Gone are the days when everything used to be Homemade, especially during Holiday season. Lack of time and easy availability of stuff at affordable prices make buying stuff an attractive bet, versus making something yourself. However, I’m sure everyone of you will agree, that making things yourself is a great way to indulge your creativity, and holiday crafts are a fun way to involve the entire family, Mom, Dad, Uncles, Aunts, Grandparents, Kids and Teenagers alike – so everyone can feel part of a tradition, part of a loving family!
This Christmas, if you still have some time on your hands, try making these simple but pretty holiday ornaments at home. You will love the challenge of teaching something valuable to your kids, as well as cater to the little kid in you, who’s too grown up to believe in Santa anymore!
Cardboard and Felt Ornaments
Stencils are a great way to make simple but pretty ornaments in no time! Use whatever stencils you like, hearts, maple leaves, pine cones, Santa, birds and reindeer, the possibilities are endless. Just collect felt paper in several different colors, cut out your favorite stencils, and glue the felt cut-outs onto a cardboard backing, to keep them stable while hanging. use hot-glue to stick a hanging loop to the back of the ornament, or cut a small hole and pass the thread through. Decorate your main stencil with more designs and cut-outs, like this fancy projects pictured here. You’ll find more inspirational ideas at BHG.com
Edible Stained Glass Cookie Ornaments
Ever imagined what fun it would be to just grab one of those pretty ornaments off the tree and pop it into your mouth?! Seriously, you can make these pretty cookies yourself, without much effort, and give them out as gifts, or hang them as edible ornaments – something to feast on after the gifts have been opened! GrannyGoodEarth, a retired consultant in Midwest shows you How to make cute edible cookie ornaments, so you can engage your kids in an interactive holiday activity that is educational as well as fun!
Salt-Dough Ornaments
If you’ve ever used Playdough, you’ll know how much fun it is to make objects using the dough. Use the same concept to make your holiday decorations. You’ll need:
2 cups of flour
1 cup salt
1 cup water
food coloring
Making Salt-Dough Ornaments
Mix flour and salt together. Add water and food coloring, mix until well combined.
Form mixture into a ball and knead very well for 5-10 minutes until smooth. For best results don’t skimp on this step, the ornaments will come out better with lots of kneading! Not enough kneading can lead to a brittle ornament. If you do not plan to bake it right away be sure to put the dough in a Ziploc bag to ensure that it does not dry out.
Roll out the dough and use Christmas shaped cookie cutters, to cut out the ornaments. Remember to make a hole at the top for stringing a ribbon.
Bake on a low oven setting, 250 degrees for about 2-2 1/2 hours or until the ornaments appear dry and hardened. Let cool overnight.
The next day, paint your ornaments with acrylic paint, if not using food coloring, and seal with an acrylic varnish for durability. Add a ribbon for hanging and your pretty ornament is ready!
Glittered Ornaments
If you have old ornaments, and want too add some jazz to them without spending much, use some Glitter to make patterns and highlight them, like this star-pattern on a red ball ornament (image via FreeFoto, under CC License). You can also use different colored glitter pens and ask your kids to draw their favorite patterns on felt-paper cutouts, then stick them up on the tree.
Beaded or Pearl Ornaments
Just like you use beads to make anklets and bracelets, this time, use your imagination and creativity to form Stars and other Christmas shapes using these. Use a flexible wire and string beads or pearls onto it. Then mold it and shape it to form a Star pattern, or a Snowflake. Use this as a Tree-Topper and it will light up your Christmas tree in a jiffy.
Hope you enjoyed this joyful ride of creating beautiful holiday ornaments at home. Holiday crafts are not only entertaining and stress-relieving, but they also enable to bring everyone closer together in the family, just like holiday cooking or feasting! plus, you’ll save quite a lot of money too, as cost of decorating a tree can add up quite a bit. So take some time to get your creative juices flowing, and make something memorable this holiday season.
Great post. Thanks!
very nice post.My kids class is working on the flour and salt dough ornaments for christmas this year..they look very pretty
was looking for the flour-dough recipe that works – thanks for this timely post:) I plan to make some with my daughter this year
Woww thanks for sharing..
Hey, that is a great idea !!!