Just Add Stickers

This isn't too Christmassy but it's Sunday today and Sunday in our house during the Fall and Winter months means football! I'm not a big football fan but I do love to cook and craft. So, I  like to combine what I like with what the rest of the family likes, which makes for perfect fall and winter days in my opinion. Last year I made a football shaped stadium out of cardboard to serve hubby's birthday supper and used it again for our super bowl super. This year I asked a friend, who is great at wood-working if she would help me make a more durable version of my cardboard football stadium. I designed the football stadium fairly large to accommodate big parties but it works out well for our Sunday suppers as well. Now my obsession is filling the stadium with different food to look like a football field and players.  My football stadium serving tray I sketched out a quick picture of what I wanted my stadium to look like and my talented friend built this for me. To decorate ...

This isn’t so much a craft as a creative activity for both kids and parents. I was happy to find the last pack of five wood nutcracker at Michael's, they were 20% off too, score!  The kids were so happy to create their own nutcracker. While we were painting our nutcrackers I put on the soundtrack to the nutcracker. Little man groaned when I explained what it was but he found it better than he thought he would, Little Miss liked to twirl around to the music while she was painting.  Little man painted his black and gave him a long white beard. Little  Miss made hers a girl nutcracker painting her mostly pink and purple I painted the other three in a beautiful antique bronze and antique copper paint I bought at Walmart. They look so nice and add a touch of sparkle to my holiday decor. 

Over the years I have made many advent calendars for the kids. I have made a Lego advent calendar, a sticker advent calendar, family chocolate advent calendar and Pokémon card advent calendars. I realized, looking back over my blog posts that I never blogged about that one so I will post it tomorrow.  While I have always had fun making my own advent calendars but for a few years now I have wanted a reusable advent calendar. I have been looking around for one that I like. It had to be good quality, with big enough cubby holes or drawers and match my Christmas decor (classic red and green.)  This year I finally found the one that I wanted and I even got it as a birthday present! This year the kids got the real Lego calendars so I used my new advent calendar for hubby and I. Every day we get peppermint or orange After Eights.  

It is December 2nd but it's not too late to make  an advent calendar. This one is very easy to make and you can get all of the materials you need at the Dollar Store or at Walmart.  What you need: 24 plastic sleeves for trading cards 24 trading cards  Green and Red construction paper  Markers and stickers to decorate 24 mini clothes pins  To display: twine, wool or garland  What to do: Measure and cut the construction to the same size as the trading cards. Write the numbers 1-24 one on each  construction paper card, decorate each card with the stickers.  Pair up one trading card with each number card. Place the cards in the plastic sleeves. Tip: make sure the trading card is placed face inwards so that no one can sneak a peak! To display the cards, use the mini clothes pins (you can also find Christmas card display kits at a Dollar Store they come with small decorated clothes pins and string) to attach the cards to your garland or twine. I display...

Alright, so there's this thing called Blogmas. You post once a day from December 1st to 24th, think advent calendar in blog form. This is very much up my alley, I love advent calendar days, I have made so many over the year for the kids. I also love a good challenge. Since 2012 I have participated in Nanowrimo (national novel writing month) where participants attempt to write a 50,000 (the approx. length of a novel) words in a month. I just participated for my 9th year. I have only reached the goal of 50,000 words once but I like the challenge of writing as much as I can.  I am surprised at myself that I have never participated in Blogmas which is surprising since I've had this blog since 2013.  I'm going to give it a try this year. It might turn I to my Nanowrimo tries where I do the most that I can but it could also turn  I to the time that I actually finished Nanowrimo. A key to successfully participating in Nanowrimo is planning. Make the outline of your novel, some...

Making cookies from a cake mix is a quick way to make chewy and colorful cookies. You can make these cookies with any cake mix but to use the colour a vanilla mix is best. I used French Vanilla, the colors turned out vibrant and the taste was great.  What you need: Box cake mix 2 egg 1/2 c. oil Food coloring Ziplock bags or pastry bags What to do: Preheat oven to 350° line two baking sheets with parchment paper. In a large bowl mix cake mix, eggs and oil. Separate the batter equally into 5 bowls. Add 4 drops of green food coloring to one bowl, mix with a spoon, add more drops of food coloring if needed. Repeat with the other colors, leaving one batch of batter white.  Spoon the contents of each bowl into a ziplock or pastry bag. If using a ziplock bag cut one corner of the bag.  Piping the batter directly onto a parchment lined baking sheet create the shape that you want. The kids can help with this step, it's amazing the shapes they come up with! Bake cookies for 12-15 m...

This is a great little craft and activity to do on a rainy Halloween afternoon while the little ones are waiting 'patiently' (insert laugh here) to go trick or treating tonight. What you need: An old cardboard box Markers Stickers Any small toys, we used Little People.  What to do: 1. Open up the cardboard box and cut off one side.  2. Draw some houses and have the kids decorate the neighborhood. 3. Cut out windows and doors. I cut out the windows and glued on some purple and yellow foam. Cut the doors so that they can open. Make sure to measure the toys that you are using to make sure they can all fit through the doors. Trick or treat! Have fun and happy crafting!