Showing posts with label Christmas 2011. Show all posts

Wednesday, 14 December 2011

The Pohutukawa Tree

• The New Zealand Christmas Tree •

Its still raining in Auckland.... and Ive been waiting ages to take photo's of the Pohutukawa Tree on our front lawn, so before all the flowers fade - here are some pics in the rain.

My kids know that when the Pohutukawa Trees bloom, it's Christmas time.

Isn't it just gorgeous ????

The tree has been full of birds this week and lots of huge bumble bees

And just popping in a pic of my beautiful boy, who brought home a fantastic report card for the year... Well done Gabe.

Cannot believe how big this child is getting!!!!!! And super funny....

Take care everyone,

Don't forget to follow me on Facebook :-)

xxx

Monday, 12 December 2011

Its a rainy day in Auckland again - so Payton and I have been doing a little decorating while Maclayne has her nap and Gabriel is at school. Just cannot wait for the last day of school and kindergarten this Friday, and the beginning of the holidays.

When Samantha from crafty texas girls posted about her ribbon strip Christmas card holder for the kitchen door, I knew I needed to do this. I was just a little tired of the wind blowing over my carefully balanced cards and of little fingers carrying them off.

Its such a simple yet clever idea. Thanks Samantha.

All you need - ribbon (of any kind) and pegs and a way of securing the ribbon to your door - tape does the trick nicely....

We set up my little wooden folksy tree,

With Santa in his spot,

And wrestled my old doorstop Snowman away from Maclayne, she insists on cuddling it.....

The little ~~monkey~~ treasure.... the picture of innocence....

And Gabe brought his 3D picture home from school today - so sweet

Hope everyday is exciting in your homes at the moment, too

Nat

Sunday, 11 December 2011

Popsicle Stick Reindeer

We couldn't wait for the holidays to start so we made these adorable reindeer this weekend. Remember my Popsicle Stick Snowflakes? Well these are so much easier....

All you need per reindeer is 3 popsicle sticks, a pair of googly eyes, a pom pom and a pipe cleaner.

All items your local craft or dollar store will carry.

Oh and the trusty glue gun - if you don't have one - craft glue will work too.

Very simply, follow the pictures.... easy, easy, easy.

I painted mine before gluing on the face, because Miss Payton insisted that I make a pink one for her.

Here is Rudolph - with his very big shiny sparkly red nose.....

joined by a colourful reindeer for each of us in the family......(can you guess which one is for Payton??)

And a whole group of reindeer that my lovely children have decided to give to their friends

To hang - either add a ribbon or just hook onto the tree....

How wonderful is this time of year? Don't you just love Christmas.....

Thanks for stopping by,

Take care

Don't forget to follow me on Facebook :-)

xxx

Linking up to

Some or All of these Great Parties

http://clarescraftroom.blogspot.com.au/2012/11/under-christmas-tree_26.html

Tuesday, 6 December 2011

Christmas Card

Firstly - a huge apology to all those who will be receiving this card - think of it as a sneak preview...???

Secondly.... how late am I? This card should be sitting on your mantel as we speak! I kind of figure that better late than never, right?

It was nigh on impossible to get the kids to pose together this year - let alone with Christmas gear on - so I picked a couple of recent pictures and thought I could do something with them.

Ok, so, quickly.....I literally grabbed everything I could find in my craft cupboard that was remotely Christmassy!

Cut up loads of stuff that I didn't need to......

I then cut out a piece of paper the size of a 4x6 photo and played around with the bits I liked...

Here is one option but it was too Red!

And less is more ...... so much better with a bit of white showing.... dont you think?

I trimmed the edges, then scanned the picture.

Then edited in Picassa (don't you just love Picassa?)

I chose the "Film Grain" effect as I wanted it to look like an old newspaper (except in colour).

Tomorrow I will take the image in to the printers, make my cards up and get them posted.....

This project took me about 15 minutes from start to finish, ok so I was rushing.... but its a quick easy craft you can do with your kids and its so personal and fun!

Christmas is sneaking up on us everyone.......

Take care

Nat

Sunday, 4 December 2011

Popsicle Stick Snowflakes

Another fantastic craft to do with the kids these holidays......

I first saw these Popsicle Stick Snowflakes here at Sew Fantastic. My colours are the same - don't you love the turquoise?


Image from Sew Fantastic

And Julianne from Sew Fantastic used the tutorial for the Snowflakes from Crafty Nest, which I followed too.

Its simple and super easy.

And very rewarding to hear the "wows" from the kids.

Really all you need to start is a glue gun and craft sticks. If you get the coloured ones (the Dollar stores have them) then you don't have to paint them like I did.

This is the basic start - you can even stop here and decorate and hang.

Watch out for that glue gun - remember my love hate relationship with mine? Look at the huge amount of glue I had to cut off later.....

So far so good......

Look at the messy mess I make with that glue gun.......grrrr.

A coat of paint on both sides and here are my finished Snowflakes (excuse the awful photos)

A couple of days later on a non-windy day we went outside and applied some glitter.

This was my least favorite part - although I should say its because all 3 kids wanted a chance at holding the glue, paint brush and glitter, which sparked all kinds of trouble including the yelling as Miss Toddler-Thief ran off with the lot!