Get crafty by transforming trash from the recycling bin

Need new wall art? Hire your kids as decorators!

Send your kids on an ABC scavenger hunt to make this homemade book.

I love a pretty cookie. I really do. But I come up against a very confusing battle of the senses…a stand-off between my eyes and my stomach.

I want to eat this, says my tummy.

I want to admire this, say my eyes.

Tummy wins. Sorry, sense of sight. You’d win at the museum.

Check out these amazing cookies over on my other blog, Everyday Fun on Parents.com.

One of the best parts about living in New York City during the holiday season are the sidewalk Christmas tree vendors. Every few blocks, you walk through a tunnel of yummy pine air, over a temporary, trampled carpet of green needles. And you see people walking home with a tree slung over their shoulder, just ripe for the decorating.

To give the tree it’s best chance at a lasting through the month, the vendors will slice off the bottom of the trunk (kind of like cutting your roses before putting them in water). So the sidewalks are often littered with small tree stumps that are just tossed out with the trash. Tree trash is a crafter’s treasure.

To make these lovely, glossy candle stands, I primed then spray painted pieces of tree trunk with bright spray paint, and then topped it off with a gloss varnish. (Here are the colors I used: Ketchup and Frozen Strawberry by Montana Gold, and Prussian Blue by Liquitex) Use these as place cards, food markers, candle stands, dessert stands…you name it!

Well, dear readers, this craft marks the last in my 10 day series of projects leading up to Christmas. I hope you were able to keep yourselves (and your kids) busy with creative pursuits over the last ten days. And if not, I hope you will pin them for next year!

Have a very merry and bright Christmas!

xx