A Handmade Christmas: Decorations

Today for my A Handmade Christmas series I wanted to show you some ways to make some super easy decorations for you home.

We have been making some wreaths around here lately. We made two of these last week for our front door.

All it is, is a decofoam wreath from Lincraft with fabric strips wrapped around it and secured with masking tape. The kids did a lot of it and they enjoyed figuring out the pattern. The hanger is made from twisted fabric and is secured with flat head pins.

On Sunday we decided to try our hand at making a different kind of wreath. This time we hunted out all our baubles and found a wire coat hanger.

First you need to bend your hanger into a circle and then unwind it.

 Then get the kids to cut off all the string off the baubles.

 Start threading on the baubles. Again the kids loved figuring out the pattern in which they would go on... but they got bored complaining that it was taking forever. My advice, make sure the baubles have big enough holes in the top, otherwise it can be a real pain!
You really should use a hot glue gun to keep the baubles attached the hanger thingies (technical term I know!) But I hate having the hot glue gun out when the kids are around so I just used normal craft glue for the ones that needed it. This one won't be hanging on our front door so wont have to deal with the door being opened and closed all the time...

Half way there...

 Ta Da!

It's not perfect, but I am happy with it for our first go.

I need bigger ribbon for it, but that was all I had at home.

Something else the kids can do is make these little felt decorations. All you need are cut up felt squares, some string, twine or wool, a blunt wool needle (so that don't stab themselves), some craft glue and some ribbon or string for hanging.

Also instead of turning them into mini wreaths you could just string a whole heap on a long string as a alternative to tinsel. That is if the kids wont get sick of threading them on and leaving it to you to do!

You can also make some circle tress out of felt too. Check out Ellens trees over at Creative Passage for some insipration. She has also made some wreaths and garland too. 

I am also a big fan of bunting/pennants. The kids have them in their bedrooms and I would have them our living areas if B would allow it.

I found this cute little printable bunting over at the eighteen25 blog.

The lovely girls from eighteen25 also made available the cutest printable subway art to go with it.

The kida are liking that I have already started getting some Christmas decorations out!

I will also be making some more fabric bunting. I made this quick one back in July for a craft swap

I plan on making a big Merry Christmas one after I get back from Melbourne.

Don't forget that I will be posting about Handmade Christmas ideas every day this week so be sure to pop back in and see what ideas I have come up with for tomorrow.

Sorry if you are over Christmas already, my kids are at an age where they really get into the Christmas spirit so I am milking it for all its worth!

I am linking up with Jess from Diary of a SAHM for I blog on Tuesdays.