I grew up making Christmas ornaments at home and at school for our Christmas tree. We'd carefully design and make clay ornaments for our parents in art class and I was always so proud to give them to my parents. They still hang on their tree today. My mom was also really crafty and we'd make ornaments at home, too. I have great memories of this tradition so I knew I had to continue it with my kids.
This year we are celebrating Olive's 3rd Christmas and she's got a fun little collection of ornaments that she's made. I look forward to adding to this collection every year and including her baby brother next year.
A MOMENT IN TIME ORNAMENT:
I'd love to make one ornament each year that captures what Olive is interested in right at that moment. Something she's doing, drawing, practicing, writing, learning, etc. for us to remember.
This year I decided to document the art work she's making. She LOVES to color with crayons and asks to do art all day long. I have tons of art work hanging up so I cut out squares and fill a plastic ornament with them. It was fun to see all of the colors and her hard work. She was really proud of it and seemed to recognize it was filled with her art work. I included her name and the year on one of the squares and made sure it was visible. Then I added a ribbon and it's a lovely addition to the tree. I wait to make her Moment in Time ornament every year!!
Supplies: art work, plastic ornament from Michaels $1 and 12 inches of ribbon
PINE CONE CHRISTMAS TREE:
This ornament was very inexpensive to make because we already had the majority of the supplies in our craft closet. I just picked up a small bag of sparkly pom poms for $2 at Meijer. This project was a two day project. We painted the pine cones in the evening and let them dry over night. I just gave Olive one color to paint with and then helped her by holding/rotating the pine cone. It was a little pokey so it worked best for me to help. I didn't care how much she covered in green and figured it would be fun to see how her trees turned out.
Day 2: I let her poke the pom poms into the pine cones however she liked. The technique that worked best for us was for her to pick out a pom pom, have me put a dot of glue on it and then she poked them into the pine cone. She caught on really quickly and had fun decorating her pine cone tree. If you are doing this with older kids, they could likely dip their pom poms in white glue and place them on the tree themselves.
We let it dry for several hours, attached some twine to the top of the pine cone tree and added it to our tree. I wrote Olive 2015 on the bottom of the trees.
Supplies: 2 pine cones, green paint, paint brush, twine, white glue and pom poms
Day 1: Paint the pine cone tree
Day 2: Decorate the tree - we corralled the pom poms on a paper plate and I made sure to give Olive a few minutes to check out the pom poms before our decorating began. It's an easy step to do in your pjs because you aren't painting :)
Some ideas from years past:
SALT DOUGH ORNAMENTS
Baby's 1st Christmas Ornament
I'm participating in a fun blog hop today.
Check out all of these fun ideas for celebrating Christmas with little ones.
Advent Wreath Craft for Kids by Sweet Little Ones
Toy Free Christmas Gift Ideas by Wife Mommy Me
Making Ornaments Together by Polka-Dotty Place
Christmas Tree Counting Play Dough Mat Activity by The Magnolia Barn
Away in a Manger Felt Activity by Oh Tiny Gifts Christmas Family Fun + Free Printable by Living In This Season
I am opting out of regular goals for the month and just working on some fun things.
Our December Family Fun List:
2. Hot chocolate & Christmas Light drive
4. Make cookies & candies
5. Breakfast with Santa
7. Go to Christmas Eve service with our families
9. Wrap and tag gifts
10. Play in the snow
11. Do our Kindness Elves activities to spread Christmas cheer!
12. Read Christmas books & sing Christmas carols
13. Head to Indianapolis for the day - try out a new restaurant and do a little shopping for a day date
14. Bake an apple pie
Are you making any Christmas ornaments this year??
Linking up with Savy Sassy Moms, Christmas Ornament Show & Tell,
Made By You Mondays, Magnolia Mamas
I love each of these ornaments! That pinecone is adorable and then the ornament with pieces of her drawing is so precious. What great memories!
ReplyDeleteSo much fun. We really need to get to making some kind of ornament soon. I better go consult the bucket list to see how hopelessly behind we are :).
ReplyDeleteSo cute! I love the art work one. Olive is going to enjoy seeing these each year.
ReplyDeleteThese are such great ideas and so simple to complete!
ReplyDeleteLove those ornaments! We made tons of ornaments for our tree when I was little, too. I am pinning your pinecone tree for when my niece is here in a few weeks. I think she'd love making one of those!
ReplyDeleteWhitney @ Come Home For Comfort
This is so so sweet!
ReplyDeleteoh good for you girl! we tried salt dough ornaments with L this past weekend and for whatever reason, she was terrified of the dough and screamed bloody murder when someone suggested she press her hand down into it : ) guess we need some play dough practice first!! Cute ideas! I'll have to remember them when *someone* is a bit more cooperative : ) hah
ReplyDeleteThese are such fun activities! She looks like she had a great time making them.
ReplyDeleteLove this post, Whitney! I had forgotten about your new baby ornament - that is such a treasure!!
ReplyDeleteLove these! I need to get on the ball with some ornament decorations!
ReplyDeleteMy class has a huge pinecone from a Redwood in CA and we painted it, decorated too. It is our class Christmas tree this year. My girls use to paint smaller ones to give to people when they were younger. We use to put them into little clay pots. So much fun when they are little to do these together.
ReplyDeleteThank you for linking up with us!! The ornaments you have made with your daughter are amazing!!! I love the pine corn ornament and her baby ornament! I have never seen that type of ornament until today- and I just love them!!
ReplyDeleteLove the art work ornament!!
ReplyDeleteThose are so cute!! It's a fun way to get them involved with decorating. My poor tree only has one ornament on it currently..
ReplyDeleteAww, how cute. The handprint and footprint is the sweetest!
ReplyDeleteI love these ideas! Olivia loves anything that has to do with "real paint." And I love anything cheesy and sentimental. I still have her hospital hat and bracelets - I need to put those together in an ornament. Love that idea!
ReplyDeleteI remember this post and I also love the hospital ornament one. Now you get to make one for Fletcher. Thanks for sharing some Christmas cheer during this hot summer July.
ReplyDelete