Yarn Money Ornament

We have reached the stage where the cousins are getting old enough to want money for Christmas.  I don't mind giving money but I wanted to make it a little more special and take a little longer to open.  I have seen a lot of ideas for making monitary gifts more special but none seemed quite right.  While looking at my tree I decided to make a yarn ornament.  I had the yarn so it wouldn't require another trip to the store and is something I could do while watching TV. 

 

I started by folding a bunch of dollar bills.  I folded some in squares and some in rectangles.  I took one of the bills and started wrapping the yarn around it.  Once it was completely covered I added another bill and started wrapping yarn.  I did this until all the bills were covered and it made a big circle.

 To finish it off I added some ribbon and a note so he will know what to do and who it is from.

I decided not to wrap the gift.  Just had my sister in law hang it on the tree and it is ready for Christmas morning.

More Adventures with Jingle the Elf

We have had a great December with our mischievous little elf.  The boys still get up every morning and look for Jingle first thing.  We all love seeing the funny things he does while we are asleep.  Here are a few pictures of some of his adventures.

 

Changing the family photos

 Having a late night meal

 Hot Air Ballooning

 Wrapping presents

 Leaving notes

 Going for a ride

 Packing school lunch

 Eating Cookies

 Having Pancakes

 Hang Gliding

 Rock em' Sock em'

 Campfire Smore's

 Under the Weather

 Getting a drink

 4 Days til Christmas

 Booby Trap

Jingle will leave tomorrow to go home to the North Pole.  I know the boys will be very excited to see him again next year.

Has your elf done anything sneaky this year?

Quick and Easy Christmas Card Holder

The other night I attended my MOPS leadership Christmas party.  We had a fun night of eating and crafting from things that were found on Pinterest.  One of my friends brought this fun and simple Christmas Card Holder for us to make.  I love that you can add extra holders depending on how many cards you receive.

 You will need:

thick ribbon

clothes pins

various buttons including a large one

thinner ribbon

hot glue gun

 Start by cutting the thick ribbon to the length you want.  The more cards you receive the longer you will want it to be.  Hot glue the buttons to the clothes pins.  Use as many as you think you may need.

 Glue the big button to the top of the ribbon.  I also added a smaller button to the middle to add more color.  Attach the thinner ribbon to the back with glue to make a loop to hang it with.

Now it is ready to hang and add your cards.

We made ours so they hang vertical but it would also be cute hung horizontal.  You can add big buttons and loops to each end.

 

I can't wait to display my cards on this super cute holder.

Grinch Dinner

For this weeks family fun night we declared a Grinch Day.  We started the day by waking up to our elf holding a sign that said, "Don't be a Grinch!"  Finding our elf every morning is one of my boys favorite things so we had to have him join in on the fun.

 After lunch the boys and I made Grinch Cookies.  I found the recipe here.  They were easy to make with the boys and were very yummy.

 For dinner we had Who Pudding, Who Hash, Roast Beast and Grinch Punch.  I wasn't sure about the recipes but they all turned out great and were well received in my house.

 

I had never had pudding made this way but I was pleasantly surprised.  It smelled and tasted great.

I found this recipe for Who Pudding.

 I got the recipe for Who Hash from here.  I realized I purchased a wrong ingredient so had to wing it.  It turned out great and everyone gobbled it right down.

 I am not sure what kind of animal the actual roast beast is from the movie but I just made a chicken.  I used my standard chicken recipe that I have been using for years.

 Grinch Punch was a huge hit.  My youngest son couldn't get enough.  We finally had to move it off the table so he would eat dinner.  It is just a combination of lime sherbet and lemon-lime soda (we used Sprite).

 Here is our table set for the feast.  It was fun to sit around as a family and talk about the silly foods.

Thank you to KT's Cooking for this fun idea.

This was so much fun I think we will add it to our yearly Christmas traditions.

Have you added any fun new traditions this year?

Christmas Mantle 2012

My favorite place in my house to decorate is the mantle.  It is in the center of my living room so I look at it often.  I try to change it up a bit each year so it doesn't get boring and always look the same.  In fact, I usually move things around even after I decorate it.

The majority of the items on my mantle this year either came from yard sales or were bought on clearance after the holiday.

 I got these mice on clearance from a gift shop in a casino.  I never thought of a mouse as being all that cute until I saw these in their little scarves and hats.  They just make me smile.

 I got the little ice skating birds at the same store.  They look very wintry so I might even leave them up after I take down the Christmas decorations.

The trees and reindeer are from a yard sale.  I got them two summers ago for super cheap.

 Here is my full mantle.  I have really enjoyed it this year.  It is fun to look at and gets me in the Christmas spirit.

Linking up to this linky party!

Family Fun Night- Cookie Cutter Pizza

My little guy and I were wandering through the grocery store and I spotted some mini pepporonis.  My first thought was, "Wow it would take forever to put those on a pizza."  Then I thought of the idea to make mini pizzas.  We love to make special shaped pizzas so I knew these would be a big hit.  We decided to have rootbeer floats for dessert.

Usually I make my own pizza sauce and dough but decided to make it easy on myself and got the jarred pizza sauce and canned dough.  They were easy and fun to make and taste really good.  You could use these for any holiday that you have a cookie cutter for.  We used Christmas cookie cutters and watched a movie afterwards.

 Once the shapes are cut out just put them on a greased cookie sheet.  I let my boys "paint" on the sauce with a sauce brush.  Then they put on the pepporoni and cheese.

 These turned out really yummy.  They were small so it was easier for my boys to pick them up and eat them.

This was a great way to get everyone involved in the making of dinner.  I think we will add it to our regular menu rotation.

Breakfast with Jingle the Elf

This morning we woke up to a surprise.  Our elf Jingle had made us a special breakfast.  He decorated the table and brought gifts for the boys along with a breakfast of donuts, cereal and hot cocoa.

 There was a banner hanging over the windows that said "Be Good!"

 Here is a view of the whole table. I am not sure why one of the blinds is closed and the others are open.

 Each boy had a different plate, bowl and cup set along with their gifts.  Next to each plate was a coloring book, a poster to color and a sand ornament craft.

 There was a bucket in front of each plate that had a straw, activity book, wind up toy and finger puppets.  They also found the Elf on the Shelf movie.

 The boys were excited to see the donuts and that Jingle was sitting on the table eating breakfast with us. 

What a fun surprise.  Thanks for breakfast Jingle.

Our elf has returned

Our elf, Jingle, showed up 4 days ago.  My boys have been so excited ever since.  This morning we found them at 4 am with flashlights trying to find Jingle.  They were quickly put back to bed.

This is the 3rd year Jingle has visited us.  It is one of the traditions we look forward to the most.  We love seeing the crazy stunts our elf pulls.

 

The first day we woke to Jingle hanging on the boys Santa picture.  He had brought along his book and left us a note in Scrabble tiles.  My oldest son wrapped a toy for Jingle and left a note asking, "Do you make presents Jingle?"

 

 The next morning we found Jingle zip lining from our ceiling fan to the window.  He had left a note answering my sons question and thanking him for the gift.

 Jingle was then found helping my husband make coffee.

 My boys made a Lego tower for Jingle to play on.  This morning we found Jingle sitting at the top. 

I wonder what crazy tricks Jingle will pull next?

Do you do Elf on the Shelf?

10 Days til Thanksgiving- Thanksgiving Day

Happy Thanksgiving!

 

 We will be busy celebrating with family today so won't have time to do crafts.  Instead I thought I would share one that I made.  I made these Pilgrim hat place cards a couple years ago. 

 I took small clay pots and painted them black.  Cut a piece of black foarm that was a tad bigger and glued to the bottom.  I then painted the "band" of each hat a different color and glued on a yellow foam "buckle".

 On the back of each hat I wrote the name of the person.  It has been a fun way to show each person where to sit and added some color to our table.

Have a very Happy Thanksgiving!  I hope you enjoy spending time with friends and family.