Elf Antics 2015 – Week 3

Yay!  We’ve almost made it to the big day!  I’m almost as excited as the kids – though probably for different reasons.  After all this preparation and planning, now that I have everything all set to go I’m anxious to get the party started!  And I must admit that I’m a little exhausted by the need to keep staying on top of things day after day, especially when it comes to those silly elves (#elfontheshelf).  The husband has been in Texas for military training all month and while I’m mostly excited to see him because we missed him, part of me would be relieved to turn over the nightly Elf Duties to him for a couple of days.
Here is what our elves have been up to lately:
*I have been sharing all the Elf Antics daily on my Instagram feed – be sure to check that out!

–Day 15:  The elves found the DIY Lego Advent I started (and gave up on).  Tyler thought the designs were pretty cool.  Maybe between all of them they will get finished.
–Day 16:  I think the elves must have heard about Kaitlyn’s field trip to the Discovery Space Center.  We found them busily painting balls of newspaper and making a sign that read “Our Solar System”

–Day 17:  Guess who else is excited for the new Star Wars movie!  Glow stick light sabers and all – though Tyler was quick to inform Twinkle that “Storm Troopers carry guns not light sabers.” (Printable masks found HERE)
–Day 18:  The elves wanted the kids to have something special in their lunchboxes for the last day of school before Christmas break so they dressed up pudding cups to look like reindeer.

–Day 19:  6 day’s til Christmas!  First day of Christmas Vacation!
–Day 20:  the kids have had a few days of extra good behavior and the elves wanted them to know how happy they were about that.  The elves brought fun new Glow in the Dark markers with a note that said “Write on!  Your good behavior is not overlooked.”
–Day 21:  Found the elves “sledding” down the stairs, using my shoes as sleds.

–Day 22:  We’ve had non-stop snow for a few days in a row and this morning we found the elves having some indoor “snow” fun of their own building snow forts and igloos out of cotton balls.
–Day 23:  The husband has been out of town all month but finally made it back last night.  The elves were nice enough to make him a giant “Welcome Home” banner.

–Day 24: As usual, on Christmas Eve the elves will be waiting for the kids with a Goodbye Letter until next year.

Wow.  It just really hit me that we are finally here at the Eve of Christmas Eve.  All the planning and prep for the holidays is done (or if it isn’t, it won’t be) and for the next couple of days we just settle in to enjoy the holiday and the time together.  Sounds great, doesn’t it?

*For more Elf Antics and great Elf on the Shelf Ideas check out this year’s Week 1 and Week 2 on the blog.  Or follow my Instagram feed for daily updates.  There are also tons of great ideas on my Pinterest Board.

Elf Antics 2015 – Week 2

Here we are finishing up another week with those crazy elves.  This is what they’ve been up to lately.

–Day 8:  found the elves in the bathroom where Twinkle had build a “snowman” out of toilet paper (printable Olaf found HERE) and Tinsel was trapped in the basket where we keep the extra TP.
–Day 9:  the elves brought a candy cane bouquet for the kids
–Day 10:  Elf Antics in the pantry.  I guess the elves were disappointed with our lack of Christmas cereal as they decided to create some Elf Breakfast Cereal of their own

–Day 11:  Twinkle tried her hand at barrel racing using one of the Barbie horses while Tinsel cheered her on from the “stands” with the rest of the Barbie and Skylander audience.
–Day 12:  we actually got some snow yesterday (strange it waited this long to stick) and the elves were excited.  We found them all bundled up in the kids’ winter clothing ready to go out and have a snowball fight
–Day 13:  pretending they were at the beach suntanning and snorkeling
–Day 14:  The elves decorated the washer and dryer to look like snowmen.  How did they know it would snow on laundry day?

Want more Elf inspiration?  Check out what our elves were up to last week HERE.  I am sharing their antics daily on my Instagram feed.  Or check out my Pinterest Board for even more great ideas.

Easy Christmas Gifts for Teachers and Classmates – AND a Giveaway!

15 days ’til Christmas! And yes the title DID say GIVEAWAY! Keep reading ’til the end to not only see what my Silhouette Challenge buddies and I have been up to, but to get a chance to win some Silhouette goodies of your own! (Giveaway is now closed)

I have spent a lot of my free time the last week or so writing lists, double checking lists, running errands and shopping, and rewriting lists…that’s how the holiday season goes, right?  When December hit I was feeling pretty behind on things but the more I cross off the list the better I feel and the more excited I get for Christmas.
This year my son’s classroom is doing the 12 Days of Christmas, so each of the children are assigned a specific day to bring in their classroom gifts and my son was assigned one of the first of the twelve days.  It just happened to be the day before his birthday and I was neck deep in party prep, so I knew that I needed something that didn’t require a lot of time or effort to put together.  But fankly, it’s me and we all know that even when I want things simple and inexpensive I also strive for a bit of creativity and cuteness.

It took a bit of thought, but I finally settled on snack-size bags of microwave popcorn.  My kids are HUGE popcorn fans (and kept trying to steal the bags while we were assembling the gifts!) and I figure the popcorn is a nice change from the typical candy canes and Christmas pencils my kids usually bring home.  And dressing them up was a snap – with a little help from my Silhouette (die cutting) machine and my kiddos.

So there is a look at the supplies I used for decorating the popcorn bags.  We dressed half the bags up as reindeer and half as Santa.  This is the point to which I prepped the supplies before enlisting the help of the munchkins.
–snack-size microwave popcorn
–preprinted adhesive labels:  Mine say “Here’s to a Merry Christmas and a Poppin’ New Year, Love, Tyler” and are printed onto a sheet of Avery address labels.  You could substitute any kind of tag you want to use.
–googly eyes
–construction paper:
-brown for the reindeer and red for Santa, cut into strips (construction paper is 9″ x 12″ and I found that cutting it into three 4″ wide strips was a perfect fit)
-also a piece of black paper cut into 1/2″ wide strips (by 9″ long)

-white paper cut into squares (1″ x 1″) with two cut lines in the center for Santa’s belt.  I used the Silhouette to do this and it saved a lot of quality time spent with an Xacto knife, but that’s certainly an option.  I was planning to have the kids thread them onto the black “belts” but quickly found that I had cut them to fit pretty tightly and my 8 year old was likely to tear half of them trying to put them on so I did it myself.  So when cutting yours out you may want the cuts to be a full 5/8″ to allow the 1/2″ black pieces to slide through more easily.

-dark brown paper (I used cardstock as I’ve found the thicker texture cuts better for projects like this) cut into cute little reindeer antlers.  These are approx 2 1/2″ high.  I’m sure you can find a cut file somewhere but I decided to create my own using some antler clip art (just google it) and the trace feature in the Silhouette studio.  You could also just hand-cut them, though I was happy to not have to do that particular step.
-oh!  And don’t forget some red circles for the reindeer noses!

Assembly went pretty quickly and the kids were easily able to do it all themselves.  They just wrapped the larger strips of paper around the popcorn bags and secured it on the back with tape (I had them tape one side directly to the bags so they wouldn’t slide out of the wrappers), then added the embellishments and stuck the address label “tags” on the back.

We made sure to attach the antlers to the back of the brown strips before wrapping them around the popcorn bags for the reindeer, but other than that the assembly is much the same.  Add the google eyes (we used glue dots for that), the noses, and the sticky “tag” on back and you’re done!

While I was at it, I put together the gifts for the kids’ teachers as well.  I found these adorable mason jar shaped drinking cups on clearance at the craft store after Thanksgiving and knew I just had to do something with them for Christmas.

I rounded up some red and green colored Sharpies, green post-its and some great hot chocolate mix (looking at the photo I’m wondering why oh why I didn’t get a few extra so I could try out the toasted marshmallow flavor?!) to put inside the cup.   And I wanted a bit of customization (when in doubt – customize, right?!) so I fired up the Silhouette machine again and did some cute labels using the teacher’s names.

Done deal!  The kids are now all set for Christmas festivities at school, which is great since we are down to only ONE more week before Christmas vacation!  (oh boy!)

Want to Check Out More Silhouette Projects?

My Silhouette Challenge buddies and I are all sharing projects on our blogs today, so peruse the projects below for a wealth of Silhouette inspiration!

1. Beauty in the Mess // 2. JustTyra // 3. Dream a Little Bigger // 4. Simply Kelly Designs // 5. The Stamp Doc // 6. From Wine to Whine // 7. TheKimSixFix // 8. unOriginal Mom // 9. HaberdasheryFun // 10. Tastefully Frugal // 11. Sisters, What! // 12. Small Stuff Counts // 13. Where The Smiles Have Been // 14. Whatcha Workin’ On? // 15. Designed Decor // 16. Architecture of a Mom // 17. Decor Adventures // 18. Create & Babble // 19. Tori Grant Designs // 20. Tried & True // 21. The Thinking Closet // 22. Creative Ramblings // 23. Get Silvered // 24. McCall Manor // 25. Cutesy Crafts // 26. Ginger Snap Crafts // 27. My Favorite Finds // 28. Cupcakes&Crowbars // 29. Pineapples & Pinecones // 30. The Crafting Nook // 31. It Happens in a Blink // 32. Alayna’s Creations

Silhouette Giveaway

And I’ve saved the best for last.  My Silhouette Challenge buddies and I in partnership with Silhouette America are hosting a mega-huge giveaway …. Giveaway is now CLOSED.

Elf Antics 2015 – Week 1

Hello December!  (Have I said that already?)  We are now one full week into the month and I already feel like I’ve fun a marathon – in a good way, of course.  We have been having non-stop fun with Christmas outings and traditions, the little guy’s birthday, and I even slipped in some girls-night fun at Paint Nite last night after taking the kids to the town tree lighting to see Santa.  Good thing I was ahead of orders for laundry drying racks  because yesterday was the first chance I have had to paint racks this month. (we are having an inventory clear out and these are going fast so if you have been meaning to pick one up you might want to do it soon!)

One of our favorite traditions for the season is having our Christmas Elves come for a visit.  This is my variation of the Elf on a Shelf that has been trendy for a few years now – and we’ve been doing it long enough that I have developed a few tips and tricks for hosting one (or two!) of your own HERE.  The kids anticipate their return every year and really enjoy the search for the elves each morning.  You know those elves – they are constantly up to something!  I have been posting daily #elfantics photos on Instagram (so be sure to follow me!) but I thought I would share their adventures on the blog as well.

Day 1 – our elves arrived!  The kids found them hanging from the clock with a note that said “Looks like we got her just in time.  Happy December!  We can’t wait to spend the month with you.  And don’t forget we will be reporting back to Santa!”
Day 2 – found the elves in the kitchen making donut reindeer
Day 3 – We have been deep into prep for Tyler’s Avengers themed birthday party and after seeing all the plans the elves must have wanted to be in on the fun too.  They found Tyler’s dress up box and pulled out the Iron Man and Captain America costumes.  Tinsel even figured out how to “fly.”

Day 4 – Tyler had been reading his dinosaur book and before going to bed he instructed the elves to do something with the book (which I found amusing to watch and a bit puzzling since dinosaurs are not one of his current obsessions).  The elves found a printable game from The Good Dinosaur movie and were partially through the process of setting it up when the kids woke up.


Day 5 – Happy Birthday to Tyler!  The elves certainly couldn’t be left out of the festivities and decided to decorate the hallway with crete paper.  The boys (Tyler had a friend sleep over the night before) though it looked like a great laser maze and wanted to use it as an activity for the party but the dog ran through the hall and accidentally pulled it all down before party time.
Day 6 – found the elves in Kaitlyn’s closet trying on her clothes.  Twinkle was wearing Kaitlyn skirt for the band concert and trying to play her flute while Tinsel went the more manly route with jeans and Tyler’s cowboy hat.
Day 7 – We had finally managed to set up the tree on Sunday (I purposely waited until after the birthday party) and the elves were happy to build a “tree house” using the discarded boxes from birthday gifts Tyler had left laying around.

Do you have a Christmas Elf or Elf on the Shelf?  What have your elves been up to?  I would love to hear all about it!
Or if you need additional inpiration feel free to follow my elves antics on Instagram or check out my Pinterest Board when I am continually adding new ideas.

Linking to:  Tip Me Tuesday, Made By You Monday, Learning from Each Other, Pretty Pintastic Party, BFF Open House,

Elf Antics – 7 Top Tips for Hosting Your Elf on the Shelf

Have we hit the week of Thanksgiving already?!  Yikes.  It’s really time to start getting serious about prepping for Christmas isn’t it?  Since I’ve been jotting down gift ideas as I go the last few weeks, what is actually topping my list of Things To Do for Christmas is make up my Elf List for the year.
Are you in on the Elf on the Shelf trend?  I actually ran across the idea a year or two before they made the official kits and everything (awesome right?  I’m a trend-setter! ha!) and we have had elves visit our house every December since then.  I’ve found it to be a fun tradition and one the kids really look forward to but I also know that it’s a lot of work and I have found myself popping awake at 5AM thinking “oh no!  I didn’t move the elves!”  Thus the Elf List.  I collect elf ideas whenever I run across them (yes even in July!) so I have quite a few on my Elf Pinterest Board – feel free to check them out if you need inspiration.

December is a chaotic time of the year with a lot of time spent trying to simplify without missing out on the magic of the season.  Over the years I have developed a few tricks to make this Elf thing as easy as possible and thought I would share them with you.
1.  Plan ahead.  Collect ideas then make a list.  I usually sit down a couple weeks before December starts with a paper numbered 1 through 24 and a calendar.  Then I pencil in things I KNOW I want the elves to do on specific days.  Our elves arrive on the first of December, always with a Hello letter and a few new stamps on their passports.  The 24th is also a given as they need to bid the kiddos good-bye for the year.  My son’s birthday is on the 5th so I always plan something related to that on that day.
Life is changeable so while I do schedule certain days, I don’t schedule something on all of them.  I make a secondary list at the bottom of my paper with quick and easy ideas if I need to change something at the last minute.
2.  Set a reminder on your phone.  You DO NOT want to be scrambling to move the elves at 3AM when you wake up and remember you didn’t do it before you went to bed, or to have to try to come up with a reason they didn’t move when the kids discover it in the morning.  So set that alarm on your phone and never forget the elves again.  I usually set mine for about half an hour after we put the kids to bed so they have enough time to fall asleep but it’s still early enough that I am not too tired to make the effort.
3.  Enlist help.  Sometimes it’s as simple as telling the husband it’s his turn to move the elves.  Or it could be that you have a friend that also has elves at their house and you coordinate a night or two with them.  A couple years ago our elves had a Skype session with their friends at a neighbor’s house – we simply did a screen shot of them on Skype and emailed it to each other then it was a simple matter to put the photo on the screen and set the elves up in front of it.
And never underestimate the power of a brainstorming session with someone.  If you don’t have a buddy doing Elf on the Shelf I do have a Facebook group set up for exchanging ideas.
4.  Free printables.  Love them!  Elf on the Shelf is very popular and there are so many great blogs out there with ideas and even some with printables.  I used THIS one and THIS one last year and am figuring out how to incorporate THESE this year.
5.  Buy things when you see them.  I always try to have a couple of things on hand that the elves can “give” the kids – a mini Christmas tree, a tiny craft kit, a puzzle, a new game.  This is one of those cases where the fact that the stores start setting out Christmas stuff before Halloween works in our favor.  I have found it’s easier to run across something cool and fun than to get an idea and then try to head out searching for it.  So hit that dollar section in Target or the craft store or the dollar store itself and grab a couple of items.

6.  Work with what you have.  Our houses are stuffed with inspiration, we just have to be open to it.  And the kids get a bigger kick out of personal things.  So grab your daughter’s favorite doll and let the elf have a tea party.  Pull out the Lego sets and have the elf build a Lego christmas tree.  Have a pair of hand weights gathering dust in the closet?  Maybe the elves need a workout.
7.  HAVE FUN!  This is supposed to be an enjoyable thing for you and your family so allow yourself to get carried away with it.

All right, everyone even more enthused for their elf visits this year?  I know I am!  I will be using the rest of this week to post some of my Elf Antics from Christmases past and will like those posts here soon!  In the meantime, do you have some favorite Elf ideas you would like to share?!

Linking to:  Tip Me Tuesday, Lou Lou Girls,