SACHS Blog Carnival # 13 - Christmas Celebrations/Crafts/Ideas

Hello everyone! 

Today I would like to show you name tags I made for Christmas to use on Christmas presents.

This is a very simple and easy name tag to make.

You will need:

A Templet for your tags (optional)

A hole puncher

Coloured cardboard paper (Any colour you wish)

A Christmas rubber stamp (You can buy them here) Or use any rubber stamp you have.

A Versa Mark ink pad 

Embossing powder (Any Colour you wish, I used mix colored)

Little bit of Maizina

A clean cloth

Ribbon 

A To: and From: rubber stamp (optional)

A Heat Gun

Any black ink pad (optional)

Double-sided-tape (optional)

Step #1. Cut as many tags as you need. You can find templets on the internet or make your own. I used a crafting machine, but that really isn’t necessary, you can just cut a plain rectangle and round the corners.

Step #2. Punch a hole in the top of the tag.

Step #3. Put the Maizina in the cloth and puff it over the tags.

Step #4. Ink the rubber stamp with the Versa Mark ink and stamp it on the tag.

Step #5. Quickly throw the embossing powder over the image on the tag, before it dries.

Step #6. Gently shake off any excessive embossing powder and heat the image with a heat gun. Not to close or for too long or it will burn.

Step #7. Let cool and put the ribbon through.

Step #8. With the black ink, stamp the To: and From: in the top left corner. Or you can use a black pen and just write To: and From:.

Step #9. Put double-sided-tape on the back of the tag and stick it on the present. Or you can have a long ribbon and put the ribbon around the present.

There you are! 

I have the privilege to host this Fortnight’s South African Carnival of Homeschool Bloggers on Christmas Celebrations/Crafts/Ideas.

I also have some other Christmas ideas and crafts for christmas:

Making Christmas Crackers! 

In this post I showed a complete tutorial on how to make Christmas Crackers step by step. 

I also baked Christmas Cookie decorations with my siblings.

In this post I have a easy fun cookies recipe that you cut into stars, decorate with icing and hang on your christmas tree!

Now here are Christmas decorations, crafts and ideas from other home schoolers:

Karen from Karen’s Clan shares a selection of some crafts they've done this season, and some ideas of ones they'd like to do if they have the time - otherwise, they'll do them next year!

Taryn from Hayes Happenings chose to make most of their 2010 Christmas gifts with some fun results.  Here they are:

2010 Gifts I: Beaded bookmarks and keyrings

2010 Gifts II: Honey Hazelnuts

2010 Gifts III: Playdough, bean bags and kids’ gifts

2010 Gifts IV: Christmas Cookie Mix in a Jar

In previous years their creativity has centered around establishing Christmas traditions that are steeped in the biblical message of Christianity.  

You can read about how they made an advent calendar covering a whole bible overview, Christmas stockings that focus on the events surrounding the birth of Jesus, an annual whole family nativity play and gifts for their neighbours.  For more Hayes family Christmas celebrations please visit their Christmas category.

Lindy from Homeschooling in South Africa shares how even when you're not an artsy-crafty person, and your budget is restricted, it's amazing what you can get up to... if you just keep it calm and simple and don't try to keep up with the Jones'.

This posting is overflowing with Christmas ideas.

Mel from Mel’s Mouthful on Mothering shares a post of Christmas on a tight budget. Like a lot of people worldwide, they are also having to make sure that they are spending wisely, cutting back on the extras and budget carefully.  It's a challenging thing to do - especially during this time of the year. The pressure to get all the right decor, get those expensive gifts and that big Christmas lunch!  How do they manage during this time?

Here are some ideas.

Wendy - From Loving Learning shares Christmas decorations she and her family made last year for christmas.

Donette from The Journey share how one of the ways they bring the celebration of Christ into their Christmas is taking part in a Jesse tree Swop. Each day they read and speak about a bible story as well as hang a handmade decoration up on the tree. The kids love taking part and as a family they enjoy exploring God's word.

Jenni from Jenni C’s show how to make easy tags that can be made to put on Christmas presents, or one could make a box full of them and wrap them up as a present for someone. They can also be made to use as place names...at the dinner table...

She also shares creations for the feel free at heart and love abstract creations, or know someone that loves abstract.

Her advent post includes free downloads for making your own decorations/or scriptures to study for the 25 days before Christmas.  There is also another idea for Christmas tree decorations made from Fun Foam Clay.  This clay is super fun to work with and even the smallest hands can play with it... it looks good to eat... so watch the little ones mom...

 Air dry tags post is about a quick and easy way to make unique tags for your Christmas presents. Or make a whole lot and give them away as a present this Christmas. The clay is lovely to work with and is great tactile experience for young children, another benefit is that it is actually not so messy....and it dries over night which allows for a quick project.

Trys from Trixi’s HomeEd Academy contributed her Digital Scrapbook Greeting card to wish everyone a very blessed Christmas and a Happy New Year.

Linnie from Back To Ancient Ways tried to summarize through her posting how they as a family make a difference during Christmas. It is her and her husband’s responsibility to make sure that this time of year is understood by their children as an important message of God’s love and redemption and to instill in them the focus of why they celebrate Christmas.

The actual question for them is: 

What are they doing with the feast? Is their focus on the feast; the commercializing of it; or do they glorify God through the feast? They want their children to reach out to the unsaved and make a difference on Christmas - this is the time during which people are most open to the message of Christ. 

I've taken the liberty and asked Di’s Digi Downloads to sponsor one lucky blog participant during this blog carnival. They agreed to give one of the participants a $10 gift voucher to spend on online digital images.  

These images can be printed, coloured with your favorite medium and used on cards of any kind or paper craft, just as I have done here.


Thank you to every creative posting contributed by our Sa Carnival of Homeschool Bloggers, unfortunately there can be only one winner.

And the lucky winner is:

(drum roll please)
Mel from Mel’s Mouthful on Mothering!
Please e-mail me to claim your prize.

This is the 13th SACHS Blog carnival under the theme Christmas Ideas/Crafts/Decorations which is part of the South African Carnival of Homeschool Blogs. To join the carnival or visit past carnivals visit the SACHS Blogs page. We hope you enjoy browsing!

Crafty Greetings