DIY Christmas with Your Kids by Angela Brown

I met Angela years ago at a writing conference and we've been friends ever since. She moved away. I moved away. She moved back. I moved further away. But the internet keeps us in touch.

I had no idea what Angela would come up with for a DIY Christmas post, but I love her blog and I knew she would undoubtedly call upon her secret weapon. Chipmunk (aka, Danielle). I was not disappointed. Please welcome, Angela!


 Hanging with a Chipmunk



 Not this chipmunk:






Nor these chipmunks:

I’m talking about my chipmunk (aka, my darling, Danielle). 

She’s something that’s irreplaceable, just like the time I sometimes lose getting caught up in my personal projects.

This Christmas, I decided to do something a little different.  You see that ornament chipmunk is holding?  It’s a simple little thing really, made by removing the aluminum top, filling the glass ornament ball with cotton ball sized, red and silver frillies then adding red ribbon with snowflakes.

But what I love most of all is her smile.

So how did we go about making that smile?  It started with supplies from Hobby Lobby.  I adore that store.  From fabrics to crafts supplies to knick-knacks, Hobby Lobby has it all.  At the time I went shopping, I got what I needed at 50% off.  Yeah, call me spend-happy :o)

Glass ornaments, glitter, glue, red and silver frillies, and bling.  As you can see from the picture below, the glitter was a hit.

Chipmunk was able to produce these wonderful, personalized ornaments with minimal assistance. 

First, I covered the entire circumference of the glass ornament with Beacons’ ornament glue.  Next, I handed over the glitter and let her have a blast combining silver and snowflake white glitter.  That’s the one already completed.  She combined silver with green and red glitter for the ornament she’s working on in the picture.

It got messy, which is why I gave the junk mail new life.  It really made clean up as easy as 1 – 2 – 3.  But the mess was worth seeing this grin: 


Personalizing our own ornaments was great.  Having fun and spending time together…that’s more precious than anything.   Okay, I’m going to stop now before I start a tear-storm.  I suppose I can’t emphasize enough the joy I derived from hanging with chipmunk.

I recently did a post where I posed this question: What does this holiday season mean to you? From the comments, I could see that family time was and is at the top of the list.  But even I enjoy a little gift giving.  So I’d like to share two Kindle stories with two lucky winners chosen at random.  And yes, that means both winners will receive both titles.

Bah, Humbug! (a romantic comedy novella ) by Heather Horrocks and Christmas in Hell by Virginia Jewel.  The titles aren’t the typical merry, jolly, everything’s perfect sort of stories.  Honestly, the holidays can be that way.  So here’s your chance to get a few things off your chest.  Have you had an interesting Christmas mayhem moment?  You know, something like great Uncle Joe sipping one too many cups of spiked eggnog and showing the true meaning of full moon.  Or perhaps something less damaging to your eyes.  Even if it’s just your cat playing tag with your ornaments, this is your outlet.

Comment away.  That’s how the winners will be chosen.


NOTE: For other DIY Christmas posts, go here. All contests for the DIY posts end 12-22-11, so you can comment on any previous post.

Comments

Unknown said…
What a cute chipmunk you have! I remember doing crafts with my son when he was younger (for some reason he's less inclined now that he's sixteen) and he loved it.
Angela Brown said…
Thanks Clarissa! It was so much fun.

Thanks Maria, for having me at your blog. I was thrilled and honor to do this.
Anonymous said…
Love the ornaments! We did this one year except we swirled paint inside the glass ornaments. You're right, the resulting smiles are so worth the mess :)

Your chipmunk is a cutie!

Christmas mayhem, hmm, let's there was the year my father, after having too much "eggnog" decided to assemble the new stereo cabinet without reading the instructions an hour before company arrived. Not pretty. Or the year the tree stand broke and the 11 foot, fully decorated, tree ended up laid out like the dead for a wake. Or the necrotic Lab we had who "christened" all the presents. Or my uncle telling us kids we couldn't wake the parental units before 9 am Christmas morning, then set the clocks back an hour after we went to bed Christmas eve. Lots of stories. Lots of fond memories :)
Cherie Colyer said…
Chipmunk has a beautiful smile! I love the ornaments. The best gifts and items hanging from the tree are the ones that came from the heart and the imagination of our kids. Merry Christmas!
Sarah Ahiers said…
i wish i had kids to do fun stuff like this with.
Let's see. I think the craziest thing that happened to us on Christmas was our cockatiel, hedwig, getting outside on christmas eve. We live in MN so there was snow and it was cold and he was stuck in a tree and wouldn't come down. Then a hawk tried to get him and he flew down the block into another tree. We had to leave him there, until finally, right before bed, my mom walked over there with a broom and knocked him out of the tree. He was so cold he couldn't fly and she caught him. Once he warmed up he was fine. Christmas tragedy averted
Cathy in AK said…
Beautiful little girl : )

Love the ornament idea too. We use nonbreakables due to pets. Which leads to my Christmas frustration...

We have several ornaments that have fur accents on them (AK, yanno ;) With two cats in the house you can see where this is going...Each year it's a game of find the ornaments. At least they haven't toppled the tree in their efforts to attack, kill and cache the ornaments. Not yet anyway : P
Mark said…
Chipmunk? I don't think I've used that before for inspiration...sounds interesting:)
Usemeplz said…
Oh, it is great! thanks for the idea, now I know what to do with my little son:)
Cate Masters said…
Your chipmunk's darling, Angela. Such cute ornaments too.
This Christmas, every day's mayhem trying to keep the grandbabies from ripping the ornaments off the tree - it's a full-time job, lol.
Happy holidays!
Angela Brown said…
Oh Raelyn...dear, dear. You've got some hairball situations lol!! Wow...so the dog gave the presents a showever first? Good grief! lol!!!

Thank you, Cherie. You are so right :-)

Poor cockatiel, Sarah. Christmas tragedy averted indeed.

Thank you, Cathy. I'm still tickled about your cats. But I can see how that could be very frustrating.

Chipmunk earned her nickname, Mark. She did so by deciding to hide a chicken nugget in her mouth. When she was younger, her cheeks were full and pinch-worthy so we didn't realize she did it until she started munching on it a little later. Threw me for a loop lol!!!

I tell you what, Usemplz, it was so much fun I kept all the supplies. Definitely making more of these.

Thank you so much, Cate. Oh dear, GB's and ornaments always seem to have a rocky relationship :-)
Misha Gerrick said…
Oh wow, those decorations look pretty and like a lot of fun. My mom and I also made our own decorations, but by stringing large beads. :-)
Angela Brown said…
You know, Misha, I'm thinking that stringing large beads idea sounds like a great one to try for our next holiday fun-time.
LD Masterson said…
Cute ornaments. Adorable chipmunk. Holiday time just does get any better than that.
Shelley Munro said…
Awwww. Your chipmunk looks so happy and pleased with herself. Time spent doing projects like this with kids is so precious.