Simple and easy to make hydrangea under glass...

Delicate hydrangea petals in a Christmas bauble.

       My eldest daughter loves hydrangea. She has several of these growing in our lawn and displays them lovingly about the house fresh or dried year round. Frankly, I'm surprised she had not thought to include these in an ornament sooner...

Supply List:

• hollow, clear bauble and clip on cap
• dried hydrangea petals
• vintage lace

       To make the ornament, she gently pushed the dried petals through the opening at the top of the hollow glass ornament until the bauble was full. Then she replaced the cap, added a hook and tied a lace bow about the top! This would make a quick and easy craft for those of you who love to decorate the Christmas tree using plants from your garden.

• How to dray hydrangea blooms by Proven Winners
• How to dry out hydrangea flowers by Garden Style nw

Dreams of Toys Puzzle

         Both William and Hannah are tucked in tight and dreaming of the toys Santa might bring. Use the pictures included in the sheet below to help you unscramble the toys of their dreams.

Children with visions of toys dancing in their heads...

You can craft cotton strawberries for the tree too!

Tiny cotton batting strawberries for the feather tree.

    Miniature cotton batting strawberries are the easiest ornaments one can make using unraveled cotton balls and a bit of glue and paint. These ornaments look lovely on any tree, not just feather trees and they can be made much larger if you prefer.

 Supply List:

• cotton balls
• red and green acrylic paints
• translucent glitter
• green felt or paper for leaves
• thin wire
• black permanent marker
  

Step-by-Step Instructions:

1. First unravel several cotton balls. 
2. Dab onto the wire a small bit of cotton and glue. Roll the wire between your palms until it is covered.
3. Roll a tight tiny ball of cotton and glue and then wrap the wire around this twisting one end around itself and forming the opposite end into a hook.
   
4. Take another piece of cotton and roll it again between the palms of your hands along with a squeeze of white school glue. Do not compress the cotton.
5. Gently attach this berry to the end of the wire with the small ball using more glue and cotton.
   
6. Add more layers of cotton and glue until you have formed the fruit into the size and shape that you prefer. Let it dry.
7. Paint the berry bright red at the top with acrylics and gradually water down the red paint in areas with lighter pigment. (see photo above)
8. Cut tiny green petals from paper or felt and glue these around the stem. 
9. Paint the stem green.
10. Add tiny black dots for seeds using a permanent felt ink marker.
11. Smear on the glue gently wear you would like glitter. 
12. Sprinkle on the glitter and hang the strawberry on the tree to display and dry.
    

A Letter To Santa Crossword Puzzle

        I've made this crossword puzzle for Christmas based upon clues found in the lines of a poem, "A Letter to Santa." The poem has sixteen lines and there is one clue per line given. It helps to read the poem and know that the puzzle should be solved within the context of the lines of the poem. The additional clue for line "8" is edible, I felt that it was necessary for the word to be solved. Line "8" of the poem didn't quite fit in with the poem; I just thought about the only mittens being shaped like something a child would always choose...

"A Letter to Santa" crossword puzzle.

Answer key for "A Letter to Santa"

Tricky Tags Christmas Puzzle

19 presents must be found for 19 people under one roof!

       The gift tags were left off of the packages by accident! Help Santa figure out who gets what gift by unscrambling the letters that will identify each gift. Every person receiving a gift has also a clue included with their name that will help you figure out their present. If the game is too easy, time it so that the first person to complete the game in the least amount of time wins a prize.