Christmas is coming and, love it or hate it, decorations are going to be going up pretty soon; if they haven't already. After our first craft round up went pretty well, we thought we'd turn this into a running feature; rounding up the best things we've seen online over the past month that can be created for a small cost and a heap of enjoyment at home. With the festive season fast approaching, expect a heavy dose of Christmassy...ness.
Christmas Tree Treat Box
Creating this box couldn't be easier thanks to I Heart Nap Time and Design Eat Repeat who combined forces on this; the design is printable (and free!) and allows you to simply cut along the edges, score, tape and voila! I Heart Nap Time is ran by Jamielyn who wants to inspire creativity during naptime; sharing craft tips, DIY projects, receipes and more. Design Eat Repeat is ran by Melissa, a Graphic & Web Designer; giving her a skill-set that clearly shines through in both her crafts and photography. What we really love about this is the fact that the design can be mixed up really easily. When all of the pieces are together it resembles a cake that looks so good you want to take a bite, although we'd advise only eating the chocolates you put inside. If you take a piece of the cake and put a popsicle stick in the end you suddenly have a Christmas tree. Clever, eh?Upcycled DIY Christmas Stocking
Combining a love of thrift shops with her creative craft skills is Amy from Maker Mama, who also partnered up to get this clever step-by-step guide published over at DIY Candy. Thrift shops are all the rage these days, pick yourself up a bargain stocking in the form of some stripy trousers just like in this tutorial. Amy hopes to help readers find their own creative spark by sharing her unique and interesting ideas. This Christmas stocking is really interesting because you can create it out of almost any piece of clothing that you like the pattern or colours on. You're going to need a sewing machine to complete this one, so not an idea for children to be completing on their own. The pictures do enough justice for this one, look at the transformation from left to right:Sparkle Confetti Garlands
Coming up next is these effortlessly elegant confetti garlands from Kate over at Centsational Girl whose name suggests everything she is aiming to accomplish, and succeeds in accomplishing; "diamond style on a dime." Kate confesses at the start that she has a "crush on all things spots and dots" which continues with this stylish addition to the home or Christmas tree. This garland is incredibly easy to create, in fact it is intentionally as easy as possible so that Kate (and her readers) can create these with the kids if they want to get involved. These are the type of decoration that add so much class to your home from a distance without people even clocking on that they're homemade and low-cost. Take a look at how great they are in the pictures below.Jingle Bell Christmas Tree
Jingle bells are rarely appropriate throughout the year, but when it comes to Christmas they are a must-have decoration. Crafts Unleashed have designed this easy-to-create but fancy-looking Christmas tree made solely from jingle bells (excluding the durafoam interior and greening pins, that is). This is the type of decoration that is going to look great wherever you put it; on the window ledge, by the fire, as a centrepiece during dinner - it really doesn't matter! You can see just how stylish this can look in the image below, although I'd warn obsessive compulsives to try and ignore the third row from the bottom. On the left hand side. Don't say I didn't warn you!
Home Made Santa Advent Calendar
It's thanks to Diana from DeeDees Card Art featuring on Live and Love Crafts that we've discovered the shocking reality that not all advent calendars contain chocolate; who'd have thought?! Nonetheless, this is a really interesting piece of craft and definitely something you should try for yourself. Diana is based in Germany but every blog post is handily written in both German and English meaning more people can join in with her crafty ways. Although there isn't much of a step-by-step guide to follow, the main parts of the calendar is photographed separately so you can get a good view at it, and all of the required materials are listed at the start. The end result is smart to say the least:
Brightly Coloured Crackers
It wouldn't be Christmas without crackers. One of the best things about Christmas dinner is pulling crackers and revealing the terrible gifts and jokes inside, along with popping a paper hat on your head of course. Thanks to Kate over at Mini-eco for recently re-sharing her brightly coloured crackers from a few years back, they're simple in style but will be sure to turn heads when sitting down to tuck into the turkey and pigs-in-blankets. The advantage to creating your own crackers is that you can insert some slightly more useful gifts inside each one, however, rubbish jokes are non-negotiable. We love the simple style of these but you're free to customise them as you see fit, what can you come up with?Have you created or found any interesting DIY Christmas decorations online? Be sure to tell us about them in the comments below!