Christmas Fun - Crystal Snowflakes

I've seen tons of pictures and tutorials around the internet for Crystal Snowflakes made from pipe cleaners, Borax and water.  

They looked pretty cool and the instructions seemed pretty simple, so I decided to give it a try!  Here is goes . . . step by step . . . 

Use three half pipe cleaners, twisted together int he middle to make a snowflake.

Mix 3 tablespoons of borax to 1 cup of boiling water, stirring to dissolve.  Add blue food colouring if desired.  (If mixing a large quantity, use 3/4 cup of borax to 4 cups of boiling water.)  Liam enjoyed measuring and mixing!

 Hang snowflakes over the top of a container by tying a string to the snowflake and the other end to a dowel, resting across the top of the container.  Fill your container with borax solution, making sure to cover the pipe cleaner completely and ensuring that the snowflakes are not touching the sides or bottom of the container.

Let sit over night.  About 4 hours later, the crystals were just starting to form on top of the water.

Remove snowflakes from borax mixture.

And there you have it . . . Broax Crystal Snowflakes!  Liam was super excited with his crystal snowflakes!

Overall, the project was just as easy as I expected!  I did have difficulty finding a container, the instructions said to use a jar and I didn't have anything big enough, so I used a stock pot and did three snowflakes together.  This used considerable more Borax and water than I anticipated.  (I used half a box of Broax just for this!)  But, other wise, super easy!

Some of the instructions that I saw before doing this said that they would be done in a couple of hours.  This was not the case.  If you try it, leave them overnight!

One other bit of advice if you try this - not only does the Borax form crystals on the pipe cleaners, it also forms crystals on the inside of the container.  When I do this again, I will use a disposable container so I don't have to spend an half an hour chipping water out of my pot! 

This is what my pot looked like when we were done.  The stuff at the bottom was rock hard and about half an inch thick!

Two days off work . . .

So, I realized last week that I had two vacation days that I needed to use before the end of the year, so I took a four day weekend! My plan was to spend Monday morning finishing my Christmas shopping and spend the rest of Monday and today cleaning and baking.

As much as it made me feel a like a horrible mommy, I sent Liam to daycare on Monday. I had a limited amount of time to do my shopping and many stores that I wanted to get to and I knew that having him along would just slow me down. I really wanted to finish shopping! And I did!! Given that I started my shopping excursion before 8:00 am, the stores were quiet and without a baby in tow, things went quickly! I actually found most of the things I was looking for without much difficulty! WooHoo! To celebrate, I went home to sweep and mop my floors!

All in all, Monday was a much more productive day than I'd expected. I wanted Tuesday to be the same, but at the same time, I wanted to keep Liam home. So, that's what I did. I did end up getting some of my baking done and a couple of other things crossed off my to do list, but in that sense, it wasn't as productive as Monday. But I did have some quality time with my Little Bear.

After his nap this morning, we got dressed up and went out to play in the snow. It is the first time I've had time to take him out try and play in the snow. We have been so busy lately that I haven't had much time at all to play uninterrupted with him and just enjoy being with him. Liam's feelings about the snow were mixed . . . it started out fine, until he got some on his mitts and then wiped his face with his hand . . . that was not good! And a sleigh ride around the yard was fun until mommy tipped his sleigh over with him in it.

After lunch, we embarked on another new and fun activity . . . FINGER PAINTING!!! We had so much fun! And we didn't even try to eat the paint! Yeah, my kid is a genius! hahaha! And now Daddy has a nice painting to put up on his wall at work.

Unfortunately, it is back to work tomorrow. I could use a few more days to catch up on my ever growing to do list and to have some more fun filled days with my Little Bear, but there are bills to be paid and I think that in the long run, both Liam and I would get bored with being home all day every day. He loves daycare and well, so do I, I wouldn't have lasted for almost 9 years if I didn't!