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.

The post Handmade Holidays | Stamped Spice Bags with Candy appeared first on Alanna George | The Craft Nest.

My 7 year old son made these drinking glasses to give as gifts to his siblings for Christmas. This is a really great kid craft! This year we are working on a new tradition. I am helping each child make a handmade gift for everyone in our family. Making special gifts makes my kids feel so excited and proud and since he loves to draw this was a natural fit. So you’ve seen what he made, don’t spill the beans to the rest of the family! Want to help your child make glasses like these? Read on to find out how simple they were to make!

I wanted to tell you a little more about my son’s choices of drawings. He drew a bunny for his older sister who loves bunnies, ninja’s for his brother, a crown for his little sister, a deer for Dad and an Astronaut for himself. There was one more glass for me, but he wrapped it so I couldn’t see it! I am so excited for him to give these to everyone! Plus now we will know whose cup is whose and I won’t have to keep washing them because we don’t know who drank out of what cup!

Supplies:

• Glass Markers – found at Michaels or Jo-Anns
• Glasses
• Drawings of what you want to draw
• Tape

How To:

1. Wash and dry glass.

2. 

   Measure your glass and cut a piece of paper so it will fit inside your glass. Use that paper to draw your picture on. Slide paper with picture into glass and use a piece of tape to secure picture temporarily to glass.

3. 

   The easiest way we found to draw on the glass is to lay it on a paper towel in your lap. Once glass is lying flat, draw your picture by following the lines of your paper sketch you see through the glass.

4. Let dry according to marker instructions. Hand wash.

The post Handmade Holidays | Painted Drinking Glasses appeared first on Alanna George | The Craft Nest.

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

The post Advent Activity | Sock Snowman appeared first on Alanna George | The Craft Nest.

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.

You know Dasher and Dancer and Prancer and Vixen… but do you recall the most famous reindeer of all? Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer had a very shiny nose… You will want to make your own version of Rudolph using a toilet paper tube and the free download you can find below!

How To | Toilet Paper Tube Reindeer

Supplies:

• Toilet Paper Tube
• Googly Eyes
• Red Pom-Pom Ball
• Dark Brown Construction Paper
• Light Brown Construction Paper
• Pink Construction Paper
• Glue
• Scissors
• Pencil
• Black Marker
• Toilet Paper Tube Reindeer Template Download

How To:

1. Download Toilet Paper Tube Reindeer Template. Print it out. (You can choose to color in the shapes on the template or use the shapes to cut out pieces from colored construction paper.) Cut out pieces from construction paper or color all the pieces on the template. Set cut out pieces aside.
2. Trace your child’s hand print onto a piece of paper. Cut it out to use as the antlers.
3. Assembly the ears by gluing the inner ear piece onto the ear. Let dry. Glue assembled ears to toilet paper tube.
4. Next glue on the antlers behind the ears.
5. Glue on googly eyes.
6. Glue pom-pom ball to nose base. Let dry. Glue nose base with pom-pom ball to toilet paper tube.
7. Crease the hooves on the dotted fold-line. Glue hooves to toilet paper tube.
8. Use black marker to add a mouth.

Free Download:

Click Here – Toilet Paper Tube Reindeer Template

The post Advent Activity | TP Tube Reindeer appeared first on Alanna George | The Craft Nest.

I wanted to show all of you the Snowman Family Frame we made yesterday for our Advent Activity. I love it, it looks so cute on the shelf with all the other Christmas decorations. We have been able to keep on schedule for our Advent Activities this far. How about you guys, are you able to keep on track? Some nights are a bit tricky and we have to do some catch up the next day, but the kids don’t know what day I planned the activity for, so it’s all the same to them!

If you want to create one of these Snowman Family Frames for yourself, or make one to give as a gift, you can find the instructions for it here: ChildMadeTutorials. She does a great job of explaining it and has lots of pictures. Just a hint, I found my frame at Dollar Tree, I can see from the picture she has the same frame. So if you are doing your crafts on the cheap, like I try to do, take a look at Dollar Tree for this frame. It is deep inside, but looks pretty much like a normal frame and is in the same section.

Stay tuned, tomorrow you can see the Toilet Paper Tube Reindeer we are making and it includes a Free Download Template to cut out your own pieces. Also, don’t forget to like us on Facebook!

The post Advent Activity | Snowman Family Frame appeared first on Alanna George | The Craft Nest.

Are you getting ready for the countdown to Christmas? I am getting everything prepared here. My kids look forward to the Advent crafts and activities we do every year while we count down the days of December!

If you visited here last year you have probably seen my Jesse Tree for Kids Ornament Tutorial. We are looking forward to reading our Jesse Tree book again this year and hanging up our ornaments. It was so fun to pull each one out day by day as we made our way to Christmas. (Hopefully this year will be a little less crazy than last year, we had a brand new baby in the house!) If you would like more information about the Jesse Tree Tutorial please click here.

I am also introducing a new book this year, The Advent Storybook – 24 Stories to Share Before Christmas by Antonie Schneider. If you have small children they will enjoy following little bear and his long journey to Bethlehem. I really can’t say enough about how perfect this book is for small, pre-schoolish age kids. (See the link at the bottom of this post.)

You can download a supply list of the craft supplies you will need if you follow along with our Advent Activities.

Click Here to Download: Advent Countdown 2011 Master Supply List

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ADVENT COUNTDOWN CALENDAR

Nov. 27th

• Light Advent Candle and Recite Advent Prayer
• You can craft your own Advent wreath with your kids – visit this post

Thurs. Dec. 1st – Calista’s First Birthday

• Set up Fisher Price Nativity Set
• Color Your Own Nativity Sticker Scene from Oriental Trading Co.
• Create Cards with Colored Stickers to Send to Soldiers
• SEND CARDS TO: postmarked by December 9th, more info at American Red Cross
  Holiday Mail For Heroes, P.O. Box 5456, Capitol Heights, MD 20791-5456
• Read The Nativity Pop-up Book by Francesca Crespi
• Read The Jesse Tree book – Jesse Tree Symbol Sun and the Moon (Creation)
• Read The Advent Storybook before bed

Fri. Dec. 2nd – Visit Santa at the Mall (My daughter has school off this day!)

• Hang Stockings and Decorate Mantel
• Read The True Story of Santa Claus by Paul Prokop
• Read The Jesse Tree book – Jesse Tree Symbol Apple w/ Snake (Adam and Eve)
• Read The Advent Storybook before bed
• Watch Christmas Movie and Have Popcorn and Hot Chocolate

Sat. Dec. 3rd –

• Decorate Our Christmas Tree
• Trim-A-Tree Activity – find download in my SHOP
• Read The Tale of Three Trees retold by Angela Elwell Hunt
• Read The Jesse Tree book – Jesse Tree Symbol Noah’s Ark w/ Rainbow (Noah)
• Read The Advent Storybook before bed

Sun. Dec. 4th –

• Make Christmas Cookies with Family
• Light Advent Candle and Recite Prayer
• Read The Jesse Tree book – Jesse Tree Symbol Camel (Abraham and Sarah)
• Read The Advent Storybook before bed

Mon. Dec. 5th –

• Make Beaded Nativity Story Charm Bracelet from Oriental Trading Co.
• Read The True Story of Santa Claus by Paul Prokop
• Read The Jesse Tree book – Jesse Tree Symbol Sheep (Isaac)
• Read The Advent Storybook before bed

Tues. Dec. 6th –

• Open Stocking Gifts from St. Nick (German Tradition)
• Everyone Choose a Toy to Donate
• Read The Jesse Tree book – Jesse Tree Symbol Ladder (Jacob)
• Read The Advent Storybook before bed

Wed. Dec. 7th –

• Make Mitten Snowman Frame – everyone decorate their own snowman. I was inspired by this blog.
• Read The Jesse Tree book – Jesse Tree Symbol Coat of Many Colors (Jacob)
• Read The Advent Storybook before bed

Thurs. Dec. 8th –

• Make Bird Seed Pine Cones (My kids love to do this every year!)
• Read The Jesse Tree book – Jesse Tree Symbol Silver Chalice (Joseph)
• Read The Advent Storybook before bed

Fri. Dec. 9th –

• Make Toilet Paper Tube Reindeer – Free Download (Toilet Paper Tube Reindeer Template)
• Watch Rudolph Movie and have Popcorn and Hot Chocolate
• Read The Jesse Tree book – Jesse Tree Symbol Whip (Moses)
• Read The Advent Storybook before bed

Sat. Dec. 10th –

• Cut and Color 3-Dimensional Christmas Houses – Free Download by Rebecca Bischoff (Cut and Color 3D Christmas House)
• Read The Jesse Tree book – Jesse Tree Symbol Sheaf of Corn/Wheat (Ruth)
• Read The Advent Storybook before bed

Sun. Dec. 11th –

• Light Advent Candle and Recite Prayer
• Read The Jesse Tree book – Jesse Tree Symbol Jar of Oil (Samuel)
• Read The Advent Storybook before bed

Mon. Dec. 12th –

• Decorate Nativity Sticker Scene from Oriental Trading Co.
• Read The Jesse Tree book – Jesse Tree Symbol Slingshot (David)
• Read The Advent Storybook before bed

Tues. Dec. 13th –

• Make Porcupine Pine Cone Ornament – how to will be posted on blog
• Read The Jesse Tree book – Jesse Tree Symbol Crown (David the King)
• Read The Advent Storybook before bed

Wed. Dec. 14th –

• Make Snowman Sock Ornament – how to will be posted on blog
• Read The Jesse Tree book – Jesse Tree Symbol Temple/Pillars (Solomon)
• Read The Advent Storybook before bed

Thurs. Dec. 15th –

• Make Magic Reindeer Food – find download in my SHOP
• Read The Jesse Tree book – Jesse Tree Symbol Raven (Elijah)
• Read The Advent Storybook before bed

Fri. Dec. 16th –

• Watch Christmas Movie and have Popcorn and Hot Chocolate
• Make Truffles to Give to Friends and Family

Recipe from Kraft Family Magazine
Ingredients:
- 2.5 pkg. (20 squares) Baker’s Semi-Sweet Chocolate, divided
- 1 pkg. (8 oz.) Philadelphia Cream Cheese, softened
- Multi-colored sprinkle or nuts to decorate tops or Powdered Sugar or Unsweetened Cocoa Powder
Directions:
• Melt 8 chocolate squares. Beat cream cheese with mixer until creamy; stir in melted chocolate. Refrigerate until firm.
• Shape into 36 balls. Place on wax paper-covered tray.
• Melt remaining chocolate. Use fork to dip truffles; return to tray. Decorate (see below), then refrigerate for 1 hour.
• Decorate the tops with finely chopped nuts or sprinkles. Or, coat truffles with powdered sugar or unsweetened cocoa powder instead of dipping in chocolate.

• Read The Jesse Tree book – Jesse Tree Symbol Bear (Elisha)
• Read The Advent Storybook before bed

 Sat. Dec. 17th –

• Make Pretzel Hugs

Recipe from Becky Higgins as seen in CK Magazine

Directions:
Put a layer of square pretzels on a cookie sheet and place an unwrapped Hershey’s Hug (or substitute a Rolo) over each pretzel. Bake at 200 degrees for eight minutes. Remove them from the oven and place a red or green milk chocolate M&M in the center. Let the cookies cool.

• Read The Jesse Tree book – Jesse Tree Symbol Candle (Zachariah)
• Read The Advent Storybook before bed

Sun. Dec. 18th –

• Make Hand Print Snowman Ornaments – following directions on this blog.
• Light Advent Candle and Recite Prayer
• Read The Jesse Tree book – Jesse Tree Symbol Olive Branch (Mary)
• Read The Advent Storybook before bed

Mon. Dec. 19th –

• Make Snowman Poop – find download in my SHOP
• Read The Jesse Tree book – Jesse Tree Symbol Tablet w/ Stylus (John the Baptist)
• Read The Advent Storybook before bed

Tues. Dec. 20th –

• Write and Mail Letter to Santa – Fill-in the Blank Santa Letter Free Download (Letter To Santa)
• Read The Jesse Tree book – Jesse Tree Symbol Baby in Manger
• Read The Advent Storybook before bed

Wed. Dec. 21st –

• Paper Maché Christmas Bulb Using Child’s Artwork – how to will be posted to blog
• Read The Jesse Tree book – Jesse Tree Symbol Shepard
• Read The Advent Storybook before bed

Thurs. Dec. 22nd –

• Wrap Up Handmade Ornaments for Friends and Family from Kids
• Read The Jesse Tree book – Jesse Tree Symbol Gold, Frankincense, and Myrrh
• Read The Advent Storybook before bed

Fri. Dec. 23rd –

• Watch Christmas Movie and have Popcorn and Hot Chocolate
• Read The Jesse Tree book – Jesse Tree Symbol Angels (Herod)
• Read The Advent Storybook before bed

Sat. Dec. 24th –

• Put out Magic Reindeer Food – find download in my SHOP
• Read The Jesse Tree book – Jesse Tree Symbol The Brightest Star
• Read The Advent Storybook before bed

Sun. Dec. 25th – Christmas – CELEBRATE WITH FRIENDS AND FAMILY!!

The post Advent Activities | Countdown for 2011 appeared first on Alanna George | The Craft Nest.