Homemade Christmas decorations

homemade christmas decoration Make Christmas extra-special this year - create these beautiful decorations for your home or as gifts, and send your friends and family a card to remember

Christmas tree advent calendar

Your children will enjoy receiving a small treat each December day from this eye-catching advent calendar

What you need:

  • Selection of different coloured felt squares (normal or self-adhesive), measuring 22 x 30 cm
  • Green and brown water-based paint
  • All-purpose or fabric glue (preferably with a narrow nozzle)
  • A selection of coloured sequins
  • Gold or silver cord or ribbon
  • Double-sided Velcro™
  • Scissors
  • Craft knife
  • Cardboard, 3mm thick and measuring at least 27 x 37cm
  • 24 small toys or sweets
  • Tissue paper

To make the felt bags:

  1. Cut a selection of different coloured felt into 8 x 6cm pieces. For a complete advent calendar you will need 24 bags (you can make these bigger or smaller).
  2. Take each piece of felt and glue along one of the long edges and the two short sides, using all-purpose or fabric glue.
  3. Fold the felt in half and press glued edges together. Leave to dry.

Note: You can also use self-adhesive felt. Lift the backing paper up a little and trim a narrow strip of the backing paper along the three sides, leaving the rest of the paper on the felt to serve as a bag lining. Press the edges together and the felt will stick tightly together.

To decorate the bags:

  1. Using a tube of glue with a narrow nozzle, draw each number (date) on to the bags and stick on sequins. Leave to dry.
  2. Attach self-adhesive Velcro™ (approx 3cm x 3cm) to the back of each bag, keeping both pieces of Velcro™ together.
  3. Wrap small gifts, such as costume jewellery, marbles, plastic dinosaurs, toy soldiers, single sweets, chocolates or coins, in tissue paper and slip into the bags.
  4. Cut gold and silver cord or pieces of ribbon into 20cm strips and tie tightly around the bags.

To make the tree:

  1. Draw the shape of a Christmas tree on a piece of sturdy cardboard.
  2. Using a craft knife or sharp scissors, cut out the shape of the tree.
  3. Paint the tree on both sides and leave to dry.

To attach the bags:

  1. Evenly space bags numbered 1-12 on one side of the tree. When you are happy with their position, peel the backing off the Velcro™ already attached to the bags and press into position.
  2. Repeat on the other side with bags 13-24.

To make the tree pot:

  1. On a piece of 3mm-thick card, draw two identical pot shapes, measuring 16.5cm at the top and 8.5cm at the base, and cut them out.
  2. Using the card pot as a template, cut out two pot shapes in felt.
  3. Glue the cardboard to the felt and leave to dry.
  4. Glue the two shortest sides and bottom of the card together, to form an 'envelope'.
  5. Draw the number 25 with glue and attach sequins.
  6. Put the tree into its pot 'envelope' and slip in a card or a special Christmas Day message.

Christmas tree decorations

Add these beautiful Christmas tree decorations to your traditional family favourites for a truly sparkling tree


What you need:

  • Polystyrene shapes: hearts and balls, available from craft stores and haberdashery departments
  • Dressmaker's pins
  • Sequins
  • Beads
  • Selection of ribbons, lengths depend on size of polystyrene shape, but approximately 1 metre per shape
  • Ready-mixed paint

Making the round decorations:

  1. For ball measuring 20cm or 25cm in diameter: Wrap approximately one metre of 1cm-wide ribbon, in a colour of your choice, around the ball (hold the ribbon in place with pins where necessary).
  2. For the smaller ball, use the ribbon to divide the ball into eight sections.
  3. For the larger decoration, divide the ball into four sections.
  4. Do not cut off any remaining ribbon, as this will be used as a hanging loop.
  5. Pin sequins into the polystyrene ball, using different colours to make patterns, but make sure you can't see any of the white ball.
  6. When the ball is completely covered with sequins, fold the remaining ribbon into a loop and secure with more sequins.

Note: The finished balls are quite heavy, so you may want to glue the ribbon to the balls first and then cover with sequins.

Making the heart-shaped decorations:

  1. Take polystyrene hearts (about 9cm long) as above.
  2. Pin a selection of coloured sequins as before, but this time, add some beads to the decoration.

Note: These decorations are fairly time-consuming to make, so to save time, you can use wider ribbon or paint the polystyrene shapes first. This way, you do not have to use as many pins, beads or sequins to hide the white, but you still get a super-glittery finish.

Decorated gift box

You could use this to present the tree decorations as gifts

Cover the outside of an existing small box with strips of coloured tissue paper. Add stars and glitter. Fill with scrunched up tissue paper and insert your gift.

Christmas Cards

Homemade 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.