popsicle stick trees

I must confess my love affair with Pinterest. There are so many amazing crafts and ideas and stuff to look at. I will admit that sometimes I may not get to all my crafting because I am busy pinning things to work on later. Sad but true.

Anywho... I found these popsicle stick trees on Pinterest and knew I had to make them for the PTA Turn Off TV Week raffle baskets. I am working on creating a basket of handmade Christmas goodies to be raffled off in March. Yes, I am a little bit ahead of myself, but I want this done so I can create a few more baskets of goodies for the school. We'll see!!

After checking the link on Pinterest and not finding any directions (bummer) I did find some directions here at You Can Do It! I guess the original post that should have had directions was actually for a contest and the contest is done so all entries were erased. Thankfully Rebecca had gotten the instructions and then posted them on her blog. whew!!

I had to improvise and figure out sizes of branches and such, but I am totally happy with how these came out. Take a peek....

I got the larger popsicle sticks, a bag of wooden stars (1 1/2 inch size) and a bag of wooden blocks (one inch size) from Michaels. They do have the pre-painted and decorated stars, but for about the same amount of money, I could make my own and have extras in case I want to do this project again!! The wire on the two small trees, I had in my stash as all the paints were there too!

I have been painting sticks for days and I never thought I would finish. I was so happy yesterday when I started dotting the branches (end of my paint brush and I also used a dry embossing tool to do the small dots) and could see the end coming to this project! The larger trees are made with two popsicle sticks that have been trimmed and one of the branches holds both sections together. I used craft glue on the dotted branches and used hot glue for the wire branches and to attach the trees to the bases. It seemed to hold better and quicker than the craft glue and think I would use that if I did it again.

Sizes and quantities used....
SMALL TREES- trunk 1 stick, branch sizes- 2",2 1/4", 2 3/4", 3 1/4", 3 3/4"
LARGE TREES- trunk 2 sticks one cut off 1 1/2" and the second cut off 1", branch sizes- 1 1/4", 1 1/2", 1 3/4", 2", 2 1/4", 2 1/2", 2 3/4"

To give the trees support, I glued three sticks together lengthwise (and painted them) which is attached to the back of the tree (once the branches are attached). I used one more single stick to attach the whole tree to the base. I put this stick about halfway down on the back of the base to give support once everything was attached. Hope that makes sense.

And the sizes of the branches are totally what I came up with. Maybe you want thinner or fatter trees... I wanted to give some sizes for you to start with. Have fun with this. I know I did.

goodbye and more adventures

We had to say goodbye to Nana and Papa today... until Christmas. The kids were not happy about it one bit. Alex would not look at me this morning at drop off for the picture. I think he saw someone he knows in the parking lot. And yes it is warm enough here for light jackets. Shhh... don't tell Mother Nature. We are enjoying the warm temps.

More fun with Scout. On this day he took a bunch of Kira's Pokemon cards and laid them out along with a couple of her reference books and some of Alex's Pokemon toys and some of Kira's Pokemon toys to stage this fun scene. Alex did not find it funny in the least bit. He was thinking he couldn't play with his toys because Scout took them. As soon as I explained that he could play with his toys, that the only thing we couldn't touch was the card Scout was holding, he seemed to be better with things. whew...

He spent the next day hanging on this picture which is at the top of our stairs. He could see what everyone was doing and where they were going. It was a good spot for him.

Last night, he was watching over Nana and Papa (who were camped out in Kira's room) The kids found him after a bit hanging from these butterflies. Looks like he could have a fun day with his new friends!!

I am loving having him around the house and I know the kids are too. Looking forward to seeing what other adventures he will have until Christmas.

the fun continues!!

Our little buddy Scout seems to be making himself right back to home this season. The kids did a scavenger hunt for him using four mini Hershey chocolate bars and some M&M's. He had to find all the chocolates and let them know which was his favorite. He decided all of them were pretty darn good. Then he found himself a nice comfy spot to relax his tummy from his chocolate fest.

Close up of his face with the evidence of a great night of chocolate!! The kids LOVED it!

Kira suggested to him during the day yesterday that he needed a bath to get rid of the chocolate. So this is where he ended up this morning!! Up by the light hanging on the baby powder. Along with a dry towel (gold color) and the wash cloth on the bottom shelf. He also left them a note thanking them for the bath on the small mirror. He also moved the bath soap to the sink for his bath. I'm glad he is cleaned up, but does he have to make such a mess??

 This is my project at the moment. I am painting a boatload of popsicle sticks for this project. Hoping I can wrap it up next week. We'll have to see. It depends on how much time I will get for painting. And if I can get my white paint to play nice. It is a bit thick. I added some water earlier so hoping it will work better after I finish posting this.

I will say I have my Christmas music playing. Love this station. They run Christmas music online all the time. Off to do some painting.

scout is in the house

The kids have been wondering when our Elf on the Shelf would be returning to our house to pull all those fun pranks on us as well as deliver messages from the kids to Santa himself on a nightly basis. Well it happened last night. He arrived and left a small message on our kitchen blackboard.

Alex found the message and then ran to get daddy to read it to him. He is getting along well with his reading skills... as long as I don't ask him to read. If I ask, he says he doesn't know the words. Stinker.

Anywho... this was his message....

 He also rearranged Alex's chore magnets into two smiles on the fridge to start the holiday fun.

Then the fun was to find WHERE in the house Scout was hiding. The kids did pretty good and found him in the family room hanging out with the speakers on top of the entertainment center. He is currently watching over everyone who is hanging out in the room. 

Happy the little guy is back. We'll see if he can help with the sibling fighting we seem to be in the midst of on a daily (hourly) basis.

Happy Thanksgiving!!

adorable!

Part of our fun visit to the Burlington Mall in Massachusetts included a stop at the Build a Bear Workshop for their Happy Feet Two event. Here are my kiddos with the new star of the movie, Erik!

He was so adorable. In between hanging with the kids in line, he would do a little boogie or two. So sweet.

That's all I wanted to share. Too much to do today and tomorrow when all I really want to do is crawl into bed. Hoping this passes soon. I hate being so sleepy all the time.

tis the season

Today we went to the Burlington Mall in Massachusetts to see their Santa. Personally, I think they are the BEST in the area and well worth the forty- five minute drive to get there. The best part today was there was NO LINE to see the jolly elf. Usually we have to wait for at least a half hour to see him, but today we walked right up and had a great time.

Here is photographic proof of the fun the kids had with Santa.

After they were having a celebration for Santa in center court where the kids could write letters to Santa, color in puzzles, do other crafts, make reindeer food and frost a cookie. Oh the fun we had!

Did some window shopping. Stopped in Build a Bear Workshop for a potty break and for daddy to check on the store. Hit a great sale at Bath and Body. Then went to lunch at the Rainforest Cafe. Lunch was great. Kids ate well and the rainstorm was faboo as always.

After we went back to Build a Bear Workshop to see Erik the penguin from the the Happy Feet Two movie. He was so stinking cute!! Need to get those pictures off the camera to post.

Anywho... it was a great day full of fun and smiles. I will ignore those moments of low blood sugar for both kids and remember the happy times. Works for me!

christmas gifts

I have mentioned this amazing idea I found at Scrapbook.com from a very creative scrapper 3peaspress. Loved it so much, I decided everyone should have these this year. So please act surprised when you open them. LOL 

I have already made the kids teachers theirs, now to work on everyone else I want to give them to. I am also making up a set of six to donate to our Turn Off TV Week basket raffle. Along with some other goodies ;)

Anywho... I think these six are going to my friends or they will be part of that basket. Still not sure yet. Have a few more to make up. And I need to get some more silver letter stickers. Michaels did not have these ones when I went last week and I was not happy with the selection at Joanns. I just want some silver letter stickers. You would think that would be easy... but NOOOO! So impossible. But I shall overcome.

Glass ornament balls, ribbons, silver letter stickers and blings all from Michaels. The paper pack... I cannot remember where I got it from. It would either be Michaels or Joanns. It is Cloud 9 Design Seasonal Paper stack.

These ones are for Kira's friends. I used the DCWV glitter stack for the rolling of the papers. Didn't need as much paper for these as the paper is heavier and doesn't roll as tight. But I still like the looks of them. I thought the girls can put them in their rooms after Christmas if they were fun and bright colors. 


Ribbon was at Michaels. Three colors on one spool and 50% off. I was a very happy lady.

Close ups of the front two. The front left is Michaela... a very long name for an ornament. I was going to do initials with paint/ ink. But I could not get the hang of it so that it didn't slip or smudge or look like poo-poo. I like the look of the names.


Feathers from Michaels. They were EVERYWHERE today in my scrapping room. I attached them with hot glue and managed to not burn my fingers too badly. Miracles do happen!!

These are the back four. I think Kira will love them. And she will be surprised they are done. 


I am going to make her decorate brown lunch bags for us to give them to the girls in. Figure I can take some scrap Christmas wrapping paper and run it through the shredder to keep them safe for travel. We'll also add some more of this great ribbon to keep it closed.

I am so happy to have these twelve ornaments done. Need to do a few more sets. Guess I should get trimming and rolling. Again... act surprised when you get these!! ;)