1 4oz bag of Pixie Sticks*
11 sheets of multi colored card stock
Tape
A hole punch
Kids willing to help assemble and address the valentines

Print the pattern, or make your own pattern, and print it out onto card stock. Have the kids cut out the hearts and start labeling them for their class mates. Then hole punch each large heart twice on the “x”. Thread a pixie stick through. Tape a small heart to one end to form an arrow head and a medium heart to the other as the arrow’s tail. They can add another heart to the front of the valentine for emphasis if they want to. Tape the back of the valentine as well to secure the pixie stick arrow.

Enjoy!

*You might note I spelled it many different ways, sorry, that’s to help you find the article. The title has the real spelling, in case you were wondering

Her design is alot more complex than the ones I did, but she still whipped it up in a weekend, by working on the fish-shapes individually and then merging them all together with ripples for water. Every fish needs a friend, so Eva made her copies by first drawing out her fish design, then stapling a few pieces of black paper together where the cutouts would be. That way, she could cu two of her fishies out at once. Here’s Eva’s awesome work of art:

A work in progress - here

The finished under-water themed

If anyone wants to send her a comment, just drop it in the contact form and I’ll forward it along. She rocks And if you’ve created a design using this technique, by all means, please send in a photograph and your story!

Sheep and candy canes sounded like a good Christmas tree theme, but where would I find sheep? After some experimentation with pompoms and chenille stems (hereafter referred to as pipe cleaners), I came up with this idea.

Sheep Ornament

To make four sheep, you’ll need five black pipe cleaners, some fluffy off-white yarn, four small jingle bells, about 16 inches of tiny red ribbon, and gold thread for hanging. You’ll also need a needle.

Cut one pipe cleaner into four pieces. Bend each piece into a U shape and set them aside. Cut each of the remaining pipe cleaners into thirds. Take one and make a about a 1/2″ loop at one end to form a neck, and 1/4″ loop at the other to make a tail. Twist another pipe cleaner just below the neck to form the front legs, and another just before the tail for the back legs. I folded the ends of these under so they wouldn’t be sharp.

Take one of the U shaped pieces and thread it through the neck (Figure 1), twisting to hold it in place, and bend the ends of the U back under to form ears. Tada! A sheep form. (Figure 2)

Instructions for Sheep Ornament

Now take your fluffy yarn and start wrapping (Figure 3). I started in the middle, formed a few figure 8′s where the legs met the body, wrapped each leg and the neck, and wound a little more around the middle. When your sheep looks fluffy enough, cut off the end of the yarn, loop it through someplace on the body, and tie it off. The knot hides pretty well in the fluff. (Figure 4)

Bend the legs now so it stands well. Add a jingle bell tied with the red ribbon around the neck (Tie it in a bow if you can and would like to — I’m not that dexterous!), then using a needle and your gold thread, add a loop for hanging — you can find a good center of gravity near the front legs.

I cloned this sheep about 20 times in a matter of an hour or two. Materials cost me about 6 dollars, but I’ve got plenty of yarn, ribbon, and jingle bells left over for other projects. Have fun, and have a Merry Christmas.

Our stained glass windows

Heart tulips stained glass

Jared's abstract paper stained glass design

Sunshine paper stained glass

A cool little turtle design

To make your own window decorations, use a piece of butcher paper to trace around the inside frame of your window, then glue together a black paper frame to fit the tracing.

None of my black paper was big enough so I had to cut and paste alot, as evident on the sun window that was starting to come apart. But it gives you an idea how this was done so I left it.

Once you’ve got the frame outline, cut out more black paper to fill the frame with interesting shapes or designs. You can go abstract like the blue window here, or use one of these designs, or design your own.

Once that’s dry simply glue on pieces of colored tissue, and you’re done! These look pretty inside the apartment during the day, and add some fun ambience to the neighborhood at night. Enjoy!