Great Website For Printable Crafts

I love to craft but sometimes I need a little help. This is one of my favorite places to go.

Today I'm a little under the weather so I printed out a My Little Pony painting activity for my daughter. 

I poured a little but of Crayola washable paint into some Dixie cups, (contains the mess much better than dipping straight into the container, not to mention prevents mixing colors in the jar).

I cut the eye and decals off so she didn't paint over those and then let her have at it.
Now I have a little girl who is happy as can be!

The hardest part is making her wait till the paint is dry to cut it out. 😄

learncreatelove.com has many crafts. Not only girly crafts, they have lot so of "boy" themed crafts, as well as a good number of educational crafts too. I highly encourage you to check it out!

Easy craft Inspiration

Somehow I ended up on a certain 'trading' magazines mailing list. I don't purchase things from them (because I don't need a dozen or more of each item) but I do love all the great ideas I get from browsing through it!

The latest magazine has provided a surplus of inspiration….

GINGERBREAD MAN:

Cut a gingerbread man shape out of brown construction paper.
Let your child use stickers or puff paint to add decorations
Use a marker to make the face.

MITTENS:

Cut mitten shapes out of random colors of construction paper.
Use buttons, stickers, ribbon, and scrap paper to decorate them. 

TREES, SNOWMAN, REINDEER:

Trees: cut tree shape out of green constsucion paper and let your child decorate them with paint or markers.

Snowman: lay 6 sticks side by side horizontally. Glue them together with a vertical stick across the middle. let your child paint the bottom half wihite and the top half black. Once dry you can glue on goggly eyes orange scrap paper for a nose and draw on a mouth.

Reindeer: cut a rounded triangle our of brown paper, trace and cut out your childs hands for the antlers. Add goggly eyes, use red sparkle glue or red sparkle paper to make a nose. Add more decorations if desired.

BENDY SNOWMAN:

Use a white paper plate for the body. Cut a smaller white circle for the head. Add a hat made from black construction paper. Cut a piece of white construction paper length wise into 2" strips. Take 4 of those pieces and fold them accordion style. Cut boots and mittens out of scrap paper. Glue onto bottom of arms and legs. Add a face with scrap paper pieces or draw on. 

CANDY CANE MICE, GINGERBREAD PEOPLE, SNOWMEN IN STOCKINGS:

Mice: cut an oval out of card stock. about 1/3 way down add 2 slits wide enough to feed a candy can through. Add eyes, nose and ears.
Gingerbread people: See top craft
Snowmen in Stockings: Cut a basic stocking shape out of construction paper, cut a white circle slightly bigger than the width of the top of the stocking. Glue it to the top of the stocking. Add arms with scraps of brown paper. Add facial features to the snowmen and use paint or stickers to decorate the stockings.

REINDEER IN A WREATH:

Cut a large circle out of green construction paper. Cut a rounded triangle about 2/3rds of that  size to create the head of the reindeer. Use remaining brown paper to cut 2 small oval ears and 2 small rounded triangles for the legs. Use black marker to draw on antlers and add the bottom of the hooves. Use red paper, sticker, glitter, or a large craft gem for a nose. Decorate wreath with red paper or paint to create berries if you wish.

I will be making several of these with my daughter soon and will be providing more detailed instructions and temples.


HAPPY HOLIDAY CRAFTING!

Christmas Wish List Activity For Kids

My daughter is not yet old enough able to write her wish list to 'Santa'. However, she has great scissor skills for her age and I found a free toy ad at Walmart. So here is this years Christmas list. 

The only thing needed for this activity are a child excited for Christmas, scissors, construction paper, a toy ad, and glue. I also had my daughter practice her writing tracing out "Dear Santa" on top and printing her name on the bottom.

Now all we have left to do is mail the letter to The North Pole.

🎅

Great smelling' house!

Ever have your house smell funny....

 but you don't want to walk around with a can of air freshener....

(fearing you may suffocate your child with the chemical cloud it would require to rid the house of the smell...)

Here is an all natural, low cost, and very easy way to make your house smell like fall.

Grab a few cinnamon sticks*, a tablespoon of cloves*,  2 tablespoons of lemon juice, and an apple.

 *both available in bulk food area of grocery store for a reasonable price

Slice the apple into a few pieces and place them in a 2 quart sauce pan with the cinnamon sticks, lemon juice, and cloves. Add 3 cups of water and set to simmer.

Wait for a bit and soon you will notice warm scent of cinnamon filling your kitchen and seeping into the rest of your home.  Check every 20 minutes or so. As the water evaporates you can add water and let it continue to freshen your home.

SAFTY NOTE: Never leave anything on the stove unattended. 

In other words: Watch carefully so that the water doesn't boil off and create a burnt applesauce.

Gluten Free Olliebollen (a real Dutch treat)

Oliebollen is a traditional Dutch treat and one of my personal favorites! 

You will also see it spelled 'Olie-bollen'. This is a dutch pastry similar to a doughnut. It typically is a deep fried pastry filled with raisins or apples and dusted with sugar. 

However, being gluten free I have missed out on eating this treat over the years, so I decided it was time to make a GF version.

First start by mixing up a gluten free flour base. Here is my favorite standby: 

Take 4 cups of the gluten free flour mixture.

Add 1/2 cup of sugar, 

        4 tsp baking powder, 

        1 tsp salt. 

Mix together.

Add 2 eggs

        1 1/2 cups milk

         1/4 cup canola oil.

Mix together by hand. 

The dough should be sticky and thick. (This gluten free version will feel different than regular batter.)

Chop up 2 apples (the smaller you chop them the better) and add 1cup of raisins.

Fold the apples and raisins into the batter.

Heat oil to 375 degrees in a large pan.

Drop a small spoonful into oil. Make sure the balls of dough are small. (Golf ball size) if they are too big the centers will not cook. 

When the Olliebollen are cooked, 2-3 minutes, take them out with a slotted spoon and put them on a paper towel. When they are cool enough to touch roll in a cinnamon sugar mixture. Traditional Oliebollen are dusted with powdered sugar but I love the cinnamon sugar. I think it goes so much better with the apple flavor.

Now eat and enjoy. They taste best fresh and warm. 
Try not to eat them all in one sitting! 😊