| ISSUE 97 • 13 DECEMBER 2010 | |
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Editorial The largest ever Kids Craft Weekly handmade card swap is now underway (see update below). Earlier this month swap lists were sent out to almost 500 participating families and I'm overjoyed to report that I've already started to receive some cards! I know that I've said it before but honestly, receiving cards from Kids Craft Weekly readers has become one of my favourite things about Christmas. Thank you, thank you for sending me your wonderful cards and for all the emails and facebook messages that keep me sane and make me smile. I'm often not able to respond to the messages of support that you send in but I want you to know that I read every single word of every single message and appreciate your kind wishes immensely. I think you are all wonderful. Truly. I hope you enjoy this issue on easy festive crafts. I'm pretty excited about it because it features three of my favourite, stunningly simple Christmas crafts of all time. And let's face it – who has the head space for anything stressful or complicated at this time of year?! All three of these ideas, and heaps more, are featured in the full-colour 20-page crafty extravaganza known as my Christmas Craft PDF. When you buy a copy of Christmas Craft, or my other Christmas book Christmas Cards, you get sent an email with a link so you can download the PDF and get crafting immediately. Occasionally this email gets lost or winds up in the spam folder – if this happens to you please write and let me know. I'm always happy to re-send the link if it is lost or expired! Happy crafting and I'll see you next time... unless December gets the better of me of course. Yikes! Back to the preparations.  Amber Carvan editor@kidscraftweekly.com |
Thanks to everyone who has written in over the past few weeks regarding the card swap. You'll be pleased to hear that we seem to have resolved a couple of minor technical issues that some people were having. If you haven't yet received your swap list please let me know as soon as you can and I will re-send your details. There were a large number of incorrect addresses on the list this year but I have been in touch with most people and these addresses have now been updated. If you've been waiting on an address correction for one of your cards it's worth retrieving your swap addresses again to see if it's been fixed. I should note that there are still a couple of people with incorrect addresses on the list who I haven't been able to contact. Due to the sheer volume of administration required I haven't been able to chase down missing postal codes. If one of your addresses is missing a postal code I kindly ask that you do some detective work on Google to track it down – it can be quite a fun activity to do with older kids! Thanks so much for your understanding. And for your cards!
These cute and simple trees are great fun for all ages. Why not sit the whole family down together to create your very own clothes peg Christmas tree forest! You will need • cardboard • clothes peg • paint and paintbrush • glue • sequins or small beads for decorating Directions 1. Cut out a tree shape from some cardboard.  2. Paint or colour the cardboard as you wish then pop a wooden clothes peg onto the base of the tree. If your cardboard is very thick you might have to squeeze the top of the peg together a little bit.  3. Decorate using sequins or beads or whatever you have handy. They even look great just made from fancy card or coloured in with texta. 
I just love these very simple gift tags and as far as crafts go, they are as simple as they come. Best of all they look great too! You will need • old artwork • white stickers in various shapes and sizes • scissors • hole punch • string Directions 1. Stick some white labels on to some of your little one’s artwork. Cut around the outside of the label, leaving a border. Then punch a hole in the corner of the tag to thread with ribbon or string. 
Young and old alike will enjoy making these sparkly and colourful decorations. Have plenty of supplies ready as no-one will be able to stop at one! You will need • round plastic lids • white glue • red food colouring • beads, seqins, pasta, glitter etc • paintbrush • hole punch • string Directions 1. Combine some drops of red food colouring and white glue.  2. Paint the red glue mix onto a clear plastic lid then add some sparkle and texture. When you've finished you can shake some glitter over the top and allow to dry. Then punch a hole at the top and thread through a loop of ribbon or fancy string.  |
Do you love Kids Craft Weekly? If so, there are a number of ways that you can support this little project and some of them don't involve spending any money at all! 1. Buy a copy of one of the new Christmas PDFs! 2. When you shop at Amazon click through from here. 3. Purchase a copy of the Everyday Craft PDF or book. 4. Make a donation. 5. Recommend the newsletter to your friends – forward it on to them! 6. Become a fan of Kids Craft Weekly on Facebook. 7. Follow Kids Craft Weekly on Twitter. 8. Add your photos to the Kids Craft Weekly group pool on Flickr. 9. Just send me an encouraging email – I'm like a puppy, I respond well to pats on the back :) |
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