Don’t get me wrong, I love a good time-consuming craft undertaking every once in while, but sometimes it’s fun to whip up a quickie with nearly immediate satisfaction. Like this Paper-Strip Christmas Tree Ornament, for example. You can make this with kids as young as 3 years old (my toddler son Oliver made one that looks more like one of these fake-tree-cell-phone towers), and you likely already have the supplies around the house! Here’s how you do it…

What you’ll need:

• Tongue depressor
• Green craft paper
• Scissors
• Glue Stick
• Glitter paper
• Enamel dot stickers (Doodlebug Designs: Sprinkles)
• String

Make It:

1. Cut green paper into thin strips, about 1/4″ wide to 1/2″ wide.
2. Use the glue stick to cover about two thirds of the stick in strips of green paper, overlapping as much as you’d like. Trim the edges to form a tree shape.
3. Cut a small slit into the ends of each strip (optional).
4. Adhere enamel dot stickers as ornaments.
5. Cut 4 1″ strips of glitter paper (you can use yellow paper or glitter your own if you don’t have this) and glue them together as an asterisk. Adhere a dot in the middle then glue to the top of your tree.
6. Cut a 3″ piece of string and glue it to the back of your tree ornament.

Come back for the next 9 days for more fun craft ideas to make these days before Christmas fly by!

You may not realize it, but your kids do—tomorrow marks the final 10-day countdown to December 25th. Need some distractions to make the time fly by? Starting tomorrow, come and visit daily for some new and spontaneous ideas!

It’s been almost 2 years in the making, but my book, Project Kid, is ALMOST here! After months of crafting, then months of copy editing, my first kids’ craft book is at the printer, on its way to being a real, 3-dimensional object. While it looks like it actually exists by the look of the photo, this is actually a digital rendition that Artisan made for the publicity materials.

To my patient blog readers who have dealt with my comings (having a baby) and goings (having another one just 18 months later) and my very erratic posts, I promise there is much to look forward to!

Please LIKE my page on Facebook, and you can go to the Artisan Books website to read more!

Ok, so I often read about new toys or products being developed, and I think, wow, that’s a smart person. I want to be that person, or at the very least, know her. I read about this great new product Toy Mail this weekend on The New York Times and not only did I read the article from beginning to end, but I actually gave money to their Kickstarter campaign.

Here’s how it works. You download an app to your iPhone and record a message. You hit send and it delivers that message to one of these cute little critters (adorably named and ironically shaped like a streetside mailbox). Your kid, at least one old enough to push a button, gets an alert and then can push the button to hear the message, and even press another button to record one back.

And then, there’s the story of the co-founders and best friends, Gauri Nanda and Audry Hill. Nanda created Clocky and then pulled in her BFF, registered nurse, and mother of 3 Audry (no background in product design) to work on this with her. Love that!

I’m always on the hunt for turkey Thanksgiving crafts that feel fresh and new. And strangely, it’s kinda hard to find really good ones. First off, they are always brown, yellow, orange, and red and they are usually made from construction paper glued to a pinecone or a hand cut-out. Now I have no issue with those colors, or those materials for that matter, but I feel that the turkey craft deserves a little more attention, don’t you?

Being that Thanksgiving is in the crisp season of fall, I always feel that a turkey craft should feel warm and cozy, so this cutie is made primarily of felt and yarn. Wanna make one? Here’s how!

What you’ll need:

• 4″ tall plastic cup
• Scissors
• Yarn (a multi-colored yarn and yellow)
• 2″ styrofoam ball
• Magenta, gold, white, red, and black felt
• 2 white buttons
• Tacky glue
• Pipe cleaners

Make It:

1. Cut about 16 vertical slits in your cup (make sure it’s an even number and that they are relatively evenly spaced). Cut all the way to the bottom of the cup.
2. Weave the multi-colored yarn in and out of the cup slats starting at the bottom of the cup. Once you’ve made it all the way around, continue weaving, going under where you went over the last time. Keep weaving until you’ve made it to the top of the cup. Cut the yarn from the skein and tack it to the inside of the cup with a dab of glue.
3. Head: Wrap your Styrofoam ball in the yellow yarn until it’s completely covered. Glue the yarn ball to the bottom of the cup (open-side down).
4. Scarf: Cut a 12 by 1-inch piece of magenta felt and fringe each end about 1 inch. Wrap and tie the scarf around the turkey’s neck. (This will hide the bottom of the plastic cup.)
5. Beak: Fold a piece of gold felt and cut a 1″ skinny triangle on the fold. Glue the crease to the middle of the turkey’s head.
6. Feet: Cut 2 pieces of felt, about 3/4 x 1-inch and cut 2 slits in each piece to make the turkey’s tallons. Glue those pieces to the bottom of the cup.
7. Waddle: Cut 2 1-inch teardrop shapes from the red felt and glue them under the beak.
8. Eyes: Cut 2 small circles of black felt, glue them into the center of the white buttons, and glue above the beak.
9. Feathers: Cut about 6 feathers from the magenta, gold, and white felt. Glue a pipe cleaner down the middle of each. Glue the feathers to the back of the cup with the pipe cleaners facing towards the back.

Here are a few details:

Check out a few other adorable turkey crafts on my FamilyFun blog, Everyday Fun!