Angels We Have Heard on High...

DIY Christmas Angels

Are you looking for a fun and easy Christmas craft for kids ? Well how's this ?

This angel is easy and fun to make. Here are the materials you will need :

- white construction paper for the wings and candle

- pink/peach paper for the angel's face and hands
- any colored paper for the body and hair
- yellow paper for the stars and candle flame
- a pencil
- an eraser
- scissors
- a gluestick
- a black marker
- the templates here below
**instead of construction paper, you can also use felt paper but you will need to glue with some hot glue.

You will need to cut out and trace all of the different pieces in order to make this angel. For the wings, simply trace your hands ! When all is traced and cut out, erase any pencil markings.

Now it's time to glue. First, glue the head in place and then fold the angel's arms inward. The top of the flaps need to overlap because you will need to glue them together. Glue on the hair and finish drawing the face. Next, glue the top of the arms together leaving space between the body and the arms. If the glue doesn't hold, stapling them works also. Glue the candle and candle flame in the middle of the arms (not too high or we won't be able to see the angel's face!). Then glue the little hands near the bottom of the candle so it looks like the angel is holding it.

Now onto the wings. Place your right hand onto the white paper spacing out your fingers. Trace your hand and cut it out. Erase any left over pencil markings. Do the same for your left hand. Then glue both wings onto the back of the angel.

Now to finish your angel, cut out and glue stars, hearts, or anything else you want. And voilà, you now have a beautiful angel decoration to hang up !

Here are the finished projects of some of my students (7-10 year olds) :

Here is a smaller version of the angel:

The instructions are the same as the bigger angel. Cut out and trace all of the pieces and glue them together ! Here are the templates below :

If you want to hang it on the Christmas tree, simply attach a thin string to the top of the angel's head.

I hope you enjoyed this post! Thank you for visiting but before you go, here is a little head scratcher: What do you have in December that you don't have in any other month?

The letter "D"!!

Merry Christmas to all :)

Christmas Cards

Handmade Pop-up Cards

If you're like me and you prefer sending real cards instead of electronic cards for Christmas, then here are some ideas. For a little while now, I've been really into pop-up cards. I make all of my cards, no matter the occassion: birthdays, anniversaries, graduations, holidays, etc.

I used motifs and many of the ideas from this book "Cartes a decouper: Motifs en relief". Yes, again it's in French but the instructions are simple enough for anyone. 

So here are some of my creations:

Frosty the Snowman

The Christmas tree must have been the hardest one to make because of the mesurements but the outcome looks great.

If you like tedious work, I definitely recommend this card! Cutting everything out was very long but definitely worth it.

In order to make these pop-up cards, I used different tools:

- a precision knife

- a cutting board

- pencil

- paper clips

- a ruler in centimeters (precision is very important)

- an embossing stylus

- scissors

- lots of different colored paper

- a gluestick

I hope these cards inspire you to start or continue to make pop-up cards. Thank you for visitng but before you go, here is a fun fact about pop-ups: the first pop-up type book dates back to the 13th century and was used for scholary works. It wasn't until the 18th century that these movable books were designed for entertainment and children.

Happy holidays! See you soon :)

Leaves, leaves, and more leaves

Leaf Project

Winter is just around the corner so before it's too late, I wanted to share a fun Autumn project that kids love.

I picked up hundreds of leaves for this project but I had to wait until most of the leaves had fallen from the trees, that way I had more color variety and I didn't hurt any trees. :-)

Once I got home after a long afternoon of picking leaves, I rinsed (too much mud) and dried the leaves using paper towels. Once that was done, I neatly placed them on old magazine pages and newspaper articles and then placed books on top of them. I let them sit there for about a day or two depending on the size of the leaves. The bigger ones took longer to fully dry. This step is important if you want nice flat leaves instead of hard-to-glue leaves with ends that stick up. 

Here is a tip: If you are planning on transporting your leaves, really make sure they are completely dry before packing them up. If they aren't, they will stick together and mold will form.

Now onto the fun part.

I had a lot of fun with this and so did my students (7-10 yrs). Before glueing, you want to lay out the leaves you plan on using just to make sure you have enough room on the page. I used liquid glue and not a gluestick. Then I let the leaves dry overnight to make sure no glue was left undry (it was cold in the room). The next day I applied a gloss all over the page in order to protect the leaves and add a nice glossy finish. And there you have it!

Here are some of the children's creations:

Let me know what you think of this project, but before you go, here's a little riddle: What did one autumn leaf say to the other?

Answer: I'm falling for you! 

Thank you for visiting, until next time! :)

Tonight's special is...

Stuffed Round Zucchini

Every Friday night I watch Masterchef ( It's the French version of Top Chef). So now, everytime I think about food, I just want to go in the kitchen and whip up something Masterchef status! It's become an addiction really. If only I had a big kitchen...

I have a very sweet tooth but lately, I'm feeling the need for salt. So, last night I was pumped and really excited about Masterchef this Friday that I decided to take the time to cook (well longer than 10 minutes). 

So here is my concoction! Stuffed round zucchini!

I used a recipe I found online. Check out the link below. 

Courgettes farcies

It is in French but I'm going to do my best to translate. Now I don't have a chef style kitchen so I had to improvise a bit. That's why I didn't follow the recipe to the letter and added a few things, too. It took me about an hour to prepare and cook everything.

So here is the recipe (4 people):

-4 round zucchinis

-500g of sausage (stuffing)

-2/3 tablespoons of olive oil

-1 onion

-3 cloves of garlic (or a shallot but I didn't have any, plus I LOVE garlic).

-1 tomato (I didn't have any so I used tomato paste)

-2 mushrooms

-herbs

-grated cheese

-salt and pepper

In a pot, boil enough water to cover the zucchinis. Meanwhile, cut the tops off the zucchinis and using a spoon empty them (just like a pumpkin). When the water is boiling, add the zucchini in for about 10 minutes. When they are cooked, drain the water and let them cool.

Chop the onion and garlic into small pieces. In a pan, warm up the olive oil and add the onion and garlic. Cook for about 5 minutes at low temperature.

Add the sausage stuffing/farce (I don't know how to translate this) and cook for about 10 minutes (or until fully cooked).

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. 

Add the mushrooms (mine where already cooked) and 2-3 tablespoons of tomato paste. Add herbs and a little salt & pepper.

The recipe says to add a pinch of cumin but I didn't.

When everything is cooked and well-blended, add some grated cheese for a little more flavoring.

Then stuff the zucchinis and sprinkle a little bit more cheese.

Pop into the oven for about 15 minutes and then enjoy!

Let me know what you think of the recipe but first, here's a little fun fact about zucchinis: 1 zucchini contains 95% water and just 25 calories.

Thank you for visiting, until next time :)

Corner Page Bookmark

Tired of using sticky notes or random bits of paper as bookmarks? How's this for a change?

This corner page bookmark is fun and very easy to make. I "Stumbled Upon" the idea and added my own style to it.

Here is all you need to know to make this bookmark. 

Draw a perfect square. The size doesn't matter, make it how ever big or small you want. I made two different size bookmarks (8cm and 5cm). As you can see in the photo, you need to draw two more squares of the same size. Then draw a straight line down the middle angle of the squares and cut off the shaded areas.

Cut out the figure and fold the two flaps inward and glue them together. Then decorate the bookmark however you want.

Here are my little creations. I used thin construction paper for the base and added colored tissue paper on top for a really unique look. 

I find the moustache ones so cute!

Here is my favorite one.

So as you can see, each bookmark is different and that's why they make perfect gifts!

Before you go, here is a fun fact on bookmarks: one of the earliest bookmarks for printed books was used in the 16th century by Queen Elizabeth I.

Thank you for visiting, until next time :)

My Very First Blog Post

Paper Flower Ball

I "Stumbled upon" this project one day and ever since it's become one of my go-to projects whenever I'm bored. These little flowers are so fun and quite easy to make (that is if you like origami). 

If you aren't familiar with the site "StumbleUpon" I definitely recommend it to anyone needing a little inspiration whether it's for cooking, crafts, fashion, or anything else!

Here are the little flowers. I chose to make them all different colors but it's really up to you. I used thin construction paper but you can use whatever type of paper as long as it can fold easily. 

 As you can see in the photo below, I used the little flowers separately as table decoration and it was a success.

Here is the Flower Ball. You need 12 flowers in order to make it. I admit glueing everything together was not simple but the outcome is amazing. It's been almost a year since I've made this one and it's still holding together and looking great!

Here is another idea for a Flower Ball. I decided to add some pearl-looking beads for a more elegant look. It's a nice decoration to put on a coffee table or shelf and it looks great.

I do not have a tutorial on how to make the flowers. Unfortunately the site where I got the idea from is down but if you surf the web, I'm sure you'll find something. If you have any questions, don't hesitate to ask! 

Thank you for visiting! Until next time :)