The countdown to the holidays has begun, so why not take a few moments to spruce up your home with a few simple Christmas crafts. Heck, you might even find that channeling your inner Martha for a few hours is a great way to relieve stress, especially after a bottle glass of wine or two. Just be careful with those scissors!
Ornaments
When done well, hand crafted ornaments can really be so sweet and beautiful. We have a few ideas listed for you below, but if you’re wondering how to elevate them one step further, consider dedicating your tree décor to a single theme. Choose a color scheme, stick with just a few different ornament shapes and sizes, and use white lights for the best neutral backdrop.
1. Snowy Ornaments – For this simple project you’ll need ornaments (the shapes and sizes are up to you), Mod Podge or watered down Elmer’s glue, Epsom salt, and colored paint (optional). For a colored version (think light blue or pink) first coat the ornament in paint. After it’s dry, coat with glue, and then while the glue is still wet sprinkle the ornament with Epsom salt. For a “clear” or all white version, skip the colored paint. Check out this helpful tutorial here.
2. Kate Spade Inspired Ornaments – Start with solid white balls (or the solid color of your choice), then grab some painter’s tape, circular notebook paper reinforcement stickers, and gold spray paint. Try creating her signature stripes, polka dots, and color blocking. Finish these with a piece of black and white striped ribbon for an added touch of sophistication. Check out the tutorial here.
3. Filled Glass Ornaments – You can stuff these babies with so many things, the possibilities are endless. Here are some filling ideas to help get you started: whole coffee beans, burlap, glitter, rhinestones, treasured photos, confetti, ribbons, lace, buttons, and so much more.
Garland
Mantel and tree garland is almost as much fun to make as it is to admire. With a few materials (some you may even have lying around the house) you can have some festive and unique garland in a snap. Some of these Christmas crafts are so cute that you may want to leave them up year round.
4. Salt Dough Garland – This simple garland will have you seeing stars this Christmas. After completing the recipe for salt dough, cut out several tiny stars and glue them to your wire, twine, or ribbon for décor that’s both adorable and reusable. Find the tutorial here.
5. Pom Pom Garland – Pom poms garland is slightly more traditional, but still has the potential to provide a modern touch. The tutorial for making it can be found here, but it’s essentially just a bag of pom poms, twine, and a needle for stringing. Multicolored strands are great, but black and white, or even strings of monochrome puffs, like solid black, white, or red, whatever matches your color scheme the best, would look great too.
6. Pine Cone Garland – Again, super simple, yet very impactful. Start with a really long piece of jute or yarn to tie around each pine cone until you reach the end – just make sure you leave enough room on the ends to hang it properly. Check out the tutorial here.
Wrapping Paper
This is a great opportunity to personalize your gifts while letting your creativity fly! Personally, I find that the wrapping on the outside of a gift is almost just as important as what’s inside. Pretty packaging heightens anticipation, shows that you give a hoot, and can even contain a keepsake or something functional.
7. Paper Feather Gift Wrap Décor – Customize your Christmas gifts with beautiful gold or silver tipped paper feathers. Choose patterned paper, solid paper, or even glitter paper and use the tutorial here that comes complete with instructions and free downloadable patterns to help you get started.
8. “Chalk Board” Gift Wrap – These adorably stylized presents only need two things for the full effect – extra adornments are optional. With a roll of black craft paper and white paint markers you’ll have a grouping of unique and personalized packages. Check out this post for inspiration.
9. Brown Paper Gift Wrap – This neutral earth-toned paper is the perfect backdrop for a variety of handmade designs, and rather than buy a roll you can recycle those grocery store paper bags for wrapping smaller gifts. Here are a few paper decorating ideas to get you started: burlap, jute, striped or colorful ribbon would look great against the brown. Apply patterns, like chevron or polka dots, directly to the wrap with paint pens and markers. Adhere a doily to the package for a pretty extra layer, and try berries and sprigs of evergreen for simple, yet impactful, adornments.
With a few simple Christmas crafts in your arsenal, you should be well on your way to a cheerful holiday season. Is there any nostalgic décor (even if others consider it gaudy) that you just have to use each year? Let us know on the EcoSalon Facebook page!
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Image of Gifts and Twine via Shutterstock