How to make heart (and other) shaped bokeh Christmas lights

Ever wanted to make different shaped bokeh Christmas lights?  Inspired by our Christmas snowmen-light sunglasses, I thought I'd try my hand at making our Christmas lights look heart shaped.  And then, once I figured out how to do that, I had to make some other shapes as well...

How to Make Different Shaped Bokeh Photos

Heart, star, cat, and arrow shaped Christmas lights

Keep reading to see how I made different shaped bokeh!

DIY Paper Chain Christmas Village

Last week I saw stores with Christmas villages already set up and ready to go.  Anyone else love seeing these tiny scenes on display?  There's something magical about seeing things in the miniature.  Today I'm sharing a fun Christmas Craft that you can do with the kids this holiday season.   Make your very own Paper Chain Christmas villages!

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Easy Christmas Tree Advent Calendar

Christmas crafts? Christmas crafts?  Ok, I haven't completely gone bonkers... it's just that the stores have started putting out their Christmas things... so I wanted to join in on the fun.  Last year I had a lot of fun Christmas crafting (remember the village made from Plaster of Paris?)  This year I fell in love with all of the beautiful colors of paint swatches from Home Depot... so I took a bunch home (shhhh, don't tell anyone) and made a bunch of cute paper Christmas trees with Chuck.

Then I wasn't sure what to do with our little army of trees.  At first I was going to turn them into a garland of some sort, but then realized that they would make for a really simple and modern take on a DIY Christmas Advent Calendar!

Easy Christmas Tree Advent Calendar!

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25+ Christmas Crafts and Activities to get you through December!

Does your family start celebrating Christmas the moment Thanksgiving is over? My son insists that we put up our tree right after our Thanksgiving meal!  In case your family is like ours, I'm sharing this fun list of 25+ favorite Christmas activities and crafts.   So go ahead and peek around.  You can do an activity everyday in December- like a crafty advent of sorts!

Mini Painted Sponge Christmas Trees

Can you believe that it's already mid November?   Time sure flies by quickly!  Even though it's not yet Thanksgiving, my son's already asked me to put up the Christmas tree and make Christmas Crafts.

Well, we still haven't put up the tree, but we have been crafting more together at night.  Recently, we turned a bunch of old makeup sponges into mini Christmas trees.  I know, they're not as beautiful as the real thing... but for now, they'll do!

Mini Sponge Christmas Trees

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3D Paper Tube Christmas Wreath

Do you have a wreath hanging up in your home?  No?  Well hold off on buying one, because you can easily craft one with the kiddos!  Today's Christmas Craft is seriously adorable and SUPER EASY to make.  Really!   And here's an added bonus- you probably have most of the materials at home already!

Paper Tube Christmas Wreath!  

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DIY Giant Ice Cream Cone Gift Wrapping (A fun Alternative to Christmas Stockings!)

Over the years I've done a lot of fun gift wrapping ideas on the blog.  (Remember my Fox Gift Box and my Unicorn Gift Box?)  Well, today I'm sharing a fun alternative to Christmas stockings... what about a Giant Christmas Ice Cream Cone instead?

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Op-Art Christmas Ornaments

Last week we made some Optical Illusion Christmas ornaments for the tree. The results were so groovy that I had to share them here!

Making Op-Art Ornaments with Kids

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Easy DIY Handmade Peg Doll Family Christmas Ornaments

Do you enjoy making handmade ornaments with your kids? Every year the boys and I make at least one new ornament for our Christmas tree. Today I'm sharing a super cute peg doll ornament that the boys made with me last weekend. Even though 2020 has been difficult, I'm hopeful that we'll also remember these sweet family moments too.

How to Make a DIY Peg Doll Family Christmas Ornament (with kids!)

(I think my littlest perfectly captured how we all feel about 2020...)

Note:  This post contains affiliate links.  This means I make a small bit of change when you purchase items through the links.  Thank you for your support and the grocery money! For my full disclosure policy, click here.

DIY Mini Plaster of Paris Christmas Village

I've always loved Christmas.  It's the time of year when twinkly lights decorate the dark nighttime sky.  And, it's the time of year that I'm reminded to hope because of God's great love for us.

Nowadays, Chuck and I love looking at the miniature Christmas village on display at our local craft store.  We always walk around oohing and ahhing over the little houses, ferris wheel, and tiny dog playing in snow.  It's magical.

So that's why I made us our own miniature Christmas village out of materials that we had lying around our apartment.

Let's Make a DIY Mini Christmas Village!

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(Psst- Click here to see see how I made the pipe cleaner and cardboard trees.)

3D Paper Plate Christmas Trees!

If your kid (1) loves Christmas crafts and (2) painting.... then these Paper plate Christmas Trees are the craft for you! They're so easy to make and provide the perfect "canvas" for little kids to express their creativity and holiday spirit!

3D Paper Plate Christmas Trees

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Easy Pop Up Paper Plate Nativity

What do you get when you combine a Paper plate craft with a Christmas craft?  Ok... well, a lot of things come to mind... but today I'm sharing one idea.  It's a super easy paper plate Nativity craft. This craft is so quick to set up and make that you can do it with several kids at once.  (Ooh.  Wouldn't this be neat for Sunday school?  Church?  A playdate? ) And this craft is so easy that even young preschoolers could make them too.

So let's get started!

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Make Mini Christmas Trees (For free!)

Here's a super easy way to decorate your home for the holidays! 

Make a bunch of mini Christmas trees!

(Bonus- All the materials are free!)

Christmas Pin Prick Angel Art

Christmas is just around the corner and if you're looking for a different and unique Christmas Art and Craft Project to try out with the kids, I highly recommend this Pin Prick Art. It's simple and super engrossing for young artists!

How to Make Pin Prick Art with Kids

Amazing 3D Paper Christmas Star Ornaments

What?  Thanksgiving isn't even here and we're already talking about Christmas Crafts?  Ok, you've got me.  I'm jumping the gun with this super neat folded Christmas star ornament.  But, I had to share because this week we'll be launching our new STEAM KIDS Christmas books.  Woot woot!  I'll be sharing more about those books later on this week.  Today I'm giving you a sneak peak of one of cool projects included.  These 3D paper stars are super fun to color in and such a neat way to craft this holiday season!

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Charming Cardboard and Felt Bird Ornaments (Template Included)

I am IN LOVE with today's cardboard and felt bird ornaments.  This Christmas craft reminds me of something you would find in Anthropologie.  The birds are super sweet and folksy.  And they're made of recycled cardboard and scraps of yarn and felt.  So they're super easy on the wallet and good for the environment too!  Getting excited? Let's get crafting!

Charming Bird Ornaments

This post contains affiliate links.  This means I make a small bit of money for any purchases made through the links at no additional cost to you.  Thank you for your support.  For my full disclosure policy, click here.

Free Christmas Stained Glass Coloring Sheet Printable

As Christmas approaches, I find myself doing more and more Christmas Crafts.   Are you feeling the same way?  Lately I've been trying to come up with easy, affordable, and creative ways to craft and make art with the kiddos.  This beautiful stained glass craft fits the bill and is sure to be a crowd-pleaser for kids of all ages.  You can design your own stained glass, or use my free printable coloring sheet!

Christmas Stained Glass Craft 

(With Free Printable Coloring Sheet)!

Free Printable Christmas Agamograph

Christmas is right around the corner! And while we've yet to decorate the house in Christmas decor, I've already started dreaming of fun Christmas crafts to do with the kids. If you're looking for an easy printable that kids can color and fold for the holidays, this agamograph is it! This would make the perfect quick after-school activity, library activity, or classroom activity. Download the free sheets below and enjoy!

Free Printable Christmas Agamographs

Make mini Christmas trees from Pipe Cleaners and Cardboard

Yesterday I shared how I made a miniature Christmas village out of plaster of paris.  Today I just wanted wanted to show how I quickly made these uber cute cardboard and pipe cleaner Christmas trees for my village.

(And if you like these trees, check out my tutorial for mini paint chip trees!

Cardboard Christmas Trees

Materials:

• Cardboard
• Cutting Mat
• Pattern (see below)
• Pen/pencil
• Exacto knife
• Scissors

Directions:

1. Print out the template to make one large and one small tree. 
2. Cut out the Christmas tree parts. 
3. Trace them onto cardboard.
4. Cut our your parts with an exacto knife.
5. Slide both pieces together and you've got yourself a mini tree!

Cardboard Christmas Tree Pattern

Pipe Cleaner Christmas Trees

Materials:

• Paper
• Pen
• Scissors
• Pipe cleaners (three per tree)
• Pom Poms
• Tacky glue

Directions:
1.  Doodle out a tree on a piece of paper.
2.  Bend a green pipe cleaner around your doodle.  Wrap both ends together to secure your tree.  Trim excess bits off.  Repeat this for all three tree shapes. 
3. Tie the three trees together by wrapping the tops and bottoms together with pipe cleaner.
4.  Gently separate the branches and glue small pom poms on with tacky glue.

That's it!  Happy crafting!  (Chuck was the artistic director for this photo shoot.  Can you tell?)

A few Christmas photos

Let me just start this post by saying that I had intentions to take tons and tons of photos during Christmas.  But, I didn't touch the camera once.

Surprised?  Me too.

I just enjoyed spending time with family.

I was also so happy to see Baby Chuck surrounded by people who loved him.  Seeing him laughing and smiling and giving sloppy wet kisses to his relatives?  Those were definitely my favorite Christmas memories from this year.

Now for those of you who still want to get a glimpse of our Christmas, hubby luckily snapped some shots of our yummy meal.  Here's what he captured:

Oh yeah, here's one more funny memory.  Our aunt and uncle also gave us a pair of glasses that would create snowmen shapes out of Christmas lights.  You just put on the glasses and stare into the Christmas lights.  Then, presto!  The lights magically turn into snowmen ligths.  Cool, right?   

Left:  Normal Christmas lights           Right:  Christmas lights transformed into snowmen

Wow.   What will they think of next?

I'm such a dork.  I spent at least half an hour staring  into the Christmas lights and rocking my head back and forth just to make the snowmen dance.  Ah-maaaa-zing I tell you.  Ah-maaaa-zing.

The lights also gave me an idea for a craft that I wanted to try...so stay tuned.

And now I will conclude this post with a quote from my very wise friend Alice-
"May this season be bright and lovely as we celebrate the God who sees fit to greet us as a child and to send angels and songs to us on all our dark nights."

Hope you had a wonderful relaxing, and refreshing holiday break as well.