'tis the season.

These dark cloudy wet days are perfect for cozying up at home and making things. We have been busy counting down to Solstice, making gifts and decorating. Some traditional things we do every year, some inspired by bloggy friends. All making the house a warm beautiful place to be. 'Tis the season!

clay gift tags.

The gift making craftiness has begun. It is time for list making, gathering supplies, and making. The boys love making things too. One of the things we started this week is gift tags. We change it up from year to year, and this year decided to make some using air dry clay. It is a really simple process and the variations and possibilities are really endless.


For this first round we rolled out air dry clay fairly thinly and G picked out some stamps. Using a napkin ring (it was the perfect size we needed - you can also use cookie cutters of any shape you like) we cut out circles.


G then took a skewer and pierced a hole in the top of each one. He then stamped them. He did one batch that he stamped "a gift for you" and he added some little embellishments with other stamps around the edge for texture. Stamp words, names, designs, whatever you want.


We let them dry for 2 days. The first day they dried stamp up. We then flipped them over to dry a bit on back too.


You can use them as is - the white clay looks nice. Or, you can paint. We wanted an earthy look to go with some of our tea blend gifts, so we squirt a dab of gold acrylic paint on each disc, made sure the paint was in the sunken stamped areas, and then gently brushed/rubbed with a sponge brush to remove most of the paint from the surface (don't forget the back and edges), leaving the low lying words filled with darker paint. G finished a few dozen happily painting and brushing. Let dry. They look earthy and beautiful and are great for hand made gifts.

You can insert ribbon, raffia or twine through the hole and tie onto your gift. You can leave more generic or you can use the back of the disc to write a name (a paint pen works great). We are planning on making a few more batches of them since they look so nice - some that are long and skinny with stamped names going down the front, as well as a few other shapes/variations with stamps (snowflake, leaf, star). Love it!

making...

Who knew all we needed to inspire a full on boy crafting extravaganza was snow, cold and a hand drill!

Today we made a bunch of ornaments. They were super easy for kids to do, look nice, have different uses, and we played around happily this afternoon to see what we could make.



We started with a bag full of log slices (all about 1.25 - 2" in diameter), a rubber stamp and archival waterproof ink stamp pad, a hand drill, and both twine and red yarn. The boys stamped a bunch of the slices, and then also wanted to draw some snowmen using a sharpie.


They then drilled holes in the top (my boys would both happily drill holes all.day.long. if they could!).


They threaded twine through the holes and I tied the knots. Voila!


We also made a few batches using red yarn which look great.

For those discs they drew on, they stuck magnets on the back and now have snowman fridge magnets to gift!


Since we had a big bag of the wood slices, we also tried making some ornaments using pressed flowers and herbs from our garden. We had these ready in our press from the summer, but you can easily find pressed flowers at craft stores.

To make - using matte Mod Podge, we painted a layer on the wood, gently set the pressed plants down, and then super gently brushed a good layer of Mod Podge on the top to seal. The rest of the process was the same as the others. They look great!


We wrote the boys initials and year neatly on the back of each ornament with a Sharpie so we (and those who get some) always remember who and when!

My boys did a layer of matte Mod Podge on everything at the end (they couldn't stop! :)), but I don't think that if you are using waterproof archival stamp ink you need to seal those which were stamped ... but it can't hurt!

I love the projects that the boys can do without much help from me - it keeps them from getting bored, and they happily make away and really love that there are things THEY made which they can give to others. And these ornaments will make great presents. Of course, with kids, having something that is both simple AND looks good each and every time is just perfect for a relaxing crafty afternoon.



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crafty days.

The boys craftiness lately ebbs and flows. I have noticed that they are interested now in tradition - doing what we do every year, just so. So now that the holiday season is upon us, they have been crafting away - in between their other projects that have been keeping them away from the glue, of course. ;)


They have made ornaments, stamped clay,


painted and decorated all kinds of things,


iced and assembled - both from scratch and from a kit they picked up along the way.


They have made gifts, cards, baked goodies, knit and more. And we have many things still to make on our list.


I love that they enjoy the tradition of making gifts, crafting, and baking in the kitchen, and that those are the things that make them feel at home and in the spirit of the season.


While they may have opened every single window in their solstice calendar in the first week, the crafting has been going on daily - so our countdown is being measured in activities, not chocolates. And with many days to come, I'm looking forward to it all!

sparkly pinecones.

As G started feeling better he wants to do something! A has been on the couch feeling blech with the cold bug he finally succumbed to, and so it has been just me & G. We decided to do something simple that had a bunch of little steps with breaks in between. It is the most simple craft - but is always fun to do and looks great on a tree or to embellish gift packages.

Last year we picked up a garbage bag full of pine cones at the local tree farm, and I still have a bunch left. So we picked through the bag to select just the right pine cones. G settled on a few of two different types.


We started by painting a base color. This is easiest when the paint is watery - so we mixed acrylic craft paint and water until it was a little runny (2 part acrylic to 1 part water or so - depending on the type of paint you start with) and stirred it in a bowl. G then placed each pine cone in the paint and turned it and brushed over it and coated the whole thing. I held it over the bowl a minute to drip a little excess off, and then we put them on freezer paper to dry. I turned them a few times so that the paint would dry on all sides more evenly.


Next, we put some craft glue in a bowl and G used a paint brush to brush glue on the pine cones. I had bowls of glitter nearby, and as he finished brushing the glue, he then rolled each pine cone in the glitter and put it on a clean sheet of freezer paper to dry.


Once dry, we took a little wire to make a loop at the top and then strung ribbon through it to make a hanger.


We chose a simple red/white color scheme - but you can paint them as many colors as you like - and have a rainbow of glittery pine cones. Super simple and lovely to look at!

If you want to put these outside you might want to coat with a little acrylic varnish.

a little of this, a little of that.

We have been busy - writing lists and planning and experimenting - getting our holiday crafting ready to roll. We have been working on little things here and there, and are getting an idea of what we want to work on as we go. Our garden is finally wrapped up for the season, and we will move into our holiday projects just as the deep freeze arrives.

We have started on some things already - I like to make a few of this and that to see how it works and if the boys enjoy it before we go big. So far we have molded tea light holders out of air dry clay, made many clay beads and jewelry shapes, poured beeswax candles, painted some silk, and sewn a few templates. All good.


Here are some of our ideas for this year (this is our ideas...we won't make all of them)-

print::
-stationery sets, note cards, calendars...using our photos
-recipe boxes/cookbook...using my recipes
craft::
-potpourri (essential oils and spices)
-painted clay ornaments
-painted clay tea light holders
-painted clay bead napkin rings
-painted pressed clay necklaces
-painted silk scarves
sew::
-embroidered fleece throws/lap blankets
-embroidered tea towels
-stationery set holder
-cloth napkins
-journal/notebook covers
garden::
-garden bulb box
-seeds/pots
-garden journals
food::
-chocolate caramel popcorn
-seasoned nuts
-mulled wine kit
-granola
-cocoa mix with homemade marshmallows

A few things we have made in the past two years::
Embroidered felt wallets/business card holders/coffee cozies, library bags, fabric bags, zip wallets, purses, scarves, rolled beeswax tapers, poured candles, melt and pour soap, chocolate covered pretzels, peppermint bark, stockings, wood plaques, sachets, hankies, fleece soap covers, coasters...

I'm sure I forgot a few things, but it is a good base to work from. The ideas list gets long, but we always zero in on what sounds best for us right now, streamline the list a LOT, and then take advantage of any rain and snow to cozy up inside and make stuff a bit at a time. The boys have also picked out fun ideas for our own decorating and crafting projects for the holidays...from card making to solstice calendars to bird feeders...sounds like fun!

So, what are you making this year?