Christmas Crafty

I'm still not crafty.  But with it being Christmas and all....I thought I'd try.

Ta da!  A centerpiece and some advent calendars. 

These were so easy, a dog could do it.

#1 - Advent Calendars

My neighbor emailed me a warning about poisoned chocolate inside the store bought Cars/Mickey Mouse/Spongebob/Insert-Your-Child's-Favorite-Toy-Or-Movie-Here pre-packaged advent calendars.

Yes, I succumbed to buying those last year.  Yes, I would have again this year.  Instead, I reverted back to my kindergarten days.

I googled "santa beard advent calendar" and up popped a printable.  I printed three, glued two of them to a cereal box for extra strength (sorry, George), and here you have it.  The boys are convinced Santa will grab the completed calendars on Christmas Eve and hang them in his office. 

Of course, every good advent calendar must have chocolate involved.  For every cotton ball glued on the beard, the boys get a kiss...the wrapped kind.

#2 - Centerpiece

I saw this post from a blog I follow and thought to myself, "hey, I think I can do that!"  Rarely do I think that when reading blog posts, and more rarely do I actually follow through with any blog projects. 

So when I found my sorry self at Wal-Mart to buy plasticizing material, I bought the holiday vase items to cheer up. 

Since I took advantage of the nice weather yesterday to rake/sweep the deck AND spray paint the walnuts at the same time, I forgot to take pictures in action.

Here's the aftermath.  I bagged my hand and laid the painted walnuts on Raffi to dry.  Sorry, guy.

And here's the finished product.  I can't decide if I like it or it's totally cheesy.  I think I like it.  Only because I made it.  Well, I painted the walnuts.  That's making something.

It's way too small for the table.  But that's where we do homework, so it's easy to move it out of the way.  And it smells good.  I consider it my baby step to making one even bigger and better.

Here's an angle shot.

Photobomb!