Around the holidays, it's easy to get lost in the magical world of new. With a mailbox overflowing with toy catalogs, our children love to flip through the shiny pages together & dream up holiday wish lists. New things are fun, but we want our kids to still be grateful for what they already have. As well as appreciate simpler, handmade treasures.

The beauty of reusing something into something new. Like a dress. 

In an effort to combat toy catalogs, we snuggled under a warm blanket and read one of our favorite books instead. In "I Had a Favorite Dress," the main character outgrows her favorite dress- which her mama then snips & sews into several new outfits. She wears each new creation on a different day of the week (great calendar practice) and makes something of her own at the end. 

 After reading it together, our kids wanted to try creating their own new outfits!

Simple Clothespin Doll Ornaments

We had leftover painted doll pins, which worked well. You'll need: 

• Wood Round Doll Pins
• Acrylic paint
• Fabric scraps (old clothing works well)
• Yarn, twine or string
• Low-temp glue gun
• Optional: Mini screw eyes

This is a great activity to stretch out if you like. First, you can paint clothespins together and cut up old clothing to make fabric scraps. Older kids can have fun drawing & planning out their ornaments. For a quicker project, prep the clothespins in advance or skip the painting altogether.

Painted clothespins aren't necessary, but make a nice background for kids' creations.

Once dry, you're ready to decorate! We filled our craft table with fabric scraps, then had a hot glue station on a wooden chair next to the outlet. (Tips on hot-gluing with children, here.)

We ended up with a "pioneer lady" (inspired by my oldest's recent Little House on the Prarie infatuation) and a "tough guy." My son thought his "tough guy" needed a face, but our Sharpie didn't work well on the wood. Paint has worked much better in the past!

Clothespin Nature Fairies

My oldest daughter, Isia, thought we needed nature fairy ornaments. We used the rest of our clothespin fairy doll supplies, although we omitted wings this time. For the skirts, cut an "x" in the middle of a large artificial flower then insert clothespin.

Aren't they sweet? Isia fastened little hats on their heads by sticking a mini screw eye pin through the middle of a smaller flower. I created an eye pin hole by hitting a nail into the head- drilling would work better- then she twisted the eye pin in.

These are for our tree, but they'd also be lovely tied on a present, strung onto a garland, or tucked into stockings. The kids thought about tucking a few into friends' mailboxes as holiday surprises too.

The best part was upcycling something beautiful together. A life lesson that fits into every season! 

• DIY Ninja Elves from Mama Smiles
• Folded paper Christmas tree ornaments from Cutting Tiny Bites
• Dream Snow Christmas ornament from Sunny Day Family
• String art ornaments from Mama Miss