Snow Days

I'm a homebody.  Through and through.  I could go days without leaving the house or seeing anyone else and I'd be okay.  Not that I don't love my friends, my job, going out to eat, going to Target, heading to church, even grocery shopping I don't mind…..but I really crave being home.  And when we have days here in Michigan like we had today; beautiful soft snow falling ALL day long…..I'm thrilled to be home.

I picked Georgia up from school, we came home and had mac and cheese, watched a movie (which is code for I took a nap), made Christmas ornaments, painted toenails, baked cookies, played in the snow, and just loved being right here.  At home.  I'm storing these days away. They are good to draw on in the midst of crazy, frustrating, too much going on, and hard stuff.

First, a little DIY Christmas ornament.  I take zero credit for this idea.  Zero.  One of my favorite bloggers DIY'd it last year (I couldn't find the actual post) and I took a screen shot of it and stored it away in my DIY folder for another day.  That day was today.  And remember--this is straight from Ms. (creative) Hampton.  Visit her inspirational blog if you haven't already!

Water color paints (you must use Prang paints--best watercolors for kids around), random glitter, empty Christmas ornaments that are made to fill (mine are from Michael's ), tacky glue, paintbrushes, and other fun stuff that will fit into the ornaments to create a scene.

Have your little artist draw something; we stuck with animals and girls. I drew a box on white paper for her and told her to keep the drawing inside the box so I could be sure it'd fit inside the ornaments.  Then….she painted.  Which is her favorite thing to do on the face of the planet (besides eat mac and cheese).

Cut them out after they've dried, marvel at them (I mean--the girl with the blue hair?  LOVE.), and be sure to flip them over and date them so you'll always know when they were made.

Then, paint the back with the tacky glue (it will dry clear).  Next, carefully roll the little picture up, glue side in, and gently slide it into the ornament. 

Once it's inside, maneuver it around with a finger or the end of a paintbrush until it's in the right spot.  You'll want it a ways away from the bottom so you can fill it with some fake snow or glitter and still see the bottom of the picture.  Press the picture firmly against the back of the ornament with the end of something flat until it's secure.  My ornaments aren't round--they're the smashed looking ones so they have a flat back.  

Create a funnel and dump in some fake snow, blue glitter for water (we made a mermaid too), white glitter for a different take on snow, or whatever you want really.

I also put some wintery sticks in our snow scene ornaments and some little shells in our mermaid ornaments.

Use a sparkly pipe cleaner as the "ribbon" to hang your ornament with.

Hang 'em on your tree and admire the cuteness.

And a few shots from playing in the snow today.  It was so beautiful and we stayed out a long time.  It got dark, I knew dinner was way over-baking, and I didn't care.  We've got a nice start on a snow fort for tomorrow and sometimes that's more important than perfectly baked spaghetti.

And P.S…..to keep it real…..there were plenty of little fits, talks about following directions, a time out, and some counts to ten to get it together today.  Even "perfect" days are "typical."  Right?

If you're up north my way……stay warm tonight.