A Perfectly Imperfect Easter Tree.

IF I were more organised, and I was a member of the bloggy circle who produced beautifully crafted and seasonal wonders, I might be tempted to do a 'how-to' here. But as it is, I am not, and my pictures aren't great, it leans terribly to the left, and my children did things their own way, with as much sellotape as possible. Isn't that what its all about though? I'm very proud of their efforts- come and have a look!

We made an Easter Tree this week.

 I like to 'mark' Easter, like we do Christmas (although on a slightly smaller scale), so I have a handful of holiday projects, for Little People who are, afterall, only ever at home with me, for every-other 25th December. They're old enough this year to get quite involved with the preparations. And I've been really busy, so we won't get around to them all this year, but we certainly enjoyed this one.

We love daisies, and seeing them pop up through the grass over the last couple of months has given us great pleasure.

 My beautiful brolly pot. I have another of these on my staircase-window, with a flowery arangement in, but have recently realised that the picture is fading! Very sad face. I have rotated the 'vase' and am now on the lookout for a new one.

The inspiration for this comes from the wonderful Mrs. B. She is the sort of lady who knows something interesting about everybody, who has an orginal Lowri, who has newts in the pond, a fresh cake just out of the oven, and an empty drawer designated as 'the spare'... to gauge clutter. (If things find their way into it, she has a clear-out). Until fairly recently (and I do believe she's almost into her early 80s, but you'd never know), she used to swim, before 8am, twice a week. And yes, she also has a jar of sticks, decorated with Easter loveliness, on her grand piano at this time of year. We love Mrs. B.

 That scrunchy stuff is blossom. Yes, I thought you could tell.

 A happy sunflower (with an artist's impression of seeds in the middle), and another artist at work.

We didn't need much in the way of materials. This tree is the image of 'cheap and cheerful'. We've borrowed the brolly-pot from the inside the front door, but thankfully we haven't needed brollys, or a vestibule to put wet ones in for a few weeks. Quite the oppposite- where are those sunhats?! We gathered regular tickle-sticks on walks, I covered them with strips of coloured tissue paper, then, the decorations that we didn't already have, were made, and attached with a loop of green gift-ribbon. I kinda wish we had more sticks with other offshoots attached, rather than regular doggy-fetch uninteresting ones, but nevermind. It might have been an idea to use pipecleaners to reinforce the little-er offshoots, and manipulate them into more interesting, and stronger bends, but that would have required buying pipecleaners. Nah...

We had the pink bows hanging around the craft box, and we made the leaves to fill out the branches. It looked more like an Easter Tree, and less like a collection of sticks covered in paper, once the leaves were on!

 A dandelion... but that was obvious too I'm sure...

I had some decorations given to me a few years back, and I'm all about Childhood Traditions, so hopefully the children will come to recognise them and look forward to their arrival, like they do the Christmas decs. These went on the tree. We also bought 6 decorated eggs at the shop around the corner, and a chick or two, and added home-made spring-like-happenings: seasonal things that we have seen on our walks, and some other grass-dwelling-favourites... and a cotton-wool lamb (chiefly because he wanted to be there).

He (Curly Whirly Flick Flick, to give him his full title) demanded to be sat in the centre. His fluff is falling off but he's a cheerful kind of chap, who isn't bothered by such matters

Hopefully I should make it back to share another Easter-post with you before the day... but its turning into a busy week (in a nice way!) If I don't, have a wonderful weekend!

xxx