My First Kid Craft Challenge!

Oh boy! I am super excited. I submitted my name for the Mom Trusted Kids Craft Blogger Challenge and was lucky enough to be selected to participate for December. I love crafts and have been meaning to incorporate more into DJ's routine. This little set up made it pretty easy. So, here's the scoop...

MomTrusted.com has links and ideas for hundreds of kids activities. Each month they send some surprise supplies to mommy bloggers and we are supposed to come up with a fun craft for kids to do using these supplies and include pictures and instructions. And that is just what I did. Yeah!

I was sent an envelope full of multi colored feathers, pipe cleaners and small tissue paper squares. I decided, since it is December and all, that DJ and I should make a Festive Holiday Tree. A fun and colorful project for a month full of holidays (and Birthdays in my home). It turned out to be a great centerpiece that she is proud of.

Supplies:

feathers
pipe cleaners
tissue paper squares
white glue
paper plates
glitter
construction paper
crayons
cotton balls
scissors

Color the plate and make a circle out of a pipe cleaner.

Twist 6 to 8 pipe cleaners around the original circle. Daphne said it looks like the Sun.

Carefully bend the pipe cleaners up and then twist them together at the tip top. Take a moment to gently bend them into a nice full cone shape and glue the original circle down to the center of your colored paper plate.

Prepare a second paper plate with a nice big glob of glue and another pile of glitter. We love glitter!

Dip the tips of each feather in glue.

And then dip it in glitter, of course.

They will look like this. Ooh, ahh, pretty.

Then, dip the quill of each feather in glue and place it towards the bottom of the "tree" on a pipe cleaner, glitter tips facing down. We started with the larger feathers on the bottom and worked our way up to the top of the "tree" with the smaller feathers.

Keep placing feathers all the way around, working your way towards the top in layers.

After all of the feathers are glued on, you can begin decorating the plate. We used the tissue paper squares and cotton balls to make it look like snowy grass under the "tree". Using the flat end of a crayon or eraser end of a pencil, wrap one square of tissue paper around it and pinch it in place with your fingers.

Dip the tissue squares in glue and place them all around the base of the "tree". Press down gently on the crayon or pencil to secure each tissue square and then slide the crayon up and out of the tissue. We used a little dab of glue for the cotton balls, too.

Cut a star shape out of construction paper and glue it to the top of your tree, right onto the twisted pipe cleaners. Voila! A fun and colorful Festive Holiday Tree. It turned out just like I had pictured in my head. I only used 6 pipe cleaners for the body of the tree. Next time I would use 8 pipe cleaners so that the base of the tree would be a little more full with feathers. I can see through spots at the bottom of ours. Other than that, I am pleased with this project. DJ loves it, too. She especially loved the dipping things in glitter part.

If you try it out, I would love to hear how it turns out or even see a picture. Hope you and yours have an amazing New Year! Peace and Love.