Easter craft creations!

MOLLY MAID, the professional domestic cleaning company, are true advocates of having a clean, tidy and cheerful home to come back to at the end of a day. A simple bunch of daffodils or tulips at this time of year can have an amazingly uplifting effect on your home.

This Easter holidays why not try making an ‘Easter tree’, for example, to give your home an added touch of Spring celebration? The Easter tree is a symbol of new life and has been a tradition for centuries in Germany where it originated from. If you’re expecting guests over the Easter period and better still, have children keen to be amused, set them this task as part of creating Easter crafts for your home. Easter trees can be as sophisticated, or as simple as you make them, rather like Christmas Trees. Here are some ideas from the simple to the more creative. Have fun!

Easter Egg Tree:

• Use real trees – Pick a tree near the front entrance of your home and hang as many painted eggs and ornaments as you want, but make sure branches are sturdy enough to support them. You can use ribbons or florist wire to secure them in place.
• Use potted plants – If you don’t have a tree, you can use potted plants or topiaries to make an Easter egg tree. Take two potted plants (preferably taller ones), hang your decorated eggs on the branches, and place one on each side of your front door for a welcoming Easter crafts display.
• Try a watering can – Stick some dried branches, twig or wisteria branches in an old watering can. To give the arrangement more stability, add some pebbles or sand to the bottom of the watering can. Then go ahead and decorate with painted eggs, chicks and bunny rabbits. Depending on how precious your decorations are, this can be placed indoors or outdoors but can look effective on a window ledge.
• Glass vase – Gather some pussy willows with some forsythia (your local flower shop may have these) and arrange them in a clear glass vase. As this is an indoor ‘tree’, it can afford to me more sophisticated and therefore use a mix of pre-painted eggs and perhaps ones that you or your family have painted yourself. You can be colour co-ordinated if you like, but remember to use the traditional Easter colours! To keep them upright, fill the vase halfway with water pearls or white pebbles. Tie a bow around the vase to give it a finished look. If you are struggling with a large enough vase, you can also use hurricane bowls or mason jars for this Easter craft activity too.

Create a centre piece for the table:

This Easter craft will definitely appeal if you know that you will be entertaining over the Easter period. This is a very easy way of turn your dining room table into an Easter celebration.

Using a tiered cake or cupcake stand lay wheat straws to make a bed on each layer before placing the Easter eggs on top, making it as sparse or as filled as you want. It’s an excellent way of displaying the chocolate Easter eggs you may have bought to give as gifts to visitors.

If you have younger members of the family wishing to get stuck in with some simple, and relatively mess-free, Easter crafts, encourage them to make further decorations suitable for the table, window sills, or in fact anywhere in the home.

Bunny or chick cup and ball:

You will need: Polystyrene ball or a ping pong ball, Paper cup

For a bunny: White and pink craft foam, Pink pompom, Wiggle eyes, Glue, Pink heart or circle sticker, Pink pen, Double sided tape

For a chick: Yellow paint, Orange craft foam, Yellow feathers, Wiggle eyes, Glue

Instructions:

Paint the ball and the cup yellow and leave to dry. For a bunny, simply leave the cup and ball white. Glue the ball to the bottom of the cup.

Bunnies: Cut 2 white ears from craft foam. Fold over a small piece at the end of each ear and attach the ears to the ball with double sided tape. From pink foam cut, two inner ears and glue these to the centre of the ears. From white foam cut, two paws (can be simple oblongs) and glue these to the front of the cup. Glue a pink pompom to the back of the cup as the tail. Stick the pink sticker on to the ball for a nose and stick on the two wiggle eyes. Finish off by drawing on some whiskers with pink pen.

Chicks: Cut a beak from orange foam and glue to the front of the ball. Stick on the two wiggle eyes. Glue the feathers around the back of the cup.

Display the Easter crafts together as part of a farmyard display. Your children will be as proud as punch to have created their own Easter decorations which are different from the usual egg dying activities.

Various edible egg nests

100g Shredded Wheat or rice krispies or cornflakes. Try making a batch of each and some just with golden syrup instead of chocolate for a more realistic look.

250g milk chocolate

2tbsp golden syrup

75g butter, softened

1 x 100g bag of Mini Eggs and Jelly beans.

(Makes 12)

• Line a 12-hole muffin tray with paper cases.
• Melt the milk chocolate, golden syrup and butter in a small glass bowl over a saucepan of gently simmering water. Stir regularly with a wooden spoon until the mixture is completely melted and glossy with no lumps.
• Break up the Shredded Wheat into small pieces in a large bowl using your hands.
• Pour the melted chocolate mixture into the bowl with the Shredded Wheat and mix with the wooden spoon until all the Shredded Wheat is covered in the melted chocolate.
• Spoon the mixture into the 12 cases, dividing evenly. Use your index finger to create a well in the centre of each nest. Add a few Mini Eggs and Jelly beans to each nest.
• Leave to cool and in the fridge for 2 hrs.

Don’t forget that these nests can be used to decorate cupcakes and used as decorative toppings for cakes too.

Simple, effortless yet a scrumptious Easter craft treat!

See Full Bio