Christmas ornaments 2011

image from familyfun.go.com

For several years the kids have been making Christmas ornaments as their gift to Grandparents and other special adults.  My oldest daughter and I picked out kits from the craft store in previous years and last year her brother was old enough to help too.

Nothing was looking right to me this year until I came across this tutorial for paper stars.

We all had fun creating these and the kids could help all along the way.  All three tore up the construction paper and put it in the blender.  I added the hot water and operated the blender.

They took turns helping me press the water out of the paper pulp, through the sieve.  Then they took turns scooping the pulp into the cookie cutter and pressing it into place.  (I was quality control and made sure the cookie cutter was filled completely.) 

I pressed out as much water as I could before they took turns with the glitter. 

We made three batches - all red, all yellow, and a couple sheets of yellow combined one sheet of red to make orange. 

The stars took much longer to dry than expected.  At least 3 hours and I flipped them over at one point.  I probably could have pressed more water out before transferring them to the pan.  We glued loops of silver ribbon for hanging.