Auction Girl Vintage

Christmas ~ Snowman Gift Bucket

 

 

Here's another quick and easy holiday gift to make with your kids this year, or you may want to make this one yourself.  This project is from my KinderKorner.com website, in the holiday unit called It's Beginning To Look A Lot Like Christmas.  If you have children and are looking for Christmas themed songs, poems, activities, and projects, be sure to check it out.

For this project, you need a clean metal can.  Choose whatever can is the right size for your project:  cans that held chili or veggies work great, as do brand new paint cans in a variety of sizes.  Paint cans already have handles, and they also have a lid to seal the contents of your can, if desired.  This Use your completed can -- small or large -- to hold an ornament, potpourri, homemade bath salts, a craft kit, cookies, or anything else you choose.

Instructions:  Prime the can, if desired, then handpaint or spraypaint using craft paint designed for metal.  After the base coat is dry, decorate the outside of the can by painting the design of your choice.  If children are making the project, they can use stickers, decals, glue-on findings like buttons and rhinestones, etc. To add a handle to your can, simply punch two holes in opposite sides of the can, and make a handle from a wire hanger.

Your can could also be decoupaged with a variety of materials, including colored tissue paper, magazine pictures, photos, lace doilies, bits of fabric and ribbon, sheet music, or other ephemera.  Another fun option is to decorate the can with a child's handprint.  Here are samples of a penguin handprint and a Santa handprint.

 

 

 

I'd love to see photos of your finished projects, so please leave a comment if you post pics.  Or send me your pics in an email -- writetovictoria AT aol.com -- and I'll post the pics to my blog for everyone to see.

Victoria
xoxo

 

Christmas ~ Snowman Handprint Ornaments

Here's a quick sweet ornament to make with your kids this year.  This project is from my KinderKorner.com website, in the holiday unit called It's Beginning To Look A Lot Like Christmas.  If you have children and are looking for Christmas themed songs, poems, activities, and projects, be sure to check it out.

Materials: 

*** Large shiny Christmas ornaments (Dollar Tree has non-breakable plastic ones)
*** Craft paints
*** Colored permanent markers

Directions:

Paint child's palm and fingers white.  Have child carefully grasp the ornament to create the five snowmen.  Use a paint marker to make hats, faces, and scarves. 

Attach a tag with this poem:

These aren't just five snowmen
As anyone can see.
I made them with my hand
Which is a part of me.
Now each year when you trim the tree
You'll look back and recall
Christmas of 2008
When my hand was just this small!

Tomorrow I'll share another fun kid project, a cool Snowman Bucket.

Happy Thursday!

Handpainted Pumpkins

I paint a big batch of these beautiful jewel-toned pumpkins and gourds every year, and they're as sweet as can be.  They look great scattered down the middle of a party table, with candles of all sizes in rich fall colors.  This project was featured in Sunset Magazine in 2002, and you can find a copy of the article and instructions at Handpainted Party Pumpkins.

I couldn't find my photos from last year, so I borrowed the one above from KinderKorner, my website for teachers, where it's part of a thematic unit called Welcome To The Pumpkin Patch.

KinderKorner isn't just for teachers and homeschoolers, it's for anyone who spends time with young children, and it's a great place to find inspiration for quality-time activities.  I hope you'll stop by and visit the pumpkin patch, where you'll find pumpkin-themed songs and poems, children's art, craft projects, easy-to-make math games, suggested stories, and lots of other fun ideas and activities.  While you're there, check out my other fall pages, including Scarecrow, Scarecrow and The Leaves Are Falling Down.