#BostikBloggers Paper Christmas Crafts

The difference between crafting for the blog and crafting for the kids is pretty much in the output. If I’m crafting for the kids, I kind of let them go for it, whereas if I’m trying to make something specific for the blog I tend to micro manage their every step. That, of course, is no fun for them. I once went in search of my 6 year old mid craft – session to find her hiding in the bed, saying she was bored of watching me having fun. Parent-fail, right there.

The good thing about being a #BostikBlogger for me is that they send a box, and it’s a bit like a lucky dip of things to do. The first few months we were doing it I tried to dictate what we could do with it, and the kids were really only half hearted about it. This month, however, I decided to do something a little different, and just leave the kids to their own creative endeavours.

Our pack this month included Glitter Pens and a Fine & Wide Glu Pen, and a variety of paper craft items, including pompoms, papers, ribbons and pipe cleaners (these are awesome pipe cleaners though! They look like Christmas tree branches, and I can’t find them online!)

First I made a Christmas card. I used to make a lot of cards, in life before kids, and one thing that I know works well in card making is layering. One layer over another over another. It makes for a pretty card.

For this card I used decorative paper, and cut it into a square, then glued a layer of ribbon around the edges to make it look like a box, then a few decorative pieces I had lying around – snowmen and gift tags – to make a pretty card. Simple enough for the kids to help with the embellishments too. 

My three year old had her own ideas, and when I left them to it, I thought she did pretty well. She decorated a foam Christmas tree shape with ‘jewels’ and snowflakes from our own stash, and she was so proud of it, she’s decided to give it to her daddy for Christmas. Meanwhile Ameli used the provided gift tag to write a whole story for daddy too, before decorating it with snowmen and bells.  What a lucky daddy. 

We had shall we say … creative differences… over this particular wreath. I wanted to do a light leaf, dark leaf pattern, but Ameli wanted it as it’s turned out. Child led, and all. I did manage to persuade her to  have the ‘berries’ all around the wreath, but when I later found it on the tree, they’d all been moved to one clump on the left hand side. Fun.

I love the ‘tree’ pipe cleaners. Using them as a hanging up thingy means you can’t even see the loop in the tree (although you can see the gold one on the branch above).

So we’re not winning any awards for our crafts, I’ll give you that, but my kids followed their imaginations and had a fun morning, rather than a morning of watching mommy ‘having fun’. And they are pleased as punch with their makes hanging on the tree.

I’m not sure if we’ll be back next year as #BostikBloggers, but if we are we look forward to sharing more crafts with you then!