Christmas Crafts

The Friday following Thanksgiving, a friend of ours hosted a craft afternoon.  (Far more fun than fighting crowds on Black Friday!)

She had gathered some little ceramic ornaments and some unpainted trinket boxes for everyone to paint.  We contributed our stash of paints and some serious enthusiasm. 

I think we did pretty well, don't you?

Buttercup painted the box with the engraving...didn't she make it beautiful?

Valiant took the time to paint brass "corners" on his box and they look so good.  He also had a mixed result experiment with crackle medium.

After everything dried for a week, I wrote the kids' names on their ornaments and their trinket boxes and sprayed everything with some clear lacquer.

 I love to see how each of them approaches their creative endeavors from completely different perspectives...I can hardly wait to see what they'll come up with.


It really doesn't take much to have a fun afternoon with some successful crafting...be brave!

Traditions worth keeping...

Buttercup's view of our Christmas tree and her favorite ornaments...

Do you do a "theme tree" every year? We don't. We unwrap favorite ornaments year after year and happily see old friends. Our tree has ornaments that first adorned my mother's childhood tree. How cool is that? I wouldn't trade that family history for the most "beautiful" theme tree in the world. So, when I read this post by Pam at Gingerbread Snowflakes yesterday, I had to agree. Imagine my surprise when the photos she shared of some of her most precious ornaments included one from my own grandparents' tree. (Dad, do you still have the partridge in the pear tree ornament?) I guess I have successfully passed this tradition along, as my little Buttercup filled my camera with the above images sometime in the past few days. Aren't they awesome? I have no idea how she determines favorites vs. "just okay", but she definitely has an eclectic mix. Look carefully and you'll see Superman's Darth Vader ornament, various animal ornaments, crocheted cats, puzzle ornaments for kindergarten, various birds, angels, snowmen, etc. Some are hand-made, some are store bought. Some seem quite modern and some are very organic looking. Can't you just picture her sharing these ornaments with her own children years from now? Now that truly is a worthwhile tradition!