Craft A Day 'Til Christmas: Day 20: Snowman Candy Wrappers

Eva has a ton of cousins so we made these candy bar wrappers to snazzy up their chocolate gifts.  I cut an 8 1/2" x 11" sheet of paper in half width wise and wrapped it around a Hershey bar, securing it with clear tape.  Then Eva drew eyes, a carrot nose, a mouth and buttons on each one before I tied some scrap fabric around for a scarf.

We are making 12 total but Eva ran out of steam after 7 so we will finish them up tomorrow.  I love how each one has it's own personality!

Craft A Day 'Til Christmas: Day 19: Penguin Thumbprint Ornament

I saw these amazing ornaments on Meet the Dubiens and knew we had to make the penguin one.  Eva made a white thumbprint on a clear ornament (but any color would work) and then I used paint markers to turn it into a penguin.  She also wrote her name on the back of the ornament and I dated it.  Such a great keepsake!

Craft A Day 'Til Christmas: Day 18: Painting with Pine Branches

Who needs brushes when you can paint with pine branches?  Eva had a blast dipping the branches in paint and smearing it around.  She also tried making pine prints but the smearing was apparently more fun.

Craft A Day 'Til Christmas: Day 17: Cookie Cutter Painting

I spent the other day baking and this craft kept Eva entertained for quite some time.  I poured some paint on little plates and let Eva pick out a cookie cutter to go in each color.  I gave her a pile of parchment paper sheets to stamp on and she went to town.  (It turns out paint doesn't adhere to parchment paper so if you decide to try this I suggest using paper or else when the paint dries it will fall right off!)

Eva added some of her own touches too.

Craft A Day 'Til Christmas: Day 16: Cinnamon Applesauce Ornaments

Making these ornaments is a yearly tradition in our house.  We always end up making a few batches- some stay to decorate the house, the rest are attached to presents.  They smell great and are simple to make.  I don't have any pictures of the process but Eva made this batch with her buddy Luke (his mom Kristi is a frequent commenter on the blog and a long time friend of mine- HI KRISTI!!!).  They had a blast rolling out the dough (and tasting it) and cutting out Christmas and Hanukkah shapes with cookie cutters.  The dough is just a cup of cinnamon and a cup of applesauce.  I add the applesauce gradually until the mixture forms a dough-like consistency.  I have yet to use the whole cup of applesauce.  After the little ones finished cutting out their shapes, I poked a hole in each one using a chopstick and then placed them on a cookie sheet and set them in a 200º oven for about an hour, flipping them once.  You can also skip the oven and just leave them out for a few days to dry out on their own.  Once they are completely dry, slide some ribbon through the hole and hang them wherever you'd like.  Eva put a bunch on her tree and I have one hanging from each of out kitchen cabinet knobs.  They make the whole house smell like the holidays!

Craft A Day 'Til Christmas: Day 15: Hand and Footprint Rudolph

This is a fun, quick craft that you could also do with paint but we opted for tracing on paper.  Just trace both hands and a foot, cut out and glue to a sheet of paper (or dip them in paint and stamp onto the paper).  We added googly eyes and a sparkly red pompom for a nose.

Craft A Day 'Til Christmas: Day 14: Santa Beard

Eva has never been a big fan of the man in the red suit.  Each year she has progressively gotten braver about talking to him but this year we went straight back to sheer terror.  I thought making this Santa beard may help her connect with the jolly guy but no such luck.  Even making a Santa craft was unacceptable to her.

I cut out a beard shape and asked Eva to glue on some cotton balls.  I"m amazed we got this many on- she just was not having it.

This was as close as we got to Santa this year.

But she did mail him a letter to make sure he knew what she wanted.