January 2025 Grab & Go Kits

A Winter Window

Directions:  You will need scissors and a glue stick.

1. About 1” inch in from the top and side of the white paper, glue the blue snowflake paper to the white paper.
2. Glue the longer strip of paper vertically (top to bottom) in the center of the paper.
3. Glue the shorter strip of paper horizontally (left to right) to the paper to create the window frame.
4. Match the corner of the doilies to the corner of the window. Glue them down.

Paper Straw Snowflakes

Each kit makes 1 snowflake.

Each kit contains

• 2 cardstock circles
• 8 pieces of paper straws
• 1 foam snowflake sticker
• Gemstone stickers

You need to provide

• Glue

Directions

1. Place glue on 1 of the cardstock circles.
   
2. Lay the 8 straw pieces on top of the glue.
   
3. Attach your foam snowflake sticker to the 2nd cardstock circle.
   
4. Add the glitter gems to the snowflake sticker.
   
5. Place glue on the back of the circle with the snowflake sticker.
   
6. Place the glued sticker on top of the straws.  Press gently.
   
7. Let dry for a few minutes!
   

Paper Lanterns

As Winter is composed of the year’s least sunny months, I’m sure we all could use a little more light in our day! With this month’s craft, you’ll be able shine a little brighter through making a paper bag lantern!

Using the instructions below, you’ll be able to construct a lantern like the one I made above. Of course, you can also adapt the instructions, using the materials to make something entirely your own! 

Each kit includes:

• One White Paper Bag, holding everything else (Be careful not to rip it!)
• One Tea Light (With Battery included)
• Two Sheets of Tissue Paper

You will need:

• Scissors 
• Glue or Tape
• A Pencil/Pen

Steps:

Step 1: Cutting your Shapes!

Now, you could pop your candle in your bag and be done with it, but you also can make your lantern a little more special by cutting out shapes for the light to shine through. In my example, I picked some easier shapes (circle) as well as some trickier ones (snowflake) to give you a sense of how they look on the lantern. Either way, the easiest way to make a symmetrical shape is to fold your bag in half where you want the middle of the shape to be, trace half the shape along the line, and cut out the image by cutting out both sides of the bag. 

If you want a more complex, non-symmetrical shape, you can trace the full shape, pop a hole in the bag within the shape, and cut out the shape from within. Repeat this step until you have as many shapes cut out as you want, on one or both sides of your bag. 

To make the whole project come together, you can also cut, or scallop the top edge of the bag into a pattern. 

Step 2: Taping your Paper!

Next, I added some tissue paper to the shapes, as I liked the pop of color it provided. Your tissue paper should be cut to the size of the sides of the bag, and using glue or tape, attach the paper to the inside. If you want to do different colors for each shape, you can also cut out smaller pieces of tissue paper for each individual shape, though you will be able to see the outline of each piece of tissue paper once it’s all lit up. Once you’re done with this step, your lantern is almost complete!

Step 3: Shine your Light!

The final step is to turn on your tea light, place it in your lantern, and watch it light up! If you’re putting your lantern somewhere you’re worried about it falling over or blowing away, you can weigh down the bag by filling it with rocks, sand, or anything moderately heavy. Enjoy your lantern, and happy crafting!