Have Glue Gun, Will Craft

With the Thanksgiving leftovers almost a distant memory and the holiday season officially underway, visions of glitter and glue guns have begun dancing in my head. As these next few weeks become increasingly hectic, I like to take time out with my family to flex our DIY muscles and create Christmas decorations. I have found that this is a fun way to slow down and connect with family and friends during the holiday season.

When my son was younger, we would brush white craft glue onto plain glass ornaments and roll them in glitter (think rolling snicker doodle cookie dough in cinnamon sugar). It was fun and easy and yes, messy, but we still hang those ornaments on the tree years later. As he’s gotten older, we’ve graduated to painting glass ornaments and using a hot glue gun to bedazzle them with crystals, feathers, ribbons, even birds! An easy cut and glue craft that we enjoyed doing together consisted of taking a tin or cardboard star, cutting festive scrapbooking paper to size, gluing the pieces onto the star and sealing it with clear or glittery Mod Podge – adding a seasonal ribbon completed the look.

Check out some of our creations from Christmas past, before and after:

One project that I’m excited to try this year is this adorable Santa Tulle Wreath from Jill at babyrabies.com. Plenty of inspiration abounds on websites like Pinterest as well as craft stores like JoAnn’s or Michael’s. If you have a particular idea in mind or need some guidance, Michaels.com has great suggestions for crafting projects ranging from ornament decorating to cookie baking to sewing. Plaidonline.com is also an excellent resource for more holiday crafting ideas, as well as year-round and rainy day projects. Both these sites offer materials lists, pictures and clear instructions so even the novice or youngest crafter can turn out some really fun and pretty awesome decorations.