Pine Cone Elves

PINE CONE ELF ORNAMENTS

Tis the season for Christmas Crafts. And with the holidays just around the corner, I decided to craft with my kids while they are on their Thanksgiving Break from school.  I found this idea from Martha Stewart, and thought that my boys would enjoy making these elves.  So we embarked on an adventure to Michael's Craft store and found all the supplies that we needed.  Here are the supplies......

We purchased, felt in various colors, a bag of small pine cones, colored pipe cleaners, paint pens, wooden round pieces for the heads, small candy canes, and some ribbon so we could hang them on the tree!

Let the creativity begin....

I let the boys pick out the color scheme they wanted for each of their elves.

They worked on their little elf faces...

I did most of the assembling, since a hot glue gun was involved.

Viola'....they were both so proud of their new little elf buddies!

I found that these little elves sit perfectly in the branches of our tree :)

We slightly changed the directions that Martha had on her website, but if you would like the pattern for the hat, gloves, and shoes check out marthastewart.com

Hope you have as much fun creating your own family of elves as me and my boys did!  We ended up making several of these and gave them as gifts.  I love handmade holidays!

Happy crafting, until next time!

XO~Gretchen

Halloween Festivities 2011

This year was no different then years past.  It seemed like October at our house was really busy, with all the Halloween/Fall parties that we attended.  Happy to see my boys get great use out of their costumes.  We certainly enjoy spending time with our family and friends!  Fall is such a beautiful time in KY, the leaves are turning, the temps outside are pleasant, and there are so many wonderful local activities in our area!
I come from a huge extended family, I have over 25 cousins that I am close to.  My mom is one of nine siblings, so all our family gatherings are chaotic and fun!  Most of my cousins have kids too, so now we continue to pass on all these fun family traditions.  My cousin Elizabeth and her husband Tom host an annual Fall Festival at their home.  They had so many wonderful activities planned for all the kids and adults.  There was face painting, a giant bounce-around, corn hole, stations to craft and make a mask, or paint a pumpkin.  And the biggest hit, was the pony rides!

Waiting for a pony ride!

My son, getting instructions....

And he is off.....

My youngest, riding the pony, and loving it!

My beautiful Goddaughter is a natural :)

Having fun jumping with cousins!

Making cotton candy, and turning into a sticky mess!

My husband and oldest son, playing some corn hole

Cutie Cousins!

Adorable!

My parents with my boys.

My lovely grandparents, they have been married for over 60 years!

My hubs and our son.  AKA his clone :)

And when night fell, the kids all roasted marshmallows, what a perfect way to end a great day!

Another Halloween tradition is our family Halloween party, which my mom hosted this year....

Some of the boy cousins, we were missing a few..

Sweet little girl cousins...

Um, this is our cousin Landon, who is the sweetest little monster ever!

Two of my three boys, the oldest is too old for trick-or-treating.

Carving pumpkins the night before with grandma...

Finally Halloween arrived, as if we already didn't have enough candy in the house from all the parties.  The kids had a ball trick-or-treating with their friends from our old neighborhood.  These truly are the moments that you want to hold on to forever. 

Hope that you had a wonderful October, filled with lovely traditions.

Until next time....

XO~Gretchen