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Pinecone Gnome Ornaments
This holiday crafts idea transforms inexpensive materials like pinecones and felt into a trio of wise gnomes. Let your imagination run wild as you style their beards, scarves, and hats.
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Muffin Pan Calendar
Fun to make and use, this advent calendar transforms your mini muffin pan into a treasured holiday countdown. Use a pan with 24 wells—they should be about 2 inches wide. Cut twenty-four 2-1/4-inch circles from a 12x24-inch adhesive magnet sheet. Adhere them to patterned paper; cut out. Use a 1-inch circular punch for the inner circles. Number and glue them to the magnetic circles. Fill the wells with fun trinkets, notes, and candies.
Editor's Tip: To hang your calendar, use a hammer and a nail to punch holes on one end of the pan. String with ribbon, as shown.
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Almond Bird Ornaments
These almond-body birds are so cute, you'll want to hang them front and center on your tree. Make more than one for a team of teeny tweeters.
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Pyramid Candy Holder
Make fancy folded treat holders as a pretty food gift or as party favors. Our free download includes a pattern and instructions. You'll want to pick out pretty scrapbook papers for the pyramids, plus decorative ribbon and metallic twine or yarn for finishing touches.
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Poetic Chalkboards
With a little help, you'll have holiday wall art that's beautiful to look at and read. You'll need a framed chalkboard or a decorative frame and some chalkboard paint for this project. Print and enlarge our chalk design to fit your frame. Tape the design to the chalkboard, and slide white transfer paper underneath. Trace and fill in the design with a chalk pencil, keeping the pencil sharp for crisp lines.
Editor's Tip: To prevent smudges, place a piece of paper between your hand and the chalkboard panel, and work away from the areas you have already filled in.
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Silhouette Ornament
These ornaments are so chic, no one will know you made them yourself. Paint hammered silver frames brown, and wipe the paint gently for a distressed effect. Fill the frames with printed silhouettes; you can easily find images online.
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Ombre Glittered Vase
A little glam goes a long way on your holiday table. We used glitter in winter blues and white to coat a simple vase. Follow our video to make your own.
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Winter Gnomes
Bring cheer to any room with a pair of sneaky gnomes. Wooden balls come to life with a coat of paint, faux fur, and dramatic felt hats.
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Pom-Pom Wreath
Add some vintage charm to your holiday decor. Hot-glue colorful pom-poms and vintage light reflectors onto a plastic-foam wreath with a flat back. You also could use bulbs, vintage buttons, or recycled materials.
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Snowman Ornaments
Add personality and charm to your tree with a theatrical clay snowman. Make just one, or create a range of snowman expressions for a whole garland.
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Tiered Paper Trees
Transform a package or make an easy centerpiece with these simple paper trees. Cut three paper circles, each 1/2 inch larger than the previous from decorative paper. Fold each circle in half four times. Snip the tip of each to make a hole; unfold. Thread the circles onto a wooden skewer; gluing in place if needed.
For the topper, glue two small shapes back-to-back over the top of the skewer. Cut the skewer even with the bottom circle so the tree stands up, or leave some length to poke through a wrapped box.
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Modern Advent Calendar
Elegant, yet rustic, this advent calendar is a fun way to decorate and get your family excited for the holidays. Paint a board and attach it to a vintage window or picture frame. Hang manila shipping tags from cup hooks on the board. You can use a ruler to space the hooks evenly, or trust your eye. Adhere number stickers to the envelopes to help kids count down the days. Each morning, they can hang an ornament from that day's hook.
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Winter-Theme Votive Candles
Perfect for Christmas place settings or centerpieces, these winter-theme votives are an ideal accent for a holiday table. Wrap silver or clear votive holders in blue velvet ribbon, and hot-glue mini frosted pinecones to the ribbon for a natural touch.
Editor's Tip: Make a few of these for a unique hostess gift, or let Christmas guests take them home as party favors.
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Wire Ornament Holder
Gather your favorite collectible ornaments and trim the boughs of a whimsical art piece. Hung inside a frame topped with a bow, the ornaments are the center of attention.
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Retro Ornaments Felt Stocking
This hand-sewn felt stocking will brighten your fireplace mantel with its colorful 1950s-style ornaments and white Christmas stars.
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Homemade Holiday Snow Globe
Snow globes can be found in stores by the dozen. Why not make your own? The trick is to use liquid glycerin -- an ingredient used to make handmade soaps -- available at crafts stores.
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Heartwarming Musical Ornaments
Strike up a merry chorus on your Christmas tree with these handmade ornaments made from sheet music. To make, place old sheet music in water until it is just damp; blot off excess water with a towel. Apply a thin, even layer of decoupage medium to a piece of cream cardstock; immediately place the damp sheet music on the cardstock. Roll a rubber brayer over the sheet music to smooth it and push out air bubbles; let dry. Trace the ornament patterns, available below, onto white paper and cut out. Trace the paper patterns onto the wrong side of the cardstock; cut out shapes using a crafts knife. Erase any remaining pencil marks, and make a hole in the top of each ornament with a needle or a hole punch. Rub a cotton swab in sepia ink and rub the swab along the front and back edges of each ornament. Apply several layers of decoupage medium to both sides of each ornament; let dry between coats. To hang, thread a wire ornament hanger or a ribbon through each ornament hole.
Editor’s Tip: For extra durability, apply a layer of water-base varnish if desired. If an ornament begins to curl, place it under a heavy book for a few hours.
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White Yarn Christmas Wreath
This festive Christmas wreath made from white yarn and felt will stand out against a brightly colored door; if you have a plain white door, reverse the colors for the same contrasting look.
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Hanging Ornament Artwork
Christmas ornaments don’t have to be just for your tree -- here they come together for holiday artwork in minutes with paper circles cut from repurposed Christmas cards and festive ribbon. Grab three old Christmas greeting cards in coordinating colors and cut out three different-size circles from each. For the ornament caps, punch two circles from metallic silver cardstock using a 1/2-inch circle punch. Glue a circle at the top of the small and large ornaments, tucking half of each circle behind the ornament shape. Position ornaments on a sheet of white-on-white patterned paper; mark positions with a pencil. Cut a length of green grosgrain ribbon for each ornament hanger; tape the ribbon ends to the paper with double-stick tape. Tape the ornaments in place, and tie a bow from the remaining ribbon. Adhere the bow to the top of the medium-size ornament with crafts glue. Frame the design for a polished look.
Editor’s Tip: Glam up the decoration by adding self-adhesive gemstones to the ornaments.
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Ribbon Christmas Card Hanger
Display a friendly season's greeting to all guests. To create a ribbon card hanger, simply stitch ribbons in flaps and attach a kicky bow at one end with a few stitches. Add a picture hanger to the back of the bow and hang on the wall. Tuck a card under each flap and adhere with double-stick tape.
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Colorful Holiday Pillow
Give a plain pillow a holiday makeover by giving it a new slipcover made from red burlap and acrylic paint.
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Christmas Canvas
This brightly colored Christmas collage is a great festive addition to bookshelves, nightstands, or coffee tables during the holidays. To make, paint a 6-inch stretched canvas with red acrylic paint; let dry. Referring to the photo, use decoupage medium to adhere a hill shape torn from sheet music to the bottom of the canvas. Evenly cover a purchased two-house foam stamp (collegeartist.com) with light green acrylic paint; stamp houses on canvas atop the hill. Stamp a snowy sky above the houses with circle foam stamps and white acrylic paint. Stamp a striped design around the sides of the canvas with white acrylic paint and stamp a scallop design with teal acrylic paint along the bottom. Using red ink, stamp a doodle frame design onto a scrap of pale yellow cardstock; cut out the frame and frame center and adhere to the canvas with decoupage medium. Cut holiday-theme words from an old book and adhere them inside the frame.
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Watch a Yarn Wreath in Action!
Get all our tips for yarn wreaths in this nifty 60-second video.
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Patterned-Paper Christmas Trees
Spruce up your holiday decor with patterned-paper trees. Cut or punch a decorative edge from 1x2-1/2-inch and 3/4x2-1/2-inch strips of patterned paper; curl the edges by wrapping them around a pencil. Hot-glue the pieces to a foam cone (ours are 9, 12, and 15 inches tall). Top each tree with a star cut from felt and held in place with wire. Add a gem for sparkle. Trim the tree with button, brad, and gem ornaments.
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Bright Sequined Christmas Lights
These colorful ornaments will light up your tree in vintage style and bold colors. For the bulb base, press a 1-1/2-inch plastic-foam ball on a work surface to flatten one side; repeat to flatten the opposite side. Roll the shape back and forth on the rounded edge, pressing down until the bulb base resembles a marshmallow. Press in one flat edge of the bulb base with your thumb, making it concave. Hot-glue the concave edge to the wide end of a 2-inch plastic-foam egg (this will form the ornament shape).
Place a line of hot glue between the bulb and bulb base, and attach one end of colorful sequin trim. Continue adding lines of glue and wrapping the trim around the bulb, overlapping the trim slightly as you work; cut off excess trim. Poke a hole in the center of the flat edge of the bulb base with the tip of a glue gun. Make a small loop at one end of a length of metallic cord, leaving a long tail. Push the ends of the loop into the hole; let the tail trail out of the hole. Place hot glue on the bulb base around the loop; attach and coil the cord on the base around the loop. Continue wrapping and gluing the cord to the bulb base until it is completely covered; cut off excess cord.
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Cheerful Holiday Artwork
Propped on a windowsill or a mantel, these papier-mache letters will greet your guests with cheer. Use them to display a holiday sentiment or your family's last name.
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Crystallized Christmas Trees
These rock candy-embellished cones are a fun and easy holiday crafts project. Pour horizontal rows of candy crystals in three or more colors on a baking sheet with the rows flush together. Wrap solid light-color cardstock around foam cones, slightly overlapping the paper at the back of the cone and securing it with hot glue. Do not apply the glue directly to the cone, which will melt. Larger cones may need two sheets of paper to be completely covered. Spread crafts glue on the cones and roll them in crystals; let dry. Repeat process, if needed, to cover cones completely with crystals. Use hot-glue to fill in small gaps with hand-placed crystals.
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Christmas Container Covers
These container covers, crafted using an old wool sweater in holiday hues, have endless possibilities. Felt a sweater by washing in hot water and tumbling dry. Cut the sweater into rectangular pieces and sew into tubes to fit your containers. Make them to cover pots of planted evergreens or glasses to hold Christmas candies. They also work great for to-go coffee cups (great gifts for your espresso-loving friends).
Editor's Tip: To hold the wool cover in place, attach the hook side of adhesive hook-and-loop tape to the container and slide the wool cover over the top of the container.
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Felt Dove Garland
These pretty felt doves will add subtle holiday cheer to a fireplace mantel or shelf when paired with similarly styled natural decor.
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Red and White Christmas Pillows
Pillows add instant personality to any room. And handmade pillows like these are sure to be used for the holidays year after year. Our tree pillows were done in red-and-white, but you can use different color felts to match your style.
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Winter Wonderland Pillow
This picturesque scene is crafted using simple knitting, crocheting, and embroidery techniques. The winter wonderland pillow is great for Christmas decor and can be displayed all winter long.
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Holly Leaves Christmas Tree Skirt
Make a tree skirt that you won't want to cover with gifts. To make the skirt, cut a desired-size circle, with a slit for the tree trunk, in the fabric of your choice. Cut holly leaves from two colors of green fabric and in two sizes (24 and 26 inches long), and cut circles from red fabric for the berries. Hand-stitch long straight stitches with embroidery floss down the center of the leaves. Glue the leaves and berries onto the skirt.
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Cookie Cutter Christmas Wreath
If making cutout cookies isn't your thing, use cookie cutters in a new way this Christmas. To make this wreath, arrange large cookie cutters on a paper-covered work surface in a circular shape, and fill in the gaps with smaller cookie cutters. Glue the arrangement together with an adhesive appropriate for metals; let dry. Spray-paint the wreath, if desired, and top with a festive bow.
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