Its begining to look a lot like Christmas...

Today, we got crafty.  After breakfast, while the kids are still sitting at the table... thats when I break out the art box.

Every year since Madeline was born, we have made a hand print ornament for the grandparents, and if there was enough, for us too.  The salt dough recipe I use is 1C salt, 1C water and 2C flour.  I always end up adding more flour as I knead and shape the dough.  You can cook the finished product in the oven at 200 to speed the drying, but I should warn you it took about 2 days of having the oven on all day to dry them out.  When Maddy was just 4 months old, we made the cutest little ornament... but now that shes 3, her ornament is big and heavy.  I will have to start brainstorming for an alternative for next year... anyways.  Today we got crafty and painted the hand prints and assorted cookie cutter ornaments we made last week. 

Charlie stuck with blue.  "BLUE!  more BLUE!" he kept saying.  Maddy only wanted pink and purple.  I painted the hello kitty ornament I made for Madeline and touched up the kids hand prints when they were 'done'.  The super washable crayola paint I swear by was NOT good for these ornaments.  It just sat on top and didn't really adhere to the surface.  The kids didn't seem to mind, but I was aching for my box of acrylic paints. 

 

I also made a few prototypes for the ornament crafty time I am hoping to host at my house this weekend.  (www.meetup.com -search for chico moms group)  First I thought salt dough ornaments would be fun to make, but then no one can decorate them because they take days to dry.  Also it was nearly impossible for me to get just 2 kids not to throw, eat or otherwise destroy their clay creations after they had finished them.  Then I though, we could paint ones I already made... not with my faulty crayola paints but with puff paint or something.  They already look like cookies, why not decorated them like cookies?  I also made a popsicle stick snow flakes that was tougher than I would have thought to get to stay together.  If I premade a bunch and we decorated them, they might make nice picture frames for the kids to give to the parents as a gift for the holidays.  And they're not not solely for christmas, they are for winter, so everybody wins.

cheapo materials used-  cookie cutters, popsicle sticks, glitter paint, salt dough, amazing washable paints, googly eyes, white glue, brushes... all but the paints were from the dollar store, and those are still a bargain 5 bucks pretty much anywhere they're sold.