Friday, 6 December 2013

Christmas Crafts and Cards for Seniors

Hello blogland! It has been soooo long since my last post! I have not been blogging as much this Fall. {I've been busy painting my craft room and I am in the final stages of re organizing it! I did a post last year ...yes , last year! ... about Craft Room Chaos and I am finally gettin' er done!} 

Here are some craft ideas for Christmas.  My Guides made a couple of crafts last week and again this week. {They LOVE making crafts! so I am just going with the flow here}.  We were also busy tonight making cards for seniors.  We will be delivering the cards and singing carols for seniors at a local Nursing Home in two weeks.  We practiced singing tonight after the crafting was cleaned up! I like to get the girls involved in the clean up ...many hands make light work! plus most of  the girls like to be helpful!

This little snowman idea was found on Pinterest by our mom helper Melissa.  It is made with a battery operated Tea Light.


Another craft idea from Mom helper Melissa {She rocks! Melissa was once our Spark and Brownie leader but unfortunately does not have time to committ to being a Guider this year}. This is a Girl Guide Christmas ball.  You can see a little scroll inside which has the Guide Promise printed on it...Melissa premade computer printed scrolls but I forgot to get one from her so I made one and hand printed on it.  I did not get a pic before I put it in the glass ball though...I tried and tried to get it out with tweezers but gave up on that! LOL
I printed out these pics for the girls to add to the ball...we also added blue glitter {to represent the spirit of Guiding} and more sequins and curly ribbon in the colours of Guiding. {Mental Note:  Glitter is messy ...Glitter is messy...Glitter is messy...but it is so darn pretty I just have to use it! It was all over our meeting room!}
This simple little craft is a crowd fav LOL.  I had made this craft with Guides and Brownies over the years and they seem to like it every time.  It is a Wishing Spool. {I think the original idea was found in Pac-o-Fun magazine back in 2000}.  I found the wooden spools at a dollar store. We did not opt for painting the spools because we had many other things to do.  The idea of the "Wishing Spool" is to write a few things that you wish for Christmas and put the year on it so that you can see what you wished for every Christmas.  You could list "Peace" , "Happiness" etc., or materialistic things.
I had a bunch of these little wooden tags and santas/angels in my stash for ages and found them while I was re organizing my craft room...so I thought i'd take them to Guides.  The girls liked making these...probably because they were easy to make and self explanatory.

I can not remember where I found this card idea...but I used this idea at Guides a few times.  Again, another simple craft for kids.  The inside says "Warm Wishes".  {Some of our Guides made up their own saying...such as "Cold hands, Warm Heart"...which I thought was cute.}. They got to choose the colour of felt and yarn.  I provided a pattern for the mittens {I recommend making patterns to save you from assisting with cutting.  The girls are capable of doing it themselves}.  It is neat to see how the girls like to express themselves when crafting...even if it is just a choice in colours.

Another cute idea found on Pinterest! I ♥ Pinterest!  This simple card was made with red cardstock, black ribbon with a pop can tab for the buckle and some dollarama bling.  The ribbon was attached with tape.  The inside says "Believe".  The inspiration card is larger with shiny black buttons and a picture of Santa on the side but this is my version.  Work with what you have ladies!
Below are some of the cards that our Guides made for the Seniors...we used cardstock and my stash of Christmas cards from last year.  A great way to reuse those Greeting Cards {so remember to save them for next year! I ask my mother to save her cards too}.


The girls made up their own sentiments to go inside the cards {which was fun to read as you can imagine!}. It is a good idea to write out some generic sentiments such as Merry Christmas, Seasons Greetings etc so that you do not spend all night repeatedly spelling out the words!

All of these crafts were easy to make...they did not require assistance from the leaders..once I had explained the directions then the Guides got down to business and did a whole-lot-a craftin'!

So that is all for today folks!  I so enjoy doing Christmas crafts.  I am glad that over the years 99% of my Girl Guides like to do crafting!

One last thing...but this is not Girl Guide related...I got 14 inches cut off my hair the other day!  I am going to donate my locks to A Child's Voice Foundation Angel Hair for Kids. This will be the third time that I cut my hair for wigs.  {My Mother is a breast cancer survivor and she had to wear a wig for a while so the least I can do is donate my hair for someone in need}.
Before
And the after pic...14 inches off...my hairdresser Donna curled it! She is awesome! It took a ton of hairspray and Volumizing Powder to get it to look like this...as you can see in the before pic my hair is dreadfully naturally straight.  No more getting my hair caught in the car door or seatbelt now LOL !
If I don't get a chance to do a post before the big guy gets here....
Have a Merry Christmas and 
Happy New Year!