Bizarre Crafts

The following post is an attempt to prove to the world, and most importantly to myself, that I am indeed a wonderful parent. And also because my friend Amber dared me to post the results ;)

Knowing that Christmas was just around the corner, that I had done absolutely ZILCH with the kids to prepare for it, and that I had a few days off to take before Christmas, I looked on the Internet for some simple crafts to do with the kids. Found a great sight in the process http://www.enchantedlearning.com/ and gleaned a few simple projects that didn’t require a) any fancy materials and b) a lot of skill. You see, I HATE crafts. I am NOT a crafty type person and crafts are not on my fun list. But I just happened to have a daughter on whose fun list crafts seem to be near the top. Crap.

The set up. Look how nice and tidy everything is. I made the kids help me clean the house before we started :)

Bulky me, wrestling with the top of a Christmas tree. 30 has not treated me very kindly, physique wise. My head shrunk! I have a tiny head now, which makes everything else look really big ;)

The "3D" Christmas trees. Frankie said they were "super beautiful."

Frankie posing with Ella's Christmas tree. Yes, I got the wrong tree with the wrong kid. Oh well!

Ella, with Frankie's Christmas tree

I put the star on the top of L's tree :)

On to decorating stars. You have NO idea how many attempts it took me to get these stars to turn out!

Frankie decorating his Santa star. This was beginning with the children's fetish over cotton.

Wooo! Ella's fuzzy Santa. My how L loved that cotton!

Ella struggling to hang up her Santa star

After a long struggle (she didn't want any help), mission accomplished!

Needless to say, poor old Santa lost a bit of fuzz during the hanging up experience! Not quite as fuzzy as when he started, that's for sure...

Frank's finished Santa star. Not quite as fuzzy as L's!

Ella observantly stated, "Frankie is really focused." The vocabularly that young children aquire after watching three series of The Dog Whisperer - more than once! 

Ah... and the fuzz continues!

The little hands reaching for the big pile of cotton in the middle of the table got me inspired....

Grab a glue stick and first... a moustache!

Well, as you can see, one thing led to another...

...Until finally - hello Father Christmas!

The now Father Christmas/Old Saint Nick/Santa Claus, still focused on his project

Ella hanging up her fuzzy star in the kitchen

In all it's stunning glory

So pleased! She calls this "decorating"

Santa, still focused on chopping bits of construction paper

After these pictures of more "controlled" crafting, the children went free style. Basically lots of cotton cut up and pasted onto bits of construction paper and placed ALL over the house and compound. I have to wonder what the guards thought to find a construction paper and cotton decoration hanging on the gate. And imagine my surprise to find one of these little decorations placed carefully on the toilet seat! Ha ha!

Ella was thrilled that the house is now "decorated for Christmas!" What I thought would be several hours of controlled fun turned into an entire day long marathon of H craftiness :) I've a feeling we haven't seen the end of it either!