» Inexpensive Craft Projects for Children and Adults

A little while ago I was checking out websites to include in the article Cheap and Cheerful Activities for a Wet Weekend, and found a number of sites where you can get free paper craft materials. The range is amazing: buildings including the Empire State Building and Sydney Opera House, pop-up cards, 3-d pictures, globes, vehicles, picture frames, gift boxes, bugs and dinosaurs are just for starters.

Not one to look a gift horse in the mouth I downloaded some of the models and sent them off to younger family members as part of their Christmas box, for when they get bored with the expensive toys and want something they can get a real sense of achievement from.

We never went much for Christmas decorations in England -– there were just the two of us and it seemed a lot of effort and expense for just a short space of time. In the last two or three years it was down to just a few strings of lights, but Greece is a country that doesn’t put that much emphasis on Christmas -– Easter is the big religious festival here — and it seems to have pushed us in the opposite direction: actually looking for decorations rather than running from the excess.

And now there are all these resources…

First it was just a handful of simple snowflakes to fill in the length of wire where the sparkling lights ran out. Then a string of smiling Santas appeared draped down the room from light to light. Another Santa with sleigh and two reindeer was constructed over a couple of days, and finally — to top it all – a Christmas tree. This stands almost two feet high and is adorned with ribbons, bells and baubles and topped with a star.

Paper Christmas Tree

Here are pictures I took of the finished models. Okay so they’re not from the expensive local store, but they can definitely hold their own against some of the cheaper decorations you can find these days.

Paper Santa and Sleigh

We’re also making small gifts for our landlady to put in her office (she runs a real estate business, selling land and building houses, with her husband): a Harley Davidson (pictured below) and an excavator complete with working hydraulics. This one is challenging enough to put together, it puts me in awe of the person who was ingenious enough to work out the paper design in the first place.

We’re doing these last two on photo quality paper, which is thicker and firmer than the standard A4 we used for our Christmas decorations, so the models should last. The decorations will certainly last for the length of the celebrations, then they can go in the recycling bin.

Paper Harley Davidson

If you’re looking for inexpensive things to amuse the kids when the novelty of expensive presents wears off, or something that can get the generations working together at any time of the year, or a way to make a personal input to bought gifts, have a look at some of these websites. I’d recommend Canon and Papertoys.com for projects, and Coloring-Page.net for coloring activities for younger children.