Hello friends! It is December, which means it is time to do some Christmas crafts! This is my absolute favorite time of year to craft! For this craft I decided to make a little nativity scene. Almost everything can be purchased at the Dollar Tree, so you can enjoy making this with all of your friends too. I actually decided to get some of the ladies at my church together to do this craft with. It was so much fun, and everyone had so many different ways of making their nativity scene unique!

This time of year is always busy at our house, but this week was extra busy. My son had a doctor’s appointment Monday morning, so school work didn’t happen that day for my daughter. We then doubled up the work on Tuesday, which went very smoothly. Then on Thursday, I got the stomach flu that has been going around. I could barely be a Mom on Thursday, let alone try to do school work. Again, on Friday, we doubled up the work, and it worked out great! I love how much my daughter loves school!

I ended the week pulling all of my daughter’s old clothes out of the attic. It has been driving me crazy moving all of the bags around to get to things. We decided it would be best to get rid of most of the clothes, and just keep fifteen outfits from each size. She was definitely blessed with clothes as a baby. If we end up having another girl in the future, she will be blessed too. I am happy to say that four years of clothes are now in three vacuum sealed bags instead of ten heavy garbage bags! Exhausting week, but so much accomplished!

Let’s relax and craft!

Nativity Scene

Supplies

• Chalkboard House from Dollar Tree
• Nativity Scene 3D Tabletop Kit from Dollar Tree
• Nautical Rope from Dollar Tree
• Wood Star
• Wood Doll Clothespin
• Twine
• Wide Ribbon
• Hot Glue Gun
• Mod Podge
• Black, White, and Brown Acrylic Paint
• Paint Brush
• Printer Paper
• Brown Ink Stamp Pad
• Baby Wipes

Step 1:

First, you want to start by getting your music printed off. I used “Silent Night, Holy Night” for the nativity side, and “Hark! the Herald Angels Sing” on the angel side. I downloaded this music from https://www.roseclearfield.com/printable-vintage-christmas-sheet-music/. She has all sorts of different songs you can print up on her website, so you pick what you like best!

When I printed these songs, I used a tan colored printer paper, so I didn’t have to print in colored ink. It turns out very similar when printed in color on white paper though. I did change the scale in my printer settings, so that I would be able to see most of the music and fit the title inside the chalkboard house. This just made the music slightly smaller.

Then you will want to make a template of the inside of your little house, so you can trace it out on your music and cut them out to fit. I ended up just pushing a plain piece of paper into the house shape, and traced around the inside edge with my pencil. Go ahead and cut that out. Then you can trace around it onto the sheet music. Cut each house shape out and cut a rectangle out around the titles.

Now you can leave your music like this, or you can weather the edges like I did to make it look a little bit older. All you need to do to make this look old, is to take a baby wipe around your finger and dab it onto your brown ink stamp pad. Then you can take that baby wipe and rub it onto the edges of the paper. I did this around the house shape and the title. Once you have it the way you like it, set it aside!

Step 2:

Now let’s get all of the painting done! Start by painting around the edges of the chalkboard house. Since it is a double sided nativity scene, you will need to paint both sides. We made the music to go on the inside, so you do not need to worry about getting paint on that part, since it will be covered up. For my nativity scene, I made the edges look like they are stained. You can do this by mixing some brown and black acrylic paint together. Then you can add water to that mixture of paint. Brush it onto the edges of the house shape, and then wipe it off with a baby wipe.

The only other things that need painted are Mary, Joseph, Baby Jesus, and the star. If you end up getting the nativity set from Dollar Tree, remove Mary, Joseph, and Baby Jesus. My daughter painted these three items black for me, and then painted my wooden star white. If you cannot find this nativity set at the Dollar Tree, you can print something similar off on cardstock paper. Or if you have a Cricut Maker, you can cut it out on some balsa wood. It takes forever to cut it out, but it definitely works. I couldn’t find enough for my ladies craft at the church, so I ended up having to cut a lot of them out with my Cricut.

Step 3:

Let’s get the sheet music put on now! I did this with Mod Podge and a paint brush. Brush a thin layer of Mod Podge onto the black chalkboard, and then put the “Hark! the Herald Angels Sing” sheet music onto it. Then you can brush some Mod Podge onto the back of the title, and glue it on towards the top. Flip the house over, and do the same thing with “Silent Night, Holy Night”.

Once you have the music attached on both sides, you will want to seal it. Go ahead and put another thin layer of Mod Podge on top of the sheet music. Do this on both sides of the house, and let it dry!

Step 4:

It is now time to make the angel. Start by folding and overlapping your wide ribbon to where it will fit into the house shape from side to side. You will want to overlap the ends in the back center of the angel. This will help determine what length of ribbon you will need.

Take your ribbon, and pinch it in the center folding it in half like you would for a bow. Then fold the edges back one more time. Keeping it pinched in the center, tie some twine around the middle to secure it.

Once you have your ribbon secured, hot glue it onto the “Hark! the Herald Angels Sing” side towards the top. It may help to position it onto the house shape with the doll clothespin. This will help you determine where you want the wings to be.

Next, wrap a piece of twine around your finger to make the angel’s halo. Then hot glue the ends together onto the top of the doll clothespin. Make sure you glue it on to where the slit in the clothespin is the sides of the body.

Lastly, you can go ahead and glue the body of the angel onto the the wings. Put some hot glue onto the center of the wings, and then attach the body. Again, make sure that the slit in the clothespin is positioned to where it is on the sides of the body. Your angel is done!

Step 5:

Flip your house over, and we will work on the nativity scene side. This is a pretty simple side to do. You just position Mary, Baby Jesus, and Joseph at the bottom of the house shape and hot glue them on. If you are using the pieces from the Dollar Tree kit, I put the base of them all the way against the bottom of the house since they have the extra tab on them. Then I hot glued the star on at the peak of the house. To finish it off, I cut a piece of nautical rope to fit along the bottom inside of the nativity scene. Hot glue it on, and then do the same thing on the angel side. You are now all done!

Have an Amazing Week!

I really hope you enjoy your nativity scene! It should be a nice decoration for your table, or even a beautiful gift for a friend. I know it is easy to get caught up in all the presents and even Santa this time of year. This can be your daily reminder that Jesus is the reason for this season!

“For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given: and the government shall be upon his shoulder: and his name shall be called Wonderful, Counsellor, The mighty God, The everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace.” Isaiah 9:6

This week, stay safe on the roads if you live where there is snow. We just got our first big snow this year! It is so pretty when it snows, and all of the ground is covered in white. One of my Mother’s favorite songs had to do with the beauty of snow covering the earth, and I always think of it when we get snow. So I will leave you with this song to listen to! Really listen to the words. It will change the way you see snow! Enjoy your week!