Have yourself a crafty little Christmas

I think most people would agree that Christmas has gotten way too commercial. It seems to be all about buying stuff and getting stuff and then getting stuffed with a big turkey dinner. Not to mention the people who go way overboard with the Christmas lights….

 
Whoa! (Images via Socyberty)

For some reason, this year I’m seriously lacking the Christmas decorating mojo. I did put up a tree in the dining room, but other than that, all my Christmas paraphernalia is just sitting there on the floor in the family room. I keep looking at it and wondering what to do with it all. I’m finding that I’m not so interested in putting out all the store-bought decorations that I’ve accumulated over the years. So I think this year, I’m going to pare back on the store stuff and focus more on hanging homemade ornaments and decorations.

(Oh sh*t, not A Hippopotamus Christmas! Crap, now I’m going to have it in my head for the rest of the day!)

OK, so now that I’m doomed, I thought I’d share some of the Christmas crafts that I’ve come across. I’ve made a couple of them, and I’ll be showing you my very favourite Christmas craft project next week.

I love these Christmas balls. I made a bunch of them years ago, and other than one that broke, I put them on the tree every year. These aren’t my balls, they’re from Alyssa Ruklic’s board on Pinterest. I want to make one just like the blue, green, and purple ball on the bottom right. But these balls are kind of a crapshoot – no two will ever come out the same. Which is what makes them all that much more special :-)

Ashton at A Yellow Bicycle made these pretty purple, grey, white, and yellow balls (tutorial here).

Along the same line are these glittery balls that Amy at Prairie Paper & Ink made with dye re-inker and glitter (tutorial here).

I just realized that I keep calling these balls. I did mention last week that I’m a bit obsessed with balls, so it’s just the word that pops into my head. Technically, they’re glass ornaments.

If you like pinecones, here’s an edible version and an inedible version for you. Felt pinecones (these would be the inedible ones!) from Family Circle (tutorial here):

And these much more tasty fondant-covered rice krispie treat pinecones (and acorns and Christmas trees too) are from Bakingdom (tutorial here):

Holly used a wood monogram from Southern Proper Monograms, a sprig of greenery, and a couple of festive ribbons to create this simple & elegant decoration for her front door. Read more about it over at Holly Mathis Interiors.

If you’re a musician or have a musician in the family, you’ll like these stars made from Christmas carol sheet music (tutorial with templates here).

Cute blue & green topiaries made with mini ornaments (from BHG, tutorial here):

Also from BHG, a pretty wreath made with craft store pearls. I’m guessing this one takes a lot of time and patience! The link to the BHG web site doesn’t seem to work anymore, but it’s just a styrofoam wreath that’s covered with a satin ribbon and then the pearls are glued on. You could use the same technique to make balls – errrrr, tree ornaments.

Crafty projects are all about using your imagination and creativity. Tiffany at Living Savvy came up with the idea to make these cute Christmas trees. Can you guess how she did it?

Would you believe poster board and Epsom salt?! Check out Tiffany’s tutorial here.

And finally, Mrs. Mustard Seed created this beautiful no-sew – that’s right, NO-SEW – ruffled tree skirt ♥ I really want to make one, but I don’t know if I’ll have time to do it this year. But next Christmas for sure! (Tutorial here).

There are loads of great Christmas crafts out there, these are just a few that caught my eye. If you’ve come up with a great Christmas craft, I’d love to see it – leave me a comment with a link and I’ll check it out :-)

TWO REMINDERS!

My giveaway for the My Memories Suite digital scrapbooking software is open until 11:59PM on Monday, December 12th. It’s the perfect Christmas gift for your favourite scrapbooker, decorator, or YOU! :-) Click here to enter.

Bake-N-Blog Holiday Edition, Part 2 is happening next Wednesday, December 14th. Get our your KitchenAids & baking sheets and join in the fun! Click here for all the details.

Happy weekend!