One of the best ways to capture the Christmas spirit is by getting crafty — and what better way to exercise your holiday creativity than to make homemade Christmas decorations? Crafting for Christmas is a good way to connect with your family, while making unique items that will enhance your holiday celebrations and make your holiday home feel cozy and special.
Christmas provides so much inspiration for crafting, and every corner of your home is ripe for some holiday embellishment! Make Christmas ornaments, a holiday display shelf, candle holders, and more.
Not sure where to start with your holiday crafting? We’ve gathered some fun ideas to get you started. Just add glue!
1. Christmas tree pallet
If you love the look of rustic Christmas decorations, you will love this simple and DIY Christmas tree pallet project by Redhead Can Decorate. It only looks hard to make, but it’s simple enough to make in one evening, and you will enjoy it all season long.
Are you wondering where people find all these old pallets they use to make amazing rustic crafts? Many businesses receive shipments on pallets and then have no further use for them so they give them away. Look outside the dumpster in industrial parks or do a quick search on your local neighborhood buy-sell site. Even a quick post on your social media profile will probably net a few stray pallet offers from friends and family.
The rest of the supplies for this craft are easy to find — check out your local craft store or dollar store to pick up the things you need to make a pallet Christmas tree. You will need nails and a hammer, white paint, a strand of Christmas lights, tinsel garland, ornaments of your choice, and a thick branch or half of a stump. Chances are you can find a lot of these materials in your Christmas decorations box already!
When you finish your palette Christmas tree, display it on your front porch, on top of your fireplace mantle, or in your front entryway. To decorate your front yard, make a few of these Christmas trees and prop them up on your lawn.
Modern string art palette Christmas tree: Combine the homespun charm of a pallet with the modern sensibility of string art. A modern-style Christmas tree will look great with either an unfinished wooden pallet or with a crisp white paint job to create a clean, modern backdrop for the string art tree. Hammer nails into the pallet to create the Christmas tree shape and add extra nails to create your string art design. Use yarn or embroidery floss to create a geometric string art design, then decorate as desired with Christmas lights and additional decorations.
2. Teeny tiny wine cork reindeer
If you’re a regular wine drinker, you’ve probably saved a lot of wine corks “just in case” crafty inspiration strikes. Well, here’s your chance to use some of those wine corks to create an adorable teeny tiny wine cork reindeer designed by Make the Best of Things.
Supplies needed for this craft are easy to find. You’ll need wine corks, small twigs, hot glue, bamboo skewers, red ball-head pins, and ribbon or other decorative accents. You can find everything you need at your local craft store (and maybe take a quick trip outside to find some small twigs to make a perfect reindeer). If needed, you can also buy wine corks at the craft store or ask a local restaurant or bar if they have any extras.
Wine and craft party: No need to craft solo — make a full party of the evening, with a fun wine-themed craft. Invite your wine-loving pals over for cheese, wine, and crafting! Open a few bottles of your favorite wines, set out a plate of cheese, and ask your pals to bring along some wine corks to create this craft.
Reindeer place card holders: Buy premade wire place card holders and trim with wire cutters, then insert into the reindeer’s back to make perfect place card holders for your holiday party.
Reindeer ornaments: To turn the reindeer into cute ornaments, knot a piece of ribbon to make an ornament hanger, then secure the ribbon to the reindeer’s back using a ball-head pin. Make one for each member of your family or create a whole herd of reindeer to adorn your Christmas tree.
3. Santa pants poinsettia flower pots
Poinsettia plants are a traditional Christmas decoration that brings cheer to your holiday home decor with their fiery red leaves. Give this lovely holiday plant a perfect home with Club Chica Circle’s instructions for making a very clever poinsettia flower pot that looks like Santa’s pants!
Looking for a creative way to display poinsettia plants this holiday season? We challenge you to come up with a more clever idea than planting them in Santa’s pants! This craft is easy and fun to make and will take you about an hour.
You just need a few simple supplies for this craft, which you can find at your local craft store. You’ll need to pick up two terra cotta planter pots along with their saucer bases, red acrylic craft paint, black ribbon, gold craft foam, quilt batting, and hot glue.
Tiny Santa pants planter ornament: Use the instructions provided with tiny terra cotta pots and a sprig of faux poinsettia to make cute ornaments. Hot glue the poinsettia sprigs inside the pots and glue a piece of ribbon on the ornaments to hang them.
4. Christmas wine glasses
When you look at a wine glass, what do you see? Now turn the wine glass upside-down — do you see a whole collection of cute Christmas characters, like these painted Christmas wine glass candle holders by The Keeper of the Cheerios? You’ll find instructions for turning wine glasses into traditional Christmas characters like elves, gingerbread men, reindeer, and many others.
Use dollar store wine glasses as the base for this creative Christmas craft idea. Other supplies needed can be found at your local craft store. You’ll need various colors of spray paint and glitter paint, pompoms, ribbon, wiggle eyes, glitter pipe cleaners, buttons, black paint pens, and some hot glue. Don’t forget to pick up some battery-operated tea lights so you have a safe way to display your candle holders.
Dollar store wine glasses make the perfect canvas for your Christmas creativity. Just paint the wine glasses to create cute candle holders in any style you can imagine. The inspiration post will get you started with several different ideas for decorating the glasses, but you can also create other traditional Christmas characters like Santa, Mrs. Claus, the Grinch, or even a collection of candle holders decorated like your family members.
Elegant holiday candle display: Create an elegant Christmas candle display simply by spraying the glasses with metallic paint and adding letters that spell out your favorite holiday message, such as JOY. Make one candle holder per letter needed, and use pretty scrapbooking stickers or chipboard letters to make the message — just glue the letters to the glasses.
5. Christmas snow sleigh shelf
If you love the look of antiques and repurposed “junk” made fabulous, check out this great idea: a Christmas sled shelf, made by Funky Junk Interiors. Reuse an old-fashioned style sled as a shelf to display your favorite Christmas antiques or as a pretty holiday accent in any room.
Sometimes an antique is almost perfect as is but can be made even more functional with the help of a little DIY magic. In the case of this clever project, adding two small boards to the back of the sled to create shelves takes it from being merely decorative to useful. Who doesn’t need just a little more stylish storage space?
To find a metal sled like this, scour antique shops, local for sale listings, or do a quick search on an online auction site. Pick up a few boards, nails, and home decor paint at your local hardware store. Note: measure the sled before you shop and get the boards cut to size at the hardware store before you leave.
Need even more storage built into this shelf? Screw some cup hooks to the bottom of the sled to add space for hanging items. Use the hooks to display ornaments, Christmas cards, or holiday hand towels. Don’t have a fireplace mantle? This shelf would make a great place to hang up Christmas stockings.
Use the sled as a decoration on your front porch, accessorized with your favorite vintage yard decorations and a strand of Christmas lights. You can also hang the sled shelf on your wall and use it to display Christmas mementos, photos, or other nostalgia-inspired home decor items. The shelf is also functional (as demonstrated in the inspiration post) — you can use it to provide some pretty holiday storage in your guest bathroom.