Melted Snowman ornaments (tutorial.. sortof)

I have more to write to my "traditions" series.. I have Christmas to blog about and some home improvements to post on... but, time has escaped me lately.. that and some sickness in the family and well, blogging has taken a back seat.
It is not that I do not like to do it.. it is that with SO much to blog about I sit down overwhelmed and so, I quit.. yes, that is me, a quiter! Lol

Anyway...I would like to share some bulbs I made for family and friends over the Christmas season. I am only now posting this because I had to wait till the last of our family members received one.

They are.... THE MELTED SNOWMAN.
I seen these little guys on ... where else,  Pinterest. (can see the original here )

Here is MY version

Here are my supplies...

Orange play-doh  , peppercorn, a funnel for the salt, kosher salt (I added iridescent glitter to my salt, I thought this made it look more like real snow when it glistens), a clear bulb  and , not pictured... ribbon... for the scarf and the hanger.

First I rolled all the noses...The kids helped with this and thought this a LOT of fun.

We let the noses dry up. They were not 100% hard when we made ours but, you can do them a couple days ahead of time and make sure they are good and dry... I don't think it matters either way.

After that, I sort of quit taking pics.. we got into the groove of making them and I just didn't think to take pics... but here is what we did..

• First we added the salt via funnel to the bulb. I premixed the glitter and salt, I think this is probably the best idea..you do not want to add the glitter later in case you add too much. 
• Next dropped in the peppercorn. We eyeballed this. We decided 5-6 looked good for our bulbs but we used the smaller ones... bigger ones probably require more. Remember these are to represent the eyes and mouth so you want enough but not too much
• After adding the eyes we dropped in the nose.
• I took some old scrap fabric and frayed it to make it look like a scarf... I added it. 

After all of that we added the lid , cut some ribbon and there ya have it.. an adorable snowman...

The original did not call for the scarf or the glitter.. I just thought it made it more special but

they are SUPER cute without as well.

All in all these cost very little to make and made a huge impact. Everyone who received one LOVED them and I even had some people ask me to make them one when they seen other people receive them!

And, the kids and I just had a GREAT time making them.

These are DEFIANTLY worth archiving till next year if you are looking for something fun and inexpensive to make for gifts!

(oh and a side note.... in transfer sometimes the goodies inside would settle under the salt... if you just gently shake them, the goodies will come back to the top)

Homemade Christmas bulbs (tutorial)

Recently our church got some new hymnals.
Which meant we had several old ones laying around the church.
I took a few home and made a gift for the ladies for the church.

First I ripped out the Christmas songs from two old hymnals and cut them into strips.

Then I wound  them around a pencil top...

and put them (while still wound tightly) inside the clear bulb.

once in a shook it around a little to loosen it up a little.. like so....

I repeated this until I felt that there were enough.

I did random songs.... each bulb received a few different 

hymns. This is the finished product.

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I was really pleased with how they turned out. 

I hope they look at these and have fond memories of the beautiful 

hymns they have sang over the years from this songbook.

These hymnals were also the same ones I had at my first church ever so, I am extra happy to have one too!

I can not take full credit for this idea.

I seen THIS  on Pinterest one day..

My bulb evolved from there.

Happy Crafting!

Linked to Raising Homemakers 

Traditions... Part 2

We have a couple of newer traditions to share....

Last year was our first year of the ladies getting together and making cookies and pierogi.
My in laws serve a traditional polish dinner on Christmas Eve. of mushroom pierogi in cream of mushroom soup. My mother in law always made the pierogi herself but, last year decided to have a few extra hands.
It was a lot of fun and we decided that a good ole girls day making cookies and pierogi was new tradition. And, since it has happened two years in a row now, I can say it is tradition... right? :)

Here are a couple of pictures... my pocket  camera is really taking some crummy pictures  but I do so hate to lug my big one around everywhere.. sorry about the quality

                                                           Abigail ready to work!
\\                                           
                                                 

                                                        Our Happy little helpers!

Anna was the "kitchen manager"  We got a kick out of 

how take charge she was in the cookie making

She didn't stop once!

Abigail "helping" 

 We figured out why Anna wanted to be in charge..... YUM

(btw she did this on purpose she isn't THAT messy :P)

                                                   Our lunch break... Subway subs!

Anna back to work !

Their favorite.. sugar cookies.

My niece wanted a gingerbread girl... so I made her one LOL

Here is my niece Sophie helping <3 p="p">

A newer tradition in our immediate family is doing something.. Oh I don't know the word to describe it..

But, the last couple years we have gone to local tree lightings or the like.

This year we went to a nearby town (about an hour or so away) named Holly. 

Holly we had heard really did Christmas and it was all free.. So we took off to see what we could see. 

The town was decorated all cute like. It is called the "Dickens Festival" so you can 

imagine how people were dressed and the decor.

It was really cute and the day was perfect.. about 50 degrees which, is warm for here this time of

year...

This was us venturing out!

They had milk and cookies and crafts for the kids!

Abby and daddy while the kids were sledding.

these were carolers.. Oh they sounded so beautiful.

I meant to take a front picture but forgot.

They imported snow from a different part of the state.

This was free and the kids LOVED it.

It went FAST... like REAL fast!

 

The kids watching the play. I didn't stay for the play. I took this opportunity to enjoy

all the little shops. 

The streets were closed off... this was Gabe taking Abby to check out a 

window display!

That is it for some of our newer traditions... more on traditions as the Christmas season comes upon us.

Traditions.. part 1

I do so love the Christmas season.

It is full of stories and songs and wonderful scriptures pertaining to the birth of our Lord!

I love to hear them all.. (the songs, stories and scriptures) they are the best part of the Christmas season.

My second favorite part are traditions... 

When I was a child, we had the best traditions. Christmas Eve was spent at my Aunt Mollies house.. My dad is one of 9 kids and you can imagine all of the cousins I had to hang out with and see. I LOVED it. After Aunt Mollies we would go to my grandmothers on my moms side.

There we would start off with a game of bingo! We would have dinner and presents.

We would start out with stockings which my grandma always placed an orange and an apple ...

We would leave there and go home to sleep.

We would wake up, do presents and head to breakfast.

Breakfast was for my dads side. All his siblings and their children would meet and eat breakfast.

This was a lovely tradition.. I would bounce from table to table sitting with my aunts and uncles and cousins... we would all chat about our Christmas prizes.

Then after breakfast we would go to a place called Bel isle. It is an island here where we live.

Back then they had deer that would eat out of your hand.. a frozen pine tree, ducks to feed and an amazing aquarium... It was such a great time ... this was spent with my moms side.

I do not remember any gifts I received in those years but, I have those memories and they are fond. I look back and smile and get all warm and fuzzy.

Things have defiantly changed over the years. My parents split up and I got married. We had four kids and things just sort of took on lives of their own.

We now go to my Aunt Mollies for a few minutes before heading up to my inlaws.

There we have a traditional polish dinner and my father in law plays Christmas songs on the accordion and all the kids sing. It is super special and sweet.

Christmas morning we do try and go out to breakfast (this is a tradition I have a hard time letting go... tho it is  dying out :(

Then we celebrate with my mom and her side.

There are some things tho that I try and keep consistent and I try and make special with my kids so that when they think back on Christmas they think fondly of our time of worship and traditions.

Over the next couple weeks I will be posting some of our traditions as a family.... our first tradition of the season is our tree decorating ... seen here 

another one is a Christmas countdown of some kind. Most years it was a paper chain we made... it has been a dollar store advent chocolate box ... last year it was a chain with all the names of Jesus (seen here )

This year we did something a little different. 

On the spur of the moment I decided to make a paper flag countdown.

I cut some flags out in different sizes and had the kids color and decorate them with green and red crayons.

then I taped them to fishing line and hung them above the window.

These pictures are blurry. I meant to retake them but the kids started taking the flags down.

Oh well, you get the point....  

AND my wreaths really AREN'T crooked in person :)