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.

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.

Bingo is an addictive hobby; adults often go out to play at special clubs, or pay for bingo every night. Many people play free bingo games online all the time. Kids love bingo too! And with smaller kids, it’s also a great way to teach them to recognize numbers, and improve their basic math skills. So try to tear yourself away from your own online bingo game, and get ready to have some fun teaching your kids to play too!

What You Need:

White & Brown Heavy Construction Paper
Scissors
Pencil
Permanent Marker
Black & White Pom-poms (small)
Glue

1. Fold a piece of construction paper in half. Use a pencil to draw the basic shape of a teddy bear –see picture, on one side of the paper. Outline the bear in marker, and cut out around the shape, with the paper folded. Now you have two! Use the first pair as a stencile to make more, some brown and some white, until you have enough cards for all the players. Use the markers to add faces to your bears, and also, to draw on six random numbers, between one and ten. Space the number apart enough so that six playing pieces will fit easily on the card.

2. Use glue to secure a small circle of paper to each pom-pom. The way they’ll sit flat on the playing cards. Make six game pieces for each player. If you like, you can draw a little face on each. Number each of the playing cards from one to ten.

3. Put your pieces in a small box, or cup, and place your cards in bag. Have the players pull out one card each, while you call out the numbers. To make things a little more interesting, say “brown” or “white” before each number, alternating between the two, while calling numbers aloud.

And then have fun! If you love to play bingo too, browse online for more internet bingo information. This post was inspired by Marie E. Cecchini’s idea, “Bear Bingo”, found at HighlightsKids.com.

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!

Quilting has been an American past-time since colonial days, when women gathered scraps of cloth, feather down, or bits of cotton, to sew them into heavenly warm blankets that were cherished for several generations. Everyone has some fond memory involving a warm quilt on a chilly day or night; there are also quilt museums, fairs and other community event. There are even quilting website for quilting lovers, and quilting forum where people can meet and share techniques. However, when it comes down to it, many people shy away from quilting because they’re intimidated by the time and effort necessary for the task. Quilting doesn’t have to take hours, and it doesn’t have to be difficult either. Here’s one easy quilting task that anyone with a sewing machine can manage in a single day.

What You Need:

Sewing machine
Four yards muslin
Two pieces of fabric, each two yards long
Thread
Scissors
Needle

Instructions:

1. Wash fabrics, along with the muslin, together, according to the care instructions for the fabric (which can be found on the bolt.)
2. Lightly iron fabric and muslin after it’s washed and dried.
3. Stack fabric wrong sides together, with mulim on top.
4. Machine stitch three of the four sides, using a straight stitch and a quarter-inch or so seam allowance.
5. Turn the piece right side out, and look for mistakes or irregularities in the seams.
6. Turn it back around and trim any excess fabric from the seams.
7. Turn the quilt right side out and take time to smooth the quilt and make sure that the muslin is distributed evenly around the quilt.
8. Stitch the fourth side by hand.
9. Do any finishing work; sew straight lines down the quilt, and then across to make a pattern of squares. This also helps to keep the muslin in place.

You can share and find easy quilting ideas like this one, online from a quilting group. Have fun, and happy stitching!