Vintage Inspired Yarn Doll Ornaments

This is easily my very favorite Christmas project this year. These little yarn dolls are the sweetest, and are a great way to share memories that will last a lifetime. And I love that they are ornaments the kids can actually touch and play with without hurting them. Anyone with small children knows the value of an unbreakable ornament!

But first, let me explain what I mean by memories that last a lifetime. Beyond the memories you will make with your kids that they will get to enjoy year after year. I remember visiting an older woman in a nursing home when I was very young, and when we visited she would give my sister and me yarn doll ornaments just like these. I don't know when it was or who she was, but that memory has stuck with me my whole life. In a similar way, I have an older, very dear friend who makes little angel ornaments that are crochet instead of yarn. She gave me one when I was younger, then surprised me with a second one when my oldest son was born. They are some of my most treasured ornaments. 

I say all of that to help us remember - little gestures can make a huge impact. And in this busy season it's good to remember to look out and see how we can be a blessing to others (it's so easy to forget that in all the holiday hustle and bustle). The smallest thing can make someone feel remembered and loved. Last year I asked my friend for a copy of her crochet pattern. Then I did a little digging to figure out how to make these yarn dolls. I hope to be the next generation ornament giver. To continue the traditions those ladies started. To give a tangible reminder to friends and family that they are loved and thought of. And I hope to bring my kids along with me. 

Tiny Sleeping Bag Tutorial (great stocking stuffer!)

Need a quick handmade gift that only takes a few scraps of fabric? I've got you covered! You can whip up a whole campground worth of these tiny sleeping bags in no time. And the small size = perfect stocking stuffer!

Easy Christmas Crafts for the Advent Season

Happy Advent season, friends! 

I’m always looking for ways to savor this season with my kids, strengthen family bonds, and ultimately point our children toward Christ. But for all the well-intentioned family advent plans out there, I can't for the life of me make it through one of them. Because here's the thing: I can't deal with anything complicated right now. Like, at all. I can't follow an extra advent schedule with projects and crafts and recipes every day. I can't spend time hunting down special ingredients or searching for unique craft pieces.  

But guess what? We don't need a fancy, fully scheduled plan to make the most of this season. We can fly by the seat of our pants and make the season magical and memorable for our kids in ways that work with our unique schedules and lifestyles, using simple items and ingredients we probably already have at home. And that's my goal with this little series. It's not a fully guided advent plan by any stretch, but it is a collection of projects and recipes that are simple, low commitment, and fun, that can be enjoyed with your family. Feel free to use them as you see fit - whenever you find a pocket of time and want to fit in a little Christmas magic. 

As you complete these projects with your family, please don't overlook the most important part of any advent celebration: Christ. There is no project on this list that is more important than teaching your children (or grandchildren) the true meaning of the season, the gospel, and all Christ has done for us. If you have time for only one advent "project," make it reading the Bible with your children. There are all kinds of advent reading plans out there, but, again, it doesn't have to be complicated. A great option is just reading the book of Luke. It has 24 chapters so it works out perfectly to read a chapter per day throughout December leading up to Christmas. Or, if you have younger kids, you can grab a reliable Children's bible and start reading through the New Testament passages with them (but don't ever discount the importance of reading from the actual Bible or be afraid to do it with younger kids - they understand far more than we give them credit for). 

With that said, many of these projects can work really well hand-in-hand with your scripture reading to make a pretty complete (but very chill and super flexible) advent "plan." I recommend starting with the playdough because you'll be able to use it all season! It's great for keeping little hands busy while you read, and older kids might enjoy sculpting what you are reading about. The recipes can be used in a similar way - enjoy making them with the kids, then sit down and read to them while they enjoy the treat. (It's so much easier for them to sit and listen when they have cookies to nibble or cocoa to sip! A warm cup of tea works in a pinch, too!). If you have bigger kids, they can work on the crafts or recipes while you read to them. And the yarn doll ornaments can be especially fun - they can double as, well, yarn dolls that the kids can actually play with while you read. Have fun with it, and remember that nothing will go perfectly and it's ok!

Gingerbread Playdough

3 Ingredient Shortbread Cookie

Vintage Style Yarn Doll Ornaments

Best Homemade Hot Chocolate Mix

Easy No-Sew Felt Garland

Giant Paper Sack Stars

3 Ingredient Cream Cheese Pinwheels

Easy Foraged Stick Stars

Check back soon - I'll add more projects as I get them posted!

For more Christmas tips, check out the post below with all the info about how our family of 8 does Christmas gifts: how we plan, sibling gifts, a fun wrapping hack, what we actually bought for the boys last year, and more!

I'd love to hear your favorite advent crafts, recipes, or traditions!

Gingerbread Playdough

I know this old blog has been quiet the last two years, but it turns out I have an abundance of Christmas content that I've collected and photographed during that time. Even when I don't have time to actually blog about it (6 kids and what not), I always have some kind of project going (especially around Christmas time!) and thank goodness I had the good foresight to photograph much of it! So hold on to your hats while I try to bring you as much Christmassy goodness as I can over the next couple weeks!

Let's kick-off this Christmas season with gingerbread playdough. This is great to make right away because your kids will be able to enjoy it all season long! It will help keep little hands busy through Christmas read-alouds or while dinner is in the oven. It would also be fun to have on hand when grandkids come to town!

Printable Bookplate Stickers

Hey guys, I had an idea for the boys stockings that I'm super excited about and I wanted to go ahead and share it now in case you want to make a set for your kids as well! 

I was looking at the Read Aloud Revival gift guide for book-lovers and one of their ideas was bookplate stickers. I loved the idea of the boys being able to mark the books they get each year, but I did not love the ones linked in the gift guide. So, I headed to Etsy to see what else I could find. I came across some custom book stamps that looked amazing.... but $30 per stamp was over my stocking budget. I also looked at custom bookplate stickers that ran around $8-10 for a set of 12. They were cute, but it was still more than I wanted to pay, especially since the bigger boys already need more than 12 stickers. 

But then I suddenly realized... I can print my own stickers!

 

A set of 120 printable Avery labels was under $10. Now I'm looking at 30 labels per kid for under $2.50 each! Those are stocking-stuffer prices, folks. And I had a ton of fun designing a unique set for each of the boys that I think they will love. 

 

I made a PDF of each design that you can download below for free and print on your home printer (you'll just need these Avery labels). You can write in the names before you gift them, or leave that up to the kids (it would be so sweet to have their handwriting saved in their books). If you're feeling a little more tech-y, I also have a jpg version so you can upload it into a program like canva to type in the names before you print. Make sure your printer is set to print full-scale so the stickers will line up correctly. Click on the links below to download the printable sheet for each design:

SHIP PDF - SHIP JPG

ARROW PDF - ARROW JPG

CASTLE PDF - CASTLE JPG

BOOK PDF - BOOK JPG

SWORD PDF - SWORD JPG

LEAF PDF - LEAF JPG

Happy stuffing! (Ok, probably could have done a little better there. But it's almost Christmas, guys!)

 

What are you putting in stockings this year?

 

2021 Gift Guide for Kids

There are a lot of gift guides floating around out there - but how do you know which suggestions are really good? So for this year's gift guide, I'm sharing our tried and true favorites. The things my kids truly love and use daily. Hopefully it will help you find the perfect gifts your kids will love! And since I only have experience with boys, I asked my sister (who has two girls) for input as well (there were several items that overlapped both of our families!). So you should be able to find something for everyone! 

1. Mega Wedges    2. Kozy Couch    3. Kingdomino Game   4. Roller Blades   5. Picasso Tiles   6. Floor Puzzle   7. Wingfeather Books   8. Perler Beads (and boards)   9. Bow and Arrow   10. Legos (or Lego Friends)   11. Schleich Animals   12. Pirate Jewels   13. KiwiCrate Moon Darts   14. Dollhouse   15. Brush Markers   16. Disney Frozen 2 Pop Adventures

 

My minimalist heart looks at this list and thinks, "man, that's a lot of toys," but keep in mind that we really do limit the amount of toys we actually give each year. So while this is a big snapshot of the toys we have, I would never plan on getting so many things in one year. We try to stick to the four gift rule: something they want, something they need, something to wear, and something to read. Which means one toy-type item per kid. Because managing too much stuff isn't fun for anyone. Here are some favorites from every category:

---- "Want" Gifts ----

Gifts to Get Them Moving

We have a house full of boys, which means a house full of energy! So gifts that involve big movement have been a huge it at our house. One of the best gifts we ever gave them was building a rockwall with monkey bars in the playroom (you can find our free plans to build your own here). Since then we've added a couple play couches and a pair of mega wedges and it has transformed our playroom into a building/climbing/fort-making wonder land. 5/5 stars would 100% recommend both of these items. We also have a few large flat bed sheets just for fort-making. We also love gifts that encourage outdoor play. We've gotten hours of play in the driveway from roller blades (don't forget helmets and knee pads), but they also love scooters and bikes. They also love making stick forts in the backyard, which is so much better when they have weapons to defend their territory - especially this bow and arrow, this other bow and arrow (definitely recommend one of these for each kid!), and a few good swords.

Gifts for Creative Building

Our boys also love to build! Our legos and picasso tiles are both used daily. If I had to list a top two toys in our house, those would be it. Instead buying a new building toy for Christmas, I would just buy more legos and picasso tiles to add to their collection for making bigger builds. They love them that much. Right now my boys are really into minecraft legos, but my sister says her girls prefer the lego friends sets. Kozy couch is also worth mentioning again for kids who love to build!

Gifts for Artists and Creators 

Our boys also get a big kick out of making things, and their preferred medium is perler beads! They've been using them for years and haven't tired of them yet - because there's always something new to make! We started with kits but now we just buy big packs of colored beads and plain boards and they make up their own patterns, or we'll print patterns off google (usually for 3D minecraft characters right now). This year their grandma is surprising them with the mini perler beads they have been begging for. For little artists, both my kids and my sister's kids love brush markers, and my older boys have had a lot of fun with these portable watercolor kits! In the past we've done KiwiCrate subscriptions (or just bought single boxes without the subscription) and they've loved everyone so far. This year I'm eyeing this Moon Darts Box and this Wrap Rockets Box. They have tons of options for different ages!

Gifts for Creative Play

We love toys that allow lots of options for creative play. Toys that can't be used for multiple things are often toys that will be used the most! Our kids love having animals and little guys they can use in dollhouses, jungles, under the table, and even in the tub! All of our kids like schliech animals, my boys love the imaginext action figures, any my sisters kids love playmobil characters with changeable clothes and the disney pop characters. This last one is super random, but has been one of our most played with toys - fake jewels. Whether they're looking for treasure, bartering in their "shops," or stocking their forts, these jewels get daily play in some way! My sister also recommends collecting a few velveeta cheese boxes (they use them as barbie cars, dollhouse rooms, treasure boxes, cooking pans... just about anything!).

Puzzles + Games

Every year we also put a family gift under the tree that we can all enjoy together like a puzzle or game. Some of our favorite family games lately are King Domino (we're gifting this to a few people this year!), Sushi Go Party, Bohnanza, Dice City, Monopoly Deal, Ticket to Ride, Wingspan, Sequence, and Blockus. Our smaller boys really love this Under the Sea Seek and Find floor puzzle and their alphabet puzzle, and this Lego Minifig Puzzle was a favorite for our big boys!

---- "Need" Gifts ----

This is a really broad category that can be literally anything your kids need (or that would be super handy for them to have). It's a great chance to replace worn out items, invest in quality items that will last for years, or find things that will make their life a little easier. This could include anything like: new shoes, noise cancelling headphones, a sleeping bag, a duffle bag, rain boots, a bank, etc.

---- "Wear" Gifts ----

This one's pretty self-explanatory - if they can wear it, it counts! A new hoodie, cardigans for church, warm boots, a ball cap for their favorite team, cozy pajamas, minecraft tshirts, even a fun costume for dress-up. We got our six year old the cutest hat and jacket at Walmart this year. (And yes, I have no problem bundling a couple things together like a hat + jacket that for this category!)

---- "Read" Gifts ----

Last by definitely not least, the "read" gifts. Probably my favorite category. We love good books and we love reading together, so every year I bundle together several good books for each of the boys. I match the reading level of our older boys so they can read to themselves at bedtime, and stick to picture books or read-alouds for the younger boys. I also add a couple books for the whole family under the tree that we we will read aloud together. My favorite resource for finding new books for them is Read Aloud Revival. Sara has put all kinds of hand book lists together, and she pre-reads everything to make sure they are totally clean and child-appropriate (which seems harder and harder to find these days!). For my boys, I usually just pick a new book from her Books Boys Love list and so far they have loved every one. She also has a list of Books Girls love, favorite picture books, and more! I recently discovered Good Book Mom who does similar book suggestions and got my 8-year-old the Last Firehawk series she reviewed. He read almost a book a day! There are so many good books on those lists, but here are a few of our absolute favorites so far: Wingfeather Saga (probably our #1 pick!), Growly Series, Green Ember Series (on sale right now!), My Father's Dragon Series, Edge of Extinction (gifted this to my 9-year-old last Christmas and he said they are the best books he's ever read!), The Hobbit (this illustrated version is the bomb), How to Train Your Dragon Series (the audio book version read by David Tennant is amazing - we were able to get it through our library!), The Sign of the Beaver, Seven Silly Eaters, If I Built a House, The Big Honey Hunt (our youngest loves these older Berenstain Bears books!), The Complete Brambly Hedge, Tales that Tell the Truth, Ramona Quimby age 8, Mervin the Sloth, Don't Push the Button, The Ark the Reed and the Fire Cloud, The Giant Jam Sandwich, The Cook and the King, and The Alfie Out of Doors Book. I guess I better stop there. So much for "just a few." Did I mention this is my favorite gift category? 

I hope this guide gives you a great starting point as you look for gifts for all the kids on your Christmas list! I'm hoping to share another guide soon with give ideas for adults, and a quick guide for stocking stuffers. So stay tuned!

Want more ideas? Check out my minimalist gift guide for kids! And you can browse all my past gift guides here.

What would you add to this list? What are your favorite tried-and-true gifts for kids??

Matching Child-size Ties + Bowties

When it comes to getting a house-full of little boys dressed up, I tend to fall back on my old favorite combo - a simple button up shirt with khaki shorts. It's easy, cute, perfect for summer, and it looks nice without being overly formal (we're not an overly formal bunch). Plus it's cheap - we already have those things in the closet (Dave Ramsey approved!).

But last summer I was putting together outfits for my sister's wedding and I wanted to add a special touch. Something to dress it up just a bit more than usual and add a little matching to the day (I love when they match). 

For little boys, that naturally led to matching ties and bow ties! I found a few ties on Amazon, but the ones I liked were almost $25 each. And the few I didn't totally hate (that would arrive in time) were still $10-15 each... and I would need four. Not how I want to spend my $$ today, thankyouverymuch. It just felt like a lot of money for a little accessory.

Then my sister was like "Duh. Make your own." And she sent me these two links:

• Boy's Tie Pattern by Little Bit Funky
• Boy's Bow tie Pattern by Make It Love It

And she was totally right. With DIY, I could make ties for all four boys for less than buying one pre-made tie. And I had a whole Hobby Lobby of prints and colors to choose from.

I decided on regular ties for the three bigger boys and a bow tie for little guy (so he wouldn't get tangled up while crawling around). For my 8-year-old, I added a few inches to the tie pattern to make it a little longer. My five- and three-year-olds are wearing it true to the pattern. Hopefully that gives you an idea for any adjustments you need to make for your own sizing! I also copied the velcro strap from the bow tie pattern and used it for the regular ties, too, instead of using the elastic it shows in that pattern.

Yes. I'm the mom that let them wear flip flops and didn't iron their shirts, but I did tuck them in... and you can see how long that lasted. I'm choosing different battles, folks.

My sister's wedding themes were navy + wildflowers and the boys were all going to wear blue shirts (all different shades, just working with what we have) and khaki shorts. So I picked a yellow floral  fabric with a vintage vibe that would work perfectly with all their outfits and fit the wedding theme! It was so perfect, I could hardly believe it.

The fabric was from Hobby Lobby and cost $7/yard regular price, but their fabric is always on sale so it ended up being only $5/yard. One yard was enough to make the set of four. I also bought one pack of  5/8" velcro for $2 and had plenty to split that between all four ties, bringing the grand total to just $7 for all four!

I couldn't believe how cute they turned out! I kept looking at them like "Did I really just make these??" So cute and so professional looking. And under two hours to make the whole set.

Just wanted to share since it's a great little project to tackle while you're cooped up at home (and perfect if you have scrap fabric to use up!). Seriously, I can't recommend these patterns (or little boys with matching ties) enough. What have you been making lately?

Felt Pirate Map + DIY Stocking Stuffers for Kids

There is something special about giving handmade gifts to our kids. Even when we don't have larger handmade gifts on the Christmas list, I love tucking a little surprise in my boys' stockings. Today I'm going to show you how to make this sweet little pirate map, and then I'll link a few more of our favorite handmade stocking stuffers down at the bottom of the post!  

Supplies:

• felt - for this map you'll need two full sheets of sand-color, a sheet of blue for water, and any other colors you want (I used greens, brown, grays, red, and yellow)
• thread (I used a sewing machine, but you can also stitch by hand)
• 22" long ribbon

You can customize this tutorial to make any design you want! You can make pine trees for a forest map, add a castle for a knight's map, or make an outer-space map for an astronaut! 

For this pirate map, I started by drawing up a basic idea of what I wanted my map to look like:

Felt Unicorn Altoid Tin Playset

You guys know I love a good DIY toy, right? (you can see our full list of toys here) Today I'm adding another installation to my DIY felt toy collection with this sweet little unicorn playset!

You can see all the other felt toy goodies here:

• bear/ewok altoid tin playset
• peg doll camping playset
• raccoon peg doll playset

Today's toy is another little pocket-size set that fits in an altoid tin. It's great for on-the-go play and makes a perfect stocking stuffer!

The little unicorn lives in a little tree and has a little blanket to tuck in with.

There's also a basket that holds a tiny cupcake, carrot, and lettuce.

And it all fits into the tin when you're done playing! I mean, *ahem* when the kids are done playing. But no one will judge you if you need to play with it just a little.

DIY Pinata - Our Birthday Tradition

If you read our post last week about how we do birthdays, you know that we love a good pinata in this house. And by that I mean a free, amazing, whatever they come up with pinata. So today I just wanted to give you a basic idea of how we make them, so you can go forth and make whatever your kids dream up.

Did you guys do paper mache growing up? Because that's all this is! All you need are balloons (or thin cardboard from a cereal box if you need square shapes), newspaper, flour, and water. Plus any paints and decorations you want.

Start by making your pinata form with balloons or cereal boxes. Don't use anything thicker than that or you won't be able to break the pinata when you are finished! Just do your best to make the basic shape of your item. Here are some examples:

• Death Star - one large punching balloon (easy!)
• Ninja - two regular balloons taped together with one blown up slightly less for the head (construction paper arms and legs added at the end)
• Long Neck Dino - two regular balloons taped side by side for a long body, a small balloon for the head, and a paper towel roll for the neck (we added construction paper legs when it was done)

Tape a loop of string to the form that you can use for hanging it when you are done. If you can loop it all the way around to the bottom that will give you the best hold.

DIY Forest Mural (great for a boy's room!)

I've spent most of my adult life in the no-murals-ever camp. I didn't want anything too themed because I knew I'd get tired of it and want to change it, so what's the point? But then... we started collecting all these little boys and one day I was like "THEY WOULD LOVE A CAMPING ROOM." Then it took me all of five minutes longer to come up with a forest wall mural and throw my mural-morals to the wind. And I totally l.o.v.e. it.

If you follow me on instagram, you've probably seen a few peeks of the surprise we put in the boys room for Christmas. Their camping theme room (or maybe more of a wilderness theme, there aren't actually any tents) is complete with a mountain peak climbing wall, monkey bars, and swings. A real winter adventure zone for all these little fellas! We'll be sharing the plans for all that soon, but today we're staring with how we painted the mural wall (which is easier than you might think).

Our first step was painting that wall. Their room is the same blue-ish gray that it was when we bought the house (we've barely touched the upstairs at all), and I knew it needed to be lighter for our forest wall to pop.

You can see the original color to the left of the door.

Raccoon Peg Doll & Felt Playset Tutorial

Okay, guys. I'm about to open a world of fun and affordable gifts right before your eyes. Are you ready?

P.S. check out the rest of our Christmas projects and posts here:

Because seriously, if you get the hang of this little set you can translate it to make a playset that fits anything - anything - your kids are interested in. Have you seen our little felt and peg doll camping set? This is basically exactly the same things. I just painted the pegs to look like raccoons and made the tent look like a leafy log. So read through this tutorial, then get creative and make just what you need - a castle with knight pegs, a cave with bear pegs, a hideout with superhero pegs, anything.

But back to our raccoons for now. This little playset has everything you need your kids need for hours of fun! (but no one will blame you if you want to play with it too)

Each raccoon has their own little leaf sleeping bag:

The table has plates painted right on so it's always ready for a raccoon snack:

And it all goes in this little felt log house, complete with a leaf door, leafy roof, and windows:

And that leafy roof? It opens up for easy play:

Merry Bats

I realized this year we have a special Christmas tradition. One we just stumbled onto by accident. And it's too funny not to share! It stems from our one Halloween tradition - making paper bats. Can you spot it?

Every year we hang paper bats, and every year the boys are heartbroken at the thought of taking them down to make room for Christmas decorations. So, year after year, those little bats make an appearance alongside the lights, garland, and nativity. You can see them lined up behind the tree above, but this was my favorite take on Merry Bats from a couple years ago:

We made each bat its own little paper Santa hat. Which was especially cute for our bats hanging from the ceiling. I expect we'll be making a few extra hats for their paper Frankensteins this year!

Check out all our Christmas posts and projects here:

Flashback to #3's first Christmas, and the year of the Santa bats:

And to last month's project day at Home Depot:

Because Papa says there aren't enough photos of his boys. :)

What is your favorite Christmas tradition?