Cookiecutter.com Ramblings

Hello! I hope everyone is staying warm, especially if you are experiencing the winter weather as we are here in the Midwest.

As December speeds along, that usually means the school aged children will soon be out of school for a few weeks. Trapped inside the warm comforts of your house without any signs of homework means lots and lots of, "Mom, I'm bored!" To avoid hearing this statement from your children, it is nice to come up with some activities to keep those kiddos preoccupied. At least that is what happened at our house during those years that now seem so far away! That sounds like a song, doesn't it?

Hand Print or Designer Potholder

This first activity would work great for pre-school through elementary school aged children. If you are needing a quick sentimental gift for someone, this fits the bill perfectly! Our church made these adorable potholders this December to give all the preschool families. The best part was, it was the kind of gift that will forever have a memory attached to it, since each preschooler individually crafted them with their own precious fingerprints! As a mom, I have always loved those kinds of gifts! And to finish it off, the pre-school teachers then attached a snowflake cookie cutter to the potholder.

Here are the supplies you will need:

1. Potholder (Dollar Store)

2. Acrylic paints, as many colors as you want to use (craft store)

3. Slick puff paint if you want to write a name at top of potholder (craft store)

4. Small foam brush (craft store)

5. Fingers or the whole hand to make print (your house)

6. Newspaper to put down on the table as you work on the project

7. Baby wipes for hands or feet after done with each print

Directions:

1. First, if your potholder has a little loop on it, be sure to put it on the top in case the person who receives the gift wants to hang it.

Paint the hand (or foot) using the foam brush, then press on the pot holder. You will use less paint, get the paint on evenly, and experience less of a mess by doing it this way. If you are quick, you can get a couple of prints done before you should wipe off the paint. Cleaning the is not too bad as long as you don't leave it on for too long.

After paint is on the hand, take the hand, press down nice and firm, then lift straight up. Let that dry just a bit and then you can go back and write the name and age, or whatever you like. Be sure to leave the pot holder flat to dry.

A cute, personal and inexpensive gift to give grandma! You can even attach a cookie cutter to finish it off! Find the snowflakes here.

The last project I have for you involves a little baking! The only instructions you need to give out to your child is that every snowflake design they create will be 100% perfect a nd unique! We all know that no two snowflakes are alike. This activity is a win/win.

Instructions:

1. Dig out your biggest snowflake cookie cutter you have. Here are our large and medium snowflake cookie cutters. If you want details, look at this one.

2. Whip up your favorite sugar cookie recipe and bake up those snowflakes. You will see those green bands in the second picture. I always roll with those evendough bands on my rolling pin. The cool mat I have is from DoughEZ. At the time of this writing, you can save 20% with the promo code of doughez.

3. Edible Food markers like we sell here.

4. Decide if you want to ice them with Royal Icing and let them completely dry, or let the artists begin their work right on the baked cookie with no icing. Either way is great!

That's it! Not too costly, not too time consuming.

Here are my favorite recipes:

If you discover that everyone has a wonderful time during this craft, then you might want to have some friends over and have a full blown cookie decorating party! Here is an old post I created a wile back that contains extra information on how to throw a fun, creative cookie decorating party! Hope you enjoy!

How do you keep your children busy over Christmas break? I would love to hear your activities or plans :)

Keep making memories!

Tammy