It’s not easy trying to find the perfect way to get smaller children involved in the holiday spirit. Boys and girls from ages four through ten are often a little too excited to shop for family and teachers. This craft idea is your solution for younger kids, who need an afternoon to settle down and make a Christmas gift from the heart, especially if you can’t afford full time golf school for the golf lover in your family or friend network! This provides moms, or dads, with an opportunity to take a break from Christmas cooking, decorating, and shopping, to sit down and do something fun and quiet with the kids, like, make a golf bug!

What You Need:

Yarn (Blue, Green, White, and Black)

Mini Golf Club

Pattern for Visor and Hands

Craft Foam

Foam Feet

Foamie Hands

Wiggle Eyes — 20mm

2-1/2″ Styrofoam Ball

Pipe Cleaner (Green or White)

5″ Square of Cardboard

Tacky Glue

Scissors

Instructions:

Start your Christmas project for your family’s golf lover, by making a pompom, –first cut down a piece of cardboard to five inches square, and wrapping your multicolored yarn around it at least one hundred times. Now, cut a length of yarn, six inches, and slide it beneath the layers of wrapped yarn; tie it tight into a double knot, so that it’s gathered and bunched in the middle of the cardboard. Flip the cardboard over to the side without the knot, and cut straight down the middle of the yarn. Now just smoothe out your bundle. Next, press your styrofoam ball onto a hard surface, like a kitchen table or counter, in order to make the bottom side flat. Or you can substitute that piece with a section of egg carton.

Now, take the ball, and cover the sides and the top of the ball with a tacky, sticky glue, –then just separate the strands of the pom-pom so that the styrofoam ball will fit easily inside the strands of your, and be completely covered. Arrange it neatly, then start printing or drawing any of the patterns you may need to finish your little golf bug, then staple them to the pieces of foam for his feet, or hands. Use your pipe cleaners for his arms, and glue his foam hands to the ends. For making arms, just poke pipe cleaners into the foam ball on either side of him.

Now, glue on his eyes, and start gluing on all his other appendages, –then you can glue on his visor, and the little paper golf club. This little golf bug cutie makes a great stocking stuffer for moms and dads, and golf fascinated youngsters, –just be sure the glue is dry before giving the little guy as a gift! Refer to the picture for a better look at what you’re making. The Golf Bug craft was inspired by our friends at MakingFriends.com, where many other fun crafts can be found.

Not all family get togethers mean laughing, smiling faces over homemade potato salad. As a matter of fact, many families are finally taking their ideas for fun in different directions. Paintball skirmishes are thrilling in the day time, but at night, the fun takes on a whole new tone. Friends and family, hunting each other in the middle of the night with glow in the dark paintball ammo, is fun for everyone.

Families and friends can travel to paintball parks, which provide the paintball guns, and ammo, as well as free safety classes and gear. Or, for the seasoned paintball participants, who have the guns and glowing ammo, it’s just as easy as clearing out your backyard, or booking a private campground for a night. Remember to make sure everyone is well versed in safety though!

For extra fun, you can use glow in the dark uniform vests, or paint, to make your paintball guns glow. Multi-colored glowing paintball ammo is also available from retailers. Don’t forget to grab accessories for your paintball guns, as well; for example, the best tactical flashlight, which you can use to seek your prey in the night! Good luck, and happy hunting.

Many people find that getting elderly family members interested in craftsisn’t very difficult; however, finding crafts for elderly family or tenants with limited mobility isn’t the same. After finding an electric mobility scooter that suits your family member best, many crafts are fun for seniors. Try this one:

What You Need:

2 Pine Cones

Yarn

Shortening

Cornmeal or Oatmeal

Bird Seed

(Optional) Dried Fruit, –raisins, dehydrated fruit.

What To Do:

Step 1. Tie a few feet of yarn to each pine cone, allowing for however low or high you want to hang the bird feeders, and in which tree. You can make a lot of these around Christmas, and the look especially attractive in fir trees.

Step 2. Mix  1 cup of shortening with five cups of cornmeal, or oatmeal, and spread it thick over the pine cones, using a spatula, or spoon.

Step 3. Fill a bowl with dried fruit and bird seeds, and mix well together.

Step 4. Coat each pine cone well in the the seed and fruit mixture, being sure the seeds and fruit are packed well into the shortening mixture.

Step 5. Hang each or many pinecone bird feeders wherever you like, in trees, off the porch, or near windows. Birds love high energy foods like sunflower seeds especially.

The first thing that comes to mind when most people think of the Herbalife Nutrition Shop, is high quality herbal supplements, beauty and bath products, and several other products that infuse wholesome herbal remedies with modern health and well-being. Or even the great work from home opportunity that Herbalife offers. However, the holidays are right around the corner, and there are several ways to spice up the gift giving season, while using gifts that everyone will love! –Not only do these crafts look great on the table, and under the tree, but they also look great while being used.

What You Need:

Three small bottles/tubes of Herbalife product (vitamins, skin care, bath and body, etc.)
Rosemary seed packet
Thyme seed packet
Basil seed packet
Three small red clay pot; about four inches in height, and diameter.
Topsoil
A sheet of colorful, or plain plastic wrap
Ribbon
Assorted candy (optional)

Fill the three small clay pots about 2/3 full of soil each, and insert a seed packet into each, pressing them down into the pot, about 1/3 of the way. Next, set each pot and seed packet in the center of a square of plastic wrap. Gather the plastic wrap at each corner, then tie the tackage off tight with a bit of ribbon. Pretty, right? Do the same step for all three pots. Now, just set those in your baskets, along with the Herbalife products, and optional candy. Fans of Herbalife, and healthy living, will absolutely love the gift. For more information about being an Independent Herbalife Distribributor, visit their website!

Using crafts to decorate around the house, doesn’t necessarily limit your enjoyment to making refrigerator magnets, or tissue boxes glued with macaroni, and painted gold. It also doesn’t mean you have to take classes in glass blowing, or making stained glass, in order to really provide worthwhile craft decorations to your home. Floral decor is always popular, but in the fall, it can only be an added expense. The holidays are coming up, so why not make some Thanksgiving decorations for your home?

The best kind of decorative home accents are the kind that actually provide some use to you and your family. So what better decor craft, than the edible kind?! Naturally, none. Try these festive holiday decorating ideas for Thanksgiving or Christmas:

Fairy Food

Garnish baked goods with edible flowers, like miniature roses, or other blossoms, such as dandelions, if it’s warm where you live. You can bake full size rose petals into cakes, or make rosewater lemonade, which includes pink or red rose petals in the glass. Another festive idea, is to make rosy ice cubes, –pressing full size rose petals into each panel of your ice tray then filling, and freezing it will produce beautiful and colorful ice.

Another idea, is to dust wet grapes with sugar, to make them appear sparkly, or frosty. Other creative ideas, are using powdered sugar, or flour to lightly dust other dishes, for the snow effect.

RainCollection.Com is useful if you want to craft beautiful gift baskets on your own, or just to skip the craft part of home decorating. The site has a huge selection of lovely home decorative pieces, –not edible, but still useful for the family, or as gifts for friends.