was in our old apartment, where our kitchen was gated off and the fridge was a toddler-safe zone. Now that our fridge has become a toddler magnet play area, we needed a different place for the lovely cards we get from friends and family! So this year, I tacked some wide red ribbon to the wall, and I've been attaching photo cards with mini clothespins. We've managed to teach Joshua not to pull at the ribbons, and we've had such fun telling him all about each of the faces displayed on our wall.
I love having such holiday prettiness all around us. :)
