Home made Christmas decorations - ideas?

[AuntieShirley]

We are on a tightish budget this year, so I thought we would make some decorations. We reuse ours, most are over 10 years old, and I love them, but want a few more.
So making decorations will work as a Christmassy activity and make our house look lovely.
I am not terribly creative, so any ideas? What decorations are you making this year?

Sadly making your own decorations is not always the cheapest option

Clothes peg fairies are easy to make.

Felt decorations (either glue or sew) and look lovely decorated with buttons... also look fab turned into a 'bunting style' garland.

You could also make a fabric wreath with old shirts.

Paper snowflakes are normally a hit with kids.

Ribbon and button christmas trees (easily made using strips of ribbon that get shorter towards the top glued onto a cheap canvas).

All of the above can be made by all ages too!

We jazzed up some pinecones with fake snow and glitter, made paper snowflakes, tied bundles of cinnamon sticks with ribbon, made tiny organza (spelling?) bags filled with cloves. When ds is a bit older we will have a go at blowing eggs and painting them, adding arms and legs to make Santa figures etc.

Salt dough! With glitter added. There are loads of recipes on the Internet Cut them out with Christmas cookie cutters, poke hole in, leave to dry (or bake on low heat, I can't remember ), thread some ribbon through hole when dry, voila!

I think you bake the salt dough

Pine cones also last for a few years if you bake them on a low heat to dry them out before decorating.

Also forgot to say oranges studded with cloves and wrapped in ribbon are lovely nearer christmas.

And popcorn threaded into lengths beats tinsel any day!

We just made salt dough decorations. 1 cup flour, 1 cup salt, 1 cup water. Add the water gradualy you might not need it all.
Roll it out and cut shapes. Use a straw to put a hole in each decoration. Put on parchement paper and put in over on 100 degrees for about 4 hours till they harden.

Pick up a packet of candy canes from pound shop and some felt and make these

fun for all

Re: salt dough....we made ours today and a tip I read on a blog was to zap them in the microwave for 3 mins to harden quickly instead of 3hrs in the oven. Then paint& add glitter & sequins..... Have fun!

I saw Superscrimpers last night on Channel 4- I bet there's a website- which had some great ideas. I liked the lightbulb snowmen.

Paper chains?

when doing salt dough decorations cut a smallish hole out of a middle part (such as the middle of a star or the tummy area of a person/santa) put on baking sheet, put a coloured boiled sweet in the hole and bake.
the sweet will melt and fill in the hole-its like a glass window when cooled.

try ][http://www.tiesplanet.com/ties-c1/silk-ties-c13/royal-blue-silver-patterned-silk-tie-p2033 this]] We have made loads and they are gorgeous.

oops - sorry meant this !!!

3d paper snowflakes look fabulous

I've just made a garland made out of wool,I made little Pom poms and tied them to a length of wool,they look lovely. Very easy to make,get a fork and wrap the wool round the prongs,tie in the middle and snip the ends.
Ds loved it.

gingerbreadsnowflakes.com/node/28
Woven paper hearts - very scandi style if you do them in red and white.

Can you use salt dough for babies handprints? Want to make some for grandparents pressies!

Sorry I disappeared. Got caught up in bath and bedtime (4dc so a bit mad!)
Really great ideas!
I am loving the clay decorations, may do some with 11 year old dd, and salt dough with the younger ones. Also loving the paper hearts, pom pom snowflakes (pinched from your garland DoingthebestIcan ) peg fairies, and on and on! Will be having a good look tomorrow as I have the day off work. Will write a shopping list and have a great crafty weekend with the dc!

We just made these kid's handprint salt dough decorations They're going to be presents for the grandparents too.

also really want to try this

Have a look at mollymoo.ie, she has some Christmassy stuff at the moment.

Marking place to have a think :)

Last year I made paper chains and these to decorate the house with.
Me and DS(5) made salt dough decorations as gifts for his nursery staff and aunts and gave handprint calendars to grandparents.
This year I am making these as gifts for our family.

I have been makin dried orange/clementine slices with ribbon.

Quick, easy and effective

Some great ideas here, I've now got the thread on my watch list so I can come back to grab ideas again

I like Swedish paper hearts - you can make them out of any paper, but shiny metallic wrapping paper (not too thin) is good. You can make big ones or small ones to hang on the tree, and put a piece of chocolate money or small wrapped sweets in them.

Also hanging gingerbread. It all gets eaten by the end of Christmas.