Paper “Stained Glass” Ornaments

At the preschool holiday party on Saturday, we had a number of crafts and games for the kids and their parents. One of the cutest crafts that we did was a "stained glass" ornament made out of paper. One of my committee members, Stacy (who specifically asked me not to give her credit for this, so of course, I am!), had seen a variation on this craft at a Halloween party and she adapted it for Christmas ornaments.

Here is what you need:


- Construction paper (we used red, white & green)
- Clear contact paper (each ornament used two 3"-4" squares)
- Tissue paper (we used red & green -- $1 for a bunch at the dollar store!)
- Scissors
- Glue stick
- Hole punch
- Curling ribbon, yarn, string, etc.

We folded a piece of construction paper into quarters, and then drew half of an open, circular ornament on one side of the folder paper (see photo).


Then we cut along the lines and this gave us 2 circles connected by a "tab" at the top.


We took a few small squares of the tissue paper and laid those on the sticky side of one of the 3" squares of contact paper (sorry, I don't have any of that leftover to show!). Then we covered that with the other piece of contact paper – so the tissue paper squares are sandwiched in between the two squares.

We placed the contact paper in between the two "rings" of the ornament and then used the glue stick to glue the entire thing closed. You may need to trim the corners of the contact paper off, if they are sticking out from the ornament.

Then we punched a hole in the top of the ornament and tied some curling ribbon through the hole to make a hanger.


This is how the craft table looked at the end of the party…


Here is one of the finished ornaments:


And here is how cute it looks on our Christmas tree!


I love this craft because it was simple to do – the parents did help the little ones, but my 9-year-old made one all on her own – super cute, and you can take this idea and use it for all sorts of things! You can use any colors you want to make a tree ornament, or a cute window decoration! Imagine making one in an egg shape with brightly colored tissues and decorate your windows for Easter! As Stacy saw at the Halloween party, they made them into jack o'lantern decorations. You could even take this idea and put one of your children's small school pictures in the middle – what a great ornament for the grandparents' trees! Hmm… I may have to try that for this Christmas!

Catching Up

It's been a busy holiday season so far, my brother-in-law came out to celebrate his birthday with us the weekend before Thanksgiving, my little family of four had a wonderful, peaceful Thanksgiving at home, I coordinated the preschool holiday party (yesterday -- yay!), and I've been battling a nasty cough/cold for what seems like an eternity... So I've been a little neglectful of my blog... :( But I am back and I have a great idea that I will be sharing with you for a simple, adorable ornament that you can make with the kids! Stay tuned!

What Do I Do With All Of Those School Calendars?

I have two children, who are both in school – two separate ones (middle and pre) to be exact. We have SO many important papers that we have to refer to on an almost daily basis for each girl. We have the school lunch calendar, the calendar that tells us when gym day is and when library books are due, the school calendar that lists days off and testing dates, the preschool assisting calendar, the preschool lesson plan calendar, the instrumental music lesson calendar – and the list goes on! We also have school illness guidelines (when to keep your child home), the religious education calendar, and phone lists from the schools for scheduling play dates. It’s overwhelming! Since these are things that we refer to often, I don’t want to get them mixed in with all of the other paperwork – mail, homework, flyers from school – so a few years ago I started to tape everything up on the inside of our kitchen cabinets. This works out great for us – when the cabinets are closed – no mess! But we are in a routine – myself, my husband, and even our 9-year-old – and we check the schedules inside the cupboard every night to prepare the girls for school the next day. This has worked out great for us!

What is one of your favorite organizational tips for keeping all of the kid’s school info accessible?

Thank you!

Today was a crazy day at work and at home, but I made sure to take time to thank a veteran for all that they did for us. You don't need to wait until Veteran's Day to honor or thank someone for serving. I think my little one and I are going to take a trip to the cemetery tomorrow in honor of my grandfather who served in WWII. She was quite little when her great grandfather passed away, but I would like to help her get to know him through pictures and stories. Thank you to all of the men and women who have served in the past or are currently serving to protect our country, our freedom, our families and friends. And thank you to their families for the sacrifices that they make to support our military.

God bless America!

Kids Say...

My four-year-old is so darn cute (as I am sure all four-year-old's are...) -- she is becoming fiercely independent and she got herself dressed for bed tonight and came downstairs to say, "Mommy, can you help me? This button took the other button's hole!" Darn buttons -- you have to watch them so closely -- they are sneaky like that! ;)