Saturday 8 December 2007

All that glitters is not gold


One of our Christmas traditions is to spend an evening cutting paper snowflakes. I missed out on paper snowflake night last night because of Ken's office party, but the kids documented the evening themselves.
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I'm ever-worried that the kids are going to outgrow this activity, so I always try to add a new twist to cutting out paper snowflakes. One year we folded and cut white paper coffee filters. This year I bought a roll of calculator paper to make paper snowflake chains. They turned out so cute, I can't believe I didn't think of this office supply for kids' crafts before. Now I want to make mini banners, paper doll chains, or other shapes!




I volunteered at school during the day on Friday, and Chloe's teacher sent me home with this snowflake glitter, which was another special addition to snowflake night. The kids painted glue onto their finished snowflakes and then sprinkled the glitter over top.



Clearly this would have been an activity better suited for parental supervision - Carmen and Chloe went a little crazy with the glitter. Jaclyn vacuumed the counter after they were done, but Ken and I (mostly Ken) still needed to vacuum the entire house today. And there is still snowflake glitter embedded in our carpet. It is driving Ken crazy but I don't mind it so much. The glitter is just putting me in the mood to go see Enchanted tonight with my girls!
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I don't know if Steven took this self portrait during the snowflake cutting, or during the craziness that followed:


15 comments:

Kelly said...

I love that they carried on the traditional craft even with you gone.

I had to buy a roll of adding machine tape for a school project last year, and you are right, the possibilities are endless!

The video is hilariously familiar. Sometimes it's just better not to know.

Neighbor Jane Payne said...

I don't think there is anything cuter than Cloe's smile in that first picture. She's darling.

Denise said...

Never mind the carpet, did you ever get it out of the hair?! I fear there will be sparkly dandruff for days to come.

I love the paper roll idea. Clevah!

jenny said...

That video and SP of Steven is cracking me up.

I have always wanted to learn how to cut out cool snowflakes. I think it's time I learn. Fun project!

Kelly said...

I've never thought of adding machine tape for crafting -- brilliant! I love Jaclyn's roll of snowflakes. Did you ever get that glitter out of Carmen's hair?

Amy said...

Ooh...glitter does leave its trail for weeks sometimes...but, what fun! Love the tradition of it. And that your littles carried on without you there & even carried on further with the pictures for the blog. Fantastic!

Michelle Alley said...

What a character your Steven is! Those snowflakes look like a lot fun - do they cut it themselves - your younger ones - I think I'd end up doing most of the cuttin on these - but I can imagine that the glitter would be their favorite part of the activity!

melanie said...

I love that they let loose with no supervision. No fun cleaning ur glitter but I love the photos!

Your snowflake tradition is so cool. And I'm with Kelly, the adding machine paper, brilliant!

Jill said...

You're a creative genius to think of using calculator paper to make snowflake chains, how clever.

My kids love cutting snowflakes and made a ton of them in the summer because they planned on selling them. I let this go on until they were taking over our house and then had to break the news that no one was going to buy them. Fortunately by then they weren't as into this project anymore and were fine with getting rid of them.

Mandy said...

Cute idea for snowflake chains. I also love the glitter but can imagine it will need time to work its way out of their hair.

April said...

I love that you have little "documenters" in your house. Not to mention "traditionalists." The glitter in the hair is delightful...I'd love to see her glittery pillowcase.

Unknown said...

what a wonderful feeling that they carried on in your absence. the first of many occassions in their lives, to be sure!

Katie A. said...

Fun snow flake project. I have recently been remenising about paper snowflakes and contemplating their possibilities as 'To/From' tags on my gifts.

And how cool that your kids carried on with the snow flakes without you there. That really shows how much fun they have with it.

Ortensia Norton said...

I absolutley love that video. So funny in so many ways.

michelle said...

How cute that they did it anyway even though you weren't there! (and that they thought to take pictures!) My kids love making snowflakes, too -- we haven't done it yet this year. Thanks for the reminder!

p.s. I love glitter so much, I don't care if it gets everywhere...