Shyloh Belnap shares her thoughts and instructions for the "Acts of Kindness" Banner.
When thinking of a decoration to do this year, I thought this wood ornament banner would be so much fun to hang in my home! When making this banner I realized that the way to truly make this Christmas merry is if I am teaching my children the true meaning of Christmas, which is to give and be kind to others. Instead of doing 12 days of Christmas where each day we focus on what we can get, I decided to switch our focus to what we can give!
Items needed:
- Wood ornament Banners (purchased at the Wood Connection in SLC, UT). If you are not local, I traced some stencils you can cut from cardstock and put them on my blog.
- Scrapbook Paper... I used the My Minds Eye Merry & Bright kit, available on our website for $4.49, retail value $9.99)
- Adhesive... You can mod podge or I just used spray adhesive for the paper to the wood and then regular adhesive tape and 3D foam dots for the rest.
- Bakers Twine
- Letters cut from Cardstock. I used my Cricut and cut 4" letters with the Alphalicious font. If you don't have this, I traced some templates and put them on my blog you can use.
- Clothes Pins
Directions:
Trace wood ornaments and adhere base paper to the banner. (Or use templates to cut ornaments from cardstock)
Use Cricut to cut 4" letters from cardstock (or trace from the templates on my blog)
Using the scraps of paper left over, decorate the Ornaments as shown in the pictures on my blog.
Using left over paper, trace and adhere with glue a piece of paper to the top of a clothes pin.
Glue the clothes pin to the back of 12 banner pieces.
Attach an act of kindness to do on each day!
Use Bakers Twine to hang your banner!
Here are some ideas...
Find someone who is homeless and deliver them a blanket
Buy a few boxes of candy canes and tell random strangers "Merry Christmas" and give them a smile and a candy cane.
Call someone you love just to see how they are doing!
Mail a hand written letter to someone who has done something kind to you.
Offer to babysit your friends' kids so she can go stress free Christmas shopping!
Sing or play a musical instrument for a Nursing home with your family.
Set up a hot cocoa stand and accept donations only for a charity of your choice.
Mend a broken heart by reconciling with someone you have not been close to.
Walk your neighbors dog for them.
Give a candy cane to your bank teller and every cashier who helps you today.
Take a treat to your local Fire Station or Police Station to Thank them for their work.
Rake your neighbors leaves
Go to the store and pay off someones layaway anonymously
Pay the parking toll for the car behind you when leaving a parking garage.
Invite neighbor kids to come over for a craft day to make gifts for their parents.
Leave a note and little gift for your mail man or UPS delivery guy.
Call a friend and offer to help them wrap their Christmas gifts.
Help a friend clean their home.
Ring the bell for a Salvation Army bell ringer so they can have a break!
Pay the bill for the car behind you in a drive thru.
Help a stranger load their groceries in their car.
Open the door for strangers.
Pick up litter and trash throughout the day.
Give out 20 compliments to 20 people today.
Help someone carry something.
Tape quarters to vending and and toy machines around town.
Donate food to the Utah food bank.
Collect mittens and hats and boots, deliver to a school to give kids who don't have any at recess.
Pay someones fees at the library.
Take your kids to buy with their own allowance a toy to donate to Toys 4 Tots.
Go through your books and donate any that you may not need to your school library or a teacher for their classroom.
Turkey bomb a neighbor! (leave a turkey or ham on their porch, ring and run!!!)
Pass out candy canes and wish everyone in the long lines at the post office a "Merry Christmas!"
Gather all the shopping carts in a parking lot and put them inside the store.
Call the hospital and see if you can go read stories or bring a little gift to those there the week of Christmas.
Give stuffed animals to the police department for kids.
For more of Shyloh's ideas, please visit:
http://www.aPage4allSeasons.com or:
http://www.aPage4allSeasons.blogspot.com.
