These were easy, fun, and frugal. And all of that pencil sharpening provided an excellent fine motor activity. (Did you know there are pencil sharpeners just for carpenter pencils?)
Something about these just made me smile. What's making you happy lately?
My husband has been holding out on me...
I discovered this giant accumulation of carpenter pencils from the local lumber yard in his truck the other day. What's a girl to do?
I knew right away. For me, those things had Valentine written all over them! (Not really, but just go with me on this one, okay?)
I'm writing a message on them with a white pen, and using them to pierce Jack's little hand-stamped, hand-signed Valentines just like a bow-and-arrow. Cupid would be proud (if he were a carpenter, that is). We're busy cranking them out today.
The best part? Totally free! Yippee! Not to mention some complimentary advertising for a local business. Oh, and, of course, the opportunity to write one's name twenty-some-odd times.
These are making me happy today. It's the little things...
Okay, this is so simple that I'm almost embarrassed to post about it. Almost. But it's making me so darn happy, I just can't help myself. You see, there's been such fantastically festive work coming home from school these days. What's a Mom to do with her very favorite bits? Apparently they need to be clipped to a wreath with clothespins. At least that's what they were calling out to me. And the result? The easiest thing by far that I've done this whole holiday season. And, quite possibly, the most gratifying.
The tiny hand-laced stocking makes me grin. Jack actually keeps taking it apart so he can make it all over again. He says it's fun.
This sequin-studded tree has understated elegance written all over it.
And this work was created by tracing around a stencil, and then piercing the paper with a push pin to "cut" it out. The positive image is on this side, and the negative is on the other. Every time I look at it I admire the care and precision it took to accomplish this task. Now that's handiwork!
This wreath took less than a minute to put together. But in its prominent location above the fireplace I think it makes a big statement. I'm envisioning that it would be great to show up at the grandparents with a wreath like this, featuring cheerful little art work from the grandkids. I'm sure it would get big smiles.
Now on to more labor-intensive holiday projects. If only everything could be as simple as this...
A couple if weeks ago we morphed our little writer's workshop into a "Santa's Workshop" for Jack (which he promptly re-named "Jack's Workshop"). I stocked it with all the supplies he needs to make a couple of gift items: bookmarks and bracelets. I chose these two projects because he knows how to make them all by himself. And since he can be self-sufficient, he delights in all sorts of behind-closed-doors-hustle-and-bustle while he goes about his merry-making.
Of course, we made a list (for checking twice), hung a calendar for counting down the days, added a Santa hat, and placed a red felt drawstring bag nearby for filling with the loot.
Jack is a master at making bracelets. I stocked him up with some beads and elastic thread. I help tie the occasional knot (with my eyes closed *wink,wink*) and then he whisks his creations into little gift boxes.
I made simple bookmark stencils by cutting out cereal boxes. Jack traces around a stencil onto a piece of card stock, cuts out the shape with scissors, colors it in, punches a hole on top, and strings a ribbon through the hole.
He let me take a rare peek at his top-secret process as he was making a bookmark for his teacher the other day:
He "wraps" the bookmarks by slipping them into brown paper lunch bags secured with string. And then he makes his own gift tags by cutting card stock and punching a hole. On one side he stamps a greeting (I made him some DIY holiday stamps by pulling apart tiny alphabet stamps I got in the Target dollar bins a while back, rearranging the letters, and rubber-cementing them onto a little block).
On the other side he signs his name, with love.
The other cubbies are stocked with other essential supplies, including blank greeting cards, envelopes, and a holiday-related word ring (more about word rings here).
To get him even more in the spirit, a couple of cubbies are stuffed with elf-related paraphernalia (or par-elf-ernalia, as the case may be) including a bunch of stuff we made from Prep and Landing printables (did you see Prep and Landing? Too, too cute!) and a little sleigh with my favorite elf ornaments from childhood.
Whew! That sounds like a load of stuff, but can I tell you, once we had the idea, it all came together in a flash. And if I say there has been hours of cheerful busy-ness in this festive area, I assure you I'm not exaggerating. So. Much. Fun. Especially with some holiday music playing in the background.
I love the writing involved, as you might have guessed. But I'm even more excited to see my boy learning about the reason for the season, so to speak. He is joyfully preparing for some serious giving. And that's a gift in and of itself.
How are your kids getting into the holiday spirit?
I wanted to share a simple holiday project we did last year that resulted in some very successful gifts. This was truly a hands-on project for Jack, with impressive results. It's often hard to strike that perfect balance between a kid-friendly process and a gift-worthy product, but this little project definitely fit the bill (and was a great learning and fine motor activity to boot!).
It started with a little planning and some basic set-up on my part. I bought a bunch of blank note cards (with envelopes) in bulk from the craft store. Then I looked for a stamp that was frilly but not too fussy (I found this stamp) and chose a sparkly gold ink to make it fancy. The stamp was one of those clear ones that you're supposed to attach to an acrylic block, I think, but instead of buying one of those, I just attached it to one of our little wood blocks with some rubber cement. (Oh, and I use the rubber cement away from the kiddos -- it stinks!)
We used the same technique to make a personalized initial stamp for each person on our list, using clear alphabet stamps. This was the learning part. Jack was at the stage last year where identifying starting letter sounds was the just-right challenge for him. So figuring out that Anne starts with "A," Fran starts with "F," Maria starts with "M," or Susan starts with "S," was an activity that fit him to a "T."
Then, on to the fine motor part.
He pressed the design on to each note card, and then, when it dried, pressed each person's monogram on to their cards using black ink.
The great part about the design is that it left plenty of room for error. If the design was off-center, it still seemed to work fine. So we didn't have to worry at all about perfection (because that is VERY frustrating where kids are concerned) and, frankly, being too picky spoils all of the fun. So we just let the design fall where it may, and surprisingly, it all just seemed to come together.
This monogrammed stationery made perfect teacher gifts last year, as well as being thoughtful little gifts for people we wanted to acknowledge in a special way. I wrapped them simply in clear cellophane, and got Jack involved in helping me tie the bows. He enjoyed putting his finger on the knot as I tied the bow, and then snipping the ends of the ribbon with a scissors to even them out.
The best part? I felt like we weren't just giving a handmade gift, but we were also passing along our love of writing. One of those gifts that keep on giving, you know? We've even gotten some of them back in the mail as thank you notes, or notes just to say "Hello!" Jack gets a kick out of opening a card from someone and realizing, "Hey, I made that!" And I'm happy to see that people are putting our presents to good use. What fun!
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