I really enjoy the Christmas season and I’m not sure if it’s the long, dark and cozy Winter evenings that often make me feel creative or just something about the season itself, but I like to try to make things or try things I haven’t before. This often means different recipes or things I can give as gifts, or that make nice home decor or decorations. These two projects are really simple things that you can make with a Christmas theme, and don’t take much creativity, but that you can also adapt and play around with if you feel like it.

Cat Decorations

These are made using a wooden decoration for Halloween that comes in a kit for kids at the dollar store. They tend to have these for all seasons and occaisions, so you might find one that’s more Christmas themed if you want. But I like these because they’re cats, so I could personalise them to look like our cat, Grimoire, but you could paint them to look like a friends cat and give them as a gift.

I painted the back black first with acrylic paints, allowed that to dry, and them did a nice thick layer of black on the front and allowed that to dry.

I think keeping it simple is good. Just a sprig of holly and a simple face. Once dry, I coated it in a sealing layer of Mod Podge, which protects the paint, then glued a loop of ribbon to the back. Simple. The whole thing took only a few hours, when you include drying time.

Make Your Own Wrapping Paper

Too easy. I order a lot from Book Outlet and their packaging material is this recyclable paper, which my cat loves to play with, along with the box that the book comes in! Because this uses a bit of paint and because no one is going to keep the paper, I picked up cheap craft paints. I chose red and gold, but the gold didn’t show up as well on the brown of the paper, something to consider. Then you need a sponge and some cookie cutters.

Take a marker and use the cookie cutter as a template on the sponge. You can then cut out the sponge to make a kind of stamp. In kingdergarten, we used a potato to make a kind of stamp, and this will give you a clearer, more defined shape when you stamp. But then, you can’t eat the potato. ha ha.

Then, just pour some paint out onto a palette, and stamp away. I use old plastic lids from food containers and they work well. Below, the finished product. I went for a kind of rough look, becuase the paper is brown and rustic. You can be really precise in your pattern if you want to. Below, the paint it still wet, but it dries pretty fast. It was less shiny when dry, but not less vibrant. This was really fun and took less than 1/2, without drying time. I felt good reusing something and making something personal.

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So, those are two really easy crafts that I’ve done this year, and honestly, though the results are a bit rough because I’m really out of practice making things, I had a really good time doing these. I’m sure with practice I could make something out of the same supplies that are more intricate or professional looking, but I think the personal touch is nice at Christmas.

Do you like to make things at Christmas? I’d love to see anything you’ve made. I also would like to try out some new cookie recipes this year, so let me know if you have any recipes you love.