Valentine's Day Crafts

We made Valentine's Day cards for you...

Here's a close-up of our heart collages...

G9, A7


E3, H4


N5, E6


And the tree in our foyer has officially been dubbed our "holiday tree" as it is where all our crafty decorations go.

We recently discussed what the definition of 'Love" is. We then read 1 Corinthians 13 and the kids made these heart ornaments. Each ornament has a word or phrase that is the kids' definitions of love based on their own thoughts and the scripture.

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Kids make gifts...again

I posted earlier about the Kid's Craft Bazzar that our children participated in and the Christmas stockings and scarves that they made. Here are two more simple crafts that they made for the Bazaar...


First, they made beaded bookmarks. I pretty much just handed them some craft string and beads and let them do their thing. They sold these for 50 cents a piece.


They also made Christmas Tree ornaments from pine cones. I got the directions from Enchanted Learning. It was a simple project but very messy. Needless to say, the kids loved it.


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Chrismas Photo Cards for $5!

"We're going to take family pictures today!" I announced one day last week. So Chad and I headed downstairs to the family closet...yes, we have a family closet but that's a post for another day...to pick outfits for each of the kids.

An hour and not too many tears later everyone was dressed, brushed, and scrubbed. We headed outside armed with two white sheets, a step stool, and a camera. I draped one sheet across our deck railing and laid the other on the deck floor. With the stool in the middle, we started arranging children.

Every picture was adorable and since I was taking them myself, I didn't have to pay an outrageous fee or pick out my favorites. I could keep them all...for free!

Here are a couple of our favorites...

The sunny day made for great lighting which was really what made the pictures turn out so good. My photo editing software was also helpful when it came to cropping and erasing the shadows from the deck rails that shown through in some of the pictures. My favorite editing software is Memory Manager from Creative Memories. I used to be a CM Consultant and the investment in that software has been well worth it.

Also well worth the investment, is the digital scrapbooking software they offer, Storybook Plus. This is what I used to create my Christmas cards. I googled 'free digital scrapbooking' and found that there are many sites that have digital scrapbooking programs that can be downloaded for free. I can't vouch for any of them, so you'll have to do your own research if you're wanting to try them out.

The key is that when you create your card you need to make sure that you choose a 'custom size' of 4 by 6 inches. Design your Christmas card however you like using your digital scrapbooking program.

Here's how ours turned out...

The reason you want your card to be in a 4x6 size is because you can now order your cards as 4x6 prints. I usually order from walgreens.com because they often run deals for 10 cent 4x6 prints. Also, I can usually pick them up in an hour or less from my local walgreens store. I bought 50 Christmas cards for $5.

By the way, if I ordered the customized photo cards from walgreens I would have had to pay $12.99 for 20 cards. The only difference is that mine are a different size.

I've used my digital scrapbook program to make birth announcements, birthday invitations, and thank you cards as well. My program is really easy to use and it usually takes less than 15 minutes to create a card.

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An Apple A Day - Christmas Gift Idea

Santa's list may be long, but if you're family is anything like mine then you know that I have a pretty long list of people to buy for as well. Our cash flow is certainly limited, but I know that homemade can add that special touch to turn an inexpensive gift into a gift of real worth.

I was at a friend's house recently and tasted some of her delicious apple butter. When she assured me that it was very easy to make, I decided that jars of apple butter would be the perfect gift for extended family members and friends. Because it was so easy to make and I had so much extra, I was even able to pull a jar out this morning to give to Baby L's physical therapist ... spreading a little Christmas cheer on a moment's notice!

The trick to apple butter is that it takes a. long. time. to cook. I found a few recipes online and kind of meshed them together to make it the way I wanted.

Apple Butter Recipe

about 6 lbs. apples - peeled, cored, and sliced
4 cups white sugar
2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon ground cloves
1/4 teaspoon allspice
1/4 teaspoon salt

1. Place apples in a large pot on the stove with a little water in the bottom (about an inch). Cover and bring to a boil. Stir occassionally and cook until apples can be sliced through with a spoon.

2. You may want to drain off excess water, but keep it in a bowl or cup nearby. Using a food processor or hand mixer, blend to the consistency of applesauce. You can slowly add applejuice that you drained off back in, if your applesauce does not seem to thin.

3. In a separate bowl, mix sugar, cinnamon, cloves, allspice, and salt.

4. Combine applesauce and sugar mixture in a slow cooker. Cover and cook on low for 10-11 hours, stirring occassionally so that it doesn't burn.

5. Remove lid and continue cooking on low for one more hour.


I was able to fill about 10 small jars with one batch.

If you have a breadmaker, you can even bake a few loaves of homemade bread to go along with your apple butter.


At a Christmas party this weekend, we gave a loaf of whole-wheat bread, a jar of apple butter, and a Christmas card to each of the eight families there. An inexpensive and delicious Christmas gift!

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No Sew Fleece Scarves

Cheap...easy...and fun! This is a great project for kids and a wonderful gift idea. I found fleece on sale for less than $2 a yard and chose several colors to make winter scarves. I only bought a half a yard of each fabric which was enough for 3 scarves each.

First, we folded over the fabric so that the salvage edges met. Cut off the salvage edge with a rotary cutter. Keeping the fabric folded your kids should cut the fabric into three scarves. Each scarf will be about 7 to 9 inches in width.

Then they will use a ruler and the rotary cutter to cut one-inch wide fringe along the ends. They will need to make them about 5 inches long. Once again, as long as the fabric is folded, they will be able to cut both ends at the same time. (Just make sure they don't cut the folded end!)


Once the fringe is cut, they will need to use the rotary cutter again to make a small slit above each strip of fringe. Then they will take each strip and pull it through the slit. This adds a nice decorative touch to the ends of your scarves.


Here's our pile of completed and folded fleece scarves.

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Sew Easy Your Kids Can Do It!

Our homeschool group decided to host a Kid's Craft Bazaar at a local mall this year. Our kid's have been working hard the past couple of weeks making crafts to sell at the Bazaar.

When I first announced the project to the kids, they were up for it but slightly creatively challenged. Most of their ideas centered around making things from cardboard boxes. Figuring no one fork over a dollar, even at a Kid's Craft Bazaar, for anything made from a cardboard box, I suggested that maybe it was time for the oldest two to learn how to use the sewing machine.

Luckily for me, I had just had the opportunity to make Christmas stockings for a prison ministry with the lovely ladies in my prayer group which is where this stocking pattern came from.

So the kid's and I picked out some Christmas fabric that was on sale for less than $2 a yard. I only bought half a yard of each fabric, but we were still able to get two stockings out of each.

As you can see in the picture above, you'll need to draw and cut out a simple stocking pattern out of large plain paper. Remember that once sewn, your stocking will be slightly smaller so allow for that in your pattern.

Have your children fold the fabric in half (right sides together) and trace the pattern onto the fabric.

Once the pattern is traced, they can cut it out. Since the fabric is folded, they will be cutting both sides of the stocking at once.


H4 isn't quite proficient with scissors yet, but she was able to help by pinning the stockings together once they were cut. (Remember right sides together!)


Both G8 and A7 were able to operate the sewing machine very well. A7 did most of the sewing, though.

This is a great first sewing project, because the next step is to simply sew from one top corner of the stocking, down and around the foot, and straight up to the next top corner. (Leave the top open.)

Notice in the picture above that I just instructed the kids to keep the outside edge of the fabric aligned with edge of the foot to make sure they were sewing straight. You'll definitely want to sit right next to them if it is their first time with the sewing machine and expect mistakes. Remind them that practice makes perfect!

Unfortunately I didn't take pictures of the next step, it was pretty simple.

First you want to show the kids how to turn the stockings right side out. Then they will need to turn the top edge inside about a half an inch so that it can be hemmed. But first it must be ironed! G8 was really good with the iron and we didn't even need to pin the fabric in place to hem the top.

Your child should open the stocking and slide it onto the sewing machine to hem the top. But before they hem, they will need to cut about 5 inches of ribbon and form a loop. Slide the loop on the inside of the stocking and they will start to hem at that spot. But don't let them go to far...


Once they've sewn just far enough to pass the loop, instruct your child to sew backwards to lock it into place. Then choose a pretty lace as a border and secure it under the foot as well. They will need to make sure that they continue to line the lace along the edge as they sew it on and hem the top of the stocking all at once. Once they make it all of the way around they will finish by overlapping and turning the lace under slightly.

Here are the kid's finished stockings! Pin It Now!

A Week of Christmas Fun!

The tree is up and the advent studies have begun...it's beginning to look a lot like Christmas! That's why I'll be devoting next week's blog posts to all-things-Christmas. We've got Christmas lessons, crafts, recipes, and gift ideas. I've got enough ideas for at least one post a day, so check back often!





Let's start out with a few...okay, a lot of ideas for your advent season...





I cannot begin to tell you how much we enjoyed Christmas last year simply because of participating in advent. Before last year, advent was always a little mysterious to me...but after a little research I found that it really just boils down to taking a little bit of time each day of December to focus on the true meaning of Christmas as a family. You can see my post about advent from last year here.





Once again, we are taking a pause from our regular studies during the month of December to focus on our advent studies. Advent does not have to take the place of your regular studies, but we tend to find ourselves ready to mix things up a bit by this time of the year.





Okay the two resources that get my HIGHEST recommendation this year are the Jotham's Journey series and the Advent Idea Box.


The Advent Idea Box is a FREE online resource and created by my good friend, Jenn. She has put together daily lesson plans including devotionals, games, craft ideas, recipes and more. Jenn has truly taken all the hard work out of planning an advent unit study and is so generous to offer this resource for free!

Bartholomew's Passage is the second book in a beautiful trilogy. (The first book is Jotham's Journey.) Choose one of these books to read aloud each night as a family during advent. The stories are wonderfully written, edge-of-your-seat, true Christmas tales and each evening's passage includes a devotional.

We will be using both of these resources this year as well as a few more.

Now for more freebies...

Audrey's Christmas Page has loads of links to coloring pages, crafts, recipes...oh, there's too much to list. You'll have to look for yourself!

Here is a Christmas Movie Unit Study for homeschoolers with lessons based on four Christmas movies: How the Grinch Stole Christmas, Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer, It's a Wonderful Life, and A Christmas Carol.

A free unit study to download on The Names of Jesus. Each day your kids will study a different name of Jesus. I really like this one.

Free printable ornaments and idea to Make a Jesse Tree.

Christmas Nativity Felt Board Fun.

Christmas Crafts and printables at Enchanted Learning.

Free Nativity Lapbook to print.

Free Christmas Symbols lapbook.

Free Christmas Customs lapbook.

Free Christmas Around the World Unit.

Well, that should keep you busy for now! Check back next week for more ideas!

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Easter Freebies and Ideas

I opened my emails last night to find that The Old Schoolhouse Magazine is giving away some great Easter Freebies.

Three freebies, as a matter of fact:

The Real Easter Story: An In-Depth Study for the Whole Family,
The Real Easter Story: Copywork for the Whole Family,

And

Easter Place Cards

I downloaded mine last night and I'm getting excited about preparing a week long unit on Easter.

Here's the link from TOS to the great freebies for YOU!:

http://www.thehomeschoolmagazine.com/Easter-Giveaway/Easter-Giveaway.html

Cindy from Our Journey Westward shares some great Easter links as well including this link for how to make Ressurection Rolls. It's a really simple and cute idea.

Another link is free Easter lesson plans for a week that also has a great idea to give your children Easter baskets that emphasize Jesus. Here are directions from the site:

Place in this basket a card and the following items. Write on the card the meaning of each item:

A Lamb: This represents the Lamb of God who came to take away our sin.

In a plastic egg: Jelly Beans that are the following colors:

black : Stands for the darkness of our lives before Jesus when we were still in sin
red: Stands for Jesus shed blood
white: Stands for our sins that are washed away
yellow: Stands for streets of gold in heaven
green: Stands for growing in Jesus

Bookmarks or story books from the Bible Book Store that represent the story of Easter.

Rock candy to represent the stone that was rolled away.

Chocolate coins to remind us of the 30 pieces of silver.

An empty plastic egg in their basket and with a marking pen write "He is Risen" on the outside. The egg is empty for the "Empty Tomb."

-J.Brown, 1997
Copyright(c) 2001 by the author or Christianity Today, Inc. For reprintinformation call 630-260-6200.

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Last Minute Thanksgiving Links

Okay, so I know you're probably not even going to think about homeschool tomorrow as you are preparing for THE BIG FEAST on Thursday. But just in case, I thought I'd share a few Thanksgiving sites that I came across...

Over at MayflowerHistory.com you'll find a complete list of passengers of the Mayflower. Click on the names to read short bios on them.

Plimoth.org is a neat and informative site, though this is a secular site and you may want to view this site with your kids. Included there is an interactive lesson called You Are The Historian and also a Talk like a Pilgrim Page. (That one's for you, Jenn. ;-) )

There are some adorable Pilgrim Hat cookies that I am SO making tomorrow. Yummy!!

And another neat site with lots of interactive learning including this Journey on the Mayflower.

You can check out more Thanksgiving links at Marcy's blog as well.

And don't forget...HAVE A HAPPY THANKSGIVING!!! Pin It Now!