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Home » DIY Tutorials » DIY Crafting » Crafting: No-Sew » Holiday Movie Night….((PLUS: mini acorn, snowflake, & message ornaments))

Holiday Movie Night….((PLUS: mini acorn, snowflake, & message ornaments))

Recently, my husband Steve received a Christmas gift — one he’s been wanting for a very long time.  And I say “Christmas Gift” because this purchase cancels out the next 4 Christmases.  And birthdays.  And Anniversary’s. ;)  Haha….no but really, he has wanted a projector and speakers in a theater room of some sort, for a very long time.  The house we moved into here in Oklahoma has a “media room” but we actually use it as a playroom, a family room, exercise room, etc.  We decided to finally take the plunge and purchased a projector for the room (even though we still haven’t purchased a screen. The bare wall works great for now! Ha!)  But the main reason (and one the of the biggest reasons we finally agreed to get one), was because we are a movie watching family!  Almost every Friday night is movie night here at the Johnston house.  The kiddos get to stay up extra late, we have something really simple for dinner, and we just relax together.  It really is something that all of us enjoy and we look forward to by the end of a long week.  And since we have 4 kiddos now, we save like $100 each time we DON’T go to the movies!  Take THAT overpriced movie theater, and your $8 bag of skittles too! ;)

From about mid November, the kiddos have started pulling out all of the stashed-away Christmas movies and have been watching their favorites.  And let me tell you….it’s been a lot of fun watching all of our favorites up on that big projector.  Every year, I like to purchase 1 or 2 movies at the store to add to our collection.  Something I tend to forget about though, is purchasing digital downloads.  A few weeks ago, I was asked to participate in the ’12 Days of Fox Christmas Movies’ campaign……and test out a digital download with my little family.   I quickly responded “yes!” and then noticed all of the Christmas movies that we’ve been missing out on, that are instant downloads.  And many of the downloads are much cheaper than buying the actual DVD.  (And yes, you get to watch it over and over again….because you OWN the digital copy.)

Much to kiddos’ delight, we downloaded “Ice Age: A Mammoth Christmas”. It’s funny because after we downloaded the copy for $2.99 HERE, I saw it at the store a few days later for twice that amount.  Holy smokes, I need to start comparing download prices more often!

 

The movie was both darling and filled with plenty of my favorite type of Christmas cheer……but also silly and funny and had my kids laughing uncontrollably.  My favorite kind. And perfect for cozy-ing up together!

 

The movie is obviously centered around Christmas but it kinda shows the Ice Age interpretation of how the traditions of Christmas originated.  It was actually kinda clever…..but one of our favorite parts, was seeing them decorate the world’s “very first Christmas tree”.

 

Here they are, watching the same scene up on the wall……with the kid decorated tree off in the corner of the room.  Nothing beats that, right?? ;)

 

They also loved that silly Scrat, who is the poor pre-historic squirrel who always seems to lose his acorn!  He of course makes these kiddos laugh and laugh……and get a little frustrated for Scrat and all his mishaps.

 

The message of the movie was happy and uplifting and encouraged the non-believers to believe.  And to enjoy all of the magical parts of Christmas…..even if that means helping Prancer and Santa deliver Christmas!

We are definitely a magic believing family…..so we loved this short film.  In fact, I decided to gather a few nature-like supplies, and try our hand at our own “first tree”….complete with pine cone acorns, woodsy snowflakes, and a few ‘Mammoth Christmas’ themed wood slice messages.

***Do you see that strand of itty bitty lights?  I call them Fairy lights…..but I guess other people call them moon lights.  You can find them HERE.

 

 

Ice Age wouldn’t be Ice Age, without those little acorns…..so we just had to add those to the tree. They are actually part pinecone and part wooden bead, and turned out cute!

 

 

We used birch wood slices to create the rest of the decor…..kinda perfect for this tree!  (And yes, there was some talk about a “naughty” and “nice” list in the movie.  Anything to help motivate these little turkeys is fine by me!)

 

I especially loved these itty bitty snowflakes that would actually be super cute on any Christmas tree!  Or would be a fun gift for neighbors/friends.

 

 

Chloe loved the snowflakes too and kept helping me “re-arrange” everything.

 

In fact, she’s starting to pick out letters that she sees in words and guesses what they might say.  And once she realized we added our buddy Scrat to the tree…..she kept spelling out his name over and over again!  Yep, we love that sill Scrat around here! :)

 

I still think my favorite is the continuous message of “believing” in the film….so I made sure we added that. :)

***Here’s another closer picture of those little fairy lights.  And again, you can find them HERE.

 

I kinda love that the kids walk by the tree and read the words and sometimes we chat about the movie and what those words mean.  The same ornaments could be made from any movie, or even a scripture, some common Christmas words, etc.

 

I never thought that Manny, Sid, and little Scrat would inspire some Christmas decor in our home…..but it sure did!  That’s why I love movies though.  It’s together time, laughing time, and memory-making time!

 

If you haven’t, you should definitely purchase your own digital download of Ice Age: A Mammoth Christmas.  In fact, add a few other Fox Christmas Movies to your collection like the original Miracle on 34th Street, A Christmas Carol or even Home Alone!  There are so many fun ones that you can download right now and join us in having a Friday night movie-night!  (Just don’t forget the popcorn…..it’s a family rule!)

 

Would you like to see how simple it was to make some of those ornaments??

 

SUPPLIES:

  • birch wood slices (I found mine at Michaels…..but you could always look in your backyard for fallen branches)
  • mini wooden doll heads (you know those tiny wood doll pieces that’s just a body and a head that you can buy and assemble?  You can buy a whole bag for a couple dollars….and they’re by all the other wood stuff at the craft store.)
  • small pine cones
  • hot glue
  • twine
  • stamps/ink pad

 

For the message ornaments, stamp out whatever message you’d like, onto your wood slices.

 

Then drill a hole near the top of the ornament…

 

….and then thread a piece of twine through the hole and knot it into a circle.

 

That’s it!

The snowflakes were created the same way!

 

For the acorns, you’ll need to cut off the bottom portion of a small pine cone and dig out as much of the center as you can.  You’re trying to create the acorn cap here, so you don’t need a lot of height….however, sometimes you don’t have a choice in the size of the pine cone and how each of it’s little leaves lay, etc.

 

Then, using a forstner drill bit (which is used to large smooth holes), drill out the center of the pin cone, creating a space for your wood doll head piece to fit together with the pine cone.

 

This doll head piece is flat on one side and then rounded everywhere else….and that’s why I bought it, instead of just a plain wooden circle.  It fits together much better together with the pine cone this way.  Hot glue them together.

 

Then, tie a piece of twine together in a circle and hot glue the loop end to the top of your acorn.

 

And that’s it!  Cute little ornaments to cover your own tree with, to use as present toppers, or to gift away to friends!

All inspired by a fun little movie that is happily a part of our Christmas movie collection!

-Ashley

 

This post is sponsored by Fox Home Entertainment ……however, all opinions are mine and mine alone.

 

Ashley Johnston

Administrator at Make It & Love It
Ashley Johnston is a professional DIY costume maker, sewist, crafter, and owner of Make It & Love It. She is a mom of 5 and a wife to a very patient (with the craft clutter) husband. In case you’re wondering, she always chooses crafting/sewing/designing over mopping/dusting/wiping base boards……but bathrooms/laundry/full bellies are always attended to. Whew!

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Hi, I'm Ashley

Hi, I’m Ashley—the DIY-enthusiast behind this crazy blog!

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