PART 1:

Christmas is a time of giving, spending time with family and friends and lets face it eating alot! Christmas cards are a very important part of giving and receiving. This holiday season, instead of buying a box of Christmas cards to give your loved ones, why not make them yourself? Doing your own paper crafts is an excellent way to express your creativity and give your friends and family something that is truely from the heart. Enlist the help of your kids and enjoy spending time together as they express their own creativity doing their own paper crafts. You put love and thoughtfulness into each and every card especially when you add your photos. I have a few friends and family members who enjoy writing lengthy letters of what has gone on in their lives over the past year. Although I enjoy reading them, I would love it if they added their photos or their own design in some way. Paper crafts are so easy to do and embellishing them with Christmas themes make them even more fun. First, you'll want to come up with some ideas of what you'd like the Christmas cards to look like, trust me this is not hard at the end of this article I will include some very inspirational sites that I have found. Choose colors and themes, and then draw or write on a piece of paper what the card will say and look like.

Quick Tip: Have you saved any of your past Christmas or holiday cards from Christmas's past? Cutting up and using the designs from old cards as embellishments for your new Christmas paper craft cards is an extemely low cost way to make your own Christmas paper crafts. You would be very surprised at how much you have to work with just by going through a few old Christmas cards. It is also a good way to clean things out. Although very sentimental, keeping every single Christmas card you receive and shoving them away somewhere never to be seen again is just not very efficient or organized. Pull those old cards out and re-use them for your own altered craft creation.

Yes, I know the holiday season is over, but if you feel at all the way I do the holidays get here sooner and sooner every year, so why not get some ideas flowing now? Besides it is still winter and some of you may not have taken your holiday stuff down yet! So, before you throw anything away remember that alot of trimmings can come in handy during your holiday crafting season

The Holiday season is the best time to get creative, and you can save a ton of money by making decorations on your own. There are many great holiday craft ideas that can get the entire family involved, as well as crafts that can double as gifts for friends and other members of your family. You can even create centerpieces for dinner parties, fun ornaments for a tree, or even fun wrapping paper made with your own two hands.

Wrapping paper is practically a necessity around the holiday season, and making your own can add a special touch to any gift. Hanukkah wrapping paper is simple and fun to make and you can even get children involved as well. All you need is some plain construction or wrapping paper, finger paint, and two clean hands. Dip two hands into blue paint, and press them onto the wrapping paper. Make sure the thumbs are overlapping, so there will be nine fingers showing on the paper and the thumbs will act as the center candle. After washing the blue paint off, dip a thumb into yellow paint and dab it on top of each candle for a flame. Repeat until the paper has several menorahs on it. Allow the paint to dry, and start wrapping your presents!

Sock snowmen are another great holiday craft idea that children love to do, and then can be used as tree decorations or can be hung up on the wall. You can use different sized socks to make different sized snowmen, but the easiest to start out with is baby socks. Take a plain baby sock, and fill it with plain stuffing or batting. Tie the sock just above the ankle with string, and cut off the excess material. Divide the sock into the body and the head, and tie with a piece of fabric to act as the scarf. To add a cute hat, use a colored sock and tie the ankle closed with string. Cut off the foot part, and roll up the sock to look like a stocking cap. Glue or sew the hat on, and begin decorating. You can use buttons, pipe cleaners, markers, and much more to make your little snowman, so put on your creativity hat!

If you are looking to create a beautiful centerpiece for a holiday dinner party, all you need is some candy canes, a large red or striped candle, and a candle base large enough for your candle. Place the candle inside the base, and hang then candy canes all around the outside. Guests can help themselves to the candy if they wish, making this great centerpiece a candy dish as well.

A Christmas choir makes a great tabletop piece, and can be made out of items you have laying around your home. Use an empty toilet paper roll and paper towel roll, and you can create three singing carolers that can brighten up any room. Cut the paper towel roll into two lengths, and paint each of the three pieces a different color. Use a small oval cut out of construction paper to make a face, and markers or crayons to decorate. Small pieces of sheet music can be attached with glue to add a special touch, and a cut sock can double as a stocking cap that sits right on top of the tube. These little Christmas choir cuties look great on any table, or can even be hung up as ornaments on your tree.

The possibilities are endless when it comes to Holiday craft ideas, and getting your family involved can make it so much fun. Instead of buying all your decorations from a superstore this year, spend the time with your family and create some fun crafts and great memories at the same time.

There are so many ways to make people smile this holiday season, do it with something that you made yourself. Handmade holiday cards can be so special for people to receive because you put so much time in effort into it!

Combine pretty papers and trimmings to create memorable cards that resemble wrapped gifts, festive ornaments (left), as well as (below, from left) wrapped gifts, graphic trees, and delicate snowflakes—or even cheerful delicate snowflakes—or even cheerful snowmen. Look for paper in an appealing mix of colors, textures, and patterns. Then check your sewing box for embellishments: Ribbons, buttons, and twine all make distinctive decorations. Handmade cards deserve special packaging too: To both display and protect them, slip the cards into glassine envelopes. Click HERE! to view templates and directions for making these beautiful holiday cards.

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Wreaths

With two basic techniques—
Wire wreaths: Wire frames are the most versatile supports for wreaths. Widely available in a variety of shapes, they’re sturdy enough for heavy materials like evergreen boughs and citrus fruits. A single-wire frame is best for a thin, delicate wreath; for a lush-looking wreath, like the laurel wreath shown at left, start with a double-wire frame.

Wiring greenery: Attach floral wire on a paddle to the crossbar of a double-wire wreath form of any shape (we used a rectangular form for the Frasier-fir wreath above). Wear work gloves when handling any evergreen, since the needles are prickly and the sap can be sticky. Lay a small bundle of greenery on the form, and wrap the wire tightly around the stems three times. Do not cut the wire. Add another bundle, overlapping the previous one by half; wrap wire around stems. Continue adding bundles until you reach the starting point. Tuck wire under form, secure with a knot, and cut. When the entire form is covered, tie off the wire, leaving a few extra inches before cutting the end. To make a hanger, form the end of the wire into a loop and twist it around itself. To make a more elaborate wreath, simply intersperse clusters of wired ornaments, pinecones, fruits, or other embellishments with the greenery bundles. For added shimmer, spray-paint a portion of the greenery gold or silver before making the bundles.

Source: Martha Stewart Living

Shop Holiday & Seasonal products at Better Homes and Gardens. Shop BHG.com for Christmas, and the full holiday season.

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A tree covered in candy

Is there a child anywhere who could imagine a happier sight? Although the sweet beasts and baubles on the tree are not intended to be eaten, their components are delectable. Candy ornaments are easy to make; a gummy consistency is the key. When you cut into a gumdrop or gummy candy, you expose the sticky interior—a natural adhesive that is your primary tool for making these decorations. The idea is to think sticky to sticky: The larger the sticky surface, the better the parts will hold. Other than that, all you need is imagination.

Candies
Choose the colors, shapes, and sizes that suit the objects or animals you wish to create. Just remember to choose candies with a gummy consistency and to connect them by their sticky surfaces.

To make the candy caroler below, we used a chewy red-and-white column for the body, a sour gummy worm for the scarf, a gumdrop for the head, an uncoated gumdrop for the hat, and nonpareils for the eyes and mouth.

Techniques
We used just six techniques to create all sorts of ornaments.

Click here to find out how to make these adorable trees embellished with candy ornaments.

Save on kid's craft supplies at www.CreateForLess.com.

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Pesonalize you gift tags this Christmas

Embellished Gifts for your Christmas Presents

These smartly wrapped packages have retro charm. Attaching the holiday tags is a cinch—they’re designed with slits that fit around ribbon. And the handles slip right over the tops of plain bags, turning them into cute parcels that you can carry.

Click here for the complete downloadable instructions and "how to's".

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Christmas Pop-up Cards

Put your imagination to work as you explore through your scrapbooking supplies or craft store for ideas. This method gives a polished professional look to your work and you will be the envy of all your friends as they wonder how you did it.

Step 1: Make support box

The support box will make your picture pop out as the card is opened. First, cut a rectangle out of heavier stock paper such as construction paper. We used a rectangle that is 3”X ¾”.

Fold the rectangle in half. Fold again. Now it is divided neatly into fourths.

Tape the two ends together. You should have a small box which can stand up on its own.

Step 2: Tape support box

Open your card and place the support box on the card so that the ends of the support box meet along the center crease of the card. (See photo). Close and press down.

When card is opened halfway, the support box will inflate to its full shape. When the card is closed, the box support will deflate, or fold down neatly.

Step 3: Add Artwork, Pictures and Decorations

We used a snowman for our example. Glue or tape your picture to the support box. This will take a minute to line it up just right. Make sure your tape or glue doesn’t show. Let dry. Now open and close your card. Your picture should pop-out as your card is opened.

Notes: We printed out “You’re Invited” in Microsoft word for our card which will be an invitation to a party. After cutting and pasting onto the front of the card, we printed the Time and Place for the party on regular white paper. Then we glued it onto to the bottom of the inside to make it look like snow underneath the snowman. This not only makes the type show up but it also creates a good design that’s pleasing to the eye.

Later, we glued candy canes behind the snowman. When the card is opened it gives more of a three dimensional effect.

Tags: crafts, christmas crafts, arts and crafts

christmas crafts

christmas crafts

This cross stitch design, sharing the sentiment simply and beautifully, makes a treasured gift as an ornament at holiday time.

To view the the instuctions and materials needed click here.

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holiday crafts

holiday crafts

It is hard to think about Christmas with sweltering heats, BBQ's and banana slides in the backyard, but many people start thinking about Christmas as early as July. One craft supply store in particular that has an amazing "Christmas In July" sale is

When you visit their online store and check out their prices you won't be able to pass up the opportunity to stock up on early for the holidays. They have some great holiday idea books, patterns, kits, paper craft supplies and more, and all of it is on sale this month.

My favorite book is the "Christmas 101 Wondrous Ideas Book". I found limitless "do it yourself" gift ideas for the holidays, holiday recipes and festive decorations. The book includes step-by-step instructions, how-to-photos, patterns and kitchen tested recipes. This book is only one of teh many great Christmas items for sale. Visit or to visit the "Christmas In July" sale.