12 Crafts of Christmas{Homemade in a Hurry}

Written on December 20, 2010 by Bridget in Bridget Blogs, Crafts for Kids(and mom, too!)
5 Comments - Leave a comment!

I cannot believe that this the final Craft of Christmas!  It seems like just yesterday that I was typing up the first post in this series!  And because I imagine that most of you are like me and need a few little last minute gifts, here are a few of my favorite quick gifts:  Beaded Bookmarks, Holiday Scented Ornaments and Chunky Crayons…as well as a few links to other fun and fast ideas.

Beaded Bookmarks

You will need: beads(I used glass) and string (I used hemp cording)
The only thing you need to be careful about is making sure that the holes in the beads are big enough for the cording/string to be threaded through easily!
Grab a large book and use it to measure out how much string you will need.  When you place the string in the book to measure, you’ll want to make sure that you have at least 2-3 inches of string extending beyond the end of the book.  (My typical length was about 15″-16″.)
Tie a knot close to one end and thread a few beads onto the cording.  Then tie a knot to secure those beads in place.
Go to the other end and tie a knot in about 3″ from the end.  Add beads and tie the final knot to secure the beads in place.
Chunky Crayons
These are perfect for the under 3 crowd!
What you’ll need:  old crayons, muffin tin, oven
Grab all the half-used crayons you can find and peel off the paper.
Go ahead and preheat the oven to 250°-300º.
Break them up into small pieces(an inch or less) and fill each muffin cup with broken pieces.
Then place it in the oven and wait for them to melt, somewhere around 15-20 minutes for my oven.
Once the wax is completely melted, remove from oven and let cool significantly.
When the pan is cool enough to touch, place in freezer.  This will make the wax shrink enough to pop them out easily.
But don’t put them in the freezer and forget about them!  Because *ahem* they’ll crack.
If that happens, just  pop them back in the oven and re-melt them and then re-cool them.
When they’re cool, pop them out and enjoy:
To wrap, try stacking them like this and tying them up with ribbon or string.
Grab a coloring book from the Dollar store and you’re golden!
Holiday Scented Ornaments
(No picture because my camera apparently got the plague I had last week.
I’m hoping she recovers quickly…seeing as how Christmas is FRIDAY!
And we have two more birthdays and a birth day coming up soon.)

You will need: 1 cup of applesauce, 1 cup of ground cinnamon(that’s roughly one regular size spice container full), plain white glue, cookie cutters, straw, ribbon

Mix all ingredients well until it forms a nice semi-firm dough.
(I had to add cinnamon because it was a little runny, so make sure you have extra cinnamon on hand.)
Roll out your dough and use cookie cutters to cut out shapes.
Then use the straw to punch out holes at the top so you can later add a ribbon.
I found that it was easiest to cut them out on paper plates and leave them there to air dry.
(Trying to move them while still “wet” was really hard to do.)
You can either let them air dry on the plates, OR you could transfer them to a baking sheet and bake them until they’re hard.
We made some of these 3 years ago and they still smell yummy.
So yummy, actually, that the dog ate one!  So make sure to put them high up on the tree.

Other fun, fast ideas:
Easy Tank Top Tote from Dollar Store Crafts
Custom iPod Cover also from Dollar Store Crafts
Decorative Soap Dispenser from Just A Girl
Homemade Lacing Cards for the little kids from Thru My Peepers (You could also do ABC ones!)
Cardboard Shoes for the bigger kids from ikatbag

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Want to see more of my crafty creations?

5 Responses to 12 Crafts of Christmas{Homemade in a Hurry}
  1. Mary @ A Simple Twist of Faith
    December 20, 2010 | 1:04 pm

    Love the bookmarks, I hope you are feeling better today!

  2. punkinmama
    December 20, 2010 | 3:00 pm

    Love it! Thanks for a wonderful series!

    Merry Christmas!

  3. domestic extraordinaire
    December 20, 2010 | 5:17 pm

    I have done the crayons, the kids loved it when they were little. I have quite a few little ones to give for and this is a great idea….thanks for the reminder.

    And the bookmarks, well The Chicken has been begging to do a craft so this might be the one for her and we can knock out lots of people on her list.

    Nothing like waiting until last minute…LOL

  4. Melissa
    September 17, 2011 | 7:20 pm

    Can’t wait to make the beaded book marks for Christmas gifts this year. Thank you for the idea.
    Melissa and Cassie Good