Easter Wreath DIY

Hello, friends! This weekend I was able to enjoy 2 hours to myself while the Mister stayed home with the kiddos and I found myself pushing a cart all through Hobby Lobby looking for Easter inspiration.  I knew I wanted to make a wreath because 1) I'm obsessed with them and 2) my Valentine's day wreath was starting to look silly.  So I found a few things, mustered up and idea and got my eager hands working Saturday night.  This is what I came up with:

It has a lot of symbolism to me, personally.  I liked that this type of wreath looks a little like what we see as a crown of thorns in Elementary school passion plays.  I also liked that it looked a bit like a nest which is very spring-like.  I liked the purple flowers because purple is such a big color during the Easter pageantry mostly symbolizing Christ as the King who has conquered the grave (can I get an amen?).  And purple is another great spring color.  Then there's the cross representing, duh, the cross!  And the paper I used on it I wanted to look like text from the Bible.  I personally love it and am quite proud of it!

Would you like to make something similar?  I took pics along the way to form the tutorial below in case you do.

The supplies:
- Branch like wreath
- Stem of purple flowers
- 1 piece scrapbook paper
- 1 piece cardboard
- 1 glue stick
- Scissors
- Hot glue gun

First you'll make the cross.  I drew a cross shape on my cardboard as a reference when cutting.  You could use a stencil if you're technical and not rushed, of course.  Then, I used a glue stick to glue the entire scrapbook page to the back of the cardboard.  I actually did this before bedtime so it'd be good and dry for cutting.  I left it drying about 30 minutes total.  Then, I cut along my outside outlines for the cross and trimmed up from there until it was just the shape I wanted.  Pretty easy!

Next up, I cut the flowers from their stem.  I paid a little more for my flowers (the stem was $6 but I used a 40% off coupon to justify the price) because the stems were wire on bottom, but loose up top for a more natural look.  I didn't have wire cutters so I knew this would be important when it came to just using scissors.  I snipped them all up in varying lengths and then wove them into one side of the wreath.  I had to tuck some under branches in certain places to make them not stick out.

Sorry these pics are blurry!

And finally, I hot glued on my little cross and was done!  I ended up attaching a thin white ribbon to a secure branch on the wreath to hang on my door's nail.  If you have a wreath hook it should work fine, but I'm using a nail so it wasn't just going to stick there!  The pic below is pretty bad and the light is weird, but I'm throwing it up so you can see the ribbon.

Happy Easter, y'all! 

25 Days of Advent with your Toddler

This morning on Twitter I was chatting with my lovely friends Caroline & Kristina (my public Twitter is here) about Christmas things!  Yay, Christmas!  I'm so excited because as J is aging things are just getting more and more fun... Easter egg hunts, Disney World, his birthday, Halloween... so naturally with Christmas being the biggest and grandest of all the holidays, I'm so excited to bring it to life in our house and I want it to be special.  Do you read Kelle's blog "Enjoying the Small Things?"  I love it and I love her and I love that she's so incredibly passionate about creating such a fun, happy childhood for her kids and how the holidays are a showcase for just how much magic she can create.  That's what I want to do here.  And each year will just get better and better as my kids get a little older and can appreciate the magic all the more.

That being said, I've already been thinking up ideas for this year and one night when E was taking FOREVER to fall asleep, I thought up an Advent plan.  I'd seen things around Pinterest and here and there with ideas, but none of what I saw would work for our family with a 1 & 2 year old.  I needed simplicity and I needed to still do things that mattered and things that were more than candy once a day (because Lord knows they'd dig into tomorrow's candy and I would eat the next day's...).  SO I made a list.  The dates aren't set and I haven't decided what kind of craft to do to hold these little ideas for each day, BUT all that will come.  I have a few weeks, right?  So without further ado, here's our list!  I hope this can help you with your little ones.  And also please note that I've taken into account we can't get out every day and some days things need to be very simple for everyone's sake.  And also, please note I think this list is best for 2+ or even 18-20 months+.  I know my then 13 month old will get into some things, but my 2 year old should be great at involving himself in all the things.

1.   Buy things together for a little boy we'll send a box to through "Operation Christmas Child."

2.   Decorate our box for our little boy with coloring and stickers.

3.   Drop off our box for our little boy.

4.   Make something for Grandmas for Christmas.

5.   Make something for Grandpas for Christmas.

6.   Make something for Aunts for Christmas.

7.   Make something for Uncles for Christmas.

8.   Make something for Daddy for Christmas.

9.   Take Daddy lunch at work.

10. Make cookies & take them to our local fire station.

11. Put money in the Salvation Army bucket.

12. Find old toys to donate & drop them off at Goodwill.

13. Draw pictures and make a card for a deployed solider (through this program).

14. Make/mail art to Great-Grandparents in California.

15. Make Christmas ornaments for our tree.

16. Go see Christmas lights with Daddy.

17. Drink hot cocoa (first time!) and watch a Christmas movie (I recommend "Mickey's Christmas Carol").

18. Decorate sugar cookies at Grandma's house.

19. Make rice krispie treats.

20. Visit Great Grandparents who live further away.

21. Go to lunch with local Great Grandparents.

22. Feed the ducks at the park.

23. Have a dance party to Christmas music.

24. Take a letter (drawing) for Santa to Macy's (they donate $1 for each letter!).

25. Read the Christmas story together as a family.

So there you have it! Twenty-five toddler activities!  Some are simple, some are more complex.  Some will take 30 seconds.  My goal is to schedule these activities so mail, our soldier's card, and our box for a child are all done right away and after that we'll alternate days at home crafting with days going out to visit Grandparents (we don't see our Great Grandparents on Christmas, so visiting them around Christmas will be a fun thing to do and we can take them an ornament as their gift!) and doing other things.  It's a pretty balanced list because if you have kids like mine, days out are fun, but usually you need a day in following to recover!  And also, my kids are 1 and 2.  This list was made with my 2 year old (2 and 4 months come December) mostly in mind, but I know my 1 year old will take part in some things a little bit.  That being said, I think it's best to say this list should work great for 2+!

Yay, Christmas!!! :)