Grow Your Own Snowflakes!

    If you're like me, you're always looking for fun, fast and inexpensive crafts for your kids to do. Last Christmas, my kids and I grew our own snowflakes. I had seen a post or two about this floating around the Internet, but none of them explained as clearly as I wanted or included pictures. So, I hope that you all find this instructive and easy to follow!

Supplies:
     pipe cleaners
     yarn

     pencils or bamboo sticks
     microwave safe jar or container

     water
     Borax

     food coloring (optional)
    

     Step 1: Cut pipe cleaners in to 3 - 5 equal pieces (depending on what size you want your snowflakes). We cut ours into 5 pieces and used 3 pieces for each snowflake.

     Step 2: For a 6 spoke snowflake, fold 2 pieces in half and wrap around a 3 piece of pipe cleaner. Spread the spokes to desired position. Don’t stress about making them all “perfect” or identical. Remember, in nature, every snowflake is unique.

Step 3: Attach a piece of yarn to on spoke of each snowflake.

     Step 4: Tie the other end of the yarn around the pencil or bamboo stick. Make sure to tie it short enough that your snowflake isn’t touching the bottom of your container.

    

     Step 5: Measure in cups, the amount of water that you’re container or jar holds. Boil that amount of water. Once it’s boiling, pour it into your container. Then add 3 tbs of Borax for every one cup of water. (Ex: If your container holds 2 cups of water, use 6 tbs of Boraz.) Add food coloring, if desired.

     Step 6: Place snowflakes in Borax/water mixture. Make sure that your snowflake is completely submerged and not touching any edges of your container.

     Step 7: Allow snowflakes to sit for 12 -24 hours.

     Step 8: Remove snowflakes from mixture and lay them on a towel to dry.

     Step 9: Once the snowflakes have dried, tie yarn into a loop and hang as decoration. We hung some on our Christmas tree. They also make great hand-made gifts for the kids to give to grandparents. We also put one snowflake on each gift my kids gave last Christmas.

     For a new twist on this popular craft, cut a brown pipe cleaner into 4ths and shape like a tree. Follow steps 3 – 9 to grow your own Christmas tree.

15 Reindeer Crafts for Kids

     Reindeer are my favorite part of secular Christmas. When I was little, I loved leaving carrots for the reindeer more than leaving cookies and milk for Santa. Every year, my kids and I make a reindeer craft or two. So, I decided to put together a list of 15 reindeer crafts for kids. Some of them are going to require help from Mom or Dad, but that makes it more fun. A special thanks to Mommy of 4 Peas in a Pod for suggesting a few cute ones that I might have otherwise missed. Enjoy!

1. Candycane Reindeer

2. Christmas Critters

3. Clothespin Reindeer

4. Craftstick Reindeer

5. Paper Bag Reindeer

6.  Pine Cone Reindeer

7. Reindeer Bell Ornament

8. Rudolph Lollipops

9. Reindeer T-Shirt

10. Wooden Spoon Rudolph

11. Reindeer Finger Puppet

12. Reindeer Gift Bag

13. Paper Reindeer Ornament

14. Posable Reindeer

15. Reindeer Puzzle Piece Pin (not pictured)

Christmas is...

   
     Christmas is in full swing at my house! We have our tree up and there are even presents under it! Better than that, after I order my step-moms gift, I will be completely done Christmas shopping.

     It wasn't easy deciding on what to get everyone. I'm not going to give away too much here, but there are some big boxes under my tree! And they aren't gifts that are going to live at my house.

     My girls got a trampoline for Christmas (in October). But there was only one other thing that Thing 2 was asking for. The only other thing that she wanted was to get her ears pierced. So, after Scout and I discussed it (read: After I convinced Scout that it would be ok), we took her to get her ears pierced.

     Walking through the mall, Thing 2 was sing-songing "I'm gettin' my ears pierced! I'm gettin' my ears pierced!" We walk into Claire's and she says "I don't want my ears pierced!!!" So I, being the mean wonderful mommy that I am, told the employee, "I want to try anyway because I think she's just anxious. If she starts freaking out too much, then we can reconsider." The lady said that it was fine and that we could even hold her down if she needed to. Yikes! I assured her that we wouldn't go that far. Then, we filled out and signed out all the waivers and Thing 2 picked out the earrings that she wanted. She selected beautiful, 14K gold, pink flowers.

     When it was time to actually pierce them, I held Thing 2 in my lap. They pierced both ears at the same time (at my request). She did great! She jumped a little after the earrings were through her ears, but she didn't cry at all. She did want to touch them, but we stopped her and handed her a mirror so that she could see. She was (and still is) so proud! She kept telling Thing 1 (who is terrified to get her ears pierced) that, "It was just a little pinch!" Before we left, they gave Thing 2 a lollipop and a sticker. She also got to carry "her" shopping bag.

     She won't sit still long enough for me to get a picture of her earrings, but here is a picture of her proud smile. She keeps asking everyone "Do you like my pretty earrings?"