Christmas Craft - Pipe Cleaner Wreaths

The other day I saw a picture on Facebook which inspired me to make these Christmas Pipe Cleaner Wreaths.  I wanted something fun, but easy to do with Leandra during Audra's Saturday afternoon nap.  First thing was first though, we went to our local craft shop and selected some pipe cleaners.  They had all sorts there, but we went for tinsel ones for a real Christmas look.

We then picked over the clearance glass beads.  These two bags of beads were $1 each.  I was hoping for a better selection of colours, but I wasn't prepared to pay more than one dollar a packet, so this is what we ended up with:

 

 

I got Leandra to pop the beads into a bowl.  That way, they were easy to grab, when we needed.  Plus they couldn't roll away all over the floor.  Even though Audra is in bed asleep, we need to be thinking of her safety - which means making sure clean up is a breeze.

 

 

 

I picked a gold pipe cleaner to start with, and started to thread on beads with approximately 2 centimetres between each bead. I alternated green and blue until I had about 5 centimetres at each end. 

 

Then I bent the pipe cleaner into a circle shape, and twisted the ends to make this circle.  With the ends, I made two loops so it looked like a little bow at the top.

 

 

Here is Leandra working on one.  You can see that it was relatively easy to thread the beads onto the pipe cleaners.  A couple didn't fit on, but we just moved to the next bead in that case:

 

 

Here is an angel creation of Leandra's because she thought my wreaths were a bit boring after the first one.  I love that she is so creative, and doesn't always follow the activity goal.  It can be frustrating at times, but I know it will serve her well as an adult.

 

I also love that she managed to line the gold pipe cleaner up with the two bead eyes so well on the angel's head.  She is amazing!

 

 

 

 

Here are my finished wreaths awaiting their fate.  These are great as a Christmas tree decoration, but I thought of two other uses for them.

 

The first idea that came to me was, as a napkin ring.  It would make a lovely little table favour for your guests.

 

 

Another idea I had was adding these to the front of hand-made Christmas cards.  Or you could add them to a gift tag on your Christmas parcels. 

 

Dress Up - The Power of Pretend

I've always enjoyed playing dress up.  When I started in my first full time job, I was delighted to have mufti and theme days to fuel the cosplay fire.  I don't tend to go all out these days, but I still like to participate.  I like to bring elements together, making things where possible but otherwise creating something of my own to be used over and over again in different ways.

This year for my birthday I had a Mad Scienctist themed party.  Once I set the theme I was online within moments, looking up costume ideas and food things.  It's so inspiring to pick something a bit different and to make it fun.  For me, my role as a mum has definitely coloured how I choose to party these days as well.  I would much rather a nice selection of dessert goodies, costumes and laughs than drinking all night long. Having kids is really just a great excuse to regress!

I ended up buying a real lab coat from a uniform shop in town.  I couldn't find a costume one that suited the idea in my head anywhere.  Having a real lab coat is just so cool.  Plus I'm sure I'll end up getting a lot of use out of it for dress ups and if Leandra and I happen to continue our science clips on Youtube. To the lab coat, I added some welding goggles I picked up online as well.  I already had a selection of cute dresses to go under the lab coat.  I thought preppy science chic.  A friend describes them as my dominatrix dresses.  When I protested, she re-named them the "strict librarian look". Apparently I can't escape that "look".

Here I am in my costume on the night of my party:

Here is me with my Audra or the "Surgeon General" as I nicknamed her on the night:

And here is my family:

 

 

After my party, Halloween was next up.  I decided to wear the same costume to work, with another dress under it.  I left work early that day, and stopped by the school to surprise Leandra.  She was very excited to see The Scientist in her classroom.  I took her and Audra to Treats at the Park in Nawton that evening.  A great community event we were introduced to last year.  For $2, each kid gets to visit different stations and collect treats and then there is entertainment and bouncy castles as well.  What more could a kid ask for?  Bouncing around high on sugar pretending to be whatever you want to be? Yes, Please!

Best costumes I saw last night:

• A teenage mutant ninja turtle where mum had taken one of those oval tinfoil roasting dishes, and sprayed it green for a turtle shell over black pants and black skivvy.  Plus a cardboard orange mask. 
• Medusa, where mum had weaved rubber snakes through the girl's hair and then sprayed it all green.

 
Leandra is very much looking forward to the next wacky hair day now.