DIY Felt Nativity Finger Puppets with Pattern

Last night I put the finishing touches on my felt Nativity finger puppets.  

They're now hiding under our tree.  

Hopefully Baby Chuck will like them.  

To create these little guys I just traced the different pattern pieces onto felt and used fabric shears to cut them out.  Then, I used hot glue to first glue the features onto the front of the puppet and then I glued the front and back pieces of the puppet together.   I was going to put googly eyes on them, but I had a feeling that Baby Chuck would just rip those suckers right off.  Maybe I can try drawing on them with permanent marker?  Hmm....

In case you want to make your own set, I've attached my pattern down below.  If you try making them I'd love to see your results.

Happy Christmas eve!

DIY Nativity Felt Finger Puppets Pattern

Crapty DIY potato chip bag pinata

So remember that surprise we were talking about?

Surprise!  Today our Toddler Time group is holding a Christmas party.  We're going to eat, drink, and hopefully meet Santa Claus.  Cross your fingers.

Everyone is bringing something to the party.  Baby Chuck and I are bringing a pinata.  What?  Why am I making yet another pinata?  Well, some of the moms are from Mexico and apparently it's a Mexican tradition for children to hit a pinata at Christmas.  (Side note:  I really love that there are so many different cultures represented in our toddler group.  It's neat learning about other cultures.  Added bonus-I get a chance to practice my Spanish.  Que bueno!)   

Now, a traditional pinata looks like a sphere with seven cones sticking out of it.  Here's the one I made:

Erm... I know what you're thinking.  Leslie, yours looks nothing like that.  True true, but it looks kinda like a star and there are tassels.  Does that count?  Let's just say that mine was inspired by the traditional one.  The coolest thing about this pinata is that it's a true blue CRAPT!

Materials:
- several cereal boxes <-- crap!
- LOTS of potato chip bags* <-- crap!
- tape
- glue (I used Aileen's tacky glue)
- scissors
- pens
- ribbon
- aluminum foil

(*I'm slightly embarrassed by the amount of chips we eat in two weeks.)

Directions:

Hope you have a wonderful weekend.

Make ribbon tassels

So Baby Chuck and I are working on a secret project for this Friday. What is it? Well, I couldn't tell you or then it wouldn't be a secret anymore, would it?

 Let's just say this secret involves
- a bunch of toddlers
- a big stick
- many bags of chips

 There. I've said enough. As part of the secret project, I made a couple of shiny tassels out of curling ribbon.

There are tons of tutorials out there for making tassels, but I ended up following this one at Go make me's blog.

To make ribbon tassels of your own, you'll need:
- curling ribbon
- scissors
- masking tape (optional, but I found it helpful)
- cardboard

Directions:

 1.  Cut a piece of cardboard that's the same length as the tassel that you want to create.  Cut a piece of ribbon and tape it to the top of your cardboard. (This ribbon will allow you to tie the tassel to something.)  Then, wind ribbon around your piece of cardboard as many times as you like.  (I stopped at 20 times.)

2.  Tie a loose knot with your top ribbon to keep the other strands together.  Then, snip the ribbon off your cardboard with your scissors.

3.  Tighten your knot on top.  Double knot if necessary.

4.  To keep the ribbons in a secure bunch, wrap another strand of ribbon around your strands.  Double knot and and trim the ribbons.   

Enjoy and feel festive.  

A boy and his ball

PC138573.AVI from Pink Stripey Socks on Vimeo.

Graham Cracker Houses

Hubby and I have been still thinking about Sandy Hook.  This past weekend, we struggled with whether we should still hold our gingerbread house making party.  At first it felt kind of wrong.  Hold a party to make small houses out of crackers and candy?  Were we being too frivolous?  Was it ok to have fun while others grieved?

In the end, we still held the party.  And you know what?  I'm really glad we did.

Two gal pals came over and we spent the night eating, talking, and building.  We shared what was happening in our lives.  We listened a lot and laughed even more.

*Sigh* What happened in Connecticut was really really horrible.  But maybe this was our small way of battling the darkness.  Where one candle glows, darkness cannot win.  That night, I imagined our small apartment glowing with good friendship and love.

And doesn't the world need a little more of that right now?