This is a guest post by Mim Jenkinson from lovefrommim.com
Crafting. DIY. Homemade. Pinterest. Perfect. No. It just isn’t me. I know plenty of mums who don’t like crafting but it comes with the job doesn’t it? At some point in our parenting life we will be called upon to craft something with our kids.
For me, it was Halloween this year. I finally gave up protesting and had a bash at crafting. Armed with a handful of pipe cleaners and a few pieces of coloured card, I made three different, very simply Halloween crafts.
And you know what, it took me only a few minutes and I actually had a lot of fun doing it. The shock! More than that, I thought my kids might shun my creations but they genuinely loved them. In fact, they were fighting over them at one point – that’s when I knew I’d struck gold – true validation.
So if you’re like me, a mum who has no time or inclination to craft, then these easy and quick Christmas craft are for you!
1. Toilet Roll Santa
The best thing about this one is that you actually don’t even need a toilet roll – but you know, we all have them, right?
All you’ll need is:
- 1 x A4 White Paper OR 1 x Toilet roll painted white
- Sticky tape
- 1 x Pipe Cleaner (any colour, I’m using Orange because…Halloween leftovers)
- Scissors
- Black Pen
- Orange Pen
- Ribbon for a Scarf (if you’re feeling particularly fancy)
Instructions:
1. Grab your painted loo roll or fold a piece of white paper in half length ways, roll it up to look toilet roll shaped and then stick together.
2. Draw on eyes, carrot nose, mouth and buttons.
3. Grab pipe cleaner and scrunch up ends until it looks like ear muffs – stick it on your snowman’s head.
4. Wrap around a ribbon scarf and use scissors to fray the ends.
Done!
2. Pipe Cleaner Candy Canes
Blink and you’ll miss this one.
You’ll need:
- 1 x White Pipe Cleaner
- 1 x Red Pipe Cleaner. (I’m using Orange, stop judging me)
Instructions:
1. Twist both pipe cleaners together.
2. Cut length of twisted pipe cleaners in half.
3. Bend into Candy Cane shapes.
Done!
3. Cardboard Christmas Trees
You’ll need:
- 1 x piece of Cardboard – whatever size you like
- Scissors
- Pencil
Instructions:
1. Draw a Christmas tree shape on the cardboard – I used a piece of paper to be super accurate. Because I take my crafting seriously.
2. Draw another one.
3. Cut them both out.
4. Cut a thin strip out of one tree from the bottom up to the middle.
5. Cut a thin strip out of the other tree from the top to the middle.
6. Slide the together.
7. Leave them as they are or give them to your kids to decorate. You’ve done the hard bit, well done you!
Done!
So as you can see, these easy Christmas Crafts won’t be winning your kids any awards for innovation at school any time soon but they’re quick and simple.
I estimate the making time for each is between 60 seconds and 2 minutes. So then your time is freed up to get back to browsing on Pinterest at all of the other things you will never ever have the time or inclination to do!
Do you love or loathe crafting?
Mim is a married mother of two small children, living in NSW and blogs at lovefrommim.com with simple solutions for busy mums. Mim is passionate about living life to the full in a positive way and inspiring others to do so too. She thrives on finding ways to be more productive, organised and happy!
After being diagnosed with breast cancer in November 2015, Mim dedicates her time to improving her family’s health, making the most of each second and building a bright and happy future for her family.
She loves to share advice from her own personal experiences, organisation tips for mums and parenting tips and hacks. As well as that, she’s also a planner-girl at planwithmim.com with a growing stationery addiction! You can download Mim’s free Weekly Planner here.
