Crafty Cards

Every year we get so many adorable holiday cards from friends and family and I never know the best way to display them.  Last year, I tapped them to the window and as soon as it got colder the tape came off ; leaving all the cards piled up on the windowsill until the holidays were over.  Maddie  loved taking her friends cards from the pile throughout the day and would always want to take a few to bed with her.  Needless, to say I would find them all over the place and had to pick them up every night and put them back into a pile on the window sill,   This year I decided to incorporate our cards into our decorations.

The Girls' Room

I was on Babble the other day and saw the post on 15 Ways to Display YOUR Holiday Cards.   I loved the idea of using clothespins and string but I wanted to give a little holiday spirit.   The past couple days have been rainy and nasty out so I needed something to do with the girls, mostly to keep Maddie busy during Pela’s nap. I decided it would be fun to turn our clothespins into Santa, Reindeer, Candy Canes, a Christmas tree and anything else Maddie wanted to do with her clothespins. When Pela was awake she was able to help color clothespins and pass materials to Maddie.  We had a lot of fun working on them together and will make more as we receive more cards.

"Elf" decided to join our friends last night

This is adaptable, your child can decorate your pins any way they like don’t necessarily have to do a holiday theme.   It is fun to let your child’s creative mind be put to work.  I plan on letting Maddie decorate non-holiday clothespins to hang pictures and artwork in her room.

A few of our holiday pins

Here is how we did our Holiday Clothes Pins:

Any activity with young children require adult supervision at all times.  We used a hot glue gun so I made sure to discuss safety with Maddie before and I was the only one to use the gun.  Before she placed objects on I made sure the glue was not too hot for her.  You can also use a heavy craft glue.  I had the sign from a previous year and thought it would be cute for the ribbon to come out from it.  You can do yours with or without a sign in the middle.  A wreath would also be great for the center.

What you need:

• Assorted colored pipe cleaners (We used a mixed variety of sparkle, basic colors and holiday colors)
• Crayons
• Google eyes
• Small Pom- Poms (we used black and red)
• Medium White Pom- Poms or Cotton Balls
• Assorted colored glitter glue (we used red, green, gold, silver and white)
• Star stickers
• Heavy Craft Glue or Glue Gun
• Ribbon (we used thin red and green above our table and white in the girls room)
• White Thumb Tacks

Reindeer:

Color clothespin Brown

Antlers: Cut gold sparkle pipecleaner, 1 long, 2 short- Fold longer one in U shape and  twist shorter one around each side.

Eyes: 2 google eyes

Nose: small black or Red pom- pom

Mouth: Glitter Glue

Santa:

Color clothes pin red, leaving a small area 3/4 of the way up, blank for Santa’s face.

Beard: White Glitter Glue

2 google eyes

Nose: small red pom- pom

Ball on hat: cut small piece of white pipecleaner

Candycane:

Color clothespin red

Twist red and white pipecleaner toegether, shape into small J and cut desired length

or use Red and White glitter glue and draw stripes

Snowman:

Color clothespin white

Body: 3 large white pom-poms

Buttons: 3 small black pom- poms

Nose: Cut off small piece of orange pipecleaner

2 Google Eyes

Mouth: gold glitter glue

Hat:  Shaped pipecleaner (use any color you prefer)

Scarf: Ribbon folded in 1/2 and glued together, use any color

Christmas Tree:

Color clothespin green

Use glitter glue for “lights”

Place a star sticker on top

Once you create your clothespin friends, string ribbon on wall and clip clothespins on and hang cards.

HAPPY CRAFTING!

Tags: Babble, clothespins, decorating, Holiday Cards, Holiday Crafts