Yesterday as I was exercising (at 5:15 a.m.), the weatherman reported that Utah had the driest December ever.  Read that to mean very little snow.  No white Christmas.  No sledding.  No building snowmen. No shoveling snow. No below zero temperatures.

Yesterday, it was 54 degrees Fahrenheit. Now, which would I rather have — snowy weather and the sub-zero cold that it brings or the balmy 54 degrees?  Tough decision, eh?

The lack of snow won’t stop me from making snowmen though, thanks to Amanda from Crafts by Amanda.  See the picture at the beginning of this post?   She graciously let me use it here on my site.  Aren’t those snowmen and children absolutely stinkin’ cute!  But first, let me tell you a little bit about Amanda.

Amanda is Someone Important. S he hob-nobs with the rich and the famous.  In December, she was on the Martha Stewart Living Radio on Sirius Satellite for the Living Today show.  She also did a demonstration sponsored by the folks at Kellog’s(R) Rice Krispies (R).  (You’ve just GOT to see her cutest ever Gingerbread Man Rice Krispie Treats. They are so delightful that you almost don’t want to eat them!  So, go right now at take a look at them.  I’ll wait for you to come back.)

Glad to see you back.  Let’s move on.

It’s amazing to see something so cute as these snowmen and children and know that they are simply made out of the empty cardboard tube from toilet paper.  Can’t get much cheaper than that.  Or easier.  Visit her site to see her pictures and directions on how she made these little folks.  Young grandchildren can make these as well as older ones.  That’s the beauty of this craft project.  It’s simple for wee grandchildren to make yet older ones can spruce  them up, be more inventive and creative,  and add more details.

She has also made a cardboard scarecrow that would be great fun to make with grandchildren for Halloween.  You could also make witches, zombies, Frankenstein, and all sorts of other creatures.  In fact, for all of you creative grandmas out there, you can probably think of a gillion people, animals, and critters to make out of the toilet paper tubes and papertowel tubes.  (You’ll have to send me photos of what you make!)

Also, check out her iron-on glitter snowman shirt.  More cuteness.  I remember adding designs to a sweatshirt or two for my daughter when she was little.  Seeing how easy it is to use these iron-on transfers makes me realize it’s time to start making some things for the grandkiddos.  Like sweatshirts, t-shirts, bookbags, or a pillowcases.

Thank you, Amanda, for sharing your photo.  Thank you for your directions on how to make such a fun craft.  And most of all, thank you for being so creative and sharing that creativity with the whole world.

My grandchildren will love making your ideas!

Children and grandchildren love to color and draw and I feel it’s important to give them opportunities to artistically express themselves and their creativity.  That’s why I am totally delighted with the iPad app Pirate Scribblebeard’s Treasure by Kidoodle.

The Pirates of the Caribbean movies has made being a pirate cool.  Talking like a pirate.  Swashbucking like a pirate.  Argh, matey!  Now you can draw like a pirate.

This app is narrated by Oscar and Josephine.  There are 16 pages where children can draw pirate scenes: a pirate flag, a treasure map, a pirate ship on the ocean, a tattoo, a pirate swabbing a ship deck, and a treasure chest.

It has a simple drawing tool that is like a marking pen.  You can select different colors as you draw your picture.  After you finish and you tap the arrow to go to the next page, funny animations happen to your drawing.

You can follow the pages in order or you can choose random pages that you want to draw on.  This is nice because a grandchild could draw on just her favorite pages if she wanted to.

The app has a peppy pirate sounding melody that makes you want to get up and dance a jig.  (Do pirates dance jigs?)

Here are screenshots of my favorite pages.

When your grandchild has finished her picture, she can e-mail it to her parent so they can see her fabulous drawings. Or, she can save it to your Photos on your iPad.  Once in your photos, you can print it up, use it as your iPad’s wallpaper, and e-mail it to other family members or friends.

You can get this app for $1.99 through iTunes. Oh, and it is also available for Android Tablets and the Amazon Kindle Fire.

This is another app that would make a great Christmas gift for your grandchildren up to age 10.  They can spend hours creating and drawing with this app.

I give it 5 out of 5 stars.

Oh, and by the way, you don’t have to take just my word for how good this app is.  It was chosen as the Best Entertainment App in the Adobe AIR App Challenge sponsored by Sony.  Cool.

Disclaimer: I received a free copy of this application. However, it did not influence my opinion of the product.

Are there any of you grandmothers out there who are musically inclined?  Or have grandchildren who play a musical instrument?  Or, do you happen to have some old music laying around your house that isn’t being used?  If so, I have two really easy Christmas crafts that you can do with your grandchildren.

First idea.  Get three pages of music. Roll them each into a tube.  Tape so they will stay in the tube form.  Stack them two on the bottom and one on top.  Gently tie a red, green, or other Christmas-y ribbon around the three tubes (so they stay in an itty bitty pyramid shape).

Around the bow, add little bits and pieces of Christmas-y do-dads . . . sprigs of plastic evergreen, holly leaves, candy canes, etc.  There you have a Christmas decoration.  In like 5 minutes.  (Or, if you’re like me, it’ll probably take 5 hours because I can’t get the ribbon to look decent, I hot glue my fingers to the sprigs of evergreen and have to cut away 7 layers of skin to get the glue and the evergreens off my fingers, and then I have to go to the emergency room to get all of the bleeding to stop and to get stitched up.)

I made one of these years ago.  But it got hashed.  I was going to make one and take a picture of it.  I talked myself out of it because I knew how retarded mine would look.  I didn’t want to embarrass myself in front of the whole world (well, okay just the two people and my mother who read this blog . . .).

I’m hoping you all have a good imagination and can see in your mind’s eye what I’m trying to explain.

The other Christmas decoration is from CraftyNest.com.  This is a star decoration to hang on your Christmas tree or other appropriate spots around your house.

But first, I want to say a big THANK YOU to Monica.  (Yes, I know that writing in all capital letters is like shouting.  That’s how much I want to thank Monica for being so sweet and gracious for allowing me to use the picture of her decoration from her website.  Not only is she talented, she is also a generous soul.)

Where was I?  Oh.  Yes.  The star Christmas tree ornament.

This star is very easy to make. Even someone as klutzy as I am can make one of these stars.  Monica has step by step directions on how to make them.  She also has pictures.  She has a pattern.  (You don’t need to supply your own sheet music.  The pattern has the music on it.)

She also has a pattern for an angel, a bell, and a ball.  Check them all out.  You can make a whole flock of these with your grandchildren.  They are cute, cute, cute.  And fun.  (Do you think my  1, 2, and 3 year old grandchildren can make them??)

If your grandchildren happen to live far away, you could print up the pattern and sent it along with some ribbon and the URL to Monica’s site so that your grandchildren can make some.  Then, have them take a picture of themselves with their decorations and e-mail you the picture.

Monica also the cutest idea for an advent calendar out of recycled Christmas cards. (I love how she suggests using little Ghiradeli squares . . .) If you think it’s too late to make it this year, start collecting your Christmas cards so you can be ready to make it next year.

I hope you have fun with your grandchildren making these Christmas decorations!

Remember when you were in school and you would trace your hand and then use that as the body to draw a turkey?

Well, that activity is the basis for my idea for today.  Make sugar cookie turkeys out of a hand print.

Check with your local craft store to see if they have a hand-shaped cookie cutter.  If they don’t, get an empty cereal box, trace around your grandchild’s hand, and use that as a pattern for cutting out a hand shaped cookie.

After your cookies are baked, frost them with a chocolate brown frosting. Then, make several different colors of frosting and frost each finger a different color to make colorful ‘feathers.’

Or, you can use small, colorful candies or candy corn on your fingers. You could use strips of colorful licorice (if you can find it in the grocery store.) You could use M&Ms.  You could use cake decorator sprinkles. Whatever.

Then, use a chocolate chip for the eye.

Then snarf those turkey cookies down.

Don’t worry about how much of a mess you make. Or how many calories you consume. Remember, have joy in the journey (of making the cookies). The memories that your grandchildren will have while making their sugar cookie turkeys will be far more important than having a clean kitchen or not eating too many calories.

Enjoy!