Thinky Linky Thursday

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Here are the featured links from last week:

Homemade Glow in the Dark Paint 

from Train Up a Child

Practical Life Projects for Upper Elementary

from Mama of Many Blessings

Bugs and Butterflies Unit

from Sunflower and Sprout

Congrats and I am pretty sure all the winners already have my "featured" button, so good luck this week to everyone else. We need some more competition!

'Fleur De Lis' Birthday Card using Cricut

Here is a card I made with the Cricut for a friend's birthday. I used burgundy colored cardstock for the card itself.

I used metallic gold sticker paper to cut out the fleur de lis. I placed it on a thin textured paper diamond cutout over a strip of black paper along the bottom. Then, I tied a metallic gold string around the top with a few beads.

For the inside, I raised the background paper using a piece of foam, held down by gold brads. Then, I cut the words out using the Cricut on tan cardstock.

Here you can kind of see that the words are raised a little.

CLICK HERE TO SEE WHERE I LINK UP

Hot Cocoa Craft and Cheeseball Recipe

Here is a craft I made for the neighbors and as a grandparents gift from the baby. I got this idea from here, but I did mine a little differently. I didn't use pieces of fabric. I just printed out lables with the instructions and glued it on and I used mini candy canes as well. Also, instead of buying the hot cocoa mix and marshmallows separately, I just bought the kind that already has marshmallows in it. I think they turned out ok, except I didn't actually measure the hot cocoa, so I hope it's not too much.

Here are the labels I made and printed out:

I thought I would also include a ham cheeseball recipe that my family makes every year at Christmas. Usually with leftover ham, but I had some already, so I decided to go ahead and make it early.

1 pkg (8 oz.) cream cheese, softened

1/4 cup Mayonnaise

2 cups ground cooked ham

2 tbsp chopped parsley

1 tsp minced onion

1/4 tsp dry mustard

1/4 tsp hot pepper sauce

1/2 cup chopped nuts (optional)

Beat cream cheese and mayonnaise until smooth. Stir in next 5 ingredients. Cover; chill several hours. Form into ball; roll in nuts to coat. Serve with crackers. 

I like mine better without the nuts, but it's up to you. Plus, I don't always make mine into a ball. This time, I just put it into my Christmas frog dish and used it like a spread. Hope you enjoy!

Click here to see where I link up!

Homemade Christmas Ornaments

So, I'm gonna go old school on this post. Here are some Christmas ornaments I made when I was a kid! Maybe you can remember making some of these as well. Hopefully there are some ideas that you can use. Most of these are easy and use materials that you probably already have or are very cheap. Some were broken or missing pieces. I put them back together the best I could, but as you can tell, most of them are over 20 years old!

1. Raffia Angels

2. Styrofoam Ball Snowman

3. PomPom Tree and Bears

(Hint: A piece of felt holds it together in the back)

4. Plastic Canvas Sheet Crafts

5. Pretzel Wreath

6. Safety Pin Angel

(This is the only one that might be a little challenging.)

7. Beaded Candycane

8. Lace Wreath

9. Styrofoam ball with sequins

10. Kiss Angel

11. Oscar the Grouch

(If you can even find film canisters anymore)

12. Felt Mouse

(Ok, so this guy is missing a couple things. 

To see a completed version of this project, check out Skip to My Lou.)

13. Clothespin Bear

14. Angel Yarn Wreath

(Yep, missing a candy cane on the other side.)

15. Pine Cone Skier

16. Pill Bottle Bird Feeder

17. Clothespin Reindeer

What fun crafts have you been making for the holidays? (Or made 20+ years ago!)

I'm linking up at:

Great Pinterest Activity Finds!

Here is something cool I found on Pinterest from Erin Farrell Photography's Blog. I am so going to do this for Dr. Suess's birthday this year with my preschool kiddos. It would be cool for sorting colors. I have never celebrated Dr. Suess's birthday in my class before, so it should be fun. Check out the other Dr. Suess things on this blog that she made for a birthday party. Some people go ALL OUT for birthday parties. I guess I am just not that motivated because that just seems a little excessive to me, but definitely love it all and might be willing to try pieces and parts of it!

Also found this one on Pinterest from Frugal Family Fun Blog. So easy, but I never would have thought of trying this!

HAPPY CREATING!!!

 I am participating in I can teach my Child's Show and Share Saturday Link-Up!

Dollar Store Diva

Here are some of the new items I have bought or made for the classroom and how I will use them.

Dollar Tree: $1. Not sure if these will stay in the classroom or if I will be tempted to bring them home and use for scrapbooking ;) These would make excellent frames for children's work to hang in the hallway or border for a sign. Or just put them in the art area, so the children can use their own creativity with them.

Spinner! Dollar Tree: $1 (Is there anything that's NOT $1 in Dollar Tree?) Anyways, this can have many uses. I love how big it is with the big numbers and colorful sections. We will probably put this to use with some homemade board games.

Ok, so I did use materials from our resource room at work, these are all things that can be purchased from a dollar store. Caterpillars for use with the Eric Carle book The Very Hungry Caterpillar. More to come on The Very Hungry Caterpillar! So, stay tuned!!!