Girls' Night Out

Maybe we should have called this Mommys' Night Away! All four of us have children, and I think we all enjoyed grown up conversation and crafts without wondering what the kids are getting into, making sure they have their snacks and sippy cups, having to leave early because it's bedtime, etc. etc. We just had fun laughing, eating sweets, and getting our hands messy (and unfortunately blistered - poor Annette) with hot glue!

Here are the crafts we made - we only had time for three this night, but we've already planned our next evening AND we have all been searching Pinterest for crafts to make!

Sheena's Craft - Advent Calendar - supplies: old piece of wood, 24-25 clothespins, hot glue, tacky glue, strips of thin ribbon, paints (optional). Directions: glue ribbon pieces onto clothespins using tacky glue. Mark the wood  at one inch intervals, marking where your clothespins will be glued on the wood. Using the hot glue, attach the clothespins to the wood. Paint numbers over each clothespin - 1-24/25 (depending on  how you want to set up your Advent calendar). You can also paint a Christmasy saying on either end of the piece of wood. (I also chose to white-wash my piece of wood before attaching all the clothespins, so that it will match the other decor in our home. You could paint it whatever color you'd like...or, just leave the wood in its natural state!) During the month of December, attach small goodie bags to each clothespin for your children to count down to Christmas. Or, attach different Christmas activities for each day - baking cookies, singing Christmas carols, drive around to view Christmas lights...the sky is the limit!

Whitney's Craft - Wrapped Trees - supplies: styrofoam tree form (she bought them at Wal-mart, 2/package), 2 kinds of thick, soft yarn, straight pins, bows and jingle bells (optional). Directions: Starting at the base of the styrofoam tree, wrap both types of yarn around and around the tree until you reach the top. Using the straight pins, pin the yarn at the very top of the tree so the yarn doesn't unravel. Then continue wrapping around the tree until you get back to the base of the tree. If you'd like to, you can tie a bow around the top of the tree and hot glue jingle bells to the tree to "decorate" your Christmas tree. I was shocked at how simple this decoration was to make! (The most difficult part is pinning the yarn at the top of the tree. Oh, and making sure you don't burn your fingers while gluing the jingle bells onto the tree!)

Alyson's Craft - Wintery Candles - supplies: glass jars, vases, or candles (large enough to fit a tea light or votive), epsom salt, Mod Podge, paint brush, food coloring (optional). Directions: Using a paintbrush, apply a thick coat of Mod Podge to your glass container (it works best if you do a strip at a time). Roll the container over a pile of epsom salt. Paint more Mod Podge on the container, and then roll again. Continue until the container is covered in epsom salt. If you want colored epsom salt, pour some epsom salt in a small mixing bowl. Add one drop of green or blue food coloring and stir the epsom salt until all the food coloring is mixed with the epsom salt. We used green, and it created a really pretty teal color. Allow the containers to dry at least over night. You may find that you need to spray the container with a clear coating of varnish or you may want to add an additional layer of epsom salt.

(This blog post should have shown up a couple of weeks ago! They came over one night while the kids were in Augusta with Grammy and Big Al. Their week in Augusta will be covered soon! I'm so behind!!!) :)