Baby Christmas Tree Craft

We had our first successful finger painting activity today! He only licked his finger once, never gagged, and the paint came out of his clothes.  Success! I found Baby's 1st Christmas Craft at No Time For Flash Cards. I have about zero creativity when it comes to new ideas for crafts Mr. F might actually enjoy so thankfully No Time For Flash Cards rocks the whole baby craft thing. 

1. Trace chubby little hands and feet for as long as he'll let you. Cut them out while he's napping because he STILL doesn't understand that he can't have every single thing that you put in your hand :)

2. Draw a Christmas tree on a brown paper bag.  Don't be jealous of my mad drawing skills. You should see my maps.

3. Put some green finger paint down and let him go crazy. If that's something your kid does. 

 4. Once dry, cut out Christmas tree and attach ornaments.  Put on the refrigerator and smile at those adorable little hands and feet. 

Advent Calendar

I love the commercialized idea of Advent calendars.  Gifts every day of December?  Yes, please!  I love shopping (such a girl) and I love picking out the perfect present for someone.  Even if all 25 presents are for Mr. F and he totally isn't going to get it. Most of them are books and fun craft activities.  I did sneak in a few days worth of candy too.  Mom and Dad need a little Advent love too right? I saw this adorable Calendar at Garnet Hill. Love that store.

Unfortunately, for many reasons, I'm not rich.  So I decided to make my own!  I was able to pick the colors, size, and presents (did I mention presents?!?) to put in them.  While these probably aren't quite as cute as the original Garnet Hill ones, they aren't too bad.

1. I picked out the felt and waited in line for 45 minutes while an extremely friendly (or not) old lady cut material as slowly as humanly possible.

2. I drew a few different stockings.  I wanted to have 5 of each stocking but after 4 stockings I realized there are only so many ways I can draw a sock. I did a little tracing and cut out 25 stockings.

3. The next step took a while.  At least two movies worth. I cut out a ton of tiny little details to attach to each stocking.  

4. I had no idea felt glue existed but it does and it saved A LOT of time. Instead of hand stitching 500 tiny details I glued them!  And it was only about one Friends rerun worth of work :) 

5. I did some actual sewing now.  I sewed the front and the back of the stocking together.  Tough work. 

6. Then I glued on tabs and sewed them to burlap ribbon.  Yeah, that stuff is pretty great too. 

I had some placement problems.  I had a little problem looking beyond all the cool presents I could put in these stockings if they were just a little bit bigger than the Garnet Hill Calendar and well...it's really long. With a little finagling I think I worked it out.  I can't wait to teach Mr. F how to rip open presents each morning and then how to share his presents with Mommy :)