Stay warm and stave off cabin fever with these wintry crafts.
Make your own Holiday Coffee Sleeve
Does someone in your life grab a hot travel mug of coffeeor tea on their way out the door each morning? These holiday-themedcoffee cup sleeves will make a welcome addition to their wintermorning routine.
During the holidays, you will likely encounter cranberries. Thisseasonal berry makes frequent appearances at holiday meals. Whilethey are delicious in recipes, cranberries can also be used forcreative pursuits-including homemade holiday decor.
Your kids will love to work with this unusual craft supply whilealso helping to set a festive mood for family celebrations.
A berry beautiful holiday wreath
Use a Bundt pan to create an unconventional holiday wreath as anoutdoor decoration. Begin by filling the Bundt pan ²/³ full withcold water. Distribute 1 to 1½ cups of cranberries into the water.Add a small branch of holly leaves or other seasonal greenery as anoptional decoration. Place the Bundt pan into the freezer on alevel surface until the water is frozen solid (best to let it sitovernight).
Have all of your supplies ready before you remove the pan fromthe freezer because you will need to work quickly to get yourwreath outside before it melts. Cut a length of ribbon to hang yourwreath. Take the pan out of the freezer, turn it upside down andplace your hand on top of the pan. Hold it above the sink and runwarm water over the bottom of the pan. After about 10 seconds,carefully pry the frozen ice wreath from the pan. Loop the ribbonthrough the middle of the wreath so that it is even on both sides.Tie the ribbon around a tree branch and proudly display yourcranberry ice wreath.
Note that this project will only work when the outsidetemperature is below freezing for a sustained period of time.
Cranberry table decor
Cranberries can also be used to embellish table decorations suchas poms (decorative balls) or trees. This project would be a greatactivity for kids to do at a holiday get-together while they waitfor the meal to be ready. Begin with a foam shape purchased fromthe craft store. The best options are either a ball or acone-shaped tree. In preparation for this project, an adult needsto cut several dozen toothpicks in half or cut larger wooden dowelsor skewers into 1 ½-inch pieces.
Before you begin, remind kids to be careful when working withthe pointy toothpicks. Carefully insert one end of the toothpick orwooden piece into a cranberry. Next, insert the other end of thetoothpick into the foam shape. Press until secure. Place thecranberries as close together as possible. Repeat until the foamshape is covered with cranberries. Display on your holidaytable.
The holiday card onslaught likely already has begun at yourhouse. Every day, new arrivals join the growing pile of holidaywell wishes. My kids love to open holiday cards and check out thephotos of friends and families. However, it is always a challengeto display holiday cards-and my kids end up wanting to move thecards around to get a closer look anyway.
These holiday-themed bottle cap magnets are a perfectsolution. Work with your little elves to create these magnets inanticipation of holiday card season. When the mail starts pouringin, the kids can use the magnets to arrange the cards on therefrigerator or other magnetic surface.
A few important notes about the supplies before you begincollecting the materials for this project. Twist-off caps work bestbecause they don’t bend when removed. Use old magazines, wrappingpaper scraps or holiday stickers to find images for the magnets.The images must be very small to work for this project.Afteryour little crafters glue the images to the inside of the bottlecaps, an adult needs to pour clear resin into the caps to seal thephotos and give them a hard, glossy finish. This is an adults-onlyjob. Children should not handle the resin.
Embrace the wintery conditions outdoors with acraft inspired by the super fluffy snowy owl.