Christmas Crafts - what's your favourite crafty thing?

[NemoTheRedNosedFish]

I realised reading another thread that I tend to think only about presents and dinner before Christmas, but there is so much more I'd like to do in the build up, especially this year as I have been depressed and we are all glad that I have made it this far.

The only craft thing I can think of is making snowflakes for the windows from white paper, but I'm sure you guys can top that!

Studding an orange with cloves and tying with red ribbon?

We always pop corn and thread it alternately with cranberries to make strings for the tree. Some corn gets eaten. And listen to cool Christmas music like Dinah Krall or cheesy stuff like The Jackson Five singing Frosty the Snowman.

Make some mince pies? I find making bread sauce theraputic because the milk smells gorgeous when the onion and cloves are infusing.

so so pretty

Black paper or card with shapes or simple stencil style pictures cut out of them with different coloured tissue paper behind them make lovely "stained glass" windows.

You can do a similar thing round a jar and put a battery powered tea light candle inside to make lovely Christmas lights.

Paper chains are simple too.

Homemade Christmas cards can be as simple or as complex as you like. Cut out a folded tree shape in green card and stick star stickers, sequins etc on to them to make mini tree cards.

Paper mache snowman - 2 balloons, one blown up more than the other. Cover with strips of newspaper dipped in diluted pva glue. Leave to set. Paint white. Decorate with old hat, button eyes and buttons, paper cone nose...

Cardboard tube Santa - paint tube red or cover with red card. Use cut out paper or paint to make face. Use cotton wool for beard, hat trim etc. Legs can be cut from card and stuck on.

Ah, is there nothing one cannot create with a box of regular tampax?! I think that snowflake may be gracing the top of our tree this year, BoysAreLikeDogs

Love the paperchains, papier mache snowman and stained glass cards too...

Online advent calendar with a craft/recipe and lots of other stuff every day.

I absolutely hate craft. Dredful mother. I like baking though so we do that. I buy them Mister Maker craft sets and stand a distance away.

Craft makes me shudder. No idea why.

dreadful speller too apparently

when I saw your thread, I thought of my favourite - white paper circles, folded and snipped with scissors (diamonds, zig zags), unfolded, sprinkled with glitter both sides and hung from lights, beams etc.

Does sound like your 1st thoughts, but they are so beautiful, so simple, so christmassy - really cheer you up

We have made lots of things from here. Usually with great success

www.dltk-holidays.com/xmas/index.html

(althogh now it seems we do :) :) :) )))

BALD do you use used and washed ones or new ones?
Expensive to use new ones, yucky to use used ones... LOL!

Aha- this year I decide we would make our our crib (have you seen the price of those things??) So I gathered the children and a big pot of modelling clay and we (well, I- I'm ashamed to admit I relegated the children to doing the sheep ) fashioned clay figures of the holy family, the shepherds, wise men, animals.

I was horrendously chuffed with our efforts. DH made the ox (after saying he could do better than us ) How I laughed when his ox's horn fell off, swiftly followed by its leg Then today, just as I was thinking about painting them, one of the wise men's arms fell off, shortly followed by the donkeys hind legs (and noone was even talking at the time!)

I'm hoping the power of superglue can help restore, but sinec then, the baby Jesus' nose has also dropped off- sob!

Think I'll have a nice sherry, and leave the crafty stuff to better people!!

I made an advent paper chain with DD and some mindees the other day, and they loved it. The website that it came from is fab, it's helped me survive this week whilst stuck in the house due to the weather. Although not sure about how mindees' parents have felt every night, as they leave with a massive bag full of things that we've made during the day!

Oh and PMSL at BoysAreLikeDogs' link! My DH wants a new iPhone for Christmas, thanks for the link!