Simply Creative Christmas: Hand-crafted Holiday Ornaments

Simply Creative Christmas
Fun and Frugal Ideas for Holiday Celebrations:
Hand-crafted Holiday Ornaments

Festive holiday music fills our hearts and minds with memories. As we prepare for our own family celebrations, it is easy to become overwhelmed with all of the activities, and all of the expectations. Don’t let all of the busyness of the holiday season steal your joy! Let’s look at some ideas to help us get in the spirit of the season and truly experience the beauty of the holidays.

No matter what your family heritage, it is important to establish traditions. And the holidays are a great place to begin to create lifelong memories for your family. But if you are like so many families, you are living on a budget with limited funds to celebrate the holiday season. To make this time of year a joyful experience, you will want to make a plan, set some goals, and get your whole family involved in the process. In this series of articles, you will find a variety of ways to establish traditions that your family will cherish for many generations, all designed to fit a frugal family budget and encourage creativity along the way.

We all like to decorate our homes for the holidays . . . so how about making some hand-crafted ornaments? You could make these ornaments for your own home, or as gifts for someone special on your gift-giving list. Here are three easy projects that even your little ones can do, and you will be on your way to establishing a few new traditions of your own.

Silver and White Lace Angels
Supplies:
8” of lace or white fabric, 3” – 4” wide for each angel
Small wooden beads or Styrofoam balls, ¾” – 1” in diameter
(one for each angel ornament)
Permanent marker, fine point
12” of narrow white satin ribbon for each angel
Assorted embellishments, such as glitter, sequins, rhinestones,
buttons, or beads
Glue (a hot glue gun works quickly, but regular glue also works)
Silver or white pipe cleaners

These sweet angels are so easy! Simply gather the lace or fabric strip (8” long X 4” wide) approximately 1” down from one of the long edges. Pull up the gathers in a circle and tie snuggly. Wrap a length of ribbon around and tie in a bow. Glue a wooden bead or styrofoam ball on top of the ribbon, right in the middle of the gathered edge.

Draw a simple face and hair on the wooden bead. Twist one pipe cleaner into a circle on one end, leaving the other end straight, to form a little halo for your angel. Glue the straight end of the pipe cleaner halo onto the back of the angel’s head.

Embellish each angel skirt with sequins, glitter, buttons, or beads as elaborately as you want! This is where the kids really have great fun! If you want to hang your angel ornaments on your tree, simply stitch or glue a length of thread or yarn onto the back of the angel’s head, tied at the top to make a loop.

A collection of 6 or 8 of these sweet angels would make a delightful gift for a friend or teacher . . . . or for anyone else who is very special to your family!

Tiny Treasure Boxes
Supplies:
Empty tissue box, paper towel tube, or other lightweight cardboard
Scissors
Paint or markers
Ribbon, lace, buttons, beads, or wrapping paper
Glue

Here’s another fun project that will keep the kids busy for hours! These little treasure boxes are simple, inexpensive, and make darling ornaments to decorate your holiday home.

Cut up an empty tissue box and reshape into small square or rectangle boxes. You can also visit my blog for a template for making tiny boxes. Or, cut a paper towel tube into 2” – 3” lengths and cover with decorated paper to make a round treasure box.

You can make these tiny treasure boxes to resemble wrapped Christmas presents, and hang them on your tree. You can decorate them with all kinds of embellishments: paint, glitter, buttons, beads, markers, ribbons, lace, or scrapbook papers. It would be fun to leave the top of the box open and put candy treats inside. Or, they could be used for tiny gifts such as a little lip gloss, some jewelry, tiny cars and trucks . . . . or any other tiny treasure that you can imagine!

Ribbon and Button Wreaths
Supplies:
Cardboard circle or plastic lid from a discarded container
Variety of buttons – small, medium, and large
Scraps of ribbon
Variety of beads and other embellishments
Acrylic paint
Glue gun

Super, super simple! Paint a large button red, green, or white (or use a circle of cardboard, like an old coaster or a plastic lid from a discarded container). Glue a variety of buttons all around the outside edge of the bottom circle / button, overlapping as you go. Embellish with beads or gems, and tie a tiny bow on your wreath. Glue a loop of ribbon on the back to hang your wreath on a tree or on a door knob for a holiday decoration.

These are just a few of the fun and frugal holiday projects that you can incorporate into your celebration, and establish family traditions that will be cherished for many years to come.

Article Source: http://www.wahm-articles.com

Visit my blog at www.mamaslittletreasures.typepad.com for step-by-step instructions for these projects, as well as lots of other fun, frugal, family-oriented holiday ideas.

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