It doesn't get much better for a Grandma then getting to spend a delightful weekend with one's grandchild - especially when working on a craft project together.
I know that I've mentioned many times before that when I was a young girl around the holidays my Mom and Dad would encourage us to create something new. Sometimes they helped us with the holiday projects and sometimes they didn't.
So, in talking to my grandson, Noodles, about what we would do when he came over one weekend in November we decided that making something together would be fun. We decided to make a Christmas present that he could give to his grandmother, Mimi.
His original idea was a plaque with the words Grandmother on it. We decided that when he got here we would go down to Michaels or AC Moore and buy the supplies we would need to make the Christmas plaque.
Usually it's Noodles and Nana shopping together, but this time Grampy decided to join us as we had decided to go out to eat afterwards.
So, off we went to Michaels. While Grampy was looking at picture frames Noodles and I went to the unfinished wood area. We looked at the unfinished wood plaques, but he wasn't really happy with them or their size. In looking around he first spotted an unfinished miniature train and thought maybe we could add a snowman or something.
Then he spotted an unfinished log cabin and came up with an idea for some sort of a winter scene. We talked about that and decided we could use the ends of the logs for affixing decorations and maybe add a tree or a Santa. I thought the woodland scene would be nice, so off we went to the paint aisle.
Given that it was a log cabin he decided that we should probably paint it brown. So, we bought a medium shade brown paint. Then off to the Christmas decorations section we went.
The first item he found in the miniature house section was a miniature tree under glass. He thought that would make a great addition but we didn't have a base for the house that it could sit on. So, we decided that we should add an unfinished piece of wood that we could use for a base. However, I thought the tree under glass, while pretty, was a little too big for our scene. So we settled on four miniature trees.
Then he found the miniature lights and thought they would be perfect for our scene. I agreed so we added those to our cart.
We continued walking around the Christmas section finding colorful stickers we could add for decorations and small hanging type ornaments. We found a few items we thought we might use for making some sort of a garland and he found some Christmas ribbons that he liked. Eventually we were joined by Grampy who added a few sticker suggestions of his own.
While we were looking at the bright and cheery Christmas decorations Noodles decided that painting the log cabin white would really make the Christmas decorations stand out. So, we decided to exchange the brown paint for white paint.
While Grampy went to stand in the long cash register line Noodles and I went back to get the white paint and to get an unfinished base. We settled on an oval base.
It was really cold and windy when we put the supplies in the car. It actually looked like it wanted to snow which just added more charm to what was already a delightful shopping trip.
After the supplies were loaded in the car off to dinner we went. At dinner Noodles and I had decided that we would take step-by-step pictures as we went along so I made a mental note to remember to get my camera.
I had decided that it might be best to paint the unfinished base and log cabin downstairs in the basement so off to the basement we went. After spreading the plastic underneath, getting the brushes, and getting the containers for the paint I set to painting the base while Noodles painted the log cabin. We ended up putting two coats of white paint on each and a light coat of satin finish acrylic.
Just as we finished the satin finish Noodles remembered we hadn't taken a picture. Ooops..... Nana's bad! So, I made a mental note that I wouldn't forget the camera in the morning which is when we had decided we would decorate the house.
Before we went to bed we glued the bottom of the log cabin to the wood base.
The next morning I woke Noodles up at 6:30 A.M. to start our project. We had agreed ahead of time that we would get an early start so we could finish before he had to go home. He happily got out of bed at 6:30 A.M. and came downstairs ready to begin.
So we did.......
Before we began decorating the house Noodles reminded me to take pictures.
Here's what the log cabin and base looked like painted and glued together.
Next, we tested the lights. At first only three came on. Then when we straightened out the string of lights they all came on. Noodles was delighted. However, when we wrapped the lights around the top of the house they, of course, stopped working. We were back to just three lights. We tried this several times until Nana just gave up. Oh, well. It was a nice idea.
Next we glued on the miniature trees - two on each side.
We had bought a foam Santa kit and thought the Santa might be cute coming out of the chimney. So we glued him together and then glued the finished Santa to the top of the chimney.
Next we glued the foam snowman together and then glued him to the right hand side of the log cabin just behind the trees.
We had bought three miniature unfinished wood dolls that we thought we could put in the windows, but when I tried to see how they would look I quickly realized there was no way we were going to be able to glue them inside. The doorway and windows were just too small.
So, we decided to glue paper wooden soldiers that we had bought in front of the windows instead. Plus, Noodles wanted the mistletoe over the door so we glued it just above.
We had bought a bunch of miniature presents, gingerbread men, and stocking stickers that we wanted to affix to the ends of the logs so we did that next.
We wanted to make sure all four sides were decorated so we added stickers to the top of each of the sides and to the back of the log cabin. We had also bought red and gold alphabet stickers so we decided to add the words, "North Pole" to the top of the back of the roof.
As we had an extra miniature soldier sticker we had decided to glue him in the middle of the back of the log cabin.
After that Noodles had found a blue and white adhesive backed "Let It Snow" felt saying that he wanted to put on the front roof so we glued that next.
We glued ribbons around the chimney and glued a Christmas bead sticker and snowflakes to the back roof.
Then we took the ribbons and Noodles suggested that we twist them around each other like they do every year with the garland for their tree so we twisted and knotted the two skinny ribbons together to form garland which we then glued and strung around the log cabin under the roof.
Next we glued some poly-fil to the roof, on Santa's hat, and around the base of the house to create the effect of snow.
Following that we glued white, green and red glitter pompoms on top of the poly-fil snow and around the log cabin.
Here's the results of all four sides:
The left side.
The back.
The right side.
And, finally, the front.
Both Noodles and I were really pleased with our creation. It was bright, cheery, and definitely a wonderful Christmas decoration. I thought our creation looked like a white North Pole gingerbread house and Noodles quickly agreed. We both felt that his Grandmother would LOVE it.
He decided that instead of giving it to Mimi at Christmas that he would give it to her early so she could enjoy it during the holiday season. I thought that was an excellent idea.
Noodles and I had such a good time with our craft project that we decided we'd do something next year.
What and who it's for is a surprise.
For now that will be Noodles and Nana's secret.
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