Art Projects #59-64; Making Christmas Gifts

When Oriental Trading contacted me to see if I would be willing to write a sponsored post for them I was so thrilled and flattered.  I have bought plenty of products from them in the past; many of them art kits for my classroom or for the boys' birthday parties and I knew with our 100 Days of Art Challenge in full swing that we could really come up with some great products.



While this is a sponsored post and they sent me these products to review, rest assured, all opinions are my own.

My boys and I were like kids in a candy store looking through their Christmas Store.  Within minutes we had a huge list of crafts that we wanted to try!  In fact I have since placed an order of my own! Just check out all these wonderful holiday decorations they have too!

While you're there don't forget to check out their coupon page for some great deals!

Once we had all of our products in hand the boys and I decided to spend an entire day crafting!  We went through each kit working together to make up tons of cute little gifts for the boys to give to their cousins, aunts, uncles, and grandparents.  (So if you're family and you're reading this-- act surprised!)

Our first project (#59) was making these adorable penguin pillows.

The kit included a printed front, a plain blue backing, all the fill needed to stuff the pillow and a set of instructions.  We lined up the front and back and starting at one corner began knotting all the strands together all the way around the pillow until we had a small opening left to stuff the stuffing into.  Once we had the pillows puffy and smoothed out we finished tying up our last few strands to finish off the pillow.




I was worried that all three boys might struggle with knot tying but Alec and Ian zipped right through it.

Our second project (#60) was making some scratch paper snowmen ornaments.  

The kit included these fun snowman shaped scratch papers with holes to hand them by, hanging string and plastic sticks to scratch out our designs as well as a short instruction sheet.  There were three different snowman shapes to choose from and all three boys worked on three different snowmen trying them each out.







Our third project (#61) was making these adorable penguin thermometers.  

(Can you tell my boys love penguins?)

The kit included all the self- sticking foam pieces needed to make the penguin, his hat, and the decorations.  We used school glue to add the thermometer and eyes and to make sure the magnet was extra secure.  The magnet is self sticking but we found it didn't really want to stick to the foam for some reason.  The instructions were easy to follow and we had a great time putting these together.  I just think he is a adorable!




Our 4th project (#62)  was making some sleigh bell candy canes 

This kit included bells in three different colors, a chenille stem, gold thread to hand our ornament and a cute little red bow that we glued onto our completed candy canes.   The instructions gave us a pattern idea to follow but we were free to string up the bells in any order we wanted.




Our 5th project (#63) was making these adorable HO HO HO signs. 

The kit was once again completely self- adhesive and all the foam part and pom poms went together so quick and easy.  We ended up stringing all three boys signs together to hang across our large kitchen window and then we tried hanging one sign vertically on the wall in the playroom. Either way it looked so cute.




Our last project (#64) the boys used these Christmas fun loops to make stocking charms

My younger two boys have just recently re-discovered loom bands and have been working on making all sorts of bracelets and charms.  I found a cute bag of red, white and green bands on the Oriental Trading website and Alec decided to try his hand at making a stocking.  He pulled up YouTube and looked up loom band stockings.  He picked a video and followed the step by step instructions.


It's supposed to be a charm but I'm going to try to talk him into keeping it as an ornament;
what a cute keepsake of a craft that will always remind him of his childhood! 
Our other art projects:
Project 1: Painting with Hexbugs
Project 2: Tissue paper flowers
Project 3: Star Wars Crafts
Project 4: Watercolor compass circles
Project 5: Floral pens
Project 6: Watercolor outlines
Project 7: Scratch art jellyfish
Project 13: Water gun art
Project 14: Watercolor Kits
Project 15: Dragonfly Silhouettes 
Project 16: Painting pet rocks 
Project 17: Spray Paint Resist
Project 18: Water bottle windsock
Project 20: Tin can windsock 
Project 21: Firework glue art
Project 22: Qixel art kit
Project 26: Spray Painted Canvas
Project 28: Tin Foil Art
Project 29: Oil Pastel Bubbles 
Project 32: Drip Painted Pots
Project 33: Sun Art 
Project 36: Art Museum field trip. 

Comments

  1. Catie: Imperfect MumDecember 14, 2016 at 8:41 AM

    Love the penguins & the ho ho ho signs. These look like great quality #FamilyFun

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Mother of 3December 14, 2016 at 3:31 PM

      Thank you! We had a few parts we had to use hot glue where the stickers let go overnight but other than that they've been very well made and easy to do.

      Delete
  2. Stressy MamaDecember 14, 2016 at 8:26 PM

    These are so good. The penguins are really cute. I'd be happy to receive a gift like this so your family are very lucky ☺
    #familyfun

    ReplyDelete
  3. Stressy MamaDecember 14, 2016 at 8:27 PM

    These are so good. The penguins are really cute. I'd be happy to receive a gift like this so your family are very lucky ☺
    #familyfun

    ReplyDelete
  4. Two Tiny HandsDecember 15, 2016 at 7:39 AM

    I love craft packs like this takes away the element of preperation and how easy they look. Penguins are adorable!! Good choice! Thanks for linking up to #familyfun

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Mother of 3December 15, 2016 at 11:00 AM

      Thanks! I had forgotten how easy craft packs make it! I usually prep my own craft projects.

      Delete
  5. Tammymum BlogDecember 15, 2016 at 12:10 PM

    Such cool crafts they're all really novel and great entertainment for the kids. I especially love the thermometer. Defineitly an idea for when mine are older. Have a wonderful Christmas and thanks for sharing at #familyfun

    ReplyDelete
  6. Ambient WaresDecember 19, 2016 at 4:59 PM

    I love all of these and would have just as much fun as any kid would! ;) Thanks for sharing with us at Funtastic Friday!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Mother of 3December 19, 2016 at 6:36 PM

      Thanks for stopping by.. I did make a few of each project myself. It was fun.

      Delete
  7. At Home where life happensDecember 29, 2016 at 11:57 PM

    Those Ho-Ho-Ho signs are just adorable. Love them! - Lori

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Mother of 3December 30, 2016 at 7:21 AM

      Thanks.... we did tend to find a few pom poms on the floor each morning though; we got a good laugh out of that.

      Delete

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