Seventh day of Christmas

my true love gave to me...Seed pods from a tree :)


This might be the cheapest craft you do this holiday season - FREE!!

I collected jacaranda seed pods from my front yard, gumnuts from down the street, and these bird looking seedpods that I have no idea what they are from the next street over... all from off the ground!!

then I painted them with some house paint sample tins (gifted to me from my sister in law - THANKS Karyn :)I didn't even use a paint brush.. I just dipped the whole seed in the paint tin then hung the pods from a tree in my yard with a peg and let them drip dry in the sun :)

Then I wrapped raffia bows around them (or use whatever ribbons you have in your craft stash) and some beads for the birds and hung them using fishing line.

viola... Instant natural decorations for your tree. We have hung ours on our Thanksgiving tree (branches) Do you think the jacaranda's look like baubles, the gumnuts like bells, and unknown pod like little birds? We do.. perfect christmas decorations!

Hair today... Gone Tomorrow

The hairy beasts have been tamed!! We all went and got a haircut yesterday! A wonderful girl from church is a hairdresser.. and she is soo good :) and cheap :)

My girls have been growing their hair for a long time.. they wanted to reach their bottoms... well they were 1/2 of the way there.. but the time had come.. Mum had had enough!!

Before (they roughed it up a bit for this photo)


Miss K before


and after


Miss A before


and after


Me before


Me after


yeah yeah I know.. mine didn't change much.. she just thinned it out for me.. she took ALOT out actually, I really wanted to chop it all off (but in ode to my husband who is begging me to have long hair for a while I left it longish - I seem to cut my hair short, grow it, cut it, grow it, cut it (in two year cycles.. hey I'm a cheap wife.. I only cut my hair yearly or 2 yearly ;)

You should have seen the pile of hair when we left!! looked like a dead animal in the corner!! The girls did want to save it to make a wig for daddy.. but I made them leave it all behind :)

Sixth day of Christmas

my true love gave to me... A Christmas Movie..


For the last two years I have made a short Christmas movie to be emailed to friends in lieu of Christmas cards. This year we are currently working on a *top secret* video where the girls are the 3 wise men.

If your kids are anything like mine they perform constantly except when there is a video camera or you actually want them to do something. To combat this I start our christmas video in October/November. We put together an idea, look around the house for costumes, make props and then start filming. As they are little and their attention spans short I make the movie over many weeks. Saturday and Sunday Afternoons we might spend 15 mins each week over several weeks taking photos and small video segments. My wonderful computer IT man (the MR) then puts it all together for me in movie maker with a song over the top (so you can't hear me directing (bossing)the children what to do :)

We have so many ideas that we will be going for years, but some obvious ideas are

The Nativity
The night before Christmas
Jingle Bells
Rudolf the red nosed Reindeer
The nutcracker
Any Christmas song

So get directing/producing.. and you'll have a wonderful tradition you can look at year after year.. my girls love this nativity movie of themselves and watch it often.

Remembrance Day

Remembrance Day – also known as Poppy Day, Armistice Day (the event it commemorates) or Veterans Day – is a day to commemorate the sacrifices of members of the armed forces and of civilians in times of war, specifically since the First World War. It is observed on 11 November to recall the end of World War I on that date in 1918. The day was specifically dedicated by King George V, on 7 November 1919, to the observance of members of the armed forces who were killed during war.

The girls will be observing the minute silence at school and making poppy wreaths today.




There is 'hope' for peace through our children


On a side note: 10 years ago today my wonderful husband proposed to me... It was a suprise (to him and me) as we had no ring.. so there is the unofficial engagement and the official one a few weeks later :) The Remembrance Day celebrations help us remember the date ;) The engagement had nothing to do with Remembrance day.. we probably didnt even know it was... but now I can see that life goes on and we can make future generations who will hopefully never engage in the horrors of war.

Kitchen Challenge - Unplug Your kids

Last weeks theme at Unplug Your Kids was Kitchen

My first idea was to make Tissue Paper Bowls an idea I saw at Kids Craft Weekly (scroll down) You know, bowls for your kitchen.. I have wanted to try these out for a while...

then the end of the week came and went with a wedding, birthday parties, and I promptly forgot that is what I wanted to do..

so on Monday morning before school the girls did this:

I donated my last years Ikea Catalogue for the kitchen section to be cut up (we haven't received any junk mail going on over 6 months now.. so this was all I had)


6:30am craft session anyone?


Then this afternoon for Family Home Evening we made these:


It's meant to be a teddy in a float ring in the ocean with white wave break ;) but doesn't matter what it looks like.. it tasted good!

Fifth day of Christmas

my true love gave to me... a book for christmas memories....


I have made mini books before using card and paper. Then I saw this idea at Craft Daisies - A Christmas Card Book which was practically the same except using a christmas card.

All you need for this craft is some christmas cards, copy paper, scissors and a sewing machine (which you don't need if you hand sew the card.. but this is much faster for me.. this craft can be done in 2 mins!)


Place card with folded paper (I cut a copy sheet in half then folded the half using two sheets of paper so my books have 8 pages.. you can do more or less) in sewing machine and straight stitch down. Reverse a little at top and bottom to secure thread or alternately tie bow at ends with loose thread.


Make a whole bunch for gifts - school class gifts, friends, family and for your own children to write Christmas lists, wishes, dreams. I am keeping one for us to write what happend this Christmas, traditions we upheld, presents we got on Christmas morning. My plan is to keep one for each year to remember our Christmas Memories/


Admire your handiwork - and think of how many of these you could crank out in one sitting :)

Sabbath

Thou visitest the earth, and waterest it: thou greatly enrichest it with the river of God which is full of water ~ Psalms 65:9

Shadow Shot

One of the many gates I pass on my walks.

see Hey Harriet for more Shadow Shots

Fourth Day of Christmas

my true love gave to me..... Stockings for Goodies.

I got this idea from One Crafty Mumma and she has a pattern there you can print out. She also has a 25 days of Christmas Ideas that I have also borrowed ideas from.

But here is what I did to make the stockings

Using the pattern, I cut out the shapes from Felt (I made my stockings a little wider than the pattern - so I can fit more stuff in them :)


Now time to get the sewing machine out. Place ribbon in position and staight stitch on. Place photos in position and straight stitch on.


Add buttons, beads, whatever you would like to emblish with


Sew back piece on and a hook/hanging piece


Enjoy your cherubs :)


You can decorate these however you wish. Mine are plain as I didn't want to spend any money...I was trying to make them with whatever I had in my craft stash (which isn't much)

and the stockings were hung by the fireplace with great care... In the hopes that Christmas would soon be there!! (and I actually have a fireplace.. Yeeeeahhhh)

Thankful Thursday

While Thanksgiving isn't celebrate in Australia (anyone want to come here and do a dinner anyways??) because we didn't have pilgrims and Indians.. We had convicts, free settlers and Aboriginals.

However I still think November is the perfect month to think about all we are thankful for and to spend some of the time devoted to activities that will make the children reflect and not think about me me me and all they want for Christmas.

Here are some wonderful thansgiving ideas I found on the net.

Chocolate on my Cranium's Thanks and Giving Trees. I would show you a photo of mine but I only have a black and white printer so mine isn't as pretty as hers.

I love love this idea from The little travellers - A Gratitude Tree.. I made one today.. my photo isnt clear - do you know how hard it is to photograph some bare sticks??


Each day write something you are grateful for on a thin strip of paper and tie in around the branches. Children could attached paper coloured leaves etc.


A wonderful daily family activity - making a Thanksgiving Paper Chain found at Life at 7000 feet.

What a wonderful family tradition of a Thanksgiving Table Cloth which is written on and added to each year.

Here is Family Fun's Corn Kernel thanks game to play around the table during dinner with family

Enjoy giving thanks and remember all your blessings :)

Third Day of Christmas

my true love gave to me... A set of Baboushka babies!

I got the idea for these lovely little ladies from The Pesky Bombolino. There is no pattern I just held up a piece of paper to my computer screen and traced them. I cut two shapes out of felt like a number 8, or a big peanut :)They are about 10cm tall. I embroidered one side and then machine sewed wrong sides together, leaving a gap to turn out, stuff and handsewed the hole shut. Voila.. you have a little baboushka doll that your kids will be fighting to get their hands on (well maybe that's just my girls - hence why I made 3.) They sit near a real russian babouska set I got from a friend who served her mission in Russia (which I love and hopefully these stuffed ones will stop my kids from further destroying my non replaceable Russian ones)

Now you might think what does this have to do with Christmas? Well apart from being Red and Cute here are a few reasons for you to consider

We have a book of Christmas traditions from around the world that we love to read. On of my favourites is about Old Befana. These babouska's are my Befana's. Both Italians and Russians tell this similar story. I much prefer Befana/Baboushka over Santa.

The Wise men stopped to stay with Befana. They invited her to go with them to see the Christ Child. She declined as she was busy cleaning. After they had left she saw her mistake and tried to follow after them... She was never able to find the Christ Child. So today she leaves a gift at any house that has a child incase the Christ Child is there.

How lovely is that? I would love to compare my children to the Christ Child at Christmas. To me at least this story is Christ related which is the whole meaning of Christmas :)

In Spain it is not Santa who comes bearing gifts, but the Three Wise Men, children place their shoes on the doorstep, and in the night, the Three Wise Men pass leaving gifts. What great traditions which you can't really do here as Santa is all invading, but its nice to dream :)

Here are some links to websites that tell of different Christmas Traditions around the world if you are interested in finding something new to do at Christmas
Traditions around the world
Traditions around the world
Traditions around the world

We actually don't do the santa thing at our house *gasp* I never thought I would be one of those parents as my husband and I both believed in santa as children. But I have a question to you all - how do you do it? How do you keep up the facade?

When my first child was 1 and 2 we just gave her presents under the tree. We usually decorate with nativitys, trees, stars, tinsel, wreaths etc. I only have a few santas. Miss K could talk by 1 year and very well by 2. By the time she was 3 she just instictively knew Santa wasn't real. And thus our non Santa Tradition began. We didn't back track and start implementing Santa and now we have 3 kids and it is too late... I am actually glad.. but sometimes feel they may have missed out on the magic of Christmas. This same thing happened in my family with my youngest brother (10 years under me - we all pretended to believe in Santa for his sake) - and the little thing was too smart and asked so many questions after question he just didn't believe either at around 4 years old... too smart for that story!

One thing about my children not believing in santa is that I get the recognition for buying their gifts.. they are grateful to their parents! I don't have to let them down one day when they find out the truth. And my guilt in not believing in santa forces me to make the month of December enjoyable for my girls. I try to put effort into many other activities and not just waiting for the magical 25th of December to come - which is always a let down anyways!

Also I find it enjoyable to read the story of the Real St nicholas and why santa came about... Because they don't believe in Santa we can have conversations about the real st nicholas and what we can learn from him and other traditions around the world. I am actually fine with movies with Santa and books.. we love to read "The Night Before Christmas" I am comfortable that they can learn something from these without believing in it...when it is Christ I want them to believe in and I also don't have to lie to my children.

There it is off my Chest.. We don't believe in Santa and are proud of it... It happened by accident but I am glad. I am happy for those families who do celebrate Santa, I promise... I tell my kids they are NOT allowed to tell other kids that Santa isn't real... I don't want them to be dream wreckers!!

Second day of Christmas

On the Second day of Christmas my true love gave to me.... Personalised ornaments for the tree...

I love family Christmas ornaments. I have made baubles with our names in glitter, tiny photo frame ornaments, and wooden cut out stockings with names on them. I love something personalised specific to our family around the house at Christmas.

I don't have instructional photos.. sorry...

My dad cut me 4cmx4cm cubes from free wood offcuts from the side of the road ;)

I painted them white using normal acrylic paints.

Then I printed out 4 photos of each person in the family shrunk down to the same size.

I used PVA glue to glue on the photos to four sides of each cube. I then used the same PVA glue and painted over the whole cube (the bottom at a seperate time) If you have Mod Podge use that.

I then hand screwed in an eye hook at the top and attached a string. I tied a red bow around each hook.

Here I am in all my Christmas Glory :)


We're just a bunch of blockheads :)

Flag Challenge - Unplug your kids

Last weeks challenge at Unplug Your Kids was FLAG

We did something easy peasy : We used our favourite childrens Encyclopedia and copied flags from it. We made flags of countries from all the different International Students we have had live with us. We have been a fulltime Homestay Family for 4 years now and have had over 25 students live with us from many parts of the world





countries include : Japan, Taiwan, South Korea, Thailand, United Arab Emerites, Brazil, Colombia,France, Switzerland. Most common to stay with us are Japanese, Taiwanese and Koreans.

Sabbath

My doctrine shall drop as the rain, my speech shall distil as the dew, as the small rain upon the tender herb, and as the showers upon the grass ~ Deuteronomy 32:2

12 Days of Christmas - First Day

On the First Day of Christmas my true love gave to me.... A Christmas Pillow..to be!

I have made Christmas Pillowcases to give away before, but never for my own children. Growing up I loved my Christmas Pillowcase (shop bought) an extra bit of Christmas Cheer each night as you snuggle into bed and so we could have good Christmas dreams.

This year I decided to start a new tradition of taking the girls to the fabric store to choose their own material to have a pillowcase made out of. You gotta snap up that Christmas fabric quick before all those crafty types buy it all ;)



Making a pillowcase is very easy.... Take a look at one you have... fold a rectangle of material(good sides together) with a bit left over the top and fold over.(or cut 2 pieces, one longer than the other. Sew sides. Unfold. I didn't have to hem the top because I used the selvedge (is that the name of the edge that doesnt fray - the edge of fabric?)But if you don't have that, Hem one top edge of the pillowcase before beginning. Does this make sense?



A beautiful Pillow ( I Love this fabric Miss K chose)


I wanted them to sleep on the for the month of December but they were so happy with their pillows they have started already and Miss K said she had a wonderful Christmas dream last night :) Working already.

Shadow Shot

My shadow shot for Hey Harriet's Shadow Shot Sunday
Waiting near the playground for School Pick up I looked down and saw my shadow - I had to take a photo for Shadow Shot of course! No humble modesty here ;)