This peas in a pod ornament is a fun afternoon craft. This project is just right for the younger set and perfect to gift to an Aunt or Uncle. It’s simple and doesn’t take many supplies, plus it is cute enough to hang on the tree. I often see necklaces that feature peas in a pod that use the number of peas for how many children you have. I thought it would be fun to make ornaments like that too. So let’s get started!

Supplies:

• Green Pom Pom Balls
• Milkweed Pod
• Ribbon
• Craft Glue

How To:

1. Glue appropriate number of Pom Pom Balls inside milkweed pod. If you just picked the pods you may need to let them dry out for a day or so.
2. Loop and knot ribbon. Glue knot of ribbon to top of milkweed pod.
3. Wrap in cute packaging and give to your favorite person!

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Happy Holidays to you and your family!

The post Handmade Holiday | Peas in a Pod Ornament appeared first on Alanna George | The Craft Nest.

Are you in the holiday spirit yet? We had a great time decorating the tree over the weekend. Everyone is old enough now that they can help hang the ornaments. It’s a special and magical year for us and I love that all of my kids are so into the Christmas spirit. This week I helped my 4 year old make his handmade gift. He stamped these spice bags to give as gifts to his brother and sisters. This is really easy to do, but will keep a 4 year old busy for a chunk of time.

My son was so excited to finish stamping the bags and then fill them with CANDY! I bought some Brach’s classic candy mix, somehow it just tastes like Christmas and Grandma’s house!

Supplies:

• Spice Bags
• Stamping Ink Pads
• Stamps
• Candy

How To:

1. Lay bag flat.
2. Choose stamp and ink it up.
3. Stamp onto bag. Continue to add stamps to build a cute scene!
4. Fill with candy or treats.

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Christmas seems to be just around the corner! My kids are so excited to make Christmas related crafts. I came up with these easy to make Holy Family figures for my daughter to create and display in her room.

The creation of this Holy Family incorporates a few natural items found outside. We used a dried milkweed pod for Jesus’ bed and acorn tops for their halos. Here in Michigan the milkweed pods are still hanging on the stalks and are all dried out, just waiting to be picked and used in a craft.

Supplies:

• Red and blue and light blue felt
• 4×4 piece of cream fabric or muslin
• Brown ribbon
• Milkweed pod
• 3 acorn tops
• 3 sizes of peg people/game pieces (I found mine at Michaels in the wood section)
• Acrylic paint for faces and hair
• Gold paint for halo
• Paintbrush
• Scissors
• Craft glue

How To:

1. Paint the faces and hair on each peg person, let dry.
2. Paint the acorn tops gold, let dry.
3. To create baby Jesus’ clothes, lay him on the piece of fabric. Trim the fabric to be slightly taller than the height of the peg body. Fold over all raw edges. Put a small line of glue on the peg body and roll the fabric around Jesus to create his clothes (all raw edges are tucked under). Glue the remaining edge down. Let dry.
4. Glue the gold acorn top to Jesus’ head, let dry.

5. 

   To create Mary’s clothes, cut out a blue square of felt. To get the correct size, when folded the felt should be the same height as the peg body. With the felt square folded in half trim off the corners to form a circle. Cut a small X in the center of the circle. Slide the felt circle over the peg head.

6. 

   To finish off her dress, pinch each side of the dress together. Place glue in between the layers. Use a clothespin to hold it in place while it dries.

7. Cut Mary’s veil out of lighter blue felt. Glue the veil onto her head, let dry. Glue gold acorn top over veil, let dry.

8. 

   To create Joseph’s clothing, cut out a red rectangle of felt. To get the correct size, when folded the felt should be the same height as the peg body. Cut a small X in the center of the felt. Slide the felt rectangle over the peg head.

9. Use glue to hold the felt clothes in place, let dry. Tie a ribbon around the middle of his body to make a belt. Glue gold acorn top onto his head, let dry.
10. To create a stable my daughter used construction paper, toilet paper tubes and tape (lots and lots of tape!). Have your child use their creativity to create their own stable for the Holy Family.

The post Advent Activity | Holy Family Figures appeared first on Alanna George | The Craft Nest.

This is a quick craft you can do with your kids during the holidays. This festive wreath is perfect to wear on a coat or backpack to show some holiday cheer!

Supplies:

• 9 x 12 Stiff Felt Sheet (found by regular felt)
• 3/4″ Green Pom-Pom Balls
• Mini Pom-Pom Balls in Assorted Colors
• Red Ribbon
• Coil-less pin (found in jewelry section, also used to make friendship pins!)
• Scissors
• Glue

How To:

1. Draw a circle on the back side of the felt. Cut out circle with scissors, I used scalloped fabric scissors.
2. Glue 6 or more pom-pom balls onto right side of felt circle. Let dry.
3. Glue assorted mini pom-pom balls onto green pom-pom balls. Let dry.
4. Make small bow from red ribbon and glue to wreath. Let dry.
5. Add coil-less pin to back of felt.
6. Pin to coat, backpack or shirt and spread some holiday cheer!

The post Advent Activity | Pom-Pom Ball Wreath Pin appeared first on Alanna George | The Craft Nest.

It is super cold here today, just like winter actually. The weather is giving me a little push to get the holiday plans laid out for my blog. So, I wanted to let all of you know that I have a lot of exciting things planned for my blog for this upcoming holiday season! A giveaway! Yes you heard correct, a giveaway for a lovely item handmade by me. I will also be continuing my Handmade Holiday series this year and it will feature a couple different sewing patterns that will be available for purchase and one or two free pattern ideas. I will also have some free printable downloads available as Christmas gets closer.

If you are a follower of my blog you may have seen my Advent Activities lists. To check out my previous year’s list of activities you can click these links:

• Advent Activities for 2010 list
• Advent Activities for 2011 list

I would also love it if you would follow me on Facebook, just click the “Like” button over there in the sidebar! There are lots of fun things coming up this November and December and you won’t want to miss any of them.

Also, I will be starting a new sponsor/advertising program for my sidebar area. If you have an interest in advertising on my site just shoot me an email! I would love to have you!

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Look at this beautiful Candy Shop! My good friend Rebecca Bischoff (check out her website) was nice enough to create this Free Printable for me to post on my website. This sweet little candy shop prints out all on one page and you can color it and cut it out to create the Candy Shop you see above.

 How To | Cut and Color 3D Candy Shop

Supplies:

• Paper and Printer
• Crayons or Markers
• Pom-pom Balls
• Small Bottle Brush Tree
• Small Bottle Brush Wreath
• Tiny Candy Canes
• Assorted Embellishments
• Glue
• Paint Brush
• Scissors
• White Glitter
• Gold Glitter
• Cardboard
• Cut and Color 3D Candy Shop

How To:

1. Print out the Cut and Color 3D Candy Shop and color it in.
2. Cut out the candy shop and assemble it using glue or tape.
3. Cut out a large circle from cardboard (make sure it is larger than the house) to form the ground/base. I used a scalloped edge scissors around the edge of my circle.
4. Adhere the assembled candy shop to the cardboard circle near the back.
5. Use a paint brush to paint glue onto the top of the cardboard circle and around the bottom of the house. Sprinkle glitter on top of the glue and shake off extra glitter into the trash can. We also added touches of white glitter to the roof and then gold glitter onto the word Candy.
6. Add extra embellishments, like pom-pom balls and bottle brush trees to your Candy Shop and to the ground in front of the Candy Shop.
7. Add an electric tea light inside and watch it glow at night!

Thank you Rebecca for creating this fun candy shop for us to craft!

Free Download

Click Here – Cut and Color 3D Candy Shop

The post Advent Activity | Cut and Color Candy Shop appeared first on Alanna George | The Craft Nest.

Ohh, Christmas is so close! Are you looking for an easy gift for the kids to make Grandma? These paper maché bulbs covered in tissue paper squares and a handmade drawing would work!

How To | Tissue Paper Ornament

Supplies:

• Tissue Paper Squares
• Paper Maché Bulb
• White Piece of Paper
• Crayons or Markers
• School Glue
• Paint Brush or Sponge
• Wax Paper
• Plastic Container or Lid
• Scissors

How To:

1. Have your child draw a small picture. (I drew a circle with a pen first, then had my kids draw inside of it. Cut out the artwork.)
2. Use a small paint brush or sponge to paint glue in small patches on the paper maché bulb. Add tissue paper over the glue as you go. Be careful not to get too much glue on the bulb or the tissue paper will rip because it is too soggy. Let the glued tissue paper dry.
3. To get your artwork to lay flat on the round bulb, use a scissors to make a few small cuts inward around the edges. Then paint glue on the back of the artwork piece and then add the artwork to the bulb. Smooth artwork down with fingers, some areas of the art will overlap a bit. Paint a thin layer of glue over the artwork to preserve it. Let dry.
4. Wrap and give as a gift to grandma!

The post Advent Activity | Tissue Paper Ornament appeared first on Alanna George | The Craft Nest.

Have you written your letter to Santa yet? Have you been Naughty or Nice? Young kids will love filling out this letter. It has big lines and spaces for early writers. Ours are going in the mail and heading off to the North Pole tomorrow!

The days are going by so quickly. I still have presents to wrap! How about you guys, are you all caught up? I am looking forward to this weekend, I can’t wait to see my kids faces on Christmas morning!

Free Download: Click Here – Letter To Santa

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I must have jinxed myself by posting that we were doing really good at keeping up with our Advent Activities. Now we have fallen a little bit behind, but no pressure right? We were able to make these cute sock snowmen. My daughter said, “I want to use the biggest googly eyes we have so it looks really cute.” She was right the sock snow-woman looks cute with those big eyes.

How To | Sock Snowman

Supplies:

• White Sock from Each Child
• Googly Eyes
• Pom-Pom Balls
• Embroidery Floss
• Assorted Ribbon
• Assorted Fabric Scraps and Felt
• Scissors
• Glue
• Stuffing

How To:

1. Choose your sock and stuff it 3/4 full using Poly-fil Stuffing.
2. Tuck the end of the sock up inside itself. (See pic below.)
3. Use a piece of embroidery floss and tie it tightly around the stuffed sock to form the head and body shape.
4. Glue on eyes, nose and other trims to make it look like a snowman.
5. (To create the pink hat, we used another sock and slid it over the top of the head and tied the end of the sock in a knot.)
6. Let your kids play with their new buddy or put them on display.

Bottom of Sock Snowman

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I know a porcupine really has nothing to do with Christmas, but my boys love to make things out of pine cones, so this is perfect. They had so much fun creating these little critters to hang on the Christmas tree. (Yes, the little one has a tiny pebble glued on its head…) We are still laughing at them!

How To | Porcupine Pine Cone Ornament

Supplies:

• Pine Cone
• Googly Eyes
• Black Pom-pom ball
• Small Piece of Brown or Black Felt
• Embroidery Floss or Ribbon
• Craft Glue
• Scissors

How To:

1. Cut a 6 inch or so piece of ribbon or floss. This will be use to create the ornament hanger. Tie it up around the pine cone and then tie it in an open loop so it can hang from a tree branch.
2. If your pine cone has a stem on one end carefully break it off. This side will be the face.
3. Cut out a face size circle from the felt. Glue on googly eyes and a pom-pom ball nose.
4. Glue entire face to the end of the pine cone.
5. Cut out 4 small feet from felt. Glue those in the appropriate spot to make feet.
6. Hang on your tree and laugh at your funny new friend and ornament!

The post Advent Activity | Porcupine Pinecone Ornament appeared first on Alanna George | The Craft Nest.