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Turn Your Summer Vacation into a Christmas Ornament

Make Summer Vacation Memories Last for Years to Come

Whether you like it or not, the holidays are coming quicker than you think! The kids are back in school, Halloween is right around the corner, and then we all know what happens next — the rush of decorating, groceries, and gift giving begins. The summer season will turn into a distant memory and we’ll be on to a new year in no time.

If you aren’t ready to let summer memories slip away just yet, now is the perfect time to get started on personalized summer vacation-themed Christmas ornaments for your holiday tree. Calliope designs is known for custom ornament designs that memorialize all of life’s precious memories. 

A fantastic summer vacation should be remembered in more ways than just photos on our phones. With a wide array of vacation Christmas ornaments with many personalized options, your family is guaranteed to be reminded of their trip together, every holiday season.

Cruise Christmas Ornaments Featuring the Whole Family

customized cruise christmas ornament

Calliope Designs is the master of themed holiday ornaments. Did you and your family take off on a cruise this summer? Our cruise Christmas ornament will be the perfect addition to your tree. It features your family members floating on a cruise ship at sea! 

Personalized your cruise Christmas ornament with two to five family members’ names and the year of your adventure. This is no generic themed ornament. Calliope Designs customizes every ornament to order with your information.

Tropical Christmas Ornaments 

customized scuba diver christmas ornament

Tropical summer vacations that involve scuba diving are memories one never forgets, and our Scuba Diver Christmas ornament is also unforgettable! These ornaments can be customized with the diver wearing colorful diving gear and hanging out with different colored fish. Your name and the year of your scuba diving experience will be applied to their fins.

Personalized Road Trip Christmas Ornaments

custom road trip christmas ornament

Loading up the RV and taking off on the open road is another fabulous summer vacation idea. Commemorate your 2019 road trip with a motor home Christmas ornament for your holiday tree decorations. This ornament is perfect for couples, as it features two people in the front seat of the RV. Names and vacation year can be personalized with your information.

Calliope Makes Custom Christmas Ornaments for Your Vacation Scenario!

click here to personalize a gift from Calliope Designs today

We love summer vacations here at Calliope — almost as much as we love Christmas! That is why we combine the two into memorable, personalized ornaments. 

If you are looking for the perfect gift for a friend or loved one, or would like to customize a summer vacation ornament for your own tree, head over to our selection of Vacation and Travel ornaments and peruse the possibilities! We are sure you will find one that will help you remember your summer vacation for years to come.

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Customize A Grandparent’s Wreath Gift for Christmas from Calliope Designs

Favorite ornaments for Grandparents

The Perfect Personalized Gift for Your Grandparents

We all know it can be hard to find just the right gift for Grandparents.  They seem to be at the time of life where they have “everything” and don’t really want more.  They say they “don’t need anything” and sometimes that’s true.  Yet when the holidays come around they are often high on our shopping lists because they have been so super all year long, helping with our children, inviting us for holiday meals, making cookies for the family, and in all ways loving and helpful.  We know they adore their grandchildren and spoil them to death.  And often, the children want to find their sweet Nana and Poppa something special as a gift.

Here’s an idea that came from a customer many years ago.  A Grandparent’s Wreath.  Purchase a nice quality artificial Christmas wreath suitable for hanging on a door or on a wall inside the home.  The size should be up to you, but be sure to purchase some pretty ribbon to make a bow, or purchase a pre-made bow that is large and pretty on the green wreath.  If you are adventurous, buy a strand of mini lights to wrap around the wreath and plugin for added brightness.

Now, spend some fun time with your children shopping online for some personalized Christmas ornaments for Grandma and Grandpa. We have lots of cute reasonably priced items at www.calliopedesigns.com.   Let each child pick one ornament that will have their name on it – and don’t forget the year.  When they arrive, have the children help you decide where to affix them onto the wreath.  Make it a strong permanent attachment so the ornaments can stay on the wreath year after year.

The first year the wreath might be sparse, but you can choose to add an ornament each year and soon the wreath will be a collection of memories of each child as they grow and experience new things.  For instance, if you have one child, a girl, you can start with a cute photo frame ornament of her first Christmas.  Then progress to Baby Girl’s First Steps and the next Christmas – She’s Potty Trained.  Yes, we have a cute ornament for that.  There’s one for losing the first tooth.  And the first day of school.  All sports and hobbies can be represented by an ornament, as well as special achievements and vacations.

Begin at Home & Grow your Holiday Tradition with Custom Gifts from Calliope Designs

Another way to start the wreath collection is to involve your siblings so that all of the grandchildren are represented on the wreath!

If you feel the wreath is getting too expensive, please read our blog on How to make your Own Dough Ornaments at home.  We give the recipe and tips to create fun designs.  Each child can create something that is special.

This will become a fun tradition that the children will look forward to and the Grandparents are sure to treasure.

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Start Your Own Family Traditions for Christmas Eve

pajamas family of 3 personalized christmas ornament

Every person who celebrates the Christmas holiday brings their own family traditions to their adulthood.  And when a new family is formed through marriage, or living together, there will be new ideas and compromise and creativity in starting new traditions that can be a blend of both family’s past, or completely new.  Family traditions don’t have to begin when there’s a baby, but if one hasn’t before, this is the perfect time to start thinking about what you would like to do with your child over the coming years of celebration.  Let’s start with Christmas Eve, the beginning of the story of Christmas.

Start and Keep Family Traditions for Years to Come

Some ideas from friends, from our family, from the internet, and from magazines:

– Is religious worship going to be part of the holiday for your family?  If so, visit your church, or if you are not a member of a church, find a lovely house of worship to visit that evening.  It is truly hard to resist the beauty of a wonderfully decorated church at night, the candlelight, the red ribbon swags, the fresh evergreen smell, and the beautiful story and hymns.  In our family, we loved to go to midnight services at the local Episcopal church in San Carlos, California.  It was a treat to go and be out so late, and also had a beautiful calming effect for a good night’s sleep.

– When do you have your main holiday meal with family? Is Christmas Eve a simple meal?  Prepared at home, or take out?   It took my mother, who is now 93, many many years to realize Christmas Eve was the better night to have a big fancy turkey dinner with all the trimmings.  Yes, it was fun and festive and delicious.  And we all helped clean up the table and dishes.  Then the next day, Christmas Day, we had a beautiful spread of leftovers for dinner and she, my mom, didn’t have to spend the entire day cooking!  We weren’t from a big family – no aunts, uncles, cousins, to share the holiday cooking.  So it was all on our mother to prepare, and this was a lovely tradition we established.

– Do you decorate the tree on Christmas Eve when the children are asleep?

– What arrangements do you make for Santa and the Reindeer?  Cookies and milk?

– Are Christmas stockings, stuffed with age-appropriate small items going to be part of Christmas morning?  Believe it or not, my adult children still want their stockings if they are home for Christmas. And now there’s a son in law and grandson, so we are still in the stocking stuffer shopping club.

– Will you have a Christmas eve family photo in front of the tree?

– Would you enjoy taking the kids for a drive around town to see the decorated homes?  Does your town have a Santa Claus Lane, where everyone on those blocks decorates their homes?

– Do you have a favorite Christmas movie to watch every single Christmas Eve?  How the Grinch Stole Christmas, A Peanuts Christmas, Miracle on 34th Street (first filmed in 1947!), Babes in Toyland,  The Nutcracker, A Christmas Carol, Frosty the Snowman, Yes Virginia, there is a Santa Claus, or The Polar Express to name a few.

– Are you going to open just one gift for each person on Christmas Eve?  Many families do this right after Church services.  And one of the cutest ideas I’ve heard from a friend was that everyone gets new matching pj’s on Christmas Eve and then poses for a holiday photo.  – That was a Grandmother gift by the way.

Whatever your Christmas Eve traditions become they will be yours, they will be remembered, they will be treasured.  And many will be passed down through generations.  Favorite recipes, fabulous ornaments for the tree, fun photo albums of Christmas past.

Grow your Holiday Traditions with Custom Gifts from Calliope Designs

Celebrate any occasion with a personalized ornament from Calliope Designs. View all our amazing and diverse designs on our online shop today!

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Baby’s First Christmas Made Memorable

Baby's First Christmas personalized ornaments

Your baby’s arrived during the past year and you and your family are getting ready to celebrate his or her First Christmas! Your little one might be almost one year old, or could be a newborn, but it’s likely that in either case he or she won’t really remember the First Christmas, or even really get what’s going on and what all the fuss is about.  Some things really count though, photographs, lots and lots of them.  Take tons of pictures of the baby, mommy and daddy, grandparents, the Christmas tree, your pets with the baby, and even Santa if possible.  And next, be sure to pick one or more personalized Baby’s First Christmas ornaments as a memento of that special holiday celebration.

Baby’s First Christmas Ornament

Baby photography can be tricky.  Most babies are just naturally photogenic, but to get that very special expression, the one you want to remember forever, take lots and lots of pictures.  Aren’t cell and smartphones great these days?  You can take the photo and check the images right away.  You can take 100 to get the best one or two, and most phones even have a little photoshop type software built into the phone so you can crop, adjust color, zoom in or out, and make it perfect.

As you are getting ready for the holiday, take pictures of everything you do together with the baby.  Will you try for a photo with Santa?  Of course, it will depend upon the age of your baby, and what he or she is going through right now with new people and strangers.  Santa is a pretty unique looking character and who knows, your child might find him hilarious, or maybe he will be scary.  You know your baby and use your best instincts.  There will be many more years ahead to have a photo with Santa.  As a substitute, you might get a little red Santa hat with white fuzzy fake fur around the bring, and make a darling photo of the baby wearing it.

If you go shopping for a Christmas tree, or go out to cut down a tree, you can let your child help pick one, and be sure to take pictures of this.  Take the baby out to see bright Christmas lights decorating homes at night, or a place where children are playing around lighted Christmas theme decorations.  Photo ops abound.  Go for a sleigh ride!  Or make a trip up to the snow.  All of these events will make up a lovely baby album of a first Christmas holiday celebration.  It’s amazing how reasonably priced you can have a photo album made up at a place such as Shutterfly.  Your baby will have it forever, and as an extra bonus, think of how much the grandparents would love to have one too.

Another wonderful use for photos of Baby’s First Christmas is for the baby’s first personalized ornament.  Print a photo yourself if you have a color printer, and make it be the size of a mini school photo.  This will fit perfectly into one of our darling Baby’s First Christmas photo frame ornaments.

Choosing your Baby’s First Christmas ornament is a fun process.  Do you want to go with traditional type ornament styles, like a glass ball, or a blown glass ornament that is shaped like a rattle or baby bootie?  These are usually found at your local Hallmark store in the Mall, where you can really ascertain how large they are and how durable they will be over the years.  The European glass ornaments are very elegant and gorgeous, and expensive.  But it will be something that is treasured in the family and one she will take to her own home when she grows up.

Another style of ornament is a theme-oriented one, such as a Disney ornament, or even an NFL baby ornament! Yes, those are truly available on eBay, using a football helmet holding a sleeping baby, available in all the different team colors.  Think of other famous Christmas theme designs – Dr. Seuss and the Grinch,  Peanuts ornaments designed by Charles Schultz, Star Trek First Christmas ornaments, and the like.

If you have other children, this is one of the most fun things you can do with them to help them make their own unique ornaments each year.  And they can also help with their new sibling’s ornament too, but making one for the baby.  If this is your first child, mommy and daddy can make a few and see which one is chosen.  Glaze it several times with polyurethane (non-yellowing, high gloss), and then personalize it with a super fine point black permanent marker.

Another craft project is one of our all-time favorite Baby’s First Christmas ornaments – a baby’s handprint kit with a special Calliope Designs ornament attachment make and personalized with your baby’s birth statistics, or name and First Christmas with the year.  We have a special video showing how to make and assemble this amazing ornament.  This style comes in blue for boys and pink for girls!  You’ll be amazed at how quickly your child’s hand grows as she or he compares it to the ornament each year at Christmas.

A personalized Christmas ornament is a wonderful way to go for your Baby’s First Christmas ornament.  We specialize in these styles and have made quite a few choices of favorite baby subjects to give the ornament choice some traditional feel, some handcrafted feel, and certainly an amazingly cute, darling, and adorable feel!  The ornaments that are most frequently chosen are the ones that have all of the baby’s birth statistics inscribed in permanent black ink right on the design, with the year and First Christmas added with his or her name.  Since our “personalizers” are all extremely skilled in the art of lettering, our customers love the darling little baby bear in stocking (pink, blue, and red if you are not sure!), our rocking horses (also in pink, blue, and red), our photo frame choices, and penguin designs.

Remember, your child’s first Christmas is a special day that will be recalled with all the beautiful photos you take, the happy experiences you share with your baby and your Baby’s First Christmas ornament.  We think a personalized item from Calliope Designs is a fabulous choice to start his or her personalized ornament collection.

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So You’re Expecting A Baby & It’s Christmas!

Expecting Twins or triplets personalized christmas ornaments

We’re blogging about this today because our Expecting a Baby personalized ornament is one of our very best selling items. It’s an ornament people buy for themselves or an ornament that others purchase as a gift for a pregnant couple.  We’ve given this a lot of consideration, and realize what a very very special time being pregnant at Christmas is.  Here are a few of our thoughts on making this “expecting” Christmas even more fun and joyful.

Expecting A Baby at Christmas Time

When you’re pregnant doctors and nurses always talk about trimesters.  Of course, this refers to the development of your baby and the different stages of growth in utero, but the trimesters are different on the outside too.  How you feel, how you look, what your level of anticipation is.  If you’re pregnant at Christmas time you may have completely different feelings depending on which trimester you are experiencing. Let’s take our holiday celebration by trimester.

The first trimester, or first three months of your pregnancy, is such an exciting time.  Especially if you are expecting your first baby.  One thing that’s special is that your pregnancy is not evident to the outside world!  It is your and your mate’s special time of knowing you are pregnant, and deciding how long to wait to tell everyone else.  The pregnancy is confirmed.  The due date is estimated.  And before long you are going to start having some symptoms – such as morning sickness, nausea at certain smells, tiredness or sleepiness at odd times of the day, and strange cravings for food.  Of course, not everyone has all of these symptoms, but they are fairly universal.  If Christmas is coming you might be wondering if you are really “up to” the whole big celebration you usually put on.

This is a good time to listen to and follow your instincts.  It’s a time to realize another little person is going to be with you from now on, and being flexible will forever be a part of your life because of him or her (or them!).  Here are some ideas to make life less stressful for the holidays:

– Do most of your gift shopping online.  Mall shopping may just not be as much fun.  The smell of auto exhaust on the road.  The odd smells in the mall that normally were just fine (like cinnamon rolls, hot dogs, cleaning solutions) now may make you a little nauseated.

-If you are able, purchase your gifts gift wrapped to save the last minute stress of getting it all done.

-Have gifts mailed directly to the recipient.  Most online stores will offer a service for a gift message enclosure.

– Let Sis, or your Mom, make the holiday meals this year.  Plan on going and enjoying every minute and every delicious bite of their special holiday cooking instead of making everything yourself.

-Since your pregnancy isn’t showing yet,  make Christmas Eve or Christmas Day the special day to tell your family and loved ones that you are Pregnant!  Of course, we recommend you have one of our cute expecting ornaments personalized and gift wrapped for your mom to open and be surprised.  This gift is also cute for his parent’s as well.  If they are with you, or even if they are far away, opening this gift is a fabulous way at Christmas to tell your family you are expecting!

So the Christmas theme for a first-trimester pregnancy is, take it easy, take care of yourself and let others help with entertaining and meals, and tell everyone your secret surprise, a new baby will be joining the family next year.  Then sit back and enjoy all of the love and attention!

The Second Trimester may be the most enjoyable time of pregnancy.  For most women, the morning sickness tapers off to non-existent.  Many women have more energy and feel more themselves.  And, your baby is growing and you are starting to “show”.  This is a happy time of telling friends and co-workers you are expecting and enjoying the attention and conversations from other women who have gone through a pregnancy and birth and are ready to tell you all about it!  During this time you’ll feel the baby move – a very exciting event.

If Christmas comes during this second trimester it is likely you will be tempted to do all the things you’ve always done at Christmas time and depending on how you are feeling you will succeed!

– It’s still not a bad idea to not go overboard with planning, shopping, cooking, and entertaining.  Getting worn out just isn’t good for you and that’s not good for the baby.

– This is a good time to start preparing for the baby’s arrival.  Telling your boss about your pregnancy and planning for maternity leave.  Buying a crib and car safety seat.  and other things around the home.

– Buy something new to wear for Christmas Eve and Christmas Day.  Plan ahead – in 3-4 short weeks your waistline will be expanding and you’ll be having yummy food and want to be comfy.  Of course, I’m sure your doctor would encourage you to enjoy everything in moderation!  But a couple of new tops that are comfortable and a pretty color will do wonders for that feeling that you don’t really look hugely pregnant, just a little chubby.

– Decorate your Christmas tree, and think about how next Christmas there will be a baby and how much fun that will be.  Be sure to add a personalized Christmas ornament that celebrates the Christmas you are expecting a baby.  This ornament will be yours forever to remember this special time.  And don’t forget both sets of grandparents!  They’re Expecting too…. They’re expecting a darling Grandchild!

Christmas during your third trimester can really be a challenge.  Plan ahead is the phrase of the season! You are going to get tired and need to put your feet up after work!

– Do all of your shopping and wrapping way before Christmas.  Try to have it done by Thanksgiving.  Shop online, have things wrapped, have gifts mailed.

– Tell everyone what you need to complete your baby’s layette and all of the other things you might need – crib, high chair, rocking lounger, and the like.  Maybe you will be lucky enough to have a nice baby shower, but being prepared for a coming birth enables you to relax and enjoy the holidays.

– Let Mom do it!  or your Sister or Mother in Law!  This is a special time for them too and helping you and your husband stay rested and happy will give them pleasure.

– Get all the good books about parenting and baby and take the time to discuss how your family brought up the baby.  Christmas is a good time for family memories and hearing about how you were as a baby, and how your husband was, and how your parents took care of you those first weeks will be emotionally strengthening.  No matter how many books you read, and how many tales you hear, your baby’s first month or two will be a big surprise, so line up the support of your family and friends.

– Enjoy the holidays, let yourself be pampered.  Think about what kind of parents you will be and about what the future has in store for the Christmas celebrations ahead.  And don’t forget about www.calliopedesigns.com for your Baby’s First Christmas personalized ornament.

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15 Ideas for Great Personalized Ornament Gifts

There are so many ways people can be couples and we at Calliope Designs try to have a personalized Couples ornament for every single one of them!  Here are 15 ideas for fun-filled and reasonably priced gifts this holiday season.

Creative Gifts for Your Loved One

– Create a cute penguin couple holding a heart ornament for two people who have just fallen in love!  Inscribe with their names, the year, and “First Christmas Together” on the base.

– For a couple who has just moved in together one of our cute New Home designs with two snowmen in the front with the personalization sentiment “First Christmas in Our First Home Together”

– For a couple with a proposal coming…. a small gift on Christmas morning would be quite appropriate with “Will You Marry Me?” beautifully inscribed by hand on the base.

-For an Engagement gift for a couple who is engaged at Christmas time a cute Christmas tree ornament with two little snow people beside it with the word “Engaged” on the base.

-For a Couple of Irish descent who loves all things Irish and is proud of their lineage, we have a fun Snow couple Christmas ornament holding a broom dressed in green with a shamrock saying “Our Irish Christmas”

-For a couple’s First Christmas married we have a Christmas ornament of a Bride and Groom dancing on their wedding day inscribed with their names and “Our First Christmas”

– For a couple on their honeymoon in a wonderful tropical location, such as Maui!  Give a personalized ornament of a  darling penguin couple on a palm tree-studded tropical island that says “Just Mauied”.

– Find ornaments for honeymooning couples who have gone to New York City, New Orleans, San Francisco, and more.

-Make a personalized ornament gift for Grandma and Grandpa, perhaps a cute fireplace with a little mouse beside it, with their names on the stockings and “Christmas Together” on the base.

– And then there are the Anniversaries!  Whether it’s the 5th, the 25th or the 50th, or something in between, each year wed deserves a special celebration and memento.  Gift a gift that will last through the years, just like this couple’s marriage.  Here we have a cute Santa and Mrs. Claus holding a heart ornament.

-Find a personalized gift for a gay or lesbian couple – whether it is a couple riding a motorcycle, or a couple celebrating Christmas in their new home, we have many styles that are sure to make a wonderful personalized gift this Christmas time.

-This couple has two pets, and you can Design Your Own personalized ornament gift for a couple with up to five pets.  We have 19 dog types and 6 cat types to choose from, and you can put a name on each and everyone that we make to order for a couple with pets.

-When a couple is pregnant and expecting their first baby they will always remember the Christmas they were pregnant and waiting with great anticipation, so we have a wonderful and popular Snow Couple Expecting A Baby personalized ornament.

-For the couple who is expecting twin babies and pregnant at Christmas, we can personalize it to order.

-For Grandma and Grandpa a Design Your Own ornament style of a darling house with them looking out the windows above their two pets.  Something for every couple this Christmas.

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Keeping the Holidays Meaningful for Your Children

child with gifts

Get Your Children Hooked on the Holiday Spirit!

In this generation of kids growing up, I like to call them Generation ME, it’s so very hard to keep things meaningful. As parents we want our kids to be happy and love to see their faces when they open a new gift or surprise, but how do we keep them from EXPECTING a gift every time they bat an eye?
I have been guilty on occasion to go a little overboard at Christmas time, I love seeing all the gifts under the tree and I love the Christmas morning reaction. I have found myself improving over the years and trying to focus more on the meaning of the holidays.
We now volunteer every Christmas to wrap and deliver gifts with our local toy drive, we bring and collect food for our local food bank and I try to explain to my children that even though we are blessed to be able to have the things we do, it is not a guarantee, and we are never above anyone else.

Our family motto is “Do unto others as you expect they should do unto you.” We truly try our best to live by that. The holidays are not about the gifts we receive but the gifts we give, and the most important of those gifts are not physical items!

Julie Howard, from Quebec, Canada

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Gifts for a Child’s Special Occasions in Life

Our original Calliope Designs personalized ornaments are more than Christmas tree decorations.  They’re amazing gifts that are made to order just for each customer.  Every name, date, and message is hand inscribed by one of our artists.  Sometimes details such as family pets are added to the ornament.  Where else can you get something that’s handmade, hand personalized, promptly delivered through the mail, for as little as $9.99 plus postage?

So you have a rather long Christmas gift list.  Here are some ways you can use Calliope Designs Christmas ornaments for gifts to celebrate life’s special moments.  We’ll begin with fun things that happen to babies and young children.

Childhood Event Calliope Custom Ornament List:

All About Baby – celebrating the birth of a child with a personalized ornament that tells all the birth stats:  length, weight, time of birth, date of birth, full name

– Baptism or Christening – a cute baby ornament with his or her name and the date of the religious ceremony

– Baby’s First Steps – a cute design showing a little one “toddling” across the room

– Baby’s Christmas with Grandparents – always a fun gift to give to Grandma and Grandpa

– Baby and Parents together as Proud Parents celebrating their First Christmas Together

– Baby’s Second Christmas – Now the fun of the Christmas holiday is really starting!

– Baby’s Potty Training – yes, this IS a special event.  Just ask any parent you know!

– Baby’s Third Christmas – time for that special photo of baby on Santa’s lap

– Child’s First Day of School – a special occasion for the child, a tearful occasion for Mommy

– Child’s First Lost Tooth – and the fun of waiting for the Tooth Fairy

– Child’s learning to Ride a Bike – especially a two-wheeler, but a trike is an accomplishment too

– Child’s learning to Count – we parents are so proud

– Child’s learning to Read – what an amazing process

– Child’s first experience with team sports – Tee Ball and Soccer are among the favorites for small children

– Child’s first airplane ride!  First tractor ride!  First train ride!

– Child’s trip to Grandparents home for Christmas

– Child’s confirmation classes and first holy communion.

– Child’s experiences the birth of a baby brother or sister

– Child gets a puppy or kitten – or a bunny or a bird.  i.e. a pet!

– Child joins girl scouts or boy scouts

We have ornaments especially designed for many of these occasions.  You can see the links back to the products in the underlined colored words.  And it’s easy to make your own decision about an ornament, for instance, you can put First Holy Communion in a heart on an angel ornament, or put Going to Grandma’s for Christmas on a house ornament.  Feel free to use your imagination to create a gift that is meaningful for this particular year.  This is the way to begin and continue with a tradition of purchasing a special ornament each Christmas for your child, a friend’s child, or your grandchild.  It’s a beautiful tradition, and the child will grow up with the memories of receiving an ornament from you each year, and that that ornament collection to his or her own home as adults – to share with their children.

Calliope Designs has been providing personalized Christmas ornaments to families for 43 years now, and we have the delightful experience of hearing from many adult customers who received our ornaments as children, and who are now carrying on the collection for their new families and children,  and yes, even pets!

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Personalized Family Ornaments from Calliope Designs

Wreath for Family of Eight Personalized Christmas Ornament

One of our favorite ornament expressions has always been “The Heart of a Home is Love” which we think is the essence of family life.  And while there are other times of year when the family is called together to celebrate,  the Christmas holidays seem to be the strongest, when you really appreciate the family you have, the generations together, and enjoy the love you have for each other.  This feeling is one reason we have been pleased with our life’s occupation, the designing, making, and selling of personalized Christmas ornaments for the family.

Custom Design Family Ornaments

At the beginning of our years making personalized ornaments, we created designs that were perfect for individuals.  We had Santa doing lots of things, a teddy bear with a wreath, a stocking full of dolls, a bag of toys ornament.  We had a single snowman, a single penguin, a house, a fireplace, a Christmas tree, and an Angel.  The handcrafted ornaments were so new, and dough ornaments so novel, that people were excited to buy one ornament for each member of the family. Some of those designs are still on our product list but of course, now we make them of polymer clay instead of dough, and they look a little different.   Over the years our selection of new designs became more and more family ornament oriented, giving the opportunity to purchase one ornament that had everyone’s name on it plus a saying and the year.

Our Personalized Family Ornaments is a big grouping of products on the website www.calliopedesigns.com.  We have had the enjoyment of creating so many unique and original designs revolving around family life and the different number of members of the family.  Our ornament products cover families of all sizes from 1 to 17!  So there are plenty of opportunities to find many products to collect over the years that suit your family or that suit another family you exchange gifts with.

We have divided the Family Ornaments category up into different sections to make shopping easier for our customers and we really have something for families of all shapes and sizes.   We have Family ornaments by size such as Families of 2, Families of 3, Families of 4 and up and up!  We have Single Parent Families of 2, 3, 4 to be personalized and dated for each year.  We have Large Families or Groups personalized ornaments too, and these are often used as office gifts or club gifts when there are lots of people involved.  Of course, Grandparents Family ornaments also fit into this category, as do ornaments for Siblings.

One of our favorite choices of ornaments right now is Families of different sizes including their pets on the ornament.  We call these ornaments Design Your Own Family with Pets because you actually do Design it Yourself!  No two ornaments ever are the same, so your product is absolutely 100% unique and the only one in the world! For this special category, we have 19 different dog breeds and 5 different cat types to select from to make the personalized family ornament just like your family or your friend’s family. This family with pets category comes with the background of Christmas tree, a white house, fireplace with stockings, a wreath, and now a cute little red engine.  Each little pet can be personalized with the dog’s or cat’s name, making it a perfect way to show your family at any given Christmas year.

Whichever category selection is right for you this year, when you choose a CalliopeDesigns.com ornament we want you to know it was designed to look great with names and the special saying hand-lettered upon it.  We trust this ornament will elicit memories of Christmas together with your family for many years to come.  Ornaments can be selected to celebrate special family occasions such as the addition of a new family member when someone gets married!  When someone is pregnant, an expecting a baby personalized ornaments is perfect!  Another style will welcome a new baby to the family.  This is why it’s so important to put the year on every personalized ornament you select, especially in the larger families.  Children are particular about their position in the family and will always search for the ornament where there name was added upon their birth!

Christmas ornaments for the family can mark the moving to a new home with one of our special New Home and Family ornaments.  We encourage customers to add the city or new address of each home ornament they purchase.  And as life goes on for the family, there will be family ornaments that mark the departure of a family member with an In Memory Of ornament.  All members of the family will agree that this is a wonderful way to keep a sweet and happy memory of Christmas in the past with the family member who has passed away. Customers have written to us telling us how much they enjoy talking about the missing family members at Christmas, especially with the young children that are new to the family.

The family selection comes in many different styles of ornaments.  We offer several different styles of adorable bear families of 1-4 children.  Penguin families that have 1-6 little baby penguins that are oh so cute!  Snowman families again up to seven children are our most popular,  probably because they show up so brightly on the dark green Christmas tree. We’ve recently added a Gingerbread family series, and then of course, our families with dogs and cats.  There is truly something for everyone and we encourage you to visit our selection to see if there is something that suits your fancy for this Christmas season.

If you are looking for a gift for the office and a large group of people, we have put these ornaments in the category called Large Families or Groups, and these ornaments are quite nice for a secret Santa gift at work, or for a retirement gift.

Our talented staff of artists will do a beautiful job personalizing your ornaments to order for your family celebration, for free of course.  Add to your collection of Calliope Designs ornaments each year and enjoy decorating your Christmas tree with the family and reminiscing about the Christmas holidays of the past and dream about the celebrations in the future.

 

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Large Family Ornaments all Made to Order

Family Tree of 15 Personalized Christmas Ornament

Thinking of something for a gift for a large group? Perhaps at work? or a large family gathering?

Gifting Ornaments to Your Large Family

Over the years of making and selling our ornaments, we’ve found a real need for a single product that can serve this need and three years ago we came up with the family tree concept. We make these to order, each and every one. The Christmas trees can come with up to 17 heads on them, and of course, each head can have a name printed carefully on the tiny hatband of the little person. One of our favorite gifts this year was from the coach of a girl’s softball team. He had 14 identical trees made up with 11 characters each on the tree. And each was given to a member of the softball team to celebrate a year well done, and this year to come!

This year we display the new family wreath. Right now it is covered with little heads, but our plans are to bring out some items with the pets added as well. Never want to forget those favorite furry friends! The wreath for the smaller families comes with a banner at the base, for a family greeting, the family name, or a holiday greeting. We suggest putting the year in the center of the wreath. It’s pretty dramatic when all personalized to order.

Another great gift idea was from a customer who purchased for her law firm Christmas party. Each wreath had the partners on the top and the law office staff all around. It really turned out nice. We put the name of the firm, and the year, in the center of the design. It’s something they’ll all enjoy for years to come.

We get some of our best ideas from our customers.

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Toddlers Can Help with Christmas Decorations Too!

father and son doing holiday crafts together

Get Your Whole Family Involved in Decorating this Holiday Season

By now you probably know I have a Grandson, Jasper! He’s 18 months old at the end of September 2012, so by Christmas time, he’ll be 21 months and a full-scale toddler. Right now he’s busy with his cars, his blocks, his fridge letters, and his books. I don’t think he can use scissors yet, but he “colors”. With a Grandfather that is an artist, and a Father who is an artist, and a Mother who loves the arts of all kinds, you can be sure there are plenty of hours each week devoted to artistic endeavors. The following internet article was written by Stephanie Brown and published in About.com. I enjoyed reading it and I hope you will too.

When it’s time for the family to get together and make Christmas ornaments and decorations or trim the tree, don’t forget about your toddler. These Christmas activities for toddlers can teach your child concepts about Christmas and help your child feel helpful and included in traditional holiday events.

1. Paint with Christmas Cookie Cutters

Like using stencils or sponge painting, a cookie cutter can help your toddler create something he recognizes when he doesn’t know how to draw the object. It’s also a good starting point for the toddler is reluctant to participate because he doesn’t want to get messy or doesn’t like the way tactile activities like finger painting feel. You can also use this activity to get ready for making ornaments with cookie cutters.

Tips:
•For a young toddler, put the paint and cutters inside a newspaper-lined pan. This will keep him from making too big a mess as he scoots the cutters around while loading them with paint.
•Older toddlers with a bit more practice can just use a paper plate. Both clean up easy.
•All ages should wear a smock or old T-shirt.

Homemade Paint Recipes
Painting is always a fun activity for toddlers. Early on, they learn about texture by using their hands, and later on they can master fine motor control when you introduce a brush. If you find you don’t always have paint on hand, here are a few recipes, many made with items you probably already have on hand.
Soap Paint

What you need:
Warm water
3 cups Ivory Snow detergent or soap flakes
Food coloring

What to do:
Add water, a little at a time, to detergent flakes.
Mix to consistency of heavy cream.
Color with small amount of food coloring.

Another Soap Paint

What you need:
1 cup soap flakes
1/3 cup liquid starch
1/4 cup water

What to do:
Whisk all ingredients together for 3 minutes.

Puffy Paint

What you need:
Flour
Salt
Water
Food coloring

What to do:
Mix equal amounts of flour, salt and water.
Add food coloring for color.
Pour mixture into squeeze bottles and paint.
Mixture will harden in a puffy shape.

Salt Paint

What you need:
1/8 cup liquid starch
1/8 cup water
Food coloring

What to do:
Mix together and apply to paper with a brush.
Keep stirring mixture. Paint will crystallize as it dries.

Powdered Milk Paint

What you need:
1/2 cup powdered milk
1/2 cup water
powdered tempera

What to do:
Mix all ingredients together.
Store sealed in the refrigerator.

2. Paint Holly Leaves with a Potato

If you don’t have cookie cutters to go with every season (and who does?) then use what you have around the house. You can easily cut shapes into a potato leaving behind a surface that will hold paint and leave a uniquely patterned print behind. To make this activity toddler-friendly, you can stick a craft stick or a fork into the potato so it’s easy to handle. After you get the leaves printed, your toddler can dip his fingertip in red paint and add the berries. If you have large enough paper you can even make a wreath.

3. Make Cinnamon Applesauce Ornaments
Making these ornaments isn’t just fun, it’s a learning experience, too. Toddlers can practice following instructions and increase their motor skills as they help measure, pour, stir, roll and press out the ornaments with cookie cutters. Plus the smell of apples and cinnamon will stimulate your child’s sense of smell.
How to Make Cinnamon Applesauce Ornaments:

Cinnamon Applesauce Ornaments

You and your toddler will have a great time with this simple recipe for holiday ornaments. There is no cooking required, so it’s a safe activity as well. Friends and family will love to hang these on their trees this year, and the spicy smell is long-lasting. They also make a great addition to gift tags.

Difficulty: Easy

Time Required: indefinite

Here’s How:
1.The night before, drain the applesauce through cheesecloth and discard the fluid.
2.Cover your toddler (and yourself) with an apron or old shirt.
3.Prepare a surface to roll the dough onto. I like to use wax paper.
4.In a bowl, mix the applesauce and the cinnamon thoroughly and pat into a solidified ball.
5.Take about one cup of the mixture and place on the wax paper.
6.Place another piece of wax paper and place on top of the mixture and pat or roll until the ball is flattened and about 1/4″ to 1/2″ thick.
7.Cut the dough with cookie cutters. Use a straw to make a hole near the top so the ornament can hang.
8.Allow the ornament to dry. Depending on thickness, this may take 24-48 hours.
9.Thread a paperclip, ornament hook or curl ribbon through the hole.

Tips:
1.If you don’t have cheesecloth to drain the applesauce, you can use an old birdseye weave cloth diaper (flatfold) or other very thin fabric.
2.Be careful not to make the hole too close to the top or breakage may occur.
3.Ornament hooks can be purchased in bulk at your local hobby store.
4.Be sure to use sweetened applesauce. The sugar content helps hold the ornament together and prevent breakage.

What You Need
•One 16 ounce jar of sweetened applesauce
•8 ounces cinnamon
•Mixing Bowl
•Wax Paper
•Cheesecloth
•Curl ribbon, paperclips or ornament hooks
•Holiday cookie cutter(s)
•One drinking straw

4. Talk About Christmas in the Environment

Christmas is everywhere you look starting as far back as October, so take this opportunity to teach your child about the things you see. Since this time also marks the early winter in most areas, taking a walk around the neighborhood or to a park will likely yield plenty to talk about. Walk around churches to inspect the nativity scenes. Take a walk in the snow and build a snowman (top him off with a Santa hat.) Take a drive to look at all the Christmas lights. Pick a different thing to talk about during each shopping trip, focusing on the things that interest your child or that are a part of your own family’s celebration. This is also a great time to reinforce colors since there is such an abundance of green, red, silver and gold.

5. Play with Christmas Colored Playdough

Another reinforcing activity for Christmas colors can come by playing with red and green playdough. Make it with Kool-Aid or add a few drops of peppermint extract and stimulate your toddler’s sense of smell. Or make it without, add a drop or two of food coloring and let your child experience the mixing of color as he plays. Playdough is an activity that stimulates pure creativity and does so much to help your child master fine motor control.

Tip: Use the same Christmas cookie cutters you used for the painting activity to make festive holiday shapes out of the playdough.

Homemade Playdough Recipes by Stephanie Brown, about.com

These playdough recipes offer parents a way to help increase their toddler’s fine motor skills.

Homemade Playdough RecipeEasy Homemade Playdough Recipes Helpful Tips on making PlaydoughMomsFreeRecipes.Com

All of the playdough recipes below are for children aged 2 years or older and require adult supervision at all times.

Rubbery Playdough

2 cups baking soda
1 1/2 cups water
1 cup cornstarch

Mix with a fork until smooth. Boil over medium heat until thick. Spoon onto plate or wax paper.

Nature’s Playdough

1 cup flour
1/2 cup salt
1 cup water
2 tablespoons oil
2 tablespoons cream of tartar
beet, spinach, and carrot juice

Mix flour, salt and oil, and slowly add the water. Cook over medium heat, stirring until dough becomes stiff. Turn out onto wax paper and let cool. Knead the playdough with your hands until of proper consistency. Use as is, or divide into balls and add a few drops of the vegetable juices to make green, pink, and orange.

Playdough

4 cups flour
1/4 cup powdered tempera
1/4 cup salt
1 1/2 cups water
1 tablespoon oil

Mix together flour, powdered paint, and salt. Mix water and oil, and food coloring if desired. Gradually stir the water and oil mix into the flour mix. Knead the playdough as you add the liquid. Add more water if too stiff, more flour if sticky.

Alum Playdough

2 cups flour
1 cup salt
2 tablespoons alum
1 cup water
2 tablespoons oil
liquid food coloring

Pour dry ingredients into a large pan. Stir together to mix. Stir oil and food coloring into the water. Pour liquid into the dry ingredients while mixing, squeezing and kneading the playdough. If too sticky, add more flour. Keeps best in the fridge.

Just Like the Real Playdough (so they say)

1 cup flour
1 cup water
1 tablespoon oil
1 tablespoon powdered alum
1/2 cup salt
2 tablespoons vanilla
food coloring

Mix all dry ingredients. Add oil and water. Cook over medium heat, stirring constantly until reaching the consistency of mashed potatoes. Remove from heat and add vanilla and food coloring. Divide into balls and work in color by kneading the playdough.

Oatmeal Playdough

1 cup flour
2 cups oatmeal
1 cup water

Gradually add water to flour and oatmeal in a bowl. Knead until mixed (this playdough is sticky, but unique in texture.) Model as with clay.

Tip: Add cornmeal or coffee grounds in small quantity for texture.

Nutty Butter Playdough

1 cup peanut butter
1 cup powdered milk
1 cup honey
1 cup oatmeal

Mix together and play. Make sure this playdough is not used by infants under 12 months of age, who should not consume honey.

Kool-Aid Playdough

2 1/2 to 3 cups flour
2 cups boiling water with 1 package Kool-aid (any flavor)
3 tablespoons corn oil
1/2 cup salt
1 tablespoon alum

Mix ingredients and knead with flour (may take up to 1 extra cup). Use more if the dough draws moisture in high humidity. Keeps well, has a nice fragrance and is very colorful and very flexible. This recipe is super soft and makes great playdough hair.

6. Make Gingerbread Cookies and Houses

Making gingerbread cookies is one of my favorite holiday activities. We love to make the men and flat pieces for gingerbread houses, too. Like making cinnamon applesauce ornaments, this is an activity where toddlers can participate in stirring, mixing, measuring and using cookie cutters. If you’re not into baking or are short on time, try picking up a gingerbread house kit like this one from Wilton where all you have to do is start decorating (just watch out for items your toddler can choke on like gum drops.)

For years, I’ve been using this recipe to make gingerbread men because it’s low in fat and the cookies come out very soft. For houses, you’ll want one that crisps up like the gingerbread recipes here (house instructions included).

Try this Gingerbread Cookie Recipe that Makes Soft Gingerbread Men: Recipe by Fiona Hayes has 4.5 stars out of five stars in reviews!

Cut the fat, not the flavor. These gingerbread men use half the butter normally used in most gingerbread cookie recipes. Applesauce helps the cookies retain their moisture and gives them a soft texture.

Cook Time: 10 minutes

Total Time: 10 minutes

Ingredients:
•1/4 cup butter, softened
•3/4 cup firmly packed brown sugar
•1/2 cup unsweetened applesauce
•1 egg
•1/3 cup dark molasses
•3 cups all-purpose flour
•1 tsp baking soda
•2 tsp ground ginger
•1 tsp ground cinnamon
•1/2 tsp allspice
•1/4 tsp ground cloves

Preparation:

In a large mixing bowl, beat butter, sugar, and applesauce until smooth. Add egg and molasses and mix well. In another large bowl, combine flour, baking soda and spices. Add to sugar and molasses mixture, stirring well. Divide dough in two; cover with plastic wrap and chill for 2 hours.
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Roll out dough to 1/4 or 1/8-inch thickness. Cut gingerbread men with a cookie cutter. Add candies or raisins to decorate. Place 1-2 inches apart on a parchment-lined baking sheet. Bake 10-12 minutes. Add frosting or more decorations when cool. Makes 30 cookies.

Per serving: Calories 94, Calories from Fat 16, Fat 1.8g (sat 1g), Cholesterol 11mg, Sodium 48mg, Carbohydrate 18g, Fiber 0.4g, Protein 1.5g

7. Make Gingerbread Man Ornaments

Don’t put your gingerbread cookie cutter away just yet. Use it to trace and cut out a gingerbread man on cardboard that your child can decorate while you eat cookies fresh from the oven.

Some tips:

•Use a small dish of glue and a paint brush to brush the entire surface of the cardboard for decorating. This is good for young toddlers who can’t yet control the amount of glue they squeeze out of a bottle.
•Decorative items you use could be fabric scraps, little pom poms, buttons, red rickrack, googly eyes, puffy paint or just plain crayons, colored pencils and markers.
•If you use small items like buttons or googly eyes, make sure your toddler has constant supervision to prevent choking and hang it high on the tree when it’s finished.

8. Finger Paint with Christmas Colors

Using finger paints exposes your toddler to a unique sensory world involving sight, slippery touch and squishy sound as well. Add mint or vanilla extract and excite his sense of smell, too. Finger painting helps your toddler gain fine motor control: Each time his hand moves the way his brain directs or expects, he is closer to fully control a paint brush, crayon or pencil. Don’t be afraid to let your toddler mix different colors of paint together. This is part of the learning experience. Finger painting is mostly about the process of art rather than producing a finished product.

Tip: Line the table with newspaper or do this activity in a high chair for easy clean-up.

Finger Paint Recipes again by Stephanie Brown of about.com:

Homemade finger paint is a great way to introduce art and improve your toddler’s fine motor skills.
Photo © Stephanie Brown

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Finger painting is just one of the ways your toddler begins to gain fine motor control. Finger painting may seem like a mess now, but it is paving the way for more refined skills like holding a pencil, using buttons and zippers or tying shoes. If you find you don’t always have finger paint on hand, here are a few recipes made with items you probably already have in your pantry.
Finger Paint (Uncooked Version)

What you need:
1/2 cup liquid starch
1/2 cup soap powder
5/8 cup water

What to do:
Beat together until the consistency of whipped potatoes.

Finger Paint (Cooked Version)

What you need:
2 cups flour
4 cups cold water
Food coloring or dry tempera

What to do:
Mix flour and water and cook over low heat until thick.
Cool.
Add a pinch of salt.
Add dry tempera or food coloring, if desired.
Store in covered jar in refrigerator.

Kool-Aid Finger Paint

What you need:
2 cups flour
2 packs unsweetened Kool-Aid
1/2 cup salt
3 cups boiling water
3 tablespoons oil

What to do:
Mix wet ingredients into dry ingredients.

Jell-O Finger Paint

What you need:
Any kind of flavored Jell-O
Hot water

What to do:
Mix enough hot water (a little at a time) until the mix has the consistency of finger paint. Allow cooling before play.

Pudding Finger Paint

What you need:
Instant vanilla pudding
Food coloring

What to do:
Mix pudding according to directions.
Add food coloring for the desired color.

9. Make Contact Paper Ornaments

Contact paper is a clean and simple way for toddlers to make collages and these ornaments look great on the tree or as window decorations. Just lay a sheet of contact paper sticky side up on a table and provide your toddler with collage materials. I like to use paper scraps, confetti (make this at home with a hole puncher) or scraps of metallic ribbon. For a stained glass effect (if you’ll be hanging these in a window) use small scraps of tissue paper. When your toddler is done placing the pieces, cover the entire thing with another piece of contact paper, sticky side down. Then cut into shapes, punch a hole in each shape and use fabric or curl ribbon to hang where you’d like.

10. Hang Candy Canes
When it comes time to trim the tree, you probably don’t want your toddler involved in hanging lights or handling glass ornaments. Candy canes, however, are definitely something your toddler can keep busy with while being supervised by other decorators.

11. Make Garland out of Cereal Os

Stringing popcorn and cranberries is a job for older siblings and adults. Both are items your toddler can choke on if not watched the entire time and they require quite a lot of dexterity, not to mention a sharp needle! You can get your toddler busy alongside you by letting him string cereal. Use a sturdy, circular cereal like Fruit Loops or Cheerios. For younger toddlers, the stiffer the string is the better. Older toddlers can do this with yarn and a reinforced end. Do this by wrapping the end of the string with a bit of tape (enough to grasp between finger and thumb and push completely through the hole to be pinched and pulled through the other side) or wrap the end of the string around a pipe cleaner for easier threading.

12. Make Paper Chain Garland

Making paper chains is too complicated for toddlers to manage alone, but it’s definitely something that can be done with supervision. Also, remember that including your toddler in the steps of your own or an older child’s project can yield good results and a feeling of success and cooperation for all.

When making paper chains, your toddler can:
•Color the paper before it is cut
•Use rubber stamps to decorate the paper before it’s cut
•Help with cutting if he is an older toddler
•Hold the paper while you carefully staple it if you’re stapling the links together
•Apply glue with a brush or glue stick if you’re gluing the links together
•Help with counting the pieces of paper you need
•Sort different colors of paper (red and green, for example)

How to Make a Paper Chain Garland by Kate Pullen, about.com:

Rubber Stamped Paper Chain

Hand stamped paper chains can be made for any number of occasions. Birthdays, seasonal festivities, barbecues, weddings and all forms of parties can be decorated with some wonderful hand stamped paper chains that are totally unique. The paper and color schemes can be chosen specifically to match the occasion and stamped with images that complement other stamped objects such as cards and decorations.

Paper chains are made from strips of paper that are joined to form links. The paper can be stamped either before or after they have been cut.

This is a good project for beginners as the odd wobbly image will not show.

Difficulty: Easy

Time Required: Quick – depending on the length of chain

Here’s How:
1. Decide whether to stamp the paper first and then cut the strips or cut the strips before stamping. There are advantages to each technique

Stamping Before Cutting •Easier to stamp as the paper is bigger and less fiddly
•Any stamp can be used as it does not matter if the stamp is larger than the paper strip
•A random pattern can be achieved
•It is less obvious if a stamp is misplaced
Cutting Before Stamping •Perfect for the formal placement of stamps
•Strips can be stamped for a specific position within the chain, for instance, links that feature a certain design
Beginners may find it easier to stamp the paper first.
2.Stamp the paper before or after cutting as required. The stamps can be positioned in any way, however, remember that the finished images will be viewed either way up, therefore, a random stamping pattern might be best.
3.Cut the paper into strips. The strips of paper can be any size. Smaller strips will give a more delicate chain whereas larger strips will give a more bulky chain. The choice of size will largely be down to personal preference however a good size for a rubber stamped paper chain is 8-by-2 inches. A fairly large chain is required to show off your lovely stamping!
4.Form one strip of paper into a loop to form a link and fasten it using glue or another method as required. Take the next strip and place this through the first link, forming this into a loop and fasten. Repeat in this manner until the chain is the required length.

Tips:
1.If you are stamping before cutting, fasten the paper to the work surface to stop it curling.
2.A proportion of 4:1 is a useful ‘rule of thumb’ when planning the size of strips (for example a strip should be 4 times longer than wide).
3. Use a fast drying ink so that you can cut the strips immediately.
4. Try other fastening techniques such as using brads or stickers.
5.Mark out the strips in pencil on the rear of the paper before cutting or cut a card template to use to cut around.

What You Need
•Rubber stamps – the design and size will depend on the occasion
•Inks
•Paper – craft or postal paper is ideal
•Glue or other methods of joining the links
•Scissors
•Ruler

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Make an Advent Calendar with your Children

advent calendar to make with your child

I love Advent calendars but never had one for our children. Always too busy at Christmas time with our dough ornament business Calliope Designs.
Here’s another great post by Stephanie Brown of About.com about how to make your own advent calendar. Showing your toddler that not all things come from stores, that some of the best are made at home, is a great lesson in self-reliance!

Make an Advent Calendar with Your Children

There are several ways your toddler can participate in this activity: by making it, using it or both. Personally, I like the calendar to be something that I make first and the children use to count down to Christmas, but depending on the type of calendar you make, your toddler can lend a hand as well. This activity is a great way to start a family tradition, instill the values of your religious community and illustrate the passage of time.

Here are some ideas to get you started:

Easy Advent Calendars for Kids

Barbara Crews of about.com writes about the history of advent calendars:
Some form of the Advent Calendar has been used for more than 150 years and becomes increasingly popular every year. From traditional calendar to calendars that feature popular collectibles and themes, there is a calendar for everyone.
The origin of the calendar, like so many of our Christmas traditions, started in Germany in the 19th century. Different methods of counting down the days to the celebration of Christmas were used.

Drawing a chalk line to mark off the days, later lighting a candle every night or putting up small religious pictures marked each day until Christmas. The first printed calendar was produced by Gerhard Lang in Germany. When he was a child, his mother attached little candies to a piece of cardboard and each day Gerhard would take one off. His first (printed) calendar consisted of miniature colored pictures that would be attached to a piece of cardboard each day in December. Later Advent calendars were made with little doors to open on each day. The child might find a small piece of candy, a Christmas picture, a religious picture or a bible verse.

The German calendars were sold until World War II, at which time production was stopped due to the war shortages. After the war, the production of calendars resumed in 1946 by Richard Selmer. Selmer credits President Eisenhower with helping the tradition grow in the United States during his term of office. A newspaper article at the time showed the Eisenhower grandchildren with The Little Town Advent calendar. His company still produces calendars today and can be ordered online. Check out the online museum to see some of their early designs.

The first Advent calendars were based on 24 days with Christmas Eve as the last night to either put up a picture or take a candy. Today, the traditional German calendars still show 24 days, but in the United States, it’s not uncommon to also find ones with 25 days — the last opening to occur on Christmas Day.

Advent Calendars can be found everywhere Christmas is celebrated and have been made with many different themes. There are permanent ones with little drawers that are opened every day, felt pieces to decorate a tree, religious icons behind the different doors and lots of pop-culture/character Advent calendars. The traditional ones are still a paper/cardboard piece with a small treasure behind the doors. The treasures can range from a beautiful miniature religious picture, perhaps a little wooden toy or even a piece of candy (sure to cause problems when there is more than one child in the household).

In our family, we have a tradition that dates back to 1969, when I found a wooden tree Advent Calendar. There are painted wooden ornaments and each day another ornament is chosen to be added to the tree. On Christmas day, the star tree topper is finally added. The tree has grown a little shabby and the ornaments are getting tattered, but it’s still a tradition looked forward to every December.

It’s not too late to start a tradition like this for your family, one that will become a real treasure in the years to come.

Jennifer Wolf of Single Parents Guide suggests some Easy Advent Calendars for Kids:

Advent calendars are a fun way to help your kids count down the days until Christmas or any other holiday or special event. Traditionally, Advent begins on the fourth Sunday before Christmas, so in 2011, Advent begins on Sunday, November 27; but you can also start your countdown on December 1 or any time before the holiday begins. All of the simple Advent calendars shown here can be made from scratch using items you already have sitting around the house.

Hershey Kisses Advent Calendar

Help your kids count down the days until Christmas with this yummy homemade Advent calendar. Simply fold Hershey kisses (or any other festive chocolates) into plastic Saran wrap. Then tie each treat off with a piece of ribbon. You can even put notes inside each section so that the Advent calendar includes 25 reasons why you love your kids or 25 reasons why you’re proud of them. In this way, the calendar serves two purposes – counting down to Christmas Day, and reinforcing to your kids how much you love and care about them!

Good Deed Advent Jar

Fill a simple Mason Jar with good deeds you can do together between now and Christmas. Make sure to tailor the jobs to your kids’ ages, and make a different jar for each child. Alternatively, fill a jar with good deeds you can to together for the community.

Paper Chain Advent Calendar

This is another easy Advent calendar for children. Simply make a paper chain out of 25 strips of red or green construction paper. (Or consider using strips of old wrapping paper!)

Inside each link, you could even write a verse that tells part of the Christmas story. Or, to encourage your children to think beyond themselves, consider writing an idea inside each link for a mini-service project. For example, one day’s project might be making a Christmas card for someone in a nursing home. Another day’s project might be clearing off the snow from your neighbor’s car.

Be creative and see what ideas you come up with for supplementing this simple children’s Advent calendar

Santa’s Beard Advent Calendar

When I was a kid, we used to make these using paper plates to support Santa’s beard. But now you can simply print out a picture of Santa and have your kids glue one cotton ball onto the image for each day in December. When Santa’s beard is full, Christmas will be upon us!

•Advent Calendar – Countdown to Christmas
Sherri Osborne of Family Crafts Guide has some Easy Crafts Advent Calendars for Kids:
These instructions will teach you how to make an advent calendar or two. Choose from a large selection of patterns! You can make fabric advent calendars, paper advent calendars, and so many others using these free craft projects.
Waiting for Christmas Day to arrive can be tough. The anticipation of Santa’s visit, family gatherings, and special gifts can make each day seem like an eternity, especially for kids.

Something we have always used to help make the wait for Christmas a bit easier to handle is an advent calendar. The word advent originated from a Latin word meaning ‘arrival’. With an advent calendar, you countdown each day until Christmas in a special way. You usually start the countdown on December 1st, but you can design your advent calendar to start on any day you like.

Here are some advent calendars you can make to help you with the countdown to that special day.

• Advent Candy Tree and Poem
Follow these instructions and you can make a special advent craft along with a poem that goes along with it.

• Advent Collage Craft
Made with printable templates and magazine pictures, this advent craft is simple enough for the youngest crafter.

• Advent Handprint Wreath
This fun advent wreath is made with paper handprints.

• Good Deed Advent Jar
Decorate a plain jar and fill it with good deads. Pull out one good dead (or more) to do every day before Christmas.

• Advent Christmas Tree
Print out a Christmas tree template and Christmas tree ornaments and use them to count down the days until Christmas.

• Days until Christmas Activity Calendar
This calendar will not only help you count down the days until Christmas but also gives you fun activity options for every day.

• Felt Advent Christmas Tree
These instructions include a printable pattern for a Christmas tree.

• Advent Santa Beard
Create an advent calendar that looks like Santa and his beard is made of advent rings.

• Advent TP Christmas Tree
Recycle toilet tissue rolls into a fun Christmas tree decoration that doubles as an advent calendar.

I hope you enjoy all of these advent calendar crafts and activities. If you make any of these crafts, make sure you send in a photo. You can also get your crafts published. If you want to be one of the first to know when new craft projects are posted, take a few moments to sign up for the Family Crafts Newsletter and you can also chat about Christmas with others in the Family Crafts Forum.