Wednesday, December 16, 2009

More Christmas Trees


The girls made these little Christmas Tree gift boxes for
Emily's teachers this week. They were similar to the advent
Christmas trees but this craft was not meant to be a quick
one. I much prefer crafts that take time (preferably days),
because the results are always better, and the kids have
sufficient time to develop their ideas and appreciate
the sequence.


We started out with plain cardboard quadrants,
just like the advent trees. We cut up a cereal box for
these. A loop of red ribbon was glued to the tip of
each cone. Actually, I like this natural version a lot as
is, but that would be a project for just me.


Then the girls painted them green. This was something
even Kate could do, which I liked.


Then they were left to dry.



We collected various embellishments and began
decorating - which ranged from simple

and elegant (I would've stopped right
here and declared it finished!)


to a bit blingy
.

But with the little ones, more is always better

and make for more colorful trees anyway




Again, the glue was left to dry for another day.

Meanwhile, we started work on the contents of the trees.
I ironed freezer paper on the back of muslin scraps (to
make them easier to draw on) and Emily drew Baby Jesus
images on the front with fabric markers. Then these were
made into 2D softies with gingham backs and stuffed by Emily.


Jenna drew a person, and was very happy that I carefully
preserved her long left arm in the sewing process.

And Emily finished up with a fairy princess (of course).

The girls put a Baby Jesus in each tree, then filled it with
Hershey's kisses and we glued on a cardboard base

so they could be held by their little ribbon loops
and given away to teachers.


2 comments:

  1. That's one of the cutest ideas I have seen this season!

    ReplyDelete
  2. What nice gifts! I really need to try using freezer paper sometime - I am always reading about people doing wonderful things with it.

    I'm always trying long-term crafts with my kids, but their attention spans for a project sizzle out too quickly. I find I have to wait weeks or even months before they are into a particular project again. Do you have any tips for maintaining interest?

    ReplyDelete

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