7 Days of Christmas: Day 4 - Santa Sack (& FREE Printout!)

What does Santa do with the presents he brings your children? In some households, like Daddy's when he was a kid, Santa didn't bother to wrap presents. I guess I can understand that. The big guy's pretty busy. Mine were always wrapped, usually in a different color, unless it was something awkward to wrap like a bike.

Well, another option is the Santa Sack! It's a special bag from the North Pole that Santa puts your child's presents in. I was browsing Pinterest a few weeks ago, when I can across the inspiration to create my own Santa Sack (check it out here).

It saves you the trouble of wrapping Santa's presents, if you do. Otherwise, it will add a magical touch to your child's Christmas morning.

The Santa Sack!

For this project, you'll need:

• White T-Shirt Transfers
• White Pillowcase (1 per child)
• Iron

Directions

1. Click here to print out the FREE Santa Sack printout! The text is mirrored in the printouts, but it will appear normal once you iron them on to the pillowcase. Be sure to print them on your transfers. You'll need 2 transfers for each Santa Sack you're making.
2. Try to center the printouts onto the wrinkle-free pillowcase, image side down. Be sure to place the bottom transfer about 3 inches above the bottom of the pillowcase.
   
3. Follow the directions that came with your White T-Shirt Transfers for transferring the images onto the pillowcase. 
   
4. Gently peel off the transfer backing, holding down the transfer and the pillowcase, to reveal the finished product!
   
5. Wait at least 24 hours before using the Santa Sack. Fill it with presents from Santa on Christmas Eve, and tie it with a ribbon!

The final product is now ready for Santa to deliver!

We used a king size pillowcase, but a standard will work just as well. We wanted to be sure there would be enough room, in case Santa brought something large.   

7 Days of Christmas: Day 3 - Homemade Christmas Ornaments

Christmas is one of my favorite holidays!I try to teach my son that Christmas is not all about getting presents. Each year we even pick out a toy to donate to Toys For Tots! Since Christmas isn't all about receiving, we also like to make DIY presents to give away. Two years ago those DIY gifts included ornaments that we made ourselves!

These were fun to make, and even more fun to give away!

You only need 3 ingredients for these ornaments: baking soda, cornstarch, and water! I found the original inspiration for this project on Pinterest (what a surprise). Check it out here!

DIY Ornaments

Baking Soda Ornaments:

Ingredients:

• 1 box of baking soda
• 1 cup of cornstarch
• 1 1/2 cups of water

What You'll Need:

• Sauce Pan
• Bowl
• Spoon
• Plastic Wrap
• Cookie Cutters

Instructions:

1. Mix all the ingredients in a saucepan and cook them over medium heat, stirring consistently, until it is too thick to stir with a spoon. 
2. Cool for 15 minutes, or until the dough is cool to the touch. Knead it for about 5 minutes, or until smooth. Wrap dough in plastic wrap when not in use.
3. Roll dough out to desired thickness (however thick you'd like your ornament to be), and use cookie cutters to cut dough into shapes. Don't forget the holes for string or hooks!
4. Lay the ornaments flat to dry. This may take a few days (depending on how thick they are), so put them out of the way. The sunnier a spot it is, the better. Flip them over every day while they're drying to avoid raised edges.

You can paint them once they dry!

Recycled Puzzle Ornaments:

This actually an original idea, y'all! I love this DIY ornament idea because it involves upcycling, or using something that I otherwise would've thrown away. I found an old Power Rangers puzzle (ORIGINAL Power Rangers for those of you old enough to remember!) in Daddy's old mementos, but upon further inspection I realized some of the pieces were missing. I know, it's not that surprising considering it's a 20 year old puzzle. It meant too much to Daddy to just throw away, so I decided to try something out. These ones were for our personal use, and not given away.

I was actually inspired for this ornament by how a puzzle was packaged in Wal-Mart! They had puzzles on sale for Christmas, and they had an adorable little puzzle piece ornament attached to the outside of the box! I thought to myself, "I can do that!"

Of course their puzzle ornaments were only one piece, but mine didn't work out that way. There was no single piece with a picture on it that made any sense. I guess that's why you have to put the puzzle together...

I'm still super happy with mine though! I used Mod Podge (puzzle saving glue) to paint the peices and hold them together. I brushed both sides with Mod Podge, but make sure to let it dry before flipping it over. Otherwise you'll end up with newspaper stuck to your ornament, or Mod Podge stuck to your surface.

7 Days of Christmas: Day 2 - FREE Letter from Santa & Santa's Footprints!

Another tradition in our household for the last two years at Christmas is that Santa sends our son a personal letter! The first year my mom actually paid for one to be mailed here from some online service. However, we were lucky enough to find a free one that AAA offers last year!

AAA is not endorsing me for this post in any way. I only wanted to share this awesome Letter from Santa with you guys. It's completely free, and you don't even have to be a member!

My son loves getting these personalized letters! Click here to get yours!

Screenshot from AAA.com.
To create your own custom letter for your child, click here!

You can "mail" it to your child (there is an option to print out an additional postmark to glue/tape onto an envelope), or you can make it even more special by having Santa personally deliver the note!

Imagine Santa's footprints leading up to the letter he left for your child!

I found the inspiration for Santa's footprints on Pinterest originally (Click here to see it!), but I tweaked it just a little bit. Rather than trace a boot, cut it out, and use it as a stencil, I just dipped Daddy's work shoe in a shoe box filled with a small amount of flour (yes, Santa has two right feet) and made magical footprints on the floor! They're magical because the snow doesn't melt, but they could look even more magical if you mixed in glitter!

You could also just do this on Christmas Eve for the morning.
Ours led in from the balcony. 

Pin It To Win It!

In order to celebrate my awesome readers (you guys!), I decided to have a Pinterest contest! Since I'm just getting started, and this prize is coming out of my own pocket, the prize is a $5 Wal-Mart eGift card - but an extra $5 never hurt!

I am not being sponsored or paid in anyway by Wal-Mart. This prize is coming out of my own pocket.

This contest is open to anybody with a Pinterest account and an email address! All you have to do to participate is follow Happy Modern Hippy on Pinterest, and comment on this Pin by answering the question “What is the first commercial beauty product (shampoo, makeup, hair dye, etc.) you’ll give up, or have already given up?” After that, all you have to do is share the pin! Complete all of this by January 31, 2015 and you'll be entered for a chance to win! The winner will be chosen at random by February 5, and the Wal-Mart eGift Card will be emailed by February 10, 2015.