Stained Glass Christmas Decorations

A few months the Minimen were right into craft activities, so I have been really looking forward to Christmas and all the great things we could make together.

However, things haven’t turned out the way I had pictured in my head. Their interest in craft has waned and I have been left to make by myself.

A couple of days ago I made these cute stained glass decorations using just some  clear coloured pony beads and an egg ring.

First I turned my oven on and set the temperature for the hottest setting.

I placed some baking paper on a tray and tipped the beads into the egg ring in a single layer. You could also use any metal biscuit cutter to make your decoration.

I put them in the oven for about 20 minutes. After this time the beads were soft but not fully melted. I pressed down on them with the back of a spoon to squish them together more.

It easily removed from the egg ring and the plastic hardens up really quickly once out of the oven.

There were little gaps where I was able to thread some string to tie it to the tree.

I really like how it turned out, I was hoping that the different colours would melt together more, maybe they would if I wasn’t impatient and had left them in the oven longer…..that might be an experiment for another day.

The great thing about these decorations is that you don’t even have to put them away after Christmas. Enjoy them all year round by hanging them in a window to catch the light.

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An easy Wreath to make with the kids

 

Despite the title of this post, my kids did not help make this in any way I was told when I asked if they wanted to help “No, Mum. You can do it all by yourself”

I recently found this cute wreath via Pinterest.

 

This is the site it is from. It is in Hungarian, Google will translate it for you, but the photos are pretty self explanatory so you don’t really need it.

All you need is used toilet rolls, green paint, red beads and glue

I used 11 toilet rolls. I started by cutting each one into 5 pieces and painting inside and outside green.

Then using a glue gun I glued the 5 pieces together to form this flower shape.

Once I had made all the flowers I glued them together to make 1 small wreath, using 5 flowers and one larger wreath, using six flowers.

I placed the smaller one on top of the bigger one then glued some red beads on, and there you have it. A simple Christmas wreath!

 

Related articles

• Easy handprint Christmas wreath for kids (nurturestore.co.uk)
• Mickey Christmas Wreath Tutorial (amanandhismouse.net)
• Ornament Wreath. Move over Martha Stewart. (recipesweremadetobebroken.wordpress.com)
• A fun wreath project! (vanessanash.wordpress.com)

 

Advent Calendar

This year has just completely gotten away from me, how did it get to be Christmas again already? I had such plans of Christmas craftiness and starting early but here I am in the last week of November and only just getting going!

So this year I wanted to make the Minimen an Advent calendar with a difference, instead of cheap chocolate or junky toys for the countdown to what is possibly the greatest day of the year for most kids, I decided to fill their days with fun (hopefully) events. Some of them are simple, like a trip to the movies or their choice of take out meal, others are much more exciting like a trip to an outdoor ice skating rink ( this is pretty special since Christmas is in the middle of Summer here) or visiting Lollipop Land.

To make the calendar I used a bamboo stick, any other type of stick would work just as well, paint, glitter, string, Christmas ornaments and small cards and envelopes.

Even though it is the middle of Summer in Brisbane I love Winter themed Christmas decorations. I started by painting the bamboo blue, then once that was dry I painted some craft glue on the ends and in the middle and coated this with white glitter.

Using a silver marker I wrote each activity on a card and placed it in a numbered envelope.

I punched a hole in each envelope, attached a string and tied them to the bamboo. I added the snowflake decorations, hung it on the wall and took a bunch of photos of it.

I can’t wait to start opening the cards with the Minimen. I hope they enjoy this as much as I enjoyed making it.