Easy and Cheap Kid-Friendly Christmas Crafts!

I have already begun transforming my "nest" into a Christmas Wonderland. I can't help it. Mainly because my 2 1/2 year old is all about Christmas this year and he is in love with the thoughts of Santa and a Sparkling Christmas Tree! Also, this is the first Christmas they we are in our home and I couldn't wait to see it all decorated!

I found this easy and cheap Christmas decoration/craft last week on a blog and thought it would be perfect for my skinny mantle! So on date night, I asked my sweet and supportive husband if we could take a quick detour to Michaels....and he agreed and talked on the phone to a friend the whole time even helped me shop around and drool over all of the pretty Christmas things that are already out! So here is what you need:

• One unfinished wood frame for 1.00 (I also bought a bigger one for 4.99 but used a 40% off coupon!)
• Mod Podge (ok, I am now addicted to finding things I can use with this miracle-in-a-bottle)

• Pretty Christmas wrapping Paper
• bow or ribbon
• chalboard paint (optional)
• some type of acrylic paint (however, I used red spray paint because I had some already and it worked great!)
• scissors
• hot glue gun
• a cute little 2 1/2 year old boy to make a mess assist you.

Even though I once was a 3rd grade teacher (and loved it!)and had to constantly come up with visuals or crafts for my sweet students, I don't consider myself to be overly-crafty. But I so love to learn and copy good ideas from others who are blessed with the talent of "craftiness." So if you are with me in the ability to not be "so-crafty"- this project is for you! Evan and I even did most of it while I was waiting for this cheeze-it-chicken recipe to finish cooking in the oven.

First, you paint or in my case, spray paint the outside edges and inside edges with red paint. (or whatever color you want your frame to be!)

 

Then you cut the wrapping paper roughly to the size of the frame. Don't worry about getting this neat, you will buff the sides off later.

 Then you paint the mod podge on the frame with a paint brush. (sorry so blurry)

 

After you paint the frame with mod podge, you transfer the wrapping paper to the mod-podged frame. Be careful that you put it on carefully and smooth out the bubbles. Then, paint the mod podge on the frame and wait for it to dry.

After it dries, take a pair of scissors and poke through the whole in the frame and roughly cut out a square. Then, take a sander block or a nail file and lightly sand the edges. The paper will then come off pretty easily and you will have smooth ends! After I sanded the edges, I went back over the edges with mod podge just to make sure that they were gonna stick!

I let Evan help me on the second frame, and he loved getting the mod podge all over the frame!

I wanted this frame to be a little different, so I took the cardboard insert that came with the frame and used chalkboard paint to spray on it! This took about 5 minutes to spray and 5 minutes to dry! (You could easily skip this step and type out "Merry Christmas from the __________" on your computer and glue it to the insert!)

 Last, I hot-glued a bow to the smaller frame, and I added a lime green sparkly sprig that I already had to the larger frame. I used my chalk to write on my chalkboard, "Merry Christmas! From: the Scott's" and I added a picture of sweet Pierson in the smaller frame. (I plan on putting a Family Christmas Picture in there soon!)

This is exactly what I needed to sit on my skinny mantle- and for a handful of pennies I have two Christmas frames that I will pull out year after year and remember my Little Evan sitting on the bar and helping me! What great memories!

I have fond memories of doing crafts during Thanksgiving at my Grandma's with my Mom and Aunt Trudy. I hope to pass this tradition down to my children! Me and my sis were talking about easy and cheap crafts to do at thanksgiving while the family is together- this definitely will make the list! Please share with me in the comments if you have a great craft that we can add to our list!

Linking up with some great Craft Parties!