Hand made Christmas gifts - hair jewelry

I finally finished my mixed media hair jewelry in time for Christmas!  Not just any hair jewelry, but sparkly star hair clips made with german glass glitter. German glass glitter is unique because it contains ground up glass and sterling silver which will tarnish over time and create a vintage look to the glitter. My small stars are about 1.5 inches and my large stars are approximately 2.5 inches in height and length. I used a die cut cardstock star as a template to cut wool felt, then I hand sewed the stars together. This project was time consuming because I had to let the glitter dry over a period of three days. I also had to do it at night after my children were asleep since they find the sparkly glitter so enchanting and would like to play with it.  It's all I can do to keep my two year old daughter from playing with the finished hair clips. I've promised her that I will make her some like mommies, but not with the glass glitter!

Silver stars on copper bobby pins given to one of my cousins

made this large star hair clip/brooch for my cousin who loves turquoise jewelry

and kept this one for myself...

Biblical Christmas Wrapping Paper

During art time this morning I let the twins paint using dot dot paint as well as finger paint on kraft paper. We are creating our own Christmas wrapping paper. I had been drawing stars for them to fill in and Christmas trees, then Nathaniel asked me to paint a rainbow, like Noah's Ark. That got me thinking, why not draw a picture representing each book of the Bible.

Emma drew a whale:

Natty chose Exodus (15-40):



After we finish our Christmas wrapping paper, I'll tie the gifts up with simple bows using yarn ribbon or tulle in coordinating colors and give our gifts within a gift to special people in our lives.  This is going to be a fun way to learn the Bible, spread the Good News and express our creativity!