Back into the groove......

I took a week off of blogging...  We had the giveaways, which was fun, but no real blog posts since that time.  So now I need to return.  Update our friends and get back into the swing of things.  I am hoping this term will be more relaxed on my front and more fruitful on Bear's.  *smile*

We haven't done too much formal learning since Thanksgiving.  Yeah bad homeschool momma.  Remember though, we do studies every day on some level, so taking a few weeks off toward the end of the year is fine, in my humble opinion.

We used our December to create some fun crafts though.  Like our snowmen, orange cloves, and our ornaments... to name a few.  The ornaments were lessons in the ultimate recycle adventures.  We practice recycling in our home, almost to the extreme.  We compost and recycle everything we can.  To me recycling also means re-purposing.  Take a look at these cutie ornaments made from walnut shells, bits of fabric, stuffing, twine, and filberts that grew in our own back yard.  Who would have 'thunk' that some things most people throw away could be used to create art.  Of course this prompted discussions on using found objects to create something new and exciting.

The walnut shells are cracked in half....  a family secret to doing this a bit more easily.  *grin*

After the babies were in their snug little beds
Bear drew on their faces with a marker
 (I wrote the date on the bottom).

 

She was so very careful!

 

Babies ready for new homes on Christmas trees in other families. 
These went to all our church families.  We know they found great new homes!

With our homeschool group we used some stamps made out of potatoes to create cards and pictures. 

Potatoes+Paint+Kids= TOO MUCH FUN 
 

 

 



 

 

 

We also made snowmen.  These were special gifts to teachers and good friends, like Adelle's mom, Miss. Sarah.  Nothing like buttering up the mom of your BFF....  *grin*

They were pretty easy to make.  More elbow grease than anything else.  Hubs did the drilling and attaching of the bases to the 2x4's --these were the bodies.  We also made a set for home out of 2x6's.  Guess what, all the lumber was scraps bought for reasonable at home depot and the paint was some left from another project.  Like I said, we re-purpose.  Other places these small scraps of wood may have been thrown into a heap, but we saved them and gave them a new life to be enjoyed by others! The hats and scarves in many instances were remnants of fleece from other projects. 

12 Inch Snowman

 

But they started out like this......

 

Bear sanded each board before daddy/hubs screwed on the bases

(which he pre drilled!!  How awesome is that!)
 

My silly girl!

 

Ready for the next step!  Putting on faces and clothes. 

 

We used cotton swabs to paint the faces on
--they really made making the dots easy.
Notice one has pink cheeks.... 

They look cute both ways.

 

The height ranged from about 12 inches to well over 24 inches.

We also created special gifts for Grandma, and aunts.  Here is Grams.

We also made ginger bread houses......  I guess we kept pretty busy, no wonder I am tired.

Did you create any fun winter crafts?