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Children's tree. This year, both of Lea's children have gotten a little Christmas tree for their rooms to decorate. Here, it is important to have some ornaments that do not break easily.

Easy Christmas cones. The little Christmas cones are made from egg trays. Lea and the children have painted them with acrylic paint. They can also be coloured with markers or you can keep them in their natural cardboard colour.

Why do such a big part of your creative projects revolve around cardboard?

Cardboard is a really fun material because it is not really regarded as anything special, but you can make all sorts of things with it. It is a brand new world that opens once you start working with cardboard. A world of imagination and ideas, especially for children. And the children can easily join in too, since you do not need to be careful with the material. You can always grab a new toilet roll and start over. This way, you can try out some things and then it does not matter if the result is not what you had in mind. It is actually difficult to get a perfect result with cardboard and I think that is a good thing. I really want to rid myself of the idea that the goal is what is most important and everything has to be perfect. Especially when it comes to my children. There is way too much focus on performance in our society. That is why it is good to spend time doing something creative where it is the process that matters the most, not the result.

Nativity scene. Lea has made a nativity scene from a shoe box and egg trays. The bodies of the sheep are made of pieces of clingfilm roll and a layer of batting glued on.

Creative corner for children | Søstrene Grene

Diversity. When you make your own Christmas decorations, you get to decide what it should look like. Lea, for instance, did not want all the characters of the nativity scene to be Caucasian Europeans because that is just not realistic. She has had a hard time finding a ready-made nativity scene where this is not the case.

What does it mean to you spending time on creative projects?

For me, my creative projects are a haven. When I am creative, I focus on what I am doing with my hands and the creative idea. It is a place where I do not have to think about responsibilities and finances and stuff like that. It is so important to find a place where your nervous system calms down, and you really have to seek that out. To me, that place is creativity, and for this reason I also try to pass that on to my children. If they find later on in their lives that something else has the same effect on them that is also fine. But children love being creative. I have really never met any children that did not love being creative. They love diving into things and they do so with so much confidence. They really believe we can make anything from cardboard. It is so cool!

Sweet cardboard cut-outs. It does not take a lot of gear to get started. Here, Lea has cut Christmas shapes from reused cardboard and drawn on them with a white marker. The little cut-outs can be hung with strings, used as gift tags, or combined on a Christmas wreath.

Glitter tree. Lea does not only work with cardboard. The little glitter Christmas trees are made from self-hardening clay, painted with acrylic paint, and covered in glitter while the paint was still wet.

What is your relationship with Christmas?

I love Christmas! I have always loved Christmas, but I actually love it even more now as an adult. Christmas Eve is lovely, but it is really the time before Christmas, in November and December, that is the highlight for me. Finishing Christmas preparations, having little Christmas secrets. For instance, I can really get butterflies in my stomach when I listen to Christmas music. It might sound silly but it is just so nice. I really feel so at peace when it is Christmas.

How does creativity affect your Christmas?

Creative Christmas projects are a big part of our everyday during the Christmas season. It is also a nice way of being together as a family and having a calm moment, because there is so much going on at Christmas time and you want to do it all. Christmas events, Christmas visits, presents, people. Even though they are all good things, it can get overwhelming. To me, a perfect day is doing creative Christmas projects and listening to Christmas music. It is really the best. It does not get any better than that.

Charming toilet rolls. Lea and the children have made little Christmas figurines from toilet rolls. Lea has made the reindeer with branch antlers and the angel with cake napkin wings.

Lovely Children's decorations. Lea's children who are 6 and 4 years have made angels, the snowman, and the Christmas tree. Toilet rolls are always a hit with Lea and the children as the simple shape can turn into so many different things.

What do homemade Christmas decorations mean to you?

There are a lot of memories connected to Christmas and Christmas decorations and especially homemade decorations, because with those you know that you at some point have been enjoying a cosy moment together making them. For children, the joy of recognition is great when the Christmas decorations are brought out each year. They are so happy and proud to see Christmas decorations they made last year being displayed. It is the feeling of having created something of value. For us parents, it is also fun to see year after year how their creative skills have evolved. And when the children are all grown, there will also be a lot of memories and nostalgia attached to the Christmas decorations they made when they were little.

Creative workroom. In the basement, Lea and her family have set-up a big creative workspace and children's playroom combined. They spend a lot of time here.

Colourful. To Lea, it is important that there is room for creativity and it does not have to be put away at the end of the day. The workroom table holds memories of many fun painting projects.

Cardboard stock. In the workspace, the large amounts of reused cardboard Lea is saving for creative projects are kept. Family and friends have also started bringing Lea big cardboard boxes.

Start with the basics

You do not need a large workspace filled with equipment to get started. You can go a long way with some cardboard, good scissors, and a glue gun.

Seek inspiration for easy projects

Find some creative profiles on Instagram that do easy projects.

Exercise your creativity muscle

Start simple and then slowly add more layers to your projects. It can be difficult coming up with the ideas when you are first starting out. But creativity is also a muscle that you can exercise.