Discover the expert in you.
Discover the expert in you.
As Christmas approaches, many children dream of getting a visit and presents from the iconic Santa Claus. Though, if your child has been naughty this year, occasional visions of coal in his stocking may be dancing in your head. According to lore, Santa Claus sees everything your child does and keeps a list of his actions, both good and bad. You can take advantage of this by writing him a loving letter from Santa that encourages him to change his misbehaving ways.
Knowing how to create molding planes for your projects puts you in a small minority of people who understand this process. While little information exists about the creation of side-escapement planes, you can learn how to create planes with the right training. Escapement planes require knowledge of how to make hollows and rounds from a single billet. Using hollows and rounds together, you can create sophisticated molding planes that can be used to shape and cut wood. Hollows and rounds are the portion of the wood that the blade sits inside. The billet is the metal used in the hollows…
Part fungus and part alga, reindeer moss is a lichen and is an excellent soil stabilizer in the plant world. Ranging in color from gray to green, it can not only add beauty to a garden, but can be used to decorate indoors, as well. Inexpensive and widely available, reindeer moss might be easily added to centerpieces and wreaths or used to create custom holiday decorations for a fraction of their commercially manufactured counterparts.
A sturdy gate can add an attractive fixture to your fencing while also being functional to keep animals and guests in or out of your yard. While many stylish and complex gates can be ordered and custom made, a less expensive route is to make a traditional oak gate at home that is simple in construction and design. Once your gate is finished you can leave it as natural oak, stain it to enhance the oak coloring, or paint the gate to match your fence or home’s exterior.
A light snow is falling on the town of Leavenworth, Washington, and visitors shake off the flakes before climbing a narrow stairwell to a seemingly modest little museum -- the Nutcracker Museum. As it turns out, what’s waiting at the top of those stairs isn’t so modest. It’s the grand realm of the Nutcracker Lady: a 3,000-square-foot space featuring more than 6,000 nutcrackers and spanning 8,000 years of humankind’s shell-prying inventiveness, culture, artistry and humor. Once inside, visitors’ visions of brightly painted wooden toy soldiers, decked-out Santas and armed Cossacks give way to an even bigger, quirkier fantasy. “Hey, over…
Once the weather turns cold and the snow falls, it's time to build a snowman. In Bethel, Maine, in 2008, residents built a snowwoman named Olympia that was 122 feet tall, according to the Associated Press. To build your own gigantic snowman, you need a completely different plan from single-handedly rolling the classic stack of three large snowballs, descending in size from head to mid-torso to base. To achieve true giant snowman magnitude, rolled balls of snow of the necessary size are too heavy to lift on top of each other, and you need a group of assistants for this…
The Christmas Carol spirit is open to interpretation. Learn how to draw a Christmas Carol spirit with help from an artist who teaches to both children and adults in this free video clip.
Do not spend a lot of money on premade presents when you are planning on buying gifts for your family and friends for Christmas. Instead of purchasing gifts from a department store, make handmade gifts using craft supplies. For example, create whimsical beaded Santa Claus neck ribbons for your friends and family members to wear. Buy all of the supplies you need to make beaded Santa necklaces from an arts and crafts store.
Braided wheat decorations are traditionally made in Scandinavian countries in December to use as festive decorations for the home. Large braids are twisted into loops to make wreaths for the front door, while smaller versions are used to decorate the Christmas tree. This is a craft that all the family can enjoy at harvest time in preparation for the festive season ahead.
When the winter holidays roll around, create crafts with your children to celebrate Santa's reindeer. Crafts keep kids entertained and are an excellent outlet for holiday excitement. Reindeer hand and foot crafts are easy enough for preschoolers, but offer older children the versatility to decorate. Hang your decorations around a Christmas tree or post on the fridge to show off your child's work.
With candy canes in hand and thoughts of gifts dancing in their heads, Christmas is an exciting time for most preschoolers. Making Santa crafts keeps children busy and gives you a chance to talk to children about the importance of respectful behavior at Christmas and about being grateful for receiving gifts. Encourage children to treat their Santa crafts with care so they’ll last as mementos for many Christmases to come.
Reindeer crafts are fun for the holiday season, especially for children, as they are easy to make. Using handprints to make the craft adds a personal touch. Reindeer handprint crafts can be done by children with minimal supervision. The finished products make cute holiday decorations or can be given as gifts to family members. Use the color red for the nose if you want to make Rudolph specifically.
Instead of throwing your bottle corks away, you can put them to use and turn them into an adorable cork reindeer. Alternatively, you can head to your local craft store and pick up a pack of corks to complete the craft. Making craft reindeer is particularly appropriate during the winter months when people begin decorating their homes and businesses with reindeer decorations in celebration of Christmas. Place your homemade cork reindeer on your mantle or beneath your Christmas tree to help your household get into the holiday spirit.
Rather than purchasing Santa Claus bags for your children's holiday candy, make the bags yourself for a rewarding and bonding experience with the whole family. Making them also allows each person to add their own style to their individual Santa bag. Make your candy bags more interesting by using textured items, such as cotton balls for Santa's beard.
Add a whimsical touch to your holiday decorations by making a no-sew Santa Claus tablecloth. If you prefer to make something fancier, you can easily create a Santa Claus appliqué to add to a holiday tablecloth. Both projects are similar in design and both start with a purchased tablecloth. It’s up to you to decide if you want one large Santa on the tablecloth, or a number of smaller images that repeat along the border of the tablecloth.
Reindeer designs are emblematic of the Christmas season. The cold-climate animals bring to mind images of Santa Clause delivering presents on Christmas Day. To celebrate the holiday, you can create reindeer antler headbands as festive hair accessories for the whole family. A simple enough craft for children, adult versions can also be created using ready-made materials and embellishments for a customized appearance.
Along with getting cozy next to the fireplace with a warm cup of hot chocolate and a blanket, the Christmas holidays invite families to create crafts. When the outdoors is not so friendly for fun and games, indoor crafting can be a treat for all, especially when painting your hands and feet is involved.
Many crafts using a reindeer theme and are fun decorations to hang on your Christmas tree, around the house or in a classroom. Turning a child's hands and footprints into a stylish present for parents and grandparents add a personal touch. Even the smallest child can make the reindeer crafts with the help of an adult.
Though you may continue to celebrate Christmas as an adult, the excitement of Santa Claus and his reindeer is reserved for little ones who truly believe. Capture Christmas memories by making reindeer footprint crafts with your children. Keep the completed crafts with the rest of your Christmas decorations. No matter how much time passes, every year you will be reminded of Christmases when your children were small and Christmas was magical.
Disney's "A Christmas Carol" has a unique method of depicting the events from that classic story, as you don't play as any human character. Instead you play as more of an all-purpose ghost who can interact with various items in the environment to scare Scrooge more and more, leading him inevitably to his confrontations with his ghosts. Scrooge will eventually get terrified and lock himself in his room, but from there it's possible to scare him enough to leave his door unprotected long enough for you to open it.
When the snow begins falling in "Animal Crossing" for Nintendo GameCube, take advantage of the situation and build a snowman. Wander through your snow-filled village after Christmas and look for two snow balls. Snow balls are not easy to find, and you'll need to be patient and thoroughly search between trees and houses to locate them. After you find two snowballs, build a snowman that comes to life and gives you a special piece of snowman furniture.
Cotton balls make the perfect puffy, white beard for Santa Claus in many children's crafts. Any craft with Santa's face can be enhanced by gluing on a beard made of cotton balls for a three-dimensional effect. Possible crafts are only limited by you or your child's imagination.
Santa Claus’s long beard and distinctive red-and-white hat are easily depicted in preschool crafts with cotton-ball features. Adding cotton balls to preschool Santa Claus crafts enhances the finish product’s texture and dimensional elements, which teaches methods for advancing standard two-dimensional artwork.
The Facebook version of the game "Family Feud" hosts a special version every year around the holidays. The game includes a Christmas-themed interface with a plethora of new awards. One coveted prize nearly every year is the Santa Claus award. Once you win this prize, you will receive an extra copy that can be sent to other Facebook friends or family members -- featuring your name on it to showcase your efforts.
When Christmas is on the horizon you can prepare for the festivities through kids' arts and crafts projects. Santa is a theme player in the Christmas holiday, so use Santa as a main subject for craft projects. One idea is to make Santa bears out of kids' handprints. This concept works when the handprints are turned upside down and the fingers serve as the points of the beard.
Ancient cultures from around the world used to fashion tools and weaponry out of wood, bone and stone. One such tool was the bow and arrow, and the stone arrowhead. Stone arrowheads were traditionally made from stones such as obsidian, chert and flint. These arrowheads were all generally shaped like contemporary, flat metal broadheads. The arrowheads were shaped by a process known as flint-knapping. Making a traditional broadhead can be accomplished using the same flint-knapping techniques used by ancient cultures.
Kids and handprint crafts go, well, hand in hand! Each reindeer is easy to make and requires just a few items to complete. They can be treasured by you and your children or given as memorable holiday gifts to share with others.
Santa Claus, St. Nicholas or Father Christmas. Regardless of the name used to recognize him inside your home, his red and white clothes are synonymous with the Christmas season. If you enjoy making holiday crafts, crocheting is a way to create some small festive Christmas clothes for Santa Claus and his team of elves.
Every year, millions of children around the world become filled with delight at the thought of Santa and his nine magical, flying reindeer during the Christmas season. Instead of just reading your children a story about Santa's team, do something a bit more engaging. Get prekindergartners ready for the holiday season by making a simple, reindeer-themed craft item.
Reindeer crafts give you a lot of creative freedom to add your special touch. They're ideal for children to make because no one can tell them Rudolph doesn't look like that; reindeer can look any way you design them. Glue can be used instead of stitching. Just be sure to use tacky glue with felt, as regular white glue and hot glue do not adhere well with felt.
Toddlers are at an age of wonder as they learn to manipulate simple art tools such as markers, crayons and paper. Toddlers especially enjoy drawing and coloring pictures, and Santa Claus-themed crafts are an opportunity to involve a toddler in holiday decorating. They can make their own ornaments to hang on the tree and help decorate a special box to hold all the holiday cards the family receives. Parents and caregivers will need to make some preparations by pre-cutting shapes and gathering all the supplies.
Kids can make personalized reindeer cards to celebrate the holiday season and give to their family and friends. These cards make simple class projects that are easy for small hands to create. They also encourage creativity and confidence in small children as they make their own little works of art. The materials needed are affordable and readily available in any classroom. Since scissors are involved, monitor the children closely to ensure safety.
Tongue depressors are easy for children to work with and can be used as the basis for many crafts. Use tongue depressors to make different Santa Claus-themed crafts to excite children about the upcoming holidays. The crafts can be used as toys or small gifts the children can make for their friends or family.
Santa Claus is an iconic figure for children who celebrate Christmas. This jolly old elf represents gifts and good cheer, so it's no wonder that he appeals to children. If you are the parent of toddlers or work with children of this age, get them excited about the Christmas season by helping them create Santa Claus crafts. A paper plate, cotton balls and a few other basic materials are all you need to create this craft. Display the completed craft in your home or classroom as a festive decoration during the holiday season.
Reindeer footprint crafts are fun for preschoolers as well as adults. The crafts are useful for more than just wall decorations as reindeer footprints are an ideal addition to a gift or a card. Use homemade rubber stamps and pieces of heavy card paper to decorate with reindeer around the holidays and during the winter months.
Licensure for journalists is a thorny issue, at least for journalists. Media ethics watchdogs cry censorship, while prominent bloggers wonder where licensing would leave them. There are licensure laws in some countries, but in the United States, freedom of the press reigns. That doesn’t mean, however, that any random blogger gets the same access as a columnist for "The Washington Post."
Sending photo Christmas cards is a tradition for many families. The cards are a way to update friends and family, both near and far, and to show how a family has grown over the past year. There are online companies that allow you to upload your family photo into a predesigned format to be printed and distributed. Another option is to create photo Christmas cards the good, old-fashioned way -- from scratch with a truly personal touch.
Raising money for your school or church usually means having raffles, bake sales and the occasional pancake breakfast. Coming up with something different could mean the difference between an average fundraiser and one that will be super successful. Writing letters to Santa is just the thing to kick off the Christmas season and raise funds at the same time. It may sound like a difficult task, but when you follow the steps below and take it one step at a time, you'll not only see how easy it is, but how profitable it can be.
Whether you love Rudolph, the whole team or just reindeer in general, you can dress up your bathroom and kitchen to match your taste with some simple reindeer washcloth crafts. All of these crafts are simple to make, taking on average one to two hours. They can be sewn by hand, but are best done with a sewing machine for added efficiency.
It is rare that you will find an off-the-rack wedding dress that does not require alterations. In addition to taking in the waist, shortening the sleeves or replacing crystals with pearls, you may want a bustle added. Avoid the additional alteration cost and consider sewing in the bustle yourself. Creating a stunning wedding bustle is uncomplicated and more cost-effective than paying someone else to do the work. The bustle, which is a gathering of the wedding train, will sit just below the lower back. Fix the bustle yourself to get the perfect wedding style you crave.
The winter holidays are a perfect time to bake cookies, pop in a classic Christmas movie and relax as you partake in a wide variety of holiday crafts. A Santa Claus hand print is a quick and simple craft that you can create with some finger paint and a few other crafting supplies. You can add the hand print to a Christmas card for a loved one, turn it into a tree ornament or hang it on your fridge to display during the holiday months.
Whether you are a teacher looking for holiday theme art, a parent in need of a chilly winter day activity for your kids or an avid crafter who is interested in trying something new, reindeer fingerprint crafts offer an array of design and project options. These easy-to-make crafts can range from basic prints on paper to more elaborate animal masterpieces.
Reindeer, also known as caribou, have large hooves with four toes per hoof. Reindeer hooves have different functions, depending on the time of year. To teach kids about reindeer hooves, use crafts to illustrate the function and features of reindeer feet.
What would the holiday season be without a passel of festive reindeer to adorn the tree? Reindeer live in northern climates and have been a symbol associated with Santa Claus since Clement Clarke Moore published his poem "'Twas the Night Before Christmas" in 1823. Since then, these magical flying reindeer have been a traditional focus of seasonal crafts for children.
Make inexpensive craft holiday cards to share with friends and family using a reindeer theme. Reindeer is often a symbol of Christmas along with Santa Claus. Making home made reindeer cards is a craft for children or adults to make together. There are different styles of crafting to make reindeer cards.
Santa Claus's reindeer are a ubiquitous Christmas image. Every year, reindeer footprints in the snow signify Santa Claus' arrival and the gathering of friends and loved ones. You can make reindeer footprint stamps at home, then use them to decorate several craft projects, including cards, wrapping paper and holiday accents.
Celebrating holidays in the classroom provides an excellent opportunity to let the students use their imagination to make crafts and decorations relating to the holiday. One basic craft project is handprint art. Children can form images with their handprints and decorate them as they see fit. Handprint art also has a level of personalization not found in some other art forms, as the students use their own hands as the basis for their art.
Santa Claus is a jolly fellow adored by children all over the world. If you want to surprise your children for Christmas, dress up like Old Saint Nick himself, with a big red jack and pants. Make sure you get the makeup right. Santa is known for his rosy cheeks and bushy white eyebrows. Get into the Christmas spirit with your original Santa costume.
Around the holidays money can be tight, prompting the use of homemade gift giving. Using popular Christmas icons, especially reindeer, to decorate gifts are easy ways to get the creativity juices flowing. Using just their thumbs, kids can easily make reindeer crafts to adorn homemade gifts.
Christmastime is full of Santa Claus and reindeer stories, hurrying along on Christmas Eve to bring toys and joy to the world's children. The holiday season prompts school teachers and caregivers to offer fun and memorable craft activities for young children. In fact, a simple reindeer footprint craft allows children to be creative, as well as generating an indelible memory of a child's footprint and handprint size.
