We have a countdown to Christmas calendar and we are at 5 days until Christmas. The excitement at the George house is at an epic level! We took some time out from our busy holiday schedule to create this adorable burlap reindeer couple using foam cones. Winter break is just about here, so take some time with your kids and create this cute Christmas decor item!

I have to tell you a little back story about this project. So my boys and I made the buck while my daughter was gone to her Grandma’s house to help put up her Christmas village. You should have seen how mad she was when she came home and saw what I made with her brothers. We had to get right to making another burlap reindeer and this one had to be a girl. So the girl ended up being taller than the boy because I hadn’t planned on creating her and I ran out of the smaller size cones.

You can also find more project ideas using FloraCraft’s® foam and burlap products at MakeItFunCrafts and at the CraftsandCoffee blog!

Supplies:

• Burlap Garland Design It:® Simple Style® By FloraCraft®
• 2 – FloraCraft® Make It: Fun® Foam Cones
• Hot Glue Gun
• Straight Pins
• Buttons for Eyes
• Brown Pipe Cleaners for Antlers and Arms
• Red Pom Pom Ball for Nose

How To:

1. 

   Using straight pins, pin the burlap to the bottom of the cone.

2. 

   Wrap burlap from bottom over top of cone.

3. 

   Continue wrapping burlap around cone until it is covered. Use straight pins to hold burlap in place as you go.

4. 

   Use hot glue to tack down any areas of burlap that don’t lay flat and to make sure burlap stays attached to cone.

5. 

   Make sure the burlap on both ends of the cone is glued down flat, especially the nose area.

6. 

   Cut off square piece of burlap from garland.

7. 

   Fold top half of burlap square over toward the center.

8. 

   Pinch ends together to form ear shape.

9. 

   Use hot glue to attach ears to back of head/bottom of cone.

10. 

    Cut a rectangle piece of burlap garland. Use it to cover the back of the head. Start by tucking under the bottom edge of the burlap and glue it down with hot glue.

11. 

    Continue gluing down the burlap rectangle, fold under edges as you glue.

12. Twist two pipe cleaners to form antlers. Attach the antlers by poking holes in the head using a pencil or stick and then glue antlers in hole. Glue on button eyes and a pom pom ball nose.

13. 

    Wrap a foam cone for the body of the reindeer the same way you did for the head.

14. 

    Use pipe cleaners to create arms and attach arms to body using hot glue.

15. Use hot glue to attach head to body.

The post Handmade Holidays | Foam for the Holidays Burlap Reindeer appeared first on Alanna George | The Craft Nest.

It’s Foam for the Holidays Friday again! This project doesn’t actually use foam… but, do you love giving wine as a house warming gift or to the hostess of a holiday party? You can stitch up this burlap wine gift bag in no time and get that bottle of wine all decorated for gift giving!

You can also find more project ideas using FloraCraft® products at MakeItFunCrafts and at the CraftsandCoffee blog!

Supplies:

• Burlap Garland Design It:® Simple Style® By FloraCraft®
• Embroidery Floss
• Sewing Needle
• Ribbon
• Candy Cane or other decoration
• Scissors

How To:

1. Wrap the burlap garland up around the bag and cut off the needed length to cover  your bottle.

2. 

   Fold burlap piece in half. Tie a knot in the floss and start stitching down one side.

3. 

   Continue stitching down the first long side. Then stitch across the center of the bottom and the up the other long side. Knot thread and trim.

4. Slide wine bottle into bag and tie ribbon around top. Add a candy cane or other holiday decoration to the ribbon.

The post Handmade Holidays | Foam for the Holidays Burlap Wine Gift Bag appeared first on Alanna George | The Craft Nest.

Halloween is approaching quickly! Do you remember the Five Little Pumpkins Song? Each of my kids has learned it in Preschool. I thought it would be fun to make our own miniature fences for 5 little pumpkins to sit on. Each of us made our fences completely different and we had so much fun. Read on to see how to make your own fence.

Five Little Pumpkins Song:
Five little pumpkins sitting on a gate,
First one said “Oh my, it’s getting late!”
Second one said “There are witches in the air,”
Third one said “but we don’t care!”
Fourth one said “Let’s run and run and run.”
Fifth one said “I’m ready for some fun!”
Ooo ooo went the wind, and out went the lights,
And five little pumpkins rolled out of sight.

You can use a lot of different craft supplies to decorate your fence. My kids came up with all sorts of things to make and add to their fences to make it uniquely their own. Have the glue ready, LOL!

Supplies:

• Craft Sticks
• 1″ Orange Pom-Pom Balls
• Green Pipe Cleaners
• Leaf Punch
• Green Paper
• Moss
• Plastic Spiders and/or Ants
• Fake Spider Webs (I couldn’t find ours, but we wanted to stretch some on our fences!)
• Craft Glue
• 2 – Wooden Rectangle Spacer (can be made of balsa wood)
• Wire Cutter

How To: – click on the pics below for a closer view

1. 

   Lay out your craft sticks vertically to create your fence. Use two craft sticks and glue them horizontally to hold the vertical sticks in place. Let dry.

2. Create your second fence side the same way. Make sure you lay the two fences side by side. You need to have the horizontal sticks the same distance from the top and bottom as you did on the first fence. This will be important later when you add the wooden rectangles to the center to make your fence stand up and create a shelf for the pumpkins to sit on.
3. 

   Create your 5 pumpkins by cutting a stem from a green pipe cleaner. Glue stem to top of pom-pom ball. Use leaf shaped punch to punch out leaf from green paper. Glue leaf to pom-pom ball next to stem.

    

4. 

   Finish creating all your fence sides and your pumpkins and set them aside to dry.

    

5. 

   Cut the wood you will use for your spacer to be same length as a craft stick. They can be about 1″ – 1.5″ wide. Glue the a wooden rectangle to the each horizontal craft stick on one fence side. Next glue on the 2nd fence side. Let dry.

6. Now your fence should be complete. Add your own spooky and fun decorations to your fence. Sit your pumpkins on the top shelf of your fence.
7. Sing the Five Little Pumpkins song while you play with your fence.

The post How To | Little Pumpkins Fence appeared first on Alanna George | The Craft Nest.

We didn’t go anywhere for Spring Break this year. I decided we should focus on exploring new things that are nearby during break. Since we just moved back to the area where my husband and I both grew up, everything is familiar to me, but new to my children. I have been waiting for the right time to try out Geocaching and thought our week of exploration was the perfect opportunity.

Don’t have the faintest idea what Geocaching is? Here is the definition I took directly off of Geocaching.com – “Geocaching is a free real-world outdoor treasure hunt. Players try to locate hidden containers, called geocaches, using a smartphone or GPS and can then share their experiences online.”

I was really surprised to find a lot of geocaches within 2 miles of our house. With 4 young children that is the perfect little outing for us. It was a simple and fun outdoor activity for our family and we will definitely be doing it again soon!

Geocaching is also a great learning tool for teaching your children about technology, maps, latitude and longitude and how to explore outdoors. The Geocaching.com site also offers great information in the forums for how to integrate geocaching into lesson plans for the classroom or for youth groups and clubs. You can find the forum HERE. If you want to try Geocaching read my steps below for what to do.

Supplies:

• Smartphone or GPS
• Appropriate outdoor clothing and footwear
• Pencil

How To:

1. Visit www.geocaching.com and start out by finding if there are any geocaches in your area. On the website home page you can enter your postal code or country and click on the spy glass to start your search. A list of geocaches will come up with the distance from your location.
2. If you are interested in finding a geocache you will want to become a member of Geocaching.com by clicking on the sign up link in the upper right area of the home page.
3. To find out more about geocaching you can also watch two short videos about it that can be found under the Learn tab along the top of the Geocaching.com home page. I watched these videos because I had no idea what to expect.
4. You will want to either have a GPS device or download the full Geocaching.com app to your smartphone, which is what I did.
5. Once you have the app downloaded to your device open the app and log in. Next press the “Find Nearby Geocaches” and a list of geocaches will appear.
6. Select the cache you want to find and click “Navigate to Geocache”. That will start the GPS part and show your location on a map and the location of the geocache in relation to where you are.
7. Before or during your search you may want to read the information listed under the Description, Recent Logs or Hint buttons. We were stuck on where to actually find the container and the Recent Logs helped us out.
8. Know that the GPS will bring you close to the hidden geocache, but you may have to do some searching around. The geocache will be hidden out of plain sight so a general passerby won’t see it. You can see what the geocache container we found looked like in the picture at the top of the post. Sometimes the container is larger and contains a small treasure and you are welcome to take a treasure and leave a treasure.
9. Don’t forget to write in the log for that geocache after returning home!

The post How To | Geocaching with Kids appeared first on Alanna George | The Craft Nest.

This week we used yarn again to make another Halloween critter, a bat. I believe you should try to use the supplies you have on hand and since we already had black yarn I came up with a way to create this little bat. Kinda cute isn’t he? You can even change him up a bit by adding some vampire teeth or making him a her by adding a cute tissue paper bow. Give it a try and see what you can turn your little bat friend in to!

Supplies:

• Black Yarn
• Cupcake Liner
• Googly Eyes
• Scissors
• Glue

How To:

1. Head over to my previous post and scroll down to see how to create your own pom-pom ball for the bat’s body. Pom-pom ball how to. Instead of tying it with white yarn as shown, use black for the bat.
2. You should now have a completed black pom-pom ball to use for the bat’s body. (Click on photos below to see the larger and see the whole image.)

3. 

   Cut out the bottom of the cupcake liner.

4. 

   Cut two 2.5″ pieces from the liner edge and trim along the bottom to form the shape of a bat wing.

5. 

   Open a spot in the yarn and glue a wing on each side of the bat’s body.

6. 

   Glue on googly eyes.

7. Hang up and enjoy!

The post How To | Yarn Pom-pom Bat appeared first on Alanna George | The Craft Nest.

Over the weekend we were busy making some new Halloween decorations. I try not to get my kids too excited about Halloween until it is at least October. That usually means we don’t do any Halloween related projects until October either. My two older kids (ages 6 and 7) loved making their own spider and web out of yarn. When they were finished we hung them off of the mantle of the fireplace. We are hoping to make some more to hang nearby for a really scary spider effect. I think they would also be fun hanging in the corners of a doorway.

Supplies:

• Black Yarn
• White Yarn
• Black Pipe Cleaners
• Wire Cutter
• Googly Eyes
• Scissors

How To:

SPIDER WEB using finger knitting.

1. To create the web we used a finger knitting technique that is great for kids. I tried to take detailed photos. You can follow along below.
2. To start cut one 6 yard piece of white yarn. (Pictures below will enlarge when clicked on.)

3. 

   Tie a loop in the end of the yarn.

4. 

   Put loop over pointer finger.

5. 

   Hold knot/loop in place. Wrap yarn around finger.

6. 

   Wrap yarn all the way around finger.

7. 

   Pull the back loop over the front string. The front string is now the loop that stays on your finger. Repeat above steps.

8. 

   Your knitting will start to chain off your finger as you go and will look like this.

9. When you are done knitting, tie end in a knot to keep it from unraveling.
10. Now you have your spider web. Set it aside.

SPIDER from pom-pom ball.

1. To create your spider you first need to make your own pom-pom ball from yarn.
2. Cut one 6 yard piece of black yarn. Also, cut one 8 inch piece of white yarn.

3. 

   Start wrapping yarn around 3 fingers.

4. 

   Finish wrapping yarn around fingers. Tuck in loose string end between fingers.

5. 

   Slip the ends of the white yarn through your fingers so you can wrap it all the way around the black yarn.

6. 

   Tie the white yarn all the way around the black yarn. Tie it in a knot as tightly as you can.

7. 

   Carefully slip the black yarn off your fingers. Use a sharp scissors and cut open the loops on both sides. Fluff the yarn to make it form a ball shape.

8. 

   Use a wire cutter and cut two black pipe cleaners in half to make four leg pieces.

9. 

   On the bottom of your spider, (knotted side and loose strings are on top), push each leg under the white yarn.

10. 

    Bend pipe cleaner legs to resemble spider legs.

11. Use glue to add googly eyes and let dry.
12. Use loose white strings to tie spider to knitted web.
13. Hang in doorway!

The post How To | Yarn Spider and Web appeared first on Alanna George | The Craft Nest.

If you are looking for a cute and easy card to make for Dad, here it is. I used my littlest ones handprint to make this cute owl.

The inside says:

“Owl always love you. Happy Father’s Day.”

I love it, what a cute keepsake. It will be a great reminder of how little her hand was at 18 months.

How To | Handprint Owl Card

Supplies:

• Paper
• Acrylic Paint (Tan, Brown, Green and Yellow)
• Paint Brush
• Paper Plate
• Large Googly Eyes
• Glue
• Diaper Wipes

How To:

1. Have your card all ready and lay it off to the side. Squirt some paint on a paper plate. Use your paintbrush to paint your child’s hand with acrylic paint. Hold their hand and press it in place on the front of the card. Slowly remove their hand. Use a diaper wipe if you have a small child and need to get the paint off their hand quickly!
2. Paint your child’s pointer finger with yellow paint and have her make a finger print for the beak. Let the card dry.
3. Use brown paint  or markers to draw branches and green to add leaves.
4. Use glue to add googly eyes to your owl.
5. Write a sweet message inside.

The post How To | Owl Always Love You Father’s Day Card appeared first on Alanna George | The Craft Nest.

My mantel is all decorated to celebrate Thanksgiving this month. My kids and I made these cheap pumpkins from recycled paper lunch bags to make our Fall display more colorful and full.

How To | Paper Lunch Bag Pumpkins

Supplies:

• Paper Lunch Bags
• Orange acrylic paint
• Green acrylic paint
• Paintbrush
• Magazine to recycle
• Green ribbon
• Scissors

How To:

1. Paint the lower portion of the lunch bag orange. (Another option is to color the bags with markers, you can see a picture of colored lunch bag pumpkins below.) Make sure to open up the bag and paint all the sides. I found it easiest to open the bag and hold my hand inside while I painted.
2. Paint a wide strip of green above the orange painted section. Let dry.
3. Rip out and crumble up magazine pages. Fill the painted lunch bag up with crumpled magazine pages until the pumpkin is at desired fullness.
4. Tie a piece of green ribbon around the lunch bag, pull it tight and tie it. Curl the ends of the ribbon.
5. Use a scissors and cut off any extra height from the lunch bag.
6. Set on dinner table or mantel to create a beautiful fall display!

Lorelei painting her paper lunch bag.

Another option is to color your bag with markers instead of using paint.

The post How To | Paper Bag Pumpkins appeared first on Alanna George | The Craft Nest.

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This cute ghost couple is actually a set of recycled orange juice containers. We will be using these to collect our candy on Halloween night. These trick-or-treat buckets were really easy to make and can also be used as decorations on your mantel or table until Halloween night. The handle on the orange juice container makes these treat buckets easy for little hands to hold.

How To | Recycled Trick-or-Treat Bucket

Supplies:

• Recycled orange juice container
• White sheet of fabric (I used a piece from an old sheet)
• Duct tape
• Scissors
• Craft glue
• 20mm googly eyes
• Pink ribbon or bow
• Black felt for mustache

How To:

1. Clean out your orange juice container and cut a big hole in the top of the recycled container. (Pic. 1)
2. (I covered the printing on the sides of my containers with white paper, but after covering the container with the sheet I think it was unnecessary.)
3. Cut your white piece of fabric about 3 inches longer than the height of your container. Determine the appropriate width of your fabric by wrapping the piece of fabric around your container. I made the fabric for the man ghost a lot wider (fuller) than for my woman ghost.
4. Cut strips of duct tape and stick them, evenly spaced, along the top edge of the white fabric. Go back and roll the duct tape down. (Pic. 2)
5. Stick the end of the sheet under the lip of the jug by the handle. Continue to work your way around the top inside lip of the jug as you tape the sheet to the inside. You should not be able to see the tape. (Pic. 3)
6. Use craft glue to add googly eyes and a bow or mustache cut from black felt.
7. Set out finished ghosts as decorations until Halloween. Use to collect candy on Halloween night!

Click the thumbnails below to see them larger.

The post How To | Recycled Ghost Trick-or-Treat Bucket appeared first on Alanna George | The Craft Nest.