Clothespin Christmas Surprises

Wow, I am totally blown away by how many of you like my Christmas games!  Thanks to all who left comments.  I find them very encouraging.  With so many new followers on Facebook and new visitors to my blog, I feel like Christmas has come early!

I didn't think I'd have anything new to post for awhile, but then the stomach flu hit our house and I found time to be crafty!  A blessing in disguise, huh?  So here's what I've been making:

 


I've been seeing these cute little clothespin thingies on Pinterest in a variety of forms and thought they'd be fun to try.  They were pretty easy so I'll tell you how I made them.

First, I made a set of gifts using graphics from KPM Doodles.  I printed them out on card stock, and cut them out leaving very little margin on the sides of the gifts.

Next, I chose pictures to match the sound I want to target.  I made mine on LessonPix, which is amazingly easy, and then I copied them onto card stock at a reduced size of 75%.  I cut them out to be as small as possible, so they would hide behind the gifts.

Next, I glued a  picture card to the back side of the clothespin, with the picture facing up.  I used a glue stick instead of hot glue because I needed to be able to reposition it if necessary once I attached the gift pieces and I wanted it to dry faster than white glue.  I put the glue on the bottom piece of the clothespin only, which allows the upper piece to move.

Then I cut each gift piece in half.  I put glue on both the top and bottom pieces of the clothespin and positioned the two gift pieces so they hid the picture beneath them.  I squeezed the clothespin to open the gift and checked that the picture behind it was clearly visible.  In most cases, I needed to slide either the gift pieces or the picture card a little to make it just right.

Here's what they look like when they're finished:

Cute, huh?  I've got some more time yet today...maybe I'll make another set for /k/!

If you want to make some too, you can download the gifts here.  If you get an error message, it's because the server is still having difficulties so either try logging in to your Google account before downloading, or try again later.

Have a great weekend everyone!

Pam