turned my little girl into an elf

I saw on pinterest about making your child into an elf, so that it was I did with a picture of my daughter.  I will show you a picture of her as an elf, and I also have a template for the elf accesories (hat, mittens, boots, etc) for you.  I used, of course, two mittens and two booties (just flipped one side around.  I did cut these out of cardstock just so they'd be sturdier.  I cropped a picture of her and printed it out as an 8x10, then cut out her face & neck.  The body is an 8-1/2x11 piece of cardstock with corners rounded.

Shatterproof ornament for classroom activity

I'm doing two projects for Nater's Kindergarten Christmas party.  The first one is a thumbprint reindeer ornament.  I bought some silver & gold shatterproof ornments at Hobby Lobby for 50% off, a brown Staz-on ink pad, red, brown & black sharpie markers, and red and green ribbon to make these.  I think the kids will enjoy them.  Here is the sample we made at home today

week one of the elf

Here is a recap of our first week with *Sparkles* the elf.
1.  North pole breakfast
2.  crepe papered bedroom door
3. " be good" spelled out with golfish crackers and a candy cane heart
4.  hanging a sign from the ceiling fan in the dining room
5.  coloring with crayons in a coloring book
6.  snow angel in rice on the dining room table
7.  q-tip snowflake with glitter glue

the Elf on the Shelf calendar

this is the calendar I worked up of ideas to do each night for when she wakes up in the morning.

the Elf on the Shelf is here!

The Elf on the Shelf arrived today, her elf is named *Sparkles*. She brought an intro letter, a book, and a gift (Prep & Landing, a Disney movie about an Elf of course!). *Sparkles* hosted a North Pole Breakfast of Rudolph the red-nosed reindeer pancake with bacon antlers, powdered donuts on a candy cane, hot cocoa with mini marshmallows, and milk!

Truth in the tinsel has started

We are doing Truth in the Tinsel E-book Advent Activities this year.  I also bought the additional e-book for the ornaments to do this year.  Next year it is my hope we will do more homemade ornaments.  I was trying to choose between doing a Jesse tree or the Truth in the Tinsel for advent.  Truth in the tinsel won out for me due to the quality of the printables for ease this year due to my work schedule.   For our tree, I bought a white foam board, free-hand drew a christmas tree in pencil, then i cut it out with an exacto knife.  I was able to make the star and the tree trunk from the foam board scraps.  I painted the tree green and the star and trunk gold.  In the third picture she is putting on her second ornament.  I have the tree mounted with command strips that won't damage wood or walls tou our closet by the front door, so everyone will see it!

the Elf on Shelf is coming for a visit

We will have someone new coming to visit us this holiday season, it's *Sparkles* the friendly Elf.  He is due to arrive on Sunday, December 2nd with a North Pole breakfast he will bring with him on a new Christmas plate, bowl & cup!  Thanks to Pinterest there are many good, fun things for him to do that are very inexpensive.  I do have him surprising Naters' with a gift each Sunday (a stuffed elf she can touch, a pair of pajamas, the movie Prep & Landing, a hello kitty outfit, and Kung Fu Panda Holiday movie).  Look on the internet (I did google searches), you will also find free printables such as a passport, an into letter, gift tags, elf reports, goodbye letter, and many more items.  I've pre-printed them (which is also why I know his name already!) and put them in my Christmas planner so that I am prepared!

Santa's footprints

Going to do Santa's footprint from the fireplace to her presents under the tree that are from Santa.
I'm going to use a mixture of baking soda and glitter.

D'Nealian handwriting practice sheets for a Princess

Nater's school district uses D'Nealian.  We've never practiced this before, so I've made her worksheets to pratice with.  I did princeses to keep her interest, next I will probably do her sight words.  I realize I did both Sleeping Beauty & Aurora, but I wanted to fill all the spaces.  Just click on to copy & print.

planning Kindergarten craft for Christmas party

This is a quick, low-cost craft I came up with for Nater's Kindergarten class.  The paint sample strips I got at Lowe's (no cost) and I already had on hand a Christmas stamp set from Stampin' Up! and a Staz-on black stamp pad.  I'll buy a couple ribbons for the kids to choose from and I'll also have on-hand a sharpie marker so they can write their name on the back.  I used a glue dot to made sure the ribbon stayed in place.

2012 Christmas planner, updated

Ok, I had to add some Bling.  Got some glitter paper to add to it.  This planner really came together fast since I already had so much information stored on my computer, but I already feel more oragnized.  marking days to decorate, mail cards & packages, baking days, etc....

2012 Christmas Planner

I downloaded and read the Ebook, Untangling Christmas at Untangling Christmas.Org then I made myself a binder as suggested.  I ended up with more tabs in my binder and I also went with a 3-inch binder, they recommended a 1 inch. 

 My tabs are
1. Calendars / To Do lists
I printed off some cute page calendars for the month of November & December from the internet and now im filling up the spaces!
2. To Give / Christmas gift lists
(I have my Christmas gifts lists back to 2007 on my computer)
3. To Mail (I have in here a zipper pocket for stamps and my address list from my computer for Christmas cards & mailing packages
4. Operation Christmas Child
5. Brunswick Eagle Christmas Basket Program
6. To Bake & Recipes
                                                                                    7.  To Thank
8. Elf of the Shelf I've found some free ideas lists and printables from the internet that i've printed and put in here, including an eld introduction letter
9. Truth In the Tinsel  We are going to do either a Jesse Tree or Truth int he Tinsel this year but i have to reseach nd decide on one so i put both in the since I have printed off materials for them
10. Jesse Tree

Pirates and Princesses Halloween

We went to a local community theatre's, Pirates & Princesses show.  It was for Halloween.  Every one got chips, a hot dog, and apple cider.  then we saw a 30-minute show (Peter Pan, Captain Hook and the Lost Boys and then a Princess Dance Along.  Afterwards the kids got to go around the each character and go trick or treating.  It was a great evening for the little ones!

Halloween treats at home

I saw these pudding mix & cake mix cookied on pinterest at The Mother Huddle
I used Pumpkin spice pudding mix and a yellow cake mix.  They came out wonderful!
frosted them with cream cheese frosting!  YUMMY!

Makes 2 dozen cookies.
Ingredients:
1 Duncan Hines 16.5oz cake mix (I used classic white, but you can use any flavor)
1 small 3.4oz box of instant pudding (I used vanilla, but again whatever suits your fancy)
Two extra large eggs, one stick of softened butter
Instructions:
Preheat oven to 350°
In a large bowl stir together the cake and pudding mixes
Add eggs and butter and mix until a dough is formed – you may have to get your hands involved ;)
Roll into 1 inch balls and place on an ungreased nonstick cookie sheet or baking stone
Bake for 6-7 minutes
Place on a baking rack to cool
You do not want to over cook these Store in an air-tight container, or ziplock bag.
It may seem like they aren’t quite finished but once
they won’t be soft and chewy if you do.they cool they are perfect.
store in air tight container
Recipe from the motherhuddle.com

Halloween play-doh treats for the Kids

decided to give the kids some glittery, scented play-doh in with their candy, tattoos, and stickers.  we made 24 bags for her Kindergarten class, 14 bags for her dance class, 6 bags for the kids at the bus stop, and four for the neighbor girls behind us!  I went through more than a bag of flour!!  That is a lot of play-doh making!

these are just the bags for her class.

Halloween decorations

I found a great way to glitter just about anything.  mix in glitter with mod podge and paint on.  I will warn you, it takes a lot of glitter and a few coats, but the glitter stays put and its so sparkly!  I used martha stewart's fine glitters and was so very happy with how they came out. 

pumpkin carving ...

didn't go so well.  she was gagging and crying even after she went to other side of the table.

fun at the pumpkin farm

after we got them set up, we drew faces on them with a sharpie marker.