Years ago, I couldn't wait to get my Christmas decorations up. When I was a young mom, we lived in Michigan, where we sometimes had snow before Halloween! It was easy to rush right through Autumn. Now that we live in North Carolina, we don't get to the prettiest of Autumn days until early November. I now find myself clinging to Autumn longer and longer, never wanting to decorate for Christmas until after Thanksgiving.
Thanksgiving has now come and gone, so I'm in the mood to start decking the halls. I find myself decorating a little more simply every year, but I still want things to look festive. One of my favorite parts of decorating is using crafts I've made over the years. Of course, not every Christmas craft is worth keeping, but I've made a few that store easily and still look good years later. If you like traditional Christmas decorations, you'll like some of my favorite Christmas crafts from years past. These are so simple to make that there's still plenty of time to make them for this year.
If you were to come to my door, you'd be greeted by this large DIY Joy sign:
I made it from a 2' x 4' piece of plywood and 9 1/2" craft letters. All it took was some spray paint, glue, and a ruler! You can see the complete directions here.
Once again my kitchen window will wear this easy NOEL sign. Pottery Barn offered a similar sign a few years ago, but it was pretty pricey--so I created my own. Obviously it's modeled after the 1960's "LOVE" design--remember that tilted "O"?
Making your own version of the sign is a simple craft. You'll need some kind of lightweight letters (I used pressboard letters in a shape similar to the Pottery Barn sign), balsa wood strips, and spray paint, and hot glue. The back will look like this:
You can see step-by-step instructions for the sign here.
I love to burn candles at Christmastime, but it can be a challenge to find pretty ones that aren't heavily scented. So these easy-to-make Christmas candles are a favorite craft of mine:
Would you believe that's a just a pretty napkin Mod-Podged onto a plain pillar? These are fun to display and make nice gifts as well. The full directions are here.
This next craft is so easy that it hardly even qualifies as a craft! Did you know you can make your own Christmas pillows from placemats?
Look for two-ply placemats. Just last week I bought a package of four at Home Goods for $9.99! Then simply open up the two layers of fabric with a seam ripper:
Fill with the stuffing of your choice or pop in a pillow insert, stitch or glue the opening back up, and you've got a cute pillow! If you need more explanation, you can see the complete instructions here.
Last year I captured a special memory by making a super-easy Christmas ornament out of one of my mother's favorite Christmas recipes. My mom died in 1999, so I love seeing this bit of her handwriting.
How about you? Do you make your own Christmas decorations? Have you started your Christmas decorating yet? I'd love to see what you're up to!
I am starting my decorating tomorrow. I always put the tree up the weekend after Thanksgiving, but I have held on the other for a few more days. I have found myself more and more going with less is more too. I love my oldest treasures more than anything I have bought recently. I haven't really bought anything new other than a few cloth napkins in a few years. I do cross stitch so that is my crafting and maybe an occasional sewing of pillows. I used to craft a bunch more... need to bring that back.
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