Craft Site Directory Newsletter: December 2006
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SECTION 2):*~*: Add Holiday Cheer to Your Home with Crafts
Decorating Ideas and Tips for the Novice Crafter
With the holiday season upon us, why not add a personal touch to the usual holiday décor? Crafting some festive, homemade decorations is a great way to get into the holiday spirit with results that will perk up any home with warm and merry cheer.
Terri Ouellette, spokesperson for the Craft & Hobby Association (CHA), says, "Crafters of any age and skill level can create beautiful homemade decorations using the most basic materials. Whether done solo, with friends or as a family, creating holiday crafts is a fun way to use your creativity and make a home an inviting and special place for the holidays."
CHA offers some helpful holiday decorating tips and imaginative ideas to create homemade masterpieces using simple materials:
• Ribbon --Use festive ribbon to create a number of fun and easy decorations.
- Make simple bows from printed, colorful ribbon and pin them to your curtains or tie them around door knobs.
- Using a hot glue gun, attach small bows to an ordinary placemat, making a unique place setting.
- String a ribbon from one end of a wall to another, attaching each end with a thumbtack. Then, using the ribbon as you would a clothesline, display greeting cards by attaching them attractively to the ribbon with clothes pins.
• Wrapping Paper -- No longer used for just wrapping presents, this colorful paper is now a versatile decorating medium.
- Make your front door a welcoming entryway by wrapping it entirely in paper and placing ribbon in the center to resemble a giant present.
- Remove your favorite pictures from their frames and wrap the frames with Holiday wrap and then replace the photos.
- Create an attractive vase by wrapping a large, empty coffee can in decorative wrap, leaving the top open. Place on the floor or table and fill with evergreen branches and holly.
• Paper -- Paper crafts are easy and ideal for involving children in the holiday crafting.
- Using plain white paper and scissors, cut snowflakes to display in your window or hang from the ceiling. Add silver glitter to give the snowflakes a whimsical sparkle.
- Create a holiday collage by mounting paper cutouts and symbolic shapes to a large poster board.
- Make paper puppets by cutting Santas, snowmen and angels and mounting them on a craft stick. Then, proudly display the characters in a vase or bowl filled with beads, nuts or candies.
• Natural Materials -- Using items from nature like pine cones, evergreens and bark adds rustic beauty and aromatic touches.
- Take cinnamon sticks and create little bundles, tying five or six sticks together with a ribbon. Then, display the bundles in a bowl or arrange on a shelf.
- Use a large pinecone and some gold spray paint or frost, then add a pretty string to create a decorative door hanger.
- Make a wood frame ornament using tree rounds from an old Christmas tree trunk. Simply glue a photo in the center and attach string for hanging.
For more craft ideas, log onto www.craftplace.org.
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SECTION 1):*~*: What's New at CraftSiteDirectory.com?
Have you stopped by lately?
SECTION 2):*~*: Add Holiday Cheer to Your Home with Crafts
Decorating Ideas and Tips for the Novice Crafter
SECTION 3):*~*: Free Craft Projects for December
Links to craft project instructions that have been added to various websites this month.
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