Decorating the tree at Christmas is often one of the most exciting things we do. Everyone puts their tree up at a slightly different time, but it really signifies that Christmas has well and truly started. This year, rather than just decorating your tree with shop bought baubles and decorations, as beautiful as they are, why not put your heart and soul into the tree and make some of your own decorations? What a fantastic build up to the festive period that would be and it is something everyone can get involved with. In this article we will take a look a 6 different handmade Christmas tree decorations. Don’t worry, we’ll throw in some that even the youngest can do.
Mini Olaf
Frozen is one of the most popular films for families and we have all fallen in love with Olaf, haven’t we? Why not have him on your tree? You’ll need a tongue depressor, white felt, black felt, orange felt, two googly eyes, two small twigs as well as a glue gun, some cotton thread and a pair of scissors. Using an Olaf template, cut out his feet (x2), his body sections, one large and one small, his teeth and his head from the white felt. Cut out 3 buttons, his mouth and eyebrows from the black felt and his nose from the orange felt. Stick the legs, two body parts and head onto the tongue depressor with the hot glue. Then add the buttons, the eyes, they eyebrows and the mouth. Finally add the nose and his teeth. Stick the two small twigs onto the tongue depressor so that they come out of the upper part of his body. Glue on a cotton loop at the top to give you something to hang him with. The final piece is to get some pieces of dark wool and give him some hair. You are now good to go with your very own Olaf tree ornament.
Velvet Heaven
This one could not be more simple. You will need: A ping pong ball or a tennis ball, depends on how large you want your ornament to be. Some velvet fabric, whatever colour you want. Some ribbon and some small craft beads, we really liked these mini snowflake beads. Finally, you’ll need a glue gun and some scissors. Cut out a square of the felt fabric so that it can be wrapped around whatever ball size you have and has enough fabric left to be cinched together at the top. Wrap the ribbon around the cinched piece of fabric and create a loop to hang the ornament with. You can tie if off with a nice bow. Stick on the craft beads using the glue gun and there you have it, a beautiful velvet bauble.
Pom Poms
Make some great Santa’s, elves or reindeers from pom poms. You’ll need a pom pom maker, some coloured wool, coloured card, googly eyes, a glue gun and some scissors. Make the pom poms using the pom pom maker and when tying off at the end, leave enough wool to create the hanging loop. Cut out whatever shape you want from a Santa hat, to an elf hat, or even Rudolph’s antlers. Using the glue gun, stick on the googly eyes and also the hat or antlers. You will need to keep the eyes and card pressed onto the pom pom as the glue cools. Add a small nose and you have your lovely pom pom ornament.
Photos
Another very simple ornament, but one with a real personal touch. You’ll need some PVA glue, some wooden Christmas shapes, some cotton for the hanging loop and some family photos. Simply tie the cotton around the top of the shape to make the hanging loop, cut out your favourite family photos to the size you need and stick them into the wooden shape. How easy was that? They are now good to hand and bring a personal touch to your tree.
Scrabble tiles
Now we don’t mean for you to decimate your scrabble set, after all you might well want to play over the Christmas period, but you can make some lovely decorations using these wooden scrabble tiles. The hardest part is deciding what you want the pieces to say. You’ll need your tiles, some thin ribbon for the hanging loop, some card, some felt for the backing and a glue gun. If you feel really adventurous also get some snow texture paint or use some glitter.
The first step is to decide what you want to say with the tiles. You could try “let it snow”, “Merry Christmas” or even your family name, like: “Christmas with the Thompsons”.
When you have decided on your wording, lie the tiles down so each word is above the next, on the card and mark around the tiles with a pen. Cut out the card shape just a little smaller than you have marked out. Apply glue to the card and stick on the tiles. You might need to put something heavy on top to keep them in place as the glue dries. Cut some ribbon to size and create a loop. Stick the loop to the card side of the tiles. Once the glue on the loop is dry, lay the tiles onto the felt and mark out the shape. Cut the shape out, apply glue and stick the felt to the back of the tiles, over the top of the loop to hide it, to give a really elegant backing. You can now, if you want, decorate the tiles with either some glitter or the snow texture paint to make it look like the ornament is covered in snow.
Cross Stitch
This one will take a little more planning. You’ll need some ribbon, some bamboo hoops and some cross stitch patterns, needles and thread. These patterns are quite large so they might be better off as a wall or door decoration rather than on the tree, but you can get smaller patterns and hoops. Simply place the cross-stitch pattern into the hoop and pull tight. If you’re new to embroidery, take a look at this video which will walk you through how to cross-stitch. It might take a little practice. We think the frames themselves look really nice, so, once you have finished your pattern, simply wrap some ribbon around the tensioning screw to create a hanging loop. We really like the idea of making our own decorations, especially for the tree. We feel that they add some personality to the tree but also allow us to just spend some fun and quality time with the ones we love in the run up to Christmas itself. We hope we have given you some food for thought and that you have a great time making your own decorations
