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Christmas ornaments, Gift Boxes and Christmas Letters: Crafty things to do with your holiday cards so they won't become trash.
How To Make Christmas Trees From Old Magazines In Only Minutes
Items Needed: Cards, hole punch, scissors, paper fasteners
Step One: Cut the card in half so you're left with the pretty top portion of the card.
Step Two: Cut the card into equal sized strips (my strips were 1.5 cm)
Step Three: Hole punch the tops and bottoms of all the strips (do three at a time)
Step Four: Stack all the strips together and insert one paper fastener through top set of holes and one paper fastener through bottom set of holes
Step Five: Bend the stack into a "C" shape and slowly fan out the strips until the form a globe.
Step Six: Tie a pretty ribbon or string around the top of the paper fastener and hang from a tree or leave as is and create a display in a bowl or vase
Helpful Hint: I used 8 strips for the larger globe and 20 for the smaller. The less strips used, the easier it is for little hands.
Creative Ways To Recycle Christmas Waste
I learned how to do this craft when I volunteered in Son No. 1's grade 2 class and had to make 20 of them WITH MY ASS CRAMMED INTO A CHAIR MADE FOR CHILDREN. It seems like a lot of instructions but once you do one, you'll see how simple it is. Also? It's much better when you're making them in a regular sized chair.
Items Needed: Cards, ruler, pencil, scissors, glue stick (I used glue dots because I'm awesomely lazy)
Step One: Cut card in half.
Step Two: Draw an X on the back side of the decorated piece of card to mark the middle.
Step Three: Fold top and bottom so the edges meet in the middle.
Step Four: Repeat with the side edges.
Step Five: Make four small cuts on the folds you created, not going past where the folds meet the "X" (see picture below)
Step Six: Fold in the tabs and glue. If using a glue stick you may have to hold in place for a few minutes. Repeat on other side.
Step Seven: Repeat on other side
Step Eight: Fold over edges of the box and glue
Step Nine: Repeat all of the above steps with the message portion of the card to create the bottom half of the box ONLY instead of meeting the edges in the middle when you make the folds, go over the centre by 1 mm to make the bottom half of the box smaller (so the top half can fit over top)
TA DA!!! A cute, decorative box is all yours.
LETTERS
I was looking at the pile of cards left and decided to cut out a letter A just to see what it would look like and voila! How cute would it be to cut out your kids names, string them together and hang on their doors. Or you could make phrases like Happy Holidays or Merry Christmas or I Love Christmas Because It's Acceptable To Drink Baileys At 9:00 a.m.!
You may also like this fun craft for kids of all ages: Christmas Tree Magazines
There’s this boy. For the sake of the story I’ll call him “Gus” since as far as I know there are no Gus’s in Son No. 1 and 2’s school.
It seems my boys are a bit infatuated with “Gus. Gus is cool, he wears hip clothes—not what’s trendy but his own put together style—and has sort of a skate/snow-boarding vibe about him. When Son No. 1 or Son No. 2 spots Gus they shout out to him and wave, trying to be the first to get the wave back. Gus comes up frequently in conversations.
Did you see what Gus wore today? I wonder where I can get that hat.
Did you know Gus plays such and such sport?
Gus talked to me during recess today.
My husband and I have been having a good laugh over the whole thing in a “this is cute” kind of way.
At least I was laughing up until a few weeks ago when I was talking, once again, about this woman I know. I was going on and on and on and finally my husband looked at me and said “You realize that ‘anonymous woman’ is your Gus.” And I was all “Dude, what are you even talking about?”
*Insert three second delay here*
And then I was all “Holy shit! You’re right!”
I am ALWAYS talking about her and her awesomeness. She is totally my Gus.
And you know what? I’m okay with all of it. I’m okay with my boys liking Gus. I’m okay that I’m crushing on my own Gus.
Quite frankly, I think we should all have a Gus.
Who's your Gus?
p.s. In a million years I will never reveal my Gus, so don’t even bother asking. But guesses are always welcome.
‘Twas two days after Christmas
Santa snug in his bed
The sleigh safely parked
The reindeer brushed, bathed and fed
In homes everywhere across cities and towns
Kids peered at their gifts with small grumpy frowns.
The grumbling was low, soft like a whisper
Then it grew louder, stronger and crisper
The shouts were soon heard all ‘cross the land
Did they all band together? Was this shouting a plan?
They did not see all the gifts they had scored
Instead they screamed out
Mom! Dad! We’re so bored!
Tears flowed down bright flushed cheeks
Fights broke out among siblings
Parents had drinks to drown
out the quibbling
So parents I give this last present to you
Not wrapped in a box, in a sock or a shoe
It’s to remind you to relax, have fun, hold your cool!
‘Cause it’s only two weeks til they’re all back in school.