Homemade Christmas decorations

Christmas Cards

There is nothing nicer than receiving homemade Christmas cards and here are two simple ideas to delight your friends

What you need:

• A4 card (each sheet will make two bow cards, or four star and glitter cards)
• Selection of coloured felt (each card needs 10.5 x 15cm)
• Gold ribbon, 2cm wide (each card needs about 50cm in length)
• Tissue paper in various colours
• Glitter
• Scissors
• Glue

To make gold bow card:

1. Cut a piece of A4 card in half widthways and fold in half again.
2. Position front of card face down on a piece of felt and glue in place.
3. Leave to dry, then trim away any excess felt.
   Note: You could use self-adhesive felt for quicker results.
4. Cut two pieces of ribbon, one 15cm long and the other about 35cm long.
5. Glue the shorter length ribbon on to the card from top to bottom (making sure it is in the centre).
6. Tie the second piece of ribbon into a bow and stick to the gold ribbon on the card about 5cm down its length.
7. Leave to dry.

To make star and glitter cards:

1. Cut a piece of A4 card in half widthways and fold in half again.
2. Select some tissue paper in two or three co-ordinating colours and cut into strips and squares.
3. Glue the tissue paper to the card, so that the colours overlap and bleed into each other. Leave to dry
4. Carefully cut the cards in half, widthways, to make two cards.
5. Cut stars or other shapes out of tissue paper and using paper glue, stick these shapes to the cards.
6. Finally, sprinkle on some glitter.

Window snowflake

Design your own sparkling snowflake to hang in the window or on the tree

What you need:

• Wire-filled tinsel strips
• Scissors
• All-purpose glue
• Thin cotton for hanging

What to do:

1. Take one 30cm-long wire-filled tinsel strip, fold into five 6cm-long sections and make into a five-pointed star.
2. Glue the loose ends together, using all-purpose glue and leave to dry.
3. Cut five 5cm-long strips and five 6cm-long strips of wire tinsel.
4. Glue the 5cm-long strips to each of the tips on the star.
5. Leave to dry.
6. Glue the five longer strips to the points on the star where the points meet.
7. Leave to dry.
8. Cut 20 4cm-long pieces of tinsel and fold into v-shapes.
9. Carefully stick two of these v-shaped pieces of tinsel to each arm of the snowflake. Leave to dry.
10. Tie a piece of silver cord through the snowflake and hang.

Note: The wire snowflake is very delicate, so handle it gently.