More crafts ...

Yesterday I posted about some of the Christmas crafts we've done. Kim mentioned how she'd like to see the little angel ornaments we made this year, so that's the picture here. I found the directions online here, but we altered it a bit. All we did was cut a circle from one of last year's Christmas cards that I had saved. Then we cut the circle in half and made a cone and stapled it. We took a piece of ribbon and made a loop and then pushed it through a wooden bead. Then we glued it onto the cone, added hair and a face. With the other half of the circle, we folded it back and forth to make wings. Hot glue the whole thing and -- presto -- instant angel! I found a bunch of other Christmas cards I saved, so yesterday I went out and bought more beads to make some more. I'm thinking I might take more time with them and I might dip the bottom of the skirts in glitter and maybe add a jingle bell on the loop to make it an angel bell. I have some glittery pipe cleaners, so I might use those to make halos. I love finding crafts that use things we've recycled. Since these angels called for recycled Christmas cards, I thought they'd be fun to make. I hate throwing away Christmas cards, so it's neat to reuse them.

Here is another ornament we made in the past. These little lamb ornaments came from Family Fun Magazine. At the time, we only had white yarn, so that's what we used. I'm planning on making more and using off white yarn next time. They were really easy to make (the girls & I did these years ago) and they turn out adorable. We made a bunch and gave them out as gifts. Today the boys will be making lamb ornamnets, but theirs will be a little different. They'll trace their hand on black foam to make the lamb's body. Then they'll glue cotton balls on them to make the fluffy fur. We've never done these before, but they should be pretty cute.

Also, Kelly asked how I keep my craft stuff. Since we've homeschooled over 11 years, we've accumulated a lot of stuff. It's not uncommon for me to have stuff like wiggle eyes, curly doll hair or something odd like sequins in the shapes of little horses. I use those Rubbermaid style shoeboxes to keep things in. I label them "wooden pieces", "beads", "misc ribbons" and so forth. I have them stacked on top of my bookshelves, so that makes it really easy to find things. I also have one big pantry-like cabinet that we refer to as "the recycable closet" and it's filled with things like styrofoam balls, fabric scraps, recycled egg cartons, paper towel rolls, jars and other odds & ends. It has doors, which is nice so I don't have to look at all the clutter. I also have an old Tupperware spice rack that I keep in there. I no longer used it in the kitchen, but didn't want to get rid of it so I use it for craft items instead. The little spice containers are perfect size for things like wiggle eyes, sequins, leftover confetti -- anything you think you might be able to reuse. After doing this for so long, you find ways to save anything.