20 ways to get your holiday craft on
Christmas Crafts
Whimsical wrapping paper
Kick your presentation up a notch this year by adding a bubble garland, a paper bow or your own homemade holly-berry peekaboo wrapping paper.
How-to videos: How to make holly wrapping paper and 3 DIY crafts to dress up a gift.
DIY advent calendar
Our home editor Emma Reddington crafted up this festive calendar using small muslin spice bags adorned with small ornaments. You can just smell the Christmasy scents of pine and cedar springs already. Just lovely. Get the instructions: The Marion House Book.
Foraged wreaths
Holly jolly garland
Deck out your mantel with oversized paper leaves, holly berries and crepe paper bells. To make the garland, simply cut leaves out of construction paper, score down the centre and attach to fishing line with tape. Painted logs and paper letters that spell out Noel complete the look.
Wintery snowball ornaments
This season, deck the halls with something other than boughs and holly. Click here for detailed instructions.
All the trimmings
To create a modern tree, stick to one or two ornament styles and a limited colour palette. Make a paper garland by cutting circles and triangles out of card stock, then running them through a sewing machine. Tip: Try a white tree to make your colourful ornaments pop.
How-to-video: How to make a colourful paper garland.
Hanukkah garland
Give a handcrafted gift this Hanukkah. Our star garland is made from modelling clay, finished with gold leaf and strung with suede cord. A soft, foldable leather clutch protects the strand for years to come. Click here and follow these steps to make your own festive decoration.
Pretty fire starters
Dress up your mantel with decorations that are both beautiful and functional. These wax-dipped pine cones make excellent kindling — they catch a flame quickly and burn evenly.
Instructions:
1. Melt wax in a double boiler. Be resourceful and use leftover candle ends, if you’ve got some.
2. Remove the wax from the heat and allow it to cool slightly.
3. With tongs, dip each pine cone until coated, turning them as necessary.
4. Stand each one upright on a piece of waxed paper to cool.
5. Repeat the coating process until a thick layer of wax is built up.
6. Once dry, your wax-dipped pine cones are ready for display.
For a beautiful wintry arrangement, group your pretty fire starters with candlesticks, mercury-glass ornaments and evergreen branches dipped in wax. These lovely items also make a great hostess gift, gathered in a clear gift bag and tied with a ribbon.
Accordion folded wreath
Spruce up a door with this easy-to-make folded-paper wreath. All you need is a circular foam-core base and wide strips of green paper. Accordion-fold the paper back and forth until you have ruffles. Attach with hot glue, add a bow and voilà!
How-to video: How to make an accordion folded wreath.
Feather wreaths
Forgo tradition and decorate your house in a wintery palette with a focus on feathers. Three wreaths and a seeded- eucalyptus garland studded with decorative gold tree picks dress up this staircase.
To create the wreaths, attach ethically sourced feathers dipped in gold paint to pre-made grapevine wreath
forms. For New Year’s, remove the garland and your home is instantly party-ready.
Instant party
Add a festive pop to your holiday table with wintry paper snowflakes and stars. Make your own or, if you’re pressed for time, pick up some ready-made ones and hang them with fishing line. Tip: These decorations will work all season. Put them up at the beginning of December and keep them until the new year.
Table and candles, Ikea. Crepe paper fans, Devra Party Corp. Paper star, the Paper Place.
DIY paper feather gift tags
Give your holiday packages a lift with these beautifully crafted paper gift tags. Click here to download and print our feather template, or simply draw the pattern freehand. Fold the shape in half and delicately clip the edges to produce a downy plume. A bit of gold paint adds a touch of glamour.
DIY Christmas sweater stockings
Blogger and design expert Deb Nelson shows you how to turn old sweaters into homemade, one-of-a-kind Christmas stockings. It’s a fun, simple project, and the stockings become irregularly shaped, giving them a Grinch look.
What you’ll need:
Old sweaters (1 per stocking unless it’s really large)
Good scissors (for cutting fabric)
Sewing machine, or needle and thread
Instructions
1. Choose a few sweaters you want to recycle (if you don’t have any look for some at Value Village or other thrift stores) – wool is a good option if you want a felt stocking.
2. Machine wash and dry them (in the dryer, don’t hang to dry).
3. Lay them out flat and cut a long sock shape up from the bottom band of the sweater. Cut a shape that is a bit larger than you would like to allow space for the seams.
4. Put the right sides together so the inside part of the sweater is facing out then sew along the edges. You can use small, tight hand stitches or use a machine for better durability.
5. Turn it inside out so the seam is on the inside and you have a new Christmas stocking.
Edible gift: Crunchy maple-nut granola
Make the most important meal of the day extra special with the world’s best breakfast. Dress up paper bags with foraged festive boughs and decorative washi tape. Click here to get the recipe.
Christmas crackers
Start your party off with a bang. It’s easier than you think, and you can fill the crackers with treats personalized for each guest.
What you need: wrapping paper, cracker snap, ribbon or twine, paper tissue tube, hot-glue gun, small treats.
1. Cut a piece of wrapping paper into a 6 × 12-inch rectangle. Lay the cardboard tube at the bottom centre of the paper.
2. Thread the cracker snap through the tube and glue to the paper.
3. Gather the paper around one end of the tube and tie off with a ribbon. Fill the tube with a small treat and tie off the other end with a ribbon.
Takeaway ornament
Instead of a typical place card, create hand-painted clay feathers that double as gifts.
1. Roll out modelling clay until about 1/8 inch thick and cut out a feather shape.
2. Pierce a hole in the top of the feather so that a string can be threaded through.
3. Bake in the oven following the manufacturer’s directions.
4. Allow to cool and then paint.
5. Add each guest’s name with a pen.
DIY snowglobes
Capture the whimsy of a magical wintry day with handcrafted snow globes.
First, choose a plain glass jar; spray-paint the lid a pretty colour and let dry. Next, using epoxy glue, attach a figurine or ornament to the bottom of the lid and let dry. Then fill the jar almost to the top with distilled water; add a little bit of glitter and a few drops of glycerine to the water — glycerine stops the glitter from falling too quickly. Screw the lid on tightly, shake and voila! Use them to decorate your home or give them as cute hostess gifts.
Pine cone animal ornaments
Craft your own version of these Pottery Barn pine cone animals and turn your tree into a forest wonderland.
What you’ll need:
Pine cones, white paint, paintbrush, matches or popsicle sticks, felt-tip pen, small stuffed animals, string, hot glue gun
Instructions:
1. Brush pine cones with white paint to bring out their texture.
2. Draw toes onto the ends of matches or popsicle sticks with a felt-tip pen and hot glue gun them to the pine cones as legs or feet.
3. Take apart small stuffed animals from home or a dollar store and glue the heads and tails to the pine cones. You can also make your own heads with fluffy pom poms, fabric paint (to draw noses and eyes) and cardboard cut-outs (for ears and antlers).
4. Tie string around the pine cone and create a loop, or hot glue a loop onto the pine cone.
Confetti poppers
Beginning with a basic paper and plastic noisemaker, use fabric, pompoms, washi tape and glittery confetti to craft up a celebratory confetti popper that’s perfect for ringing in the new year.
How-to video: DIY Confetti poppers
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