I was reading in my little Advent book our church handed out, about a German Tradition that includes 12 specific ornaments to ensure a happy marriage. I thought it would be fun to create these 12 themed ornaments with the kids.
Angel (symbol of God’s guidance)
Fish (symbol of Christ’s blessing and of fertility)
Teapot (hospitality)
Bird (joy, happiness and the Holy Spirit)
Rabbit (hope and peace with nature)
Fruit Basket (generosity and plenty)
Heart (love in the home)
Pine Cone (fruitfulness, motherhood)
Flower Basket (good wishes in the home)
Rose (symbol of affection and the Virgin Mary)
House (protection)
Santa (goodwill, giving and sharing)
Here is just a quiet moment in the midst of all our holiday prep. Our Nature Table… or maybe I should be calling it our Seasonal Table… is currently hosting hours of play. The kids each have their own Nativity set as Gammy gets them a new Fontanini figure for Christmas every year. It is interesting how they get played with almost as action figures. Bug’s personal favorite is the Angel Michael… it has a very cool sword 😉 . Three sets of the Holy Family does make for a slightly silly looking display but none of their other figures overlap. It is a great little nook for them… made even better by the evening lighting of the advent wreath.
Here is a fun little craft I tried with the kids this week… God’s Eye Ornaments. Bug got the hang of it but I ended up making the girls’ with them just picking out the colors they wanted. Fairy gave it an earnest try but it was just a bit too tricky for her yet… so I would classify this as a kindergarten and up sorta project.
All you need are two sticks and scraps of yarn. For the kids’ ornaments I glued the popsicle sticks together in a cross shape before we started. For my own, using twigs from the backyard, I just held the sticks in place while I started wrapping. After a couple rounds the sticks become fairy secure. BTW – I would recommend using narrower popsicle sticks than we used… it was just what I had on hand.
I took a few photos trying to illustrate how to wrap the yarn. I hope it makes sense. This is one of those things that I never really remember how to do it until I sit down and just start playing with it. After a couple clumsy attempts it came back to me.
When I switch colors, I hold the loose ends of the yarn down along one of the sticks and wrap over it as if the tail is part of the stick. That seems to work well for hiding the ends and holding everything in place.
This week we used a broad interpretation of the Unplugged Challenge theme FLAG… and went more Stars and Stripes as inspiration for these Star Ornaments. We had so much fun that even Gammy joined in and made her own. You can visit WeeFolkArt.com for her pattern.
Kids’ – Mom’s – Gammy’s
Kids’ Stars
For the kids’ version, I made up a quick star template with rounded corners (here is my pdf). Or large cookie cutters work well for making ornament templates. I cut out two piece of felt at the same time to make sure they completely matched. Then the kids went to town decorating the right sides with glitter glue and sequins.
Once dry, I blanket stitched the edges wrong sides together, leaving about a 1″ hole to stuff. The kids stuffed their own stars (I helped get it in the points) and then I finished the blanket stitch and added a loop of embroidery floss for hanging.
Mom’s Stars
For my version, I used the same template to cut out stars from red and white ticking fabric… using an extra 1/2″ seam allowance. I placed the pieces right sides together and pinned.
I cut out about a 7″ piece of grosgrain ribbon and folded it in half. I slid the loop side down in between the right sides of fabric and pinned it so that about 1/2″ of ribbon stuck out the end of one star point. I machine stitched around the whole star leaving a 1″ hole to stuff (I back stitched once over the ribbon). I made a snip from the edge of the fabric to the seam in the concave points of the star (so it would lay smooth when flipped). I flipped the star right side out and pushed out the points all the way.
Then the kids and I stuffed the star. Once stuffed, I hand stitched the opening closed.