Seasonal - Sandpiper Creatives

Spreading the Love

Do you enjoy Valentine’s Day? I must confess that Valentine’s Day was never a holiday for which I made a great hullabaloo. But I enjoy it more with each passing year. I feel particularly blessed to have my husband, my children, my parents, my brother and his family, my in-laws, and my friends. And most of all, I feel peace. I feel the peace of God in my mind, my heart, and my soul. There is absolutely nothing as wonderful as the love of God. “We know love by this, that He laid down His life for us.” – 1 John 3:16

Below are a few ideas for surprising your family this Valentine’s Day. Please comment with your own ideas!

Sneak into their rooms the night before and leave a bag of treats by their beds.*
Tint the breakfast oatmeal pink. Throw in a few red cinnamon candies.*
Tie a red balloon to each person’s kitchen chair.*
Make heart-shaped muffins or cupcakes by placing a cupcake paper into each compartment of a muffin tin, then popping a marble in between the tin and the paper. Fill with batter and bake.*
Have a “Valentine Hunt” in your house. Cut out paper hearts and then hide them all over your house. Whoever finds the most wins a prize.
Write a greeting to your spouse on the bathroom mirror with a dry-erase marker or lipstick.
Cut sandwiches into heart shapes with cookie-cutter or knife.
Tuck a surprise valentine on your spouse’s vehicle dashboard before he/she leaves for work.*Taken from Queen of the Castle by Lynn Bowen Walker

by Kimberly Farmer

Gingerbread Ornaments from Cardboard

Baked gingerbread may taste better, but cardboard gingerbread lasts longer. These ornaments are too cute and easy. After making ornaments for our tree, we made some to add as toppers for grandparent gifts. The most important materials you need for this project are cardboard [cut into shapes like gingerbread men, houses, trees, etc.], scissors, and paint markers (great for lots of projects) or acrylic paint. You can also use glue, googly eyes, ribbon, and stickers for embellishment. Remember to turn them over and decorate that side, too! If you have mod-podge/decoupage/glue or sealer spray, coat the dry ornaments as a final step to help them last.

Jingle Bell Bracelets

A dear neighbor and friend of ours made these Jingle Bell Bracelets/Shakers with my children. They are so cute and easy! To make one of your own, all you need is two pipe cleaners of different colors and jingle bells (these had four). Run your jingle bells onto one of the pipe cleaners and space them out evenly. (Depending on the size of your child’s wrist, you may want to cut the pipe cleaner length down to be shorter.) Twist the ends together to close the bracelet. Next, wind the other pipe cleaner around the first in a spiral around the bracelet and jingle bells. Yay! Now you’re ready to sing “Jingle bells, jingle bells…”

by Kimberly Farmer

Window Ornament Sun-Catchers

Here is a fun family craft that knows no age limit and isn’t messy. We each made our own ornament to display on our back door. The tree is window crayon, but you can completely skip that part if you prefer, and just “hang” your pretty ornaments or lights alone. These really took on a three-dimensional appearance, and they look pretty at night-time! This activity would also be fun to use on another holiday – think Easter eggs, shamrocks, hearts, stars, etc. And if you do all the prep work, this project would be perfect for very little children, and could make a great Sunday School project simply by adding a message about Christ or by making a cross.

Make ‘n’ Bake Christmas Ornament Recipe

After making our Autumn and Thanksgiving Decoration, we used the same Baker’s Clay recipe (below) to make Christmas ornaments. The clay is super simple to make (we only made a quarter of the amount in the recipe). After mixing our dough, we used a cookie cutter to cut it, and we used a toothpick to make the hole through which we later strung some hemp cord, but ribbon would be pretty, too. We left our ornaments with a natural look and only sugar sprinkles baked into the top, but if preferred, paint the ornaments with acrylic paints after baking for some beautiful color! (We really like metallic acrylic paints for some extra pizazz.)