Christmas Crafts

We are linking up with Emily at The Anderson Crew   today and embracing the camera. 

Anthony had today off and he is always so good about playing with the kids. I caught him playing with Ari....

 

 Let me preface this by saying I did not come up with either of these crafts. The first has been going around Facebook so I decided to do it with the kids. The second was posted on Facebook by another mom friend as she was looking through blogs. So they are not original. 

I made the ever popular felt tree for the kids. For less than $6 they each got their own tree so no fights. It has kept them busy and they loved watching me make them.

The second craft that took a lot longer and cost a bit more money was a homemade advent calendar. Instead of being filled with candy or toys it is filled with Bible Verses and things pertaining to that Bible Verse telling the Christmas Story. This is my version. Which is two ideas combined. 

Every night at dinner we read the verse for the day. Eli knows when we get to the bottom right big box pictured above it is Christmas. He loves to see what is in each box at night. Lilliana does not quit understand but she enjoys that we open the boxes and gets excited. 

I will say if you are going to do this some tips.............Get a coupon for the Canvas. I kicked myself for not grabbing my 40% coupon for Hobby Lobby. I wish I would have. They do have an app for your phone where you can get coupons I learned after the fact. Also you might need more paint for the canvas. I wish I had more as I didn't get the edges done so improvised with ribbon. I just didn't feel like driving the 30 minutes back to Hobby Lobby. It worked though. Here are the links to the original ideas for this.

http://howsweeteritis.blogspot.com/2011/11/advent-calendar-teach-true-story-of.html

http://modpodgerocksblog.com/2010/11/diy-big-box-advent-calendar.html

Last but not least Larry was captured last night by the military men. They must have suspected he was up to no good..............

Have a wonderful Thursday. Embrace your Cameras today.