child's play - the christmas mantel

<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div>Last year, <a href="http://news-these-days.blogspot.com/2011/12/tied-up-with-bow.html" target="_blank">the Christmas mantel</a> was all about the ribbon. This year however, I wanted to do something like...I had no idea. I never know when it comes to the mantel. I've accepted the fact that I will have chronic paralysis in this area- especially at the holidays. So I just thought I'd wait for inspiration to strike. And then I saw this.<br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjg08S7o0kfV5wo-eVOeUt6DC9eM_0q8Trn_3oyOlggpo_6tkPBFdaU0Vp_5CJ-HjD0m4vtIEpMLkxPk5VmfC-A7Rp7c4EurEDVXgNDs5mljzB7xNP29PXE7kXU8MzhLCFcn7MSGAR_sFZN/s1600/PA230441.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjg08S7o0kfV5wo-eVOeUt6DC9eM_0q8Trn_3oyOlggpo_6tkPBFdaU0Vp_5CJ-HjD0m4vtIEpMLkxPk5VmfC-A7Rp7c4EurEDVXgNDs5mljzB7xNP29PXE7kXU8MzhLCFcn7MSGAR_sFZN/s400/PA230441.JPG" width="400" /></a></div><br />My 5-year-old, Amelia, took it upon herself one day to delicately remove everything from the coffee table and do her own decorations. "Mommy I made you a centerpiece. Isn't it beautiful?" She comes by it honestly.<br /><br />I am an encourager (and the enforcer, but that's a different post) so if she's got the styling bug, who am I to deny her the pleasure. So I decided that this year's Christmas mantel would be all about crafts ala Amelia. Eve would offer all the moral support that 20-month olds can provide.<br /><br />I had pinned this last year and thought it would be a great jumping off point.<br /><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiJvKXnBvji-ePT7I1x11We9wHGf44GYCJQb7i_x_grjhrqCYQedhGmxscB4EzYSJ960wTJTpyJupvqUa9XskhGpMU5A5qDkongwN1fQc4hzlk6wV6OKIxT2bKkMoUZP6KL1qvrFWRDPE4u/s1600/wrapthegift.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiJvKXnBvji-ePT7I1x11We9wHGf44GYCJQb7i_x_grjhrqCYQedhGmxscB4EzYSJ960wTJTpyJupvqUa9XskhGpMU5A5qDkongwN1fQc4hzlk6wV6OKIxT2bKkMoUZP6KL1qvrFWRDPE4u/s400/wrapthegift.jpeg" width="395" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://thewoolacorn.blogspot.com/2010/10/tutorial-for-my-pinecone-christmas.html" target="_blank">The Wool Acorn</a> via <a href="http://pinterest.com/pin/6896205649069897/" target="_blank">Pinterest</a></td></tr></tbody></table><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">We went the speedy route and opted for pre-made little pom poms from Hobby Lobby instead of making our own. And we raided my mom's Christmas supply for a bunch of pinecones.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjE1H5DIpzzL-en36siqxT46Jh6rKvwBAZ4ku-2ixfRHjR3heBZ9Ql0Zd7xcJo6cwtQaBKGDkhVWGyaz9PwZ0KofEXBe_uN23xG09mB_IjMqPhNHUsutd2KfhrDKHrkOhj4ax6bIlZmbdcz/s1600/IMG_0766.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjE1H5DIpzzL-en36siqxT46Jh6rKvwBAZ4ku-2ixfRHjR3heBZ9Ql0Zd7xcJo6cwtQaBKGDkhVWGyaz9PwZ0KofEXBe_uN23xG09mB_IjMqPhNHUsutd2KfhrDKHrkOhj4ax6bIlZmbdcz/s400/IMG_0766.JPG" width="400" /></a></div><br />Amelia picked out the color schemes and decided on the placement.<br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhZQo8PqPAq6Pmy_773DbZWdFhRGUrbAMf3tAeOd1h43-e8NcA6jHCP5M1BGxiYTw35qgSI1VokcG0NxAb5WziDz1E1dBqPqpbTCu-wG2ub-A-XhVH4W8n73H8UpvBL0Ll_tCA5PhhqD-ae/s1600/IMG_0767.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhZQo8PqPAq6Pmy_773DbZWdFhRGUrbAMf3tAeOd1h43-e8NcA6jHCP5M1BGxiYTw35qgSI1VokcG0NxAb5WziDz1E1dBqPqpbTCu-wG2ub-A-XhVH4W8n73H8UpvBL0Ll_tCA5PhhqD-ae/s400/IMG_0767.JPG" width="400" /></a></div><br />She would hand me a ball and say, "put that one there." I was merely the hot glue gun operator. The whole thing went really fast. I think we were done in about 4 Christmas songs (love Pandora). A perfect craft with little ones who don't have very long attention spans.<br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiIRNYfbtRbN5NzWK0XhCN0exYVvASuw1CxjH2Tf25_0F1tNhswgaxKcg2fm90m4ztFedyqExS2tvvQsqWDGdf-gHHdVwzmIAHG3CVCZWZM9VZRvotkMzsboygBowxrlxOa5MlWTynEIdSS/s1600/PineconeTrees.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="580" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiIRNYfbtRbN5NzWK0XhCN0exYVvASuw1CxjH2Tf25_0F1tNhswgaxKcg2fm90m4ztFedyqExS2tvvQsqWDGdf-gHHdVwzmIAHG3CVCZWZM9VZRvotkMzsboygBowxrlxOa5MlWTynEIdSS/s640/PineconeTrees.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><br />She did a great job I think. This girl has got some mad color dispersing skills. And she practiced great restraint  I would have been gluing balls all over those things. That sounded weird.<br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiP59-bxEGQTU_PV8yGELOz_41CSkZhTQf4uBbdanaMt2XjU7cOyI2qSdO7R7UnKsq0Xcka1CIupKzJDkA2fQMJ-DVWP_RAVpFmHd5EbJqVebrNV67wO9oRvnIxUKbzKFu9VNw1YWadCocK/s1600/PineconeTreeClose.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiP59-bxEGQTU_PV8yGELOz_41CSkZhTQf4uBbdanaMt2XjU7cOyI2qSdO7R7UnKsq0Xcka1CIupKzJDkA2fQMJ-DVWP_RAVpFmHd5EbJqVebrNV67wO9oRvnIxUKbzKFu9VNw1YWadCocK/s640/PineconeTreeClose.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><br />Of course, I had to get into the mix a little bit. My contribution - an pink ombre pinecone.<br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgliBnBtdEZ-DYU_3WQYJZUOuYOqx_rIdV7L1yV_KUF_sCezMKZXNOCXBaEzi7Q_CBBldSiNWiX0JRBvwrKO0Rv2zS7HjcOLKicaIG3U89QUNdcW2E0XufVu03jwufwsQHhKgMTYp6yTusJ/s1600/OmbrePineconeTree.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgliBnBtdEZ-DYU_3WQYJZUOuYOqx_rIdV7L1yV_KUF_sCezMKZXNOCXBaEzi7Q_CBBldSiNWiX0JRBvwrKO0Rv2zS7HjcOLKicaIG3U89QUNdcW2E0XufVu03jwufwsQHhKgMTYp6yTusJ/s640/OmbrePineconeTree.jpg" width="624" /></a></div><br />So with our pinecone Christmas tree village ready, we made some garland. And what kind of garland do you make when your husband works for Dunder Mifflin? A paper chain of course.<br /><br />Again, Amelia was in charge of picking out the colors. We talked about red and green but she wanted her favorite color - rainbow. She's learning about creating patterns at school, so this was a perfect activity.<br /><br /> An afternoon of quality girl time produced one colorful Christmas mantel.<br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiwb7hB-U9Ajec4uvqssYuAEZGyvn0OE7iD-nSUz5Fy_fQQ_3tJghZppRyMfOYVBp5mu6Pc8BZybWlGobKglbgOdyYAGaWc5DNmqIkRWeID5BjDHMfe2tCzOpHC6IiVgaqE1AZhpgOvjiV8/s1600/ChristmasKidsMantel.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="252" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiwb7hB-U9Ajec4uvqssYuAEZGyvn0OE7iD-nSUz5Fy_fQQ_3tJghZppRyMfOYVBp5mu6Pc8BZybWlGobKglbgOdyYAGaWc5DNmqIkRWeID5BjDHMfe2tCzOpHC6IiVgaqE1AZhpgOvjiV8/s640/ChristmasKidsMantel.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><br />The <a href="http://news-these-days.blogspot.com/2012/12/i-paint-my-own-jewels.html" target="_blank">jewel votives </a>work really well with the colors in the trees and garland.<br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg-m54ON25HZh4bpa8wWMankfAlf0pWwQJPNj80jw8knBvvj5-NxK6PVv8RM8jscpNOK8SPcpHNcq9T9_6VH8yr_aOuGgxgPYOKBFw8bVf4ko6nVnv-nwFk4bNcj1KBmd13dhypEK_vP3rA/s1600/Christmas+Mantel.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="494" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg-m54ON25HZh4bpa8wWMankfAlf0pWwQJPNj80jw8knBvvj5-NxK6PVv8RM8jscpNOK8SPcpHNcq9T9_6VH8yr_aOuGgxgPYOKBFw8bVf4ko6nVnv-nwFk4bNcj1KBmd13dhypEK_vP3rA/s640/Christmas+Mantel.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjl30igtgRVSvT3o0_9uirzXulg87dmJCTe-Se_tM7hZNscdRoUVi7jWoHnfyiWg_Y3D7s3tjHAcHynw27l3wguoCt-rh8Pe_hqSB9Rdnc7vlB-z1_nVZaOfRV4F2zUGejXBK71kJzm6T81/s1600/ChristmasMantel2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="508" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjl30igtgRVSvT3o0_9uirzXulg87dmJCTe-Se_tM7hZNscdRoUVi7jWoHnfyiWg_Y3D7s3tjHAcHynw27l3wguoCt-rh8Pe_hqSB9Rdnc7vlB-z1_nVZaOfRV4F2zUGejXBK71kJzm6T81/s640/ChristmasMantel2.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><div><br /></div>Birds eye view.<br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj6ahDuE2JWLbpEi8wCM2VieNfdEpQ6ljL6aHZgCq2SbuE89wOiCdz1eVfkmUWH3XXRpgDHlSTliWvr_tA1TvwxKPJAxEwsi1cKqYU34TPLVD8v4D1_guMlwKtnfNsDLkZoyKkchrleL4gK/s1600/MantelColage.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="270" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj6ahDuE2JWLbpEi8wCM2VieNfdEpQ6ljL6aHZgCq2SbuE89wOiCdz1eVfkmUWH3XXRpgDHlSTliWvr_tA1TvwxKPJAxEwsi1cKqYU34TPLVD8v4D1_guMlwKtnfNsDLkZoyKkchrleL4gK/s640/MantelColage.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>Christmas is the ultimate kid holiday, so I thought this was rather fitting. And since I get free reign of the house the rest of the year, I thought the girls should have some input into how our living room should look for Santa's arrival. As Amelia pointed out, the fireplace is like Santa's front door to our house.<br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg3EZPn6gjgTKvMXXslfgBc1WLF5bHpSgbngXGoCsoBo6jiu5_xpcYoz7xUiybzd-Ib_UGPh8YC74cBu8whCL-loGRfsC8B_IhumPQfXLg91DSWbHpiFpcWLSdh7uAcIICO0qyAEEK4aaUZ/s1600/Mantelshot.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg3EZPn6gjgTKvMXXslfgBc1WLF5bHpSgbngXGoCsoBo6jiu5_xpcYoz7xUiybzd-Ib_UGPh8YC74cBu8whCL-loGRfsC8B_IhumPQfXLg91DSWbHpiFpcWLSdh7uAcIICO0qyAEEK4aaUZ/s640/Mantelshot.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><br />So, welcome Santa.<br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiwb7hB-U9Ajec4uvqssYuAEZGyvn0OE7iD-nSUz5Fy_fQQ_3tJghZppRyMfOYVBp5mu6Pc8BZybWlGobKglbgOdyYAGaWc5DNmqIkRWeID5BjDHMfe2tCzOpHC6IiVgaqE1AZhpgOvjiV8/s1600/ChristmasKidsMantel.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="252" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiwb7hB-U9Ajec4uvqssYuAEZGyvn0OE7iD-nSUz5Fy_fQQ_3tJghZppRyMfOYVBp5mu6Pc8BZybWlGobKglbgOdyYAGaWc5DNmqIkRWeID5BjDHMfe2tCzOpHC6IiVgaqE1AZhpgOvjiV8/s640/ChristmasKidsMantel.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><br />How about you? Ever put the holiday decorations into someone else's hands? Any good holiday crafts you recommend for kids?  Have you ever tried to explain to a 5-year-old that rainbow is not a color, but rather a whole group of different colors? Don't bother, it is a loosing battle.<br /><br /><span style="font-size: x-small;">I linked up to <a href="http://www.cleanandscentsible.com/2012/12/handmade-christmas-link-party.html" target="_blank">Clean & Scentsible</a> and <a href="http://www.athoughtfulplaceblog.com/2012/12/christmas-vignette-link-party.html" target="_blank">A Thoughtful Place</a>.</span>

child's play - the christmas mantel

Last year, the Christmas mantel was all about the ribbon. This year however, I wanted to do something like...I had no idea. I never know wh...

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