Handmade Wooden Block Puzzle: Adorable Animals

Here is part of the baby shower gift I made for my little peanut. I think it's my favorite because my hubs helped me make it!

Simple but not easy. All it took was drawing out the animal pictures and wood burning them. I drew and Michael did the wood burning. I finished it off with beeswax polish and voila! A beautiful, natural, handmade baby gift that will actually get used!

I thought about using 6 blocks, but even my clever four year old has trouble with 6 blocks, so I just kept it simple at 4.

Glittery Christmas Reindeer (or "how to make a huge mess when you're already obscenely busy")

I had the Dayhome Christmas party on the last day that the kids were here. Usually we do a few activities, or a craft and I give them each a gift. This year I thought it would be a great idea to combine the party craft with the craft we make for parents. Oops. At least it turned out cute!

You'll need:
Spray adhesive (We used Elmers, but next time I'd try something else)
Glitter (Martha Stewart glitter worked best for us)
Something to Glam Out. Thrift stores often have ceramic deer figures, or you can use plastic animals, or anything your heart desires.
A lot of newspaper

I found these sweet little acrylic reindeer at Superstore (on clearance!) and thought they'd be perfect.

Spray the whole object with the spray adhesive, one object at a time. The glue becomes less tacky if you wait.

Shake glitter all over the place. We ended up taking handfuls of sparkles and rubbing them right on as well, there were a lot of grooves in these things! Notice how my hands look after about 4 seconds.

I also added a coat of Krlyon Acrylic Crystal Clear spray paint to prevent the glitter from coming off, but I don't think it did much. They look adorable, but I spent weeks cleaning the floors and washing glitter out of every imaginable place! Next year when I pull them out, I am going to tie bright purple ribbon around their necks. Cute!