Sara's Top Five Simple Christmas Crafts for a Festive Home

It’s the most wonderful time of the year! And while the weather outside might be frightful, getting crafty in the warmth of your home is so delightful. So, instead of stepping outside into the frost and winds, we asked Sara to give us her top 5 simple and easy Christmas crafts to decorate your home.

Follow along with Sara’s picks and bring the Christmas feeling to your spaces that are sure to make them merry and bright.

Oh Holy Night Frame

A festive frame can add an extra Christmassy feeling to any home around the holidays, and even works great as part of your table setting for your Christmas dinner. Follow along for how to make our Oh Holy Night Frame.

Here’s what you’ll need

• Deep box frame
• Ready-made bow or ribbon
• Scrabble tiles
• Star embellishment
• Glue gun
• Paper or card of your choice

Step-by-step instructions

1. Take the back of the frame off and remove the card or paper. This will be the template for how big your paper or card needs to be.
2. If you’ve chosen a piece of paper as your background, you will need to back this with some sturdy card. Once you have done this, you can start arranging your scrabble letters onto the card, in the shape of a tree. 
3. When you are happy with the arrangement, glue the scrabble pieces in place with the glue gun.
4. To finish the piece, add a star to the top of the tree and a bow to the bottom tile to give the effect of a Christmas tree stand. 

Paper Bauble Garland

Is there anything more Christmassy than baubles? This simple craft gives your home that extra festive injection in a few easy steps!

Here’s what you’ll need

• Patterned paper
• Wooden beads 
• String of battery-operated fairy lights 
• Thin craft wire
• Scissors

H3: Step-by-step instructions

1. First, cut six strips of paper measuring 10” x 3/4” each.
2. Cut six pieces of craft wire to 6” then bend one end to create a loop. Next thread a bead on to this end of the wire. 
3. Make a small hole in the centre and at both ends of each strip of paper.
4. Thread all the strips of paper onto the wire through the centre hole and fan them out.
5. Taking one strip at a time, thread the ends of the paper strips onto the wire. This should create a bauble shape once they have all been added.
6. Thread another bead onto the wire and bend the end into another loop to keep all the pieces in place.
7. Finish the garland by threading some fairy lights through each of the wire loops. 

Snow Globe Centerpiece

Snow globes are a classic winter decoration, guaranteed to bring the feeling of snow to your home without the chill. Here’s how to make your own, perfect as a centerpiece for your table.

Here’s what you’ll need

• Glue gun
• Faux snow 
• Plastic decorations of your choice 
• Glass jars in varying sizes and heights 
• Clear thread
• Battery operated lights 
• Stars 
• Wood slice 

Step-by-step instructions

1. Using a glue gun, secure your decorations onto the bottom of the jars.
2. Cover the bottom of the jars with faux snow to cover up and hide any glue.
3. Using PVA glue, add small amounts to the sides of the jar and sprinkle on the snow on top of these areas to create a ‘snowing’ effect. 
4. Glue battery packs to the lids of the jars and allow the lights to hang inside.
5. Select the tallest vase and hang some stars from the lid, using some clear thread.
6. Once the jars have been decorated, arrange them on the wood slice. 
7. Add a few some more decorations to finish the arrangement.

Sock Gonk

If you’re looking for something to keep the family occupied over the Christmas holidays, then there’s no better craft than these cute little gonks!

Here’s what you’ll need

• Sock 
• Glue gun 
• Scissors 
• Rice 
• A hair tie or elastic band
• Pom-pom (you could make your own or buy one) 
• Faux fur material
• Wooden bead 

Step-by-step instructions

1. First, plug in your glue gun and let it heat for a few minutes.
2. Take a sock and cut away the ankle, about an inch above the heel - save the cutoff piece for later.
3. Fill the sock's bottom half (the toe end) with rice until you have a cute, round shape for your gnome or gonk, then tie with a hair tie or elastic band to ensure the rice is secure!
4. Now for his hat! Take the cut off piece from step two and wrap a hair tie or elastic band around the top to create a hat shape. Finish it with a pom-pom, carefully using your glue gun.
5. Here’s a top tip! Fold up the end of the sock before putting it on the gnome’s head. It adds some dimension and makes it look a little more realistic. You could also use glue to secure that hat. 
6. Take the faux fur material and trim it to your desired beard size. Ideally, it should cover about half of the gnome. 
7. Glue the fur beard in place, just under the hat. Be careful not to burn your fingers on the hot glue!
8. Allow the glue to cool and set.  
9. To complete your little character, glue a wooden bead onto the front, snugly against the bottom of the hat, to create his nose.

No Sew Christmas Trees

What’s a Christmas without a tree? There’s no better way to adorn your spaces with an additional tree, and rather than buying one, you can easily craft one with no sewing required!

Here’s what you’ll need

• Card or paper for a template
• Pencil
• Fat quarters of different fabric
• Wood slices
• Dowels
• Buttons
• Twine
• Scissors
• Drill
• Stuffing (polyester or fiber available from Amazon)
• Glue gun or fabric adhesive. 
• Optional – faux snow and finely shredded paper to decorate

Step-by-step instructions

1. Take a wood slice and drill a hole in the centre. This needs to be large enough for the dowel to fit into but small and tight enough to hold it in an upright position. Once this is in place, glue around the edge. 
2. Using a pen on some card or paper, draw out the shape of a Christmas tree. It can be any size that you like but bear in mind that they’ll need to match the proportions of your dowels and wood slices.
3. Cut out your template and use this to trace out the shape onto the fabric. Use scissors to cut out two pieces of fabric for each tree that you make.
4. Once you have the two pieces, glue around the edges of each piece with your glue gun or chosen adhesive. At this point, do not apply glue to the bottom ‘tree trunk’ area so that you’re able to add the stuffing.
5. Start adding the stuffing to the inside of the tree. Using a pencil will help to push the padding into the narrow corners.
6. Take the base of the tree and push the dowel into the stuffing. Then, carefully seal the bottom of the tree with the glue gun or adhesive, adding some extra glue to secure the dowel in place. 
7. Once the shape has completely dried, you can start adding some embellishments. First, tie some twine into a bow at the bottom of the tree and then using a small bit of glue, adhere some buttons down the centre.
8. Finish by carefully placing some faux snow and fine shredded paper to the wood slice base and your no-sew Christmas tree is complete!