Decorating for Christmas is one of the treasured parts of the season: putting up and trimming the tree, decking the halls with boughs of holly, and hanging stockings on the mantle. As you get ready for the holiday season, you can make great Christmas decorations yourself by just following these simple ideas:
1. Bring the Outdoors In
Chances are, this isn’t much of a stretch for anyone – bringing in an evergreen tree is part of the festivities. But you can take it step further. Go out in the yard, a walk in the park or for an outing in the mountains with your family and collect pinecones in a variety of sizes.
The pinecones will look pretty under the tree, in a glass dish (maybe with some potpourri), or in a planter outside (a pile of pinecones looks much better than dead plants or dirt in a planter). You could drill a small hole in one of the top prongs of the pinecone and put a wire ornament hanger through it – the pinecones look great on a Christmas tree or on pine boughs. To give pinecones an extra special touch, sprinkle some glitter in a brown paper bag, spray the pinecone with adhesive spray, and drop it in the paper bag. Shake the bag, pull out the pinecone, and let it dry before decorating with it.
Another way to bring the outdoors inside is to use elements from nature in a wreath. You could use a plain grapevine or pine wreath (the pine wreath can be artificial or real) and add pinecones, red berries, holly, or some branches from another kind of evergreen plant.
2. Bake Some Decorations
What reminds you of Christmas more than a house that smells of gingerbread and sugar cookies in the oven? Bring that warmth into your home by using cookies to decorate. This is a great way to include kids in making Christmas decorations.
Cookies can be used in various ways. One popular way is to use them as Christmas ornaments. You can either make them from scratch or from prepackaged cookie dough – gingerbread and sugar cookies both work great for ornaments. Before baking them, poke a hole in the top (or you can make wreath shaped cookies). One the cookies have cooled frost and decorate them any way you’d like. After the frosting has set, thread some ribbon through the holes and hang.
You can also use cookies in Christmas wreaths. Gingerbread stars and people with white frosting and dragees (those silver little balls used for decorating cookies and cakes) look particularly nice in a wreath. Just attach the cookies to the wreath with a hot glue gun.
Other uses for gingerbread are, of course, to make gingerbread houses. This does take time and effort (and lots of patience), but the results can be quite beautiful. A gingerbread house can make a very nice centerpiece – as long as people in your family don’t pick at it and eat it!
3. Pretty Paper Projects
As a child, you probably made a bunch of Christmas decorations with paper. But, with a more careful, adult hand, you can make some of the same projects look elegant for your home.
One of the first paper crafts that come mind is the classic paper snowflake. You can use the traditional method of using a single piece of paper, folding it until it a small triangle, and then cutting it in intricate designs. Or you can try the much more complicated, but stunning 3D snowflake (you can find detailed directions for both the traditional method and the 3D method online).
The snowflakes can be displayed in many ways. If they’re flat, you hang them in windows and let the indoor light shine through. They can also be used in gift-wrapping or on a Christmas tree. They look really nice when hung with fishing line from the ceiling, in different lengths, particularly at the entrance of your home. You can also dust the snowflakes with glitter or use spray glitter. Or, for an interesting twist, you can mix in some red and green snowflakes with the white ones.
Other paper crafts can include the paper chain – when nice scrapbooking paper or other high quality paper is used, you can create a nice garland for your tree, mantle, or kids room. Paper ornaments can be easy or difficult to make, depending on what your skill level is. There are many patterns for paper ornaments and you can even make them with used wrapping paper or scraps. A scrapbooking store is an excellent place to start and find great paper, stamps, embellishments, and interesting scissors.
This Christmas, make your holiday decorations a little more homemade. The results will bring warmth and character to your Christmas season and home.