Homemade fingerprint Christmas cards

Have you got your Christmas cards yet ? We've made some handmade cards based on the nativity story.

The base of the card is really simple - a fingerprint. We're quite big fans of hand print / finger print art (as you can see from our autumn tree, spring tree and handprint birthday card).

After a finger print we added different details and embellishments to make the different characters in the story. 

For Mary and Joseph I added a brown and blue body as well as head scarf. Baby Jesus had a bed of straw made from cutting a fringe into a piece of yellow a.d a crib made from corrugated card.

The angel had silver wings (drawn on with one of these markers - which I love  http://www.amazon.co.uk/Pilot-Silver-Marker-extra-point/dp/B0017TMLAK) and a body made of glittery card.

The shepherds had bodies similar to Joseph and a white finger print which I turned into a sheep.

Finally the wise men had brightly coloured bodies, hand drawn crowns and stick on sequins for gifts.

If your after other ideas for homemade Christmas cards check out this rather cool hangout (see if you spot us!) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WntF78jdcXs

Salt dough advent calender

One of the things I love about the kids getting older is being able to do things with them I enjoyed as a kid (fortunately so far they seem to enjoy them too!) Salt dough featured highly in our childhood so it's not surprising that when thinking about how I could make an advent calender salt dough sprung to mind.

I made the dough with The Fairy (you just add the ingredients then mix).

We then cut out the numbers/ stars, great counting practice.

You need to cook salt dough on a very low temp (gas mark 1/4) - the idea is to dry the shapes out, not bake them. Some people recommend to leave the shapes to air dry for a couple of days - I've never had very much luck with that and always end up finishing them in the oven (perhaps because I always make thick shapes or possibly as I'm not always very patient). Once dry you can then paint.

You maybe wondering why there is a dolls house at the start of this post, well the Fairy is totally in love with her dolls house - assembled and painted for her recent birthday by my lovely Dad (Thanks Dad!) The house inspired the purple and silver colour scheme we used to decorate the finished stars.

So the plan is each night of advent for myself or The Papa to hide a star in the dolls house. In the morning The Fairy can hunt for it and we can add it to our advent string.Where's the star hiding today?

This is a blog hop - check out the other blog hop co hosts to see what they have created.

Rainy Day Mum ~ Mummy Mummy Mum! ~ Life at the Zoo ~ Here Come the Girls

The Fairy and The Frog ~ Jennifer's Little World ~ Playful Learners

Making Boys Men and The Boy and Me

Do you have an Advent post? Link up your ideas below,