Are you crafty?

When we started homeschooling, my girls were in the 4th and 2nd grades. They loved crafts and we did tons of them. When you look at our tree, it's covered in homemade ornaments the kids have made. One of my favorites is one Nichelle did in school when she was 4 years old. It's a silver bell made out of an egg carton cup, covered in tin foil with a pipe cleaner and bell attached to it. It's so simple, but one of my favorites. The boys are in 4th and 1st grade this year. They love crafts too, but they're a little less patient than the girls were, so I keep things simple. This picture is of my boys this week, being goofy as always. We made star ornaments out of popsicle sticks and sequins. Nathan wanted to do a Star of David and Neil decided to do a traditional star. Sometimes crafts can be pretty complicated, but I cheated and used pre-colored sticks and adhesive sequins. The only thing I helped was with the hot glue gun so we wouldn't have to wait hours for them to dry. The funny thing is, because they were so simple, my boys enjoyed making them even more. The girls could sit there for hours, cutting things out, gluing stuff on, getting things just right. The boys like things fast and easy -- must be a boy thing! We made egg cup bells yesterday and on Monday we turned last year's Christmas cards into angels.

This other picture is of me taken sometime in the 70s. Even though I'm painting eggs here, I'm sure this was a Christmas project. I remember having this awesome Christmas craft book that had all sorts of fun projects. One of them was to blow out the inside of eggs and paint them into Christmas ornaments. I think that's what I'm doing here and I'd guess that was the book behind me on the couch. I've searched for that book online, but haven't been able to find it. I remember doing so many fun projects. I'd love to find an old copy of it, but I can't remember the name. I always loved doing crafts, whether it be in school or at home. I remember Christmas fondly because I kept myself busy making crafts. Today the boys are making peace doves and tomorrow they'll make handprint lambs. Then after school we're heading to the library to drop off some books and then over to Joann's Crafts. I found a handful of old Christmas cards the other day and I want to get more beads to turn them into little angel ornaments. Tis the Season to be Crafty!